Wednesday, February 16, 2011

"Hello, Dean," the soft voice said from immediately behind him.

The young man froze, then slowly turned his head. Taylor Hebert was standing two feet away smiling at him. He was standing on the school steps waiting for Vicky to arrive, but she was running late for some reason. None of his other friends from 'work' had yet arrived either, although he could see Dennis heading towards them from the direction of his house, talking to a girl he didn't know.

"Oh, hello, Taylor," he said nervously as he turned around. For some reason her odd dual emotional output was even less apparent than normal, which was why he hadn't detected her before she spoke. He'd noticed it seemed to be slowly becoming more and more difficult to read at a distance for a couple of weeks and wondered if it was something she was consciously doing. What he could read of it suggested that she was generally pleased and happy, with an overtone of sardonic amusement, remarkably similar to Amy these days. He wondered why she'd suddenly decided to talk to him, having restricted herself mostly to significant looks since he'd originally spotted her in the cafeteria that first day. She'd said 'Hi' a couple of times when she was with Amy, but that was about it until now.

"Did you enjoy the show yesterday?" she asked calmly. "From what I could see everyone at Arcadia was probably in the crowd somewhere."

"Oh, were you there as well?" he asked, watching her face. He knew, and she knew he knew, and it obviously amused her that there was nothing he could say about it for a whole host of reasons.

"I was, yes," she smiled, "although I'd arranged to get permission to skip the day before. Family business."

"I… see," he managed to say. Family business indeed. He barely managed to stop himself snorting with unwilling laughter, but he could see in her eyes she'd picked up on it anyway. He wished he knew how. Although at the same time he desperately wanted to be somewhere a long way away, not that he thought she was likely to attack him or anyone else. He was just extremely nervous standing next to a teenaged girl who could apparently turn into a more than eighty foot tall sea monster at will.

To be brutally honest, she scared the shit out of him.

The smile she was wearing widened a little, giving a certain reptilian air to her demeanor, something that no one who didn't know the truth would pick up on but that he couldn't fail to notice.

He swallowed dryly.

"I thought it was pretty impressive, myself," she went on. "Everyone seemed to enjoy it after the initial confusion, and Mayor Christner gave a very good speech. His press conference afterwards was good as well."

"I thought so," he admitted, which was actually true. From what he could see, the entire thing had been stage-managed perfectly and the overall plan sounded very sensible. "Do you know when they're going to start cutting up that huge ship?"

"Dad said probably by about this time next week," she replied. "It should be interesting to watch. Everyone down at the yard is really excited about it. A lot of people are going to have their lives completely transformed for the better as a result of this project, he said." She laughed gently. "He and the Mayor both think that this one simple thing will make a bigger difference to the city than anything anyone has done in over a decade. Which is interesting."

"It's hardly simple," he protested, very carefully.

"Well, I'll admit it looked like it took a lot of setting up, and without Kaiju it wouldn't be possible, but under the circumstances it's relatively simple. Tow a boat, dock a boat, cut up a boat. Not difficult if you have the ability to do that sort of thing." She smiled again. "It's nice to see a Parahuman doing something useful with their powers and not just fighting people, wouldn't you agree?"

"Um..." He wasn't sure what answer she wanted. "I guess so?"

"Anyway, the bell will be going any minute and I need to get some books from my locker. See you around. By the way, Vicky is standing behind you." He twitched, turning his head again to see his girlfriend was indeed standing there, with her sister next to her. Both girls were smirking at him. "Hi, Amy, Vicky. See you at lunch."

"See you, Taylor," Amy replied, nodding to her friend, who lifted a hand in a relaxed gesture of farewell then wandered off. He watched her for a moment, wondering if he'd been given a subtle message or she was just talking. Or simply trying to make him nervous.

She'd managed that pretty well regardless of whether it was the goal or not.

"Nice chat, Dean?" Amy asked, making him look at her. The brunette girl was smiling at him in a way that reminded him uncomfortably of Taylor for a moment.

"I… think so," he said.

"It's nice that Taylor is still making new friends," Vicky grinned. "I like her, and her dad is really nice." The first bell sounded, making them all look up, and provoking a general drift of students towards the entrance. Dennis ran over with Chris behind him, Carlos arriving from the other direction moments later. "Come on, guys, there's schoolwork to do," the blonde added, sounding like she was in a very good mood. Grabbing her boyfriend she helped him on his way sufficiently fast that he yelped in surprise.

"You're full of beans today, Vicky," Dennis chuckled.

"Why shouldn't I be?" she giggled. "I made five grand yesterday for doing something that I'd probably have done for nothing, and had a hell of a lot of fun, even if it was the weirdest day I've ever had." She looked hard at Dean. "Not that it means you don't get to pay for something to celebrate, of course."

"Of course it doesn't," he sighed, while the others laughed. "How did you make five grand?"

"From the city via BBFO and the DWU," she grinned. He looked at her, then his friends, who seemed surprised. Chris looked very interested, as did Dennis.

"Tell me more," Chris prompted, sounding curious. Happily, the blonde began explaining, while Dean and Carlos exchanged glances.

'I wonder if the Director knows about this?' he mused. With an inner sigh he realized that he'd have to say something.

But he was not going to talk about Taylor Hebert.

At all.

He wasn't an idiot.

Leafing through her chemistry reference book Taylor stopped every now and then to carefully read a section, an expression of thoughtful pondering on her face. She looked up as Mandy and Lucy sat next to her, unconsciously wrapping her tail more firmly around the legs of the chair to ensure no one tripped over it. Both her friends grinned at her. "Homework, or just reading ahead?" Mandy asked cheerfully, bending down to the point her head was on the desk in an attempt to see the title of the book Taylor was holding. Obligingly, Taylor lifted it so she could read the front cover.

"Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, Fourth Edition," the other girl read out loud, looking impressed. "That's college-level stuff isn't it? It's sure not a required textbook."

"It's pretty interesting," Taylor smiled. "I found it in the library. They don't have the newer ones but I've asked if a later edition can be ordered. This will do for now, though."

"Planning on becoming a chemist after school, then?" Lucy inquired, interested. Taylor looked at her and shrugged.

"Not really, but I find chemistry really interesting. There are some cool things you can do with halogen compounds, and some of the reactive metals are neat. I need to find a reference on..." She broke off as the teacher arrived, casting a quick glance over the room then nodding before he shut the door and went to his desk. Closing the book and putting it back into her backpack, she shifted around as did her friends to face the front of the room and put an attentive expression on her face.

She could learn more about interhalogen compounds on her own time. Right now they needed to learn about fractional crystallization.

Lisa cackled to herself as she typed, Danny looking over her shoulder and grinning. "You're very good at this," he said admiringly.

"I was always good with computers even before I Triggered," she replied, pausing to think for a moment, then nodding a little as her power supplied the answer. "Afterwards, a lot of this sort of thing is so easy I can't believe it. And fun."

"And often criminal," he added.

"Well, true, but this is in a good cause, right?"

"It's not entirely impossible the law would disagree, but I suspect Director Piggot would find that viewpoint correct," he laughed, watching as she clicked a few times on the page she'd hacked into.

"Got it. OK, where should I transfer this to?"

"Here's a list," he said, handing her a notebook. She flipped through the pages with one hand, typing with the other, smiling darkly. At the end of it she grinned widely.

"That should cause the bastard some problems. Now, where are those documents?"

"Here you go," he said, handing her the paperwork she'd recovered from Lung, along with a stack of handwritten and printed notes on the research she and Danny had done on them. "This is the certificate of incorporation, this is… ah, yes, this is the legal ownership document."

"Great. I'll need that burner phone you got now."

Looking wildly amused, he handed her one of the stack of a dozen brand new disposable phones Zephron had arrived with an hour earlier. She cast a similar look back as she dialed a number pulled from the web, then cleared her throat. "Hello. My name is Andrea Hanson, legal representative for East Coast Heavy Construction, LLC. I'd like to talk to the person in charge of company registration, please."

Smirking a little, she lost herself in the joy of not only using her abilities for what could be considered in some circles 'good', but massively fucking Calvert over in the process. On balance, she felt it was a worthwhile use of her time.

As she spoke, Danny started laughing hard enough he had to leave the room before he caused any problems, nodding to her in respect on the way.

When she finished that conversation, she thanked the last person she'd talked to, disconnected, then dialed the next number on her list.

"Ah, good morning, I'm Jennifer Beadle, Accounts Manager at..."

It was going to take a while, but she had time, motivation, and a big mug of strong coffee.

And a score to settle.

"She looked right at me!" Lucy still sounded excited. The girl had been radiating pleased amazement the entire day. Amy met Taylor's eyes and smiled a little.

"I know, Lucy, we were all there," Eric said calmingly. "But I still say she was only looking in our general direction. It was probably a coincidence."

"I'm sure it wasn't," the girl insisted, pouting at him. He grinned and shrugged.

"Whatever you say, then. It was impressive whichever way it really was. Did you see it, Taylor?"

"I did," the Hebert girl affirmed, smiling back with a glance at Amy, who looked at her lunch to hide the sudden grin. "I was at the yard when it started, though. Did you guys have fun?"

"Fun. Yes, I think that's one way to put it," he replied thoughtfully. "After the terror, and surprise, and raw shock… It ended up being fun."

Amy giggled a little while Mandy grinned at her. "I sure had fun, I have to say. It was one of the best days of my life," she said. Mandy nodded back, looking around at the others.

"I'd have to agree. I still can't believe it, to be honest, but it really happened."

"A good day out for everyone, then," Taylor commented, idly stirring her beef stew with her spoon, then taking a mouthful.

Lucy propped her chin in her hands and stared into space with a wistful look. "A very good day. I wish I could see Kaiju again, it was the most incredible thing I've ever seen."

"I expect that may well happen, Lucy," Rich said without looking up from the newspaper he was reading. "It says here that she's going to be helping the DWU with salvaging all the sunken ships in the bay, not just cutting up that big one. There are apparently lots of them out there. Aside from the one she ate."

They all laughed at that. "It was pretty funny watching when she did that," Eric snickered. "The expressions on people's faces were amazing."

"I wonder if she'll snack on the ships she pulls out of the bay?" Mandy asked with a smile. "You know, one for me, one for you, one for me..."

Taylor looked at her, then Amy, who started laughing. "It's not impossible," the healer chuckled with a shake of her head. "She's got quite an appetite."

"You met her before practically anyone, didn't you, Amy?" Lucy asked eagerly. "What's she like? Other than enormous with a weird sense of humor."

"Well, she's fun to talk to, even if she does have a slightly odd view of the world," Amy replied after looking at them thoughtfully. Everyone watched her closely, Rich looking up and pushing the paper to one side. "You can't believe how big she is when you see her up close, it's much more impressive than it was from where she was standing in the bay. She came out of the water at the yard and lay on the concrete and you really see just how huge she actually is. I was standing only about thirty or forty feet from her head and her mouth is big enough to drive a car into."

Mandy shivered. "Weren't you scared?"

"Why should I be? She's a friend." Amy grinned at the others. Taylor was wearing a tiny smirk. "I doubt she'd hurt anyone unless they really provoked her. Neither of her sisters do, after all, and there's practically nothing you could do to harm her anyway."

"I wonder if there are any more of them?" Rich said thoughtfully. "Possibly even bigger."

"Didn't you see that video of Raptaur and Amy meeting Assault and Battery, Rich?" Lucy asked quizzically. "Raptaur referred to sisters and the way she said it implied more than Saurial and one other. I sort of got the impression she was talking about a number of them. Not to mention what she said about a big brother."

He shivered a little. "I'm really not sure I could handle something bigger than Kaiju. That was bad enough."

"I doubt they come much larger than that," Eric commented wisely. "She's already practically impossible."

Lucy looked disappointed, but cheered up rapidly. "Well, even if there are only smaller ones, I still want to meet them."

"Of course you do, Lucy," Mandy giggled. Everyone looked amused as Lucy sighed slightly, but shrugged.

"PHO has practically melted down," she said after a moment, smiling again. "I was reading it this morning at breakfast. The thread on Kaiju and Brockton Bay is at nearly ten thousand pages in total so far. They've had to split it into new ones four times, which as far as I know is really unusual. People all over the world are talking about us here."

"I'm not really surprised," Amy commented as she picked up a carrot stick and nibbled on it. "It's kind of a big deal."

"Very big," Eric chuckled. "Around eighty feet or so."

She glanced at him and grinned. "Yep."

Taylor asked, "Not to change the subject, but on a completely different subject, are you still going to look for a car after school, Amy?"

She nodded, smiling. "Yes, Mom is picking me up and we're going to look around the dealers for an hour or so before I go to the hospital. Hopefully we can narrow it down to something reasonable that I like, then she can give the dealer a hard time while I'm working."

Taylor and Mandy both laughed at her comment. "I can see where a car dealer might run into problems trying to con your mom out of money, Amy," Mandy giggled, "both from the 'I'm a high-powered lawyer, get out of my way' point of view, and the 'I'm a superhero, get out of my way,' one."

Nodding, Amy chuckled. "I think they might just give up and hand her the keys. Anyway, I'm still not sure what I'm looking for. I think I want something big enough to carry stuff around in, and take friends with me, but that covers a lot of ground. I don't know all that much about cars."

Eric looked thoughtful. "A station wagon, or a small SUV, maybe? Not the best fuel economy but they'd both do what you want. Or maybe a four seat pickup truck. Definitely not a compact, you'd get several people in one but then you wouldn't have much room for luggage."

Considering the suggestion, Amy slowly nodded. "An SUV might do it," she replied. "Nothing huge, but I know there are some nice medium sized ones."

"I'll write down a few models for you," he offered, pulling out a notebook and pencil. "I know a fair amount about cars, my dad is a mechanic. I've been around them all my life."

"Thanks, Eric," she replied, grateful. "That would help."

While he scribbled, she turned to Taylor. "Want to come along and watch mom scare car dealers? You haven't met her yet." They shared an amused look knowing that Carol had met her several times, just not as her.

"Sure, I'll call dad and let him know I'll be home later than usual after school. Thanks."

Taylor looked around at the group. "I was thinking about math lessons, if anyone is interested." Mandy instantly shot her hand up, then used the other one to lift Lucy's arm as well. Eric grinned, still writing, and waved his free hand in the air for a moment. Rich nodded, saluting her with two fingers. "Looks like everyone. I thought maybe tomorrow night? Everyone could come over after school and we could watch a movie, then I could see where you are and work out how to help you."

"Sounds good to me," Mandy smiled. "We can bring snacks and make it fun."

"Snacks are good," Taylor agreed gravely. "Sure, bring whatever you want. Dad will be fine with it. We could get some pizza in as well."

"Can I come?" a familiar voice said from the side, making them all look to see Vicky standing there appearing hopeful. "I suck at math."

"Sure, why not," Taylor agreed pleasantly. "I don't think I can handle more than that for the moment, but six people should be fine."

"Great. What time?"

"Um… Let's say about half past four to five, maybe? That should give anyone who needs to go home first time to do it then still get to my house." Taylor handed everyone other than the Dallons a scrap of paper with her address on it. "In case you didn't know where I lived."

"Thanks, Taylor," Mandy said with a grateful tone in her voice. "I really mean that. You're much better than I am at math, better than most people, and this will really help."

"It's no problem," the brunette smiled. "I think it will be fun. We'll see how it goes and work out how often we need to do it, but I'm glad to help."

About to say something else, she turned her head, as did everyone else in the cafeteria, to look at the doorway when someone ran in, stopped, held up a newspaper, and yelled, "The S9 are dead!"

"What?" The cry came from several places in the room as people looked at each other. Carlos and Dean jumped to their feet and hurried over to the girl who'd charged in, the former looking over the paper she held out to him, her finger on the main headline.

Amy stared, then looked at Taylor, who looked back.

"Didn't expect that," she commented with a small smile. "But I'd say it was good news."

Her friend nodded thoughtfully as she turned to look back at the scene at the door. Half the cafeteria was now gathered around the girl with the paper, who was reading the article out loud to them. Even most of the staff had gathered to listen, and everyone else in the room was watching from their seats including their own table of friends.

"So would I." Taylor thought for a moment, then smiled back. "Been a pretty interesting week so far and it's only Wednesday."

Snickering, Amy picked up her drink and sipped it while listening to the report, wondering who on earth Jake Petty was.

"I didn't expect that," Roy said with a look of shock. Danny nodded, both of them looking at the article on Roy's phone, him having been told by his secretary shortly after having arrived at the DWU facility. They exchanged a glance as he put the device back in his pocket. "But I can't say I'm sorry about it. I've had nightmares about those lunatics turning up in the city more than once. It's only a little less scary than an Endbringer in some ways."

Danny shook his head. "Please don't say things like that, Roy," he half-laughed, feeling slightly ill. "But you're right, I doubt anyone is going to mourn them. This Petty man did the world a favor, poor bastard. I'm glad they give his friends the reward and even more glad that they're passing his share along to various charities. It's a good memorial for the guy."

He frowned slightly. "Petty. I vaguely know that name. I have a feeling I might have met him once in a local machine ship, young guy, good with his hands. Didn't that news report say he'd been in Brockton Bay just after Christmas?"

"I think so, yes," Roy replied, pulling his phone out again and checking before returning it to his pocket. "Yes, says he visited family in New York, passed through Boston and Brockton Bay visiting friends since he worked here years back, then went home."

"Hmph. Odd coincidence. Oh, well, nothing that matters, I suppose." Danny sighed. "I wish the world didn't need people like him, but I'm glad it has them. Even under such awful circumstances."

"True enough." They resumed walking slowly across the yard, moving between groups of workers and machinery. "What did you think of the press conference?"

"I thought it went very well, actually," Danny replied with a smile. "I'm impressed you managed to keep talking so long without losing your voice. There were a lot of questions."

Roy snickered. "It's a gift. But yes, there sure were. Governor Scott did a damn fine job as well, considering he didn't know all the details until a few hours before. He's extremely happy with the way things are going." Glancing at the other man, he added, "He made vague noises about possibly wanting to hire Kaiju for similar work along the coast, and perhaps in Boston. He thinks there are several places where someone who can simply pick up a bridge or something like that and walk away with it would be a cheaper and quicker option than demolition teams."

Grinning now, Danny chuckled a little. "I'm sure she'd be up for it under the right circumstances. I can ask. But for now we should concentrate on this project."

"Definitely. He can borrow my sea monster when I'm not relying on her here," Roy replied with an amused look. Stopping at the edge of the cleared concrete area where the first of the warehouses had stood, he looked around. "Not much left now."

"No, it's going very well. We have a few dozen truck movements to go before all the remaining rubble is removed, then we resurface the entire area, install the capture and runoff zones for any leakage, bolt down foundations for a couple of fixed cranes, that sort of thing. All fairly straightforward." Turning on the spot, he indicated the various places that this would happen in. "The rail line over there is still being worked on, and we're extending it over to about here. We can cut the ships up and load the scrap straight into the rail cars as we go with those mobile cranes."

Nodding thoughtfully, Roy looked around with interest. "And the tanker itself?"

Moving to the edge of the enclosed area, Danny looked down at the muddy water many feet below them. "We've nearly finished pumping out the dry dock, that will be done by the end of the day. Then we need to drop ramps over to the deck and start the decontamination pumping, when that's done all the asbestos insulation and things like that need to be removed. That'll take… about six days or so, I think." He scratched his cheek as he thought over his notes and the plans. "Once that's done, Kaiju is going to cut the entire top off the ship and put it here on the shore, then remove the propeller shafts and propellers in one piece. They're one of the more valuable parts because of the metal they're made of."

"OK," Roy responded, looking at the huge ship with an evaluating expression as if he was picturing the scene in his mind. "Then she cuts up the rest?"

"Yes. It's going to get sliced into sections about fifty feet thick, like a huge cake, starting at the front and going to the back. Each section will get put on the shore with sufficient space between them to allow the crews to work on them separately. We have enough people to do about six at once. We're estimating that it will take three to four weeks to scrap and ship all the metal from this thing, at which point we should get enough cash back in to pay for everything to date with a reasonable profit. After that it should be self sustaining."

"Fantastic. It sounds like everything is coming along well."

"Your friend Phil certainly helped with the planning, his modifications to it will make it work really well over the next couple of years. Smart guy."

Roy smiled slightly. "He is, one of the smartest people I know. He's a good friend."

Danny nodded, having arrived at this conclusion himself the day before. "Is he still here in the Bay?"

"For the moment, yes, he's got some interest in seeing how things go, but he's heading back to Boston at the end of the week." They started walking along the shore back towards the DWU buildings. "He asked me to pass on how much he enjoyed the entire event and to suggest that perhaps you might like to visit him in Boston when you have time. He's got a couple of other projects, long term ones, he thought you might be interested in talking about."

Thinking this over, Danny eventually replied, "Please tell him that at some point I would like that, but not until we've got all of this project working properly. I'll have a lot to do and I don't want to lose momentum."

"I'll do that. He said you'd say that, actually. He seems impressed by you as well."

They shared a look of mutual understanding. "Nice to hear. Anyway, I'm going to have to get back to work. Give my best to Bev."

"I will. Keep in touch, Danny, and let me know if you need anything."

Roy shook hands with him, then walked off, heading back to his car. Danny watched him go for a few seconds before continuing on his way, wondering how far Lisa had got with the plan to cause dear old Thomas Calvert as much grief as possible.

He thought she was probably going to excel in this task, something he found very amusing.

"Mom, this is Taylor Hebert," Amy said, indicating her friend with a wave. Taylor smiled at Carol Dallon who inspected her closely, then smiled back, slightly coolly. "I asked her if she wanted to come and watch you make car dealers cry and she said yes."

Now laughing a little, Carol held out her hand, which Taylor shook. "I'm pleased to meet you, Taylor. Amy has told me about you, and to be honest considering the other friends she's made recently I'm glad to meet a normal person."

Giggling, Taylor looked sideways at Amy, who had turned around in an attempt not to be seen trying to avoid laughing. Her scent gave her away, as did the almost inaudible sounds as her shoulders shook for a moment. "I'm glad that someone considers me normal, Mrs Dallon," she replied politely. "Dad might have other words."

"I met your father yesterday, as it happens," Amy's mother replied as she opened the car door. "I was impressed, he seems to know what he's doing. We had an interesting time."

"He mentioned that," she smiled as she got in the back door, Amy climbing into the front passenger seat. As Carol started the car, she looked back over her shoulder.

"I assume you were in the crowds at the sea front? I saw a lot of people there who should have been in school, it looked like Arcadia at least gave up and let everyone out to watch."

"I was near the shore, yes," Taylor agreed with an internal smirk. Amy still smelled like she was trying not to laugh. "I though everything went very well."

"To be honest I'm amazed how well it went considering what could have happened if someone had over-reacted," Carol sighed, indicating left then pulling out onto the main road. "But luckily everyone was too stunned to react at first, then that insane giant lizard managed to make everyone just watch. Somehow."

"Über and Leet helped a lot, Mom," Amy commented with a smile of her own. Carol glanced at her, frowning somewhat.

"I'm forced to agree although I am unsure why, and I'm also not sure I approve. They are, after all, villains."

"They're OK guys," Amy said firmly.

Her mother gave her a longer look. "I hope you stay away from them, Amy, we have appearances to keep in mind." She met Taylor's eyes in the rear-view mirror. "It's sometimes rather annoying I'll admit, but as heroes, New Wave are always in the public eye," she explained. "We have to give the right impression, which can be a delicate juggling act."

"I understand," Taylor assured her. "I think being stared at in public would be really weird."

Amy was smelling amused again.

"You do get used to it eventually, and some people like our dear Vicky positively enjoy it," Carol sighed. "Possibly too much," she added in a lower voice.

"Vicky is certainly one of the most extroverted people I know," Taylor grinned. "I like her."

"She can be… an acquired taste," Carol admitted, although she was smiling as she said it. "Here we are, BB Used Vehicles, the first one on the list. Let's see what they have." She turned into the lot, parking the car and opening the door, while a somewhat overweight and rather too polished middle-aged man came out of the office and peered at them, a smile nearly as reptilian as one Taylor could produce appearing on his face when he spotted the shiny BMW. "Let me do the talking, girls," she warned as she got out.

Amy twisted around in her seat and looked at Taylor. They both grinned widely, then hopped out to explore the vehicles neatly parked around the lot, gleaming in the late afternoon light, while the owner of the business started smarming at an unimpressed Carol Dallon.