Danny, along with a large crowd of other people including 'Metis' and 'Ianthe' watched as his daughter lifted an eighty foot thick slice of tanker onto the shore next to the two already there. Everyone was a couple of hundred yards back for safety's sake, but even from here the creaks and groans of the settling steel were clearly audible. She climbed out of the dry-dock and repositioned the pieces to be far enough apart that they could be worked on without interfering with each other, wiggling them a little to make sure they were stable. The now-finished rail line ran past them about fifty feet away, which would make loading the steel as it was cut into smaller chunks a straightforward matter.
Satisfied, she dropped back into the dry dock and grabbed the next slice. She'd pre-cut the ship like she was going at an enormous cake, taking no more than a couple of minutes to chop it into seven pieces. Soon that slice was on shore as well.
Finishing less than ten minutes later, she checked around her feet, picking up a few small loose bits that in her hands looked like nothing, but when dropped on the ground were chunks as large as an oil drum.
"That's everything," she announced as the crowd started moving over to her. "Anything else you need done while I'm here?"
"No, thank you, I think that will do it for now, Kaiju," Danny called up to her.
"OK, Danny. Glad to help. I'll spend some time locating the rest of the wrecks out there, so when you've finished with this one I can bring them out of the water," she replied, indicating the bay with a thumb over her shoulder. "You know how to get hold of me."
"Thanks," he smiled.
"I'll just get rid of this dry-dock, then," she added, turning to the wall. A moment later the large valves along the bottom of it vanished, water thundering in through a dozen three foot diameter holes and beginning to fill the walled-off area. Foaming and full of sediment it rapidly rose, vibrations underfoot showing how much force was involved. Satisfied, she nodded. "The wall will time out in about half an hour, that should be long enough to let things settle down. See you, everyone."
She waved, then literally jumped over the wall into a perfect dive, slipping under the surface with barely more than a ripple. The familiar bulge in the water that marked her presence moved rapidly away into the late afternoon gloom, quickly vanishing in the direction of the open ocean. Everyone stared, then someone clapped, making the entire crowd roar with laughter and wave their hard hats in the air. Grinning to himself he turned to head back to the office.
"That went well," he noted to Kurt, who was standing next to him looking somewhat shocked.
"It did," his old friend replied after a moment, also turning to walk with him. "I still have trouble with it sometimes, though. We just saw a half-scale Godzilla cut a supertanker up and put it on shore in about twenty minutes, for god's sake!"
"Sometimes life goes a little weird," Danny grinned. "But it seems to have worked out pretty well."
Looking back over his shoulder, Kurt nodded absently. "I guess so. Still, not exactly what I thought would happen this year." He shrugged. "Times change."
"They do that, yes," Danny agreed. Waving to the two large lizards who were walking past in the other direction, 'Metis' grinning at him, he chuckled. "We're going to be pretty busy from now on. Just about time to start hiring again, I think."
"Good. That part, I really like. I know at least a dozen people who need work," his friend said with a smile. "Most of them would fit in around here very well."
"Get me some resumes, then. I've got a stack three inches thick on my desk already, but we need to find the right sort of person. We don't want idiots right now."
"That comes later, then?"
Kurt looked at him with a grin.
"Well, I'd prefer not to hire idiots at all, but sometimes you have no choice," Danny chuckled. "Let's work our way through the non-idiot section of the population first. I'm prioritizing people with either a heavy industry or military background at the moment, they tend to have the discipline we need and fit in well. Once we've filled the required skilled jobs, we can start looking for basic laborers, because we're going to need a lot of them as well. Ask around, find out if anyone has recommendations. I'd trust our people to know what we're looking for."
"OK. See you later, Danny," Kurt nodded, lifting a hand in a quick wave, then going off in a different direction. Satisfied that the plan was working on schedule, Danny swung by the cafeteria to grab some coffee before he headed upstairs. He had people to talk to, some paperwork to dig out, and some other people to talk to.
So many things to do, he reflected as he walked. But it kept him busy.
Amy looked around as Taylor, as herself at the moment, leaned in the door of the workroom. "What're you doing?" her friend asked. Looking back at the bench, Amy shrugged slightly.
"Just filling time waiting for you to get back by making some more symbiotes. They're bound to come in handy sooner or later," she said, watching the pile of onions in her large scaled hand melt into a pile of goo, which reformed into a familiar little construct. She dropped it into the transparent container full of suspension fluid, counting quickly. "Got about a hundred now."
"Mark seventeens?"
"These are mark eighteens, slightly tweaked from the seventeen. They're basically the same but I reduced the integration time to about six seconds. I can't get it much faster than that without adding more problems than it solves with this version. But I'm satisfied they're completely safe now." Amy made half a dozen more, then wiped her hands on a cloth. "That should do it for now. I've got them up to about year guaranteed stasis in the gel, but I think I see a way to make it indefinite. I'm still working the bugs out, though."
"Sounds good. We should start working on other projects as well, I have a whole stack of ideas that we can do between us."
The healer grinned. "So do I. We need to compare notes. There are some interesting possibilities from your latest party trick as well. Speaking of which, I want a coat with bottomless pockets."
"So do I," Lisa called from the main room.
"They're not actually bottomless, you know, just… much deeper than they should be," Taylor replied, stepping aside as Amy left the workroom and locked the door.
"They're a blight on the natural order of things and you damn well know it, Taylor," Lisa laughed. "But then, so are we all. I still want a coat with pockets I could put a car into."
"Pick a pattern and I can sort something out," Taylor said with a smile. "But you're not getting dragon leather, that's a one off for Dad."
"Awww." Amy looked disappointed. "I wanted to blow Vicky's mind with it. She's convinced you skinned a pterosaur, you know."
Laughing, Taylor went to the table and sat down, putting her feet up. "She did look like she'd reached an odd conclusion at the party," she admitted with a smirk. "Should we tell her the truth?"
"Not yet, it's much funnier watching her trying to work it all out," Amy giggled.
"Oh, while I think about it, I need to make you two some proper armor. Just in case you need to go through the wormhole with me, not using the tunnel. There's a hell of a lot of gamma radiation when you do that. It's nicely refreshing to me, but you two poor non-demons might have trouble with it even with your radiation resistance."
"Rub it in, why don't you?" Amy sighed, shaking her head. "OK. That sounds like a good idea. It'll look cool as well."
"That's the idea. May as well do that, then we can get on with the language lessons." Jumping up again, Taylor motioned to the middle of the room. "Go stand there, arms out to your sides." Her friend did as instructed, Lisa watching with interest. Taylor walked around Amy, studying her closely, then started making parts on her. "I'll form the entire set using your body as a template, then modify it so it comes off. Mine doesn't need that, of course."
"I wonder if you could use that spacial folding trick to make it sort of disappear into itself," Lisa mused thoughtfully. "That would be cool."
Taylor stopped and stared at her, then turned back to Amy, rubbing her chin. "Now, that's an interesting idea..." She cocked her head, thinking, before shrugging. "Let's get the basic armor finished before we do weird things to it, though. OK, hold still." She grinned widely. "This won't hurt."
"Oh, thanks," Amy sighed, glaring at her. "Now I'm worried."
Snickering, Taylor started forming thin pieces of EDM around her friend, based on her own Raptaur armor. Quite quickly, the reptilian form of the Dallon sister was encased in impenetrable plate armor made from segmented sections that easily moved as Amy experimentally flexed and twisted, extending her arms, legs, and tail. She nodded happily. "Not bad at all," she smiled. "I can feel the weight but it's nothing."
"No binding or resistance?"
"Nope, it's all moving perfectly well," Amy commented. She brought the end of her tail around and looked at it. "I want to modify this to have the thagomizer like Lisa does, it needs the bone reconstructed, and some holes in the armor to let the blades out."
"The holes are easy," Taylor replied, making the change. "That should do it. OK, I'll just take the armor off here for a second..." The last foot of armor vanished again. "I can change the bone but it would be easier if I could see it," she said.
Amy concentrated, the flesh around the last couple of vertebrae flowing away into the rest of the tail to expose the synthetic bone structure. Lisa observed with interest as Taylor fiddled with them, nodding in satisfaction a moment later. "There you go, that's the same as Lisa has."
"Great. I just need to add the extrusion glands..." The flesh and skin recovered the gleaming bone, while Amy looked back at her tail, eventually smiling. "All done."
"Good. Let's test it." Taylor replaced the armor and stepped back. "See if I got the holes in the right place."
Slowly growing out the spikes, Amy pointed out a couple of minor modifications, which her friend made, until they were both happy. "All right then, that's basically done. Anything else you want changed?"
Amy inspected herself, raising her hands to look at the articulated gauntlets that covered them, then ran through a quick exercise that Taylor had taught her in the Family style, before shaking her armored head. "No, I can't think of anything other than color matching now." The armor was currently the dull gray of EDM. With a nod Taylor got to work, the end result being an exact match that blended perfectly with the bioconstruct's scales.
"Fantastic," Lisa said, walking around her friend. "You look amazing."
Amy smiled widely. "Thanks. I like this."
"It should reduce your radiation exposure massively, even with the gaps in it," Taylor pointed out. "Not to mention it raises your toughness a huge amount as well. Now, let's think about how we get you out of it…" She pondered the matter for some time, talking it over with the Varga. "Ooh, will that work?" she exclaimed out loud.
Lisa and Amy exchanged a glance.
"What?" they chorused.
Taylor grinned widely. "Oh, you're going to love this one," she chortled, raising her hands and interlacing the fingers, then cracking her knuckles. "Don't move, this is complicated."
"I am very, very worried," Amy said out of the corner of her mouth to Lisa, freezing in place. "Did you see that grin?"
"I did. I'll be over here." Lisa stepped back, smirking.
Approaching her friend, Taylor giggled. "This won't hurt. Much."
"Help. Lisa, help!" Amy started laughing, but didn't move. She wasn't really that scared. More or less.
Lisa just watched with interest, mixed with a few winces.
"OW! Watch it, you insane demon!"
And quite a bit of laughter.
"Christ," Emily muttered, watching the PHO video of Kaiju cutting up a supertanker like a dessert roll. The way the blade slid through thousands of tons of steel like it was shaving foam was almost more impressive than the way the giant lizard then heaved the resulting pieces onto the shore.
"It makes you think, doesn't it?" Ethan said, also watching the screen in the Rig briefing room where most of the Protectorate ENE was gathered. The room had been totally disconnected from the main network and checked over by both Tinkers as a security measure. Carlos as the leader of the Wards was there, as were Legend and Dragon. The only one missing was Hannah, who came in moments later.
"Sorry I'm late, I was meeting with an ABB informant and couldn't get away without blowing my cover," she apologized. Her eyes went to the screen hanging from the ceiling, her eyes widening a little. "Good grief."
"That's a good way to put it," Robin said, also staring.
When the video finished, Emily tapped a control on the table, the monitor sliding up into the ceiling again. "Thank you for joining me," she started. "I'm sorry for the short notice, but I've been talking to the Chief Director about the Family situation. In light of recently obtained information, the PRT has finally decided on an official policy for our reptilian friends. I have been instructed to inform you all of this policy."
She looked at Aegis, adding, "I would like you to ensure that your colleagues are updated on it. You are being permitted to see the current threat assessment report on the Family, but please understand that it is still classified level 5 and up. An exemption is being made for you purely because you have a need to know. The other Wards, at this moment, do not. Understand?"
"Yes, Ma'am," he replied politely.
"All right then." The Director handed out a set of stapled pages to everyone. "This has been updated to include all the information we currently hold on Metis and Ianthe, in addition to the previously known Family members. Note that since they're so new we're probably missing things, we're still finding out information about Saurial and she's been around for nearly two months. We have attempted to compensate for this by overestimating somewhat on ratings, so don't take this as gospel. It should give a good idea, though. After I've gone over this with you, I have to go through the same process with the senior PRT staff, so if you have any feedback on it, I'd like to hear it."
The assembled group read the document, muttered exclamations coming from some of them who hadn't seen it before. Carlos had paled noticeably in the process of looking over his copy. "Brute 12+!?" he choked, looking up at Emily. She nodded.
"You saw the video. And remember the tanker move. It may be overstating it, but at the moment, we just don't know! It might even be understating the situation. Without more information, we can't be certain one way or another. Getting that information is potentially very complicated."
"Even the rating for Saurial is ridiculous in many ways," Robin noted. "All those abilities in one person? Little scary, if I'm being completely honest."
"We don't know enough about the two new ones to be certain of much yet, but based on observations, they're also high level Brutes, possibly very high level, Blasters of one sort or another due to the built in ranged weapons, and in Metis' case, a Striker as she has some form of electrical generation power." Hannah glanced at Colin, who nodded.
"That was demonstrated to me last night when I met her. She can generate an energy of at least several thousand volts and perhaps ten to twelve amps merely based on what I saw her do, delivered through her hands. It would only work through touch or very close contact, but that power level would be instantly lethal to most people, Parahuman or not. I assume she can reduce it to non-lethal levels, however bear in mind that if she touches you she can incapacitate or kill you with little difficulty."
"And unscrew your head with sheer strength, and punch a hole in you at two hundred yards with a poison dart," Ethan commented. "Basically, don't piss her off."
"That would be ill advised," Colin replied with a nod. "However, I must also point out that none of the Family appear prone to acts of anger, being on balance remarkably calm and easy to deal with. I can only caution against threatening anyone they care about. It would be… unwise."
"You've had quite a lot of contact with them recently, haven't you?" Battery asked curiously.
The Tinker glanced at Legend, then Dragon, before nodding. "Yes. We have been collaborating on a number of fascinating projects. Raptaur is very gifted in abilities that while not strictly speaking Tinkering are as near to it as makes no real difference. I also find her remarkably pleasant to work with."
Everyone looked curiously at him, including Emily. That was an unusual comment from the normally reserved man, who in many ways struck her as knowing less about human interaction than the lizards did. But he seemed to mean it.
"What projects?" she asked curiously. "I haven't seen any reports on them."
"At my request the work that has been ongoing between Armsmaster, Dragon, and Raptaur has been kept confidential," Legend told them. "There are good reasons for this which will become clear shortly. However, the most recent one is something I suspect you will find interesting. I'll explain it after you finish with your own meeting, Emily. You can make the decision about who else needs to know at the moment."
"That is a highly unusual methodology," she said after several seconds of studying him closely.
The man shrugged slightly. "I'm aware of that. But where the Family is concerned normal procedures do seem to become somewhat flexible, do they not?"
She couldn't help the small smile that crossed her mouth at his comment. It summed things up nicely. "I can't argue with that." Returning her attention to the others present, she looked around the table. "Are there any questions regarding the threat assessment document?"
"More than I could ask in a week," Ethan muttered, scanning the last page of the copy he had again. "But none that make any sense. So I guess not."
"I notice that this does not include the biomanipulation abilities of Ianthe, only the healing abilities of both her and Metis," Colin noted curiously.
"Crap, she's a Biotinker as well?" Robin asked incredulously.
"We're not entirely sure about that," Emily told him. "She herself says that description isn't entirely accurate." Looking at Legend, she raised her eyebrows enquiringly.
"She calls herself a bioshaper or life sculptor," the Protectorate leader said, looking around the table. "It may just be a nomenclature issue, or it may have deeper meanings that we don't yet understand. Once the forthcoming Endbringer attack is out of the way and we can relax slightly, I'm going to try to get a clearer idea of what she really is. But at my request, that has been left out of the threat report due to it possibly causing undue concern. 'Biotinker' is a classification that tends to have very negative connotations these days for obvious reasons. I don't want to use it officially if it's not required, at least right now. The Chief Director agrees with me, as does Director Piggot."
After a moment's silence, Emily took back control of the conversation. "The Chief Director has, after much deliberation and discussion with the federal government, decided that the Family is to be considered an independent Parahuman heroic organization and Protectorate associate. Partly this is pure pragmatism, as there isn't much we can do to force them to obey us in the first place, at least without risking something unfortunate happening. They already have significant popular support in the city, and it is slowly but steadily growing both here and across the state as it becomes apparent that the Mayor's redevelopment plan is beginning to work. And partly it's due to hoping that they will reciprocate and help out should we need their aid. From our point of view they're to be treated in much the same way the Guild is."
She nodded at Dragon, everyone glancing at the armored Tinker and looking thoughtful.
"Do we have any idea how many of them there really are?" Carlos asked curiously. "We know of six so far, but that doesn't seem likely to me to be all based on what I've heard about them."
"No. But PRT Thinkers suggest you're right. For reasons not yet understood they cause a lot of problems for Thinkers, which means we can't get any accurate answers, but the information we do have tends to imply there could be more."
There was silence as everyone absorbed that, eventually broken by Triumph. "But where do they actually come from?" he asked, sounding bewildered. "That's the big question. More and more of them turn up, but no one knows where they go when they're not around. Kaiju just vanishes, which is insane for something that big. Even Raptaur and the others manage to disappear for long periods of time. They hang around the DWU more than anywhere else but from what I understand no one there knows where they go when they're not around either."
Emily looked at him, then at Hannah, who simply looked back emotionlessly. "That is currently unknown, although it's likely that they go out into the ocean from the sonar traces we have," she said, more or less truthfully. "We're still working on it. With any luck we'll find out eventually, but in some ways it doesn't really matter. They're here and we just have to live with it."
She noticed that Dragon was looking at her in a way that suggested slightly dubious curiosity to her, but the Canadian Tinker didn't say anything. Everyone else was exchanging glances, except for Colin who was staring at the notepad he'd been idly scribbling on every now and then, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Does the Family know about this status update?" Battery asked.
"Not yet. I'm in the process of drafting a letter to them to officially explain our position, and working on a press release for the public," Emily said. "We need to handle it carefully, although our precogs tell us that it will be well received at least locally."
She looked around the table. "That's basically it for now. I would ask that any opportunity to learn more about them is taken, but discreetly and non-aggressively. Record all interactions whenever possible. Be polite and respectful, treat them as you would any other major hero group. The Chief Director has authorized release of up to level 2 classification information to them if they ask, subject to review by myself. We're likely to be working alongside them for the foreseeable future so we may as well get used to it. You're dismissed, remember that everything we've talked about is Level 5 classified. Aegis, that's particularly aimed at you, do not mention anything in that threat assessment document to your colleagues until and unless I tell you to."
The boy nodded soberly. She was satisfied he would follow orders, he was a sensible and respectful young man.
Legend said, "Colin, please stay here for the moment. Dragon, if you would as well, it would be appreciated." Both Tinkers nodded, while the others stood.
"Hannah, I'd like you to stay as well, please," Emily said, the military-themed cape stopping half-way to her feet, then sitting down again. They waited until everyone else had left, all of them exchanging curious glances and also looking somewhat confused about the entire thing, which she could sympathize with. The Family had that effect on her on a daily basis.
When the door shut, she looked back to Legend. "So what are these mysterious projects I know nothing about?"
"The one I wanted to discuss is quite interesting," he smiled. "Designed and built in cooperation with the Family and BBFO. It's probably easier to show you than just tell you."
She gave him a suspicious look. "Why do I have the horrible feeling that I may be annoyed about it?"
"Possibly because that's your default state, Emily?" he said with amusement, making her glare at him, although she couldn't deny it.
"Sorry, you do know what city I have to spend most of my time dealing with, don't you?" she growled. "You try running this particular branch of the PRT and see if it leaves you full of happiness and joy."
The man chuckled. "I understand, Emily, I'm not criticizing you. I respect you very much, as do even people who don't like you at all."
"You mean everyone who's ever met me," she replied, not entirely without a certain amount of black humor herself.
"I would never be so rude," he commented, making her smile slightly herself. That much was true, the man was unfailingly polite even to people he heartily disliked, which was one of the main reasons she respected him as much as she did anyone. "You do have something of a reputation, though."
Emily accepted this with a shrug. "Fair enough. So what is it that we're going to see?"
"Ah. That would ruin the surprise," he snickered as he stood, the others also getting up. Dragon and Armsmaster exchanged a glance, while Hannah looked puzzled and a little apprehensive.
"You know damn well I don't like surprises," she sighed.
"I do. Bear with me, it's a good one," the annoyingly cheerful man grinned, waving her to the door with a small bow. Shaking her head, she went along with the theatrics.
Opening the door, Carol regarded the person who had rung the bell with a certain amount of surprise. "Danny," she said, smiling slightly. "How unexpected. Come in, please."
"Thank you, Carol," he replied politely, stepping inside as she moved out of the way, wiping his feet on the doormat.
Closing the door she turned to him. "What brings you here?"
"A legal issue, that I thought you might be a good person to talk to about," he said, following as she went into the living room. "One I wanted to talk over as privately as possible for a number of reasons, so I didn't want to do it at your firm. I hope I'm not intruding."
"Not at all," she replied, waving to a chair, then sitting down, feeling intrigued. "I was under the impression that the DWU had a significant amount of legal expertise of its own. I have to point out that my specialty isn't contract law."
"I'm aware of that. This isn't a contract issue, and is somewhat out of the purview of our legal department, although I have discussed it thoroughly with them." He put the briefcase he was holding on the floor beside his chair as he sat. "Purely theoretically, if you became aware of a teenaged Parahuman who in the course of Triggering, was involved in the deaths of two people, even though it wasn't due to direct or deliberate action on their part, would you be interested in legally representing them in court to fight the charges? Charges that were possibly deliberately filed due to maliciousness on the part of certain PRT and other law enforcement agents?"
She looked narrowly at him, her mind running very fast indeed now. It was clearly a question that was anything but theoretical, worded like that so both of them could back away without prejudice. What was he getting at? One or other of the Family? It seemed very unlikely, since she wasn't aware of any of them having come to the note of the authorities before Saurial's debut a couple of months earlier. Since then, the police and public seemed to actually like them, the PRT was for some weird reason treating them with oddly neutral respect, and no villain appeared to want to go within miles of the damn lizards.
Which meant it probably wasn't the Family. She didn't know of any other Parahumans the DWU had, although that didn't mean they didn't exist, it merely meant no one knew about them. A new Trigger was possible, but if murder charges had been filed, it would have been front page news and nothing like that had happened locally for years. So that was also unlikely.
Very curious, she mulled his question over, then cautiously replied, "Purely theoretically, I might be interested, yes. If I thought there was a decent case to answer. Evidence, both of the Parahuman's innocence and the… malicious nature… of the legal case would be needed."
"Evidence could be provided. Some of it directly from the PRT via Director Piggot, who, again theoretically, would most likely be surprisingly cooperative within the limits of her authority." Danny watched her with a neutral expression, waiting.
She was extremely curious now. From what he was implying, the Director was actually more or less in favor of seeing whatever this case was dropped, but probably couldn't simply make it go away. The charges, then, had enough merit to be taken to court, but the local PRT at least felt they were quite likely not valid. And/or had come to some form of deal.
"Under such circumstances, I would most likely tell you that I would be interested in at the minimum consulting on such a case, although I would also tell you that I would require a retainer to allow legal confidentiality regulations to take effect," she said carefully.
"I see." He regarded her, then picked up his briefcase and put it on his knees, opening it. "Would five thousand dollars be a sufficient retainer to engage your services?"
"It would," Carol replied, slightly shocked. "In fact, it might be considered slightly excessive at this point."
"The client in question is sufficiently well off to not miss it, and first class legal representation is desired," he smiled, handing her an envelope. She took it, feeling the weight, then looked inside. It was full of new twenty dollar bills. About five thousand dollars worth, she suspected.
"Let me give you a receipt," she said faintly, getting up and going to her home office, quickly writing one out, then putting the envelope in the safe under the desk. Returning to the living room she handed the piece of paper to him, the man glancing at it then putting it into his briefcase, from which he extracted a folder.
"Now that all the dancing around is over, please read this," he smiled, handing it over. "The client is Rachel Lindt, AKA Bitch, of the Undersiders. If you decide that you don't wish to take on the case, you can keep the retainer, but I'd be grateful for a recommendation for another lawyer."
She slowly took the folder, staring at him. She knew the name, definitely. It had been in the national news when the girl had triggered and her dog-monsters had torn two people apart, as well as wounding several others. The girl had been a fugitive ever since. She'd met Tattletale on that Tuesday morning, of course, but hadn't realized that the Lindt girl was one of her group.
"You are harboring a fugitive with murder charges laid against her?" she asked, more than a little surprised.
"Not… quite," he replied, putting the now-closed briefcase on the floor again. "It's a little complicated. For a number of reasons the Family rescued the Undersiders after an operation they ran against Lung went south. That was the same one in which Oni Lee was killed, I expect you've heard about that?"
Carol nodded, it was common knowledge in the Parahuman community although it hadn't yet hit the news media, the PRT hadn't officially announced it so far.
"That was almost an accident, he did something stupid with his grenades while trying to kill them and fucked it up. Saurial found him. One thing led to another and the short story is that in exchange for some valuable intelligence on certain villains, Director Piggot agreed to release the Undersiders into the custody of the Family and the DWU. They're not allowed to leave the DWU premises until their status is cleared up. Grue is easy enough, he only has minor charges filed against him which the Director can deal with. Tattletale and Regent are in the clear. Rachel is the problem, of course."
"Even spurious murder charges are very serious," she agreed, listening in mild astonishment. "You're certain they are spurious?"
"Tattletale, who is a very intelligent young woman, is sure. I've heard the story, as have Director Piggot, Armsmaster, and Miss Militia, and everyone agrees that not only does it hang together much better than the official account, there are enough inconsistencies in the latter to make it very suspicious. The local PRT has begun an investigation into the whole thing, some of the data being in that folder. I'm still waiting for more information, but both they and we have been very busy recently for obvious reasons." Danny shrugged, smiling a little. "As you know."
"Not something I'll forget," she nodded, opening the folder and looking at the contents. "All right. Let me have a look at this and I'll decide on what I want to do. Would you like a cup of coffee while I read it?"
"Thank you," he said. She quickly made both of them coffee, then sat back to carefully read the folder while he waited silently.
A while later, having gone over the paperwork twice, she grabbed her laptop and did a number of web searches, checking the data she located after some effort against the documents she had in the folder. Finally she sat back and thought for a while.
"You have a case, and a lawyer," she eventually said to the man still watching her quietly. He smiled.
"Thank you, Carol."
"I will need to meet Miss Lindt, and also talk to her friends to gather other information," she went on, putting the papers back into the folder. "It will take some time to gather all the required documents and data. I presume there is no current date for a court hearing?"
"No. Director Piggot is being remarkably reasonable about it. Rachel isn't under arrest or even officially in the system at all. I believe that we can essentially begin any case on our own schedule, although you'd know more about that than I would."
"That makes things a little easier, there's no huge rush to come up with a defense in the face of an imminent prosecution," Carol mused. "Although we don't want to let it drag on for too long either. I'll have to gather all the facts of her situation and work out the best way to proceed. If the PRT are willing to be helpful, that should make things considerably simpler. A sympathetic judge and some proof that Miss Lindt is the victim of anti-Parahuman prejudice could well tilt the balance in our favor." She thought some more, then nodded firmly.
"I think we have a good chance to have the charges dropped, but at this point I certainly can't promise anything."
"I wouldn't expect you to," he noted. "I'm aware of how complex something like this can be, and the problems surrounding the Parahuman aspects. But you are very well regarded in this sort of thing so I have faith you can help us."
"I'll certainly do my best," she smiled.
"Arranging to talk to the girl is easy, since she's living at the DWU yard in the dormitory block. I have to warn you, though, that she's… not the easiest person to deal with. From what I gather from Tattletale, she was quite heavily affected by her powers and isn't particularly good at dealing with people," Danny told her. "Expect her to be somewhat hostile until she gets to know you, she's suspicious of most people at the best of times. You'll probably find that she responds better if Tattletale is present, and possibly Saurial or Raptaur as well, since she appears to trust all of them."
Carol nodded slowly, she'd come across that sort of issue with powers more than once before. Sometimes they could cause some pretty extreme personality issues. "Awkward, but not fatally so. Are there other character witnesses than her teammates? You understand that the word of other villains isn't quite as helpful as they might like."
Danny smiled at her comment. "No, I expect not. Although I have to point out that the Undersiders, if they even technically exist as a team now, are reformed and no longer villains. I'm happy to vouch for the girl, as are Saurial, Raptaur, Metis, Ianthe, and quite a number of DWU personnel. She's become fairly well known there and is considered odd but not a bad person."
"That would help. All right, leave it with me and I'll begin the research tomorrow. That retainer will keep things solvent for at least a while."
"When you have an estimate of what will be required, please contact me and let me know how much it will cost. I can get you the money quickly without difficulty." Danny stood up, picking up his briefcase. "Thank you for your time. I'm sorry to have bothered you at home."
"It wasn't a problem, Danny."
He handed her a card. "I know you have my phone number already. This has the BBFO office number, even if no one is there you can leave a message. Or ask your daughter to pass it on."
She gave him a look. "My daughter does seem to be spending a considerable amount of time with her new friends in your organization," she said slowly. "I hope she's not getting mixed up in anything… dangerous."
"I don't think Amy is involved in anything she can't handle," he grinned. "I like the girl a lot, as does 'my organization' as you put it. She has an excellent reputation in the DWU, she's healed a number of injuries from industrial accidents and most of the guys practically consider her one of us." He chuckled for a moment as she sighed slightly. "Your daughter is a very gifted and intelligent young woman, Carol, who is doing your family proud. I'm pleased to have met her and very glad Taylor became her friend."
"Thank you," she replied. "Although as parent of a young woman yourself you must understand my worries about her new hobbies." She shrugged slightly. "She's changed quite a lot in the last few weeks."
"For the better, I hope."
"I suppose so," she had to admit. "It's just… I do worry."
"Part of being a parent. You care, which is the main thing. Don't worry too much, Amy can take care of herself and she has a lot of friends now who would go to pretty extreme lengths to help her if it was needed," he said after a moment. "You raised a good daughter." Holding out his hand he shook hers. "I expect we'll talk again fairly soon."
"Definitely. I'll keep you updated." As he turned to leave, she asked curiously, "Did you put that… gift… that Ianthe gave you on your desk?"
He turned back, a somewhat worried smile on his face. "Would you?"
"No. I'm not entirely certain I want to be in the same city as it, never mind have to look at it every day," she admitted with a shudder. They exchanged a look of understanding, before she walked to the door with him and watched as he went down the path and got into his car. Waving for a moment, she closed the door, before going to find a notebook to write down a few thoughts on her latest case.
Brian stood up as the man he'd been waiting for came into the open-plan office floor, heading for his own office. "Hi, Brian," Mr Hebert said as he came over. "You wanted to see me? Come on in." He followed as the man unlocked his office and went in, holding the door open then closing it behind him. "Take a seat." The person who in everybody's opinion ran the DWU went behind his desk, motioning to a chair in front of it, and sat as well. "What can I do for you?"
"I was wondering if you'd had any feedback from the legal department on my situation with my sister," he replied, sitting down. "I know it hasn't been very long but I'm a little worried about her."
"Understandable," Mr Hebert smiled. "You're a good brother and a good man. They're working on it, discreet and very unofficial inquiries have been made to Child Services through some people we know there. Without naming names, of course. I'm told it's looking good and shouldn't be too much trouble to continue the arrangements Coil made, although without the entanglements that would have happened with him involved. But because he was involved, and due to your current status of keeping under the radar, we can't really start anything until the PRT gets him."
Thinking it over, Brian was forced to agree. Even with Coil not being around at the moment, which according to Lisa was because he was holed up in his base and running scared, there was always the possibility that he still had agents around the place. As long as they didn't know for sure that his team was still alive, they and Aisha were both safer. He sighed, rubbing his forehead.
"I understand," he said glumly. "I can't say I like it but I can live with it."
"Look on the bright side, when the PRT does capture him, which I have no doubt will happen as there are some very smart and motivated people working on it, you'll be in the clear." The man at the desk smiled. "Director Piggot is very much invested in catching the man, she doesn't like him at all, and I have no doubt she will honor her deal. I've got my own issues with her, but she's a woman of her word." He tapped his pen on the desk, watching Brian and thinking. "OK. How about this. I'll ask Saurial to check on your sister and see how she's doing. She can be completely unnoticeable if she wants to, I'm sure she can find out if there are any problems."
Brian considered the suggestion for a few seconds, then slowly nodded. "That would help," he admitted. "It's just that the girl has a habit of doing things without thinking them through, and it's nearly got her into trouble before. Sometimes serious trouble."
"I'll ask her, then. We've got your father's current address, right?"
"It's on the DWU form as next of kin," Brian replied. "Would it be possible to very quietly slip him some money as well? He doesn't make very much and looking after Aisha is difficult for the guy. I've got a hell of a lot of cash I can't really use right now, I'll like to send him some."
"Sure, that's no problem at all. How much?" Mr Hebert asked, looking approving.
"Ah… Five thousand should keep them going for a while," he said having considered it.
"I'll ask her to take that much from your stash, in that case. And let Lisa know, she's keeping track of it for you guys."
"Thanks very much, Mr Hebert, it's a load off my mind." Brian smiled at the man who was helping him a lot more than most people ever had, feeling grateful.
"It's no problem, Brian, trust me." Smiling, the DWU man asked, "How are you getting along here? I've asked Lisa and I've had reports from co-workers, but I haven't spoken to you all that much since things are so busy."
"I'm fine, aside from that worry," Brian replied, relaxing in his seat. "The work is hard but interesting, I get on OK with everyone, the food is good, no one seems to care about my past… No complaints."
"I'm glad to hear it. And your friends? How do you think they're doing?"
"Lisa is having the time of her life with whatever she's doing for both you and BBFO, Alec is only interested on recreating all his high scores which will keep him busy for weeks, and Rachel has her dogs." Brian grinned at him. "As long as she can keep them in good condition, she's happy as she ever gets. The way so many people here like dogs helps a lot as well. She's actually making friends, which is new."
"Good. Very good indeed. I'm happy to hear it. Jason is very pleased with your work ethic, he tells me, and thinks you're shaping up to be a more than competent carpenter, which from him is high praise." Mr Hebert chuckled when Brian laughed at the comment, knowing it was very true. "Always good to have a sensible trade to fall back on, and carpenters are always needed. Mark is also interested in training you some more as a reserve security man if you're interested, once the current refurbishing project you're working on is done."
"I'd like that," Brian smiled.
"OK. I'll let him know, he'll come and talk to you about it sometime in the next few days."
Checking his watch, Brian stood up. "I have to get back to work and help finish the afternoon shift, but thank you for seeing me, sir."
"You're more than welcome, Brian." His companion smiled again. "I'll talk to Saurial tonight, I have to go and see them later anyway. I'd expect that she'll probably go and check on your sister this evening, I'll let you know what happens."
"Thanks." Feeling much happier, Brian left the office, heading quickly downstairs and back to the building he was helping refit.