Well, People are in the process of trying to burn my country's universities down so you know that means two things... I picked up SWTOR again (And it is so much better than it used to be) and I wrote this I guess...

By the Way, Thank you for all the reviews!

Enjoy the writing!

Dockworkers Union Assembly Hall
January 16

Wade Smith was a simple man in a complicated world. Not too long ago, he had a wife, three kids and a reasonable job at the docks, helping ships move their cargo around. That was over a decade ago and now his wife had left him for someone younger and richer, his job was as dry as the wrecks who blocked the harbor and all his kids had moved away.

At least his kids still liked him... Maybe.

Being a dockworker in Brockton Bay was an exercise in fu... Fu... It was something a normal people didn't do. Thanks to the Endbringers, using ships to move goods wasn't very popular anymore as no one wanted to find out that your ship and all of the fancy things on it suddenly sank to the bottom of the ocean. Wade could imagine that made a few wall street fat cats grow bald from worry. That, of course. didn't mean that ocean trade had stopped completely, people were just too stubborn to let random death and financial ruin stop them. The problem had come from the fact that there wasn't enough space for shipping boats when wrecks of older shipping boats were double parked in the bay and so the shipping industries simply ignored Brockton Bay as though the ship graveyard was an immovable obstacle.

What this meant for the bay was that there was no shipping industry in a city where a lot of jobs were based on the shipping industry. With such a large and now unemployed dockworker population, labor jobs were hard to come by and the economy around the docks sank about as fast as those ships did. What was once full warehouses and busy streets became abandoned buildings and deserted roads. It was common knowledge that such desperate times would drive people to crime and that was how the E88, Merchants and ABB became so popular.
And these gangs weren't like the old ones, that was for sure.

The city used to run smoothly, controlled by the Police, PRT, and the criminal organisations.
There were many but only a few that mattered and oddly enough, the Empire wasn't one of them.
The first was Lustrum's Sparrows. They were an extremist feminist faction that had didn't have a lot of power but was still present almost everywhere in Brockton Bay. They didn't really have any territory but they weren't constrained to specific territory either and considering they didn't really do much with ordinary people, no one really minded.

The second was the Brokers under Marquis. They were essentially a cross between the Yakuza and the Mob. None of their activities or businesses that they endorsed were entirely legal, especially the bars/gambling dens/extremely loud party venues that were very popular, but they had the respect of the town and kept their territory safe and controlled for the most part. It wasn't even taboo to tell people that you were a Broker in those days. All in all, they weren't that bad and their only real enemies was New Wave who seemed to have some sort of grudge with Marquis.

The third were the Teeth. If the Brokers were the respected and orderly criminals, then the Teeth were their jubilant and chaos-loving opposite. Led by the Butcher, The Teeth's territory was often a contradictory place. It was dangerous but safe, chaotic but organised and dirty but clean somehow. Back in the day, the Butcher was considerably less crazy than he/she was now and could actually run the Teeth like a gang rather than a party of mayhem and misery. To say that they weren't the most popular gang would be an understatement. One does not simply organise orphan fighting tournaments and not receive negative reviews.

The most important faction in the bay was by far The Evil Organisation. Despite the descriptive name, one could say that they were actually the best for the bay itself. Of course they had a sometimes high injury rate and tried to take over the world but they provided steady employment and didn't cause any mayhem and destruction anywhere they held. They were evil, but they made contracts instead of protection rackets and they plotted instead of doing heists. The Evil Organisation was led by the Evil Genius himself, a man rumored to be even smarter than the smartest Tinker, and his two henchmen and rumored lawyer. In Wade's opinion, If that Evil Genius did have a lawyer, that just made him way more evil than the people knew.

If Wade had to join any of them, he would have probably joined The Evil Organisation, at least he wouldn't have been bored like he was now. Unfortunately, Wade knew that he wouldn't be able to find steady employment down that path of life. The Brokers… broke up after New Wave invaded Marquis' home and challenged him to eight simultaneous chess games and a dance off in order to arrest him (or at least that was what Wade had heard) and the Sparrows were out for obvious reasons. The Teeth had evacuated the city to Boston after the latest Butcher made it known that they hated fish with a passion and couldn't stand being on the coast. The Evil Organisation dissolved after the Evil Genius retired, or escaped to the moon. No one was really sure what happened and the stories went from him settling down with a wife and kid to the Evil Genius secretly being a girl and sneaking into the Birdcage after Lustrum.

It wasn't to ponder a life of crime that Wade was at the Dockworkers Union building today. Danny Hebert, pretty much the effective leader of the Dock Workers and the man who fought to get the Dockworkers more jobs however he could, had called the Dockworkers for their weekly meeting and if the email was correct, he had a pretty big announcement. Wade hoped it was good news because it looked like work was really hard to find if the hall was so crowded on a Sunday morning. From wall to wall of the rather large hall, and having been converted from a docks warehouse it was really large, stood Dockworkers. In front of them was a stage, it was more like the top half of a shipping container, with an impressive sound system, which was donated by Danny. With the exception of the audio system, the hall had cost the Union almost nothing, which was appropriate considering the current economy in the Bay.

Wade was brought out of his musings when he saw Danny Hebert himself, along with his friends Alan Barnes and Kurt, walking to the steps by the stage, which were actually arranged boxes. "Come on Danny, This might not work out so well…" Wade could barely hear Alan. Alan Barnes was one of those divorce lawyers and Wade didn't really trust lawyers all that much. Crossed with Wade's own experience in the separation of marriage, Wade got the feeling that Alan was more evil than most lawyers.
"Leave Danny alone Alan, The guys will go for this." Kurt replied. Kurt was extremely friendly around the Union and many people trusted and liked him. He and his wife was so well known and friendly that you didn't really need to use their surnames at all. Everyone knew who you were talking about the moment when you said "Did you see Kurt surfing that car door yesterday?" or "Have you noticed Lacey knew way too much about your wife?"

Danny stepped onto the stage and walked over to the microphone where he cleared his throat.
"Good Morning everyone!" Danny said jubilantly to the crowd. "Welcome to another meeting of the Dockworkers Union. I have a very important announcement today but let us get the announcements out of the way first."

Danny took out a sheaf of papers from under his arm. "Firstly, I would like to congratulate Work Detail thirteen for dealing with the Merchants from a few days ago that tried to put some of our own in the hospital or worse." At this, a round of cheers and backslaps could be heard. Danny continued, "Yes, the ambulance took thirty extra minutes to stabilize the gangers and the word is that one of them lost a leg. So good job team!" Another round of congratulations sounded out.
"Unfortunately, despite the creative implement that our very own Jason Briggs gave Mush, the PRT called in Panacea and he will make a full recovery." Various disappointed noises sounded out from the crowd at the Merchant cape's complete recovery.

Amy looked at the metal pole that Velocity had brought in. She turned to Velocity. "I don't think the hospital has dogs."
He shook his head. "You misunderstand. That is Mush and I found him by the Docks."
Amy turned back to it. "I can see that it is mush. What do you want me to do with it?"
Velocity facepalmed and pointed at the shish kebab. "No, HE is Mush."
"Please kill me" came a voice from the pole.
"Oh my…"

"I encourage you not to lose hope, and simply do better next time."
Danny cleared his throat to continue. "On the next item of the agenda. I would like to congratulate Mr Chang on his new baby girl." The crowd of dockworkers all called out congratulations as Chang, a good-looking twenty-five-year-old man, accepted the praise as though he had done this before.
"In other related news," Danny continued when the crowd settled down. "The intervention for Mr Chang is scheduled for Wednesday because having twelve children with four women that aren't in a polygamous marriage is not an achievement, it is a problem." The Dockworkers cheered while Mr Chang's face reddened in embarrassment.

Danny looked at the papers in his hand with a contemplative look on his face. Wade was shocked at what Danny did next. He dropped his papers.
And based on the sudden silence from the crowd, they were shocked too. Danny never dropped his papers, ever. He was always so composed in business and even when he unleashed his temper, he never dropped his papers. "Today isn't the day for normal meetings," Danny said quietly. "That is because the announcement I have come here today is too disruptive to the Union to simply act like it doesn't affect anything."
Danny started pacing on the stage. "This news I have to give you can possibly change the direction of your very life. It will most certainly change the Union irreversibly. So I must give you this information appropriately and cautiously."

Danny turned to the crowd as he stopped in the middle of the stage again. "So I must ask you all a simple question!"

Danny raised his arm into the air. "DO YOU WANT PAYING WORK!?"
Wade couldn't even hear his own cheers from the uproarious cheering of the Dockworkers.

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Alan made a thoughtful noise. It wasn't often that he made noises like that. Over a decade of practising law meant that you had so many surprises that you couldn't really be all that surprised at all. There were a rare few times that Alan was surprised and what he was reading had given him that emotion alright. It was also surprising that a teenager's journal was the thing that surprised him. Then again, it was Taylor's Journal.

If it would be anyone who could surprise me., then I'm not surprised that it would be Danny's daughter. who would be one of the people to do it. Alan thought to himself.

Alan was sitting in his still be constructed office. Despite Danny having laid the groundwork for the base long ago, so much had caved in or Danny had fallen into laziness and only done the necessities with exception to the Science floor. Oh yes, they didn't have a lab anymore, instead an entire floor of the base was dedicated to science. Alan contented himself with the legal headaches from the upcoming disasters, and he would gladly let Kurt have all the other headaches. Alan actually preferred it this way, it gave him the chance to personalise his office. Alan was a little disappointed that he couldn't have an incineration pit in his office on the account of there being no room but he was hopeful that he could find something just as excellent at dealing with… problems.

Alan looked up and pushed his comfy office chair slightly backwards. With a clang, a metal beam fell in front of him, just where he used to be sitting. "Sorry about that Mr Barnes." Said a nearby man in yellow overalls and a white hardhat. On the man's shoulder was the logo of The Evil Organisation, Alan never knew how nostalgic he could feel for a stylized globe.
"It's no problem. Just try to not drop things at my head again."
With a sheepish nod, The minion quickly gathered up the beam with his nearby fellows and proceeded to try and reattach it to the ceiling again. Alan had to admit that Danny's plan to hire the Dockworker's Union had paid off massively for the labor to rebuild the base. Alan was also pretty sure that a lot of them might stay on as permanent minions after the base was finished, despite their contract expiring after the base was constructed.

Alan's musings were interrupted when Danny walked in through the doorless door frame.
"Hey Alan," His best friend greeted. "What are you doing?"
"Just reading through Taylor's evidence of my daughter's activities." Alan calmly replied.
Danny's eyebrows climbed up his forehead. "Oh, What did you find?"
Alan sighed in disappointment. "Nothing really. It's a journal so it can't really be used against the anyone and the girls didn't do anything special to Taylor before the locker. Just organised bullying." Alan put down the book. "How'd it go with you?"

Danny's sigh was full of anguish that Alan knew that only a father could feel.
"Taylor woke up today," Danny said slowly. "The doctors said that she suffered some sort of psychotic episode and now they have her under observation in isolation."
"I'm sorry Danny." Alan said to his friend.
Danny straightened up. "It's fine. She'll be alright."
Alan had an idea and picked up the discarded book, searching for the specific page that he wanted…
There, found it.

"At least she is your daughter…" Alan smirked knowingly.
"What makes you say that?" Danny asked curiously. Alan's smirk grew as he handed his best friend, his daughter's journal. As Danny read, a smile formed on his face

Taylor's Plan To Defeat the Trio!

Zombies eating Emma's stupid face.
-Found evidence that zombies exist! Can't find them though.

Plant Cameras to find evidence of bullying
-Have no money for spy cameras. Sophia would probably find them anyway.

Invent Mind Control beam to make the Trio confess!
-Don't know how to do that. Also, no money.

BEEES!
-Don't make plans before going to bed.

Drown the school in tea!
-Don't make plans before morning tea.

Cake Slimes!
1)
Find slimes. Ask Greg where to find slimes.
2) ?
3) Profit!

Alan placed his hand on Danny's shoulder in a reassuring manner.
"Don't worry Dan. She'll be alright."

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AN: I had planned the Journal piece for a while and the rest of the chapter just kind of grew around it. Like a sentient but humorous mold.
Either way, I'm enjoying writing this story as I get feedback from it. That being said, I read all comments so please do comment.
I hope the humor is on key in this chapter.

Comments and Criticisms welcome.