"That's interesting," Paul commented, looking at the updated Leviathan tracking data. It showed that twice in the last few days, the Endbringer had left his holding pattern, moving a hundred or so miles in the first case, then about half that in the second, in different directions. Both times he had then hung around the new position for a little while before returning to his original area.
"We think it must be due to Kaiju going on trips from the Brockton area and him doing the same thing we've noticed before," Dragon said. "He's moving to stay as far away from the Family as possible, and still appears to be splitting the difference between the ones in the city and whichever one it is that's out in the ocean. Based on that, it would seem that she went down to a position off the continental shelf, about here, which is interestingly the closest point to the city that the shelf comes. Then, the next trip was around half that distance due east, with a short stay before the return."
The armored Tinker put a marker on each location, showing the first one was in water over seven thousand feet deep, the second being in much shallower water at about six hundred feet or so.
"Is there anything that stands out about either location?" he asked. Both Dragon and Colin shook their heads.
"No, not that we can determine," the latter said. "No shipwrecks on record, nothing particularly unusual about the environment. I'd say it was purely random aside from the first one being the closest very deep water. But… can we be sure that the Family ever does things at random? Or do we simply not understand their motivations yet?"
"That's true," Paul mused, looking at the screen. Eventually he sighed faintly. "Well, it seems we have a rough and ready way to track Kaiju's movements to some degree, even if we don't know why, how, or what she's doing when she's not in the city. Although I have to say that using an Endbringer as a locating system is… bizarre."
"It's not the first thing that I would have thought of," Dragon replied with a laugh in her voice. "But it does seem to work. Although..." Both men looked at her. "I've been wondering about Umihebi. If this is from Leviathan reacting to Kaiju, why isn't he reacting to Umihebi in the same way? She's swimming around out there, I'd assume, since we haven't had any contact with her since the loss of the probe, and a two hundred foot long sea serpent is quite noticeable. If she was anywhere close to land, or even on it, I'd have thought that someone would have said something by now."
She waved at the monitor. "Yet if she is wandering around out in the Atlantic, why isn't he moving around as her mirror image like he does with Kaiju?"
They considered the question for a while.
"Perhaps," Colin said after a few seconds, "her tracking countermeasures are good enough to block him from finding her like he can with the others? We know she managed to totally drop off our own sensors after the first interception attempt but we still have no idea how. It may be that she's been running silent ever since."
Dragon nodded thoughtfully. "Possible, I suppose."
"Or she's in the bay somewhere," Paul suggested, making both of them look at him. Colin's eyes were rather wider than normal, making him think that the man still wasn't over his feelings about the enormous creature. It was obvious that the loss of the probe had caused him a certain amount of worry.
"I wish you hadn't said that," Colin muttered, looking back to the monitor. "I'm not sure that I like the idea that there's something that makes Kaiju of all people look small lurking around possibly only miles away from here."
"Or perhaps closer than that," Dragon remarked, sounding amused at her friend's reaction. "The silt at the bottom of the bay is pretty deep in some places. Maybe she's buried in it, and could be right next to the Rig."
Colin shuddered. "Please don't make jokes like that," he requested.
"She did, after all, get Danny Hebert that fragment of my probe," the Canadian went on, sounding like she was trying not to laugh. "We assumed that one of the others gave it to the man, but perhaps she climbed out of the bay in the DWU yard, completely invisible, and just gave it to him personally."
Paul turned away, his lips twitching, while Colin paled a little. "I think that may be taking speculation slightly too far, Dragon," he said after a few seconds of bringing himself under control. She looked at him and he could tell from her posture that she was also trying not to laugh.
"I suppose so," she replied. "An invisible sea serpent is even less believable than a sea serpent is in the first place."
"And wildly more worrying," Colin grumbled. "Can we leave this topic for now? It's not as important as the upcoming Endbringer attack."
"Very true," she laughed, patting his shoulder. "Sorry, Colin, sometimes my sense of humor get away from me. You're probably right, it could well be that she's able to block Leviathan's ability to track the others. It makes sense, as much as any of this does. Although it means we have no idea where she could be."
"It doesn't really matter right now," Paul put in. "Umihebi seems to work on the same Family basis of leave her alone and she leaves you alone. I'd like to look into this at some point, but now isn't the time." Colin nodded firmly, closing the tracking display program with a twitch of a finger.
"I agree entirely. Shall we discuss the proposed wormhole facility?" He sounded like he wanted to say please at the end of the sentence.
"All right. I've looked over your initial design and it all looks good," Paul replied, moving over to the work table which had a set of plans unrolled on it and held down in the corners with small odds and ends from the pile of random Tinker things scattered around. "I like the idea of making a system to allow the rest of us to use the device without radiation damage. The EDM tunnel seems a very simple but effective solution to the problem."
"It'll need to be tested carefully. There is a slight possibility that the gamma radiation I measured during Raptaur's transit of the wormholes during testing is an inherent property of whatever it is that lies between the two ends. If that is the case it might not get blocked by a shielded tunnel. However, I don't think that's very likely. My current understanding of the wormhole mathematics puts it at a very low, but non-zero, possibility." Dragon looked at the plans from next to him, Colin moving around to the other side.
"Raptaur or Kaiju can easily make the parts we need, and line the building with very thin EDM. We can add a good security system, I can supply all the computers and control systems needed, and so on. I've got a transport on its way here at the moment with the required equipment on board and I've started a small production run of electronics for the wormhole generator."
"I'm both impressed and pleased that you two were able to duplicate it so quickly," Paul commented.
"Without the aid of Leet, Über, and Raptaur, we couldn't have," Colin pointed out. "Raptaur's ability to so precisely duplicate the mechanical components in materials that strong and exotic would be very hard to replace, and even if Leet can't rebuild the device himself, his knowledge of how it went together was invaluable. Über's power and inherent intelligence made him a vital part of the group as well, he certainly reduced the amount of time needed by many hours and possibly days."
"We had quite a formidable team there, I agree," Paul smiled. "Hopefully the two young men will see the benefits of being more law-abiding and come around to our side of the equation."
"That is pretty likely," Dragon chuckled. "Almost guaranteed, in fact, based on my own talk with them and Raptaur. Although I think they're still going to have a predilection for… odd things."
"In Brockton Bay, that goes without saying," Paul replied, smiling more widely. "Good. I find that I actually like both of them a lot more than I expected. It would be nice to have them on the side of the angels. Or us, anyway."
They went back to talking over the design of the building and the facilities they'd need, all of them suggesting changes and taking notes. It was slowly coming together into something very useful, he felt.
"How is your truck doing, Amy?" Eric asked, looking over at the Dallon sister as he sat down.
"Very nicely, thanks, Eric," she smiled. "I love it. I'm making a list of upgrades I want to get, but it's fun to drive, comfortable, handles well, and carries a lot of stuff in the back."
"I'm glad it's working out for you," he chuckled.
"By a lot of stuff, do you mean giant lizards?" Mandy grinned. Amy nodded, making Taylor smile as well.
"Not exclusively, but that's useful. You never know when you might need to have a spare giant lizard in an emergency."
"Have any of the Family other than Ianthe been in it with you?" Lucy asked, looking very interested.
Amy glanced at Taylor, who was inwardly very amused. "Saurial has been in it," she said, "but Raptaur is probably a little too heavy."
"And Kaiju could barely get her index finger inside it," Mandy noted with a smirk.
"That's true," Amy laughed. "Saurial was complaining that the seats aren't made for people with tails. It's not something I ever really considered up until recently, but she has a point."
Lucy looked interested, smiling slightly. "It must be a little awkward to have a tail that large around normal seats and things. I hadn't thought of that. Other than sitting down, I wonder if she has problems with other day to day stuff?"
"Doors might be an issue," Rich said thoughtfully. "I can't imagine getting your tail caught in a door is wildly comfortable."
"Rocking chairs, maybe?" Mandy suggested with a giggle. "Like the old proverb about cats and rocking chairs."
"People could trip over it," Amy pointed out, casting a look of evil humor at Taylor. "Someone with a tail should probably keep it out of the way of other people."
"I would think they'd pretty much have to," she replied, looking back with amusement. "If nothing else because some people don't look where they're walking."
"Well, even if it's a little awkward, I like her style," Lucy said firmly. "I like Saurial, period."
"I'm sure she likes you as well, Lucy," Mandy assured her with a grin. "You defend the family on PHO like a rabid rottweiler. Or perhaps a rabid iguana. IguanaGirl."
Lucy looked embarrassed now. "Reptiles can't get rabies," she said in a quiet voice, staring at her plate. "And I like the Family, they're nice people. All the ones I've met are really cool."
Mandy put her arm over her friend's shoulders. "I know, I'm only teasing. I like them too. Probably not quite as much as you do, but..."
"Hardly anyone likes reptiles as much as Lucy does," Eric said. Lucy looked sideways at him, then smiled again.
"I do like reptiles," she replied.
"We all are very well aware of that, Lucy," he laughed. "I suspect the Family is as well. Don't worry, I think you're right, they're good people."
"Do you want to come to the DWU yard and meet Raptaur with me?" Lucy asked. He nodded, smiling.
"Why not, it could be fun." Looking around the table, he added, "Anyone else going to come?"
"I will," Mandy immediately said. "I have to protect my best friend from the giant lizards. Or possibly protect them from her."
Lucy frowned at her, making the other girl giggle again. "I'd like to come as well," Rich added.
"Like Danny said last night, I'm happy to take you if you want," Amy said. "But he'll want to know if your parents are OK with it."
"Mine are," Lucy smiled. "I asked Mom as soon as I got home."
"I just bet you did, probably before you took your coat off," Mandy laughed. Lucy nodded, grinning.
In the end they had all got permission to visit the DWU. Amy nodded, looking thoughtful. "OK. I'm going to the yard later this afternoon, Metis and Kaiju will be there doing some work on the tanker, and Raptaur will probably turn up as well at some point. Why don't you guys come with me? We can show you around and you can watch Kaiju at work close up for a while, then I can give you all a lift home afterwards, or your parents could pick you up."
Lucy looked excited, as the others exchanged glances. "I don't have anything particular planned for after school," Rich mused. He looked at Taylor, who was watching her friends with inner pleasure. "Are you going to come?"
"I can't, I'm afraid, I have a lot of studying to do still." She shrugged, smiling a little at him. "Busy all the time, making up for two years of lost work at Winslow." This was partially true, she still had gaps in her scholastic record, but she was filling them up at a significant rate, and was far ahead in mathematics and physics.
"That's a pity." He smiled back. "Are we going to have another tutoring and movie session at your house soon?"
"Sure, if you want, I'd like that," she replied. "Maybe Friday?" Everyone thought about it, then nodded. "Hey, Vicky," she called, turning around in her seat towards the table the Wards and the blonde girl were seated at, all of them talking about something. Amy's sister looked over. "You up for another tutoring session on Friday?"
Vicky thought for a moment, then nodded with a thumb up. "Count me in."
"Great." Turning back, Taylor smiled. "Good, I'll tell Dad tonight. Have fun at the yard. Give Kaiju my best, Amy."
Her friend smirked at her, obviously also finding the entire thing hilarious. "I'll make sure to do that, Taylor."
"Amy, have you actually met Metis yet?" Lucy asked as she picked up her can of soda and opened it. She looked eagerly at the healer. "I was reading about her this morning when I got up. There was quite a lot on PHO about her, but no one seems to know very much yet."
"I've met her, yes," Amy smiled. "She's nice too, different from Ianthe, but also very smart and interesting."
"What's the relationship between them all?" Eric asked curiously.
"Saurial, Raptaur, and Kaiju are sisters, Ianthe and Metis are cousins of theirs, and I think also sisters. They look very similar, the same green eyes and overall shape, but Metis has black scales with a red effect, unlike Ianthe's violet-blue scales, and her tail looked longer as well."
"Can they both heal? Someone on PHO claimed they could." Mandy looked fascinated. "Two new healers in the city is pretty big."
"Yes, they can both do it," Amy confirmed. "I took Ianthe to the hospital after we met on the Boardwalk, they let her heal some patients while I monitored it. They're very pleased to have access to a new healer, or two, now, and it makes me happier as well."
"That's good. I'm glad you're not working yourself to death these days," Mandy smiled.
"So am I," Amy replied with a faint sigh of relief. "I hadn't realized how bad it had gotten until Taylor and other people managed to drag me away from it. Thank god they did. I've been a lot happier since, and making friends with all of you guys is a big part of that."
"Any time, Amy," Rich chuckled. "We like to do our part to help the local Parahumans stay sane. Well… as sane as they get, anyway." He grinned at her as she rolled her eyes, then laughed.
"Which isn't very, I know. Fair enough. Thanks all the same." He raised his glass of apple juice in an ironic salute to her, then drank from it.
The six teenagers continued with their lunch, talking and laughing, while Taylor reflected on how much fun she was now having with life. She could see that Amy felt the same and was eager to get back to Family matters.
Chris looked up as Dennis came back to their table, sitting down hard and putting his head in his hands. He and his friends shared a concerned glance. The red-head had left the cafeteria a few minutes ago muttering about needing to make a phone call, and now looked like he was almost ready to cry. It was an unprecedented expression on the normally impossibly upbeat young man's face.
"What's wrong, Dennis?" he asked after a few seconds. There was no response, so he reached out and poked his friend in the shoulder. "Talk to us, man. What's the problem?"
"It's my dad," the boy finally said, sighing heavily. "They got the results of the latest test back. The new treatment failed."
Chris looked at Carlos and Dean, who both looked worried. Vicky seemed a little confused, which made him realize that she probably didn't know all that much about Dennis' father's illness, since he didn't talk about it unless he had no choice.
"What's wrong with your father, Dennis?" the blonde asked softly, leaning closer to him.
"He's got cancer," the boy muttered, which made her eyes widen and her face pale a little. "He's had it for years. We thought it was in remission but it flared up again recently, the tumors came back. They gave him some powerful chemotherapy drugs that the doctors were hopeful would help, but they did some tests last night and got the results back this morning. It's not working."
"I didn't know that," she said, sounding shocked.
"I don't talk about it, it's… not something I like to think about," he explained, looking sideways at her. "It's been going on for so long now that… I guess it's just part of my life." His snort of laughter rang hollow. "It might not be for much longer."
Taylor listened to the red-head with a blank face, concerned on the inside. She liked the Ward, aside from anything else, and cancer was horrible even leaving that out of it. She glanced at Amy, who had stopped with her fork halfway to her mouth, her head tipped a little to the side. It acted as confirmation to her that her friend had made a few more modifications than she'd admitted to, clearly having boosted the sensitivity of her hearing even in her normal human body.
Taylor suspected that she'd probably tweaked her eyesight and sense of smell as much as possible as well. She was aware that Amy was constantly fiddling with her symbiote trying new things, and better senses were an obvious one. She'd probably done it the last time she was in Ianthe. It undoubtedly paled into insignificance against her own senses, but was likely far better than an unaided human could manage.
After Dennis had finished explaining about his father's illness, Amy met her eyes. She could see that the girl felt guilty about not knowing the truth of the red-headed boy's father's illness and doing something about it.
"You had no idea," she whispered very quietly, too quietly for any of their friends to notice. "It's not your fault."
"I can fix him."
"I know you can, and I know you will. But don't beat yourself up, if you don't know about it, you don't know about it."
Amy nodded a little after a moment, putting her fork down. She looked over at the other table, where her sister had her arm around Dennis' shoulders, the boy looking very upset. Vicky met her eyes, then motioned with her head.
Glancing at Taylor, Amy smiled a little. "I'll see you later, guys," she said, pushing her tray away. "Help yourself to anything you want here, I'm done with lunch." She stood, heading over to the other people.
Taylor and her friends watched her go. "What was that all about?" Mandy asked curiously.
"Amy's needed for something she's really good at," Taylor said, snagging her friend's dessert before Eric could get it. "Don't worry about it. She's just helping a friend."
"She's a good person," Lucy smiled. "Just like Saurial, I understand why they all get on so well."
Smiling to herself, Taylor watched Amy walk over and lean down next to Dennis, the tail that only she could see twitching back and forth as she spoke quietly to the boy. Satisfied that things would work out, she went back to eating and listening to Eric tell a long, complicated, and very funny anecdote.
"I wish you'd said something, Dennis," Vicky said quietly. "I had no idea about your father."
"Like I said, I don't talk about it." The boy sighed heavily. "These guys know because we've spent so much time together over the years. But I don't go out of my way to tell people."
"I'm your friend too," she said, putting her arm over his shoulder. "You can trust me with things like this. And there's another thing you're forgetting."
"What's that?" he asked, a little sullenly.
She smiled at him. "My sister is the best healer in the world."
He looked at her, then down at the table. "I didn't want to bother her with it, she's so busy all the time."
"That was old Amy, and aside from anything else, it's cancer, you twit, not a cold. It's important. Even old Amy wouldn't have minded if you asked her to help. The Amy would be more than glad to."
"You think so?" he asked hopefully.
She looked over at where her sister was sitting with Taylor and the others, both of them watching her and the Wards with concerned expressions. She was once again impressed with how perceptive they were. She made a small motion of her head, her sister nodding, then getting up after a quick word to her friends. "Ask her yourself," she said. Dennis followed her eyes, watching as Amy stopped beside him and bend down to put her head next to his.
"What's the problem, guys?" she asked in a low voice.
"His dad. Cancer. Treatment failed."
"OK. What hospital? He's not at Brockton General."
"The private one run by Medhall, they were using an experimental chemo treatment on him that's a last resort method," Dennis said, hope coming to his voice.
"All right. Come with me, Dennis. Vicky, can you tell the school admin office I'm out on a medical emergency, and took him with me? We'll be back as soon as possible."
"OK." Vicky was impressed and pleased about the completely no-nonsense approach her sister took.
"Come on, Dennis, let's go. Your father will be fine ten minutes after we get there. I promise." Amy smiled at him in a kind manner. "I'm really good with cancer."
Suddenly smiling wildly, the red-head jumped to his feet, hugged a startled Amy, then practically towed her out of the cafeteria, most of the occupants watching in surprise. Vicky snickered, then helped herself to his lunch. She looked at the remaining three people at the table. "That was simple enough. What's next?"
Carlos stared at her, then shook his head. "You've definitely changed as much as your sister has, Vicky," he remarked with a smile of his own. "In a good way. Well done, and thanks. He's a pain in the ass but he's my friend."
"Mine too," she grinned. "Look after his bag, will you?" She got up. "I'll see you in class, I need to go to the office." Feeling like she'd achieved something useful, she headed off to explain where her sister and Dennis had run off to.
Dennis watched with a sensation of unreality as his father, suddenly looking better than he could remember from any time for years, blinked a little, then sat up. He opened and closed his mouth, cautiously stretched, then prodded himself in a few places through his hospital gown. "Nothing hurts," he said in wonder.
"I'd certainly hope not," Amy replied with a small smile. "If that was the case I wouldn't have done my job properly." She took the chart the nurse handed her, flipping the hood of her costume back in the process with her other hand. She'd changed in the back of her truck after they got to the small research hospital near the Medhall building. Walking into the reception, the costume had attracted instant attention and a lot of respect, making it a simple matter to get to Dennis' father. Reading it, she nodded a couple of times, then made a note at the bottom, signing it. She handed the clipboard back to the nurse, then turned to the oncologist who was standing next to the bed, looking impressed.
"Thank you, Doctor Grells. I'm sorry for jumping in like this, it was good of you to let me see Mr Moore so quickly."
"It was my pleasure, Panacea," the doctor replied. "With the failure of our latest chemo treatment, we had little to lose, leaving aside your stellar reputation in these matters. I am truly impressed how well it worked."
"He'll need a lot of protein and carbs, his body mass is very low, but he's as healthy as he can be now." Amy smiled at Dennis' father. "Mr Moore, you will find that you're very hungry for a couple of days. Don't worry about it, just eat whenever you want to. I turned your metabolism up quite a lot to make sure you put back on a safe amount of weight. It'll revert to normal in a few days."
His father nodded, looking slightly stunned at how quickly his life had turned around. Dennis couldn't blame him, he was about ready to faint himself. "Oh, I also tweaked your hair follicles, your hair should grow back pretty fast as well," she added, looking at the shiny bald head of his father, where most of the hair had fallen out as a result of the chemo. "It should be about four inches long in a week, then it will go back to normal rates as well."
Running his hand over his head, the man suddenly smiled widely. "Thank you, Panacea. More than I can say."
She waved a hand. "It's what I do. I'm good at it, Dennis is a friend, it's no problem." She smiled at him. Dennis stared at his thin, bald, but suddenly healthy father, then grabbed her in a tight hug.
"Thank you, Amy," he whispered into her ear. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, Dennis," she replied, hugging him back. "Do you want a lift back to school?"
"I'm staying here, I can blow off the afternoon," he said, releasing her. "This is more important."
"Fair enough, I agree. I'll make sure the school knows why." She smiled again, then turned to the doctor. "If you have any more serious cases here, as long as I'm in the building, I might as well do them as well."
He looked pleased. "That would be a very great help. Thank you." Looking at Dennis, then his father, he shook his head in wonder. "I'll get the paperwork started for a discharge, Mr Moore," he said. "Nurse, can you do a complete workup on him for the final records?"
"Of course, Doctor," she replied, moving to the desk in the corner of the room and opening it to start pulling out various blood sampling kit. Dennis watched as Amy put her hood up again, then followed the doctor out the door.
Turning back to his father, he sat next to him on the bed. "I have some good friends," he said in wonder.
"You certainly do, boy," his father said with a massively relieved smile. "I knew it was a good idea to send you to that school."
They shared a glance, then started laughing hard enough to make the nurse sigh and wait so she could draw blood, relief flooding out of them.
"It suits you," Taylor giggled, watching Amy wield a mop. "The Amy, Healer and Janitor. She can fix a medical problem and clean up vomit all at the same time."
Amy waved the business end of the mop at her warningly, then dunked it into the bucket of strong-smelling floor disinfectant, before slopping it out again and pushing it around. "Quiet, you. It's all your fault in the first place, you came up with that name."
"I did, yes. I still think it suits you, and you don't seem to mind it some of the time."
"Just not in the cafeteria." Amy smiled at her. "Now go away, I have work to do. I'll see you later."
"Did it go OK with Dennis' dad?" she asked.
"Yep. He's fine now. I fixed fifteen other terminal patients as well. I should go to Wilson Medical Center more often, that's the first time I've been there in nearly a year. It's so small I tended to forget about it, Brockton General is the largest hospital in the city by a huge amount. Sometimes you overlook the fact that there are four other, smaller, ones around." Amy leaned on the broom, a guilty expression crossing her face. "I should have..."
"You nearly killed yourself with that attitude," Taylor cut in firmly. "You can't do everything. Nobody can. You've fixed probably thousands of people over the years. Going insane trying to get them all wouldn't help anyone. Now you're working a much saner schedule, you can make time to go around the other hospitals and work on their serious cases. Ianthe and Metis can help."
She was being a little circumspect as the janitor himself was only thirty feet away, obviously listening to them. Amy nodded slowly, then got back to work. "I guess so. I still feel guilty, though."
"Don't. You gave them your number, anyone who really needs you can get hold of you, the same as with Brockton General." Taylor smiled at her friend. "You did a very good thing today, you helped a friend, and fifteen other people as well. That's more than most people will manage today."
With a small smile, Amy shrugged. "You're right, I suppose."
"I'm definitely right. Now, keep mopping, peasant." Taylor grinned. Pointing, she helpfully added, "You missed a bit."
"Thanks ever so much, Taylor," Amy griped, although she swiped the mop over the dry area. "Go away."
"Going away," Taylor snickered, heading for the exit. She was looking forward to having a look at the progress on the tanker, then meeting her friends as at least two other people.
Life was very weird these days but she loved it.