Part four of the Omake: What Would You Think. Meh Chapter 14 (Information), Chapter 15, Chapter 21.

Senior

Danny stared at the costumed villains across the table, Kaiser's last words echoing in his ears. 'You've got a daughter, don't you. It would be such a shame if something were to happen to her. Bend your knee to the Empire and we can protect her. Make the wrong choice, and . . . well . . . accidents happen, don't they?'

"You are correct," he said calmly. "I do have a daughter, one that I would do absolutely anything to protect."

Kaiser leaned back, his body language showing satisfaction. "It seems that you're as intelligent as I was led to believe, Hebert. I'm glad to see that we'll be able to continue using you as a go between rather than having your daughter suffer an unfortunate accident. I imagine the grief of having such a bright spark extinguished would be devastating, wouldn't it."

"If you will excuse me for a moment," Danny rose to his feet. "I need to go inform the men that we have concluded our talks."

"Inform them that their first task will be purging the union of any undesirables," Kaiser ordered.

Danny smiled. "You have my solemn word that I will personally see to it that the first thing we do is remove every undesirable that we can find."

"That's not what I expected," Stormtiger offered. "That's not how he acted last time. This is too easy."

"That was before I let him know that I could get to his daughter." Kaiser's jaw tightened as he remembered their last meeting with Hebert. It was one of the reasons he'd made sure this one had been inside. "He knows he can't protect his daughter all the time," Kaiser said. "She's a weakness he can't-" the man cut off when the sprinkler system activated. "That's not water," he said in horrified realization. "It's ga-"

IIIIIIIIII

The grins told Emily that something had happened the second she walked into the office. It was never a good sign when her people were anything but sullen before the coffee kicked in.

"Kaiser's dead, Stormtiger's dead, Kreig's dead, Criket's dead, Rune's in the holding cells, Purity's in New York begging Legend to let her rebrand, at least one hundred fifty eighty eight gangmembers confirmed dead, and junior is waiting for you in your office."

"What in the hell did she do?" she asked in stunned shock. The girl had outdone herself this time and Emily swore she'd either . . . her mind went blank, she didn't have any clue how to respond to this.

"Best hear it from her, director."

Emily was in a daze as she stumbled into her office and fell into her chair directly facing her protege. "Well?"

"It wasn't me," Taylor blurted. "I was here the whole time."

"Do tell."

"Dad called last night and told me to stay here until further notice. Said not to go to school or go anywhere else unless I was either with you or he came to get me personally," Taylor blurted. "Said not to trust anyone except for you and only you. Said that there was a mole in ENE."

"Did you find his allegation to be credible?"

"I reported it to Boston, Washington, New York, and L.A. per procedure, ma'am. They've found one janitor, one records clerk, and two troopers on the take using think tank resources. They didn't share who they were reporting to, ma'am."

"Go on."

"So dad calls me this morning and tells me that everything's gonna be okay and that he'll come pick me up in the afternoon," Taylor continued. "I asked him what was going on and he said not to worry about it, then we got a report about a big fire at the docks and I asked him if he was okay and he said his office was on fire but that he was fine and then I heard gunshots in the background and he told me it was fireworks but I know what gunshots sound like so I asked Armsmaster to do a drive by and-" the girl took a deep breath.

"You asked Armsmaster to do a drive by," Emily stated, beginning to get an idea of what happened.

"The Dockworkers wouldn't let him in," Taylor said. "They were armed and told him to mind his own damned business. He tried to call BBPD but they told him that everyone was tied up so he called me back and I asked him who was in charge and it was my uncle Rick. Um, he's not my real uncle, but I know most of the Dockworkers and he put me on speaker and they decided that Armsmaster was probably okay because he knows me."

"That was probably a novel experience for him," Piggot said dryly. The glory hound was far too used to his fame opening doors for him in her opinion.

"He didn't know what to do so he said he'd follow my lead, ma'am."

"He used those words?"

"No, ma'am. He said that I was in charge of the Wards and I obviously had some sort of local authority that exceeded his own and I had local knowledge that exceeded his own so he would defer to my judgement or something like that, ma'am."

"That sounds more like him," Piggot agreed. "What happened next."

"They took him to meet my dad. Um, my dad who was um . . ."

"Yes?"

"Armsmaster said my dad was uh . . . urinating on what appeared to be the remains of Kaiser," Taylor admitted. "Armsmaster said he couldn't be sure due to how burned and melted they were."

Emily suppressed a smirk. "I see. Your father was pissing on Kaiser's ashes."

"So it seemed, ma'am."

"So he put my dad on the phone and my dad told me that since he was talking to his daughter and not a member of law enforcement, he and the boys were having a barbecue and they noticed his office explode. Uh, Armsmaster said it looked like a fuel air explosion, ma'am. And they came to investigate and render aid and all the water he'd drunk while getting ready for the barbecue made him over hydrated and he had to relieve himself and he didn't notice that there were human remains where he was relieving himself."

"What did Armsmaster have to say?"

"He stated that it was unlikely that my father would miss seeing any human remains, that there didn't appear to be any signs of a barbecue, and that it appeared someone had used something hot which Armsmaster speculated to be a thermal lance to open Kaiser's armor."

"What did your father respond to that?"

"He said that as Armsmaster was a member of law enforcement his only comment was that he would not say anything without his lawyer being present. I . . . uh . . . overheard someone in the background say something about how steam coming out of armor sounds a lot like screaming and someone else say something about how it's best to open the bastard up to be sure."

"Does this have to do with the gunfire I've been hearing all night?" Emily asked pointedly.

"I can't confirm anything, ma'am, but I've heard that the BBPD holding cells are packed with Empire gang-members begging for protecting and buying it by confessing every crime they've ever committees. I've heard something open season on the Empire over the scanner. I don't know much, ma'am. I ordered the Wards to turtle until further notice. I uh . . . heard a rumor that the Mayor was going to sign a proscription, someone else said my dad already has. I just don't know, ma'am."

"Do you think you could get your father on the line?"

"I think so, ma'am."

"Please do so and pass on my request that he calm things down a bit. In return I will do my best to see that no consequences fall on him or any of his people for the unfortunate industrial accident which claimed the lives of Kaiser and several other Empire capes and gang-members."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Thank you, Taylor. That will be all."

AN: Didn't think I had another one of these in me, guess I was mistaken.