Monday, March 8, 2011
Vicky opened her eyes, yawning widely, then sat up. Looking at the clock on her bedside table she saw it was only about half past six in the morning, which was definitely earlier than she normally woke, since she could easily make it to school in a fraction of the time most people took. That said she was now wide awake, so there wasn't any point in trying to get another hour of sleep. She knew from past experience that doing so left her feeling more tired rather than less for some hours.
When she was up, she was up.
Yawning again, she rubbed one eye as she climbed out of bed, floating across the room to the door having glanced out the window and seen a slightly damp but clear March dawn. After a visit to the bathroom, a shower, and the other normal ablutions, she went back to her room and got dressed. Heading downstairs for breakfast, she stopped to tap on her sister's door. "Hey, Ames, you up yet?" she whispered, not wanting to wake their parents if they were still asleep. Old people needed their rest, after all.
Amy was normally up around this time, being something of an early to rise, late to bed type, and she was puzzled that there was no sign of her sister yet. After a moment, she opened the door and peered inside, her eyebrows going up at the sight of the neatly made bed with no sign of the other girl having used it. "Huh. That's… unusual," she muttered, quietly closing the door again and resuming her descent of the stairs. A little while later she was sitting in front of a large bowl of cereal, finding that after all the excitement the day before she was still pretty hungry, even having had a large dinner when they all got home.
Overall she was very pleased about how well things had gone. The stink of that horrible chemical had been hard to live with, but in the end it was now just a memory, so there wasn't anything to dwell on. She was fairly sure, even so, that the poor Mayor was going to have a lot of people complaining to him about it. People did that.
A lot, from what she'd seen so far.
'Can't satisfy everyone, I suppose,' she shrugged, spooning cereal into her mouth. 'No matter what you do. Mom is always saying that anyway, and so is Aunt Sarah.' Having talked to the man, she felt he was easily able to deal with the issues that would come up, but she didn't envy him the job. Not that it likely that she'd ever be elected Mayor in the first place, she mused with a faint snort coming out at the concept.
She was still pleased about how unusually complimentary Director Piggot had been to them all. In the past, the woman had always struck her as more than a little intimidating and not at all happy about the idea of Capes that weren't associated with the PRT being out there, but recently she certainly seemed to have mellowed a lot in some key areas. 'Perhaps Amy healing her up helped her mood?' she thought. 'It could hardly have made it worse. I doubt that being so ill all the time makes anyone happier.' Whatever the truth of it, the end result from her point of view was that the blonde woman was a lot easier to deal with, not giving off the sensation of someone who was about to shout at you merely for existing any more. She had no doubt that Piggot could still cut someone down to size with a few well-chosen words, she was no less formidable than before, but it wasn't so in your face these days. Which was something of a relief.
Successfully capturing Coil was undoubtedly also something that had helped. Vicky was proud to have helped in such a major operation, however peripherally, since it could only in the long run raise the status of her family, help the city she lived in, and reduce crime.
The money was nice too, of course.
There were sounds from upstairs that suggested her parents were about to get up. She glanced at the ceiling for a moment, then once again wondered where her sister was. Had she really stayed out all night? Maybe stayed at Taylor's house? Pulling out her phone, she prodded it one-handed, then put it to her ear.
The other end rang a couple of times then was answered.
"Hi, Vicky. Sorry about not coming home," her sister said, sounding a little tired but not too bad.
"Where are you, Ames?" Vicky asked, mildly concerned.
"I ended up staying at the DWU," the other girl said. "Some things came up that were a little worrying and I was discussing it with everyone here, until it was so late there was no point coming back. I'll meet you at school later."
"OK." Vicky wondered what her sister meant by the comments. "Did you tell Mom?"
"I texted her to let her know I'd be in very late, but by the time it was very late, it was too late to say I wouldn't come home at all," Amy replied, slightly guiltily. "Let her know, will you?"
"Sure. But she's going to look weirdly at you when you get home." Vicky giggled for a moment. "I assume nothing… interesting… happened?"
"Define interesting," her sister's dry voice commented, making her laugh again. "Nothing like you're thinking happened. It was just a lot of talking, mostly. Taylor was here too, it affects her, and Danny. I'll explain it all when I see you. Tell Mom that if it hasn't already happened, she's probably going to get a call from Director Piggot a little later." Her voice now sounded irritated and flat. "Long story, but it boils down to the fact that the PRT lost someone they shouldn't have and it's potentially going to be a pain in the ass for quite a lot of people." There was a sound in the background, Amy going silent for a moment, then resuming speaking. "Sorry, got to go, but I'll see you in an hour and a half or so."
"Make sure you get something to eat, you get even crabbier than normal on an empty stomach," Vicky said with a smile.
"Oh, thanks. Don't worry, the cafeteria here is pretty good as you know, I'm just about to go for breakfast." Her sister's voice was amused again. "See you soon."
"OK. Bye, Ames." Disconnecting, Vicky dropped the phone back into her pocket, finished her cereal, then got up to clean the bowl. By the time her parents came downstairs she was investigating the fridge to see if there was anything else worth eating in there.
"You're up early," Carol said with a slight yawn, heading straight for the coffee machine on the end of the counter, which the blonde had started a few minutes earlier. Her father sat down at the end of the table, smiling at her for a moment, then took the cup of coffee his wife handed him with a nod of thanks. She made another one for herself, watching as Vicky pulled out some bacon and eggs, deciding that a traditional cooked breakfast was called for as the cereal hadn't quite done the job.
"Yeah, I woke up about forty minutes ago and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to get up," Vicky replied, putting the frying pan on the stove and adding some olive oil to it.
"Is Amy up yet?"
"Um… Yes, but she's sort of not here," Vicky admitted as she turned the stove on.
"Oh?" Carol looked momentarily suspicious, which didn't surprise her. "Where is she?"
"She stayed at the DWU last night." At her mother's surprised and concerned look, she explained what her sister had said, while she started cooking the bacon. Mark got up and began toasting some bread, listening quietly to them talk.
"That girl..." Carol shook her head. "She has some very odd friends. Oh, well, I suppose she's old enough to deal with the consequences of staying up most of the night, and she's certainly in one of the safest places around. Did she say what the Director wanted to talk to me about?"
"No, not really. Only what I told you."
"Hmm. I suppose we'll have to wait and see, then." The older woman watched as Vicky cracked a couple of eggs into the pan. "Two for me, please, Vicky," she added, before going and sitting down at the table.
Vicky looked over her shoulder and grinned. "Happy to see someone else do the cooking for once?"
"It makes a nice change," her mother admitted with a small smile. "If we survive your work, we may have to make this a regular thing."
Shaking her head, the blonde girl went back to frying the eggs, a little amused at how mellow her mother was right now. Possibly the Director's recent attitudinal change was catching? Her father finished his own task, put the toast on three plates, and sat down again. Shortly she was adding eggs to the toast and distributing the plates.
Near the end of the breakfast, the phone rang. Carol looked over at it, then got up and retrieved the handset that lived in the kitchen. With a glance at the display, she put it to her ear. "Hello, Director Piggot. What can I do for you today?"
Mark and Vicky watched with interest as she went silent, nodding every now and then with small murmurs of acknowledgment. A minute or so into the conversation, her face changed, from neutral to somewhat disturbed, with growing levels of worry and anger. Vicky wondered what she was hearing. It didn't look good.
"I see. That seems… somewhat careless."
There was another pause. Carol sighed. "No, I'm not impugning Armsmaster's talents, not at all. I understand. Yes, I agree. But you see my point?"
Vicky glanced at her father, who was frowning slightly.
"Well, I understand that point. I'll have to talk to Danny directly, I realize you can't divulge everything without the Hebert's permission. But this also directly affects my family, so you understand my concern?"
Carol nodded again absently as the two watchers wondered what was going in. Eventually, the woman sighed. "All right. Thank you for letting me know. No, it wouldn't have helped to call me last night, I suspect. Clearly you had a difficult series of decisions to make. And it must have been rather unnerving to have to admit this to Saurial and Raptaur. How did they take it?"
This time the pause was somewhat shorter and ended up with her shaking her head. "I have no idea either. I'm almost past the point of reacting in surprise to anything those bizarre reptiles do, it's just something I guess everyone will end up having to accept. As you say, they don't do normal. All right, Emily, I'll discuss the situation with my family today and we'll work out what our next step is. Thank you for letting me know. You'll be talking to Arcadia next?" Carol nodded slightly at the response.
"Fine. I would assume that Amy already knows this since she didn't come home last night, apparently she stayed at the BBFO offices. I suspect I now know why. Yes. All right, I'll do that. Good bye." Flicking the call end button with a thumb, she dropped the phone back into the charger, then made another cup of coffee, looking thoughtful. When she had it, she sat down and rubbed her temples for a few seconds as her husband and daughter looked at her, then each other.
"What's the problem, Mom?" Vicky finally asked, dying of curiosity.
"Amy was right, the PRT was a bit careless," Carol grumbled, picking up her cup and drinking from it, then putting it down again. "Do you know Shadow Stalker?" she asked a moment later. Somewhat surprised at the apparent non-sequitur, Vicky nodded.
"Not well, not like the other Wards, she's difficult to like," she replied cautiously. "More than a little aggressive and sort of arrogant, not to mention bad-tempered. Plus she doesn't go to Arcadia."
"You're aware of her civilian ID?" her mother asked. Vicky was quite surprised at this, but eventually shook her head.
"No, it never really came up. Like I said, she's not a friend." The girl stared at her mother. "Is this anything to do with why she's been confined to the PRT building since sometime in early January?"
Carol sighed heavily. "Yes. I don't have all the details, but apparently in her civilian ID she goes to Winslow. She, along with two other girls, was involved in a serious case of bullying against another student there, which was covered up through a mix of incompetence and maliciousness by both her PRT handler and the Winslow administration." The woman looked at her husband. "I always said that place was run by some of the least suitable people to be around children that I've ever run into."
Mark nodded, smiling a little. "I remember. It's not the first time I've heard it, some of the stories I've come across from there are… Well, they make me very glad our girls go to Arcadia."
"Agreed," Carol replied.
Vicky was thinking hard. This sounded very familiar. After a moment, her eyes widened. "Shit. It was Taylor. They were bullying Taylor!"
It was her parents turn to look at her this time. "You know about that?"
"Yeah, she told me and Amy a few weeks back. We were in Fugly's and this nasty little bitch called… Madeline? Mad-something..." Vicky thought some more, then snapped her fingers. "Madison, that's it. Bad-tempered stuck up little cow, from what I saw. Anyway, she turned up out of the blue and started having a go at Taylor. It was pretty funny, Taylor shot her down cold, and the idiot and her two friends ended up getting kicked out!" She grinned at the memory. "She told us what happened after that. It sounded fucking awful. Poor girl, how she stopped from either killing herself or them I have no idea."
Carol looked intrigued, but didn't ask for details. "I see. Well, apparently that bullying campaign came to a very abrupt end when the girls were caught in the act. The end result was that all three were expelled, at least one of them is in therapy, and Shadow Stalker was put under house arrest. Long story short, when the investigation was completed Emily wanted her locked up, but she was overruled by the higher-level PRT administration for some reason. The girl was still in confinement yesterday, right up until the point that one of Coil's booby-traps killed power to the building and in the process caused some sort of error in the tracking bracelet she was wearing, which also neutralized her powers."
"And the bitch ran for it?" Vicky asked, knowing the answer and with a sense of foreboding. Her mother nodded, not even correcting her language.
"Yes. It was several hours before anyone noticed and she was long gone by then. The director is of the opinion that she's bound to turn up sooner or later, although the feeling is not in the next couple of days to a week at the least since she probably was injured in her escape based on evidence found. The PRT precogs and analysts are certain that as and when she does reappear, she's going to go after everyone she feels has somehow wronged her. The Heberts are right at the top of that assumed list, as is Director Piggot herself. Armsmaster as well, in all likelihood."
"And Amy and I might be on it too since we're Taylor's friends?" Vicky guessed.
Carol sighed again, with a nod. "Probably. Amy more likely than you, but Emily said we should assume that Shadow Stalker has something of a hate on for anyone who knows the girl. They're going to be placing surveillance on a number of her friends, the Wards are all being tracked and will be told to be extra vigilant, and she offered similar support to us until that damn girl is found. I told her we'd discuss it and let her know. She's sending over the released security bulletin and some other data on Stalker by secure courier later, so we can see what we're dealing with."
"What about Taylor and Danny?" Vicky asked with worry.
"Saurial and Raptaur made it very clear that they would provide any required protection," Carol replied. "Overall it was felt unwise to do other than accept it, although they're going to provide the DWU security department with some aid, just in case the damn girl turns up there." She rubbed her temples again. "Damn it. This is not a helpful scenario. We really don't need a former Ward of all people upsetting the crazy lizard people, leaving aside the other trouble she could cause everyone. And if this hits the press it won't reflect well on the PRT, which is unfortunate bearing in mind how well the local office is working with others recently."
"If Shadow Stalker goes after Taylor when Saurial is around I doubt she'd have time to do more than scream in horror, very briefly," Vicky smiled, although her heart wasn't in it. "Shit. This is pretty bad."
"It's certainly not going to make life any easier for a number of people," Mark commented.
"Not even slightly," Carol agreed. "How annoying. I was hoping that with Coil gone, things would settle down since the Merchants are history now too, and both the ABB and E88 are being very circumspect. We hardly need some stupid little girl with visions of vengeance stirring the pot." She muttered under her breath for a moment, then visibly attempted to calm herself. "It can't be helped, I suppose." Glancing at her watch, she added, "You'll have to leave for school in a moment. Keep your eyes open, talk to your friends and tell them to do the same thing, and watch Taylor, please. I like the young lady and considering that she's the most likely high priority target, the more eyes on her the better. And look after your sister too."
"OK, Mom," Vicky agreed, having already decided for herself to do those things.
Getting up, she grabbed a can of soda out of the fridge, then waved to her parents. "See you later. I'll let Amy know about this."
"Thank you, Vicky," her mother said.
Retrieving her backpack from her room, the blonde pulled her coat on, zipped it up, then left the house, taking off as she popped the tab on the can. Flying directly toward Arcadia a couple of hundred feet up, sipping her drink, she pondered what the true story was about Shadow Stalker, the Family, and the Heberts.
Putting her phone on the table, Amy watched as her bioconstruct stumbled around the room, tripping over its own tail a couple of time, while Taylor and Lisa, the latter of whom was currently in Metis, fell about laughing.
'Ianthe' gave them an unfriendly look. "This is harder than it looks," 'she' said with irritation.
"It's not nearly as difficult as it should be, Danny," Amy snickered. "Lisa and I both cheat, our powers gave us an advantage in controlling the construct, although without my neural mod pack it wouldn't be possible for anyone else to do it at all. It'll come to you, you're already not falling over as much as you were ten minutes ago."
Danny, driving the purple lizard, nodded absently, attempting to stand up without wobbling back and forth too much. Amy had spend a couple of hours manually doing most of the more critical modifications, fine tuning her neural amplifier system, then fixing a few other minor things she thought of on the way, before they'd shoved the elder Hebert into Ianthe over a certain amount of protestation. Luckily he was fairly skinny, but even so it was a slightly tight fit. She'd made a mental note to improve on that for next time.
When he was safely linked up, which she'd monitored very carefully since this was the first time trying the process with someone who wasn't a Parahuman, she'd shut him and the construct down to let her reprogram it to do all the remaining structural upgrades, which being inside the bioconstruct made much easier.
It was, after all, one of the main uses she'd designed the thing to support. It could practically dismantle a human body and rebuild it while keeping the human alive and functional. Without the neural amplifier and the symbiote as well to authorize everything, though, it would only heal a person, in the very unlikely case that anyone managed to find themselves inside one.
She'd kept him asleep for several hours to allow the main work to complete while she checked on it occasionally, feeling that it was better to take things in steps. Once he was processing away nicely, she'd reprogrammed 'Metis' to do the same upgrades to Lisa and her, which was a quicker job than Danny was since she'd already added a number of what was becoming her standard Family Brute/Striker/Blaster package.
Amy had gone first, since she wanted the upgrades in place before school, and Lisa could simply stay inside the rest of the day if necessary. Once her own modifications were finished, the blonde took her place, then they woke Danny to see how quickly he could learn to run a bioconstruct. She was planning on making him a suitable one as a gift, something she'd been thinking about for a while now, and was also considering seeing if either Randall or Kevin were interested.
There was a suspicion at the back of her mind that the answer would probably be a fairly emphatic yes…
"Oops," the Ianthefied Danny muttered, tripping and sprawling face-first on the floor again. His daughter stared wide-eyed, then started laughing even harder.
"Damn tail," he added as he pushed himself to his feet again. "Keeps getting in the way."
"Tails are cool, Dad, you know that," Taylor giggled, waving at him with her own.
"I'm not entirely convinced, myself," he grumbled, cautiously taking a few steps. Despite his words, the one he currently possessed seemed to be more or less behaving itself now. All three girls watched as he walked around with growing confidence, within twenty more minutes looking just about as natural as Amy did when she was running the construct.
"Not bad, Danny," she finally said with approval. "Not bad at all. I'm very pleased how well the latest neural amplifier works."
"This is undoubtedly the strangest experience I've ever had," he replied, looking at her, then at the mirror Taylor had made on one wall. Reaching up he felt a fang with a claw, shaking his head in wonder. "Very interesting, but very strange. I have a new appreciation for how much of a shock your own change must have been at first, Taylor."
The brunette girl came over to him, changing onto her Raptaur form on the way. The Varga appeared as the second aspect, in an identical form, the first time the other aspect had been out for an hour or so since they'd gotten quite tired during the very long discussion throughout the night. He and Taylor had taken turns running her body while they let the second aspect rest. "I think it looks good on you," she said to her father approvingly, looking him up and down. "I mean, it's a little weird to look at Ianthe and know it's you in there, since you sound exactly the same as she normally does, but you know what I mean. We need to decide what color your scales should be for your own bioconstruct."
"And what part of the Family," Lisa chuckled. "Our branch, or hers? Or maybe an entirely new one." The black lizard looked amused. "We don't have any boys yet, although we keep talking about Big Brother."
"Big Brother is considerably larger, though," the Varga noted, tipping his head to the side and inspecting Danny closely. "Perhaps little brother? Or an elder cousin, come to check that the young ladies aren't causing too much trouble." He grinned when Danny gave him a hard look. "Yes, that expression really sells it. Well done."
"You are a pain in the ass," Danny muttered. The demon bowed, still grinning.
"Of course. Thank you. And Taylor is right, it does suit you." He looked around at the others. "I personally approve of the theme, of course."
"Of course. Reptiles'R'Us is our motto," Lisa snickered.
"I'm still not sure how the hell we ended up like this after only two months or so," Danny sighed. He looked at Amy. "How much longer do I have to stay in here? It's interesting, but it's also..." Glancing at the time on one of the computer screen savers, he finished, "… nearly seven AM. I'm going to have to go to work soon and deal with the PRT delivery, talk to the director, and let Mark know what's going on. Not to mention I could do with breakfast."
Walking over to him, Amy put her hand on the construct and checked. "You're done, actually. You can come out. Unless you want to experiment with some of the other toys, like the dart launchers?"
He smiled at her, but shook his head. "Not right now, I really do need to get to work. But thank you for all your effort, Amy."
"It's not a problem," she assured him. "The Family helps its people. And I like and owe you a lot, same as Taylor."
Giving her a pat on the head with one large scaled hand, he grinned. "You are a very good person, Amy. I'm more than happy that Taylor and you became friends." As she looked pleased, he headed to the screened off area that still surrounded where the table of Igorness had been. "I'll just slip out of something very odd."
"Here, Dad," Taylor called, making him look back, in time to catch the large towel she made and tossed him. "You might need this."
"Thanks, dear," he replied. All four of them watched the violet lizard disappear behind the screens.
"Good work, Amy," the Varga said, nodding approvingly. "Very good work. I doubt that Sophia will show her face in the next few days, but having these precautions taken makes me much happier. Just in case everyone's predictions are wrong."
Amy sighed faintly. "I should have started on something like this weeks ago," she complained, to herself mainly. "And made a lot of one-shots sooner as well."
"We sure have a lot of them now," Lisa said, looking at the six large transparent containers full of the small off-white lozenges. There were over two and a half thousand of the things there. "You might have got a little carried away."
"They'll keep for a decade or two at least, with this latest version, so there's no reason not to have plenty," Amy shrugged. "And the new method of making them is a lot quicker, I can punch them out by the dozens per minute with no trouble. I also think I've worked out a construct design to make them automatically, too, I'll make a prototype sometime this week. Then we'll have as many as we'd ever need."
Taylor picked up one of the containers and shook it gently, watching the little spore-like lifeforms rattle around inside. "You really are amazing, Amy," she said quietly. "I can make things that kill people with no effort at all, but you can make things that fix people nearly as easily. That's… impressive."
"And much harder," the demon added, nodding. "Not to mention rarer. I think you're right, you need to get the PRT to investigate using these. If you can get them to the point that they can be handed out even at a hospital, never mind just become a standard medical kit addition, you will save many, many lives."
The healer nodded with a small smile. "That would definitely be a big weight off my mind," she admitted. "Like I've said before, I feel guilty about having something like this and not using it."
Taylor made a couple of smaller containers, then scooped out a handful of the healing spores into each. "I'll keep this one with me, these are for you," she said, pushing one of the boxes, about the size and shape of a phone, towards Amy, who picked it up and slipped it into her pocket.
"Great." Looking at her watch, Amy winced. "Barely time to get some breakfast now, we'd better hurry or we'll be late for school."
Moments later Danny stepped out from behind the screen, adjusting his shirt. He looked behind himself as the Ianthe construct followed him, watching him with apparent curiosity. "That is just the smallest amount creepy, Amy," he said, not taking his eyes from 'Ianthe,' who was staring at him with her head a little on one side, giving off a very catlike air. "How smart is this thing without someone inside it?"
"Smarter than she was, certainly," Amy said, watching with amused satisfaction. "She's definitely starting to pick up some mannerisms, which is interesting. The auxiliary brain retains even more data than I originally expected, which is very useful from the standpoint of control, reflexes, speech patterns, that sort of thing, but it also seems to be getting smarter more quickly than I thought it would."
'Ianthe' looked over at her at the sound of her voice, then walked over and squatted down next to her. Amy put her hand on the bioconstruct's head, quickly checking it. The artificial life-form was in peak condition. "It'll be interesting to see what develops, but I don't expect much more than a particularly smart dog or something like that." Making the appropriate hand signals, she followed it into the workroom, where she stroked it for a moment then shut it down for now. "See you later, my friend," she whispered to what was probably her best work, then left the room and locked up. "Come on, Taylor, let's get something to eat and get to school. I want to see what happens when you turn up with Saurial, or whatever you're planning on doing."
Taylor grinned, reverting to her base form, the Varga-controlled aspect disappearing for the moment. "Still working on the best method," her friend admitted. "It depends on what Director Piggot told the school, which I guess we'll find out when we get there."
"Try not to upset everyone too much, Taylor," Danny said.
His daughter glanced at him, laughed in a deliberately over-the-top manner, and headed towards the door. Danny, Amy, and Lisa all exchanged a glance.
"Poor Arcadia," the latter quipped. "Take photos."
"See you two later," Amy sighed, following her friend with a slight feeling of worry. "Danny, I'll activate the boosts later when I have time to teach you how they work, but for now you should be fine."
"All right, Amy," he called as she reached the door and looked back. "And thank you again."
With a wave, she left, walking beside Taylor towards the cafeteria and a quick breakfast. "Please don't wreck Arcadia, I like it," she mumbled.
"So do I," Taylor chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't do anything too excessive. I was mainly thinking about what Lucy is going to do if Saurial wanders in and sits down next to us at lunch..."
Amy looked at her, then both of them started giggling.
Vice Principal Lauren Howell looked up from placing her briefcase on her desk as there was a tap on the door. "Do you have a moment, Lauren?" the man there asked.
"Of course, Donald," she replied, waving him in. "Pardon me, I only just arrived," she added, taking her coat off and hanging it up. "Would you like some coffee?" She glanced at her coffee machine, a present from friends to mark the occasion of her becoming the vice principal of such a well-known school. It was something she lovingly cared for as it was a very nice present, and one she used every day, being rather fond of coffee.
"Thanks," her visitor, Donald Balmer, the principal of the school, replied, as he sat down. Filling the machine with fresh beans and water from a bottle she kept in the small fridge under her desk, she started it working.
"That won't take long. So, how can I help you?" she asked as she sat down behind her desk.
"A couple of things," he replied. "As you know, I'm retiring at the end of the year." He smiled a little. "Sixty-six is old enough to feel I've done my part in handling the young people here. Martha and I are planning on heading down south. We're both tired of the winters here, even if they're milder than some areas in the state."
"We'll miss you," she replied with total honesty. While he didn't interact with the students on the day to day basis she did these days, he ran the administration of the school very well in her opinion.
"I'll miss the job as well, I expect, at least for a while. But I'll be leaving it in good hands." He studied her for a moment. "I've put your name forward to the board of governors as my choice for the new principal. You know the job better than I do, the staff and students all respect you, and I can't think of anyone I'd trust more to succeed me. They agree."
She stared at him for a moment, slightly shocked. She'd known she was up for the job, but by the sound of it, it was more or less a done deal. "I… thank you, Donald, that's very good to hear."
He waved a hand dismissively. "It was my pleasure, Lauren. The only other person I'd trust to do it is Mrs Adil, and I know she has no interest in the job, she's happy where she is. You'll do far better than anyone else I can think of. Who else were they going to get? Blackwell, from Winslow? I hear she's looking for work now that the place is undergoing a series of significant changes." He half-grinned at her, since both of them were more than familiar with the woman in question and considered her a waste of space.
Lauren shuddered a little at the thought. "Please don't even joke about that, Donald. That woman is a disgrace to the profession in my opinion. Some of the things I've heard… Miss Hebert transferred here due to the problems Blackwell allowed to happen, and it wouldn't be the first time that occurred."
The coffee machine started making the slightly wheezy sound that meant it was about ready, so she got up and retrieved a couple of cups.
"Yes, I'm aware of that," he said, watching as she prepared drinks for both of them, then taking the one she handed him on her return to her desk. "Her records suggest she's doing exceptionally well here. Really blossoming into a very enthusiastic academic."
"The young lady is remarkably gifted in mathematics," Lauren nodded. "I've been following her classwork with great interest. She's even begun tutoring a number of her peers in advanced math techniques, which has already significantly improved all their work, according to the tests I've seen. A number of teachers are very impressed, as am I."
"Thinking of pointing her at the teaching profession?" Donald asked with amused interest.
"It crossed my mind, I admit," the blonde nodded, with a small smile on her lips, which would have astonished most of the students if they'd seen it. "She has a gift for it based on what I've learned. And would appear to have an ability to deal with trouble if it occurs."
"I've seen the video," he chuckled. "It was… instructive. And it matches what I know of Danny Hebert. I've been told he's not a man to take lightly, and that he looks after his family to a remarkable degree. Arranging training for his daughter with the best around would fit the profile."
"That seems to be what happened," she replied, putting the cup down. "She carries a collapsible baton, a gift from Saurial, who would appear to be both a friend and a mentor. I've seen it, and talked to the young woman about school policy on self-defense weapons. I believe we understand each other."
"Hmm. Normally we'd confiscate the thing," he noted.
"True. But she is the daughter of a person with a high and growing political profile in this city, one who would take a dim view of anything happening to her if the worst came to the worst," Lauren replied. "It seemed better to leave it with her, once I came to the conclusion she is both intelligent enough and well trained enough to know how to handle the responsibility. It's a similar situation to the issues surrounding the various Wards who attend the school, or the Dallon girls." She sighed a little. "I would prefer there to be no weapons present, I admit, but bearing in mind the situation, I felt a minor deviation from normal practice was acceptable."
"Fair enough," he remarked, finishing his coffee and putting the cup on the desk. "I agree, as it happens. Which leads me into the other point."
"Which is?" She raised an eyebrow and looked severely at him. "Don't beat about the bush Donald, just say it."
"I had a call very early this morning from Director Piggot," he said, looking slightly amused at her expression. "It would appear that there is a creditable threat to a number of students in the school, a Parahuman one."
Lauren stared at him for a moment, feeling her heart sink. "Oh, dear," she finally replied. "Which students, and what threat?"
"We were just discussing the main one," he said.
"Miss Hebert? Why on earth would some Parahuman criminal be after her? Because of her father?"
The gray-haired man shrugged. "I'm not sure. That would seem the most likely thing, I agree. The director didn't go into details on the phone, she's coming in very shortly to discuss it with us. I want you there as well. We'll need Ed from the security office too. She'll explain the situation when she arrives, which should be in..." He looked at his watch. "...About fifteen minutes. Hopefully it's nothing too serious and we can deal with it without causing too much disruption to the students, but from the sound of her voice, she was quite worried."
"It takes a lot to worry Emily Piggot," Howell suggested with a slight frown.
"I know. That in itself worries me," he said. Standing up, he headed to the door. "We'll meet in my office. Could you contact Ed and get him up here, and check whether Miss Hebert is on the premises yet?"
"Certainly," she replied, picking up her phone handset. "I'll see you shortly."
"Thanks." He nodded to her, then left the room, as she dialed an internal code and waited for a reply, wondering what was happening this time with a certain amount of internal apprehension.
Every time the PRT came calling, things became quite untidy, and she wasn't fond of untidy. It got in the way of teaching young people, which was unacceptable.
"Hi, Lucy."
The girl so addressed froze, then turned around, staring. "Saurial?" she gaped. "What are you doing here?"
The lizard-girl grinned at her, looking around at the other students in the corridor who were gaping as well, although rather more. Mandy, who was half-buried in her locker, looked over her shoulder, then smiled, even though she also appeared surprised.
"Long story," the reptilian cape replied. "Cut short, I'm on bodyguard detail at the moment. Taylor's body, as it happens."
Taylor herself came around the corner in the company of both Amy and Vicky Dallon, all three of them talking intently. They stopped next to Saurial, who put her arm around the Hebert girl's shoulders. "This one here."
"Is there another one?" Mandy asked with a grin.
"I don't think so," Saurial replied, snickering. "Two Taylors? That would be inconceivable."
"I don't think that word..." Amy began, smirking a little, only to stop when the blue-scaled lizard started laughing.
"I know, I've heard it before." She looked around at the small crowd that had gathered, almost blocking the corridor. "Nice place, but a little crowded."
"Hey, keep walking, people!" Vicky said in a loud voice. "Nothing to see here."
"Aside from the six and a half foot lizard in a trench coat, you mean?" Lucy giggled.
"Yes. Aside from the badly disguised giant lizard, there's nothing to see here," Vicky grinned. "Stop blocking the way, you guys." The crowd slowly dispersed, not without a lot of looking back. The first bell rang, signifying five minutes to class.
"So why do you rate a bodyguard all of a sudden, Taylor?" Mandy asked curiously.
Taylor sighed. "It's a long and sordid tale, which began many months ago, when I was stuck in the hell that is Winslow," she replied dramatically. "Under constant threat, I did what I could to survive it, and finally escaped! Yet it appears that the troubles have followed me." The tall girl shrugged, grinning. "Or something like that. It's weird, actually, I..."
She was interrupted by a tone from the PA, which then announced, "Would Taylor Hebert and Saurial report to the Principal's office as soon as possible, please. That's Taylor Hebert and Saurial to the Principal's office. Thank you." It clicked off, making everyone look at the two people mentioned, who exchanged a glance.
"Looks like the director must have turned up, then," Taylor said.
"A PRT vehicle was arriving when we got here," Saurial nodded. "Come on, where does this Principal of yours live?"
"That way," the brunette replied, pointing down the corridor. "Let's go. See you guys later." She smiled at her friends, then both of them walked off, people quickly moving out of the way of Saurial, who towered several inches above almost all the students aside from a couple of football players. Both of whom jumped out of the way as least as quickly.
Lucy watched them go, smiling a little, then turned to Amy and her sister. "So what's going on?" she asked brightly.
Amy glanced at Vicky, opened her mouth, then snapped it closed as the final bell rang. "Tell you later," she said apologetically, before both Dallons quickly left. Lucy sighed a little, looked at Mandy, who shrugged, then followed her oldest friend to homeroom, wondering what was happening.
And very pleased that Saurial was there. It was looking like it was going to be an interesting day.