AN: SURPRISE UPDATE WHOHOO! Only a small one though.
Interludes do not count as full chapters and do not change the upload for those in any way. Consider them a small bonus! Also, remember how I talked about Worm (and Doom) spoilers at the very beginning of this fic? Well, Interludes will be one of those kind of dangers. But if you made it to here, then you probably don't care about spoilers, since you either know the original already (read it!) or simply don't care (read it!).
Interlude 1 – Danny Hebert
Danny was a man on a mission.
He was a simple man, a family man, living in a house that had seen better days. It had a broken front step and was situated in one of the less dangerous areas, but by no means upper-class, south from the Trainyard and south-west from the Boat Graveyard.
Danny was a simple man, with a simple job – the head of hiring for the Dockworkers Association – and he kept trying to get the old Ferry restored, that connected the Boardwalk in the North with Downtown south. A project that was very dear to him, as a Symbol of the old days, when the Endbringer Leviathan had not yet crippled the shipping industry.
He was tall and thin, his dark hair slowly balding, and yet the towering Dockworkers listened to him without complaint, trusting in his abilities.
Danny was known as a caring and respectful person, that had a tight hold on his impressive temper. He was an honest man, and well respected among his peers.
There were many people like him, so his opinion, simple folk that just tried to live the best they could, without hurting anyone.
The most important part of his life was his daughter, Taylor, especially after the passing of his wonderful wife, which he still missed dearly and daily.
So why then, was he on a mission that was not the old ferry?
Taylor had not returned from school.
That in itself was not necessarily a reason for being wary or in panic, for she did sometimes frequent the library – usually giving him a heads up first. But not even in a crime-infested City like Brockton Bay would teenagers listen to their parents, especially not all the time, so that still was not much of a warning sign.
Puberty truly was a test he had underestimated.
But she did not come home at all that day.
Understandably worried, he called the school first thing in the morning, who tried to explain to him, that his daughter had never appeared and attended that day there in the first place.
Calling her out for telling him bullshit – for yesterday had been one of the few days where he had a meeting scheduled, that allowed him to drive his daughter to school instead of taking the Bus, the Principal quickly changed her story and instead claimed that Taylor had defamed her locker and then fled school grounds.
Which did not sound like Taylor at all, but calling her out on the second story was a bit harder, for he had obviously no proof.
Ending the call, he instead called the police and described both his worry for his daughter, combined with a missing person report and also informed the officer about the attempted misdirection by Principal Blackwell.
Now, as previously stated, Danny was a simple man, that was not very important in the grand scheme of things. So why would the police, who had to fight quite a lot of crime that was not in the jurisdiction of the Parahuman Response Team (more commonly known as PRT) do more than listen to him and tell him "they would look into it" in the first place?
Well, having a reputation as both an honest, hardworking man and being the head of hiring did definitely not hurt. But the main reason was honestly quite simple: He did not talk to a random Officer, he had called Tom.
Tom was a big man, with big hands and a big smile most of the time. He was a decent Police Officer, disarming the wariness his appearance evoked at first glance with jokes and laughs. Sometimes he talked about his own family of three, with a young, two year old daughter. That always won them over.
And gang-members were perhaps a bit more intimidated with a man that towered over them like Tom did.
Tom was also a former Dockworker, that had to give up his job and instead joined the police. Danny had been the one to "fire" him, but it was actually Tom that had resigned, seeing the signs for what they were.
"I know you would not kick me out Danny, and you would try to make this work for all of us,", he had said that day, "but we are a star that is rapidly fading. I am one of the few that has other options, you know my cousin works in the police. It would be unfair of me to stay here and take up more of the meager resources we have. I will not do that to you and the other boys."
So with a heavy heart, Danny had accepted the resignation, but they had stayed in contact.
Tom was not the only one that left, and all of them did so of their own free will.
Every single friend going hurt of course, but they were all trying to do as best as they could. Danny could not blame them for leaving, and wished them best of luck with full sincerity.
And of course Tom listened to his old friend concerns and worries.
"Alright Danny, that does indeed not sound good. You are sure she is not just going through a rebellious phase and is hiding at a friends place or something? Did you guys have an argument?"
"No, I called Alan and asked if she is staying in Emma's room or if he knew something, but he denied knowing anything. And we did not argue over anything recently, so I do not know from where that rebellion could come. Something else has to have happened."
"If she has been taken by one of the gangs...", the Officer trailed off.
"I really hope that my girl is safe. And yes, of course I have thought about that – how could I not?! We are in Brockton Bay after all. I'm sure every parent has that fear. But then, why would the Principal change her story so quickly? And why would Taylor ruin her own locker in the first place?"
"True, that is strange. I will visit the school with one of my colleagues in a bit, maybe see that locker with our own eyes. Can you look through her room and search for a hint if she maybe planned anything? Either to do something to her locker, or if she wanted to visit a friend after school, something like that?"
"I don't like the idea of going through her stuff, so I never did, but I guess this has to be an exception."
A heavy sigh.
"Call me after you visited the school? I will search here in the meantime."
"Alright. And Danny?"
"Yes?"
"We will find your girl."
"I really hope so. Thank you Tom, you are a good friend."
"It's really no problem, especially not over something like this. You would do the same for me. We will talk later."
With a heavy heart, the single father put the phone away and walked upstairs.
Time to search his daughters room about hints of her whereabouts.
