Interlude - Don't make me come out of retirement...

Walking into the bar some distance from his preferred local, the old but solid man looked around, meeting the eye of the security guard at the door. This man, himself about six five and built like a linebacker, scanned the new arrival with an evaluating eye, then deliberately nodded and looked past him to the two others coming in behind him.

Slightly amused, Erwin made his way to the counter and ordered, after some deliberation, a beer he'd never had before. Receiving it, he turned and headed to a table in a corner at the back with an excellent view of the entrances to the place, pulling out a chair with a scrape that was barely audible above the jazz music playing over the audio system at a listenable-to volume. Sitting, he put his beer down and glanced at the rather younger man who had already been there, who was mid-drink at the moment.

Trying his own beer, he raised an eyebrow. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what he was used to. Acceptable, though.

The two men sat silently drinking for a few minutes, both watching the comings and goings of others. The security guy glanced at them every now and then but didn't make any moves. When a young man with a shaven head started shouting insults a few tables over, the guard quickly moved to deal with him.

Both drinkers watched with a professional eye the resulting beat-down and eviction, accompanied by a number of slurs on the part of the man's friend, who found himself also ejected with alacrity. When the security guy came back dusting his hands off, he got a round of applause from the other patrons and thanks from the barman. Erwin nodded to him, lifting his beer in salute, then turned to his companion.

"Nazis..." he said meaningfully.

"Scum, but what can you do?" the younger man sighed. "They're all over this fucking city."

"A lot less around these days."

"Yeah. Still too many." His companion looked thoughtfully at his beer, which was nearly empty, then finished it off and motioned to the barman, who looked over then waved back in acknowledgment.

"No sign of Kaiser and his assholes for a while, so perhaps that will sort itself out in time."

"Kaiser's a prick, but I'm pretty sure one thing he's not is actually a Nazi." The younger man shrugged. "Just using them for his own goals. And I doubt most of them are smart enough to realize it."

"If they were smart they wouldn't be Nazis," Erwin grunted, shaking his head. "Especially now."

"Those crazy girls do seem to have had a very dramatic effect in certain places," his companion chuckled.

"Practically everywhere," Erwin agreed. "Scared the shit out of me when I first met Kaiju, fucking huge scaly thing popping out of the water like that when I was just having a quiet night on the bay… But she means well, and is very helpful. I wish I knew if they knew how much they've changed." He half-grinned. "I still can't work out if everything they do is deliberate, or if most of it is just them being them."

The other man sniggered under his breath. "Scared you? Never thought I'd hear you admit to that."

"You weren't there, fucker," Erwin growled. "Trust me, you go through what I did, I don't care who you are, you'll near enough shit yourself." He finished his own beer just in time for the assistant barman to put two more between them and collect the empties. When he was gone again, he added, "Polite girl, though, I'll give her that. Apologized and everything. Not many people are that considerate."

"Saurial's the only one I've had much contact with, but I'd agree," his friend nodded. "Nice, polite, rip your fucking head off and shit down your neck if you hurt their friends."

"Pretty much." Erwin took another drink, then put the glass down and stared at it. "Going to be a problem sooner or later. Some people don't want to listen."

"To?"

"Leave the Family and the DWU alone or shit gets real." Erwin looked at his companion seriously. "Don't want that. I like things they way they are, or are heading, and I think a lot of other people do as well. I like the girls too. They're doing good, far more than most of us ever actually managed with all the crap we did, and they don't need to deal with the bullshit certain people think they can get away with."

"They don't realize things have changed," the other man said slowly. "New game, new rules."

Erwin nodded. "Yeah. Mostly theirs, I think. And mostly 'Don't start shit or we'll finish it for you...'"

Next to him, the other guy grinned and snickered. "They really won't like that. Those people like thinking they're in control."

"No one's ever been in control," Erwin grumbled. "If they were, half the stuff that happens wouldn't happen. You know that as well as I do. We were lucky more than skillful a lot of the damned time, no matter what side you were on." He sipped his beer again for a moment. "If there was any real control we wouldn't have needed so much luck."

"Luck runs out," his friend sighed.

"Yeah. Usually at the exact time you really need it. Lost a lot of friends that way."

"Know what you mean."

They toasted absent comrades with a clink of glasses and a swig of beer.

"Miss it? That sort of life?" the other man asked a little later. Erwin gave him a sidelong look.

"Do you?"

"Nah, not so much these days. Exciting at times, sure, but most of it was either boring as hell or fucking terrifying too, and I never knew at the time if I was making a difference or not anyway." He shrugged slightly. "Looking back, more than I expected and less than I hoped."

"Can't deny any of that," the older man nodded, watching as more people came in and headed for the bar. "Saved the world a couple of times myself, if the intel guys are right. Sort of. Who I saved it for is open to question of course." He drank again, then lowered his glass, holding it absently just above the table. "Never been sure whether we were the good guys or not once or twice."

"Way it goes," his companion sighed. "The other guys all said the same thing too."

"Ideologies change but the poor bastards doing the work are often the same sort of people," Erwin commented wisely. "Just following orders."

"Fucking stupid orders pretty often."

"Oh, yeah, of course. Which is why they needed to be… interpreted… with a little careful thought." The old man grinned for a second. "They didn't like that, but we got the job done. And they weren't the ones getting shot at. Or blown up."

"Or set on fire, or gassed, or chased into a river by a tank, or beaten up by a nun..."

Erwin slowly turned his head to gaze at the other man, who now looked mildly embarrassed as if he'd said too much. "A nun?" he echoed with a smirk. "You never told me that one."

"And I'm not going to now," his friend muttered. "Let's just say that Sister Agatha was… impressive. And easily annoyed."

Chuckling, Erwin shook his head. "You had very different missions than I did, I suspect."

"Probably."

"Do I miss it?" The old fisherman thought for a while. "Not really. Like you said, Some of it was good, a lot was bad, and it was all murky all the time. I'm retired now, and I want to keep it that way. Don't see anyone has any call on me now, I did my part. Told them that several times until it stuck." His grin was vicious. "Course I had to persuade them I meant it once or twice. Some people take a lot of convincing."

"That type always thinks they know best, even if they've never actually done any of the things they send the rest of us out to die for," the other man said into his beer, scowling.

"Especially if they haven't done it," Erwin grumbled, also finishing his drink. Both glasses hit the table at the same moment. "Problem is that some of them still don't seem to have listened."

"Yeah, I heard about your visitor the other day," his companion noted, pushing his glass away. "Sounded like an asshole."

"Young and full of himself." Erwin shrugged. "We all were at one point. Mind you, I like to think I wouldn't have just wandered into the Docks and thought everything would go my way even when I was young and full of myself. Mainly because there are people like us there and a magazine only holds so many rounds..."

"Not the smartest idea going." The other man looked amused.

"No. Plenty of ways to never be seen again in the Docks. Even without capes."

"Or lizards."

"That, too." They shared a grin. "The girls would at least make it quick."

"Most of them."

"Oh, yeah, you wouldn't want her pissed at you," Erwin snickered. "She'd make it last. Better than if the Boss got you, though."

His friend smiled, shaking his head. "He hates that name."

"Tough, sooner he realizes that it's what he is the better."

"A lot like his old man."

"A lot more like his old man than he knows. And the rest of them. Best for everyone he's a good guy, and has a lot of friends to keep him on the right path." Erwin shook his head. "Wouldn't want to see him have cause to go his Gramps way."

"That happens, situation is already completely fucked," his companion pointed out.

"Which is why I don't want it going that far." The old man frowned. "Rile them up enough, someone's going to pay. Probably best for everyone if that doesn't happen. I can't do anything about capes, that's for the girls to deal with, but I deal with my own past easily enough."

"Might have to be a little more… forceful… this time."

The grin he got back was truly frightening.

"If I have to."

"Need any help?"

Erwin considered, then shook his head. "Probably best not to, but thanks. You have people who rely on you. If it goes bad..."

"Don't let it go bad."

"Not planning on it, but shit happens."

"True." A foot moved under the table and a faint scraping sound could be heard. "Got what you asked for. Untraceable. Should be enough. Something in there I got from a friend at the Union if things get difficult."

"Thanks. I owe you one."

"Two, actually, I remember Monaco, but who's counting?" His friend smirked as Erwin rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I seem to recall that time in Saigon..."

"We don't talk about Saigon."

They met each others eyes and finally laughed. "Fair enough." Erwin stood, retrieving the gym bag at his feet, and dropped a twenty on the table. "Next one's on me."

As he turned to leave, the younger of the pair made the bill vanish. "Don't get killed, old man."

"Not planning on it any time soon," Erwin chuckled. "Keep that school safe, Ed. See you around."

"Later."

When he left the bar, the security guy carefully didn't look at him.

The head of an agency that didn't exist walked into his house having disarmed the extremely aggressive security system, locked the door behind him, and rearmed it in a different mode. Looking forward to a relaxing drink after a hard day of saving the country from the many threats confronting it, he took his jacket off and carefully hung it up, then removed his tie.

Heading up to his bedroom he put the tie into the laundry basket, then went to the wall safe and opened it, which took close to thirty seconds of careful combination work, and a retina scan. Turning to his dresser, on which he'd placed the briefcase he used for sensitive projects, which would slag the contents and probably anyone who didn't present it with the right credentials, he opened the case and removed two folders.

Flipping through them he nodded in satisfaction. Each was in order and seemed to be progressing well. He swung the door of the safe fully open with one hand as he closed the folders in his other hand, turned to put them with the other half dozen special projects, then stopped dead.

He counted folders.

Then he counted them again.

"What the…?" Leaning closer he checked once more, before dropping the two new ones back onto his briefcase and yanking all the other ones out of the safe, frantically going through them. One was definitely missing.

"You spelled my last address wrong," a voice from behind him said, making his eyes widen slightly. "Two 'L's in 'Welland."

"You."

"Me. Yeah." The voice was one he hadn't heard in a long time, and it sounded maliciously satisfied. "I told your man to tell you to drop dead, Smith. Why are you still pushing? I'm fucking retired. As in, I don't work for you or anyone else like you these days. Best to listen, before I really get annoyed."

Smith very slowly and carefully turned around, keeping his hands visible. The missing folder was in the grasp of the old man standing in the doorway twenty feet away. His other hand held a fairly substantial gun, which Smith knew damn well he was a crack shot with.

That information was, after all, in the folder the old bastard was holding.

The gun was leveled right at his head, and the hand it was held in was rock steady.

"What do you want?"

"I want you fuckers to stop bothering me and stay the hell out of Brockton Bay, before you manage to get someone a fuck sight worse than I am pissed at you. You really wouldn't like what happened next. No one would." His unwelcome visitor smiled very slowly. "Leave them alone. Leave me alone. Go annoy someone who won't either shoot you in your bed, or just eat you, would be my advice."

"We need to..."

"...listen to me. I won't be so nice next time."

"You think you can dictate terms to me? To us?"

"Yeah, as it happens, I do." Erwin grinned, not in a nice way. "Like I said, next time, I'll do something really horrible. This is just a… call it an enthusiastic courtesy visit." He chuckled darkly. "Stop fucking with people I know and you'll never see me again, which would suit me just fine." He tucked the folder he was holding into his coat. "I'm retired, I just fish now. Don't make me stop fishing."

There was silence for a few seconds, Smith trying to work out how to proceed when he was caught like this, knowing full well if he went for his weapon he wouldn't make it. This man was far too good, even at his age.

"How did you get in?" he asked, trying for time to think.

"Please. Whoever did your security isn't anywhere near as good as my team was," Erwin smiled. "Not much of a challenge."

"I'll be sure to pass that on."

"You do that. So, you going to listen, or do I need to insist?"

"You can't expect us to just ignore all this?"

"I'm hoping you will, yeah," the older man shrugged. "Feel free to watch, but from a distance. Trust me, it's better that way. Nothing you can do except fuck it up anyway, so just learn to live with it. You can pass that on to your guys."

"You're playing a dangerous game."

"Story of my life. Been playing that game for longer than you've been alive and I'm still here." Erwin's expression was amused but dangerous. "What does that tell you? Think about it."

He checked his watch. "Got to run, other things to do, people to intimidate, you know how it goes." Slowly backing up, he added, "I'd say it was a pleasure but we both know I'd be lying. So I'll be on my way. Pray we don't meet again, Smith." With that, he was gone.

Smith relaxed slightly, although his hand was almost instantly holding his gun. Using every iota of training he possessed he cautiously went after the old and highly lethal ex-agent. There was no sign of him anywhere upstairs. Half-way down the stairs, there was a muffled 'thud' from outside somewhere and all the lights went out, even the ones that were supposedly backed up by a battery system. It turned his house almost totally black, only small amounts of light leaking in from the streetlights some distance away.

"Fuck," he muttered, stopping on the stairs and pulling out his phone. He glanced at it, and wasn't particularly surprised to see it had no signal.

"Old bastard has a few good tricks," he reluctantly admitted to himself, almost impressed.

Perhaps it would be best to reevaluate the situation regarding Brockton Bay for now. It seemed to cause problems he wasn't sure they'd anticipated.

And he had some security experts to give a very hard time to.

Pat looked up as the door opened to admit a very familiar figure. "Oh, god," he sighed. "I was hoping you'd fallen in the bay or something."

"I can swim just fine, thanks," Erwin chuckled. "Fallen in a time or two."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me, you old reprobate," Pat replied, putting the glass he'd been cleaning down and moving to the beer taps. "Probably drunk on my best brandy. Which you still owe me for, by the way."

"I'm sure we can come to an arrangement, Pat my boy," the old fisherman grinned.

"You keep saying that but somehow I can't help but notice that you never seem to actually pay me," Pat pointed out acidly.

"A minor detail." Looking around at the empty bar, Erwin added, "Bit dead at the moment."

"I haven't even opened yet!"

"No excuse. Pint of your best, please." Erwin stood there grinning at him. Pat met his eyes, sighed heavily, and moved to comply.

"Why I put up with you I have no fucking idea," he grumbled, filling a glass.

"You're a good lad, Pat," Erwin assured him earnestly. "Always doing right by your elders."

"Old bastard, you mean," Pat mumbled under his breath. It didn't seem to have any effect. "Here you go."

"Cheers." Erwin took a long draft of the golden liquid. "Ah. Still the best beer around."

"So where have you been for the last couple of days?" Pat asked, leaning on the counter-top and watching. "Unlike you not to come around bothering me for so long."

"Just had to go run a few errands," Erwin said mildly. "Nothing serious, had some people to talk to, that sort of thing. Went fairly well." His smile brightened a little. "Only had to break three legs. None of them mine."

"Er… That's good, I suppose," Pat responded after a moment, as usual not sure how seriously to take the old fool.

"Yeah, pretty much. Glad to be back, traveling is always thirsty business." Erwin drank the rest of his beer and wiggled the empty glass meaningfully at him. With a long-suffering sigh, Pat took it and refilled it. "Thanks."

Four hours later the tavern was half full, the usual patrons drinking, talking, and playing games. Pat was reading his current novel, finding it better than he'd expected, when the door opened and he looked up.

Glowing green eyes in a black scaled visage with scarlet highlights met his, which widened a little.

The huge reptilian figure looked around, then approached the bar, while many of the patrons looked up for a moment then went back to their activities. Only a couple kept watching. "Nice place you have here," the lizard known as Metis said with approval. "Saurial said it was good."

"Um… Thanks?"

"No problem. Can I have a couple of cans of coke, please?"

"Sure." A little confused, Pat quickly retrieved the requested items and put them on the bar. Metis took both and put them away somewhere, then dropped an envelope where they'd been.

"That should cover it. Thanks. Keep the change, you can probably pay for some of the outstanding bar tabs." Metis smiled at him, turned away, glanced at Erwin who was watching impassively, nodded to him, and left.

Somewhat bemusedly, Pat picked up the envelope, opened it, then stared.

After some moments he looked after the reptile, before turning a thoughtful gaze in Erwin's direction. The old fisherman was now looking away, apparently concentrating on a deck of cards. Most likely working out how to cheat his friends, knowing him.

Ultimately deciding that he probably didn't really want the answers to a number of questions, Pat put the envelope in the till and went back to his book.