This chapter builds on and incorporates elements that Ed Becerra came up with, and surrounds the guest addition "Strange Visitor From Another..."
It may be helpful to read that again, if you haven't already, when you encounter the correct point in this. You'll know it when you see it...
Danny put his phone away, having spent a few minutes letting his daughter know everything was going well and he'd met some new friends of his own. She'd passed on the results of the PRT testing for Linda, which seemed to have gone superbly, at least from their point of view. And mentioned that 'Saurial' had, as she put it, 'sorted out' the last of the problems with Lisa and her friends vis-a-vis a certain local threat. He was rather curious to find out what exactly that meant, but didn't think now and here was the best time and place.
He had a horrible feeling whatever it was she'd done with the aid of her demonic friend was going to make him go pale…
On the whole, though, it didn't seem that so far at least things back home had spiraled out of control in the way he'd somewhat worried they would. He didn't know if that made him less nervous, or more nervous.
Deciding that there was nothing he could do one way or the other and that there were enough people to deal with it anyway, he got out of the chair by the window and used the facilities. After a shower and a change of clothes into something more suitable for dinner with Antonio, he put his coat on, slipped the bottle of quite expensive wine he'd bought into one of the pockets where it disappeared without trace, and left the room.
He was hoping that tonight would go well. Even so, he felt a little worried about how Antonio would greet him, considering how they'd parted so long ago. Hopefully, with the passage of time, things would work out. After all, the old man had reached out to him.
He'd find out soon enough.
"You're joking." The tone of voice was flat yet still conveyed shock.
"No, I'm not," Amy replied, looking around the table at the faces gaping at her. "These things do indeed do exactly what I told you."
They were in the conference room attached to the hospital administrator's office complex, 'they' being the administrator himself, the heads of the general medicine, endocrinology, and infectious disease departments, and several people from the legal department including Marine Vachon who was the lead legal counsel for the hospital. There were also three other doctors including Doctor Eriksen, her friend from the trauma department, and Doctor Hernandez who was her main point of contact in general healing work. The final person was the chief medical bioethicist, Doctor Caffon.
She turned back to Doctor Phipps, the head of General Medicine and the one who had spoken. "The healing spore seeks out and repairs any injury, disease, or abnormality that the patient has. It can correct genetic faults, repairing the DNA throughout the body. It will regrow lost limbs or organs, fix broken bones, regenerate neural tissue, remove tumors of any kind… all subject to available biomass and resources, of course."
"And if the patient does not have the required resources?" Doctor Dias, the Endocrinology head, asked with a fascinated look on his face.
"It puts them into a deep state of hibernation, effectively biological stasis, until the resources are available," she replied, looking at him. "Ianthe thinks, and I agree based on some tests, that it could probably keep someone alive for several years at least like that, if necessary cannibalizing non-essential systems to preserve the essential ones. Maintaining viable life is the primary consideration. It would, in theory, even allow someone to recover from being drowned for weeks, if they had one active just after they went into the water."
"Testing that could be… controversial," Doctor Eriksen commented, making her nod with a slight smile.
"I doubt we'd have a rush of volunteers," she agreed calmly.
Everyone around the conference table inspected the innocent little bottle sitting in the middle of it in silence for a while. Eventually, the lawyer Vachon reached out and picked it up, tilting it a little to watch the one-shots rattle around. "You have definitely dropped us into the middle of a very large minefield, Panacea," she said quietly, tilting it the other way. "The number of laws that are involved in something like this is… difficult to calculate."
"I wouldn't really know," Amy shrugged. "I've got a basic understanding of medical legal systems and I know quite a bit about the parts that directly affect my power, but the rest of it is more your field of expertise. I'm much more concerned about the medical ethics of it than the legalities."
Everyone looked at Doctor Caffon now, who was quietly thinking while idly stroking his short beard. He looked up, then around at them all. "Tricky," he said.
"Very helpful, Dylan," Doctor Aikin, the administrator, sighed.
Doctor Caffon smiled. "But honest. It is indeed tricky. I can understand why Panacea has been so conflicted, having had this knowledge for some time. Parahuman powers complicate medical ethics considerably, if only due to the public concerns involved. But if these things do what she claims, they're an incredible breakthrough that could change the face of medicine permanently. It will take a lot of careful thought on how to proceed."
"I'd think the first thing would be to prove they actually do work as advertised," Doctor Phipps said thoughtfully. "Not that I have any reason to disbelieve Panacea, of course," he added, glancing at her. She made a small gesture of one hand indicating she wasn't offended. "But as Dylan says, there is a certain public… distrust… of anything that could be thought of as the result of a Biotinker. For obvious reasons."
"Ianthe isn't really a Biotinker," Amy pointed out truthfully.
"Agreed, but most people don't have the knowledge or understanding to appreciate the fine details of something of that nature," he nodded. "It could be a problem."
"How do we go about testing the claims?" Doctor Chin, the Infection Diseases department head asked. "Panacea says the PRT will by now know about these from Saurial and I have no doubt are already working on them under the strictest isolation conditions. I know a couple of people in their research department, I can ask some questions, but..."
"They may well not tell you," Doctor Aikin said. The other man nodded.
"Probably not, at least not while they're still working on them."
"It's possible that the PRT would decide that they didn't want these being released to the general public," Ms Vachon remarked, putting the small bottle down again. "Mostly for political reasons. It's happened in the past. They might well want to keep them for people they approved of."
"That's not going to fly with the Family," Amy said. "They will be rather annoyed if anyone tries to restrict them like that. Ianthe wants to help people, not just benefit a few in a position of power."
"And from what I hear the PRT, at least locally, is doing what it can to keep the Family happy," Doctor Hernandez remarked. "On the other hand, there are definitely elements of the organization that are… somewhat biased. And prone to doing things that many would consider ill-advised."
Several people nodded at this.
"Can we class this as an experimental treatment and run some carefully monitored tests of our own?" Doctor Aikin asked after a short pause, looking around at a few key faces. "Obviously with fully informed consent on the part of the patient in question."
Doctor Caffon was stroking his beard again, but eventually slowly nodded. "It's a viable approach. Institutions without the benefit of Panacea's aid do use experimental treatments with a fairly low likelihood of success in cases where there is no other option. Including Parahuman-produced ones. Compassionate use exemption is one route. The FDA has a number of other exemptions for such things these days, put in place after the Marburg virus outbreak in Kansas in ninety-nine. The experimental treatment that was rushed into production proved so successful and safe the rules were changed to make it simpler to do something similar in future."
"I remember how messy that nearly got," Doctor Chin said, tapping a finger on the desk. "Politics almost caused a disaster. Good thing some people kept their heads."
"Medhall also runs small clinical trials of proposed new drugs and other treatments," Doctor Eriksen noted. "Some of those are Parahuman-designed drugs as well."
"We have the major advantage of having Panacea available to monitor the treatment and intervene if necessary," Doctor Phipps added, looking at the girl. "Which removes most if not all of the genuine risk."
"That's a very good point," Vachon said, writing a few lines in the notebook she had open in front of her. "And Panacea has already vouched for both Ianthe's work and the efficacy of this treatment. You said you've seen them in use, Panacea?" She looked up at Amy, who nodded.
"Yes. Ianthe asked for volunteers from the DWU when she designed these, having checked them very carefully to make sure they'd work. Those people trust the Family completely so she didn't have much trouble finding someone with some minor injuries to test them on. They worked perfectly in all cases. I monitored several of them and they do what they're meant to without any side effects."
"Remarkable," the woman murmured. "Legally, I expect we can find a viable solution for some discreet testing," she went on more loudly, looking around the table, then checking with the other people from her department who were all making notes, a couple of them flipping through reference manuals. "The PRT could cause problems if they wanted to, but on the other hand we have no current obligation to inform them of everything we do."
"Assuming they do work, what does it mean for the medical industry as a whole?" Doctor Dias asked. He glanced at his colleagues. "Someone has to ask."
"In the long run… It will cause a very large change, I expect," Amy said with a shrug. "These things fix basically everything. As in, cure the problem, not just treat the problem. That's going to have a massive impact on pharma companies, places like this, insurance companies, you name it. I'm well aware of that, as is Ianthe. On the other hand, it won't happen overnight. Even if they were approved for public release tomorrow, Ianthe isn't in a position to make them in the quantities needed to give them to everyone in the country, never mind the world. Yet."
"Even the distribution of them on that level would be an immense task," Doctor Eriksen pointed out, making her nod.
"Very true. There are over two hundred and fifty million people in the US, and you'd need more than one per person per year since people are going to keep injuring themselves. That would mean billions a year just in this country. Probably trillions world wide. Ianthe says she can work out a way to make them in any quantity needed but it will take some work, and as Jakob says, getting them to people would also be a big job."
"It would probably require some discussion with one of the pharmaceutical companies," Doctor Aikin remarked. "Although that has its own pitfalls, of course."
"There would also be issues with cost, profits, and a large number of other areas," Ms Vachon said. "However, that isn't something that we need concern ourselves with at the moment. The commercial and political implications of this are profound, but until we have some verifiable and documented data on the effectiveness of the treatment, somewhat irrelevant."
Doctor Aikin nodded. "I agree that would be the first requirement. So how do we proceed?" The assembled people began discussing various possible methods to test the one-shots, and the protocols for doing so. Twenty minutes later they were still arguing about the first step, making Amy sigh faintly. It wasn't unexpected since this was a completely novel situation, but it was annoying.
Doctor Eriksen, who had mostly been listening quietly, finally looked at Amy, then the bottle on the table. He reached for it. "There's a very simple first test," he said, interrupting a long series of questions from one of the lawyers as he unscrewed the lid of the bottle and shook one of the spores onto his hand. Putting the bottle and lid down on the table, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a disposable sterile scalpel, handing it to Amy.
"Are you sure?" she asked, while everyone else fell silent. Doctor Caffon raised a hand, making the other man look at him and shake his head.
"Informed consent. I'm aware of what I'm doing, I'm giving permission to Panacea to inflict a small injury on me for the purposes of testing an experimental treatment, and I verbally acknowledge that I do not hold either her or this institution to blame in any way for the consequences of my actions." Everyone looked at Ms Vachon, who shrugged as she pressed the stop button on the dictaphone she'd pulled from nowhere obvious.
"Good enough for me," she said. "I hope you know what you're doing, Jakob."
"I do," he said. Holding out his other hand to Amy, he waited.
She studied him for a moment, a little shocked and quite impressed, then nodded and tore open the prepackaged scalpel. Pulling out the instrument, she very carefully made an inch long incision on his index finger, which immediately began bleeding although not all that much because of how sharp the blade was. Doctor Chin, who was sitting next to him, handing him a handkerchief which he rested his hand on, the blood slowly making it go red.
Amy was impressed that he didn't flinch at all as she made the cut.
Everyone watched as he held the one-shot on the palm of his other hand and put his thumb on it. "Press until it makes a sound, right?" he asked her.
"Yes."
He did so. The familiar little squeak sounded. "Huh. OK, my hand went numb."
"That's expected, it turns off pain receptors as the first action." She watched, not touching him, as he looked at his bleeding finger. The wound was already closing.
"Holy shit."
Amy smiled, while everyone else stared, the people on the other side of the table half-standing to get a better view. A few seconds more and it was done. He picked up the bloody handkerchief and folded it differently, wiping away the remaining blood with a clean part, then held up his finger. "Not a trace left," he said.
"Eight seconds," Doctor Phipps noted, looking at his watch. "That was remarkable."
"May I?" Amy asked, motioning to his hand with hers. Doctor Eriksen nodded, so she put a finger on the back of his hand and checked his body. Everything was working perfectly. "Nothing out of the ordinary happened," she reported, removing her finger. "It did what it was supposed to and broke down immediately."
"And it will do that do cancer? MS? Amputated limbs?" Doctor Dias looked astounded as she nodded each time.
"Ianthe thinks, and I agree, that they will cure anything I can, and some things I can't like certain brain injuries," she replied quietly. "She believes that while it would be possible to engineer something that wouldn't be curable by them as they stand now, that would be something it would take someone like her to do, and it could easily be modified to prevent it if that ever happened."
"Christ." She didn't see who said it, but most of the people around the table seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"Well, it's not the normal approach to clinical testing, Jakob, but I can't deny it's an impressive demonstration," Doctor Aikin remarked as he watched the other man collect all the things with his blood on them and drop them into the biohazard container every room in the hospital had, then return to the table. "All right. I'm convinced. We need to properly document this, run as many tests as we can think of, and work up a set of data that the FDA and the PRT can't argue with. After that..." He sighed. "I have no idea what the next step will be, aside from that it's going to change things out of all recognition."
"If it heals people, it's worth it," Amy stated.
"I tend to agree, Panacea, or I wouldn't have become a doctor," he assured her. "However there are going to be a lot of entrenched opinions who will be quite upset about this development for one reason or another. The medical industry is an industry after all, and you have something there that can disrupt it beyond belief. There will be push back."
"I know," she replied calmly. "So do the Family. I and they are ready for it."
"I wonder if the industry is ready for you?" Doctor Hernandez grinned.
Amy shrugged, not worried. And a lot less conflicted than she'd been about the matter for some time now. The first step had been taken, but it was going to be a long road to walk.
The talking resumed, even more enthusiastically now that they had proof positive that the one-shots did what was claimed, at least to some level. There was nothing like a little blood to make people sit up and pay attention, she reflected with inner amusement.
And gratitude to her friend, who had proved his trust in her in a way that she was still surprised by.
But very pleased about.
Entering the restaurant, Danny adjusted his coat a little and headed towards the rear. Several of the people inside were the same ones who had been there earlier, a number of them ones he recognized as Antonio's people. Gino, who was sitting at a table with a couple of his colleagues, got up to meet him at the till.
"Hello, Gino," he said.
"Mr Hebert. Good to see you again," the other man replied respectfully. Danny had always got on with Antonio's chief enforcer, finding that despite his occupation he was an educated and well-spoken guy with a good sense of humor. Not to mention Annette had liked him a lot, the feeling being mutual. "Mr Castiglione is expecting you."
"Thanks," Danny replied with a small smile. Gino directed him to a door to the side of the till labeled 'Private – No Entry,' opening it for him. He went through with a glance back at the currently nearly full restaurant to see that almost everyone in it was watching him for some reason. Many of them with odd expressions that reminded him of Benny, although he couldn't quite decide why.
Dismissing it he returned his attention to his surroundings, hearing lots of people start talking quietly as soon as the door shut behind him. Although his Amy-improved hearing was now good enough to make out a lot of the conversations he deliberately didn't try as he felt it was something of an invasion of privacy.
At the end of a short hallway was a small elevator, which had a card reader next to it rather than a call button. Gino produced a card which he inserted into the reader, making it beep once and illuminate a green light. Moments after he removed it the doors slid open silently to reveal a small and luxurious elevator that Danny was almost positive would be lined with scanning equipment. Antonio was both smart and very careful so it was pretty much guaranteed that no weapons would enter his home without his knowledge.
"You'll be met at the top, Mr Hebert," Gino said, stepping to the side.
"Not coming up?" he asked as he went into the elevator and turned around. Gino shook his head.
"No, I'm needed down here. I expect I'll see you again later."
"Most likely. Thank you, Gino."
"It was my pleasure, Mr Hebert." The enforcer stepped back and watched as the door closed.
"Looking good, guys," Taylor said as she inspected the inside of the two young men's new facility. They'd unpacked quite a lot of the crates so far, with packing material strewn all over the place, and the entire main room was now occupied by the contents of the boxes. They appeared to be trying to work out where everything was going to go.
"Thanks, it's coming along pretty well," Kevin said as he looked around with satisfaction. "We've got most of the kitchen stuff up there now, and the fridge plugged back in, so at least we can have a cold beer when we're done."
"We can have a cold beer right now," Randall called from above them on the walkway around the room, making everyone look up. He tossed down a bottle to Kevin who caught it one handed then pulled the top off, quickly putting his mouth over it to stop the liquid foaming everywhere. "Anyone else?"
"No, thanks," Taylor replied.
"I'll take one," Lisa said, holding up a hand. It was quickly filled with another bottle. Randall looked at the Varga while the blonde opened her beer. The demon looked back, then glanced at his host.
"Go ahead if you want," Taylor smiled.
"It all ends up in your stomach, you realize," Lisa snickered.
"So? I don't drink alcohol because I don't want to, not because I can't deal with it," 'Saurial' grinned, watching her demon catch the last bottle. Randall headed for the stairs, joining them moments later. "But he can if he wants."
"That… makes no sense," Lisa frowned. "He's you. You're him. One body, your minds are connected, so if he's drinking a beer, you're drinking a beer."
The Varga poured some of the drink into his Raptaur mouth, winking at her. "It's quite good actually," he remarked. "Princess Luna was fond of a drink on occasion, but it wasn't as nice as this is."
"It's a local craft beer," Kevin said, looking at the label of his own half-depleted bottle. "Randall's favorite. I like it too, but it's not the best one I've come across."
"But..." Lisa watched the Varga finish the bottle, look at the container in his hand, then eat that too. "No, I'm not going to even try to understand," she finally said with a shake of her head. "Both of you give me a headache when I start thinking about some of the weird crap you do."
Taylor grinned at her, as did the demon. "Sorry."
"No, you're not," her friend sighed. "Not even slightly."
Kevin, by now, was chuckling to himself and Randall was watching them all with a smirk. "This is the sort of thing that goes on all the time around here, isn't it?" the taller man asked. Lisa nodded with a sigh.
"You wouldn't believe how often. They do it just to see people's expressions."
"That's as good a reason as any," he laughed. Looking around the room, he smiled. "Thank you all for helping us out like this. And your dad, Taylor. This place is incredible."
"You're welcome," Taylor said as she reverted to her base form then leaned casually on the demon, who draped an arm over her shoulder and rested his head on hers. "It'll be nice having more people around who are in on the whole thing."
"And lets us do some more thinking about the whole powers issue, too," Lisa added. "I'm still working on that although it's been a little busy recently. I can't help feeling that we need to figure it out sooner rather than later."
"It worries me also, Lisa," the Varga said quietly. "The conclusions we've already drawn are disconcerting. But we're missing a large part of the story, I have no doubt, and I agree that we may not like what we discover when we fully work it out."
"Think we will?" Kevin asked curiously. The Varga looked at him, then nodded.
"I do. Although I can't say how long that will take. Between all of us, Amy, and Danny, we have a fairly formidable think tank, if you want to put it like that. And we're steadily learning and deducing more information on the subject. Sooner or later we'll get to the bottom of the problem, I'm sure."
"Then what?" Randall asked, putting his empty beer bottle down on a nearby crate and leaning on the same box, folding his arms in the process. "Do we tell someone? The PRT? The government? The papers?"
"Definitely not the papers," Taylor replied quickly, shaking her head. "That would be asking for people to go completely nuts. But I'm not sure about the PRT or the government either."
"I wonder if they already know?" Lisa mused, making everyone look at her. She shrugged. "It's not impossible, right? They have a lot of Thinkers working for them, they have to have at least looked into the problem before. Admittedly they don't have anyone as good as I am..." She grinned when everyone looked dubiously at her. "But considering that people have been trying to work out where powers come from since Scion first turned up, someone has to have found out something."
"Yet there's not even a hint of what we've conjectured in any place we've looked," the Varga pointed out. "Many very odd theories, yes, but this particular one seems notably absent."
"Maybe someone is censoring the truth," Lisa retorted.
"Who?"
She paused, her mouth open, then closed it after a few seconds, shrugging. "No idea. Just thinking like a paranoid person for a moment. But I wouldn't want to swear it couldn't happen."
"You have a point, I admit, but large conspiracies are actually extremely difficult to successfully pull off in most cases," he replied. "Despite what some on the internet would have you believe. The ramifications of our theory are significant enough that I'd have thought someone would have talked in the last thirty years if there were sections of the government, any government, who had evidence for it."
"Maybe it's some shadowy cabal of people in the know who go around suppressing the truth about powers for their own ends," Randall suggested, smiling evilly. "They've infiltrated the governments of the world and the internet at the highest level and are constantly stopping this information coming out."
The demon looked at him with his head tilted to the side. "May I inquire as to how many of those you've had today?" he asked, indicating the empty beer bottle next to Randall. Kevin and Lisa both laughed.
"Not that many," Randall snickered. "Crazy idea, I know. I've been reading PHO too much."
"You're in danger of sounding like Void Cowboy," Taylor told him, which made him shudder.
"Oh, god, I am. Help me."
"You'll get over it, man," Kevin consoled his friend, patting him on the shoulder. "Just think about something normal, like the demons and the Family. Forget conspiracies and aliens."
They all exchanged glances then roared with hilarity for a little while.
Wiping a tear of laughter from her eye, Taylor shook her head. "Good one. Let's get some of your stuff put away and I'll tell you how Linda's power testing went today."
"Well, I expect," Kevin smiled.
"Oh, like you wouldn't believe. And she made something you two are going to love..."
As the penthouse door closed behind him, Luigi discreetly making himself absent, Danny opened his arms as the elderly but amazingly spry and still very good looking woman smiled widely and grabbed him in a hug. "Danny, dear child, it's so good to see you again after all this time. How are you doing? How is Taylor? I haven't seen that wonderful little girl since she was two." Serafina kissed him on the cheek. "We've missed you so much. I was so sad to hear about poor Annette."
Releasing him a little she moved back slightly, peering up at him. She was nearly a foot shorter, but met his eyes with hers, searching his face for something. Whatever it was, she seemed to find it, and nodded in satisfaction. "You're looking well. Come, sit, have some wine."
She linked her arm into his and practically dragged him towards the next room.
He hadn't managed more than four words so far.
Looking over at Antonio, who was grinning at the display, he shrugged a little. The old man shrugged back. "She missed you," he said calmly.
"So I gather," Danny replied dryly as he was urged to a chair, made to sit in it, and then handed a glass of wine that Serafina poured him. "Thanks, Aunt Serafina," he added politely.
"You didn't even give the poor boy a chance to take his coat off, dear," Antonio said, sitting down on another chair. His wife of more years than Danny had lived tutted and handed him a glass too.
"That can wait. It's been too long. Danny, we'll eat in about half an hour." She looked at him in a way that could only accept an answer of a nod, which he gave her, before sipping his wine. It was, as he'd expected, excellent. "Now, tell us, how is Taylor? How are you two getting along? We've heard stories, and seen some very interesting videos. She seems to have some interesting friends."
Danny laughed, putting his glass on the small table next to his chair. "That she does, Auntie. Very interesting, and very good friends. She's doing extremely well now, I'm happy to say. As am I." He sighed, momentarily sad as he thought back a few months, both the others watching with knowing expressions. "It was hard for far too long. I neglected my responsibilities in a shameful way, and she paid the price for it."
"Losing someone as close as your wife affects you, my boy," Antonio said after a second or two of respectful silence. "You and Annette were as close as anyone I've ever seen. I'm not surprised you lost your way for a while." He sipped his wine. "The important thing is you found it again. And never forgot, deep down if nowhere else, that family is all. That I am sure of." He gazed at the much younger man. "I know you. Much better than you might think. And your father, god rest his soul, was the same."
"Thanks," Danny replied eventually. "It still makes me feel ashamed, though. I could have spared her some very hard times."
"What could have been is pointless to dwell on, Danny," Serafina said, taking a seat next to her husband and putting her arm around him. "All that matters is what is. We all miss Annette, and always will. But you have a wonderful daughter, many people who rely on you and respect you, and are from what we hear doing amazing things to and for your city. So. Tell me. How did you meet… 'The Family'?"
She made a little finger quote gesture and smiled at him as she said the last words. Antonio started laughing under his breath.
"She's been wondering about that ever since we first heard about it, Danny," the old man said with good humor. "Won't stop talking about them. I think she likes lizards or something."
Danny grinned. "A friend of Taylor's is like that. The girl has a pet iguana and is mad about reptiles. She loves the Family and they seem to like her a lot too." He thought for a moment. He couldn't really tell the entire truth, but he could say enough to keep them contented. But…
"Before we get onto that, Uncle Tony..." He took a deep breath again, then stood, moving to stand in front of the elderly man. "Antonio, I would like to apologize with all my heart for the disrespectful way I spoke at our last meeting. It was uncalled for and I regret it." He bowed his head, not meeting the other man's eyes, and feeling embarrassed. "I still stand by what I said, but the way I said it was wrong, and I should have thought before speaking. My father and grandfather would have been disappointed in me, which I regret very much."
There was a long silence, then Antonio stood. He put his hands on Danny's shoulders. "Look at me, Danny."
Danny raised his eyes, to see his grandfather's oldest living friend smiling at him with warmth in his eyes. "You're forgiven. I forgave you many years ago. I understand why you said what you said, and how. The impetuousness of youth has made most people say things they wished they hadn't at one point or another. I promised your grandfather I'd look after his family and I always have, and always will. And despite some harsh words, both your dad and him would have been proud of you, trust me."
Feeling relief, since he hadn't been certain what the response would be considering what and how he'd argued the last time they'd met, many years ago, Danny finally nodded. "Thank you, Uncle Tony." He glanced at Serafina who was looking pleased and slightly amused. She gave him a quick thumb's up behind her husband's back, making him suppress a smile.
"Forget it, my boy, it's long since done with. I don't hold a grudge."
Serafina made a coughing sound, causing Antonio to smirk. "With family, that is."
"Understood." Danny nodded again.
"Now, sit, drink your wine, and tell us about Brockton Bay and all the peculiar things we keep hearing about. We can talk more about other matters later. I have things to say and things to ask, but that can wait until after dinner." Antonio sat again and looked expectantly at him.
"All right," he said, retaking his seat and picking up his wineglass. "I suppose it all starts with Saurial..."
Kevin opened the door to find both Linda in her 'Vectura' guise and Amy, as herself for once, standing outside. He waved both of them in. "Hi," he said, locking the door again. "I hear you had some fun at the PRT building today, Linda?"
The cat-woman nodded, smiling in a slightly tired way. "It was pretty intense but very interesting. When we got back I was wiped out, at least up here." She tapped her head. "Went into my workshop, lay down for a nap, and woke up about ten minutes ago. It was hard work, but I think it was worth it."
"Taylor told us you made a cool new toy," he said as the three of them walked across the floor to join the rest, who were discussing the best place for the four pinball machines they'd uncrated.
"It worked pretty fucking well," Linda grinned. "You should have seen their faces! Really funny."
"I'm surprised you let Armsmaster borrow it," he said.
She shrugged. "Without Saurial or Raptaur he can't do that much to it, and if it makes them happy and keeps them out of the way, why not? He's a pretty decent guy even if he's weird, and I like Dragon, I think. Might as well let them play with it." She smirked a little. "And it'll annoy him how much better my bike is than his bike..."
Amy started snickering, not having said anything yet and also looking very tired in some hard to explain way. Kevin glanced at her. "You're quiet today," he said.
"Been a long day," she replied, sitting on one of the chairs they'd unpacked and not yet moved upstairs yet. "I've been in a meeting since about four this afternoon at the hospital."
"Anything serious?" 'Saurial' said, looking over from the pinball discussion with some concern on her scaly face. Amy sort of shook her head and nodded simultaneously.
"Important, but not serious, I guess," the healer said, running a hand through her hair. "I told them about the healing one-shots."
"Ah." Taylor joined them, as did the others. "How did they take it?"
"About how you'd expect. A hell of a lot of 'you have to be fucking kidding me' for a while. Then a lot of blank expressions, followed by a lot of talking." She sighed again. "So much talking."
Taylor laughed for a moment. "I can imagine."
"You probably can't, unless you've been in a room with seven doctors and five lawyers for three and a half hours," Amy grumbled.
Kevin looked at Taylor with a small grin. The lizard-girl shrugged, then reached out and patted Amy on the head. "There, there, you're safe now, Amy," she said consolingly.
"Stop that, you idiot," Amy grunted, brushing the hand away, but she seemed to cheer up. "Did you give Director Piggot the samples?"
"Yep. And she looked about like your doctors probably did," Taylor said cheerfully. "I bet that keeps them busy for a while."
"Probably. Did everyone in the PRT building have a collective aneurysm thanks to you and Linda, or did you leave survivors?" Amy seemed quietly amused now.
"There were some odd looks but it went well," Taylor replied. "And we need to make some more of Linda's latest invention. They're really cool."
"We'll need some more parts first," Linda said.
"Got a list?" Kevin put in. He waved a hand at the large collection of still-packed boxes and the things that had so far come out of them. "I bet I have most of what you need other than the stuff Saurial made."
Linda looked around, then smiled. "I'm up for it if you are. It's still early. Sort of."
"Early enough." Kevin turned to Randall who was listening with a small smile. "Go and get some pizzas, there's Tinkering to be done!"
His friend snapped off a salute, clicking his heels together. "At once, sir!" he said briskly. Then he looked around, slightly puzzled. "Did you see where my wallet went this time?"
"I don't fucking believe it," Sophia snarled, looking in her rear view mirror. "How the fuck…?"
There was a very familiar looking green semi trundling along behind her, a hundred yards back, the color coming and going as it went past the streetlights of this little town in the middle of nowhere, Kansas. She hadn't seen a sign of the damn thing ever since her dramatic diversion many hundreds of miles from here, yet now the thing was behind her as if it had never left.
Looking at the map on the passenger seat with the aid of a small flashlight, she nodded to herself. Another mile, and she was out in the countryside again. Then she was going to see if this latest car really would do the hundred and forty miles an hour its speedometer claimed. She was through with sneaking around, perhaps balls-out speed would work…
And failing that, she had a lot of weapons with her.
"This is a wonderful meal, Auntie," Danny said admiringly after he swallowed. "The tomato sauce is amazing."
"That part would be his work," the elderly woman smiled, nodding at her husband, who seemed pleased about the comment. "He'll show you later. But I did the rest. So thank you."
Antonio reached out and poured the last of the wine into Danny's glass, then looked at the bottle. "I'll get another one," he said, beginning to stand.
"I've got one here," Danny smiled, turning and reaching for his coat, which was folded across another chair next to him. Antonio and Serafina both looked somewhat puzzled as he reached into one of the pockets, then gaped as he pulled out a full-size bottle of wine. They stared as he inspected the label, before handing it to Antonio. "I'm not an expert but I remembered this is supposed to be a good one," he said in a deliberately casual manner.
After a moment, Antonio took it from him, still looking at the perfectly normal-appearing coat. "Danny?"
"Yes, Uncle Tony?"
"Did you just pull a bottle of wine out of a pocket too small to hold it?"
"I did, yes."
Antonio blinked a couple of times. "I see. That's… an interesting trick."
Relenting, although very amused, Danny explained about his dragon-skin coat with its pockets of holding. Antonio shook his head, exchanging a look with his wife. "Your reptilian friends have many talents," he said wryly, fitting the corkscrew to the bottle and starting to turn the handle. "I don't suppose they'd be interested in some commissioned work? I know some… business men… who would have a few applications for some way of discreetly storing large quantities of goods in places people wouldn't expect."
Danny looked narrowly at him as he drank the last of his wine, then held his glass out. "I'm sure you would, Uncle Tony," he said somewhat suspiciously. "Honest business men?"
"Of course. That's the only type I will deal with," the old man smiled as he popped the cork out, looking entirely too innocent. Serafina was giggling a little.
"Unfortunately I doubt they'd be interested in that particular business opening," Danny remarked.
"Pity," Antonio murmured as he refilled Danny's glass, then his wife's, before his own. "If they should change their minds have them get in touch."
"I'll bear it in mind."
All three of them smiled. "We have some wonderful home-made ice-cream for dessert, so eat up," Serafina urged. Danny didn't need any convincing.
"When we're done I'll show you upstairs," Antonio added. Looking at the ceiling, Danny felt puzzled this time. Weren't they already in the penthouse?
Apparently he wasn't the only one with some surprises up his sleeve.
Brushing her teeth before she went to bed, Amy reflected on the day. It had been a very long one in many ways, with a lot of surprises and revelations. Linda at the PRT, her at the hospital, Taylor negotiating, successfully, with Lung of all people…
'That was a surprise,' she thought, rinsing out her mouth. 'She and her demon kept it quiet. Lisa looked pretty damn happy about it, though, and I'll bet Brian and the others were too. But where is she going to go where she and Lung can really get into it?'
That fight was going to be one for the history books, she had no doubt.
'Oh well, there's no hurry and I guess we'll find somewhere sooner or later. Kevin and Randall nearly fainted when she mentioned it, so I bet they'll have so many cameras recording it the entire thing will be like a movie.' She smiled at the thought. Both young men had looked astounded, then very, very eager.
'And Linda made two more of her omnivehicles, which should be fun,' she thought as she washed her hands and dried them. 'When the DWU people see those things, they're all going to want one...'
Hell, she wanted one!
'I like my truck, but a vehicle you can put in your pocket could be useful,' she grinned, before turning the light off and leaving the bathroom. 'That woman has some serious skills.'
The upstairs hallway was lit only by the light coming from her room, the door to which was open, and a little illumination under the doors of both her sister's and her parent's rooms. She could hear Vicky talking very quietly to Dean on the phone, apparently arranging a date for the weekend. Going into her room, she sat on the bed, arranging her tail beside her, then sat there for a little while stroking the warm scales while thinking.
Eventually, she sighed very quietly and got up again. Going to the window she looked down at the driveway, seeing that Carol was still out. She'd said at breakfast that she was going to be late at the office and had arranged to visit her sister on the way home, so they shouldn't expect to see her until past midnight. Peering out into the darkness, which to her improved eyes was still quite well lit, Amy pondered things for another couple of minutes, her hand in her pocket, before she nodded once and left the room.
Tapping on her parent's room door, she pushed it open. "Dad?" she said when she saw Mark, who was sitting up in bed reading a novel. He looked up at her and smiled a little.
"Hello, Amy. Did you have a good day today?"
"I did, thanks," she replied, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. After a couple of seconds, she pulled her hand out of her pocket and opened it to show a small bottle. "I've got something for you."
Taylor went to bed with the feeling of a long day that had worked out very nicely for everyone, talked to the Varga for a little while, then fell asleep with a smile on her face.