"Think you can actually help him?" Amy asked as they headed down the road towards the DWU, Taylor now sitting next to her as Saurial with her secondary aspect having disappeared.

Her friend glanced at her, then sighed faintly. "I really don't know, but I think I should at least try. That sort of problem would be horrible for anyone, but for a Tinker? It must be driving him nuts."

"He's sure not happy about it, I know that much," Amy noted sadly. "I like the guy and I wish I could help."

"Is it something you could fix in his brain?" Taylor looked at her again. "I mean, if you did brains."

"I'm not sure, to be honest. There might not be anything organically wrong with it and I've never looked. Possibly it's basically a programming error. And you know my feelings about fiddling with brains. People live there and it scares the shit out of me to think I might fuck someone up."

"What about the neural amplifiers?"

"That's different, they tap into the spine and self-organize around the personality centers, leaving them alone. I'm happy that there's no risk of doing something weird to someone's mind, all it does is add a lot of processing power as a sort of co-processor. It's a lot more complicated than that, of course, but neither of us has the vocabulary for me to properly describe it to you. But trust me when I say it's different, and safer as far as I'm concerned."

Taylor nodded thoughtfully. "You're the expert in that area, we all know that. And I agree it's not the sort of thing you want to experiment with, especially on someone you like." After a moment, she asked, "What about depression? Do you think that your symbiote could deal with that? Either the normal one or the one-shot thing?"

Amy was silent for a moment, as they drew closer to the familiar gate. "I've been asking myself that ever since I designed the things. They do fix damaged neural tissue, with very strict rules on how. Some brain damage would be too much, like if parts were missing, that sort of thing. But… I'm pretty sure they would fix Dad, if that's what you're referring to. Or at least stabilize him."

Her friend looked at her again, then turned back to watch the guards wave them through, waving back at the two men. When they were slowly driving down the side of the buildings, she asked, "Couldn't you make something that would dose him with the right antidepressants, if the symbiote doesn't work?"

"I could. That's another thing I've been mulling over for weeks. The main problem is how I get it past Mom. She's… suspicious of things like that. As you know." Amy sighed again. "Even now, although she's a hell of a lot easier to live with than she was before that massive argument and the drunken talks with Aunt Sarah."

"The Family could offer them the use of our biotechnology, since Amy is a close friend and is worried about her father," Taylor pointed out after a second or two. "You can vouch for the things doing exactly what they claim they do. I was thinking that was probably the best way to talk to the PRT about the one-shot healing devices as well. They work incredibly well and I'd be happier if they were available to people who need them. You could save a lot of lives with the things."

"I know," Amy muttered. "Believe me, I know. Ever since I came up with the damn thing in the first place that's been eating at me." They pulled up outside the office and she turned the engine off, putting her head on the wheel for a moment. "I'm sitting on all sorts of things that could practically eliminate disease, most accidental injuries and deaths, you name it, but there are so many obstacles in the way of using them it's almost impossible. Even though I know they work, they're completely safe, and they're much more effective than any drugs or things like that."

Leaning back, she shook her head. "It's frustrating."

"I can tell," Taylor smiled, looking sympathetic. "Don't worry, we'll figure something out. The Amy will conquer disease and injury sooner or later, I have faith."

The Dallon girl snickered, then opened the door. "Come on, let's find Lisa and freak her out."

"Sounds like a plan," Taylor chucked. "And we need to talk to Vectura too." They headed towards the door, Amy pulling out her keys.

Walking back to the BBFO office from Danny's, Lisa was thinking over what her power had told her about his upcoming trip. It had revealed that he wasn't precisely looking forward to it but at the same time it was something that had been bothering him for a long time.

It also said that his status in certain parts of society was steadily taking on the level of legend. It made her grin like a lunatic when she was alone, wondering how long it would be until 'The Boss' realized what she'd learned from those two delivery drivers from Antonio's colleague. The pair had been unshakably convinced they were in the middle of the most over the top and dangerous organized crime operation they'd ever heard of. She had a shrewd suspicion that Zephron also knew this and had been subtly encouraging it for his own amusement, and also to make sure that people took the place he clearly loved like a family member seriously.

In that, she was certain he'd succeeded. The two smugglers had been quietly terrified the entire time, and extremely impressed and respectful. Lisa wondered what stories they'd spread when they got home…

Danny might well find out, she chuckled to herself. He'd probably groan about it, then pretend it hadn't happened, but in her view it was on the whole a useful thing. It certainly went some way towards explaining why Antonio was so helpful, making her think that the old man was more closely connected to the Hebert family than Taylor's father had so far admitted to. She knew, or had deduced, a lot of the story, but parts of it were still missing. But she wasn't going to push, it was a private matter for someone she really respected and liked.

And she thought it likely that Antonio would find some way to make it pay off for himself as well. He definitely had a reputation of being smart and taking the long view from her research. There was a reason he was still around after all these years and had never seen the inside of a courtroom. No unthinking violence from his sort of organized crime. It was more along the lines of very carefully considered violence and only when absolutely necessary to make a point. It seemed to work even better than more traditional methods, if appearances were anything to go by.

Not to mention that he was reputed to take family very seriously, even more so than was common in his circles. Anyone who messed with those he deemed so protected didn't tend to be heard from again.

She was OK with that, in fact. While not a fan of violence in general, she certainly wasn't above it if required, although like Taylor, she'd prefer to talk her way out. And since she'd come here, she'd pretty much learned when not to talk herself into trouble. Which she was honest enough to admit to herself had been a problem in the past. Amy's tweaks had definitely worked in her favor, not only curing her headaches, but by opening her power up so much, fixing some of her more annoying issues. Annoying to others, mostly, but still annoying.

Although she took pride in the fact that she could still talk practically anyone into an incoherent rage if required. That was bound to come in handy sooner or later.

The upcoming curb-stomp that was the Coil operation was a case in point. She very much wanted to see his face when he finally realized how badly he was fucked…

Snickering, she kept walking, looking around and nodding to various people she knew.

"Hi!"

The bright chirpy voice was high pitched, friendly, and unexpected.

Stopping dead, she looked around, gaping at the tiny dragon that was sitting on a windowsill of one of the workshops looking at her with a wide grin on its muzzle.

"You're Lisa, right? Mom told me to look for a human female with blonde head fur and big… those things." It pointed at her chest, making her look down, then back at it, her face blank of expression and her power staring in shock. "Do you know where cousin Saurial is? I've been looking all over and I can't find her, although I can smell her somewhere close."

It abruptly vanished, then she felt a weight on her shoulder, making her yip and jump sideways. Small but sharp claws dug into her skin as several people in the area stopped and looked strangely at her.

"What the fuck?" she yelped.

"Sorry?" The thing sounded puzzled. "Are you all right? Only you smell weird." A tiny forked tongue tickled her cheek. "And taste worried. Is there some threat around?" She could see a small head on the end of a long neck craning about, inspecting the environment suspiciously.

"Who the hell are you?" she said in a shaky voice. It was about all she could think of to say under the circumstances.

The little dragon vanished from her shoulder and reappeared on a different windowsill a couple of yards away, appearing thoughtful. "I don't have a human name yet. I'm still working on that. Anyway, that's not important right now. Do you know where Saurial is?" It peered enquiringly at her, looking hopeful. "I'm getting hungry and she'll know what I can eat."

It looked at the brickwork next to it, sniffed it, then pried a small piece loose where it was crumbling and ate it. Then it made a face. "This is stale."

Lisa watched in bemused shock, her power now shaking its metaphorical head and face-palming. With a glance around she saw that no one else seemed to see the thing. The ones that were watching, were watching her.

So, either she was having a hallucination, or…

"Taylor, you are a crazy pain in the ass," she whispered, walking over to the little dragonlet, which smirked at her. "How the fuck did you do this?"

"Good, isn't it?" the thing said, dropping the wide-eyed newcomer act and somehow taking on the mannerisms of her friend, which were apparent even through the different shape to her. "I worked it out this morning. Meet you back at the office, I can show you some cool stuff." She waved, then vanished.

Lisa sighed. Perhaps being part of the Family wasn't, in fact, the right thing? If that damn demon and his host kept coming up with new powers like this, sooner or later she was going to either go entirely nuts, or just shut down completely, at the rate things were going.

Resuming her walk, after a few steps she wondered if Amy could make something like that for her.

It looked fun.

Taylor was still an infuriating pain in the ass at times, though. And a very good friend.

"Director Piggot, what an unexpected pleasure!" Roy ladled on the bonhomie with vigor, waving the solidly-built woman in as he got up from his desk. She didn't seem in as good a mood, not returning his smile of welcome. Internally amused, he let his face merely reflect pleasant cheerfulness and an air of business. "How can the city of Brockton Bay help the PRT today?"

"Must you, Roy?" she sighed as she headed for the chair he indicated to.

He briefly grinned. "Yes. Forgive me, I don't mean anything personally by it. One finds humor where one can. Would you like some coffee or something?"

The blonde woman sat down, nodding. "Thanks, actually I would. It's been a long day and I'm not likely to be stopping any time soon."

"Certainly. Hold on, please." He prodded the button on his intercom and asked his PA for some drinks, then released it when she acknowledged the message. Piggot watched with a neutral expression. "That won't take long. Now, how can I help?"

"This is more in the nature of an informational trip," Director Piggot said. "In the way that I need to inform you of that we're going to be undertaking a major operation in the city soon which will..."

There was a tap at the door, causing her to stop and look over. It opened, revealing his PA with a tray, which she brought over and put on his desk. He thanked her, both of them waiting until she'd left again. Handing the director a cup, he said, "You were saying?"

She took it, then restarted. "We're going to be undertaking a major operation in the city in the near future. I can't go into details for security reasons, but it's my hope that you'll believe me when I say it's necessary, unavoidable, and will shut down a major villain and his organization."

"I see," he responded after a few seconds of thought, during which he stirred some sugar and cream into his coffee. "Am I to assume that this operation is going to cause a significant disruption to the smooth functioning of the city?"

She snorted lightly. "This city has never functioned in a manner that could in any way be termed 'smooth' and you know it. But yes, it's unfortunately going to have a significant impact on the commercial district for some hours."

"Define 'significant'," he requested somewhat suspiciously.

"Complete shut down and evacuation of several square miles." She sipped her coffee, then added a hint more cream herself.

He leaned back and studied her. "Interesting definition," he finally said. "Some might call that more 'Catastrophic' than 'Significant'. You do realize just how many people that would involve? And how much money?"

The PRT woman nodded, looking disgruntled. "Yes, actually, I have a very good idea of both of those. But like I said, it can't be helped."

"Who are you going after?" he asked, following another pause. "Not Kaiser, I think. No one is even sure where his base actually is, and I have to assume that you're intending to assault a stronghold with that requirement. Not to mention that from what I hear he's given orders to stay out of anything that might upset the current status quo. Lung… he's staying very low-profile at the moment, but my own investigations suggest he's waiting patiently to see how things pan out with the Family. Faultline's group is not only very careful not to piss on their own doorstep, but have been across the country for over two months now on a job..."

She watched him carefully, not reacting to his musings.

"No other major Parahuman gangs are in Brockton Bay right now, and they're not likely to try with the Family here. No new independent villains I've heard of either, at least ones that warrant that sort of response. We have dozens of minor ones, of course, but they're strictly small time and only a minor problem. So..." He drank some more coffee.

"Coil's been awfully quiet for quite a while now. What did he do to piss the PRT off so much?"

Director Piggot winced slightly, sighed, and then appeared both resigned and mildly impressed. "I can't talk about it. Security."

After studying her for a moment, he turned to the side and opened one of the drawers in his desk, which revealed a small control console. He flipped a couple of switches.

There was a muted thud from all the windows, as shutters dropped over the outside. The main door locked with a ripple of clicking sounds, as did the one to his private bathroom and the storage room. Moments later the walls briefly rippled with blue light as a force field formed just inside the room, before dimming out of visibility. He also knew that all hard-lines into the office were currently airgapped via two separate methods. Checking that all the notifications were green, he closed the drawer again.

Emily Piggot was looking around with some surprise and a degree of approval. She returned her attention to him. "That was more than I expected," she commented.

"An old friend recommended the system," he smiled. "Someone I trust implicitly. His advice is always good. The force field blocks all radio communications, recording devices are currently being jammed, no one can get in here without either a fairly unusual form of teleportation, a lot of very loud and obvious effort, or waiting for me to turn it off again. No hard-lines either, and listening devices outside the room will only get white noise."

"Tinker Tech?"

"Obviously. Very expensive, very good Tinker Tech. Some from Toybox, some from other places, and all backed up by someone who is… unsympathetic… to people ripping him off. We're about as secure in here as it gets, aside from maybe Armsmaster's lab, BBFO's office, or that room under the Pentagon they think no one knows about." He smiled at her. "So, tell me, Emily, what's going on?"

Rather than replying, she pulled out a small device and fiddled with it for a minute or two, waving it around her. Eventually, apparently satisfied, she put it away again. "I might want to talk to this friend of yours at some point," she muttered, looking unwillingly impressed.

"He's not too fond of the PRT for personal reasons but we could probably arrange something," Roy chuckled.

"OK. Fine, you seem to have something more secure here than I expected. Your son mentioned it, but..." She shrugged. "I had to see it for myself to believe it."

He made a small gesture. "Understandable. You're a professional paranoid, Emily. You don't trust anyone or anything sight unseen."

The woman nodded a little, finishing her coffee then returning the empty cup to the desk. She visibly thought about the situation for a while, during which he simply waited, in no hurry. "All right. Some time ago, we came into possession of certain information, via our scaly friends over to the west. I won't go into details, a lot of it isn't relevant, but we learned the civilian ID of Coil, and much more about his plans than we had known up till then."

"His ID?" Roy thought, watching her face and mulling over what he knew of her personality, based on his own fairly formidable skills and experience reading people. Something unpleasant occurred to him.

"You know him." He inspected the tiny changes in her expression. "He's PRT. Or was."

"Damn, you're good," she grunted with a reluctant smile. "Yes. He's a former PRT special forces commander. High ranked, very experienced, very smart. And completely amoral at best."

"Fuck." Roy rubbed his forehead. "That's… not good."

"Not even a little, no. He's been fooling us for years at least. Possibly longer. We've dug out quite a number of his spies in the PRT since we found this out, but we're not sure if he still has more, and there's always the possibility that there are others outside the city. Not to mention he managed to compromise a lot of our security and computer systems that we're sure about, and common sense says we have to assume the entire fucking thing is compromised. We've had our trusted people covertly cleaning up after him for nearly two months now and even then we're sure there are things we've missed."

"But even so you're going after him? In his own base?"

"We can't wait any longer," she replied. "He won't stay down there forever. Sooner or later he's going to try to make a run for it, and whether he gets away or not, the fallout could and almost certainly would be very bad. We're at a position where we can, with some luck, a hell of a lot of hard work, and some help from local resources, grab the fucker and shut him down permanently. But we have to act quickly."

"I see." Roy pondered his guest's words. "I assume the local resources are the Family and probably New Wave? And possibly using the DWU somehow."

"Yes."

"Why not call in external PRT and Protectorate aid?"

She sighed. "Partly security again, since we don't know who we can trust. Partly politics. Partly due to the simple fact that if we go that route, it will probably take long enough and leak enough information that he could find out and do something awkward." She shrugged a little helplessly. "It's complicated."

Roy nodded slowly, thinking it over. "That I can believe. And the need to shut down the city?"

"Raptaur discovered his base was in the old Endbringer shelter that was never finished, the one under the middle of Downtown." Roy turned his head to look at the large city map hung on the wall behind his desk. "Yes, that one. Right under at least one, probably more than one depending on how much more work he did on it, high-rise buildings. And we know he's mined the fucking thing with tons of explosives."

"Oh, for god's sake," Roy snarled. "Has the man watched too much James Bond?"

"Probably. He always was the sort of person you'd think would end up in a dead volcano with minions if he went bad," she said, almost smiling. "He likes the theater of it, I think. That was what we used to say in basic, anyway." She shook her head. "Never thought it would come true. Anyway, the end result is that there's a fuck-ton of C4 under several large financial companies in the commercial area, over the top of a huge hole in the ground. If that lot goes up, we're pretty sure that at least one building will end up in the hole, along with anyone in it. So we need to evacuate the entire area just in case we don't manage to disarm everything."

"Christ. And if you don't?"

"One hell of a bang, you're down one or more buildings, and I probably lose a lot of friends," she growled. "Not something I like to think about but I'd be a fool if I didn't plan for it."

Roy rubbed his forehead again. "Oh, fucking god damn the man. Why couldn't he hide in a quarry or something miles from anyone?"

She shrugged again. "It's not in his nature. And he actually owns the company that built the damn thing, so he already had it when he decided to play super-villain."

"Thomas fucking Calvert," Roy snapped, suddenly realizing exactly who they were talking about. "He owns half a dozen construction companies, one of which specializes in Endbringer shelters. Tall skinny bastard who makes you want to wash your hands after you shake his."

Emily stared at him, then nodded. "You've met."

"More than once, at various functions. Never liked that guy. He makes me want to leave the room, to be honest, he's worse than Max Anders. At least Max has a personality, even if it's over the top and smiles way too much. Every time Calvert smiles I want to put my fist in his face."

"It's a common reaction," she chuckled. "And it happened more than once, believe me. He was a good soldier, and very smart as well, but he rubbed most people up the wrong way sooner or later. No one thought he'd end up like this, though. He was always extremely competent at the job he was given, so his personality issues were overlooked as long as the work was done. But it seems he was probably working more for himself than the PRT for a long time."

"OK." Roy thought some more, looking back at the map, then getting up and examining it more closely. "You want to shut down this entire area?" He drew a rough circle on the map. Emily stood and walked over to join him at the wall. She indicated a slightly different area, approximately the same size but off to one side from the Endbringer shelter.

"More this area, but that's basically correct."

"When?"

"Sunday morning. Just before dawn, going on for a few hours. We're not sure yet quite how long it will take but worst case, the entire day. If it lasts longer than that, it's all gone to shit anyway. Hopefully it will be faster and go smoothly, but..." She lifted her shoulders and dropped them, shaking her head once again. "Murphy is a bastard."

"Tell me about it," he muttered. "All right. Sunday is the best case, definitely. Mid day Friday would have been insane. What excuse are you going to use? If you just put a cordon around the place and tell everyone inside to fuck off there's going to be a riot."

"There will be an accidental, minor, but very unpleasant chemical spill at the BBU lab here," she replied, indicating a point in the center of the area she'd shown him. "Nothing actually hazardous, but I'm reliably informed the smell is going to be unbearable over a significant area. No one is going to want to stick around."

Roy looked at the map, then her, then back at the map. "Oh, god. The complaints we're going to get..." He trailed off, then sighed. "OK. As long as it's something that isn't going to render half the district uninhabitable for weeks, I guess that's an effective and more or less safe way to clear the place out. So, local news, fairly low key announcement, calls for evacuation while the city takes care of the problem and calls in some PRT expertise to help out?"

"That's the idea."

"Fine. I don't like it, and the amount of work you're going to drop on us is enough to make me wince even thinking about it, but fine. You owe me a favor, though. This is going to be, if you don't mind the pun, a very big stink. Politically."

She actually grinned at him.

"I know, and believe me or not, I'm genuinely sorry about how much trouble it's going to cause the city administration. But we need to do it, we have to round that fucker up quickly and safely. Some of the things we've learned about him are… unpleasant. His long term plans wouldn't help any of us, trust me."

"I do, as it happens. I'd better get on with drafting some official press releases, I suppose." Roy went back to his desk and dropped into his chair. Emily did the same in the visitor chair. "Never ends, this sort of thing, does it?"

"Not really, no," she agreed. "But at least this time we have the luxury of planning it out rather than just reacting to events that took us by surprise."

"True." Roy nodded. "Do you think he knows you're coming for him?"

"I certainly hope not, but I can't be sure," she said. "We don't know the reason why he's holed up down there with all the doors locked, either. Although I can guess. It's very big and has a weird sense of humor."

He snickered. "Yes, that would probably do it. Well, good luck with your operation. Keep me in the loop as much as you can, but I won't get in your way. And say hello to the girls at BBFO for me."

She raised an eyebrow, making him grin. "I assume you're going to have council of war there soon, to work out who does what."

"You really are good, Roy," she said, with a slight smile of respect. "Infuriating and annoying, but good."

"I try." He opened the drawer and deactivated Phil's ridiculously over-specced security system. The faint background hiss that it produced died away. "Let me know how things work out."

"I will," she promised, standing up. "Thank you for the coffee."

"You're welcome." He watched as she left the room, before spinning his chair around to regard the map for a moment. Wondering how they were going to get into a sealed Endbringer shelter, and also hoping that they figured out how to disarm the explosives, he shook his head, then turned back to the desk to begin dealing with the calls that had stacked up during his unexpected security blackout.

Locking the door behind her, Lisa turned around and glared at Taylor. Then she glared harder at the six inch duplicate of her friend who was standing on the larger one's shoulder, one hand holding onto her big version's ear for support and the other one waving at her manically.

"How?" she demanded as she stomped over, looking between them. "How did you do… that." She pointed, her hand a foot away from the mini-Taylor, who promptly dived forward onto her arm and ran up it.

"Gahh!" Lisa shook her arm wildly, flinging the tiny Taylor terror tumbling towards the table.

Amy was laughing like a lunatic, rolling around in her chair. The full size aspect of their friend now put her hands on her hips and shook her head sadly. On the table, the small variant was standing in the same pose, doing the same thing.

"You're jumpy today, Lisa," both of them said simultaneously in different pitches. She pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled loudly.

"You're actually trying to give me an aneurysm, aren't you?" she asked, deliberately calmly. A sudden weight on her head made her grit her teeth, reach up, grab the doll sized Taylor and hold her in front of her eyes. "Please stop doing that," she requested, before opening her hand. Small Taylor fell, turned into a foot long dragon, and flapped over to land on Amy's head, also giggling madly.

"Show her the microshoggoth!" Amy called.

"No, don't!" Lisa yelped, closing her eyes on the spot, just in case.

There was a long pause.

"It's on my head, isn't it?" she said in a steady voice, feeling something tickling both ears at the same time as it was holding on.

"Yep."

"And it will make my power go wibble and fall over again if I look, won't it?"

"Possibly." Taylor sounded intrigued. "Have a look and we can find out."

"Why are you so… You?" Lisa sighed.

"It's only a small horror from beyond, Lisa," a voice hissed in her ear, making her twitch. "Perhaps if you build up a resistance you won't keep rebooting all the time."

"And you are even worse, you fucking nightmare from beyond the edge of the sane universe," she grumbled, feeling her way over to a chair and letting her power, which seemed torn between laughing and fainting, guide her to a sitting position. "Get off my damn head."

"As you command, Oh Smug One," he snickered. The weight vanished.

"Can I open my eyes yet?" she asked patiently.

"Of course." Amy replied this time. When Lisa cautiously looked, the healer was stroking a two foot long dragon that was curled up in her lap looking contented, the effect pretty weird. Lisa could almost swear the damn Varga, who was obviously in control of the aspect at the moment, was purring.

The full size Taylor was draped across another chair grinning at her. "It was Amy's idea," she said.

The healer shot her a look of betrayal, then started laughing, as did Taylor. Lisa simply shook her head.

"I know now why adults say, 'why me?'," Lisa sighed. "How did I of all people end up being the normal one?"

"You're not normal at all, Lisa," Taylor assured her. "We're just less normal than that."

There wasn't much she could do to deny it. "OK, explain. Joking aside, how did you do that?" Lisa pointed at the dragonlet. "Not to mention the teleporting bit with both aspects out."

"It's pretty cool," Taylor smiled, before she explained what she and her live-in demon had been doing since Lisa last saw them. At the end of the story, Lisa was genuinely impressed, and seeing some amazing possibilities for the latest example of the pair making the universe cry and go look for its mother.

And very envious.

"I want a mini-dragon aspect now," she mumbled, watching the Varga smirk at her with his head upside down.

"Of course you do, Lisa, it is only sensible," he chuckled. "Amy, Taylor, and I have been discussing the possibilities. There are some interesting ones that look doable, with some careful work."

Lisa smiled a little, thinking it over, then nodded. "Fractal dimensions, like with the biogun?"

"More or less," Amy replied. "I can't do teleportation, either their version or any of the more common ones, unless I figure something really weird out, but there are some good ideas that are nearly as useful. And fun."

"We'll put that on the list, near the top." Lisa sat down, still looking at the small dragon, which was now sitting on the table smirking at her. "Right now, though, we need to get ready for our meeting with half the PRT and Protectorate. And New Wave, I think."

"What?" All three of them looked surprised, exchanging glances. With a feeling of satisfaction that she'd shocked them, Lisa explained her conversation with Armsmaster earlier. "So they'll be here soon. I've left word at the gate and told Danny. We need to get your truck into one of the spare workshops, then make a bunch more chairs and get the coffee on."

"OK." Taylor looked at Amy again, the healer already getting up and pulling her keys out. "Looks like we're going to get to do some interesting demonstrations. Is your anti-C4 method ready?"

"I haven't made any yet but yes, I've got a neat solution for it," Amy replied as she opened the door. "Unlock the workshop and I'll be back in a minute."

A little later, they were all in the workroom, Amy and Lisa in their bioconstructs now. Taylor had both Saurial and Raptaur aspects out. The three others watched as Amy used some onion biomass to make a new creation, which Taylor supplied some containers for. After hearing how it was supposed to work, they all looked pleased.

"Really impressive work, cousin," Taylor's Saurial aspect chuckled. She looked at the clock that was sitting on the bench at the end. "Not long, I'd better make some new chairs."

"I will help, my sister," the Varga, who was controlling Raptaur for the moment, said with a grin. Both of them went out into the main room. Lisa and Amy looked at each other, then shook their heads. This was still something they were getting used to, weird even by the terms of their new lives.

But it held the possibility of some very interesting developments.

Amy went back to making some very small bio-constructs while Lisa went out to supervise the demonic pair, just in case something particularly funny struck either one of them before she could stop it...