Lisa watched Amy come back from the big room, her face blank, with Taylor trailing behind her, the Varga bringing up the rear as Saurial. Both the latter were looking highly satisfied. She smiled to herself. "A little overwhelming, isn't it, the first time?" she asked knowingly.
"meep..." Amy said after a second or two, then shook her head hard. "I mean, holy fuck. That was… it was… I mean..." She turned and gazed at the demon and his host, who were both grinning at the healer. "Impressive?"
"I warned you," Lisa snickered.
"You did. I should have believed you." Amy sighed. "God. I can't believe how large that was. I mean, it made that place," she waved at the open door and the immense space beyond with a weak hand, "look a little cramped. And I still can't believe I'm saying that. Jesus. If Piggot ever sees that..." She stared at the pair, then abruptly started giggling. "If she ever sees that, please make sure I'm around to see her expression!"
Taylor laughed and nodded. "Of course. You might need to restart her again anyway."
"Nah, she'll be fine," Amy assured her friend with a dark smile. "I do good work. But I bet she falls over like this one does." She hooked a thumb at Lisa, who scowled.
"Hey! I didn't fall over this time. My power did, but I was fine."
Everyone looked at her.
"More or less. After a while," she temporized, before they all laughed. "OK, OK, you've had your fun, Taylor. Do we have anything useful to do, or are we all going to sit around staring at each other before Dragon turns up?"
"You're sure she's going to call?" Taylor asked.
"Pretty certain, sometime in the next three hours," Lisa nodded. "She's definitely wanting to talk, aside from the tech she's been working on. We should probably get the boys involved too, later."
"I wonder what she'll want to talk about?" Taylor looked thoughtfully at Lisa, then Amy. Both the other girls exchanged glances.
"You think she'll come clean?" Amy asked slowly.
"About what?" Lisa replied, peering at the healer with curiosity, wondering if her friend had reached the same conclusions she had. Her power told her it was almost certain she had. And she was damn sure Taylor had too, despite the way none of them had ever said anything to each other about the subject.
They all exchanged a look. "OK, who here thinks that Dragon is..." the blonde began.
"An artificial intelligence?" Amy asked meaningfully.
They all held up their hands, before grinning.
"How did you work it out, Amy?" Taylor asked curiously. "I know how I did."
"A complete lack of any normal sounds or scents, which I guess you'd notice even quicker than I did, along with my power telling me all sorts of things about the micro-reactions I could see being wrong for an organic system," Amy replied, moving to take a chair at the table. "I may not be able to affect something without skin contact, but I know a lot about how a living thing moves, reacts, and operates. She's a really close copy of that, but not perfect. And with how much my neural amplifier has boosted my own ability, along with all the new experience and knowledge I have from trying to work you out, not to mention all the stuff I've learned from making things in the last few months, it rang bells."
The healer shrugged. "I had a few theories, and spent time looking things up. Ultimately some form of artificial intelligence seemed the least unlikely possibility, and it fits pretty well. Having seen how Linda has almost hit that point without even trying with the mech control systems, and my own work on making the constructs, I sure can't rule out someone being able to make a truly intelligent mind using a completely non-organic method."
"Yeah, I worked it out almost immediately the first time I met her," Taylor admitted, also sitting down. The Varga reverted to the micro-dragon again and flopped across her shoulders, listening with interest but remaining silent. "None of the right smells, or sounds, but there are a lot of other mechanical noises inside her power armor. And the scent is of a vast amount of electronics and power systems, motors, that sort of thing. Nothing that I could even think of as a life support system. Her reactions are way too quick and sure to be some sort of remote control, never mind being inside here with the relay off would block anything I could find out about in the first place, so..."
She shrugged. "An AI seemed the most possible of the alternatives. Sure, it might be some sort of remote system I don't know about that works through EDM, or some really amazingly small life support thing with only a brain in there, but I doubt it. I'm pretty sure I'd smell something organic. Not to mention that the heat flow is wrong too, and the electrical fields I could see didn't match."
Both of them looked at Lisa, who was currently getting several cups of coffee. Bringing them back to the table she handed them out then took a seat. "I noticed it too," she admitted. "My power was telling me all sorts of things about her that all added up to an AI driven power suit being the most likely thing. Every time we've met since I've only been more convinced. And I also noticed all the sensory data too, of course."
"I wonder if anyone else knows?" Taylor mused, sipping her coffee.
"I'd be a little surprised if some of her Guild teammates didn't at least suspect," Lisa replied. "Narwhal is supposed to be very smart and one of her best friends too. I bet she has some thoughts along those lines. I doubt anyone has said anything though."
"I wonder if Armsmaster knows?" Amy said, smiling a little as she took a drink. "Considering how close those two are."
They exchanged looks. After a moment, Taylor rather hesitantly said, "Bearing in mind I actually really like the guy… is it me or is he one of the most oblivious people about other people you've ever met…?"
Amy nodded, as did Lisa and the Varga. "I would have to agree, Brain," the demon replied. "The man is very smart, very driven, slightly more impressed with himself than is ideal, not that such a thing is unknown to any of us..." He looked around with a smirk, making the three girls grin, "… but seems to be almost utterly unable to read the subconscious cues that tell most people so much about other people. Or many of the conscious ones for that matter."
"He's famous for it," Lisa noted. "He just doesn't get people in the way that almost everyone else does. Doesn't seem to worry him, possibly because he simply doesn't realize there's anything to get." She shrugged, slightly amused. "I know that quite a lot of people think he's arrogant and an ego-hound, but honestly I don't really see it that way myself. Yes, he can sure give that impression at times, but its not a deliberate thing as far as I can see. He's damn near as good as he thinks he is, always seems to come through, and generally is someone I think is decent guy." She chuckled briefly. "Not that I have any place criticizing someone for being a bit smug about themselves, after all."
She looked around at her friends. "We all know how that can go, right?"
"Yep," Taylor nodded thoughtfully. "Although I'd like to think I can keep it under control myself for the most part. And you're a lot less about the 'I'm the smartest one around' than you were when we first met."
"Difficult to keep it up when I have you guys to compare myself to," Lisa snickered. "Not to mention your dad, the guys, Linda… We have a lot of pretty smart people around this place. And having met Armsmaster and Dragon, and for that matter a lot of their friends… I'd put myself right up there in intelligence if I was completely honest about it, but I learned a lot in the process over the last couple of months or so, about myself as much as anything else." She shrugged a bit, leaning back in the chair. "Guess that happens as you move through life."
Amy reached out and patted her friend on the shoulder, smiling. "Don't worry, you genuinely are in the top one percent of intelligence, based on everything I know, Lisa," she assured the blonde. "We all are. Her," she nodded at Taylor, "She's right at the very top, but then she's cheating having some unknowably ancient greater demon doing the thinking for her…"
They both grinned at Taylor, who stuck a long forked tongue out at them and wiggled it around, smirking. The Varga started snickering, shaking his head.
"I assure you, I am doing remarkably little thinking for Taylor," he said calmly. "I am very pleased just how intelligent my Brain is. Once I repaired some of the damage to her self-esteem her betrayers caused, she turned out quite well."
"See? Nice and smart all on my own," Taylor giggled, looking deliberately proud and confident.
"I may have overcompensated, though," the demon went on in a thoughtful manner, making Taylor flick his head with a finger and Lisa and Amy laugh.
"Well, we can't sit here all day congratulating ourselves on being bright, you know," Amy said after a moment. As Taylor raised a hand, she added, "Or rather, we should not do that." The taller brunette lowered the hand and grinned. "I've got more useful things to make, and I need you for it, so let's make another dragon. And a few other things."
"Fine by me," Taylor smiled. "I've got a lot of things to make too, a little later, but that can wait until Dragon's gone again. A load of flywheel units, and all the other stuff for the cops and the fire department, plus some more gear for the DWU and so on. I've got an idea about how to speed that up too." She glanced at the Varga, who nodded. "We're fairly sure it will work but it'll take some fine tuning. And we need to talk to Kevin and Randall about their constructs, and come up with something for Dad… Lots to do this weekend."
"I'm expecting the shipment of parts for Linda to arrive this afternoon too," Lisa added. "There was a delay on some of the things we needed but it got put on Saturday delivery, so assuming the company wasn't talking shit, by tonight we'll have enough stuff to make a couple of dozen more mechs, along with a crap load of omnivehicles. Plus the new relay equipment for her workshop and the guy's one should have arrived by now, I need to go over to goods in and check."
"Great. We can install all that as well, and we'll be all sorted out for a while," Taylor said happily. She looked at Lisa. "While I think about it, want to run over to the WCC and have a quick look at what happened to the Endbringers this morning? I'm really curious to know if they noticed us jumping around all over the country or not. If they didn't it's probably proof that the cloak works on them too, which we've suspected for a while."
"Sure, let's go do that right now," Lisa nodded, standing up and finishing her coffee. They all followed as she headed for Amy's workshop, the healer quickly unlocking it. Shortly Metis and Saurial left again, going out the back door of the main office having closed and reopened it to reveal the rear road, while the other aspect of Taylor, also Saurial, and Ianthe got to work.
Pat looked up as several people entered the pub, nodding to the familiar faces of the newcomers. "Hey, Mark, Zephron," he said as some of them came over to the bar. "Haven't seen you guys around much for a while."
"Had a lot to do for some time," the huge black guy smiled. He shrugged. "You know how it is, the giant lizard turns up, things change."
"Happens every time, right?" Pat chuckled, shaking the hand the other man held out. "Usual?"
"Yeah. Unless you have any new beer in?"
The barman shook his head as he moved to fill a pint glass from one of the taps. "Not at the moment. I may be getting some soon, there's a brewery in Boston that's introduced some new micro-brews I want to try, but that won't be until next month. They're sending over a dozen crates to test. If it turns out to be any good, I'll get it on tap."
"Put some to one side, will you?" Zephron smiled. "I always like to try the new stuff."
"Sure." He passed the pint over and started filling the next one for the blond man who was standing next to his friend. "Here you go, Mark."
"Thanks, Pat." Both men sipped their beer and nodded, Mark sighing with pleasure. "Ah. I needed that."
"How's the Union doing at the moment?" Pat asked curiously, while he filled more pints with the normal choice of the other DWU people, all of whom he was well familiar with. He had a very good memory for people's favorite drinks, something that stood him in good stead in his business. "As far as I can tell you guys are busier now than I can remember."
"It's sure picked up a hell of a lot," Mark nodded. "Things are going well. The boss is happy, which means everyone else is happy, the lizards seem to be having fun, work's increasing fast, we're taking on new people, and we have a Tinker who makes cool toys." He grinned as Pat nodded knowingly.
"I saw that on the internet," he grinned, finishing his task and putting the last pint on the tray he'd pulled out from under the bar top. "Hell of a thing, those mechs. And those light-cycle gadgets are the coolest thing I've ever seen." Nodding towards the entrance where a couple more Union guys were just coming in, he added, "Saw what's her name, Vectura?" Mark nodded. "Go past yesterday, heading back to the Yard. Is she really a cat-woman?"
Zephron let out a deep chuckle. "She is. Nice girl. Very, very talented, even aside from the Tinker stuff. At which she's incredibly good."
Shaking his head, Pat accepted the cash the man handed him and rang up the purchase. "Things sure have changed around here. Mostly for the better. We haven't had any trouble for weeks, which I for one am perfectly happy about." He glanced sideways at a motion to see Erwin making cryptic gestures at him, sighed, and began filling another glass. "Aside from that old reprobate and his friends, of course. But there the trouble is mostly down to the way certain people seem to have the knack to never pay me..."
Both Zephron and Mark snickered. "Erwin is a character, all right," Mark replied, nodding to the old seaman, who nodded back. "Your most loyal patron."
"My most annoying patron," Pat muttered, topping off the glass. "If that old bastard ever pays me what he owes me I can probably retire."
"Go on, Pat, you know as well as I do you'd never give up this place." Zephron looked amused. "It's your entire reason for existing."
"Which is sort of sad when you think about it," Pat retorted, although he was smiling.
"You provide an essential service, my friend," the other man said wisely. "Keeping Erwin off the streets and out of everyone else's hair is only part of it, but it's an important part." Pat looked narrowly at him, then sighed.
"That's more true than it should be," he mumbled. "I mean, he's on first name terms with Kaiju of all people!"
"From what I hear he was the first person to actually meet her," Mark commented, looking amused. He took another sip of his drink. "I know he was spinning tall tales about giant hands in the bay for weeks before anyone else knew she was there."
"And of course no one believed him," Pat sighed. "Why would they? Some of the things the old sot has said over the years are crazy even in our world these days." He shrugged. "Who'd have believed that the hundred foot tall sea monster was real?"
"Everyone, now," Mark replied with a grin. Pat and Zephron nodded simultaneously.
"That's for sure," the barman remarked, shaking his head. "Not to mention her relatives. I mean, I've had Saurial turn up more than once, and I have to say that six months ago having a lizard girl in armor standing where you are buying a coke from me would have been… weird. Now..." He shrugged. "Now it's just another day."
"Probably Tuesday," Zephron said, putting his half-drunk pint on the tray, then picking the whole thing up with one huge hand. "It's usually Tuesday for some reason."
"Yeah. Weird, that." Pat glanced at Mark. "Can you drop this off for Erwin? The old bastard is too lazy to walk over and get it himself and if he keeps waving like that he'll have someone's eye out."
"Sure," Mark nodded, taking the other glass in hand. "Thanks, Pat."
"No problem." He watched both men walk off, the blond detouring via the table where Erwin was, almost certainly, cheating his ancient ass off at cards. Again. How his friends put up with it the barman had no idea, but they mostly seemed to. Mark had a brief discussion with the three at the table, then joined the group of dock workers and sat down, all of them soon drinking and laughing.
Shaking his head a little, he went back to his latest book, content that things were proceeding normally. Or as normally as it got nowadays, at least.
Which wasn't very compared to when he was a kid, but whatever.
Danny picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number. It rang three times then was answered. "Hello, Roy," he said.
"Hello, Danny. How did your trip to New York go?" The voice of the mayor, a man he was these days considering a friend as well as a respected opponent, sounded pleased to hear from him.
"Very well, thanks," he replied honestly. "It was something I should have done a long time ago, and I'm rather sorry I didn't, but… It's hard to admit you were wrong, you know?"
"All too well," Roy said. "No one likes to think they made a bad decision, especially when they really did. It's difficult to admit that sort of thing but most of the time it's the better option in the long run."
"Yeah. Definitely. My own pigheadedness kept me and Taylor away from people who are pretty much family for years. Dad wouldn't have been impressed." He sighed faintly. "Still, it worked out well in the end, I suppose, and there are no hard feelings on either side. Thankfully. Apologies were made, and accepted, and what's in the past is done and gone."
"Good. Glad to hear that." Roy had a smile in his voice. "The old bastard is an old bastard but in his own way is a decent man. Not that I would ever tell him that."
Danny chuckled. "He'd probably find that funny."
"Man does have an odd sense of humor."
"He does. Anyway, moving on to the reason for the call. The train is confirmed to be leaving at three fourteen this afternoon, with the first load for the smelter. One hundred and fifteen wagons full. It's the longest train out of Brockton bay in forty-three years according to the records."
"Excellent. And impressive. Phil will be pleased." Roy sounded very satisfied.
"Your friend is very good at planning," Danny said, nodding. "We wouldn't have been this far along at this point without his input."
"I'll make sure he knows," Roy chuckled. "Great. I'll be there half an hour or so beforehand. Are you going to notify the relevant reporters or do you want me to?"
"It would help if you would, actually," Danny responded. "You know them better than I do, and we want the right sort of coverage for this. Plus it's more for the benefit of the city than the DWU so you should probably make sure you end up with what will help most."
"All right, that's not difficult. I'll make some calls. Will you be available for a short interview?"
"Of course. And Kaiju will be here too, she wants to see the first shipment go as much as anyone else does. Without her, we wouldn't be where we are, and everyone wants her involved as well."
"Your biggest worker," Roy snickered, making Danny grin. "She sure started something. Good, I want to thank her again, and she should be here too, I agree. OK, I'll arrange the news coverage and see you around half past two or so."
"OK. See you." Danny put the phone down, stretched, and turned back to his computer to deal with a few more personal emails. Soon it would be time for a quiet lunch, before going in to the yard and finding out what fresh oddity his daughter and her friends were going to unleash on an unsuspecting world…
"Interesting..." Lisa peered at the monitor, thinking hard and letting her power do its thing, which it was doing with great enthusiasm. "I'd say that confirmed it pretty solidly. The cloak, at least when you're pushing it to the max, seems to block however the Endbringers are tracking you completely. Not a blip to show they reacted at all."
She glanced at the aspect of her friend who was also studying the monitor. "Very useful information to have."
"Yep. Unless it's all a plot by the Simurgh, of course," Taylor grinned.
"If you start thinking everything is a plot by the Simurgh, where do you stop?" Lisa asked, shrugging. "Eventually you have to either assume there's no way we can do anything at all, or she's not all powerful. And from what we know so far, it's a lot more likely that the second choice is correct."
"Unless that's a plot by..." Taylor began, stopping when Lisa fixed her with a glare.
"You are being far too cheerful today," she sighed.
"Hey, it's the weekend, the train is going out soon, I learned some new cool tricks, and we're making dragons! What isn't there a good reason to be cheerful about?" Taylor laughed.
"Point," Lisa replied, nodding slowly. "Very good point." The black lizard smiled widely. "I can't wait for my own dragon."
"Of course you can't," her friend commented with a knowing look. "Everyone wants their own dragon. It's a fundamental rule of nature, I think. OK, let's shut this down and get back, we found out what we needed to."
Lisa nodded and quickly turned everything off, before the pair locked up and headed back to the DWU.
There were dragons to make, after all.
Mel thoughtfully regarded Newter over her desk. "You really think there's a possibility that you might somehow be connected to the Family?" she asked slowly.
He shrugged. "If I'm honest I'd say probably not, but on the other hand, I don't know. I guess it's unlikely but not impossible?"
"Hmm." The boy watched his boss and friend think. "You have a point. I'm just concerned that you might be putting too much hope into it and if they basically shrug and say 'No idea,' you'll get hurt." She sighed a little. "I don't want that, and you don't want it either."
"No, I don't," he admitted readily. "But if I don't ask I'll never know, right? I know it's unlikely, Mel, believe me. It was just a joke of Ben's. I realize that. But…" He spread his hands. "It's still worth at least asking about, on the tiny, tiny chance that they do know something. And even if they don't they might have some ideas that we haven't had, so there's that too."
She nodded after thinking his comments over. "That's a point, certainly. And I guess it won't hurt to meet them at least, and introduce ourselves." She turned her head to look out the window at the city. "Considering how far they've managed to come so fast, and how tied into this place they are, it's not a bad idea to be on good terms with them."
"Thanks." Newter smiled at her gratefully as she picked up the phone and poked buttons.
"Don't thank me too soon," she warned as she put the handset to her ear. "This could still backfire."
He shrugged, still smiling. "Hopefully not. All we want to do is talk. How bad can that go?"
Her raised eyebrow spoke volumes, making him snicker.
"Huh."
Amy looked at Taylor, who was staring at the phone in her hand, before her friend's aspect put it back in the cradle. "That was weird."
"I know," Taylor replied after a couple of seconds, turning to them. They'd all stopped work for a drink and a snack, the phone having rung a few minutes later. "I didn't expect Faultline to call, I have to admit."
Lisa was apparently deep in thought, most likely having worked out the identity of the caller at the moment Taylor had answered it, even before she and Amy had heard the woman introduce herself. Amy glanced at her, then looked back to Taylor, who was stroking her other aspect, once again the small dragon form of the Varga. "I wonder what she expects to find out from us?" 'Ianthe' asked curiously.
"No idea. She said she wanted to meet someone from the Family, like you heard, and that she had a couple of questions that we might be able to help her with, some project she's been working on for years."
All three of them looked at Lisa, who was still apparently communing with her power. "Any ideas?" Taylor's base form aspect asked the last person of their group.
"Some," Lisa replied, looking up from the large mug she'd been staring into. They waited. "OK, basically Faultline and her group are mercenaries. Very good ones, and they seem to have a reputation for always keeping their word. They also have a policy that they won't take any work inside the city, which is probably the main reason that the PRT leaves them alone. As far as I know they've never broken that policy. I know Coil tried to hire them at least twice but she turned him down flat, and for whatever reason he didn't push. I'm pretty sure she hated that bastard nearly as much as I did for several reasons."
The black lizard shook her head. "I still don't know why and even my power isn't completely sure. It might just have been that the slimy shit pushed all the wrong buttons with her. It's as good a reason as any." She finished the coffee in the mug and put it on the table. "Anyway, one thing I do know about her is that she is very interested in finding out about the origins of case 53 capes. To the point that she has a standing reward for any verifiable information about that subject, and has paid out more than once on it. I don't think she has much real information, but she probably knows more about the subject than even the PRT do."
"Case 53's…" Amy mulled that over. "I've heard she was interested in them but I'm not sure why."
"Newter and Gregor are part of her crew, and are both case 53 capes, right?" Taylor asked.
Lisa nodded. "Yes. Newter's got some sort of incredibly powerful hallucinogenic literally seeping out his pores, and he's also very quick and a lot more resilient than a normal human. Stronger too, although he's not rated as a Brute. He's sort of reptilian but not really, not like 'Saurial' is, but he's got a tail and is damn good at climbing." She paused, her mouth open, about to say something, then slowly closed it and looked very thoughtful.
"Ah..."
"Ah?" Taylor cocked her head curiously. "What ah? Why ah?"
"Ah, as in, ah think ah know what this might be ahbout," Lisa replied, making the others smile. "My power just told me that it's possible that they might think that there's a chance that Newter is somehow connected to the Family..."
"Ah." Taylor and Amy exchanged glances. "Awkward."
"It could be, or it could be an interesting opportunity," Amy said thoughtfully. "I haven't had the chance to meet Newter before, and I'd like to examine him. That chemical he exudes is something I'd like to have a look at."
"You think they think he might be a long lost member or something?" the Varga asked curiously.
"It's not impossible," Lisa nodded. "He does bear some resemblance to Taylor's Saurial form, after all. He's the nearest thing to a lizard-boy around the place, and we know where the rest of the lizards live." She looked around the room rather obviously, making the small dragon chuckle. "We'll need to let him down gently, as far as I know he's a decent guy and I wouldn't want to get his hopes up." She pointed at Taylor. "That means no practical jokes on the poor guy."
"Hey, I'm not going to to anything like that, believe me," Taylor replied quietly. "Fun with friends is one thing. Making people look at you because you're doing something strange but not harming anyone is also a thing. Setting someone up like you're implying is bullying at best, and you know how I feel about that."
"Yeah, I do. Sorry. I didn't mean that I thought you would, just that he might be more fragile than we're used to in some ways." Lisa sighed. "Having no idea who you used to be, or where you came from… then finding out you don't even look human… I have no idea what that must be like but I doubt it helps much."
"I have a few ideas myself, and I can see your point, trust me," Taylor nodded. Amy and Lisa exchanged gazes, then Amy put her hand on her friend's shoulder and squeezed gently.
"We know, and Lisa was only being careful."
Taylor smiled a little. "I realize that, it doesn't bother me. Just brought back some memories for a moment. Don't worry about it." She looked at the phone. "So I guess we have no problem with meeting them?"
"I'm fine with it," Lisa shrugged. "I haven't met Faultline or her people before, although we've interacted on PHO back in the Undersider's time. It'll be interesting."
"Same here," Amy nodded. She was genuinely interested in having a look at the lizard-like boy. With the experience she now had in odd biological systems, it would be fascinating to see if anything new could be learned from him. "Although I don't know what we can really tell them."
"I guess all we can do is see what they ask about and take it from there," Taylor commented.
"Yep."
"From what you've said in the past, Amy, you've tried to 'heal' case 53 individuals back to something more normal, I believe?" the demon asked.
"I have, several times," Amy confirmed, remembering some of the attempts. "It doesn't work. Or it sort of works, but only for a little while. Like their power is forcing them into whatever new shape they have and doesn't want to revert them to a standard human shape. It's weird, but I don't know what the real cause of it is. Then again, no one does. These poor bastards just turn up every now and then without any memories at all, like their entire life has been erased somehow. Although, oddly enough, their language skills and everything of that nature is entirely unaffected. It's not a normal sort of amnesia at all."
"Odd."
"Very. And Newter is one of the milder cases, to be honest. Some of them aren't even organic any more, so I can't do anything at all. There's a Ward by the name of Weld in Boston who's basically living metal. I met him about… six months back, I think? The PRT called me in to see if I could do anything for or too him. He doesn't even register on my power." Amy shrugged, looking at Taylor. "Not even as much as you do. You at least show up as a, sort of, living thing, although my power just gibbers when I try to get details. With him, I might as well be trying to read a rock."
"Yet he's still obviously alive and sapient," Lisa put in, causing her to nod.
"Powers are bullshit, we all know that. He's a hell of a proof of the concept."
"When we learn more about the origin of powers, perhaps we'll discover the truth behind case 53 parahumans too," the Varga suggested. He looked thoughtful. "I can't help but think that there is something nefarious going on there. The commonality of the memory loss and the tattoo I've read about implies to me that there is a deliberateness to the appearance of them beyond a normal trigger."
"There are a lot of theories going around, and various people have said the same thing," Lisa replied. "I've looked into it myself and I think you're probably right. But no one seems to have any real data on it, so perhaps it's just some bizarre thing that happens when a trigger goes wrong or something." She shrugged. "Faultline might have more information, she's the one that's spending time and money researching it."
"Better call her back and say she can come over for a talk, then," Taylor said. "Tomorrow afternoon, maybe? We're kind of busy today, and Dragon will probably call soon aside from anything else."
"That works." Amy glanced at Lisa who nodded.
"OK." Picking up the handset as she reverted back to Saurial once more, Taylor dialed, then had a brief conversation. When she finished, she turned to her friends. "I'd better let the security office know that they're coming so no one gets worried, then we can get back to work."
Another phone call later, they were all in the workroom perverting the course of nature yet again, with Lisa eagerly watching her dragon steadily take shape.
Humming to herself, very contented with her work, Amy did what she enjoyed and mused about how much fun life was these days.
They'd just about finished the work when the phone rang in the next room, making Lisa look around, then nod.
"Dragon."
"Dragon?" Taylor pointed at the huge sleeping winged reptile on the floor, raising an eye ridge quizzically.
"Dragon." Lisa pointed at the phone, sternly.
Snickering, one of Taylor's aspects went to answer it, while the other helped Amy finish off the last touches on the other dragon.