Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Looking at his face in the mirror, Danny carefully tilted his chin to the right and ran the blade over the underside of it, scraping foam and hair off with no effort at all. Each stroke produced a faint scratching sound, after which he rinsed the residue off under the tap which was dribbling a thin trickle of water.
As he shaved, his mind was awhirl with a number of subjects. His visit to New York and an old and terrifying man who he respected greatly even after their issues was the main part of his ponderings, of course. But he couldn't help also spending time on thinking about the remarkable and even more worrying things that his daughter and her live-in demonic friend had told him last night, about the discoveries, deductions, and theories that they and their other friends had come up with.
The fact that the goddam Simurgh apparently regularly posted on PHO was scary.
The fact that the Endbringer appeared to concentrate on the Brockton Bay sub-forums was both scary and bizarre.
The fact that she seemed to be both very upset and very scared, and if Lisa was right, was asking for help in a roundabout way… That was horrifying.
It was only the proximity of the stupidly sharp blade to his adam's apple that kept him from shaking his head in disbelief. Tipping his head the other way to get a better view, he kept shaving, the morning ritual he'd been doing every day for over thirty years relaxing and allowing him to think calmly.
He was aware, ever since Lisa initially brought it up some time ago, that the Endbringers seemed very wary if not outright scared of Taylor, or more likely the Varga. That, while peculiar, at least made a certain amount of sense. The ancient demon was ungodly dangerous and powerful, to a level he was fairly certain that no-one but Taylor knew more than the tip of the iceberg about. Even the things he knew she and her enormous friend could do were simply overwhelming and he was pretty sure she wasn't talking about a lot of other things the Varga had told her. And it was entirely possible that the demon himself hadn't told her all the things they could do with some effort either, since he'd been quite open about not wanting to overwhelm her mind with too much data too quickly and too soon.
That much made sense. Even an Endbringer, as appallingly overpowered as the things were, could well find itself in a bad place if it happened to pick a fight with the Varga and his host. As much as it worried him, he had to admit that his daughter was probably one of the, if not the only, threats that could seriously stand any chance of killing one of them. And they seemed to know it.
If what Lisa said was correct, they'd known it longer than the Varga had. But that was the Simurgh, her precognition was feared precisely because it was so good.
But the new information suggested that the creature was actually more scared of something else than the demon. Or at least found it to be a greater or more immediate threat in some way. Based on what Taylor had told him, and his own reading of the messages on the relevant forum from a while ago, the Endbringer was attempting to ask for help against this other issue, whatever it was. An issue which would on the face of it, when one had all the background information, to be the true reason that the Endbringers kept attacking and had killed millions and millions of people for years, all over the world.
The implications were… He lowered the blade and rinsed it, then stared at his own eyes for a moment, before finishing the job with his upper lip, feeling overwhelmed again.
The implications were utterly terrible.
It seemed to say that there was someone or something out there which was using the Endbringers against humanity as a whole, and based on what Taylor and her friends had come up with, quite possibly against Parahumans specifically, for some reason. A reason that might well be basically to train their powers, not them, to fight better. The humans involved were merely collateral damage.
It all fitted together a lot better than he liked to consider when it was laid out logically like she and the Varga had done last night. Not all of it was verifiable, and some of what was wasn't with the resources he had himself, but enough of it fitted to make him very, very nervous about what it meant in the long term.
Danny doubted that anyone was going to enjoy whatever the intended endgame was. Not based on the players involved.
The rest of it, the true nature of powers as possibly an alien computer of some sort that got linked for reasons so far unknown to particular human's brains through the organs that all Parahumans had, that was almost prosaic by comparison. Still remarkable, of course, and if they were right, they'd probably worked out more about powers themselves than possibly anyone else around, but…
The Simurgh posted on PHO and had asked Lisa for help!
He put the shaving tool down on the sink, turned the tap up a little, and leaned forward to wash the remnants of the foam off his face.
For god's sake, he'd actually replied to the fucking Endbringer himself at one point when she'd made a joke that he thought was hilarious!
He'd replied to the Simurgh's joke on PHO!
There was so much wrong with that sentence he didn't even know where to begin. So with a shake of his head he firmly pushed all the thoughts, speculations, and mild panic about that crazy situation to the back of his mind and nailed a lid over it for now. He couldn't do anything himself, he didn't think mentioning it to anyone other than the people who were already thinking about it with more ability to do so than himself was a good idea, and he had other things to deal with right now.
Picking up his blade he looked at it with a small smile. It was even better than Gramp's old straight razor, which was so fucking sharp you could cut yourself with it and not notice until your ear landed in your lap. Up to the point he'd been upgraded by Amy the first time, he'd only used that thing half a dozen times, because while it gave the best shave he'd ever had, it frightened the spit out of him.
Knowing the provenance of the thing and what it had quite likely been used for that wasn't shaving made that fear rather more immediate than it would otherwise have been…
Flipping the bioceramic knife over his fingers for a second, in a trick that his father had taught him when he was twelve, he toggled the mental control that made it get reabsorbed into his hand through whatever biotinker-based witchcraft that Amy had managed to come up with. Still amazed by being able to do it, he grinned, brushed his teeth, and headed downstairs to start breakfast. He was very hungry still from the experiments last night at the Yard and had a long drive ahead of him.
Linda got out of bed, stretched widely, scratched her back right in the point that's normally hardest to reach, remembered what she was doing today, and collapsed back onto the bed again.
After a minute or so of mild hyperventilation she pulled herself together. 'I'm Vectura, the best transportation Tinker in the country if not the world, I'm a friend of the Family, a member of the DWU, and I can make shit that people won't believe,' she told herself firmly. 'And I'm not worried about the PRT. Not at all. Nope, not me.'
Scrubbing her face with her hands, she tried to convince herself of that. It took a while, but eventually she felt able to go and have a shower, then head to the cafeteria for breakfast. Brian, Alec, and Lisa were there so she ended up sitting with them, Rachel joining them a few minutes later and grunting at her as she sat down. It was only a grunt, but it seemed about as friendly as the odd girl ever was to a human.
Looking around at them, then the other dock workers on the morning shift who were coming and going, many of whom greeted her as they passed, she smiled a little to herself.
Whatever else happened, she was lucky enough to be in a place that valued her for herself, with people she could genuinely call friends. Not something she'd thought she'd ever have again, and something she'd go a long way out of her way to keep.
The PRT had no idea what they were dealing with, she decided after she'd finished her scrambled eggs. And they were going to have a shock…
Beside her, Lisa glanced at her, grinned conspiratorially, winked, and went back to talking to Brian about his current work. Alec did his usual thing of interjecting unhelpful but often funny comments, and Rachel seemed busy eating, although she was definitely sitting with them by choice.
It was a weird place, the DWU, but somehow it worked.
"Try to avoid taking over the city while I'm away, Taylor," Danny said as he set a plate of pancakes in front of his daughter, then another one in front of his daughter on the other side of the table. He shook his head about the way there were, again, two identical copies of her. It was pointless asking which was the real one since both of them were. As well as both being the Varga. They seemed to enjoy this little trick, making him wonder what would have happened if she'd ended up with a sister.
He shuddered a little, picturing the possible results, and hastily stopped thinking about that too.
While he loved his daughter beyond anything else in his life including his life, he had to admit she was a force of chaos. And with the demon in her head, that was a damn sight more literal than he'd ever expected.
"Or call forth horrors from beyond, at least without them making an appointment, or summon any more demons, or ideally eat anyone. That last part is possibly the most important one but all of them are quite important." He put his own plate on the table and sat, watching them grin at him.
"We'll be good, Dad," both aspects chorused in perfect and somewhat disturbing synchronicity.
"And please don't scare the PRT so much they go and hide in Coil's old base, dear," he added. "It would give off the wrong impression."
The one on the right giggled, while the other one shrugged. He looked between them, sighed again, and started eating. "My life is very odd sometimes these days," he mumbled under his breath.
"How long will it take you to drive to New York?" a Taylor asked a little later, sounding curious.
"It's normally about four and a half to five hours if I do it in one shot," he replied, thinking back to the last time he'd made the trip. Which was a fair while ago now. "But I'll stop about halfway, probably in Hartford. There's a nice little diner there, or there was about six years ago, and I can have a break. So…" He glanced at his watch, doing some mental calculations. "I'll be there about half past one or so. I'll be back either late tomorrow or more likely sometime on Friday. If I have any delays I'll call you and let you know."
"I could probably teleport you there in about ten minute's worth of hops," she pointed out. "Or fly you there. It would look good turning up on the back of a great big dragon."
He stared hard at her, while she grinned. The other one was snickering, obviously currently under the control of the Varga. "Yes, I'm sure that's a good idea, Taylor. Nothing like a huge black fire-breathing dragon with someone sitting on it arriving in Central Park to pull off the discreet business trip. And I doubt you want to let people know about your little teleporting trick."
"Not really, but I'd do it for you, Dad," she said with a laugh.
"Thank you, dear, but I think simply driving is the easiest and least likely to attract half the Protectorate method. Leaving aside the little matter that while Antonio would probably find it hilarious, he wouldn't want the official attention it would bring with it."
"Just a thought."
"Hmm."
Shaking his head a little, he resumed eating, as did she. There was silence for a while, broken only with cutlery on ceramic. "Be careful, Dad," she said softly.
"I will, Taylor. I promise. And if I run into anything I can't handle..."
"Call and you'll have more backup than you'd believe in mere minutes," the Varga said, speaking for the first time. "And your enemies would fall like wheat to a scythe. Only with a lot more screaming."
They all looked at each other, smiled a little grimly, and finished breakfast.
Sitting up in bed Aisha yawned widely, then grinned like an idiot. Last night had been amazing and she had a feeling that it wasn't going to be the last time she saw Cloak. The weird little floating piece of clothing was a lot of fun and had an interesting sense of humor, not to mention good taste in doughnuts.
Flipping the covers back, the girl jumped to the floor and left her room, whistling happily. Her father who was sitting at the table looking through the jobs section of the paper glanced at her, shrugged a little, and went back to what he was doing.
"You were out late last night," he commented as she had her head in the refrigerator, poking around for something to eat before she headed to school. "Where were you?"
"Just looking around," she said without removing herself from the appliance. "Met a new friend."
"Someone interesting?" he asked absently, circling a listing, then scanning down the page again.
"I thought so. We walked around for a while and talked."
"Well, be careful, Aisha, this neighborhood isn't the best place for a kid."
"I'll be fine," she assured him confidently, grabbing the materials for a large sandwich. Running around a few hundred feet in the air with a cape that was actually a cloak left a growing girl hungry, she decided. Shortly she was slicing salami onto the lettuce that was sitting on the cold left-over bacon which in turn was on a piece of cheese on the lower half of the bread. A few more ingredients and she'd have a decent result, she thought with satisfaction.
Her father circled another listing, before watching her. "Make me one too, will you, please?" he requested with a smile.
Aisha sighed but complied. "I guess you haven't heard from Brian?" she queried, knowing it was unlikely. Looking over her shoulder she frowned when he shook his head.
"He'll be in touch sooner or later," her father assured her.
"He'd better or I'll go looking for him," she muttered under her breath.
"What was that?"
"I said, do you want mustard?" she lied without hesitation.
"Yes, I think I do."
When she finished her sandwich, and the various other things she needed to do, she rather reluctantly got ready for school. On her way out of her room, she stopped and looked at the little glass statue of herself that Saurial had made, giving it a quick rub for luck like she did every day.
It couldn't hurt, after all.
"Roy's in a good mood," Taylor's father commented as he put his phone away and picked up his bag. "He really liked that documentary. I thought he would."
"I'm glad about that," Taylor said, feeling pleased. She was putting the DVD into its case having retrieved it from the player. "Lisa and Amy want to see it too."
"Don't lose it, or at least make a copy, I want to hang onto that," he replied, watching for a moment. He opened the door and went out onto the porch, Taylor joining him a moment later. She pulled the front door shut again and locked it, then followed him down the steps.
"Drive safely, Dad," she said, hugging her father for a moment, then moving back. He smiled at her as he turned to unlock the car.
"I will, Taylor. I'll let you know when I get there."
"Good. Have fun."
He looked a little uncertain for a moment. "Fun… I'm not sure that word is the right one, but…" With a shrug, he got into the car. "I need to do this anyway." Rolling the window down and closing the door, he put his seat-belt on. "I'll see you in a couple of days."
"Love you, Dad," she replied. He started the car and put it in reverse. With a glance at her and a quick smile, he turned and looked back, moving the car out of the driveway and onto the street. She waved as he drove off, waving back, and watched until he was disappeared from sight. Her other aspect, flying under cloak a few hundred feet up, followed until he was out of range, while her first one went back into the house and got her stuff ready for school, with a short side trip.
Pat put his towel down and walked over to the door at the sound of the knock, unlocking it and pulling it open to reveal, as he'd half-expected, Saurial on the other side smiling at him. "Hi, Pat."
"Hello, Saurial," he replied politely. Always best to stay on the right side of someone who could unscrew your head, although he doubted she ever actually would. The reptilian family was peculiar but friendly and much safer than many of the crazies who wandered the city. "I've got a reply for you. Come on in."
"Thanks." She followed him back to the bar, which he went behind, proceeding to open the till. Lifting out the cash drawer he retrieved the letter in its envelope and handed it to her. She pulled out the paper and flipped it over, reading the note his patron had left her with an interested expression that changed to a pleased one. "Great. Thanks for the favor. I owe you one."
"It was my pleasure," he said, pretty much truthfully, as he closed the till again. "Can I get you anything while you're here?"
She looked past him, then pointed. "Actually, yes, why not? A couple of those bags of beef jerky, please." He turned around and took the requested items off the shelf, handing them to her. She put a twenty on the bar. "Keep the change. Thanks again. I'd better run, I've got someplace to be. See you around."
With a wave she left, the bartender watching, then slowly walking over to lock the door again before he resumed getting ready for the day. "Polite, that's nice," he muttered as he swept the floor. "Tips well too."
He shrugged. "Not what I expected I'd be doing but it could be worse."
Five minutes later, a much louder knocking shook the entrance-way. "Open up, you lazy Irish bastard, there are people out here who need a drink!" a familiar voice bellowed.
"Shut up, Erwin, you're ten minutes early," he shouted back, putting the broom away. Even so he let the old pain in the ass in, since it was easier than keeping him out until opening time. And quieter, of course.
'Looks like we have a lunchtime meeting,' Taylor remarked as she hopped and teleported invisibly across the city towards Arcadia. 'He responded quickly, which is probably good. Or bad, if he's holding a grudge, I guess.'
"I expect he's very curious if nothing else," the Varga said, sounding pleased. "We probably confused him and he wants to find out what we want. That is essentially what I expected. With any luck we can turn that confusion into acceptance of the new status quo."
'You think it will work?'
"I'm fairly confident it will, yes. I believe I have a good idea of the way his mind operates, as I've said I've seen the type before. Personal honor, or a specific interpretation of it, plays a large part in his actions. We can use that to our advantage, and hopefully come to a mutually satisfactory arrangement that benefits both parties. If we can, it removes him as a problem from our point of view at least for the immediate future, which in turn means we can concentrate on more important things such as Sophia, Skidmark, and genuinely useful work."
'What do we do if it doesn't work?'
He was silent for a moment. "We have a number of alternatives. Which one we'd need to use would depend on his reaction. But until we find out what that is there's no way to be certain which would be the best one. Obviously we can deal with him permanently if required but I believe that is a matter of last resort. Having him at least minimally cooperative is probably more helpful in general than removing him with prejudice, and is less likely to cause issues with the other factions in the city. Which, admittedly, are now mostly just Kaiser, but the point stands."
Taylor grinned as she shifted into a human-scale dragon form and flew for a couple of blocks, clearing the early morning traffic jam that was building around the center of the city. The thought of what the people below would think if they could actually see her amused her, but it wasn't time for that little revelation just yet. 'We do seem to have managed to change the political landscape more than a slight amount recently, haven't we?' she snickered.
"It was inevitable, no matter how neutral we would like to be. I still think that staying out of Parahuman fights as much as possible is the correct approach, at least for the near future," her demonic companion replied with a mental nod. "The Merchants brought it on themselves and I have no doubt that both Kaiser and Lung feel the same. Coil was a threat to everyone, and again due to his actions towards the Undersiders in general and Lisa specifically was a legitimate target. If we'd immediately attacked any of them at the beginning, we'd have precipitated the exact series of events your father warned you about, but the way it ended up happening will hopefully avoid such results. The PRT are happy, Lung is cautious, and Kaiser is sufficiently worried that he will probably stay out of things for a while."
'Much better to slowly work to change things from the bottom up than try to rapidly change them from the top down, basically.'
"Exactly. And it would appear to be working nicely so far, even if parts of it were driven by circumstance rather than careful planning in advance." He chuckled. "We still managed to get some careful planning in even so, and I'm pleased with the end result. As are the bulk of the inhabitants of the city, by all appearances."
'It'll be interesting to see how things work out with a few more months, but at the moment I'm pretty happy,' she smiled, landing on a roof and shifting back to Saurial. 'Now if we can just deal with Sophia without too much trouble, and get back to fixing things, I'd be completely happy.'
"The first move is hers, unfortunately," the Varga sighed. He brightened up a little, adding with just a touch of predatory eagerness, "The last move, of course, will be ours..."
Both of them laughed, then she teleported to the ground a couple of hundred yards from Arcadia, picking a good point to switch to her base form and jog towards the school and her friends.
Somewhere in the general vicinity of Olney, Illinois, Sophia sneezed violently and nearly went off the road. Swearing to herself she yanked the truck she was currently driving back onto the horribly badly pitted back road and kept going, although she slowed down a little. It was absolutely pouring with rain, blowing a gale, and generally the sort of weather in which no sane person would be out and about. Unfortunately she didn't have the luxury of being able to stop and wait it out, she was still too close to where she'd managed to lose that creep in the semi.
By the time she'd finally found a vehicle she could lift without witnesses, she'd been in a foul mood even for her. It had taken hours, hours during which she could almost feel the search for her which she was certain was going on closing in. However, in the end, nothing particularly exciting happened and she eventually discovered this light truck in a barn on the other side of the town she'd entered after her dramatic decoy action.
Getting the damn thing running had taken longer than she'd liked, and it was clearly not in good health judging by the intermittent backfires when she shifted down, but it ran and had helpfully come with a full tank of gas. Once she was clear of the town she'd started randomizing her path again, zigzagging across the scenery like a lunatic, only taking a couple of hours out when she found some cover isolated enough to make her feel more or less secure and allow her to get a little rest. She'd slept badly, with a loaded gun in her hand, but when she'd woken there was no sign of any pursuit.
Now, she was cutting between two back roads down something that didn't even deserve the word 'road' anywhere near it. Cursing as the front left wheel dropped into another pothole hard enough to make her bite her tongue, she heaved on the steering and pressed the accelerator down a little more. "Fucking Heberts," she snarled, weaving between the various holes. "I'm going to make it last, you bitch. If it wasn't for you I'd be where I should be, not running like prey."
First Taylor. Then her father, although maybe he should be first, while she watched? Whatever, they were on the top of the list. Then fucking Piggy, and Armsmaster, and probably Dennis too, just because he was that fucking annoying.
Going over her list in her mind, a savage expression on her face as she plotted their various methods of demise, Sophia drove onward.
"Fucking potholes!"
Picking up her phone as it buzzed and rattled around the desk next to the keyboard, Lisa looked at the number, then answered it. "Hi, Über. How's it going?"
"Fine, Lisa," the general purpose specialist said with a smile in his voice. "Aside from having managed to get just the tiniest amount carried away with packing last night."
"Overdid it?" she giggled.
"You could put it that way," he sighed. "Leet is never going to let me hear the end of that. But we found the keys to his truck in the end. And my wallet."
"There's probably a story behind that."
"There is. I'll tell you when we get there. So, on that subject, got a big truck available?"
"I have, as it happens," she replied, opening her notebook to a fresh page. "Got an address?"
He told her a location which she wrote down, then looked up on the map on the wall of her office, a duplicate of the one Danny had in his. "OK, got it. Yep, we can have a couple of vehicles there in about forty minutes. And some people to help load them."
"Great. There's a crap of a lot of stuff. Looking at it, I'd say about two semi-trailer's worth."
"Not a problem. You'll like your new place, Saurial and Raptaur pulled out all the stops. It's being wired up right now, it'll be done by sometime after lunch." She sat down again, leaning back in her chair. "Metis will come and help too. But she has an appointment later this afternoon so once you're unpacked you're on your own."
"That's fine, it's going to take days to sort all this stuff out properly," he replied. In the background she heard a massive crash then some swearing. "Sorry, got to go, someone just dropped the crate with all the plates in."
She grinned to herself. "Oops. Never mind, Saurial can make new ones easily enough."
"I liked those ones," he grumbled. "Thanks, we'll be ready."
"OK. We're looking forward to it. Talk later."
Tearing the page out of her notebook, Lisa stood once more, leaving her office and heading to Danny's one a couple of doors down. Knocking, she opened the door and stuck her head in. "Hi, Kurt," she said to the man behind the desk, who was going through paperwork and shaking his head a little, apparently in mild amazement. He looked up at her.
"Oh, hello, Lisa. Need something?"
She held up the page in her hand. "Über and Leet are all packed and ready to move in. Their workshop is mostly done, the crew doing the wiring and plumbing said it would be finished by about one this afternoon. I was just going down to shipping to give the address to Andrew, he's going to take a couple of the big trucks and some guys over to load up all their gear. That OK with you?"
He nodded, turning to make some notes of his own on Danny's computer. "Yes, that's fine. Let me know when they're back, but they're all yours until then," he replied as he turned back.
"Thanks. Metis is going with them so I doubt there will be any problems," she smiled.
"No, probably not," he chuckled. "I'll come over and say hi when they're moved in. Is Zephron going too?"
"He said he wanted to. Probably because he's just nosy," she grinned. "You know what he's like."
"I do, all too well," Kurt said with a smirk. "I've known him for twenty years or more and he's been barking mad the whole damn time. But we all like him anyway."
Laughing, she nodded to him and left the room, waving to some of the admin staff. After a stop into the main vehicle depot and some discussion with the people there, she headed to the BBFO office and her waiting 'Metis' construct.
Concentrating on his work, Colin ignored the phone until he'd finished moving the minute component he was positioning under the microscope into its final place and soldered it down with the laser tool. Exhaling slowly, he relaxed, satisfied that the fiddly job was now done.
Only two hundred and seven more to go and he could test the new addition to his latest halberd.
Reaching out he pressed the speakerphone button and curtly said, "Armsmaster."
"I wanted to make sure you remembered that you had an appointment in the main testing facility at the PRT building in three hours, Colin," Hannah's voice said pleasantly. "I know you were talking about an upgrade for your equipment and I know all too well how you get lost in it sometimes."
He checked his appointments screen as she spoke, nodding to himself. "Thank you, Hannah, I'm aware of the meeting, but it was good of you to remind me. The upgrade is going well, I'll be finished well before I need to leave."
"All right. I'll still check again, even so. It wouldn't be the first time you forgot..." She sounded slightly amused, according to his best estimate.
"Acceptable."
"Is Dragon back yet?" his old friend asked. Turning to another monitor he checked the data there.
"She's on her way now, she'll be landing in twenty minutes," he reported having checked the flight plan for the Canadian Tinker, who had made a quick hypersonic trip back to her base in Vancouver the night before to catch up on some of the things she'd missed since she'd spent so much time in Brockton recently. He'd found himself regretting her absence, having grown used to her presence in his lab. Normally he much preferred to work alone, but she added something he found hard to quantify, he'd discovered.
"OK. I've got other work to do, but don't forget."
"I won't," he said, tapping the button again and turning back to his microscope. Thinking about the videos he'd seen of the mech that the new DWU Tinker Vectura had produced, which between them he and Dragon had drawn some fascinating insights from, he looked forward to meeting the woman. She was clearly very talented and he suspected was heavily leveraging Saurial's and Raptaur's skills as well. The report from the PRT troopers who had witnessed the demonstration and even got first-hand experience of the machine had left him eager to see it, and to talk to Vectura herself.
There were far too few good Tinkers around in his opinion and it was always nice to meet another one who was on the side of the heroes. Or at least, in this case, not on the side of the villains. He still wasn't entirely certain what the DWU counted as, or the Family either, but they definitely leaned more towards the heroic side whatever they said when asked. Chaotically, true, but one couldn't have everything.
Pondering the matter at the back of his mind, he resumed teasing delicate little parts into alignment and fusing them in place.
Only two hundred and six left, now.
Hearing the rumbling sound of a couple of very big diesel engines approaching, Randall went over and looked through the slightly open door to the warehouse, peering down the road towards the city. He could see a large truck carefully negotiating the sharp corner a quarter of a mile away, the familiar figure of Lisa's reptilian alter-ego directing it with hand signals. "They're here," he called over his shoulder, pulling his balaclava out of his pocket and putting it on. While he was pretty sure that the DWU people would work it out in short order once they were working at the yard, there was no sense taking chances in public. Which this still was even though with the demise of the Merchants hardly anyone came by these days.
Kevin came out of the bathroom, the only room left in the place that they hadn't packed the contents of, drying his hands on a towel which he tossed back inside without looking. "Right on time," his friend noted, putting his own balaclava on. Joining Randall at the large double doors that formed the main entrance, he grabbed the crowbar they'd used as an impromptu lock the previous night when the lack of keys for the padlock became apparent and heaved, bending it out of the U shape that had held the door closed. Each of them took a side and rolled the old doors back, leaving an opening large enough to get his own vehicle in and out of.
Very shortly afterward, 'Metis' arrived, the two semis bringing up the rear. "Hi, guys," she said with a grin. "Lisa thought you might need some help."
"That was good of her," Randall said, laughing internally at the complete craziness of her referring to her 'human' form as a different person when both of them knew the truth of it. "Come on in."
The large lizard followed him inside, looking around with interest. "I knew more or less where you guys kept your lair but none of us thought it was polite to invite ourselves over," she commented. "It's… nice."
The last two words were slightly doubtful.
Kevin snorted. "It's a dump, but the rent was the right price. Free. And it's more or less secure, out of the way of most people, and of course, free. That last part is important."
"I understand," she snickered.
"But it's still a dump," Randall shrugged. "I'll sort of miss it, but probably not for long."
"You won't after you see what Saurial and Raptaur made for you," she assured him with a wide grin. Both trucks drew up outside, making her turn and leave the building again, the two young men following. The drivers turned off the engines and several large men got of the cabs, some more exiting the rear having flung open the doors. A number of them busied themselves unshipping a pair of small folding forklift trucks that were stowed under the backs of the trailers, the rest pulling gloves on.
"Hey, Zephron," Randall greeted the enormous black guy who walked over and held out a hand, looking genuinely pleased to see them.
"Hi, guys," he replied in his deep voice, looking between them and shaking Randall's hand with a grip like iron. Without his Amy-boosts he'd probably have winced. "Everything ready to go?"
"It is," Kevin nodded. "The really delicate stuff is in my truck already, the rest is in those crates just inside." Zephron looked into the warehouse and whistled.
"Wow. Lisa was right, you guys have a lot of crap."
Kevin grinned. "It sort of took us by surprise when we started boxing it all up. More there than I remembered."
"Crap does that, multiply when you're not looking, I mean," the DWU man smiled. "You should see the inside of my fucking garage if you want proof." He turned to the waiting DWU workers and made a signal with his hand. Two of them climbed aboard the forklifts, which whined into action, entering the warehouse. Lisa's large scaled form joined them, as did Randall and Zephron. Very quickly they were involved in moving the stack of crates outside, where they were competently and carefully loaded into the trailers, the remainder of the DWU personnel shifting them around inside and strapping them in place. Kevin supervised the more delicate crates, while everyone else did their part.
In much less time that Randall had expected the entire contents of their old base had been loaded aboard the semis. When the last box was out, Kevin drove his truck outside as well, before joining him at the door looking into the now-empty and cavernous space. They examined it for a while. Lisa came and stood next to them, silent but watching.
"End of an era, man."
Randall sighed faintly and glanced at his oldest friend, then nodded. "Yeah. But the start of a new one I guess."
A scaled hand came to rest on each of their shoulders. "We all move on to new things sooner or later, guys," Lisa said quietly, smiling faintly when he looked. "Sometimes it's hard to let go, sometimes it isn't. But change is part of life, right?"
"It is," Kevin nodded. "And maybe we were due for a change."
"Guess so." Randall heaved a sigh, then helped his friend pull the doors closed for the last time, leaving them unlocked. "You never know, someone else might find this place and get some use out of it."
They turned around and looked at each other, before heading to Kevin's truck. A couple of minutes later, the small convoy was heading back towards the DWU facility, the black and scarlet shape of 'Metis' jogging in front.
Linda looked at her watch, then at the forklift she had nearly finished fixing. Kadir had quietly told her that as soon as she got it done, or by noon, she should knock off for the day, once again making her wonder exactly what he knew and how. Even so, she wasn't going to ask. He'd become a friend more quickly than she'd expected and treated her with a good deal of respect, which was reciprocated. She didn't mind at all if he'd worked out some or all of the truth.
Flipping the page in the ratty copy of the service manual she'd finally found for the machine, she compared the wiring diagram with the actual wiring, finding yet again that the people who wrote most vehicle service manuals had no idea about how to draw wiring diagrams in the first place. She grumbled a little, tracing the relevant wire across three pages that would have been collapsed into one if they'd used someone with a clue, then checked the innards of the machinery. "It's supposed to be blue with a white stripe, not blue with a green stripe," she muttered in annoyance when she finally worked out why the document and the reality didn't match.
Picking up her test meter she poked the probes into the mass of wires, which showed ample signs of having been worked on many times before by people with a mix of abilities, some of which were low enough that she was a little surprised that the thing had ever worked at all. Five minutes later she found the short circuit she'd been looking for. "Fucking finally," she cheered, putting the equipment down and reaching for a pair of wire cutters. Another fifteen minutes and she'd removed the old, very badly installed and now very faulty, wiring and neatly replaced it with something that was the right color code and in the right places. Double-checking her work, she nodded, then wrote the correct things in the correct places on the worksheet.
Having done a final test on the operation of the large forklift, which now worked to spec, she signed off on it and took the clipboard back to the office. "All done," she reported. "I fixed the original fault and found four more in the process. Fixed them too." Linda gave Kadir the paperwork, which he checked carefully.
"Excellent. Well done, Linda."
"Thanks, Kadir."
He nodded, a typically very small, almost unnoticeable smile coming and going. "I think that means you're done for today. Go and do the other things you need to do." The smile came and went. "And do it well, as I have no doubt you will."
She smiled back with a nod of her own. "I'll try," she replied.
"There is no try, there is only do," he said calmly, turning back to his computer and paying her no more attention. She stared at the back of his head, grinned, and left the garage. The man was surprising at times, but a good boss.
After a short early lunch, she headed for her workshop, going inside and quickly using her Family-made Changer ability. Under two minutes later, Vectura was pulling her new costume's gloves on and looking at her reflection in the mirror of the bathroom attached to the workshop. "Not bad," she told herself, quelling the butterflies in her stomach with an effort of will.
Going into the main room she picked up her helmet, looking at it. Design ideas went through her mind at a high rate. Putting it down again, she picked up a pen instead and started sketching for ten minutes or so, before inspecting her work. "Got the parts in stock, I think," she mumbled to herself, taking the pad with her as she wandered off into her storeroom, checking the shelves for what she needed.
It was only about an hour's work to re-purpose a number of components, some from commercial equipment, some from a couple of her old inventions that had been in the stuff she'd grabbed when she'd escaped. One of the new power units was quickly checked out, then added to the design. Eventually she was done.
Picking up the wearable part, which had been built onto the frame of a pair of safety glasses, she turned the thing over in her hands checking for flaws. Seeing it seemed fine for a prototype while also thinking that she needed Saurial's help to make it correctly, she put them on, then adjusted the modified arms carefully. With her non-standard head shape around the ear region she'd had to make a number of structural changes, which required a little adjustment, but in the end the device fitted nicely.
'Not bad,' she thought, pleased. Reaching up she connected a slender cable to the end of one of the earpieces, then plugged it into a small processor and sensor box she'd assembled from parts intended for one of the mech cockpits. The power unit plugged into that as well. When she turned it on, the displays mounted over her eyes flickered and lit up, projecting a nice bright image over her vision. 'Really not bad at all for under two hours work,' she congratulated herself, fiddling with the HUD optics to get them focused properly. Finally satisfied, she tried the fit under her helmet, discovering it was more than adequate.
'I'll need to get Saurial to make a small mod to the suit, but this will do for now,' she mused, taking the helmet off again. The cable currently ran down the outside of her suit, from under the helmet, which meant it interfered with the sealing and was also vulnerable, but it would take the lizard-girl only moments to make an internal space for it. For now, she could put most of the electronics into one of the larger-on-the-inside pockets and live with the external cable.
She was happily engaged in adding sensors to the new HUD system and working on the programming for it, which leveraged a lot of the work she'd already done for the mech project, when she more felt than heard a deep rumble just outside. Curious, got up and headed for the door, opening it to see a pair of very large trucks backing past her workshop. Metis was watching them maneuver, with Kevin and Randall standing next to her, Kevin's slightly battered and nondescript truck parked off to the side.
"The new neighbors arrive, I see," she said, coming outside and pulling the door closed. Walking over she joined them, shaking hands with both former villains.
"Hi, Vectura," Kevin replied, sounding pleased to see her. "Yeah, we're here to stay now."
"Which is probably going to be fun, but also weird," Randall added. "Considering we've been a two-man act for years. All these people around will take some getting used to."
"On the bright side you'll have good food available all the time and the opportunity to earn an honest living, along with a lot of resources for… special projects," Metis put in, making him nod after a moment's thought.
"True, I guess. Oh well, since it was my idea in the first place I sure can't complain. Let's go and have a look at our new place."
Metis produced a set of keys and tossed them to him, handing Kevin an identical set. "It's all hooked up now and ready for use. We can get all your boxes inside in an hour."
Linda followed as the three people walked to where the two large trucks had just parked, the big lizard using another key to unlock the door to the next-door-but-one warehouse. She disappeared inside, the large roller door grinding into action moments later. When it opened, she stood in the opening and waved grandly at the now brightly lit interior. "All yours, guys," she said with a pleased tone.
Kevin and Randall walked inside, then looked around, their eyes wide under their woolen disguises. "Fuck me!" the latter said. "This is..." He turned to look at Kevin, who was gaping.
"A lot more than we expected," the Tinker finally added, appearing stunned.
"Where do you want these boxes?" Zephron, who'd come up behind them and peered over their heads at the inside of the refurbished warehouse, said. "Nice place by the way. Those girls do good work."
"Just a fucking little," Randall breathed, looking up at the balcony that ran around the large main floor. Kevin was wandering towards the stairs to the upper level in something of a daze.
"Put them over there to the side, Zephron," Metis said, pointing to the right. "They'll be out of the way for now." She was grinning, watching the two young men look around. He gave her a little salute with two fingers, appearing to find the reaction funny, then went over to the truck crews who were already unloading the vehicles onto the ground.
"There's about ten more rooms up here!" Kevin said from the tops of the stairs, reappearing and waving his arms around. "And a kitchen, a good one! And..." He seemed to run out of words and wandered away again. Randall was exploring one of the store rooms. Turning to her reptilian friend, Linda laughed very quietly.
"I think they like it."
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Metis snickered, both of them watching as the two men met halfway up the stairs, looked around, then grabbed each other and did a little happy dance.
Finding the entire thing very funny, Linda added, "I think I'm ready for the PRT now. I'm going to have lunch properly first, though."
Metis nodded. "OK. I'll help move some of this stuff inside then join you. We'll need to leave in about an hour."
"All right. See you in a while." Waving to the two young men, who were now running around working out where they were going to put things, she headed towards the cafeteria and something to eat.
Pulling into the parking lot of the diner he was pleased to see was still there and open, Danny parked and switched the ignition off. Getting out of the car he stretched a little, working the slight kinks of sitting in the same position for several hours out of his back, then locked the vehicle. Checking the doors were properly locked he headed inside. It was definitely time for a break, although he'd made good time.
Checking the time he nodded to himself. 'About another two hours unless I hit traffic. Not bad. Although I really do need to get that thing replaced, it's starting to get a little noisy at high speed.' He glanced back at the car, then went into the diner.
Selecting a table which gave him a view of the car park, just in case, he sat down and picked up a menu. Ten minutes later he was on his second cup of coffee and half way through a small steak and potato meal, which was as good as he remembered.
While he ate he wondered how this trip would pan out. He hadn't seen the old man for nearly as long as Taylor had been alive, and not spoken to him for almost as long. Mild regret went through him yet again at the way he'd acted, even though he still thought he'd been right. In hindsight, though, he'd been considerably less respectful than both common sense and family ties would have demanded, which he put down to youth and a certain degree of stupidity on his part. Antonio had taken it with a level of grace and acceptance that he wasn't entirely sure, now, that he'd deserved.
And he was absolutely certain that if he'd been anyone else he couldn't have gotten away with it. Not so much what he said but how he said it.
It had taken him years to realize that his own father would have been very upset about the entire thing, but it wasn't until very recently that he'd come to the conclusion that he needed to set it right. While the elderly man's ways weren't his, he was, in his own way, family. And one thing Danny knew and believed right to his bones was that you did right by family. He'd lost his way for longer than he liked to think about in that area, with Taylor, but an exceptionally odd set of circumstances had led to that mistake being rectified.
He had to see it through to the obvious conclusion.
Finishing his steak, he looked at the menu, then picked it up and opened it.
However, while he had an appointment, he also had both time and room for dessert.
"Heard from Danny yet?" Amy said as she sat beside Taylor, who was eating faster than normal. Her friend looked up, then smiled.
"I went outside just before lunch and got a message, he's making good time. He'll be in New York by just after one, he said."
"He's back by Friday?"
"That's what he said. Possibly tomorrow, but I don't think he expected that to happen."
"Your Dad lets you stay at home alone?" Mandy asked, looking impressed.
"She's not alone, though, is she?" 'Saurial' commented as the lizard-girl appeared next to her with a tray in her hands. She sat down next to Amy. "Hi, everyone."
"Hi, Saurial," Lucy said with a grin. "Still here?"
"Of course. Where she goes, I go." The reptilian female pointed her fork at Taylor, who raised an eyebrow. Amy grinned to herself, the Varga seemed to enjoy pulling off the Saurial act nearly as much as Taylor did. "Although, that said, I need to go and do something else for a while this afternoon. But Raptaur will be lurking around somewhere, so no one get any ideas." She looked over at Dennis who was blatantly eavesdropping from two tables away, the redhead smirking at her and pointing at himself in a flamboyantly 'Who, me?' way.
Lucy started giggling, with Eric, Rich, and Mandy all smiling at the byplay. "What's your father going to New York for, Taylor?" Eric asked.
"He's meeting an old family friend who he hasn't seen for a long time," Taylor replied, finishing her glass of juice after she spoke. "They had a sort of… falling out, I guess. Years ago. But recently they started talking by email and Dad decided that he needed to reconnect."
"A family friend or a Family friend?" Rich asked with specific emphasis on the second one.
"The first type," the tall brunette smiled. "He was friends with my great-grandfather on my dad's side, a long time ago back in Europe. I think he's about eighty now. Apparently I've met him, but I don't remember it, I was something like a year old at the time."
"Oh, I see," the boy nodded. "OK. I hope it works out."
"So do I," she replied as she finished her meal. "He was a little worried about it but I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Going somewhere?" Mandy asked as Taylor got up. The other girl nodded, all her friends watching her.
"I've got to pop out before the next period, someone I need to talk to for a little while," she said. "Don't worry, I cleared it with the secretary."
"And you've got your bodyguard," Rich pointed out, making Saurial nod happily. "Somehow I doubt you'll have any problems."
"Hopefully not," Taylor grinned. "It's nothing too serious, but it's also a little short notice. See you guys later."
With a wave, both aspects left, the people left watching them head out of the cafeteria. "I wonder what that's about?" Lucy said as she turned back to her own meal.
"No idea," Amy said truthfully, very curious. "Guess we'll find out later." They resumed eating and talking about other things, although she was wondering what Taylor was up to this time.
Kenta looked up from his drink as the door opened, idly thinking that he much preferred the beer in a different pub. But Somer's Rock seemed more appropriate for this meeting.
Someone he recognized on sight entered, alone, carrying a duffel bag in one hand. He'd never met her personally but he was aware of her work.
And her relatives.
Saurial looked around, appearing mildly curious, then came towards the table. She shook her head as the waitress stirred, causing the woman to shrug and sit back down again. He inspected her armor with interest, seeing how well it was made, up close.
The reptilian female wore it well, he thought. She projected an air of competence and confidence. No one he could intimidate, that much he was certain, although he was curious to know if she was as tough as her sister Raptaur had been. That one was remarkable, she hadn't hesitated to take him head on, and in a way that if he hadn't been such an incredible regenerator, would have left him dead.
He had an uneasy feeling that she'd been holding back as well.
Even though she'd ultimately called in her gigantic older sister to deal with him, he still wondered if that was because she couldn't work out how to stop him without killing him, and was reluctant to do so. Many would consider that a sign of weakness, but...
One thing he was certain of was that weakness and the Family didn't belong in the same sentence. While he'd never say it, he was fairly sure that they could be as ruthless as anyone he'd ever met given sufficient reason. They were merely powerful enough to be able to show mercy.
Although it did gall him that he was the one that mercy had been shown to. It puzzled him as well, given that they were heroes.
More or less.
On the other hand…
On the other hand, Raptaur had actually fought him. She'd dived right in with a vicious grin and had obviously been enjoying it, in her own way, as he had been in his. In some way he felt that this showed a certain level of respect. She had deemed him worthy of personal attention, in the protection of someone she considered hers. Likewise, Kaiju had bargained with him after somehow shutting him down. The insanely enormous reptile could have simply finished him on the spot, very obviously, and had nothing whatsoever to fear from him by that point, but she hadn't seized the opportunity to remove an enemy permanently. In almost anyone else that would have suggested overconfidence or arrogance. Yet in this case…
Kaiju certainly wasn't overconfident. She knew exactly what she was capable of, and ending him like a bug was easily within her abilities. Neither did she, or any of them, strike him as arrogant. Not like Kaiser, or, he was honest enough to admit, like himself.
And there was the odd little fact that he had received information from a trustworthy witness that she had become involved in a spat with Eidolon, of all people, who had apparently attempted to anger her, right up to the point of shooting her in the back of the head!
Madness. The man was clearly suffering from some illness of the mind. Why would one of the three premier heroes of the Protectorate try to initiate combat with someone that powerful right in the middle of a crowded area? Even he himself would at least try to lure her away from anything he valued, and if nothing else, the Protectorate was supposed to value the lives of the citizens they allegedly protected.
Yet even then, having been deliberately and in a most cowardly way attacked from behind, completely unprovoked, Kaiju had merely turned around and asked him what he thought he was doing. Not the response anyone would expect. Definitely not the response he would have given.
The man he'd talked to had told him that at that point, from what he knew, the 'Hero' had apparently dared her to try attacking him. She'd assessed him curiously, looked at Legend and Alexandria who were on the face of it as surprised as she was, then did… something. No one was sure what, but the idiot had dropped like a stone without warning. She'd neatly caught him, then handed him over to his colleagues, before simply going back to work.
Kenta was very curious to know exactly what she'd done. That aside, it was interesting for another reason. Eidolon hadn't been deemed worthy of a fight, he'd merely been disposed of. No bargaining, just poof. Kaiju could very obviously have killed him just as easily, but had shown mercy there too, yet in the case of the Protectorate cape it was almost an insult. He wasn't worth the effort. That was a very clear message. But Kenta was.
Interesting.
His introspection was cut short as Saurial reached the table, pulling out the sole other chair, then sitting in it, moving her tail to the side to allow this. She dropped the bag at her feet. Reaching up she removed her dark glasses, putting them on the table near her elbow, glowing yellow eyes with catlike pupils scanning him.
"Hello, Lung," the girl said calmly, "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."
He was more than a little taken aback by the fact that she was speaking perfect Japanese, albeit with an archaic accent he found odd. It was like listening to one of the elders from his childhood, which added to his unease. It also, when he considered it, matched the strangely formal language of the note she'd arranged for him to get.
"What do you want, Saurial?" he asked, finishing his drink and motioning for another, then reaching up and adjusting his mask, settling it more firmly on his face.
"We are not friends, neither are we allies," she replied after studying him for a second or two.
"This is true."
"However, we would prefer not to be enemies."
He raised an eyebrow. After a few seconds of silence, he asked the obvious. "Why?"
"It is a distraction, largely pointless, and a possible cause of danger to innocents we are charged with protecting," she said. "We don't agree with your actions in many cases, but at the same time we have no intention of spending our time getting any more involved in politics than we are forced to. None of us have any reason to go after either you or Kaiser as long as you leave us alone."
"You went after the Merchants. Everyone knows what happened."
She smiled in a rather predatory manner. "Skidmark started it. You know as well as I do that he was planning on attacking our people, our home, and we had no choice. The Docks are ours to protect. It was, or was going to shortly become, personal. That cannot be allowed."
Kenta watched her warily, then nodded slowly. "I will admit that is true. Are you claiming that should he have kept out of your business you would have left him to peddle his drugs and women?"
"As far as it didn't impact on our people, and as long as he didn't do it directly in front of any of us, yes," she shrugged. "We don't go looking for trouble. But if it finds us, we deal with it. The same is true of your people. I, for example, don't spend my time tracking down every ABB member and arresting them, although I do have both the ability and authority to do so. Unless I find them committing a serious crime right in front of me, I ignore them. You know that to be true."
Oddly enough, he did. They were the strangest heroes he'd ever encountered.
"Granted," he said with a small nod. "I don't understand why, though. Such behavior is... unusual. Most people in your position would use the power they had to seize more. It is the way of the world."
"This world, perhaps," she smiled. "And we are not most people. We have all the power we require."
There were a number of things about that comment he was going to have to think on for some time. They looked at each other for a little longer. "To return to your original question, what we want is to settle things between us. Not with violence, though."
"You cost me, or people you have taken responsibility for cost me, a very large amount of money, a valued friend, and considerable face," he replied, feeling sudden anger.
She didn't appear to notice, or possibly care, as his hand tightened on the glass he still had his hand wrapped around, causing it to splinter and crack.
"Oni Lee was no one's friend, he was a lunatic who liked killing," she remarked. "Even you know that. However, I agree that he was a valued member of your organization, and even though the Undersiders did not actually kill him, they are at least partly responsible for his death. The money is also a valid point. I would debate the loss of face. No one in my family has mentioned Kaiju's conversation with you to anyone outside us, Tattletale has said nothing either, and none of the other Undersiders has divulged their connection to the death of Oni Lee. We have no wish or need to shame you. Our fight is over, no more need be said about it."
He thought for a moment and realized she had a point, oddly enough. All the information and speculation about what had happened to him and the ABB on that bizarre night had come from the PRT, the Protectorate, both of whom didn't actually know much, and PHO. The last of which having made most of it up out of whole cloth.
"This may be true, but it is beside the point. You and yours cost me and mine a lot."
Reaching down, she retrieved the bag, putting it on the table. "I agree. I would like to settle that debt. I cannot replace Oni Lee, obviously, but the money is straightforward." Unzipping the bag she removed a large stack of cash, putting it on the table between them, then repeating the action. He watched in amazement as far more bricks of money came out of the bag than it could possibly have held.
When she finished, the waitress, who still hadn't brought him his drink, was gaping, as was he. Saurial looked at him over the pile of cash. "One million dollars, more than the amount you lost."
He picked up one stack of twenties and riffled through it, then sniffed it. It was, as far as he could tell, real. "This only replaces the money," he noted, dropping it back onto the pile. "Oni Lee was irreplaceable."
"We both know that in a very short time, he would have either been headed for the Birdcage or dead," she calmly replied. "The PRT was on the verge of signing a kill order for him. They had a reward for his capture which was in the top twenty offered throughout the country, half a million dollars, and the implication was that it would be paid whether he was alive or not. One suspects that they rather hoped he wouldn't be."
Kenta scowled, but couldn't deny that either. This damn reptile kept making good points. Extremely annoying ones, but good ones.
"I would still have received at least a year of service from him before that point, I think," he finally growled. "His loss was an insult and an attack on me."
"His loss was largely due to his own madness and blood lust overriding his intelligence," she corrected mildly. "You know that to be true also. He killed himself with his own grenades in what could easily be considered suicide. That is what the PRT finally filed it under. The man was far too enthusiastic and bloodthirsty."
Irritatingly, that was also true. "I also lost two minions."
"To their own weapons," she pointed out, still calm and reasonable. He wondered for a moment how old she really was, she projected an aura of experience and wisdom that belied her apparent age. Although it was difficult to tell for sure, considering her non-human features. "I hardly think that we, or even the Undersiders, can take responsibility for your people not knowing to stop firing when they can't see what they're firing at."
He growled under his breath, turning to the waitress and making a sharp motion with one hand. She finally came over with his drink, removing the badly cracked glass from the previous one, and nearly ran back to the bar.
Controlling his temper, he drank, then put the glass down again. "Fine. I can't deny it was a display of gross stupidity. I have dealt with the people involved. That still leaves the fact that I am down one cape, a very useful cape, and months to years of his service."
"Agreed." She inspected him for a moment, then reached into the bag again. When she removed her hand, he looked at the large gold bar it was holding in some disbelief. "Weregild is an old custom, in this world and others. What is an acceptable quantity of gold in exchange for the... let's settle on eighteen months... of service that your subordinate would have given you if the Undersiders had not become involved?"
She handed him the gold bar. Taking it, he looked at it, then her. The reptile simply waited for him to answer.
Scratching it with a fingernail, then weighing it in his hand, he came to the conclusion it was damn near pure. He also wondered where the hell she'd got the stuff. There were no assay marks or anything else, it was merely a blank six inch by two inch by one inch bar of soft yellow metal, more than eight pounds of gold. "You offer gold in exchange for Oni Lee's life?" he said after a moment. "You think I will put a price on him?"
"Correct. We both know that you considered him merely a tool. A very useful one, but a tool nonetheless. You had no personal connection to the man, or he to you, beyond what you both gained from the association. His usefulness was also limited, in time if nothing else."
"You wish to buy my cooperation."
"No. I'm offering to recompense you for what our people inadvertently helped to take from you, and settle any remaining differences we have between us. There is a difference, as you well know." She looked at him in a manner that suggested she was amused, but she didn't smile.
Sitting back in his chair, Kenta watched her and thought, rubbing his fingers over the gold bar and feeling the almost greasy texture. He had no doubt she was serious, and no real doubt that she would make good on her word. Everything she had said was true and well thought out.
Oni Lee's death was entirely inevitable, he knew that. The man had been barely functional for most purposes, and while utterly loyal, starting to attract more attention to him than he really liked. It was only Kenta's own reputation that had kept the PRT out of his affairs so long, since they knew damn well they stood little chance of taking him down. He'd proved that.
Weighing the bar, he came up with a rough estimate of the value, not being completely unfamiliar with the current cost of gold although he seldom held it. But he couldn't deny there was something about the feel of it he liked.
"Dragons traditionally like gold," she smiled, as if she was reading his mind.
"Indeed," he rumbled, examining her. Eventually he put the bar down. "Ten of these."
"Acceptable," she replied, putting her hand into the bag.
"And..."
"And?"
"I want a rematch with Raptaur."
She pulled her hand out again, then folded both of them on the stack of money, watching him closely. "A rematch?"
"My fight with her was interrupted. I wish to see what happens if it is not." He smiled grimly. "Call it a matter of personal honor."
"I understand," she said after a few seconds. "To the death?"
"That won't be necessary." He shrugged. "We can put a time limit on it. One hour, no holds barred."
"Fifteen minutes. At the rate you ramp up, that should be sufficient."
"Forty five minutes. It needs to be a real fight."
"Half an hour."
He thought, then nodded.
"That is adequate."
"We set the time and location," she said. "Somewhere far enough away from people that damage is minimized."
"I can live with that," he told her, feeling a slight sense of happiness.
"Agreed. Ten bars, half an hour of personal combat with Raptaur, time and place to be determined, in exchange for which you relinquish all past grievances against the Family, the DWU, or the former Undersiders."
"Deal," he said, holding out his hand. She reached over and shook it firmly. Moments later she had stacked up nine more bars of gold from the bag of many things.
He drank his beer, staring at the pile of money and gold. Raising his eyes to meet hers, he shook his head. "You people are... odd."
She shrugged, smiling slightly, then stood, picking up her dark glasses and putting them on. "We are Family."
The lizard-girl looked at him, then the money. "We'll be in touch. Thank you for meeting with me." She bowed to exactly the correct level to suggest respect to an equal, which he found a little confusing, yet pleasing. Turning away, she glanced back over her shoulder. "You can keep the bag, it'll help with carrying all that."
Watching her leave with a polite nod to the waitress, and the man behind the bar, both of whom were staring at the huge amount of money and gold on the table in the middle of the room, he finished his beer, then got up.
It was only when he'd put all the treasure into the bag, which somehow managed to hold it without showing a bulge even though it was at least three times the volume the damn thing should have been capable of handling, that he stopped and wondered.
'How did she know how much gold to bring?' he mused.
After a little while, he shrugged, zipped the impossible bag shut, and left the bar, trying to work out what the new dynamic in the city meant for him.
If nothing else, he was at least going to get to see how tough Raptaur really was.
And he felt he had new insight into this peculiar Family. While he didn't understand them as much as he'd like to, he understood enough. In some ways they were similar, he and them. Treat them with respect, they would reciprocate. And he had no doubt they kept their word. Unlike certain Nazi leaders he could think of, unless the man had changed significantly, which seemed unlikely.
He could accept that, and work with and around the new power in the city.
Walking to his waiting car, Kenta wondered with a slight feeling of amusement what Saurial would offer Kaiser if something of a similar nature occurred between the E88 and the Family. And whether the man would be smart enough to accept, or would decided to poke the dragon where it lived.
That wouldn't end well, although he suspected it would end very rapidly indeed.
"That went better than I feared it might, although I didn't see his last request coming," the Varga commented as Taylor jogged back towards Arcadia, fully cloaked and thinking about the meeting. "I probably should have."
'With what I've learned about him, I'm not that surprised,' she replied after a few more yards. 'I think he's the sort of person who likes to fight, and the way it ended left him unsatisfied. I can actually understand that, sort of. The big problem is making it a good fight without either accidentally killing him or completely wrecking the entire area.'
"We'll need to think about a suitable venue," the demon agreed. "Not anywhere that's within many miles of inhabited places. After half an hour of no holds barred conflict he'll have ramped up to a fairly impressive level."
'I hope he can actually stop ramping up at the end of it.' Taylor was slightly worried that the pyrokinetic Changer would get carried away and she really would have to kill him to stop him.
"I suspect he will," her friend said. "But I also think he's not going to hold back at all. He probably knows at some level that he can't actually stop you, but he's certainly going to give it his best shot."
'Well, it'll be good in a way to have someone I can really cut loose with myself, without too much worry about damaging the scenery,' she smiled. 'It'll be interesting whatever happens. Maybe we should talk to Dragon and see if she can find us a place. We still need to test Athena too, although the way the Simurgh aborted her run took the pressure off a lot on that project. The same place that Dragon was thinking about for that test might be good for Lung's fight.'
"It's certainly worth asking her," he replied. After a moment he chuckled.
'What?'
"It suddenly struck me that we must make sure we record this event properly for posterity. I have a strong suspicion it would find a considerable reception in certain areas, regardless of the outcome."
'I wonder what Lung would say if we cut him in on half the profit of a Raptaur vs Lung DVD?' she laughed.
"I wonder what the PRT would say..." he remarked slyly, causing her to laugh harder.
'Oh, that's something I'd love to see. Maybe we should send Director Piggot a complimentary copy…?'
She was still giggling when she reached the school, reverting to her base form and slipping in with Saurial beside her and no one the wiser as to what she'd done or where she'd been. And now she had a nice surprise for Lisa and her old team too.
All in all, it had been a productive lunch break.
Erwin looked up from his card hand to see his friend sit down, beer in hand. The large man took a deep, appreciative sip. "Wondered where you'd got to."
"Had a meeting," the other said quietly as the third man at the table dealt him in without a word.
"Go well?"
"Yes." He took another sip. "Beer was shit though."
"Ah." Erwin looked at his hand, then put a card down. "Snap."
"Fucker," the dealer said sourly. "I don't know how you're cheating, but I know you're cheating."
Erwin merely grinned and took another mouthful of beer. Which was definitely not shit.
"Ready?"
Linda looked at Metis, who was standing next to her. She was wearing her entire new costume for the first time ever in public, and both of them were a block from the PRT building where the lizard had arranged to have a DWU light truck drop them off. Turning back to the large building at the end of the road, she adjusted her helmet, then nodded firmly.
"Ready."
"So am I," a familiar voice said from her other side. She suppressed the twitch, looking around to see Saurial grinning at her. "Let's go blow their minds."
"Sounds good to me." Linda grinned back, then all three of them started walking towards the building, a number of passers-by taking photos.