Danny regarded the former Squealer with a thoughtful gaze. He'd listened to her reasoning, not finding fault with it, and they'd discussed the entire situation again, looking for any possible problems. Now, it seemed settled.
"All right. We'll get some people we know to sort out a new, hopefully bullet-proof identity for you, as Linda Morgan, formerly of Kansas. Assuming you're happy with that name?"
They'd pretty much randomly picked the surname, which seemed the safest approach, and the state was one that was close enough to where she was born that her regional accent was plausible, but far enough away that there wasn't a logical link.
"Fine by me," Linda nodded.
"Good. I'll get the paperwork started for DWU membership, and the employment documents to hire Ms Morgan as a vehicle mechanic. That will do for starting purposes. As soon as you've finished with Ianthe, and the ID data is finalized, we can get photos, issue a DWU card, and start paying you. Until then, you should stick around the yard, just in case, I think."
"Thank you, Mr Hebert," she said gratefully. "I know this is asking a lot of you and your guys and I'm sorry it all happened like this."
He shrugged, smiling a little. "Can't be helped. Sometimes things just happen. Especially when these three are involved." He glanced at the reptilian females, who all seemed mildly pleased by the comment, smiling at him.
"We need to get her a decent workshop set up too, Danny," Amy suggested. "Something like this, maybe, so she can do both the normal DWU work and her own projects. Like she said, Tinkers Tinker, they need somewhere to do it."
He nodded, smiling, going over the options in his mind for a few seconds. "That's not a problem," he replied, having made a decision. "There's an old vehicle maintenance unit on the next access road over, it's been used for storage for over a decade and is full of mostly junk, but it's… hmm, perhaps fifty percent larger than this place, perhaps?" Danny looked around at the large room. "Around that. Same general layout, big roller doors at each end. Some inspection pits, and two heavy-duty vehicle lifts that might even still work with a bit of attention. We used to use it for the heavy trucks, when we actually had heavy trucks."
"Sounds ideal," his daughter said, smiling. "We can soon get that fixed up."
"I'll get the electrical department to make sure the supply is working and safe, and install new lights," he told them. "It should be ready by tomorrow evening. You can do your own modifications to it then."
"What about all the scrap in it?" Lisa asked, with a glance at Linda. The Tinker looked back, then turned to him.
"If you don't mind, can I look over it before you clear it away? There might be useful stuff in it." She smiled a little. "I'm pretty good at reusing old crap."
"Sure, help yourself. Don't get too hung up on every last broken engine, though, we can get newer parts without too much trouble, trust me. And whatever you make, we want to ensure it doesn't look too much like the old Squealer's technology." He winced a little at the memory of some of the pictures he'd seen. "The aesthetic was… memorable."
The woman grinned with a slightly ashamed nod. "I know it wasn't pretty. Never been high on my list of priorities."
"We can help with that," Taylor laughed. "You design it, I can make you parts, and everyone can suggest ways to make it look different. We have other people as well who can lend a hand."
"How do you make things, anyway?" the Tinker asked curiously, looking far more relaxed than she had been when he'd come in now that she was apparently no longer worried that she'd get kicked out. "I've been wondering that ever since I met you."
"It's one of my more useful talents," the blue-scaled girl smiled, holding out her hand, on which a perfect sphere of shiny metal formed, about the size of a pool ball. Linda's eyes widened as she reached out to tentatively touch it. "Matter creation."
"..."
Her mouth open, the woman made a slight sound of shock. Swallowing, she tried again. "Matter creation? You mean… you can just will things into existence?!" By the end of the sentence her voice was enough to make Rachel's dogs put their paws over their ears and whine.
"Pretty much."
"Fuck… I mean..." Linda picked the ball up and inspected it closely with a wondering and insanely envious expression. "Just… fuck."
"It does come in handy," Taylor chuckled.
"Anything you want? Any material? Any shape?"
"Yep. It takes a lot of practice to do complicated designs and I'm still working on electronics, but mechanical things are fairly easy. Simple objects are nothing." Taylor produced half a dozen cubes in different materials, one totally transparent, one that looked like it was made of gold, the rest in other metals. She put each one on the table as Linda's eyes got wider and wider to the point that Danny's were starting to water sympathetically.
"More complicated things aren't hard," she added, producing a small clockwork toy, copied from one he knew she had at home that her mother had given her when she was eight. She wound the key sticking out of the little mechanical owl and put it on the table, everyone watching as it hopped around to the sound of gears turning.
"And the chemistry part of it is fascinating." His daughter closed her hand, then opened it to reveal a pile of purple and silver powder, to which she added a few drops of liquid that fell from her other hand, landing in the material with a splash. A short pause was followed by a hiss and a weird violet-silver flame, a huge cloud of purple smoke billowing up as everyone else recoiled in shock. Moments later all traces of it disappeared, including the smell he thought he recognized but couldn't quite place.
"What the hell was that?" Linda squeaked.
"Iodine and aluminum, with a catalyst," the girl smiled. "Neat, isn't it?"
Lisa was grinning, Amy seemed to be trying not to laugh, and Linda, the poor woman, was simply staring at his daughter's reptilian face. After quite a long moment, she reached out and picked up the transparent cube with the hand not holding the steel ball, or whatever it actually was.
Knowing Taylor, it was probably pure platinum.
The Tinker held up the cube, looking at it in the light as she turned it. "What's this?"
"Crystallized carbon."
There was another pause. "Diamond, you mean."
"That's what humans call it, yes," Taylor snickered. Danny shook his head a little in amusement.
"So that one that looks like gold..."
"Is gold. Yes."
"Oh my god." The poor woman looked like she was going to faint.
He knew the feeling well.
"So, if you need custom parts or anything, just ask." Taylor shrugged. "I like engineering like we were talking about, but I'll be the first to admit you probably know a lot more about it than I do. I'm still learning and will be for a long time. Although I've come up with some cool toys even so."
All the cubes, and the initial sphere, disappeared, leaving Linda staring at her empty hands in shock. The little clockwork bird hopped a few more times then popped out of existence.
"Once you've got used to that, I'll show you some of the more interesting applications of applied Family mathematical systems," Taylor added, indicating the glass boards that were still arrayed down one wall with the end of her tail. "You might find it interesting."
Glancing at the dense equations, Linda winced, then looked away. She still seemed stunned.
"The things I could make..." she muttered under her breath, gaping at his smiling daughter. "God." Slowly, she began smiling like a lunatic.
Danny sighed.
He could see where this was probably going to end up, sooner or later, he just hoped that Brockton Bay survived the experience.
"OK, bizarre demonstrations of Family skills to one side, we need to settle on the next part of the plan. Squealer needs to go away in a very permanent manner, in such a way that no one will be looking for her." He turned to Amy, who stopped watching Linda try to wrap her mind around what had just happened and focused on him. "How long would it take you to do what we talked about yesterday?"
She thought for a moment. "Around four hours to make a really good new body, another hour to move Linda's brain over, and another hour to make a duplicate that would be undetectable. It won't be a functioning one, of course, that would be more difficult and rather unethical, but it'll do perfectly for the job we need it for. Especially once it has a bullet in it."
Linda looked ill and he winced at her blunt comment.
"I see," he replied. "And has anyone thought how to arrange the sad death of the young lady? And where?"
"And who finds the body," Lisa added thoughtfully. "It would be better if it wasn't anyone from here."
"We can arrange to get it over somewhere near the Merchant's headquarters," Taylor said after a moment, looking at her friends. "That part isn't a problem. Neither is getting a gun and doing what needs to be done. Lots of them around, of course, but the simplest approach is… Ah, yes, that would be ideal. Hold on." She hopped out of her chair and zipped across the room, up the stairs to the storage area on top of Amy's workroom, coming back holding a seamless steel box.
"This should do it nicely," she finished, making the top vanish and showing them the contents. Danny looked at the three handguns in the box with a raised eyebrow, which went up further at the sight of the plastic-wrapped block of white powder next to them. "Haven't got around to handing them over to the police yet," she explained. "They were in Skidmark's safe along with all the money."
"I see," he said, nodding slowly. He had an idea of what she was considering. "Suicide or murder?"
"Either would work," she shrugged, putting the box on the table and sitting again. Linda was looking from one to the other of them, frowning a little. "I'm not sure if these guns have been used for any crimes, but I'd be surprised if they haven't. So the police will have the bullet data on file, probably. If Squealer turns up with a couple of rounds in her from a gun known to be associated with the Merchants, after having disappeared following a fight, I doubt anyone is going to question it too much. Not around here."
"No, probably not," he agreed.
Lisa was looking thoughtful, he noted, showing the signs of letting her power have a go at the problem. "It'll work. We need to pick the right place, and the right time, though, to really sell it. It needs something else, some reason for them to be pissed off and shooting at people."
"That's easy," Amy put in. Lisa glanced at her, then got a very thoughtful look, before smiling in a predatory manner.
"Perfect. And it needs to be done anyway."
Taylor was watching both of them, her own expression showing she was communing with her demon. She sighed slightly, but nodded too. "OK. That works."
Turning to Danny, who thought he was missing something, she explained, "We're thinking that we move on the Merchants, round them up and hand them over to the BBPD and the PRT. If we let both of them know in advance, considering the threat, I doubt they'll be too upset, and they can be ready to deal with the fallout. Everyone in the city probably knows by now that Skidmark is gunning for the Family, and we need to make a point. Stealing his cash was part of it, taking what's left of his gang away will do the rest."
"A lot of them have already run, so it would be… a little over a hundred or so?" Lisa told him. "Between us, that's not a problem, especially since there won't be any capes in the place. We go in, let them shoot at us for a while, then round them up. If we invite the PRT along to help, or at least observe, and they find that Squealer was accidentally on purpose caught in the cross-fire..." She shrugged a bit. "They'll believe their own people."
"Christ, you lot are nasty when you start planning things," he finally said. Linda was looking cold and upset. Taylor put her hand on the Tinker's, inspecting her.
"Are you OK with that, Linda?" she asked in a low voice. "It's the best chance we have of making everyone sure you're dead. We'll be careful not to hurt any of them, and like you said yourself, this way some of them might end up turning their lives around. Better this than let your old boyfriend lead them into a situation where we can't control it."
"It's fucking horrifying hearing people talking about killing you, even if it isn't actually you," the woman replied, sounding shaken. "Especially when it sort of is as well."
"That's understandable," Taylor said, smiling a little. "But once it's over, that's it. You're free of your past and can start again, hopefully ending up somewhere you want to be. And you can always leave if you decide this isn't what you want."
"I know, but..." The brunette trailed off, then sighed deeply. Raising her eyes, she nodded. "Fine. It's a good plan, even if it's one of the most fucked up ones I've ever heard. But I guess you can do it."
"Definitely," Lisa smiled.
"When?" Danny asked.
They looked at each other. "Tomorrow night. We need to make her a new body, get all that set up, and let the PRT and the cops know," Amy said. "It will be easier in the dark, so sometimes after eight or thereabouts?"
"Works for me," Taylor smiled, rather grimly. "I wish we didn't have to get involved, but he started it. At least this way hopefully no one dies. Or, no one other than that poor woman."
Linda almost laughed at that.
"Well, I'll leave you to it, then," he said, standing up. "I have quite a lot of things to do. Welcome to the DWU, Miss Morgan."
"Thank you, Mr Hebert," she said, taking his hand and shaking it.
"Call me Danny. I'll see you later, girls." With a wave to them, he headed back to his office, working out what needed to be done.
At the rate they were going, the DWU would have more capes hanging around than the damn Protectorate, he thought as he walked. Which was definitely not what he'd expected a couple of months ago.
'First Amy, then Lisa and her friends, then Über and Leet, and now Squealer. Christ. Where's it going to end? And why is it mostly villains she seems to attract?'
Deciding that he was definitely going to draw the line if Lung turned up looking for a job, he shook his head, sighed, and kept walking.
"I suppose we should work out the specifics of your new body, then, Linda," Amy said when Danny had left, turning to the woman who had been staring at her hands. Linda twitched, then raised her eyes.
"Do you realize how strange that sounds to me?" she asked with an odd expression, one that wasn't upset, but seemed almost like she was trying not to laugh. "You're so casual about it, it's very fucking weird. 'New body.' Just like that."
She swallowed, closing her eyes briefly. "I don't mind saying the idea of someone taking my brain out and moving it around terrifies the shit out of me."
Amy leaned forward, trying to impress upon the currently brunette woman her sincerity.
"I understand your worry," she said reassuringly. "And we don't have to do this if you don't want to. I'm sure we can come up with a different method. I could produce a duplicate body and we could use that, for example. But for a number of reasons, using your original is better, and I promise you I can do it. You won't feel anything."
"Have you done this with a human before?" Linda asked.
"Ah… no, I haven't," she was forced to admit, which made the woman look worried. "But honestly it's not hard. The theory is simple and the practice isn't much more difficult. It's slightly long-winded, but it'll work, and your new body will be a big improvement on that one. I can make it practically anything you want." She smiled as warmly as she could, careful not to show too many teeth. "Human, modified human, not at all human… if you have any special requests, just tell me."
Linda stared at her, then smiled a little. "God, you're serious," she said wonderingly. "So you could give me fur or something if I wanted?"
"Sure. Do you want fur?"
"No, not really, but… shit, this is bizarre."
Taylor grinned, getting up and retrieving cans of soda, which she handed around on her return. "Scales are more our thing, anyway. Fur is probably too much trouble to deal with, and you might end up with fleas. Lots of dogs around here."
Opening her can, Linda actually laughed, shaking her head at the girl. "I can't quite see myself with scales, either."
"Maybe you'll decide otherwise one day," Taylor snickered, not offended.
"With you guys around that's not impossible." The woman took a couple of gulps from her can. "I can't believe we're having this conversation."
Lisa grinned at her. "We have many interesting conversations. Are you happy with the way you look at the moment? That's the simplest approach, just keep your appearance, and improve a few of the internal systems."
"It's still a shock looking in the mirror," Linda noted, feeling her nose with a faint air of wonder, "But it's a face I can live with. And the main thing is that it doesn't look anything like my own one. Even Skids wouldn't recognize me."
"Which is the whole point," Amy nodded. "OK, that's not a problem." She studied the woman, who took a few more sips as she looked back. "Keep that, then, improve the structural aspects, add enhanced healing, better strength and reflex speed, boost the senses… that's all simple stuff. You'd end up a low level Brute from the physical standpoint, with better hearing, eyesight, sense of smell, things like that. Nothing too excessive, we can always revisit it. But I'll put in the underlying infrastructure for some of my more useful ideas. And you'll never get sick again."
She watched as Linda looked amazed. "Fuck me, you can do all that to a normal person?"
"I can. I have to tell you, one thing I'm going to add is a metabolic modification that will make any normal narcotic, including alcohol, completely ineffective. Painkillers will still work but you won't be able to get high on anything." She glanced at Lisa, then Taylor, both of whom she'd discussed this with the night before. "It's not that we don't trust you, but given your past, we want to make sure that if things get too much for you, you don't end up retreating into drug abuse again. The psychological addiction is quite likely still present even though you're doing really well at not giving in to it. This is just insurance."
Appearing mildly insulted at first, Linda opened her mouth, then closed it again as she though. Eventually, she sighed slightly. "Fuck. I get where you're coming from. And I can't even swear it's something that would never happen. I sure don't want it to, but… life can fuck you over, and it's done it before. Maybe that's a good idea."
She looked slightly plaintive. "Can't even drink?"
"You can drink," Amy chuckled, "it just won't do anything."
"Might be useful for winning drinking competitions," Linda sighed. "OK. I can live with that. You people are really strict."
"We'll see how things go, and I might adjust it in time to let you get slightly drunk if I think you're handling life all right, but I don't want to risk losing you just as things are improving," Amy told her, reaching out and patting her shoulder. "I know it's a little harsh but I honestly think it's a sensible precaution."
"Can't argue with that, as much as I'd like to," Linda mumbled. "I'm pretty fucked up."
"You'll be OK, but it will take time." Lisa watched the woman finish her can. "I think you should see a therapist, as well. Not necessarily immediately, but soon. You've been through a nasty abusive relationship and come out of years of unpleasant problems. Talking it out with a professional would help."
Looking at her, then the others, Linda eventually nodded, appearing resigned. "You're probably right. You usually seem to be."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to talk to you any time you want," Lisa added, "but that's not my specialty. We can find someone who knows human minds and how to help repair them. I'm more a deconstructionist, which isn't helpful in this case."
They were silent for a moment, as Linda thought things over. "Life is pretty strange sometimes, isn't it?" she finally remarked, fairly cheerfully. "Never saw this coming, at all."
"Things do seem to have a habit of changing unexpectedly in this city," Taylor smiled. She glanced at Amy. "So, make the new body first, obviously. When do you want to get started?"
"I've got the DNA samples, I'll make the brain first, it's the key to the whole plan, then build the body," Amy replied after some quick thought. "I'll need some help with the mechanical structure, you can make the bones faster than I can."
"No problem."
"When it's finished, we move Linda across, install the replacement brain in the original, change it back to what she used to look like, and undo all the things Metis fixed. That won't take too long. I'll put it in biostasis when we're done, it'll keep until we need it."
Taylor nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds like we have a plan, then."
"Can I watch?" Linda suddenly asked. Everyone looked at her, making her shrug. "It's bizarrely interesting, even if it's as grotesque as fuck. And it's my body, after all."
"Sure," Amy grinned. "I don't mind. You may find it a little disturbing, I have to warn you, but it's not like normal surgery, there won't be blood and fluids all over the place. We use completely different methods, no cutting and gluing."
"Thank fuck for that," Linda sighed in relief, looking less worried. "I had some pretty unpleasant mental images."
"It's more like making a machine," Taylor told her. "Family biosculpting is both an art and a science, and far more advanced than normal human medical techniques. It's not my field of expertise but I find it fascinating as well."
"Let's get to work, then, we have quite a few things to do," Lisa pointed out, standing up. Amy did likewise, and was about to say something else when there was a knock on the door. Everyone looked at it. Taylor sniffed.
"Victoria Dallon," she said.
"You can tell that from here by scent?" Linda asked in surprise.
"Yep, it's not hard." Striding across the room, Taylor headed for the door. "Probably best not to mention anything to her, for the moment," she said over her shoulder. "Vicky's a good person but the fewer people who know the better."
Linda nodded, while Lisa sat down again. They watched as the door was opened to reveal Amy's sister, who was dressed in normal street clothes and looked excited. "Hi, Vicky," Taylor smiled. "It's nice to see you. Come in."
"Thanks, Saurial," the blonde said, entering the room and looking around. "Is Amy here?"
"She's on site somewhere but she's not in the building right at the moment," Taylor answered. "Is there something wrong?"
"Not at all," Vicky smiled. "The opposite. The Mayor called and invited both of us to dinner at his house on Wednesday, along with Taylor and her dad. Amy's phone is off, I wanted to tell her."
Amy looked at Taylor, who smirked a little at her over Vicky's shoulder. She'd obviously known about the invitation and had deliberately not said anything. With an internal grin, she said, "Amy will be back soon, I think, Vicky, but we're happy to pass the message on."
"Thanks," the other girl said, joining them at the table along with Taylor. She looked at Linda, who was appearing slightly awe-struck as well as apprehensive. "Hi, I'm Vicky Dallon," she told the brunette, holding out her hand.
"Linda Morgan," the woman managed to say, apparently a little taken aback by Vicky's exuberance, as she shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you."
"Linda is a new DWU hire," Lisa told the blonde. "A very talented mechanical engineer. We were just talking about some of the Family techniques with her."
"Oh, cool." Vicky grinned. "These guys are crazy, but they make some neat stuff. You'll probably like it here. People are saying this is going to be an important part of the city soon, with the way things are changing."
"I'm getting that impression," Linda smiled. "So far it's been a little weird but not bad at all."
Peering at the glass boards with Taylor's math on them, Vicky's eyes widened. "Holy shit, that's some seriously horrifying mathematics," she exclaimed. "I've never seen anything like it."
"Hmm?" Taylor followed her eyes, then smiled. "It's not too hard, but it's not something you're likely to have come across. Again, Family work, the basis of fractional dimensional storage theory. I was going over it with Cloak yesterday."
Linda turned to look at the boards, Amy noted, her expression going from mildly overwhelmed through intrigued to totally fascinated in about four seconds. Inwardly, she was amused, and wondered if the woman would be able to learn it. That could lead to some interesting results…
"Way beyond me," Vicky laughed. "Taylor might be able to follow it, but she's the only person I know who could. Girl's a math machine."
"She's very good at it," Taylor agreed with a calm smile. "We've discussed the subject on many occasions."
"I'm surprised she's not here," Vicky giggled. "She'd fit right in. But I know she's still buried in her schoolwork, catching up. That damn Winslow place didn't do her any favors."
"No, I don't suppose it did."
Taylor was definitely very amused by the conversation, Amy could literally smell it. She met her friend's eyes and had to turn her head a little to hid her own smile. Lisa was openly grinning slightly, while poor Linda seemed confused, but mostly still absorbed in looking at the equations.
"Poor girl. Mind you, she's really having a good time at Arcadia, now. I'm glad she transferred, I wouldn't have met so many interesting people and had so much fun as a result if I'd never met her," Vicky smiled. "And she's been as good for Sis as you guys are. Ames has really opened up a hell of a lot in the last few weeks. I was getting worried about her, so thanks for that."
"You're more than welcome, Vicky," Taylor replied, smiling widely. "Amy is a very close friend to all of us. As are you."
"Thanks." She looked at her watch. "Well, if you can tell her when you see her, that would be great. I'll try calling her later. I think I'm going to go and look on the Boardwalk, some of the shops are open, and I really need a new outfit for this dinner. See you guys around."
"Of course, Vicky, drop in any time," Taylor said as she walked back to the door with the girl, opening it and standing aside. "It was nice to see you again, even if briefly."
"Say hi to Danny for me, OK?" Vicky smiled, floating out the door and disappearing upwards at speed. Taylor closed the door once more, locking it, then rejoined them.
"That girl is… a little hyper," Linda noted dryly.
"She's enthusiastic, yes," Lisa laughed. "But a good person. I like her a lot."
"OK, hopefully there won't be any more interruptions," Amy put in. "Let's get to work. If you have any ideas, don't be afraid to tell us, Linda." She headed to the workroom and opened it, picking the biogun off the bench and putting in on one of the shelves to the side, then clearing a space. It was quite crowded in the room with all four of them standing there next to the bench. "Right. Let's make a brain, shall we?"
"I feel there should be some eerie music playing," Linda said as she looked around the room with interest. "What are we calling it?"
"Abby," Taylor replied immediately.
"Abby?"
"Abby Normal." Taylor grinned as everyone looked at her. Lisa sighed slightly.
"You've been watching those human movies again, haven't you?" she said.
"They're very amusing," Taylor snickered.
Linda stared at them all, then shook her head.
"Why do I get the feeling that things are only going to get more fucking bizarre?" she asked rhetorically.
"Because you're an intelligent person," Amy said, grinning. "Hand me that bag of onions, will you? And someone close the door."
Shortly, she was very carefully building a duplicate human brain in a vat of suspension fluid while Linda watched with awe, Taylor made bad jokes, and Lisa watched for mistakes with her power.
All in all, she was having a lot of fun. And she had a dinner with the Mayor to look forward to as well, which was nice.
Vicky flipped hangers, going through a rack of dresses in the back of the shop, looking for anything that seemed like it would be a good choice. She'd spent some time looking in the various shops open on a Sunday, picking up a nice pair of shoes but little else yet. She was going to have to try again tomorrow when some of the better places were open.
Even so, she was in a very good mood. She'd got an invitation to dinner with one of the most important people in the city, out of the blue, her sister and one of her friends was going too, and even the weather was nice.
Shaking her head as she held up one garment, she put it back, then looked around. There was nothing here that worked. Oh well.
Picking up her shopping bag, she left the establishment, nodding to the sales girl on the way out, then stopped on the street outside. Quite a large number of tourists were around the place, she'd already signed three autographs, but most of them left her alone after a quick double-take.
Turning right, she headed towards the nearest place that sold food, feeling hungry. After a quick snack she thought she'd call Dean, who should be off shift at the moment, talk to him for a while, then head home. Possibly stop off at the DWU again to see if Amy was around yet. Her sister certainly enjoyed being at that place, she thought with amusement.
Not surprising, she got on really well with all the lizards. She'd made some good friends there, the blonde thought. And most of it seemed, one way or the other, to date from when she met Taylor. That girl had started her sister on a path to being a happier person, for which she herself was extremely grateful. Not to mention she really liked the brunette as well.
'I still can't get over how good she is with math,' Vicky thought as she walked into the fast food restaurant, smiling at a couple of boys her age who stared, then started whispering to each other. She joined the line, her choices already made after a look at the menu. 'But that stuff Saurial wrote down was insane. I wonder if Taylor could really understand it?'
Placing her order, she waited for the guy behind the counter to fill it, then took the tray he handed her, thanking him, before heading to a table and sitting down.
'Hopefully Taylor will catch up with her schoolwork soon. Then she can join Amy at Lizard Central. God knows what would happen then!' Giggling under her breath, she stuck a straw in her drink and sucked on it. 'She's another one that would fit in nicely. Really calm and level-headed, like Saurial, and with the same sort of weird sense of humor. I'm not surprised Ames likes both of them, she's the same too. They're hysterical when they start making dead-pan jokes and word games. Dennis nearly stopped breathing he was laughing so hard the last time.'
She grinned to herself, remembering the red-head rolling on the floor gasping weakly for air, while Taylor and Amy exchanged looks of triumphant amusement. Amy's snark and Taylor's ability to craft a pun out of nothing were a terrifying combination.
The blonde girl ate her chicken salad, idly watching the pedestrians pass outside, pondering the deep mysteries of life, such as why so many really obese people wore clothes that seemed designed to not fit properly, enjoying the day. When she finished, she dumped her waste in the relevant place, left the restaurant, and lifted into the air without a pause. She'd find a good private place to call Dean, she knew many building rooftops that were suitable, thanks to her flight ability which was one of the best parts of her power set.
As she flew, her thoughts went back to her sister and her friends. 'It's weird how similar Saurial and Taylor can be sometimes,' she thought with a grin. 'They're both really laid back and calm, although Saurial is fucking terrifying when she's doing her thing. Taylor is just nice. And they're both brilliant at math. I wonder how long ago the Heberts met the Family? They obviously knew them quite a while before Saurial made her debut. I bet she was going to their house for weeks or months and no one knew about it. She can be sneaky.'
About two minutes later, a very strange thought struck her, which distracted her so much she flew into the side of an office block.
"A paintball gun," Alec said flatly, looking at the thing Mark was holding. Brian glanced at him, then looked back to the blond man who was grinning.
They were in one of the larger offices in the security department, half a dozen of the normal complement of guards there, along with a dozen volunteers, Alec and Brian included.
"That's partly correct," Mark said. "This started life as a very high quality paintball rifle, but that was before some military gunsmiths got their hands on it. It's been modified for higher accuracy. Rifled barrel, takes standard rail-mount accessories, can use either a hopper, or magazine-loaded finned loads." He turned the thing around in his hands, pointing out the various features. "Extendable stock, folding bipod, and interchangeable barrels. In this configuration it's set up for short range operation, out to a hundred yards or so. If you remove the barrel, like this..."
He did exactly that, putting the short metal tube down on his desk, then picking up a longer one. "...and put this one in place, it's a sniper rifle, accurate to maybe two hundred yards if you're a good shot. The accuracy isn't as good as a real firearm, of course, the ballistic characteristics of any type of paintball are never going to match a bullet, but it's a damn sight more accurate than a normal paintball."
"If you want really high accuracy when firing paint, don't they make training rounds that you can fire from a normal gun?" Brian asked, remembering something he'd read on the web.
Mark nodded. "Yes, they do. And they fucking hurt, I can tell you that from personal experience. But there are a lot less legal restrictions around a paintball gun than a real gun, in the sense that this is legally considered a toy, not a weapon. Makes life easier. It definitely isn't a toy, but it's also not a firearm, which is good from our point of view. We're not trying to kill anyone, after all. Just ruin their day."
"How is a face full of paint going to do that?" one of the other volunteers, a woman in her thirties, asked curiously.
Mark looked at her then grinned in a malicious manner. "We won't be using paint." Next to him Zephron held up a small orange ball between two fingers. Brian noted that he was wearing a glove on that hand for some reason. "We'll be using these."
"Looks like a paintball to me," Alec said, staring at the thing.
"Think of it more as a painball," Mark said with a dark chuckle. "The filling is a mix of capsaicin and allyl isothiocyanate with stabilizers and preservatives. That's the chemical that gives chilies their heat, along with the active ingredient in wasabi. Basically pure. Trust me, you do not want to get this stuff on your skin. It makes pepper gas look like milk. Get it in your eyes, you're going to be screaming in agony too much to concentrate on anything else for hours. Even skin contact is agonizing."
"Shit." One of the other people whispered the word in an awed tone.
"This spray is a counter-agent," Zephron said, holding up an industrial type of aerosol. "It neutralizes the chemicals on contact. Even so, you'll want to avoid getting it on yourself."
"If we get into a situation where those idiot Merchants come at us, hopefully we can drop them with these before it gets bad and the Family is forced to do something more permanent," Mark went on when his colleague put the can down again. "Not to mention, there's always the chance of someone else trying something now that things are kicking off around here. Danny feels that we need some way to defend ourselves at range, rather than waiting for them to get here and everything ending up as hand to hand combat. These things will slow down a lot of capes, never mind normal people. Combined with the new wall, it gives us a fighting chance."
"The Family aren't always around, so we need something we can fall back on, just in case," Zephron added. "But we don't want to start with the lethal options, it only escalates the situation. These are non-lethal, but very, very, very unpleasant."
"What if it's not enough?" The question came from one of Mark's security regulars.
"We have other options as well," the blond man said, glancing at his colleague. "We have a good stock of smoke grenades, some tear gas ones, as well as some sedative ones, which are quite effective." Brian wondered if those were the same as the ones Coil had arranged for Lisa when they'd hit Lung. Those things had worked very well.
Mark put the paintball gun down on the desk in front of him. "Also..." He held up a small bright red box. "These don't exist. You never saw them. Got me?" Everyone nodded. "If they did exist, they would be an experimental military sub-lethal nerve agent in point six eight paintball caliber, intended for riot control. They would have the ability to cause unconsciousness in approximately six to eight seconds from skin contact, and would even go through most clothes. They would also have the slight drawback of potentially causing death, since a paintball isn't the most precise way to apply a dose of anything. This autojector, which also doesn't exist, would in theory contain an antidote."
He put both items down on the desk. "Obviously, these hypothetical and clearly non-existent items would only get used in a serious situation, where the risk to life was high enough to overcome the very definitely illegal nature of them."
Brian listened with interest and worry. Mr Hebert had some interesting contacts, if he could get this sort of thing. The nerve agent balls sounded very worrying. He wondered which Pentagon research department was going to come up short on the next inventory…
"We also have access to a limited number of real guns, for true life or death situations, but Danny is extremely reluctant to authorize their use unless there's no other alternative," Mark carried on. "I happen to agree with that. We're not building an army, we're just trying to defend ourselves and get on with our business. It's better to try to talk a situation down than start shooting. However, that is sometimes not an option, so we train for when it goes south."
He looked around at them all. "Understand, this is volunteer only. If anyone is worried about possibly having to fight, there's no shame in saying so. You can all withdraw at any time for any reason. But I would hope that you'll stick with the rest of us, and help defend our friends and co-workers. The DWU looks after its own, and many of us have a lot of reason to be grateful for that."
Everyone looked at each other. Several murmurs of support came from about the room. "I'm perfectly happy to help," Brian said after a few seconds. Alec was looking at the paintball weapon with an intrigued expression, twitching a little when his friend nudged him. He nodded.
"Sounds fun," the dark-haired boy said, smiling.
The others all expressed similar sentiments, causing Mark and Zephron to both appear pleased.
"Great. We may also be getting some interesting help from Saurial and the others, knowing them. She's interested in teaching some of her hand to hand style to us too. Anyone with any martial arts or CQC experience who wants to learn some new tricks should let me know."
That made Brian think hard. He'd seen the lizard-girl training, she was incredibly good. He was very interested in seeing if he could learn any of that himself, he decided, catching Mark's eye. The man nodded slightly to him. "Great. Since we seem to be on the same page, we'll start with a complete breakdown of this weapon, learn how it works, and then practice using it. We have quite a few of them, and I've got thousands of ordinary paintballs for training. Alec, I'm hoping that some of your idle layabout experience will transfer over to a more physical kind of sniping, if you're interested."
Brian's friend smiled as several people laughed. "I'm willing to try," he said. "Might be fun."
"Don't get carried away," Zephron chuckled. "Remember this is only training. Once we see how well it works out, we'll assemble more teams, but you guys are the test batch."
"As long as we keep score, I'm good," Alec snickered darkly.
Sighing a little, knowing that things were likely to end up very strange, Brian looked at his friend and shook his head. Alec was definitely seeming far too interested now for anyone's peace of mind...