Approaching the barrier across the entrance to the DWU complex, Dean slowed, inspecting it and the buildings beyond. He hadn't been here before, only nearby a few times when chasing various gang members, and Skidmark once, so he'd never really stopped to think how large the place actually was.
It must have covered several tens of acres in total, at least, the yard area looking like it was being considerably enlarged, which made sense considering what he'd read and heard about the development proposal. There was a large quantity of shiny new chain-link fence around the entire new area, which was nearly big enough to make a decent sized airfield for light aircraft.
The two guards at the gate who were watching him with blankly intent expressions made him a little nervous. He could feel that they were very serious about their jobs, and could also feel several other people somewhere fairly close who were definitely watching the gate as well, although he couldn't see them. A couple were in the building facing him, and at least one was in one of the apparently derelict warehouses overlooking the gate.
Their emotions were muted and professional, focused on their job, reminding him a lot of some of the more experienced PRT troopers. Ones who'd seen combat and lived to talk about it. He recalled that he'd heard a significant number of the people working for the DWU were ex-military or the like and thought that these guys probably came into that category.
Drawing up to the gate, he rolled his window down. One of the guards came over and looked at his car, him, then walked around the vehicle once, before stopping at his window again. "Hi, I'm looking for Saurial?" he said tentatively.
"Go down the left side of the buildings there, all the way to the end, there's a turning on the right," the man said in neutral tones. "Go in there, you'll find the BBFO building. Knock and wait. Don't drive faster than ten miles per hour, please, and don't go anywhere else." He stepped back without another word and raised a hand, the other guard acknowledging his signal and opening the gate. Slightly taken aback at the brusque attitude, Dean drove through, looking at them in his rear view mirror to see they were now ignoring him completely, not even looking after him.
'That was… weird,' he thought to himself. Clearly Saurial, or Taylor, had been telling the truth when she said no one would ask questions, and as clearly she had considerable authority here.
Following the instructions he'd been given he slowly and carefully made his way towards the bay, finding the turn-off where he'd been told it was and driving in. Amy's new truck was parked outside one of the buildings, so he parked next to it, then got out, staring up at the sign. Reading it he couldn't help shivering a little at the last line, even though he'd seen it on PHO.
After a moment, he took a deep breath, figuratively pulled himself together, then walked over to the door and knocked firmly. He could sense Amy and someone else, probably female, inside, both of them feeling in a good mood. Very faintly he could feel Taylor's odd dual emotional signature as well. There were a number of other people in range in the buildings surrounding them, none of them apparently paying attention.
The unknown emotional signal, radiating good-natured amusement and curiosity, approached the door as he raised his hand to knock again. The door opened before his knuckles landed to reveal a very attractive green-eyed blonde girl with freckles who grinned at him as she ran her eyes over him. The amusement and curiosity both peaked as she called back over her shoulder, making him blush at her comment.
When she stepped out and waved him in with a laugh and a joke, he swallowed, then went inside the building, pushing the door shut once he was in.
Absently feeling her walk off, still amused, he looked around. To one side was a large pile of boxes and packaging material, which had apparently contained a large amount of pretty high-end computer gear based on the writing on it. In front of that was a large table with chairs around it. Amy was sitting in one of the chairs watching him curiously, while Saurial was standing near her looking at him as well with an intent expression.
"Come in... Mr Stansfield," the latter said in a low threatening voice. "We have been... expecting you."
Amy laughed in a dark and foreboding manner, then looked around with an annoyed expression. "Damn. I need a white cat to stroke to really sell it," she announced.
Saurial smirked at her then tossed her a stuffed white cat toy she'd apparently made from nothing. Snatching it from the air, the brunette girl put it on her lap and stroked it. "Ooh, soft. Very nice." She grinned, then went serious again. "Yes, your coming to us was... foretold... Mr Stansfield," she said in the same low and evil voice Saurial had used, replicating the slight hiss the reptilian girl had remarkably well. "Muah. Ha. Ha."
"Admittedly by you, so it probably doesn't count, but foretold nonetheless," Saurial said in a much more normal manner, grinning at him. "The Amy is right."
Amy threw the stuffed cat at the lizard-girl, who caught it without looking, then tossed it back. "The Amy is always right, scaly horror from beyond," Amy cried dramatically, waving the toy, then turned her chair around and put her feet on the table. "Well, almost always. Usually. Quite often."
Sighing, Dean shook his head and walked over to a free chair, sitting in it and finding it very comfortable. "You are both insane."
"Only a little. Feel better? Only you looked kind of worried when you came in," Saurial snickered, also sitting and putting her feet on the table. "What's up?"
Oddly enough, the silly greeting had taken the edge off his worry, although he still wasn't entirely sure this was a good idea. He looked around, taking note of the four huge monitors connected to an equivalent number of new high-end computer systems on a bench on the other side of the room, cables strung everywhere in a manner that made it clear he'd walked in on them in the middle of setting the equipment up.
Returning his attention to Saurial, who appeared content to wait patiently for him, he thought for a moment or two. "I need to find some things out before I end up joining you both in the craziness," he finally replied, making them both smile.
"I assume that nothing we discuss here will be repeated anywhere else?" Saurial asked, in a tone that suggested that 'Of course, why would you think otherwise?' was the only satisfactory answer.
With a nod, he replied, "I promise I won't tell anyone. You'll promise the same?"
"Yes. No one knows you're here and they won't hear it from either of us." Amy nodded silently in agreement. "We all have our reasons for wanting to keep our secrets, mostly good ones. Leaving aside the privacy aspect."
"It's mostly just personal interest anyway," he said, leaning back and looking at them both. "With a small amount of worry about what you can do. Although I doubt I could stop you anyway, and as far as I can see you're doing good things."
"I'm trying," Saurial smiled. "As well as I can. So, talk to me. What do you want to find out? I can't promise to answer every possible question for obvious reasons but I'll be as open as I can with you."
Thinking carefully again, working out the best approach, he finally decided to just go for it.
"I know who you are, obviously," he started.
"Obviously. I assume it was your emotion power?"
He nodded slowly. She gazed at him, then added, "Has anyone else worked out it lets you identify any cape you meet?"
Dean froze in worried shock, then very slowly shook his head. "Not as such, or at least the subject has never come up," he replied quietly.
"Told you," the lizard-girl said to her friend, who smiled a little. "They're everywhere, but no one realizes it, or at least admits to it."
"What are you talking about?" he asked, not understanding.
"When Amy and I first met I had the thought that there were probably lots of capes running around the place who had various ways to easily find out the identity of other capes, but because of the Rules didn't dare mention it and quite probably thought they were the only ones." She shrugged a little. "It's sort of a taboo subject, so I guess they try not to think about it in case it gets them into trouble if they let something slip. Your power is an obvious case if anyone actually thinks about what it does. I'd guess that a person's emotional mix is almost like a fingerprint?"
Staring, he finally nodded again. "Not exactly, but the basic idea is similar. From a distance it all sort of merges together into an emotional haze unless I really concentrate, but close up it's basically unique to a person, even if they're feeling different things at different times."
"Interesting," she replied, inspecting him. "That's more or less what I thought. So, of course, if you meet a cape in costume, you can identify them again if you meet them as a normal person. Or vice versa."
"Yes. Most of the time. There are a few it doesn't work well on, like Vicky, she's almost unreadable. Something to do with her aura." He looked at her closely, then as a thought struck him, turned to inspect Amy. "You can do it too, can't you?" he suddenly realized, some of the feelings she'd emitted during that conversation weeks ago coming back to him and now making sense. The girl looked and felt a little guilty, but eventually nodded.
"My healing ability gives me a huge amount of information about a person that I touch. I can always identify them again."
"Shit," he sighed. "And no one has worked it out for you either."
"Not that I know of, no," she said. "Except her." The brunette waved at Saurial, who smiled.
"How do you do it?" he asked. "I mean, you worked out who I was even before I worked out who you were that time in Arcadia. You looked and felt like you were going to go for my throat for a second."
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, Dean," the girl sighed. "I was new to all this, absolutely terrified about anyone finding out and going after my Dad because of it, and there you were, someone I'd met only days before, who already knew. I had no idea if you were going to go right to the PRT and spill everything. That wouldn't have ended well whatever happened." She shook her head a little. "I meant it when I said I'd deal permanently with any threat to my family, no matter where it came from. I still do. The family is bigger now, but the same thing applies."
"I was never intending to tell, I take the Rules seriously, and that part most seriously of all," he assured her.
"I know that now, and I believe you. Otherwise we wouldn't be talking like this. I've been watching you since then and I can tell you're not the sort of person to drop someone in it without a very good reason indeed. Amy says the same thing."
He looked at the healer, who spread her hands. "We may not be the best of friends, but I know a good man when I see one," she explained simply.
"Thank you, Amy," he replied.
"As far as how I do it, it's this, mostly," Saurial added, tapping her nose. He stared at her for a moment then slapped his forehead.
"Oh, Jesus, of course. Why didn't I see it? We knew you had enhanced senses, smell is an obvious one if you think about it."
She smiled. "No one seems to just work it out, though. Except her." This time she pointed at Amy, who grinned. "Everyone's scent is unique, and you wouldn't believe how good my sense of smell is. Way better than a bloodhounds. I can track you from miles away and I get a hell of a lot of information about a person from the scent. I can't help working this sort of thing out any more than you can, it's just something that happens. But like you, I'm not going to use that information unless there's a really good reason, like a threat to my family that I can't avoid any other way. I don't agree with some parts of the Rules but I'd be a total hypocrite if I relied on them to protect my dad then used someone's identity against them without cause."
"So you know the identity of practically every cape in the city?"
"Not really. I mean, I can remember the scents of all the ones I meet, and if I come across them out of costume it's obvious who they are, but I don't go out of my way to track them down for the most part. I know all the Wards except Vista and Shadow Stalker because you all go to school with me. Most of the rest of them I haven't met in their civilian IDs, but if I do I'll know who they are. The same situation as you, really. Except I can probably do it from further away."
He shook his head in mild awe. "Unbelievable. And terrifying."
"It's come in handy more often than you'd think."
She regarded him for a moment, before glancing at Amy and indicating the door with a motion of her head. The other girl got up and went to lock it, returning and resuming her former position without a word. Suddenly the normal figure of Taylor Hebert replaced that of Saurial, making him twitch slightly even though he knew intellectually she could do that. The speed of it took him by surprise.
"Crap, that's incredible," he muttered.
"Thanks." She seemed pleased.
"Why this entire act, the Family, all that stuff?" he asked.
"It wasn't something I initially intended," the girl replied. "And to be frank I'm amazed it's lasted as long as it has. I was sure people would work it out pretty quickly, if nothing else because there was only ever one of me running around at any moment. We came up with a vaguely plausible reason for that which I really didn't think people would buy, but they seem to. At least half of it was PHOs fault, of course, even the name." She looked at him with a smile on her face. "It's useful to me, protects my dad even better than I expected, and, of course, it's fucking hilarious."
Dean sighed, but couldn't help chuckling. "You and Dennis are a lot closer in outlook than I realized. He'd be rolling on the floor gasping for breath if he knew, it's exactly the sort of thing he'd think was the best joke ever."
"You have to admit it's a good one," Amy grinned. "On the entire world. And it's mostly their fault."
"I guess it is," he smiled. "You know, you're driving Director Piggot and the senior Protectorate people nuts with trying to work you all out. Right back at the beginning, when Vista and I went back and reported meeting 'Saurial' for the first time, Dennis suggested you might be a Changer, but Raptaur made that less likely in most people's minds, since there aren't all that many Changer abilities that could do such an extreme shift. Kaiju is so obviously impossible that no one would listen even if I did tell them. And they all have different enough personalities and ways of speaking that it seems more likely that they're different people anyway."
"So no one really thinks Changer any more?" Amy asked curiously.
He shook his head. "Not as far as I know. Saurial and Raptaur, yes if it was only them, I guess sooner or later it would seem a reasonable explanation for all the weirdness, only seeing one at a time, that sort of thing. Kaiju on top of it? That suddenly makes there being three of them much more plausible. All that stuff you keep telling people when they meet one or other of you just makes it more believable right now."
Taylor nodded, still grinning. "I wouldn't be surprised if when it does come out, assuming it ever does, that a lot of people would actually refuse to believe it. The conspiracy theories on PHO are amazing!"
"Dennis keeps reading them out to us and giggling, then adding fuel to the fire," Dean sighed.
"I may have helped him a few times," Amy confessed with a smirk. He looked at her, then sighed again.
"Why am I not surprised? You have a sense of humor that's at least as weird as his or Taylor's."
"It's a hobby," she shrugged. "A girl needs to keep occupied. And for a long time, trolling PHO was about the only thing I had other than healing or school. Kept me sane. More or less."
He studied her while Taylor giggled. "Your definition of sane may vary somewhat from mine," he finally said in a dry voice. "Yours too," he added, looking meaningfully at the Hebert girl.
"People keep telling me that," she replied in thoughtful tones. "I have no idea why."
"Sure you don't." The absurdity of the whole thing was making him less worried, and even somewhat amused.
"So all of this, the Family, Kaiju cleaning up the bay, BBFO, it's all to protect your father?" he asked after a short pause.
"That's how it started, definitely. After I... got my powers, things changed. A lot." Taylor leaned her head on her hands, elbows on the table, and regarded him seriously, the smile vanishing. "Pretty obviously, I guess. Dad was… we were drifting apart, after Mom died, you see. I didn't tell him about things I should have come clean about a long time ago, he was still grief-stricken about losing Mom, so was I… It wasn't a good time for either of us." She sighed sadly. "I'm still guilty about a lot of it, and I know he is too. It wasn't the fault of either of us, really, I know that, shit happens to good people and it can keep happening. But it affects you even if you're aware of it. For a long time I wasn't, not in so many words."
Dean listened, knowing something of what she was talking about. No one Triggered without some trauma in their recent past, often very bad. Which meant it was very rare for a Parahuman to talk about it at all. He certainly wasn't planning to think too hard about what had led him to gaining his own abilities.
"In the middle of all of that, something happened. I came out the other end of it with weird abilities even compared to normal Parahumans, if there is such a thing," she went on, talking slowly and obviously carefully, but thoughtfully. "I'm way more powerful than seems sensible. It terrified me. It still does. I'm only fifteen, for god's sake, what do I know about handling that sort of power? Sure, when I was little I dreamed of being a hero, lots of kids do. But… when it happens, suddenly you're dropped in at the deep end, and in a lot of cases things go horribly wrong."
He nodded, agreeing entirely.
"Luckily, for a number of reasons, it worked out. I realized I had to tell Dad everything. I did. He listened, we worked out a plan, and things started to get better. It brought us together again and put us both on a path to healing." Taylor glanced at Amy, then him. "We managed to get me into Arcadia, and as a result I made friends that I'd do anything for. For the first time in years I have people I trust completely, and who trust me. I've got some really good advice from people who know what they're talking about, I'm doing what I can to follow it, and I want to do what I can around here to make things better, without just fighting. Too many capes just end up wrecking ordinary people's lives, for example, even the ones on the side of 'Good', by doing that."
"Like Vicky, in a way," Amy put in soberly. "She means well, but for the longest time she just didn't think. I'm incredibly grateful she didn't end up killing someone by accident. It came close a few times and it was only a matter of time until it happened. It terrified me. But she met Taylor, or Saurial, got a demonstration of what could happen even to her, and one hell of a talking to from both Mom and Aunt Sarah. It changed her for the better, I think."
"She certainly seems to have matured pretty suddenly," Dean noted. "I'd wondered what was going on there, but I can't say I'm not relieved. She's even doing her best to get her aura under control."
"Taylor seems to have an effect on everyone she meets, half the time without even realizing it," Amy smiled. "I'm not sure why but I've certainly noticed it. Vicky grew up, to a degree. I got yanked out of what looking back was heading rapidly towards the same sort of depression that Dad has, only worse. Danny started to overcome crippling grief and has ended up being the sort of person Taylor has told me he used to be. Even my relationship with Mom has taken a massive turn for the better. As far as I can tell it's all Taylor's influence even though I'm not sure how a lot of the time. She's the common factor."
"I've noticed that Armsmaster seems weirdly happier recently in some peculiar way," Dean mused. "Although often very confused as well. He's met you as Raptaur, hasn't he?"
"Yes, we've talked quite a lot. I'm afraid I promised not to say what about, though," the Hebert girl replied.
"Even Director Piggot seems… different. Aside from looking a hell of a lot healthier thanks to you, Amy," he added, looking at the healer, who smiled a little. "I heard a rumor she had a heart attack and you fixed her."
"Pretty much, yes," Amy said. "I don't think she'll ever actually thank me for it, but it was a favor for a doctor I like, not her, really, so I don't care about that part."
"And I've gone from being depressed and close to suicidal to happier in general than I've been since Mom died," Taylor said with a shrug. "All in all things worked out pretty well, although I wish it hadn't been so painful on the way. Can't be helped, that's in the past. I can't say I regret the results."
They sat in silence for a bit while she let him think about what he'd learned so far. Eventually, she started talking again.
"I decided early on that while I was more heroic than villainous by a long way, I didn't want to be a 'hero' in the normal way. There was no way I was going to join the Wards, for example, not after thinking it over and talking to Dad. And for… other reasons. Luckily, I'm not at risk like a lot of teenaged Parahumans, there isn't much that can actually hurt me. I lucked out in that respect. But someone could hurt Dad, which was the thing I was worried about. I still am, of course, but things have changed enough that it's not so much of a problem. Sure, if someone did something to him, they'd die horribly, but that doesn't mean I want to let it happen if I can avoid it. I don't actually want to kill anyone. So I did everything I could to make sure no one could work out who I really am."
Dean shivered a little inside at the faint emotional trace she emitted. When she casually talked about simply killing anyone who harmed her father, she definitely meant it, and he was certain she'd do it without regret or pause. It was somewhat horrifying in someone so young.
"That's why I reacted like I did when I realized that you'd worked it out. I didn't know you except as Gallant and I had no idea if you'd keep quiet, or immediately report it to the PRT. I have some problems with them, so it worried me a lot. I kept an eye on you and I'll admit I may have deliberately tried to scare you a little at first to keep you honest." She smiled as he stared at her. "Apparently I was a bit more effective at that than I realized at the time."
"Just a little," he muttered. "I've been walking around for weeks wondering when huge teeth were going to lunge out of the dark at me. Seeing Kaiju scared the shit out of me, even compared to Raptaur. You wouldn't believe some of the nightmares I've had over the last month or so and you're in all of them."
The girl looked apologetic. "I really am sorry about that, Dean. I mean, I wanted to make sure you kept quiet, but I didn't want to worry you unnecessarily."
"Only necessarily," Amy snickered.
"Well, yes, I guess," Taylor said with a smile.
"You sure made your point. You can scare someone just by looking sideways at them even if they don't know the truth," he admitted, shaking his head. "I can't explain it, but fuck me you can get a dark air around you. Even worse than she can." He pointed at Amy, who looked proud. "Girls are scary anyway, girls that turn into giant alien killer lizards are horrifying."
Both Amy and Taylor looked at each other, then burst out laughing. "God, your voice went all squeaky there for a second, Dean," Amy giggled mirthfully. He folded his arms and stared at them until they finally stopped snickering. "Sorry. But it was really funny, the way you said it more than anything else," the Dallon sister grinned.
"I'm glad I can make your day," he said, scowling a little, but inwardly not unamused.
After a few more seconds of smiling, Taylor became more serious again. "That's basically how it started. Saurial was the form I came up with before the Family thing was a thing, I wanted something that wasn't too worrying so I wouldn't make people scream and run, but also something no one would connect to Taylor Hebert."
"You got the second part OK, but I'm not entirely sure you succeeded with the first one," he noted, making her shrug.
"I guess, but most people seem to end up dealing with it all right. Except criminals, for the most part. They seem to be a little worried."
"I've seen the videos you gave Chris," he retorted. "They're absolutely horrifying. Like something from an SF movie only worse. Chasing people around a store in the dark while you're running on the walls and ceiling is just wrong!"
Amy started giggling again, making him turn his head and give her a hard look, which didn't seem to help much.
Not paying much attention to her friend, Taylor went on, "Raptaur was what I came up with for actual combat, if it was needed, only scaled up from the original version by about double. Kaiju is a much bigger aquatic-optimized version."
He thought about it, nodding his understanding, then stopped as something struck him. "Hold on. You… came up… with all these things? They're not just alternate forms you have as a result of your abilities?"
"Nope. I'm basically completely free-form as long as it's more or less reptilian, sort of," Taylor replied, looking pleased. "It's not like Lung with a steady changing towards whatever form is his end stage. I just turn into whatever I want. Haven't figured out a flying one yet that's really viable but I'm fairly sure I'll get there in the end."
"Oh, Christ, that's all we need around here, a flying Saurial," he groaned.
"Hey, maybe she'll do a flying Kaiju!" Amy chirped, making him freeze, then stare in horror.
"Please don't," he begged. "Or at least, warn me so I can go on holiday first."
"I'm not sure it's possible to make something that large fly," Taylor said thoughtfully, with an expression that made him very worried. "The wing area requirement is a bit silly, unless I can make the density of the body lower..." She trailed off scratching her chin and appearing to think, staring into space reflectively. After a moment, while he was still trying to work out whether to start running now or not, she shrugged. "Too many other things to work on at the moment. Maybe over the summer."
She turned back to him, her head suddenly becoming a scaled down version of Raptaur's without any warning, which made him twitch violently. "But I can do pretty much anything, as I said. It's pretty easy now." She rippled through half a dozen reptilian heads on her otherwise human body, then held up a hand that changed through a whole series of variations on a theme. He stared open-mouthed. "I'm pretty versatile."
"That's so wildly understated it's not even funny," he finally managed to say in a weak voice, shaking his head. Reverting to a normal-looking teenaged girl, she smiled at him. "Can you go bigger than Kaiju?"
"A bit, yes," she chuckled, which made his heart jump again. "But the bay isn't the best place for it. Kaiju is about as big as seemed sensible. I'm still slightly amazed that people didn't freak out."
"The inhabitants of this city are used to weird shit, and also nuts," he sighed, still staring at her. "If they weren't, they'd have moved away a long time ago."
"Probably. Anyway, the whole tanker moving thing happened because I was swimming around out there early on and got curious about how easy it would be to move it. Turned out to be pretty straight-forward, it wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be. I talked to Dad, he thought it over, and it just sort of turned into this whole redevelopment plan. I started it but the rest of it is his work, the Mayor's, and a lot of people here. I'm just providing the muscle and some infrastructure."
She looked satisfied. "It's a lot of fun. It lets me use my abilities for helping a lot more people than I thought I'd be able to, without having to fight anyone. So far, anyway, aside from Hookwolf, although I suppose there's always the chance that some idiot will interfere again. We'll deal with that if it happens. I mean, I don't want to fight, but I know how and I think I'm pretty good at it."
"Don't forget Lung," Amy put in. Dean stared at her, then Taylor.
"You fought Lung?" he asked faintly.
"Oh, yes, didn't you know?"
He shook his head, not really able to say anything.
"He went after a friend of mine, so I had to do something about it. I had a go at him as Raptaur, but he regenerates so fast it was almost impossible to stop him without just killing him, which I didn't really want to do. So Kaiju had a word. We came to an arrangement and he left, more or less peacefully."
"She means, she threatened to eat him if he didn't go away and he believed it," Amy snickered.
Dean gave her a wide-eyed look, then transferred it to Taylor. After several long moments, he slumped a little in his chair. "You really are something bizarre, aren't you?"
"Apparently."
"Would you actually have eaten him?"
"If I had to, yes," she smiled, her mouth now full of glittering needle-sharp teeth which made him wince as he stared. "It's a permanent solution to the problem that works on most things. But it wasn't needed and I don't eat things I don't need to eat. Lung isn't really my problem as long as he stays away and doesn't cause trouble. Like I told Armsmaster and Miss Militia, I don't have any personal issues with the guy if he keeps away from my friends, and I'm not going to run around stomping every villain I can find just for kicks. Dad told me right at the beginning of all this that the Parahuman politics in this city are really delicately balanced, and he was right. If I start interfering too blatantly who knows what the result would be?"
"Total fucking chaos," he finally replied after thinking it over. "I see what you mean. If you take out the ABB, the E88 would just move in and take over, or else you'd have to just to keep them out."
"Exactly. Same with all the other gangs. I can quite possibly deal with any cape in the city one way or another, but I can't be everywhere or get them all at once. Not to mention if I tried, I could easily end up making things worse rather than better."
She sighed slightly sadly. "I'd like to, sometimes, when I see the news, but I really can't see any way that I could go on a wholesale forceful cleanup of the city without ending up starting something that could kill more people by accident than the damn gangs do on purpose. As long as I stick to taking out non-cape gang members hopefully the capes running the show will stay out of it. If I go after them, it would be a war. If they come after me, on the other hand, or anyone I'm protecting, I'll deal with it then."
Dean nodded his understanding, pondering her words. He couldn't really find a glaring flaw with them.
"Like I said, I can't practically speaking jump in and start chasing every villain in the city all by myself and shut the gangs down from the top. It's much better, we think, to try to remove their support from the other end. If we can get the economy of the city working better, get people good jobs and decent income, while Saurial deals with the street-level crime she comes across, a lot of the support for the gangs will hopefully dry up. The Merchants are probably the most vulnerable to that, in fact. Even if it doesn't work that well, Dad and the Mayor both think that a more prosperous city would even make the gangs treat it a little better, if only because they'd be able to skim more off the top. Kaiser is smart enough to work that out, and I think Lung probably is as well. He's not stupid."
"You've thought a lot about it," he commented, making her nod. He could tell from her emotional output, as faint as it was, that she was being truthful.
"I have. I've talked to Dad, I've talked to a lot of people here, and I've met more cops and members of the public in the last few weeks than the rest of my life. I respect what you do, and the rest of you guys, the PRT, the Protectorate, but it's not for me. Leaving aside the fact that I'm not exactly very PR friendly even as Saurial, I'd never be allowed to do most of what I do, and I don't really want them finding out everything I can do."
Taylor regarded him for a few seconds. "That's what I meant by my comment the other day, about Parahumans helping rather than fighting each other. It wasn't a dig at you or your friends, if you're wondering, I was only saying what I felt. I still don't understand why so many capes seem to end up fighting each other all the time, when a lot of them have abilities that would let them do all sorts of more useful things. Things I'd have thought were more fun as well. Even with all the annoying laws that get in the way."
"Which BBFO lets you go around," he said slowly, thinking over her words. She was right enough, there were a hell of a lot of cape fights, many of which were pretty pointless in the long run. But that was life, really.
"Yep. That was Dad's idea, he didn't tell me about it at all until it was ready, just handed me some papers and had me sign them out of the blue. It was sort of funny, going in and out of the DWU offices as different versions of myself to get them all signed up as DWU members. I've got three memberships at the moment." Taylor looked amused again, something she seemed to do a lot. He was forming the opinion that while she was probably the scariest person he'd ever met, she might well also be the happiest.
She looked around the building with an air of pride. "We've got all sorts of ideas for things we can do here. We're still setting things up, as you can see," she said, waving at the half-assembled computers. "But there are a lot of ideas for ways to make some money, and give Parahumans we hire some way to earn a living that doesn't necessarily involve risking their lives in idiotic fights over territory or whatever. Pretty obviously there will be loads of them that aren't interested, but some will be, I think. We subcontracted Amy's family for security on Tuesday, for example, and they seem open to doing it again if needed."
"I heard about that," he said. "It was quite a lot of money that they made for an afternoon's work."
"They earned it. Just their presence definitely kept things calmer than they might have been, and if anything major had happened, they'd have been a massive help. There wasn't much I could do while I was pulling that ship, and the police were stretched pretty thin, even with about three quarters of the people here helping with crowd control. We needed the extra help."
"And after some convincing, even Mom agreed it was a good deal in several ways," Amy added, having been listening quietly the whole time. "The new costumes helped a lot. They're worth way more than the cash was. Hundreds of thousands of dollars each on the open market, probably."
"Are you planning on selling things like that?" he asked curiously.
"I'm not entirely sure right now," Taylor replied. "I want to concentrate on getting the redevelopment plan working first. Once the tanker is being scrapped, and I've cleaned up the sunken wrecks, it should be self-sufficient and won't actually need me as much. I don't want everyone to be dependent on me as the only reason it all works. Although I like helping out, of course. After that part is done, and everything is running smoothly, I'll have time to look into all sorts of other ideas. We have quite a list of them so far. Lisa came up with dozens all by herself."
"Who is she?" he asked.
"Dad's assistant. She's a very smart and talented girl, he trusts her a lot even after only a few days working here." Taylor glanced at Amy, who was smiling. "We both like her as well. But yes, costumes are probably something we'll get into. I was also thinking about body armor for police, the PRT troopers, that sort of thing. I've made a few prototypes for the DWU security people, but I haven't had time to really look into that either yet."
"If I could afford it I'd be interested in something tougher myself," he noted.
She looked at him, then shrugged. "We can probably come to an arrangement at some point. Assuming you're not still terrified of me."
Amy chuckled, while he returned her shrug, smiling a little. "Being terrified of you is only common sense. I'm a lot less worried about you, though."
Taylor's eyes were mirthful, but she nodded regally, keeping her face emotionless. "I can accept that answer."
"So you've got Saurial as your street-level skirmisher, Raptaur as your heavy combat form, and Kaiju as your wrath-of-the-gods Endbringer-eater," Dean said after a moment, scratching his head.
"More or less. Kaiju is too powerful for most threats. If I really cut loose in that form, you wouldn't believe what I could do. It worries me. But on the other hand there are very few threats other than the Endbringers where I would really need to." Taylor leaned on her fist, propping her elbow on the arm of the chair smiling a little. "Just glaring at people and licking my lips is probably enough for most purposes. Mainly, she's for heavy construction and marine salvage, not warfare."
"Are you going to introduce more members of the family to an unsuspecting city?" he asked with slight hesitation. She glanced at Amy, both of the girls sporting identical sly grins for a moment. "Oh, god." He could feel suppressed hilarity coming from them. "Why did I ask? I didn't really want to know the answer."
Snickering, Taylor replied, "There will be other Family members turning up from time to time. When it's appropriate. Or funny."
"This city has no idea what's going to happen, does it?" he asked rhetorically. "Even with everything that's happened up until now."
The girls both laughed a little. "It's going to be fun," Amy smiled.
"For you, probably yes," he moaned. "For sane people, perhaps not."
"There are no sane people in Brockton Bay, you said it yourself," Taylor pointed out in a reasonable tone. "They all left years ago."
All three were silent for a little while. Eventually she asked, "Is that enough to make you less freaked out?"
"I could probably keep asking questions for the rest of the day, but I'm not sure I could take a lot of the answers," Dean sighed. "Like I said, I'm a lot less worried, though. Thank you for talking to me like this. It's still weird as fuck, but I think I can handle it better now. It was driving me nuts."
"I hope your nightmares stop as well," she said, looking and feeling somewhat guilty. "I honestly never intended for it to go that far. All I want to do is make sure that my family and friends don't end up paying the price of me having these abilities."
"That's understandable, I think almost all Parahumans feel the same sort of thing," he told her. "That's the point of the Rules, at least in part. Most of the time they work."
"Not always, though," Amy said. There was a wave of sympathy from Taylor at the same time he felt sadness from the Dallon girl. Knowing the family history, he nodded soberly.
"No, not always. So I can't blame you for doing everything you can to keep your Dad safe, even if it's kept me awake at night for weeks."
"Sorry about that," Taylor smiled. "I'll make it up to you somehow. A free upgrade to your armor or something like that."
"That would be nice," he smiled back. After a moment, the single burning question he still had made the smile go away slowly. She raised an eyebrow, looking at him curiously.
"You still have something on your mind," the girl said. "Ask, I promise I won't bite. Although I can't promise to answer, like I said."
Inspecting her he saw she seemed sincere. Eventually he sighed. "OK. The thing I noticed the very first time we met, the thing that makes your particular emotional output so memorable and also weird… You have two distinct outputs at the same time." She raised the other eyebrow, looking at Amy for a moment, then back to him. "I've never encountered anything like it. One of them seems much older than the other, which is just strange. And they're both much fainter than normal, I mean, much fainter, I can barely read you compared to Amy, for instance. The even weirder thing is that it's still getting steadily fainter, I think that in about a month or so I won't be able to read you at all."
He stopped, looking at her while she studied him. "Interesting," she finally said. "Very interesting. Your talent is a lot more effective than I expected."
"What does it mean?" he asked.
She kept looking at him for a few seconds, then finally answered, "Parts of it I can't tell you, I'm afraid. It's… both complicated and private. But, when I got my abilities, I sort of also got… hmm, call it a built in help system. It's more complicated than that but it's also really difficult to explain properly. I think you're picking that up. My brain isn't… entirely normal… any more, either. That probably accounts for the faint output, along with some built in defenses which are most likely slowly adapting to block your power."
Taylor looked at Amy, who nodded, looking thoughtful. He also looked at the healer. "I can confirm her brain structure is anything but standard, her powers fiddled around with it quite a lot," the other girl said. "It's uncommon but it happens. Some powers need to make some pretty big changes." She felt like she was being honest, but at the same time omitting things, which didn't surprise him. It was obvious that she wasn't going to do or say anything that would hurt her friend. It didn't really matter, the exact details of the Hebert girl's brain structure weren't anything he needed to know about or could understand if she told him anyway.
"I see." A thought struck him, making him quickly look back to Taylor, then snap his fingers in triumph. "That explains it!"
"What?"
He answered the curious query from both girls. "Miss Militia noticed it immediately, and Armsmaster also said something about it. Your fighting abilities are way too good to be something you only learned in weeks or months. She said it was like you'd been fighting for years. But if your powers did give you the skills as well as the ability, it explains everything about that part of it."
"I… suppose that's as good a way to put it as any," Taylor replied slowly.
"I know that sort of thing does happen, but it's rare," he went on. "We talked about it and couldn't come to a firm conclusion. But it makes sense. Huh. Yet another weird thing about you."
"I specialize in weird," she grinned.
"That, I don't doubt."
Dean leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. He was still very curious, he'd been honest when he'd said he could ask questions for hours, but a lot of them were a bit personal and he was pretty sure he wouldn't get an answer, which to be honest was fair enough. Her abilities were scary as fuck, but based on everything she'd said, everything he'd read from her while she was saying it, and the reactions from Amy during the whole process, he was now more or less convinced that she was neither a threat to him or to the city.
Although there were a lot of villains who were probably desperately wishing they'd never heard of Saurial, Raptaur, or Kaiju.
Especially Kaiju.
"So, are we good?" she asked after politely letting him think for a while. "Have I made you less afraid of the dark?"
"It's not the dark, it's what's in the dark," he quipped, causing her to smile again. "But yes, I think I can live with that. It's taken a huge weight off my mind. Added a few smaller ones, of course, but life isn't perfect."
"All too true. And you're not going to tell anyone?" She looked intently at him. Amy was also watching with an unnerving intensity, he noticed when he looked at her for a moment.
He swallowed a little. "No. Like I said, I believe in the Rules, leaving aside the fact that I have no intention of getting anyone like you sufficiently annoyed with me that sudden overwhelming hunger makes an appearance. I needed to know, before I ended up going crazy, but I'm not going to pass it on. I won't say a word to anyone, I promise."
"Thank you. Neither one of us will tell anyone you were here either, and I'm not going to use anything I know about your identity or those of your friends, like I said." She leaned over and held out her hand. "Friends? Or at least, friendly acquaintances."
He grasped it and shook it. "I think friends, eventually. When I can get over the slight terror I feel every time I think about what you can do."
Snickering, she released his hand and stood up, as did he. "It was interesting talking to you, Dean," she said as she turned back into Saurial which still made him stare. "If you need help that I can provide, let me know. I do owe you a mild favor in return for scaring you so much. And when I decide what to do about costumes, I'll let you know."
"Thanks for being so open with me," he replied. "I know I was pushing the Rules a little, but..."
She waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, I don't mind. You had legitimate concerns. I'll see you at school. Have a good weekend."
Dean walked to the door with her beside him, watching as she unlocked it. "I'll have a better one now I can sleep properly," he grinned. She laughed as she pulled the door open. "Nice truck, Amy," he called back to Vicky's sister who was watching from her chair.
"Thanks," she called back, looking pleased. Nodding to Taylor's scaly alter-ego, he left the building, hearing the door shut behind him, then got back into his car and started it. Sitting for a moment looking at the BBFO sign, he shook his head in wonder, then slipped the vehicle into drive and did a U-turn, slowly heading back towards the entrance.
On the way he passed the blonde figure of the girl Lisa, who smiled at him in a knowing way, then waved. Wondering how much she knew of all this but also knowing it was best not to find out, all things considered, he kept going but waved back. As he approached the gate the guards opened it without apparently looking at him, then closed it again when he drove through without stopping. Impressed with their efficiency and discretion, he accelerated to the maximum speed his suspension could handle on the pot-holed road, wanting to get something for lunch before his stomach collapsed in on itself.
All in all, he was a much happier man than he'd been when he'd been driving the other way.
Still very puzzled in some ways, but happier even so.
And not quite so scared of the dark.
Taylor looked at Amy, who looked back, then smiled. "That went fairly well," the other girl said.
"I think he's a lot less worried now, definitely," Taylor sighed, going back and slumping into her seat. "He smelled terrified when he got here, like he was about to be executed or something."
"Poor guy didn't look too good, either," Amy said. "But he seemed to deal with the answers you gave him pretty well."
"It calmed him down a lot. I don't think he'll tell anyone."
"He won't. Like I said, for various reasons he's not really a friend, but I do trust him. He's one of the genuine good guys. Like Legend, in a way." Amy seemed sure of herself.
Nodding, Taylor looked over at the computers that were half set up. "Let's get these things sorted out, Lisa should be back..."
The door opened, revealing the blonde girl, who grinned widely at them.
"...right about now," Taylor laughed as Lisa entered and locked the door behind herself.
"When we've finished putting these in, what next?" Lisa asked, walking over to them.
Amy glanced at her workroom. "Beta test?"
"Sounds like a plan," Taylor smiled, also looking in that direction. "Definitely sounds like a plan."
All three of them exchanged a look, smiled eagerly, then got to work.
There was, after all, mad science to be done. Although it was only really mildly deranged science.
So far...