Giggling to herself Taylor swam towards the tanker, wondering what that poor guy in the yellow shirt would tell his friends. Mind you, he'd been a little rude, talking on his phone and not paying attention.
Über and Leet's musical accompaniment had been fantastic. She'd definitely have to arrange to meet and thank them. They'd added the perfect detail to make people watch rather than panic. For a moment, when she'd popped up, she'd suddenly wondered 'What the hell am I DOING? Look at all those people!' Having what must have been something like fifteen or twenty percent of the entire population of the city staring blankly at her en masse had been more than a little intimidating. But the Varga had gently pushed her to get over her sudden stage fright and she'd mentally shrugged, getting on with the program.
After the initial few seconds, it had all been enormous fun more than anything else. The expressions on her father's and the Mayor's faces had made it clear they felt the same. Director Piggot looked less enthused, but took it with a lot less shouting than she'd half expected.
The look on Vicky's face had been amusing as well. She seemed torn between horror, wild amusement, and total disbelief. In the end she'd just floated there in mid-air, something Taylor was more than a little jealous about, and stared.
Now, though, she needed to stop snickering about the wonderful joke they were playing on the whole city and get to work.
Arriving at the tanker, she looked at it, while settling to the bottom. 'So. Thoughts?' she said to her companion. They'd discussed various methods to move the thing over the last few days, but had decided that it needed a proper investigation before they settled on one. 'I was thinking about first just covering the outside with a thin layer of Vargastuff to fill the holes and strengthen the hull so it doesn't fall apart. It's pretty decayed in some places.' Poking it with a taloned finger left a hole. 'Oops. Like that.'
"I believe that would be the best approach, Brain. If we cover the exterior with an extremely thin layer it won't add too much weight, and we can make the floats at the same time. We'll have to leave the bottom uncovered around the places the reef has punctured the hull until we float it clear, then we can fill the holes. I would suggest, as we talked about yesterday, that we make floats around the entire length with holes in the bottoms, allowing them to fill with water in the process of making them. Once they're set up we can create air to fill them and displace the water, which should gently lift the ship without making it move too quickly. We don't want to cause a tidal wave by suddenly displacing a couple of hundred thousand tons of mass. No one would thank us for that."
Listening to the suggestions, which basically mirrored her own thoughts, she nodded. 'OK. That sounds good. Now, let's have a look…' Swimming slowly along the hull, she rounded the stern and headed up the seaward side, reaching under in a couple of places to feel the bottom. 'It seems to be holed in about eight places. Two at the front on that side of the channel and the rest near the stern. It sure explains why it's never shifted even in bad storms. The thing must be wedged on there really well.'
"That would seem to be the case, certainly. Let's coat the outside first before we try anything else, as it would be more than a little embarrassing to break it in half while trying to move it." The Varga chuckled as she grinned. They proceeded to form a paper-thin layer of Vargastuff across the hull, moving slowly along it as the material formed out of nothing, creeping across the surface up to the top of the hull above the waterline. When she'd swum down one side, around the stern, back up the other, and around the bow again, the entire tanker except for the places under the hull which were penetrated by the reef was an even glittering gray color.
'Looks good,' she commented, feeling it carefully. There was no flex to the material at all, even at a thickness comparable to thin paper. 'That's not going to break. Now for the floats.'
This part took about fifteen minutes, forming rectangular cross-sectioned boxes down the sides, about twenty feet down from the waterline. She could feel the incoming tide slowly strengthening and went as fast as possible, not wanting to miss the point it really began rising. Eventually they were done. The floats, the length of the hull and fifty feet tall, stuck out nearly thirty feet all around the ship. She'd calculated this would give nearly sixty thousand tons of lift when completely filled with air, which was more than enough. The front of the floats was formed into a streamlined shape to make it easier to move through the water.
Most of the bottom area of the float boxes was open, allowing the water to fill it and giving no buoyancy. When they finished, she inspected the results carefully. 'It certainly looks like it should work. We'd better make the harness first, then lift it, I don't want it drifting off and making us have to chase it.'
"It would hardly go racing off, the tide is moving very slowly, but I understand your point," he laughed. Going back to the bow they made some attachment points then formed a few hundred feet of cable, terminating in a pair of enormous quick-release clips. She was soon wearing the same harness design as they'd come up with for pulling the channel-clearing plow.
Draping the cables across the sea-bed to their full length, she swam back to the bow of the ship. 'I think we should anchor it so it doesn't drift sideways as it lifts,' she suggested.
"Yes, that's a sensible idea," he agreed. Quickly producing some huge spikes, she slammed them deep into the rock of the reef, one at the front and one at the stern on the seaward side of the ship, then attached them with cables to the bow and stern.
Moving back she studied the result. 'That should do it,' she smiled, satisfied.
"I believe so."
Returning to the bow she looked at the floats. "We should slowly fill these until it just starts to lift, then add enough to get it floating," he suggested. "I think slow and easy is the key here. We don't want it bobbing to the surface like a cork. It will take a little time for the water inside to drain through the holes in the hull anyway."
Nodding, she got close enough to the floats that the matter creation ability was in range of both, then he started making air. A current of displaced water flowed out of the floats down the sides of the ship, roiling the silt which moved off upstream into the bay. A few minutes passed until she felt the ship shift in her grip, tilting a little more upright. It had a definite list to one side from where it had settled onto the reef, but this was slowly straightening out.
'There it goes,' she grinned. 'Great, it's working.' Very carefully they added more air, the huge ship gradually beginning to lift, the bow coming up first with a huge grinding sound as the spine of hard rock that had punched through it years ago slowly pulled free. Soon the stern also lifted, an even louder crunching sound being produced as at least one of the rocks actually broke off the reef. Jerking and juddering the old tanker floated free for the first time in decades, lifting gently from the floor of the bay.
Eventually it was free of the rocks, the tops of the floats now ten or fifteen feet above the water level. Restrained by the cables and anchors on the other side, it bobbed massively in the water, rocking very slowly from side to side. It was still rising even though they'd stopped adding air, the water inside gradually draining out the punctures in the hull, as well as the tide steadily lifting it further.
Worried about the polluted water inside, she swam under it and they patched the holes. Most of the oil and similar substances should be floating near the top and as a result little had escaped, although she could taste and smell hydrocarbons in the sea around them, which was slightly unpleasant. Finally satisfied, she moved to the bow anchor. 'If we release this one the tide should swing the bow towards the Docks, then we can let the stern one go and grab the cables. I think it's best to let the tide do most of the work for the moment and just guide it. When it peaks I can pull it the rest of the way.'
With his agreement, they removed the bow anchor. Sure enough, the current immediately began pushing the huge vessel around, tens of thousands of tons of metal and water slowly shifting position. When it was almost aimed right, she grabbed one of the harness cables and dug her feet into the reef, the huge claws tearing into the rock, stopping the swing and making the ship list heavily as the momentum was killed. Pleased, she quickly went to the stern, removed the anchor there, then swam back as it very slowly began drifting towards the city. Connecting the cables she ascended to the surface, popping up and looking around, then smiling. It was aimed exactly right, so she swam in front of it until the cables were nearly tight, before relaxing and floating along, matching speed with slow sweeps of her tail.
This was going to take a while, but she was in no hurry.
Noticing a helicopter with the logo of a Boston TV station on it hovering half a mile away, she waved to it, then went back to gently swimming towards the dock, a vast ship following four hundred feet behind her.
Emily stared through her binoculars with a slightly open mouth as the entirety of the hull of the wreck in the distance slowly took on a familiar gray tint, one she'd seen on a lot of videos recently. Kaiju had apparently coated the thing with EDM, presumably to stop it breaking up.
Everyone watched for another twenty minutes, wondering what was going on under the surface. They had their answer when someone gasped, "It's floating!"
It was true, she could see the superstructure of the old tanker gradually rising, the waterline dropping down the hull. Deep grinding and crunching sounds could be faintly heard in the distance. A few minutes later the surface of what had to be some form of float, taking the shape of long boxes down the side of the ship, broke the surface of the water, waves breaking over them. The vessel rose steadily higher until it was slowly rocking back and forth with nearly thirty feet of hull above the sea. She stared, as did everyone else, the sight was surreal after the thing had been just part of the background scenery for so long.
She noticed the bow was slowly starting to swing around to point towards them. The ship rotated nearly ninety degrees over the next couple of minutes, until it abruptly stopped, rolling heavily to port as if something had grabbed it and physically held it back. She had a sinking sensation in her stomach that this was exactly what had happened. Kaiju had somehow halted the motion. It implied a level of strength that was simply unbelievable. 'Brute' didn't seem nearly strong enough as a definition for the creature. Emily wasn't certain even Alexandria could have replicated the feat so easily. She was incredibly strong but there were limits even so.
Although apparently not in this case, or at least not ones that fitted into any power set she'd ever encountered before.
The ship began rolling slightly differently, making her study it. After another minute she was sure it was starting to move, drifting freely and heading up the bay towards the docks. As she watched, Kaiju popped up a few hundred feet in front of it, that huge head still wearing the ridiculously oversized hard hat turning to look around her. It tilted up to point at the news helicopter which had flown in from the direction of Boston minutes earlier, apparently called in by the reporter who was excitedly gesturing at the ship and the huge reptilian creature towing it. Kaiju lifted one huge hand in a cheery wave, which apparently made the pilot flinch judging by the way the aircraft rolled and then recovered.
Ignoring the helicopter after that, Kaiju began swimming, very slowly, just in front of the tanker which was obviously drifting with the tide. She was apparently content to let the sea do most of the work, possibly to prevent too much disturbance. The vast lizard swam along, guiding the ship down the middle of the channel she'd marked off, apparently enjoying herself. Emily could see her looking around every now and then with the air of someone doing a job that took care but not vast effort.
"That's one of the most incredible things I've ever seen," one of the troopers she had with her commented in an awed voice. His colleague nodded slowly. "I'm just glad no one hit the sirens."
Emily winced. That would have been unbelievably bad. She was going to have to make sure that no one got excited about Kaiju and did that, or there would be even more shit hitting the fan than she fully expected to have happen soon. That chopper up there was definitely broadcasting everything to the world, so it was certain that everyone in the PRT would be watching, all the way up to the top. The government was going to want a word as well, she suspected.
That said, the Governor seemed fairly relaxed about the whole thing, he was now talking to Roy and that Hebert man, pointing at Kaiju with one hand and waving the other one in the manner of someone indicating something very large. She got the distinct impression that he'd known a lot more about what was going to happen than she had, probably not all the details, but the broad outline at least.
Roy glanced over and caught her glaring at him, winking at her with a small smile, then going back to politely listening to the older politician, nodding occasionally. She fumed internally, the smug look on his face made her want to smack him a good one, but she couldn't be seen to be doing anything other than watching. Irritating man.
At the rate that the tanker and Kaiju were moving it was obvious that it would take another hour or more before she got anywhere close to them, and several hours in total to get the ship all the way to the docks. The tide would have turned by then but it seemed likely the huge reptile could easily pull it even so. Wondering what the arrangement at the other end was going to be, she watched for another ten minutes, then walked over to Roy, who was now standing with his wife smiling at the guests. Most of them had apparently recovered and were talking in low voices but with enthusiasm. A number were clustered around Danny Hebert who was explaining something about the scrapping process, apparently to significant interest.
It was obvious to her that Roy's little scheme had definitely hit a nerve, after the initial shock and amazement. She thought it likely that it had improved his popularity a lot instantly, especially among the working class people, as he had abruptly become a politician who didn't simply talk about improving the city, he actually did something about it. If he was both careful and smart he could probably build that up to make his position virtually unassailable.
She looked at him, meeting his eyes as she approached, and knew that he knew this as well, and was indeed both careful and smart. From his point of view things couldn't have gone better.
Sighing silently to herself, she stopped next to him. "You seem pleased, Roy."
"Why wouldn't I be, Emily?" he asked happily. Turning slightly he waved at the refloated tanker making its stately way up the bay towards them, the impossibly large reptilian creature lazily swimming in front of it. "This is the start of a new day for Brockton Bay. We'll soon be able to restart shipping in and out of the city, clear the Ship's Graveyard, take in a significant income for several years just from the scrap metal, and provide hundreds of jobs in the process." He smiled. "It's just the start, of course. Once that land is clear we have a whole new industrial park right next to the water. That will bring further investment, which means more jobs, more people pulled out of poverty and out of the reach of the gangs, less crime… With any luck, even people like the E88 and ABB will realize their fortunes lie elsewhere."
"You really think that Kaiser will just pick up and leave?" she asked, somewhat scornfully. "It's not in his nature to give up easily."
"True, I suppose. But, and here's the important thing, I have an eighty-foot tall independent reptilian hero on my side." Roy grinned viciously. "I think if it comes down to cape versus cape, I win."
She had to admit he had a point.
"You believe Kaiju would fight the E88 for you?"
"I think that she and her sisters would go through anyone who causes trouble around here like a snow blower through a watermelon field, with about the same effect," he chuckled. "They seem to like the DWU, the feeling is mutual, and anything that threatens the city threatens the DWU. They're not beholden to the PRT or their policies and can probably make that independence stick. I mean, even Kaiser and Lung can do what they want without PRT interference as far as I can see, and compared to her?" He waved at Kaiju again. "Not even close. You know it was Kaiju who told Lung to fuck off and leave the Docks alone, right?"
"I was under the impression it was Raptaur," Emily replied thoughtfully.
"Oh, I have no doubt she could probably deal with him herself," Roy admitted. "But Kaiju… She could just eat him. And from what Danny said when he mentioned it, that was basically the threat. Go away or be lunch. He went away. Whatever else the man is, he's not an idiot."
"I see." She looked at the swimming lizard for a moment. "You realize you've caused me some massive problems with all this?"
"I do, and I'm genuinely sorry about that, Emily," he said quietly, seeming sincere. "Despite our differences over the years, I don't actually wish you ill. But in return I hope you understand why I didn't, and still don't, want to involve the PRT. Your organization has for whatever reason stood by for many years and watched this city slowly crumble from within, largely because of the Parahuman villains, people you are specifically supposed to be dealing with. Yet as far as most of the inhabitants of the city are concerned, your Hero capes turn up after the fact, or not at all, in an overwhelming number of cases where those same villains have made trouble. Even when you manage to catch them, or someone else does and hands one over to you, they're back on the street in hours to days. People notice, and people remember."
He looked seriously at her. "It's a problem that is becoming larger than you may realize. I have hundreds of complaints about it from the police alone, who in most cases really aren't fans of the PRT at all. They're fine with your capes in general, most of whom are at least polite and professional, but the organization…? Not a lot of love there. That sort of thing breeds a level of toxic resentment which always ends badly. I saw an opportunity to sidestep the red tape, the procrastination, the official indifference, and I took it. The DWU did most of the hard work, of course, helping the Family set up BBFO and all the associated requirements, which mean in turn that the city can subcontract work to them completely legally. Our own legal department has checked it very carefully indeed and it's watertight. We're going to be putting a lot of business their way and in turn I fully expect that they're going to change things around here a lot."
Roy paused for breath while she took in his words, then added, "Honestly, I realize that your hands may well be tied for much of this. You have a reputation of being hard but fair, and very competent. I have never seen anything to suggest otherwise. We don't see eye to eye and probably never will do, but I don't believe for a moment that you're actively working against the city's interests, or deliberately shirking your responsibilities." He raised a finger. "However, I do fully believe that there are people above you in the PRT who really only have their own interests at heart. What those interests are I don't know and in most ways don't care, except insofar as they cause problems for Brockton Bay, its people, and its administration. We're the ones who pay the price. We're tired of doing that, and if I and they have anything to say about it, we're not going to any more. My job is to run this city and keep it functional and I have always tried to do that to the best of my ability. Now, suddenly, it looks like I can do a much better job. Can you blame me for jumping on it with both feet?"
Emily listened quietly, her thoughts whirling. He seemed both surprisingly open and surprisingly passionate about it. She felt that he was actually being completely honest, which was something of a shock from a politician. He clearly felt strongly about the situation and it was with a certain amount of dismay that she found herself at least partially agreeing with his summation. But she hadn't realized how bad it had become, which based on his comments, was actually rather bad. She got the occasional complaint crossing her desk, which inevitably went to legal, and with rare exceptions, she didn't hear much more about it. But from what he was saying that was merely the tip of the iceberg.
Looking around she could see that the entire city council was watching either Kaiju, or the pair of them, and furthermore she could see that the ones who were close enough to hear what he'd said obviously agreed with some or all of it. The rest seemed to be enjoying themselves, and thinking hard. Even a couple she knew full well were against many of Roy's suggestions for their own reasons were watching the tanker slowly move across the water with expressions that suggested careful thought and slowly growing excitement.
Most of the other guests would probably come down on his side of the argument, based on what she'd seen and heard in the last hour. Looking over at the vast crowds of people lining the shore in the park, most of whom were patiently watching the ship as well, vendors of food and drink moving among them as if it had turned into a huge party, she had a sinking sensation that a straw poll would show both that he had massive support for his plans, and that the PRT would rank rather a long way down the popularity stakes.
At least whatever was broadcasting their words to the city had had the decency not to do that with this little conversation. That was one thing she really didn't want making the six o'clock news.
"I see," she finally said, sighing slightly. "Thank you for your honesty. I can't say I enjoy hearing that sort of thing but I believe I understand your viewpoint. It doesn't change the fact that I'm going to have some very uncomfortable conversations with my superiors very soon. I may well be out of a job by tomorrow."
"I hope not," he replied. "None of this is actually your fault. From what I understand you've actually handled the entire situation around Kaiju and her sisters in an admirably pragmatic way. I know that there are some people in your position who would have done their utmost to seize control for the PRT, which based on what I know about them all would have ended spectacularly badly. You deserve considerable praise for not taking that approach."
"It wasn't entirely by choice, Roy," she nearly chuckled. "The situation is very complex. But I would agree with you that it could have gone much, much worse. Even before that one turned up." She nodded towards Kaiju, who was waving at one of the harbor patrol boats that was paralleling her course at a safe distance. "Just be warned… There is almost certainly going to be an investigation by my superiors into how this all happened, where they came from, who knows what… It could get messy."
"I'm prepared for that, Emily," he smiled. "We have all the paperwork in order. BBFO is as I said basically unassailable, without a massive and retroactive change in quite a number of Parahuman laws. From what our experts say, if those changes were actually made, it would impact quite badly on the PRT's own operations. They suspect that the loopholes that were found and exploited were probably deliberately left in some cases specifically to benefit certain parties who have Parahumans of their own. Possibly something of a conspiracy theory but it's an interesting thought."
He indicated Danny Hebert, who was talking to one of the city councilors and the Governor about something. "The DWU has also been very careful with their paperwork. Everything is above board and fully compliant with the law. Admittedly, with an interpretation of that law which the people who made the relevant regulations may not have intended, but it complies with the letter of it completely. Your superiors could certainly cause trouble if they wanted to but I suspect it would tend to get seen by the populace as government interference in the lives of honest working people who for once are managing to get something to go their way." He smiled at her. "Oddly enough, out there is basically the world's largest blue-collar worker and union member. I have a feeling that she has a lot more friends than you might expect."
"And trying to force her to do anything is hardly going to work," Emily sighed, nodding slowly.
"Look at her!" Roy gestured. "You can try forcing her if you want. I'd be interested in watching, but only from a safe distance. Out of state, probably."
She couldn't help a wry laugh. "You have a point, annoyingly enough. You really are one of the most irritating people I know."
"Thank you, Emily," he responded with a small bow, grinning. "I assure you the feeling is entirely mutual."
With a small sigh, she nodded, acknowledging the comment, then watched for a little longer. Eventually she said, "Thank you for the wine and the invitation. And the possibly career-ending surprise. I need to get back to my office to prepare for what happens next."
"Good luck. If you need any help that I can give you, call me."
"Really?" She looked somewhat dubiously at him.
"Really. As I said, I'm not your enemy. I may not be your friend, but I recognize competence when I see it and I'm looking at it. It would be a shame for you to lose your job over something you essentially had no control over, not to mention I don't want to have to break in another PRT director. It took years for us to come to the relationship we have now." He smirked as she sighed more loudly. "Don't let them push you out, Emily. You're good at your job, we both know that, even if that job isn't one I'm entirely happy about. Stick to your guns."
"Thanks. I think." She nodded to him, waved to her escort, and headed to the elevator. On the way she glanced at the short, ridiculously neat blond man sitting at a precisely orientated table with a taller and very elegant blonde woman beside him, both of them watching the tanker with apparent interest, in between shrewd glances at the various guests. She'd noticed Roy talking to him with the air of an old friend several times, and introducing Danny Hebert to him as well. He was probably someone he'd known for years.
The man looked at her with intelligent and calculating eyes, then raised his wine glass in a small salute, before taking a sip, putting it down precisely where it had come from then dabbing his lips with a starched white napkin. She nodded back, not sure why, and went on her way.
"Are you seeing this?" The incredulous voice was from Samantha Parrish, the New York Protectorate Hero also known as Prism. She was staring at the TV the same as the rest of them, which was showing a special news report live from Brockton Bay, which she remembered as a medium sized city a couple of hundred miles up the coast which was mainly memorable for having an absolutely stupid number of capes for the population number. Many of whom were major villains.
"I am, but I'm not sure I believe it," her team mate Ursa Aurora replied slowly, shaking her head. "An eighty to ninety foot tall lizard? One that is working for the Dock Worker's Union? That doesn't make any sense."
"Where did it get a high visibility jacket that large?" Sam asked. Her friend shrugged.
"No idea. Or that hard hat. Or why she would actually wear them in the first place."
The scene cut away from the aerial shot of a totally ridiculously large reptile towing a huge wrecked ship that dwarfed it to a pair of commentators from the Boston TV station who was broadcasting the special, both of them speculating wildly on what it meant, where this thing, apparently called 'Kaiju' had come from, and if the strange rumors that had been all over the web for a month about there being multiple reptilian creatures living in Brockton Bay was actually true.
Sam had read a lot of those same rumors on PHO and it seemed an established fact that there were two lizard-like capes running around in Brockton Bay, Saurial and Raptaur. The former seemed very polite and friendly, while scary, the latter was just terrifying, although still polite. It was definitely odd the way that most of the people from Brockton Bay itself seemed to have gone from being very worried about them to weirdly proud of them, even while still being scared of them. She herself was rather glad to be as far away from the entire place as she currently was.
However, watching the TV where the commentators were living up to their name while replaying the initial appearance of this vastly, insanely larger version, she was beginning to think that she wasn't actually far enough away…
Both the women turned to the third person in the room, the man everyone knew as Legend. One of the three most powerful Parahumans on the planet. And probably the one who most typified the word 'Hero', in appearance, deeds, and outlook. He was staring thoughtfully at the TV, tapping the fingers of his right hand on his knee while he sat at the table where he'd been having a late lunch when Sam had run in and turned the thing on. "What do you think?" she asked.
He was silent for some seconds, watching as the new program replayed the Mayor's initial speech. Finally he looked at her.
"I think I need to see this in person," he said with a small smile. Standing up, he put his mask back on carefully, then smiled at them both again. "I'll keep you updated."
"Be careful," she advised, glancing at the TV for a moment. "You're you, true enough, but that thing… It makes even Behemoth look small. We don't have any idea what it's capable of, aside from the fact that it can tow supertankers like they were rowboats."
"She, Sam, not it. Be polite. And as far as we know, she's not hostile. Quite the opposite."
"Yet you're still going to have a look."
"Of course. I'm polite, not stupid." He grinned, then headed for the nearest window, opening it and floating out, closing it behind him. With a flash of blue light he was gone. She exchanged a glance with her friend then both of them went back to watching the news to see what happened next.