Chapter 7

Danny Hebert stepped out of his car in front of his house and sighed as Taylor slammed her door as hard as she could as she got out her side. His daughter had been in a rather annoying funk ever since she had been released from the hospital.

And not to say that he didn't deserve some of it, but his daughters shirty attitude as getting pretty dam annoying. She really wasn't even trying to ask him any questions at this point. He grabbed his things from the back of his car and followed his 'still surly dammit!' teen daughter into the house and sighing as she tried slamming the door in his face.

Breathing in deeply Danny opened the door and tossed his bag of things on the kitchen counter before pouring himself a glass of water and sitting down in his recliner. He would have grabbed the bottle of 80 year old Papi he had stashed but Danny had the distinct impression that he would need to have his temper under absolute control, not slippery with alcohol.

No matter how much he wanted to drain the bottle after the week he'd had…

He refocused as Taylor dragged a chair that screeched over the tile of the kitchen before slamming it down directly in front of him. She sat, with her eyes flashing and as hard as steel.

Danny repressed a snicker, the effect of her stoic eyes was decidedly offset by puffed out cheeks and her crossed arms. His daughter looked rather like a puppy trying to intimidate a larger dog with its big floppy ears and too large paws.

He sighed as he sipped at his water for a moment, his humor fading, it was time to come clean about his past.

"What do you want to know?"

"How did you get your powers?"

Danny winced, he knew didn't have any idea about the unwritten rules, but still, asking that? Nevertheless, he had promised to tell Taylor everything, and so he would.

"I was one of the first people on the planet to be triggered. I was in Alaska on a fishing boat at the time, I had just graduated from college and was taking a year off before I went back to Brockton Bay when Scion arrived. What people don't remember about his arrival is that with it, came a solid week of natural disasters, volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires… And tidal waves."

Danny nodded as his daughters eyes lit up in understanding.

"I sure you understand. The boat I was on was swamped with all hands other then myself drowning in the process. I on the other hand survived. I drifted on the seas for 3 days while clinging to a life boat that had been tipped over. On the third day Scion appeared before me."

Danny paused as he remembered the godlike figure as it had first appeared.

"He appeared before me, shimmering and golden, and impossibly beautiful. At that point I had no idea what was happening in the rest of the world so I thought I was hallucinating. I remember how he looked at me, as though I was an insect, a thing to be dissected and studied."

Danny sipped at his water again, his throat suddenly dry.

"Then he disappeared. I remember absolute hatred in that moment, I had never despised any one or anything more then I hated Scion in that moment. And at the same time I triggered."

Danny held out one hand that bubbled and shifted into a a large black scaled and taloned paw, he flexed it a few times as Taylor stared fascinated, the talons scratching against the scales in symphony of sharpened bone against metal. Danny's hand returned to normal before he continued.

"In that moment I changed into Nidhog for the first time, and used my full power in a rage as. I tried to find Scion, burning most of Anchorage and Wasilla to the ground in the process. I only learned of the death toll after the fact when I regained my sense of self."

Danny glanced at Taylor who was gazing at her father with an unreadable expression, Danny thought he caught a flash of something shoot across his daughters eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared so he continued.

"I only regained my sense of self when I was confronted by Alexandria who told me flat out what I had done and that she would do her best to subdue or kill me. I panicked and fought back. I defeated her after a close battle and fled into the British Columbia. After a few months I managed to turn back to human, steal some clothes and make my way into the nearest town. I found out that I had labeled the fourth end bringer by most of the newspapers for my actions."

Another pause as Danny looked at his daughter again. Taylor only continued her intense scrutiny of her father for a few moments before she asked her next question.

"How did you meet Mom?"

Danny let out a brief chuckle as remembered just how he met Annette.

"I met her in a bar in New York. At the time your mother was known as 'The Cupid' if you want to be politically correct, or 'succubus' if you didn't. She was a cape with the ability to cause was one person at a time to fall wildly in love with her. She would use her power to get men to give her money and buy her things and then would kill them or have them commit suicide so her power would reset and she could move onto her next victim. To give her credit she did try to target other villains and criminals."

Danny sat back in his chair as he thought about his wife's alter ego for the first time in years.

"I was in fancy hotel bar, the kind you can only get into if you grace the door man with lots of money just to get to the hostess who can still kick you out if you don't match their image. I had payed a non insignificant amount of money for a private table so you can imagine how surprised I was when a woman in jeans and a t-shirt slid next to me and I immediately felt attracted to her."

Danny chuckled ruefully as he rubbed a spot on his chest, just above his heart.

"It was less then a week later when she tried to kill me."

Danny laughed and leaned towards his daughter.

"You should have seen your mothers face when she realized she's used her power on a person who couldn't die from anything short of a nuclear blast to the face."

Taylor remained expressionless. Danny sighed as his attempt to make his daughter laugh, or at least smile fell flat.

"Anyway, so your mother and I began to live together, and after about six months I finally grew my immunity to her power, but in the process your mother had actually grown to care for me, and even after her power wore off, I found that I cared for your mother… to an irrational degree. We discussed the matter and came to an agreement. We would secure enough money to live in comfort, and then we would retire. Fast forward almost five years and there you were, and we decided to move back to Brockton Bay. This was a during Marquis's time when the city was mostly still in order."

Danny sighed again as he shifted in his lounge chair, trying to get comfotorable, despite the fact that he knew what he was telling Taylor was shattering his daughters rose tinted view of her mother and him. Although, he mused, her view of him had already probably been broken beyond repair.

Danny looked at his daughter attentively, waiting for the next question, knowing that his daughter most likely hated his draconic guts, but quite frankly? He didn't give a crap. If his daughter was safe, the rest of the world could burn, there were other worlds after all…

"Did you love her?"

Danny looked deep into his daughters eyes, his stoic, resolute, even a little angry as flames bloomed in his eyes and deep in his throat.

"Absolutely and eternally."

"Why did you never tell me?"

Danny sat back as he considered his daughters question. Finally he shrugged.

"Your mother and I made a pact. On your 16th birthday we would tell you our identities unless one of us died first, and well…"

Taylor nodded.

"The car crash."

Danny nodded, his lips pulling back unconsciously from his teeth.

"Exactly. In the case of one of us dying the we both agreed that the other would put aside all former traces to their Cape identity and live a normal life in order to make you as safe as possible. And after I tracked down the person responsible and dealt with him, I did exactly that."

It was Taylors turn to sit back in stunned thought as she realized that she remembered the man who had struck her mother had never went to trial, he had vanished a week before the court date, and had never been found. Taylor idly mused that was probably the point.

Danny watched curiously as his daughter took a deep breath, leaned forward, and for the first time since she had woken up, came within an arms length of her father, and then clasped his hands.

Taylor Hebert looked deep into her fathers eyes.

"I want to join the wards."