Chapter 8
"I want to join the wards."
Danny looked at his daughter with a deadpan expression on his face.
"No."
Taylor leaned back as if she had just been slapped, her eyes widening. She had expected her father to easily accede to her demands. She was about to start screaming when Danny held up one hand.
"If you would listen to my reasons for disagreeing, you might change your mind."
Taylor closed her mouth with an audible click as Danny raised one finger.
"Firstly, at this moment in time you have absolutely no control over your own powers."
Danny raised a second finger.
"Next, do you really think the Wards or the Protectorate will accept you knowing that you are my daughter? The daughter of a man who is arguably one of the strongest existences on the planet."
Danny raised a third finger.
"Third, now that I have essentially been revealed to Brockton Bay at large, I have no intention of fading back into obscurity, I intend to claim all of Brockton as my Fiefdom, and any gangs with Capes will be systematically hunted down and killed. And if you join the Wards I have no doubt that they would dispatch you any time I acted."
Danny looked at his daughter seriously, his eyes hard.
"Now knowing all this, do you really think the Wards are your best idea right now?"
Taylor sat in her chair, and eventually shook her head. She might hate admitting it, but her father had spelled it out, and she couldn't bring herself to disagree with him on any point. Danny nodded in satisfaction before leaning farther back in his chair.
"Now, later on, depending on how events pan out, I wouldn't mind you joining the Wards, but first, at the very least you would have to gain control of you powers. To that end, I have gotten permission for us to use the PRT's power testing stadium for the next few months in order for you to get your powers under control."
Taylor cocked her head curiously, her father kept talking like he already knew what her powers were. Danny saw his daughter looking at him curiously and tapped his nose with one thick finger.
"One of my powers is an ability to smell other Parahumans, depending on kind of power and its strength I get different scents, for instance thinkers usually have a smell of chalk an milk. You on the other hand, have a scent almost identical to mine, except with a slight taint of insects and rot."
Danny leaned forward, utterly serious as he caught his daughters eye.
"If your powers, as your scent indicates, are like mine, you need to learn how to control them, otherwise the first time you use loose your temper, even if its something as simple as getting incorrect change for your coffee, you might loose your temper, and then proceed to burn down and slaughter a city block."
Taylor was wide eyed as she considered her fathers words. The idea that she could loose her temper so easily, especially with these new powers was, disconcerting… Too say the least. Danny sighed tiredly as he saw his Taylor burgeoning panic.
"Thats why I don't want you joining the Wards just yet, I want you to practice with your powers, get a handle on them. After, lets say three months… If you still feel like joining the Wards, I would consider allowing you to join them if you have progressed far enough to be a match for any other member of the protectorate."
Danny extended one hand.
"Deal?"
Taylor nodded and grasped her fathers hand.
"Deal."
Scene Break
The awkwardness that had been present since they had left the hospital had mostly disappeared, and Danny was glad for it, but he still had a few more things to do before he could say that he would be willing to let go of his grudge with Winslow, a few visits that he had to make.
Scene Break
Samantha Clements walked to the door of her home as a few knocks sounded.
"Who is it?"
A voice sounded through the door, faintly familiar.
"A'h got a delivery of flowers for a 'Mrs. Clements'."
"Alright, just give me moment."
Samantha took a peek through to see a man in a grey uniform, a bundle of flowers obscuring his face. She opened the door, and then stopped, as a clawed, scaled hand grasped her face, and a voice like rusty nails scraping across stone sounded.
"Mrs. Clements, is your daughter home?"
Samantha, as her last action on this earth gave a quick, terrified nod.
There was a sickening crunch, and a spray of blood and brain matter, Nidhog stepped over the corpse and into the house. A few more thumps, and then Nidhog walked back down the stairs and out of the house dripping blood.
Scene Break
Alan Barnes walked into his darkened study.
His carefully ordered life was falling apart at the seams, his daughter, accused of the attempted murder of one of her best friends, Sophia Barnes, a girl who had saved both him and his daughter, on her way to the birdcage for violations from attempted murder, robbery, grand larceny, actual murder, and freaking bio-terrorism.
And now, the Clements hadn't responded to any calls.
Alan suppressed a scream as a light turned on, and Danny appeared sitting his office chair, grinning, his teeth, just a touch to long to be completely, natural.
"Hello Alan. We need to have a talk."