Watching Taylor and her friends leave the cafeteria ahead of them, Amy turning right and the other younger people going the other way, Dean pondered things. Saurial, who was talking animatedly to Mandy and Taylor, glanced back at him with a quick reptilian smile before all of them disappeared down the corridor. He picked up his tray and headed over to where they were put when finished with, Vicky doing the same moments later. Looking at his girlfriend he noticed she was also peering after the other group.

"You OK, Vicky?" he asked, which made her twitch a little as if she hadn't expected him to speak.

Smiling at him, she nodded, replying, "Yes, thanks," before smacking herself on the forehead. "Except I forgot my books," she added, hastily retracing her path. Dennis, who was the last one at their customary table, met her halfway and handed her the small backpack she used to carry her school materials around in. Taking it with a smile she rushed back to Dean, who had waited for her. "Come on, we'll be late," the blonde said, grabbing him by the arm and towing him after her.

Sighing faintly, he let himself be dragged to the next class, biology, not that he could really have stopped her.

When they were sitting listening to the teacher explaining in some detail the workings of photosynthesis, he found himself yet again mulling over a subject that had been coming up more and more in recent days.

Taylor Hebert.

He simply couldn't work it out. The girl was… friendly, nice to talk to, smart, helpful, and utterly terrifying. All that was something he'd come to accept some time ago. However, he'd started having entirely new problems with the whole situation when Ianthe had popped up out of nowhere.

The new lizard had confused the hell out of him. Taylor had flat out told him that the 'Family' was her in her various forms thanks to an absurdly overenthusiastic Changer ability, and having met Saurial and Raptaur he was convinced that explanation was in fact correct. Not to mention he'd had proof of it provided when he'd had his meeting with her and Amy that time at the DWU. Something he was still very glad that no one, especially the Director, knew about.

He'd been waiting for a summons to her office for a good two weeks after that little adventure, entirely unsure what he'd do if it happened. Luckily, it hadn't, so it looked like he'd gotten away with it.

Taylor had also confirmed that Kaiju was also her, and that she had other forms as well. Including, he assumed, the impossibly large sea serpent that there were rumors of both in the PRT and on PHO. He'd also seen a couple of people who had claimed to have seen a genuine dragon of all things flying around the outskirts of the city on a couple of occasions, although there was no evidence of this other than their word. Bearing in mind the people in question no one was currently taking them seriously, but there were a lot of jokes about it.

Dean wasn't so sure it was untrue. Having met Taylor, he certainly wouldn't put it past her to come up with, or already have, a functional dragon form. And he was entirely certain that if she did have such a form available, she'd both enjoy the hell out of it, and reserve it for a particularly good time when she could get maximum mileage out of revealing it. He wasn't sure whether he was looking forward to seeing what happened, or praying that he would have enough warning to be somewhere else when it happened…

Or possibly both.

In any case, he knew for a fact that the brunette was, at a minimum, at least three other 'Parahumans,' with a high likelihood of also being more as and when opportunity presented itself. That was, while deeply scary, something he could accept.

So what the fuck was Ianthe?

Taylor's dual emotional output, something he still couldn't work out at all, was now virtually undetectable except at point blank range and then only because he knew what he was looking for. If he'd met her/them for the first time recently he'd never have noticed anything unusual at all aside from her being undetectable to his power. What the cause of it in the first place was, and why it had gently gone away, he had no idea.

Reading her was now nearly as hard as he found Vicky, and getting harder by the day. At the current rate in a few weeks at the outside she'd be entirely gone from his emotional sense. He wasn't sure what that meant, whether it was a good thing, a bad thing, or simply some weird effect of her own powers whatever they truly were. But it was another oddity to stack on top of the vast number of them she already presented.

The main thing about it, though, was that Ianthe's own emotional signature was not Taylor's. It was entirely distinct, nothing like hers at all, and while very muted compared to a normal person's, definitely there.

And not human. He was certain of that. It was the signature of something that was very smart, completely sapient, totally self aware and alive, but not a human being. He was sure in every way that counted.

He'd noticed the first time he'd met the violet lizard, the time she'd turned Vicky's prank on her sister around on them, and having met her several times since had double checked more than once. It was sufficiently different from a normal human's that he'd entirely missed it that time, although now he knew it he could detect it more easily. Not as far away as for a normal person, true, but at close range it was distinctive.

So… what was Ianthe? That had been bugging him for weeks. The Family was entirely a figment of the popular imagination, ultimately like so many other things the fault of PHO and the lunatics who inhabited it, which Taylor had seized on both because it helped protect her father and friends and because she obviously thought it was hilarious. In his less paranoid moments he could also see the funny side, when he wasn't simply trying to not think about the Endbringer that walked like a schoolgirl. He was profoundly grateful that Taylor was indeed both at heart a good person and very laid back anyway, since it was probably the only reason nothing other than weirdness had happened.

Bearing in mind what that complete asshole Sophia had done to the girl, he thought that everyone in the entire state had probably got off far more lightly than they could have done. The night after he'd found out from that little meeting with the Director just what their erstwhile teammate had done he'd gone to bed and lain awake staring at the ceiling for hours, his imagination in overdrive picturing what an irate Kaiju could do if she decided to get annoyed.

It didn't bear thinking about, so he tried not to. Not entirely successfully although he was getting better at it.

But if you accepted that the Family was an invention that had taken on a life of its own, happily encouraged by the girl who was all its members, where had a seven and a half foot tall intelligent reptile come from?

He kept circling back to that thought.

She shouldn't exist. She did, that wasn't in question, but she shouldn't. He was missing something important, something fundamental to the entire scenario, and he had not the first clue what it was. Which worried him on a gut level to an extent nearly as bad as Taylor herself did.

When Metis had also turned up a few days later, his worry had spiked again, since two impossible lizards was even worse than one. He'd met her a few times as well, and yet again her emotional output was different from Taylor, Ianthe, or anyone else he'd met. Yet it shared a strong similarity with Ianthe, which very much suggested that she was, as stated, the violet one's sister. And if that was true… how many more of them were there? Wherever they were coming from.

All of that was bad enough. It had given him some sleepless nights, and enough worry that he was starting to wonder if he was heading for an ulcer or something, despite his age. If it wasn't for the fact that despite their alienness, both Ianthe and Metis were friendly and helpful just like Taylor was, he'd probably have ended up hiding under his bed. He didn't have even the faintest inclination to mention any of his thoughts to anyone else, especially anyone in the PRT, since about the only thing he was certain of was that threatening 'The Family' was a very good way to abruptly disappear.

He didn't want to disappear. So he was keeping his mouth firmly shut on everything.

But he couldn't help wondering.

The really worrying thing was much more recent, though. It dated from the point that he'd run into both Taylor and Saurial in the same place at the same time. Which should have been impossible, considering they were the same fucking person! He was certain of that, even leaving aside the talk he'd had with her. Saurial's emotional signature, as faint and weird as it was, was identical to Taylor's. He'd seen both of them standing next to each other and for a moment felt very disorientated, getting a reading from two distinctly different places like that. It was… odd.

Idly noting down some of the things that the teacher was explaining, his mind elsewhere, Dean shook his head a little. The entire situation was so far from anything he could easily explain it made the word 'confused' seem like a gross understatement.

One possible solution was some weird version of a Master power, creating Saurial as a projection of sorts. Raptaur as well, since both of them had been seen simultaneously, as had Taylor and Raptaur on more than one occasion. But it didn't quite fit in his opinion. Saurial seemed as alive as ever, she was more than happy to eat lunch with them, she'd been seen at the PRT building on Wednesday which was miles away… If it was a Master power, it was a very unusual one. And had much greater range than was common for such things.

And there was also the point that if Taylor could do that as well on top of all the other bizarre things she was capable of, why wait until now to bring it out?

He sighed slightly, making more notes, then frowning when the tip of his mechanical pencil broke off as he pressed a little too hard. Flicking the flecks of graphite away, he prodded the end of the implement to extrude some more and resumed writing.

The entire thing was weird beyond words, and the worst part was he didn't dare talk to anyone else about it, except possible either Amy or Taylor herself. He wasn't keen on either course for several reasons.

One was that they might not tell him.

Another one was that they might. And he wasn't sure he could handle the truth. Handling the things he already knew was hard enough.

With a glance at his girlfriend, who was scribbling her own notes with an expression of concentration, he wondered if she'd noticed anything amiss herself. He'd seen several times that she was looking oddly at both Taylor and her own sister, and that when Saurial had turned up in the school, had spent a day apparently very distracted. Perhaps she'd worked out there was something strange going on?

He couldn't risk it, he decided. He had no intention of violating the Rules at all, never mind doing it about someone who could literally eat him in one bite.

Dean shuddered slightly, then deliberately did what he could to concentrate on the lesson. Some things it was best not to think about.

Even though he was very, very curious and really puzzled.

"How much water?" The firefighting expert looked stunned as Lisa held up one of the items she'd brought for this meeting. She, Taylor in her various aspects, Kevin, Randall, Linda, and Amy had spent quite a lot of time brainstorming about useful products for these applications the previous night. Not to mention she'd been making notes on possible solutions to existing problems for well over a month so far. They'd ended up making quite a few prototypes of things that could be saleable, most of which were scattered around the table in front of her.

"This holds twelve thousand liters, or just over three thousand gallons," she repeated, displaying the insulated EDM canister, which was about a foot tall and six inches in diameter. "Maximum real-world mass is ten pounds. It can be refilled through a normal hydrant and the filling adapter here. The pump unit that attaches to the end will flow up to two hundred and fifty gallons per minute at full output, with a pressure of up to twenty bar." She indicated a coiled pipe connected to a small block that the tank attached to, a vaguely gun-shaped system on the other end of the hose. "The nozzle system is adjustable from a fog to a coherent stream, depending on requirements. Obviously it's interlocked to prevent a dangerously high flow rate, although it's possible to override that if it's fixed to a mount rather than used hand-held."

The tech gaped at her, as did everyone else. "Three thousand gallons?" Commissioner Hoskins echoed in disbelief. She nodded. "That's more than a standard tanker holds!"

"We know. That was the design requirement." She hefted the tank, then handed it to him. He took it numbly. "Each firefighter can carry enough water for almost any plausible scenario in a completely self-contained package. No requirements for hoses, pump appliances, hydrant connections, or any of the usual systems. The entire system weight is under sixteen pounds. From our research fogging water systems are one of the more efficient methods of extinguishing fires if used correctly. Obviously retardant chemicals could also be added to the tank as well, the EDM lining will resist anything. It's also capable of handling any required pressure. The fractally folded space allows a huge capacity and disassociates almost all the true mass from the real world. Much like my backpack here only on a larger scale."

"Is there anything in it right now?" the tech asked, still looking like he was hoping he'd misheard what she'd said.

"It's full," she grinned. He blinked several times, then stared at the thing his superior was holding.

"What powers the pump?" Roy asked curiously, the only one other than her who seemed to be taking things in stride. The representatives of the BBPD were listening silently, occasionally looking at each other.

"There's a power unit here, which goes on the backpack unit and runs everything," she explained, picking up another cylinder. This one was about eight inches across and four thick, weighing just under five pounds. "It's basically a battery."

"How much energy does it store?" one of the police technical people asked curiously. "And how?"

"It's a flywheel storage system, again fractally folded away," Lisa replied, making his eyes widen a little.

"A flywheel that small wouldn't..." he began.

"Fractally folded, remember," she smiled. "The flywheel is just under sixteen feet in diameter and weighs a ton. It's in a total vacuum, running on almost entirely frictionless bearings, with a superconducting motor/generator coupled to the shaft. The design allows for a very high speed indeed, although in this model it's limited to two hundred and fifty thousand RPM."

His jaw dropped and he paled.

"If it came loose it would..." His voice faded in shock.

She shrugged. "It won't. The materials used are tough enough to take a point blank nuclear detonation. Trust me, it won't break or fail in use. The total kinetic energy storage with this model is nearly six hundred kilowatt-hours at the rated speed. We can produce them with power capacities up to almost anything desired but this output should be enough for this application."

Indicating the connector on the top of the device, she added, "The control electronics are set to output sixty volts DC at two hundred amps, for a total power output of twelve kilowatts. That's more than enough to run the pump at full power and also provide energy for other required equipment such as radios and the like. We limited it to sixty volts for safety reasons but it can be designed to output anything the customer desires. The other connector is the power input for spinning up the flywheel, it takes a standard industrial four hundred and eighty volt sixty hertz three phase feed at one hundred amps maximum. That's forty eight kilowatts, obviously, so it would take about twelve hours to spin up the flywheel from a standstill to the maximum rated speed. Input to output efficiency is better than ninety-six percent."

The design was one of Linda's ideas, modified to take advantage of Taylor's abilities. The really neat thing about it was that it wasn't Tinker tech in the normal sense, it was a very efficient variant of something that people had known about for centuries, remade using Varga bullshit. Leaving aside the EDM and superconductors most of it was off the shelf equipment and electronics. When Linda had suggested the concept after some thought, Taylor had gotten a faraway look for a minute or so, then started talking about building one on a massive scale and spinning it up using Kaiju sitting on an enormous bicycle…

Lisa very much wanted to see that happen, mostly to see the expressions on other people's faces, but for now this would do.

"Placing the flywheel into a fractal storage system not only decouples almost all the mass, it removes the inertial effects in both directions," she added, handing the power storage unit to the police technician, who took it gingerly and inspected it closely. "Which hugely increases the efficiency since it doesn't lose energy to gyroscopic precession."

"You seem to understand it well, Lisa," Roy commented. She glanced at him for a moment.

"I listened to the people who designed it," she grinned. "Very carefully. There's enough energy stored in that thing to run this building for a week, that thought is enough to make you concentrate."

Roy laughed slightly. "I can understand that," he replied.

"How fast does it lose momentum?" the technician queried, looking up at her.

"We could barely measure the slowdown after a few hours of running, and our best estimate at the moment is that it would take about twelve to thirteen years to spin down entirely in the absence of any power input," she said. "Saurial thinks she can improve on that, but considering that this model is meant for short term storage, it's not really an issue right now. We could spin it faster as well, which increases the storage density and spin-down time by a huge amount, but the recharge time ends up being a bit silly. This seemed like a good compromise."

He nodded, pulling out a pen and doing some calculations on a piece of scrap paper. Then he stared at the results. "At a million RPM it would store… nine and a half megawatt-hours?!"

"That sounds about right," she agreed. "But it would take more than eight days to recharge, unless they redesign the power control electronics to run at a much higher voltage. Saurial said that she could easily do that, but the problem was that most facilities wouldn't have the right power supply available to run it. It didn't seem very useful to do that."

"OK, I'm impressed so far, assuming this stuff works to spec," Commissioner Hoskins said thoughtfully, putting the tank he was still holding down and picking up the pump and nozzle subassembly. "I can see a few issues, although looking at all the stuff you have here you may already have answers for them. The big problem I can see is this is all Tinker tech, right? So maintenance is likely to be an issue. That's always the main stumbling block with this sort of thing."

Lisa smiled widely. "It's not Tinker tech. It's FamTech. Maintenance free, guaranteed."

Everyone stared at her, then looked at each other.

"EDM doesn't wear out. At all. The only weak point is the electronics, which are heavily over engineered to maximize lifespan. It's built to military specification or better throughout. If it fails, we'll replace it free of charge, but we don't expect failures." Her power had told her that the design would last at least fifty years without any issues and she trusted it to be right in things like this.

"Christ," the fire tech muttered, staring at the flywheel unit. "That's… a game changer."

"We like to think so," she admitted with a feeling of satisfaction. "Now, the next part of the system is the protective clothing." Lisa pointed at a folded suit on the table, a helmet with a gold metallic visor next to it. "This is based on the protective costume Saurial designed for New Wave, with some modifications for firefighting. It's heat proof, impact proof, water proof, environmentally sealed, and has a built in life support system that can store a week's worth of air in ultra high pressure tanks embedded in the suit. A scrubber system removes most of the CO2 through a semi-permeable membrane and dumps it outside the suit, and also keeps the nitrogen and water vapor from building up. Required support equipment will also be provided."

Picking up the helmet, she tapped the faceplate. "Mono-crystalline synthetic sapphire with EDM mesh layers on both sides, with gold plating for IR reflectivity. It will take an armor piercing bullet at zero range. And this is the weakest part of the entire thing. The suit itself will tank explosive rounds at several thousand rounds per minute without damage, although the occupant won't enjoy the experience unless they're a Brute."

"How do you know?" Chief Mellor asked.

She grinned. "It's been tested." He looked oddly at her, but nodded. "Wearing one of these, your people could walk through a major fire without any problems at all," she went on, turning back to the fire commissioner, who was looking extremely interested by now. "Even if the entire building fell on them, they'd be fine for days until someone dug them out. They wouldn't have a lot of fun, but they'd live. Even if they ended up under water. You could probably eventually work out how to kill yourself wearing a FamTech suit but you'd have to put a lot of effort in. And if you can think of anything we missed, we'll upgrade the product free of charge to include it."

He took the helmet she handed him, inspecting it closely, inside and out. "We'd need to thoroughly test everything, of course," he said slowly, fiddling with the mechanism that opened the rear of the thing, then looking impressed when he worked it out.

"Of course. We're happy to supply test units with full manuals for evaluation," she agreed calmly. "BBFO expected that would be required. As I said, we welcome feedback from clients. We've already discussed most of this with the DWU fire teams, they've provided a lot of input, but you guys put out a lot more fires than they do. You're the experts. Tell us what you want and we can make it happen."

"I see," he remarked, examining the inside of the helmet for a few more seconds, then handing it to his tech who was now appearing excited. "If this does in fact perform as you say, I believe the city will be very interested in taking it further." He glanced at Roy who nodded from where he was listening at the other end of the table.

"We have some ideas for advanced fire suppression chemicals and materials that we'd like to discuss with you when we take them further, but we wanted to get this out first," she said, indicating the remaining equipment she'd divided into law enforcement and fire fighting groups on the table. "Ianthe thinks she has a good design for a non-toxic and environmentally sound fire suppressant that should outperform anything on the market, for example. And Raptaur was talking about man-portable EDM heat-sink systems that could be used to rapidly cool a large fire, since the stuff is a thermal superconductor. She's planning on experimenting with it soon to see if it actually works the way she thinks it will. But that can wait for now."

Pointing at a few items, she went on, "We can provide unbreakable tools, from the common versions you already use through some we've designed which we think you might be interested in, up to custom designs to order. Also boots, gloves, other things of that nature. Basically, pretty much anything you want. And all at competitive prices with minimum delay." She handed him a flyer they'd designed and printed up. "This gives some pricing information on the current range."

He took the paperwork and glanced through it, his eyebrows rising. "This is… surprisingly affordable," he said cautiously, like he was expecting something bad to happen.

Lisa chuckled. "The Family isn't hurting for income, Commissioner. This is their home, they want to support it, and they want to help people. Overcharging for this sort of product means it won't get used as much as it should be, which means people get injured. No one wins in that scenario. So the pricing is set at an appropriate level to make a fair profit but still let the customer get what they want. It seems the best approach."

The man eyed her curiously for a moment, then studied the paperwork in his hand a little more before turning to the mayor. "We definitely need to discuss this, Roy. If this is even half as good as the young lady claims, we need this equipment. I lost fifteen people last year, this could stop that happening again."

"I'm fine with the idea," Roy replied with a shrug. "Let me know what you want to do, I'll put it before the council. But I doubt anyone will complain considering how much the Family has done already for the city."

The commissioner nodded, turning back to Lisa. "How soon can we have some evaluation systems?"

"How many do you want?" she replied. He glanced at his tech, the two of them talking in low voices for a few seconds.

"Four sets would be sufficient for preliminary tests," he told her, looking up.

"We can get those to you early next week," she assured him. "Along with the support equipment for the suits." Pulling a notebook from her pocket she wrote a few figures down, then put it away. "We'll have the first revision of the manual done by then as well."

"Thank you, Lisa," he said, smiling broadly under his mustache, looking very pleased. He turned back to Roy. "Once we've had a chance to test everything I'll have a report on your desk along with a requisition order."

Roy nodded equably. "All right."

"I'd leave this set with you but I'm also talking to the PRT about similar requirements and this is the only one I have," Lisa put in apologetically. Commissioner Hoskins shrugged.

"We're not in that much hurry," he replied. She nodded, reclaiming all the fire-fighting specific equipment and stowing it away. He watched, then added, "We'd be interested in bags like that as well, it would make equipment storage much easier."

She grinned at him and pointed at the brochure. "Last page." This made him chuckle and check the relevant place, nodding in satisfaction.

"Excellent. Thank you for the information."

"You're welcome, Commissioner," she said. Looking at the BBPD chief and his people, one of whom was still playing with the baton she'd opened with, she continued, "Did you have any more questions about the body armor or other equipment?"

"You covered most of it very well, young lady," Chief Mellor replied. He picked up one of the EDM trauma plates. "I still have difficulty believing that something this thin can take a fifty cal bullet like you said."

"It'll take a lot more than that, sir," she smiled. "But the inertia still has to go somewhere. If someone shoots you with a thirty millimeter cannon it'll probably put the plate through you instead. But no normal firearm will do anything to it at all. We can provide those immediately, I have a few boxes of them with me, which should be enough to upgrade most of your existing standard ballistic vests. We're happy to donate those to the BBPD."

He looked momentarily shocked, but nodded.

"We can provide full replacement body armor, shields like this one, helmets, batons, and all the other equipment we covered in a matter of weeks. The batons can be supplied in quantity early next week, the remaining equipment would need a little longer. Saurial and Raptaur are still working on making some of the equipment more adjustable since it can't be changed by anyone except them, and I doubt you want to have it all custom-fitted for each officer. We'll have a generic solution within a month worst case, though. And for SWAT usage we can obviously provide similar armor suits to the fire fighting one, only optimized for police work."

He looked at the folded suit on the table, nodding thoughtfully. "I'm half tempted to say we'd use those exclusively, but I could see it being a political issue. It would make the police force look too… military, or perhaps too closely associated with the PRT."

"I'd have to agree, Nick," Roy put in. "There are already complaints that the police are a paramilitary force, we don't need to add to that. But I don't want any of our guys being shot or stabbed either."

"The upgraded armor is nearly as thin as normal clothing, especially compared to the normal sort of vest," Lisa said. "It doesn't cover as much as the suit does, but it's not nearly as obvious and would make most situations much more survivable. Combined with EDM-lined boots and gloves you'd get most of the benefits of a full suit and still look more or less like a normal officer. And we're happy to redesign it to your requirements for uniforms or anything else."

"That sounds worth following up on," Chief Mellor commented. "I'll talk it over with the relevant people and get back to you on that."

"Sure, you have my card," she smiled. "Call if you have any questions." She handed him a slightly different brochure, the one for law enforcement equipment. "I'm looking forward to discussing it further."

Glancing at her watch, she looked at Roy. "I'm going to have to leave, I have another meeting at the PRT building in half an hour," she said. He stood up, nodding, as she began packing the equipment remaining on the table into her pack.

"Of course, Lisa. Thank you very much for the demonstrations and information. It was fascinating and very useful. Please pass on our thanks to Saurial and the others."

"No problem," she assured him. "I'll be seeing them later, I think, so I'll do that." Finishing putting everything away, she zipped up that compartment, then opened a different one. Pulling out a number of heavy flat cardboard boxes, she piled them on the table. "That's two hundred and fifty trauma plates, Chief." Another box came out. "And twenty Tac-Smak batons, as a gesture of good will."

He grinned, looking at the one the technician next to him slightly reluctantly handed back. She put it in her pocket having collapsed it. "I can see those things being a very good seller," he observed.

"We have a lot of people who want them," she agreed with a smirk, zipping her pack shut and standing. "Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure talking to you all." She shook hands with each of them in turn. "Until next time."

Shortly after that she exited the city hall building, feeling it had been a couple of hours well spent. Checking her watch again, she saw she had enough time to get another snack, so pulled her helmet on, put the pack on her back, and activated her virtual motorcycle which she was becoming very fond of. Moments later the hard light bike merged with traffic and headed away from the shore in search of a coffee and a doughnut.


Roy looked out of his window, watching the blonde make a motorcycle from nowhere and zoom off, smiling to himself. 'They have the coolest toys I've ever seen,' he mused, before turning back to the others for a long talk about what they'd seen today. He wondered if Lisa was going to make the PRT as startled as she'd managed to make his own people.

And whether BBFO were going to be selling hard light vehicles any time soon. That had looked like fun...