"Have you heard about Panacea's familiar?"
Everyone in the conference room turned to look at Assault, who was grinning. Their late afternoon combined debrief and threat assessment meeting had nearly wound down, having covered the current state of operations against a potential Empire upsurge among many other possible problems that might face the city in coming weeks. Most of the people present were in the process of finishing off various notes and putting papers in order, but his out of the blue comment had caused a certain amount of confusion. Which was his entire intention, of course, and he'd carefully waited for the best moment to make it.
Armsmaster leaned forward, his chair squeaking slightly.
"Armschair needs oil again, by the way," he added helpfully, smirking as Armsmaster's teeth gritted. He was so easy sometimes.
"What do you mean, Panacea's familiar?" the other man said, ignoring his joke with as much dignity as he could manage. Ethan could still tell it had been appreciated even so.
"Apparently she's got a raven now," he replied happily. "An attack raven, even! Goes for people on command. Or at least that's what Clockblocker claims." He tapped his fingers on the table thoughtfully. "Might just be him it goes for, to be honest. Aegis claimed he was asking for it."
"Easily believable," Armsmaster muttered under his breath. More audibly, he asked, "An attack raven?"
"Big black feathery thing, says 'Kronk!' a lot? Sounds like a raven to me. Apparently she turned up with it on her shoulder yesterday morning on the first day back at Arcadia, and the result was somewhat confusing for a time. It won't stay away, and the staff gave up trying to keep the thing outside after a while since it kept finding its way back in." Ethan grinned. "Sounds like my kind of bird."
Everyone was exchanging bewildered glances now, he saw. "And I heard a rumor she was at Brockton General this afternoon doing something with a lot of other ravens that turned up. Whole line of them on a table politely waiting for their turn. That girl has style, I have to admit." He'd been reading the thread on PHO with great amusement only just before the meeting had started.
"I bet she's raising an army of ravens to do her will," he went on with a grin. "Using her powers of snarkiness and suppressed irritation to bring them over to her side. That girl should have been a goth, she's got the attitude down pat, I'm telling you. Ravens fit weirdly well. Soon Brockton Bay will feel the wrath of Our Lady of Unkindness, as the evil Nazi Empire crumbles before the beaks of…"
"Please stop talking immediately, Assault," Director Piggot growled with a forbidding scowl. His wife poked him rather hard in the ribs at the same moment, so he aborted the rest of his improvised speech while making a mental note to write it down before he forgot, since some of it was gold. He'd achieved his main goal of winding them all up, so he could wait until next time.
Looking around the table, the Director asked, "Well? Is he being… him… or is there any truth to what he was babbling about?"
Triumph cleared his throat, making everyone aim their attention at him. "Clockblocker was complaining that Panacea's pet tried to eat him yesterday at school… Aegis said it was his own fault though. They started arguing about it so I ended up going somewhere else because it was getting silly. But from what he said it was a raven."
Massaging her forehead, the Director sighed faintly. "This city, I swear…" she muttered almost inaudibly. In a louder voice she asked after dropping her hand, "Does she have a Master rating now? Why a raven of all things? Is it a construct or something?"
Miss Militia was already looking at a tablet, scrolling through PHO. "It certainly looks like a perfectly normal raven," she said, holding the tablet up and showing them a photo apparently taken in Arcadia's cafeteria, where Amy Dallon and her sister were sitting side by side at a table. There was a rather large black bird sitting on the former's shoulder which Victoria Dallon was in the process of giving a fry to, and both the sisters looked pleased with life in general. Which was a little odd in Amy's case as the girl was much more commonly someone who looked tired and irritable a lot of the time. In the photo she seemed much happier and far better rested, which Ethan for one thought was good. He liked the grumpy healer, she was more than capable of giving as good as she got and then some which was always funny.
The heroine pulled up some other images and a couple of videos, in which the raven was shown doing a number of things which were somewhat startling as they seemed to require quite a lot of intelligence. "Apparently the school tried to make it stay outside but it somehow kept finding its way back inside within minutes so they gave up," she reported, having read some of the thread. "One boy here claims it could open one of the doors by grabbing the handle and flapping hard. Smart bird, I guess."
"Possibly the creature is enhanced in some manner," Armsmaster suggested, watching a video on another tablet with interest. "I was unaware that Miss Dallon's power set was capable of such things, but…"
"Or it's just that smart," Velocity said, causing the attention to shift to him. He shrugged. "We had a flock of ravens in the forest behind my house when I was a kid," he continued in explanation. "They're incredibly smart birds. Smarter than some actual people, honestly. You piss one off, it holds a grudge forever, and it'll tell all its friends too. Trust me, you don't fuck with the ravens unless you really want trouble for years. There's a reason they're so common in mythology. My guess is she made friends with it somehow and it's just decided to stay with her. I've heard of that sort of thing before a couple of times."
"Clockblocker did say Panacea told him she found the bird in the back yard before Christmas and healed it because it was badly hurt," Triumph nodded. "I didn't realize she could heal more than humans, but apparently she can. Might be the thing feels grateful."
Director Piggot shook her head. "I can't help feeling that this is going to be a problem sooner or later. I just hope it's not our problem…"
"How much harm can one raven cause?" Dauntless queried with a shrug.
Everyone slowly turned and stared at him. Ethan grinned. "You said the thing. I can't wait to see what happens."
"Dark Lady Amy?" Miss Militia mumbled, looking at the tablet in her hands with her eyebrows up.
Assault started laughing.
Director Piggot put her hands over her face.
Dauntless tried to look like he wasn't worried, but didn't quite pull it off.
The meeting ended quickly after that, in a much more amusing manner than it might have done. Ethan was quite pleased with the end result, and curious to meet Panacea's new friend.
"You guys ready for Arcadia?" Anne asked with a glance in the rear view mirror at Taylor, then sideways at Lisa. Lisa shrugged a little.
"As much as I can be, yeah," she replied. "I haven't been to school for… what, six months now, but I can still remember how it works."
"Unfortunately I have been to school recently and I remember how it works too," Taylor grumbled, making Anne grin at her. "It better not work like that at Arcadia or I'll be very disappointed…"
"Arcadia is a good school," Anne said, slowing at the yield sign and peering both ways before moving through the junction. "At least it was when I went there. That wasn't all that long ago so I doubt it's changed much."
"Oh, right, you did go there didn't you?" Taylor nodded understanding. "Hopefully you're right. I'd hate to have to summon something to eat the place."
Both Anne and Lisa laughed. "Please don't fill it with gnurrs, Taylor," Anne requested. "I like it. I've got some good memories from Arcadia."
"I wish I had good memories from Winslow," the girl in the rear seat muttered. After a moment she brightened up. "I've got one good one. The expression on Sophia's face when that cop tased her in the ass… That'll keep me laughing for years." She grinned as Lisa started giggling.
Anne smiled sadly. "I wish that hadn't happened to you. So much, for your sake and Emma's."
Reaching forward Taylor put her hand on the older girl's shoulder for a moment. "Me too, Anne."
"How's she doing?" Lisa asked after a few seconds of silence had passed in the car.
"A little better," Anne replied quietly. "It comes and goes. She's still very withdrawn and depressed, but every now and then there are hints of my sister there. She's going to be at the hospital for some time still even with the best outcome. The doctors think she will get better, they're encouraged by the progress so far, but… it's not a fast process and there aren't any shortcuts." She sighed faintly. "Mom and Dad are dealing with it same as I am, but none of us are happy about it. They told me to go back to university, because there was no reason for my own life to get wrecked over something I can't change, but I keep feeling guilty. Like I should be doing something. Helping somehow…"
"There's nothing you can do, Anne," Lisa remarked softly. "You're there for her when she needs you, and when your parents need you, but until they do, you have to get on with your own life. You can't fix it, only Emma can do that, with the help of the professionals."
Taylor and Anne both looked at the other girl who was peering out the side window, one hand fiddling with her seat belt. There was a note of knowing sadness in her voice, beyond sympathy for the Barnes problem, Taylor thought. After a moment Lisa looked at them. She shrugged. "I've got personal experience with people with mental issues. I know about guilt, and I know you can't avoid it, but it's corrosive, you can't give into it." Her voice was sad and quiet. "Sometimes people break. Some of them get better. Some… don't."
Leaning forward again Taylor put her arms around Lisa from the back seat, feeling her tremble for a moment, then relax slightly. She had a fairly good idea roughly what Lisa was talking about from hints she'd picked up here and there in the last few weeks, and it was aside from that something obviously very personal to her friend. It didn't take a genius to realize that the other girl had tragedy in her past.
Clearing her throat, Lisa said rather roughly, "Sorry. Bad memories."
Taylor squeezed her, then let go. "You don't need to explain, Lisa," she replied very softly. "We get it."
"Thanks," her friend whispered. Taylor looked at Anne to see the older girl watching them every now and then, her eyes sympathetic. She sat back, the three of them riding in silence for some minutes. Eventually Anne indicated right and turned when the traffic cleared, heading towards the water down Diver Street, which was a long and fairly straight downhill run that gave a nice view of the bay. Which at this point as the sun was setting was surprisingly picturesque, although the dark water looked exceedingly cold. Not than any of them were planning on going swimming…
When they found a parking spot, Anne quickly slid the car into it, while Taylor hopped out and fed the meter a couple of dollar coins. "That should do for a few hours," she said as she returned to her friends. "Food first, then the bookshop, or the other way around?"
"Considering the time we should probably do the bookshop first," Anne replied, locking the car and dropping the keys into her coat pocket. "I think they're open until about six or so but I know the most of the food places are open much later, so why rush things?"
"That seems reasonable," Lisa nodded. All three of them wanted to go book hunting for different reasons. Taylor was looking for some decent physics textbooks, past the ones she could get from the library, because she realized she needed to learn more about certain subjects that might help her make sense of some of the more esoteric aspects of Papa's ideas. Brockton Bay Books had been one of her mom's favorite places and had an absolutely enormous collection of both used and new books, so it seemed like a good place to go to. Aside from that she always enjoyed visiting the store, as it brought back memories she very much valued, and she hadn't been there for some time for various reasons.
Anne was looking for some required textbooks, and thought she might find them at a more sensible price used rather than pay the extortionate cost of new ones, while Lisa was mostly going along with it out of interest.
All three of them headed down the hill towards the shopping district, which was at the east end of the Boardwalk. From here it stretched back nearly a mile to the other end, which was where Taylor had initially rescued Lisa from Coil. The middle was the main tourist part, although there were stores catering to visitors scattered along the whole thing, but few tourists bothered with much other than the center part. It was prettier, wider, and much more of a ripoff. Locals knew that all too well of course.
A few minutes of walking brought them to the store, which didn't look like much from the outside, being a number of windows full of books, and a set of double doors with the name of the place in gold lettering on the glass. The building certainly wasn't modern, being brick and timber construction that dated back to the late nineteenth century, and if you didn't know about it, you'd probably assume it was a fairly small independent bookshop.
Of course, it was an independent bookshop, but small it wasn't. As they went through the doors that became apparent from the way the shelves seemed to stretch for a slightly implausible distance towards the back of the building. Taylor knew that the store actually filled quite a large percentage of the entire block, but it was in a very weird way, spreading out behind other shops that lined the street, and extending below them into cellars and above them as well. The same family had owned the store for over a century and had bought up other vacant property when it came up for sale, extending the business in ways that these days were probably not even legal due to various regulatory changes over the decades. By now it was a sprawling maze that reminded her of the DWA storeroom, having much of the same philosophy of never throwing anything useful away.
She rather doubted that anyone genuinely knew how many books were actually in here these days, or which ones. Even now, having first come here with her mom when she was four, she sometimes found herself in a room she hadn't even realized existed. People who loved books found their way here from all over the state, and sometimes the country.
Sometimes she wondered if a particular British author she liked had visited the place, or somewhere similar, based on concepts in his writing…
Smiling to herself, she looked around, then pointed. "I'm going to check the used science textbooks, which I think are that way," she said.
"OK, I've got a list here I need to go through, so that'll take me half an hour or so," Anne replied, pointing in a different direction. "Meet you guys at Science Fiction then?" That section was roughly in the middle of the shop so it made a good landmark.
"Works for me," Taylor nodded. She glanced at Lisa who was turning in a circle taking in the entire place with a slightly awed expression and grinned. "It's a little overwhelming the first time isn't it?" she asked.
"It's fucking amazing," Lisa laughed. "How big is this place?"
Taylor shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure anyone knows. But big. I remember Mom said they had something like one and a half million books the last time anyone bothered to count. Which was a long time ago. There's literally miles of shelves in here." Making her way through the narrow corridors around all the other customers, Lisa in her wake, Taylor looked around with a small smile recalling bittersweet memories of many trips here in the past. Eventually they found the right section and started poking around. It didn't take long for her to select several somewhat dogeared physics textbooks covering a number of specific subjects she was interested in. When she'd found what she was after, leafing through them and wincing at the math which was getting very complicated indeed but hopefully was within her reach, she stacked the books neatly and looked around for Lisa.
She found her friend in the next room over, kneeling on the floor with her head on one side reading the titles of some books in the computing section. Next to her were a couple of volumes covering cryptography and security. Looking at one, she asked with a grin, "Enhancing your skills, Agent Thinky?" in a very low voice. No one was near them, but she wasn't taking chances.
Lisa chuckled, pulling out another book and quickly flipping through the first couple of chapters before nodding and putting it on top of the others. "Of course. The Chief would expect me to," she replied in a similarly quiet tone. "Even I, as great as I obviously am, still have many things to learn."
"Eminently sensible," Taylor nodded wisely. Lisa grinned up at her, quickly went through the remaining books on the shelf, and took one final one which ended up with the rest.
"Got what you need?" she asked as she stood up with her prizes.
Taylor looked at the books she was carrying. "I think so, yeah. In theory I could probably find most of this on the internet but this is easier, and I like books anyway." She peered dubiously at one of the more advanced tomes and added, "I probably need to find a couple on math, though. This is going way past what I know at the moment."
"That way, right?" Lisa pointed to the left.
"Should be. Let's have a look." They headed in the relevant direction. A few minutes later Taylor had two more books on her stack, and Lisa one. They browsed a couple of other sections on the way back to the agreed meeting point, finding when they got there that they'd beaten Anne to the goal. Putting her books down with some relief, while wishing she could simply stuff them into storage, unfortunately not really sensible with so many people wandering around, Taylor flexed her wrists. "Books are heavy," she said, making Lisa smile.
"Yeah." Lisa dumped her own books on top of Taylor's, next to one of the chairs scattered around the shop, then looked around. "Cool. This one is science fiction, that one is fantasy next door?"
"Yes. Three rooms that way is romance, which is huge, over there is true crime, that one is Parahuman fiction, upstairs is historical fiction, over here is mysteries, and that one down the hallway is horror. That side for new books, this one for used." Taylor pointed in various directions.
"You know the place well," Lisa commented, making Taylor smile.
"Mom came here a lot. Every week sometimes. I used to come with her all the time, even before kindergarten. Haven't been in here for… I guess about a year. It hasn't changed."
Walking over to a set of shelves on the border between Science Fiction and Fantasy she started looking at the titles, seeing if there was anything that caught her eye, while Lisa wandered off towards the mystery area. A few minutes later voices caught her ear, making her glance over her shoulder to see two girls roughly her age, perhaps a year or two older, walking down the corridor from the romance section.
She stared a little since the shorter one of the pair, a brunette with somewhat frizzy hair and a lot of freckles who seemed vaguely familiar had a very large black bird sitting on her shoulder looking around alertly.
"I don't get what you see in that crap," that girl was saying to the taller blonde one next to her, a very pretty girl who again looked somewhat familiar, and was grinning. "It's mostly terrible. It's mostly the same book only with different character names, from what I've seen."
"Bit unfair, Ames," the blonde giggled. "Although I'll admit you're not entirely wrong in some cases."
"Leaving aside the fact that the only plot is there to shove people together in unrealistic ways so they can do sex at each other, the sex isn't even well written for the most part," the brunette complained, making her friend start laughing. "I've read more believable fanfiction on the internet than most of that stuff. And it was free!"
"You're a literary snob, Ames," the blonde said, putting her arm over the shorter girl's shoulders and hugging her for a moment. The bird, which Taylor thought was a raven of all things, made a small sound and hopped up onto the brunette's head, who then winced as its talons dug in.
"Ow! Edgar, watch it!"
Leaning forward the raven peered upside down at the girl he was riding on, which made her start laughing. "You are such an idiot," she added with amusement.
Taylor was watching, as were most of the other half dozen people present in the immediate vicinity, with a mix of bemused interest and mild disbelief. Edgar the raven made a strange sound at his human then straightened up again, moving back to her shoulder as the other girl released her, then leaned on her head. She reached up and stroked him while looking around, apparently spotting what she was searching for right next to where Taylor was standing, and heading over. "Here we go. Actual literature," she said to her friend, who sniffed in an obviously deliberately humorous manner and followed. "Written by people who know how to write a book. See?" She pulled one volume from the shelf and waved it at the blonde. "Expand your horizons. Stop reading trashy romances and read something with a plot."
"Dad likes this guy, doesn't he?" the other girl commented, taking the book and looking at the cover with a raised eyebrow. "What's this one about?"
"Death."
The girl raised the other eyebrow and stared at the brunette, who was staring back with a small smirk.
"How… uplifting," she finally said.
"Honest." Her friend giggled. "But not in the way you're thinking, I think. Death is one of the best characters in the entire series. Very… sympathetic."
The blonde shook her head a little confusedly but turned the book over to read the blurb on the back while Taylor grinned to herself and went back to browsing. She'd read that one, and the girl next to her was right, it was very good.
"Excuse me," that girl said a moment later, making her look. "Can I just…" She pointed at one of the books in front of Taylor, who stepped aside politely.
"Of course," she replied. The raven cocked his head and inspected her curiously, Taylor returning the favor. "Sorry, I have to ask… Is that actually a raven?"
The girl looked up, then at the bird riding on her shoulder, and nodded, smiling for a moment. "Yeah, he is. He's… complicated. But I seem to be stuck with him. He's mostly harmless."
"He's well trained," Taylor commented admiringly. The girl laughed.
"He's not trained at all, or if he is, he trained himself. I sure didn't. But he behaves himself a lot more than you'd expect. Way too smart for his own good."
"Huh. Weird."
"Tell me about it." Putting the book down at her feet with a nod, the other girl nodded. "Great, I've been looking for this one. I wonder if there are any more of his books here…?" She trailed off into a mumble, searching the titles with her eyes. Taylor glanced at the book she'd selected, then at the shelf.
"This one?" she asked, removing another volume and handing it over.
"Oh, great, thanks! Yeah, I wanted to read this as well." The girl next to her smiled. "I love this place."
"Me too," Taylor replied. "My mom used to take me here all the time, but…" She shrugged. "She died a few years ago."
"Oh. Sorry to hear that."
"Thanks. But yeah, it's a really good bookshop. I haven't been in here for a while but I needed some reference books I couldn't find in the library. Got those, now I'm just looking for something fun to read while we're waiting for a friend."
"This looks neat," the blonde said from behind them, making both look to see she was about ten pages into the book her friend had given her. "Maybe I should read it."
"Yes, you should, Vicky." The brunette looked pleased. "I don't have that one so we'll get it." The other girl nodded absently and moved to sit on a nearby chair, next to Taylor's and Lisa's stack of books. Her friend watched her, shook her head in a tolerant way, and turned back to the shelf. Taylor found herself studying the blonde, now fairly sure she recognized her, the name having given the clue she'd needed. The main reason it hadn't been obvious was that she'd never expected to meet Glory Girl of all people casually wandering about in a bookshop. For some reason it seemed a little weird…
That deduction, along with the other name, made her realize that next to her, with for some reason a raven on her shoulder, was none other than Panacea, or Amy Dallon. So the pair were sisters rather than friends, she mused.
The raven was still watching her curiously, making her smile at it. "Hello, Edgar," she said in a low voice to the bird, who clacked his beak at her and made a deep churring sound. The girl he was sitting on looked around at the sound and smiled again.
"He seems to like you," she commented as Edgar stretched his neck out a surprisingly long way to eye Taylor closely, his head on one side.
"He's kind of cute," Taylor admitted, watching the bird examine her with interest.
"He's a massive pain in the ass with a completely warped sense of humor, but yeah, he's cute too," Amy Dallon replied, reaching up to scratch the raven under his beak. He closed his eyes and looked like he was thoroughly enjoying it, complaining when she stopped.
"Amy? Amy Dallon?" a familiar voice said from behind the pair, making both turn to see Anne staring at Edgar. "I thought it was you. I haven't seen you for nearly a year."
"Anne?" The Dallon girl turned fully around, smiling. "Hey, how are you? It was at that party at Carol's office, wasn't it?"
Anne nodded, still looking at Edgar with a quizzical expression, the raven peering back in an interested manner. "Yeah, Dad brought us with him. Emma was bored rigid but I thought it was fun…" She paused, her face showing momentary pain, then sighed, smiling in a slightly forced way. "How are you doing? And Vicky?"
"I'm doing pretty well all things considered, thanks," Amy replied. "Vicky's over there reading. Looks like she found something interesting other than that romance crap she's always buying." The girl nodded towards where her blonde sister was now apparently quite absorbed in the book and didn't seem to have noticed the current conversation. Anne glanced at the other girl, smiled, and returned to inspecting Amy's feathered friend.
"OK. I can't not ask. Why are you wearing a raven?" Anne turned her gaze to Amy, who grinned.
"He followed me home, and now we can't get rid of him," she replied. Both Anne and Taylor, who had been standing listening, looked at each other then back to the Dallon girl. "Honest. I know it sounds nuts, but it's basically exactly what happened. I found him before Christmas in the back yard, you remember when it was windy as hell and snowing hard?" Anne nodded. "He was all smashed up near the fence, I think the wind blew him into it, but he was still alive, so I took him inside and fixed him up. And now he thinks he lives there." She sighed faintly but fondly with a glance at the bird, who poked her on the nose with his beak making her yelp. "Idiot thing! Don't do that!"
Turning back to Anne, she shrugged. "See? He's a pain in the ass but for some reason he's fixated on me, and follows me around everywhere."
"That's… a little odd," Anne commented, seeming fascinated. Taylor certainly was. "I knew corvids are very smart and ravens are right up there even in those terms, but I wouldn't have thought one would just… move in like that."
"Tell me about it," Amy sighed. "But that's what happened. That night he literally knocked on the window and wanted to come inside, and ever since then he doesn't want to go. Believe me, we tried. In the end we just gave up since it was easier, and leaving aside a weird sense of humor he's pretty easy to handle."
"He thinks since she healed him he needs to stick close." They looked to see Vicky Dallon now watching them, the book in her hands closed and resting on her knee. She was grinning. "Hi, Anne. How's Emma?"
Anne's face fell. "Not… good," she replied after a few seconds, during which both Dallons looked concerned.
"What happened?" Vicky stood up and walked over to them.
"It's a long story," Anne sighed. "But she had… well, bluntly she had a psychotic break." Vicky looked horrified and Amy winced. "She's in hospital right now, being treated for severe mental issues. We hope she'll get better, but… It's going to be a slow process." Taylor watched with sadness as her friend sagged, her voice conveying how tired she was underneath a fairly normal exterior.
"Oh, god. I'm so sorry," Vicky said quietly. Amy nodded agreement.
"Thanks for that. It's not good, but at least they think she probably will recover eventually." Anne rubbed a small tear from the corner of her eye, while Taylor spotted Lisa coming back their way with a couple of books in hand behind her. Her friend paused for a moment, taking in the scene in a glance, then joined them.
"Everything all right?" she queried although Taylor was sure her power had filled her in on the situation in moments.
"Yeah, Lisa." Anne nodded as she looked to the side. "This is Amy and Vicky Dallon. Dad works in the same law firm as their mom, so we've met a few times in the past. Vicky asked about Emma, and…"
She didn't finish but Lisa looked understanding. "Nice to meet you both," she said, turning to the Dallon sisters. "Lisa Wilbourn."
"Hi," Amy replied, Vicky nodding with a smile. Lisa peered at Edgar, who looked back with his head turned to the side, blinking a couple of times.
"That's a raven," she said after a moment of puzzlement.
"Yes, I know," Amy remarked with a grin. Taylor muffled a snort of laughter, which made Lisa sigh faintly.
"There's a story there," her friend said.
"Yeah, there is," Vicky laughed. "A really bizarre one." Lisa raised an eyebrow so the blonde recounted much the same story Amy had a minute ago, with more details that had Taylor and her two friends laughing. The other Dallon girl looked resigned to the comments her sister was making, shaking her head when Vicky started telling them about Edgar apparently inviting all his friends to be healed earlier that day.
When she finished, Vicky shrugged as they all gazed at her in mild disbelief. "I know, it's weird, but it happened. Edgar is a smart little guy and he's telling everyone else where to go to get a checkup."
Amy sighed. "That was obviously a one off, Vicky. It's not going to happen again, I expect."
"Wanna bet?" Her sister grinned widely, making Lisa snort with laughter and Taylor and Anne smile. The healer just glared at the other girl, giving the impression this was an argument they'd had before more than once.
"Anyway," Amy said in a way that made it clear she was changing the subject no matter what anyone else thought, and turning to Anne while deliberately ignoring Vicky who grinned at Taylor and Lisa, "I'm sorry to hear about Emma. Mental problems are always hard to watch." She sighed faintly. "Dad has depression, so I've seen it first hand. Can't fix it, unfortunately. Although Edgar sure seems to have helped there for some weird reason."
The raven looked at her at the sound of his name, having been inspecting Taylor again with his head on one side, then very gently started playing with Amy's hair making her smile a little. "Daft bird," she said with affection, reaching up and stroking him.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't introduce Taylor," Anne said a moment later. She nodded at Taylor, who waved a hand when the two Dallons looked at her. "Taylor Hebert. Her family and mine have been friends forever."
"Hi," Taylor said with a smile. "Nice to meet you guys."
"Same back at you," Vicky replied brightly. "I don't recognize either you or Lisa, though. You don't go to Arcadia, right?"
"Not until tomorrow," Lisa replied, the Dallons looking at her, then Taylor, then each other.
"Ahhh… Winslow?" Amy asked curiously.
"Me, yeah," Taylor confirmed with a nod. "Lisa was in Boston, but she's living with me and Dad now."
Amy glanced at her sister with an intrigued look, making Lisa chuckle. "Long, horrible story. It's better now, but I was… let's just say it wasn't fun for a few months and leave it there."
"Same, really," Taylor added, causing the pair to look back to her. "Whatever you've heard about Winslow, the stories don't do it justice, trust me. It makes Mos Eisley look like paradise."
Amy both grinned and winced at the same time while her sister looked puzzled for a moment before her expression cleared up. "Shit. That bad?"
"Oh, god, yeah," Taylor sighed. "There was one teacher worth the name, and the rest of them were a waste of space, while at least half the students were just waiting to move into a gang. The rest of us kept our heads down and tried to survive the whole fucking experience. Which… wasn't easy." She shrugged. "I don't miss it."
The other brunette glanced at her sister again, both girls wearing expressions showing curiosity and interest. Anne watched them, before getting a thoughtful look. "Hey, I have an idea," she commented. Everyone turned to her. "We were going to go get something to eat after buying our books. If you two have time, maybe you want to join us? You could tell Taylor and Lisa about Arcadia, perhaps. I went there but that was two years ago now. More up to date information could be useful."
Vicky appeared interested, turning to her sister with an inquiring gaze. "I could eat," she said. "Ames?"
"Sounds like an idea, sure," the other girl nodded. "Where were you planning on going?"
"Probably Gino's," Taylor replied. "We all love Italian food and that's the best place in the whole city for that. My dad's been going there for longer than I've been alive."
"Ooh, I love Italian!" Vicky smiled widely. "Let's do that. Mom isn't expecting us back until later anyway. We can call her and tell her we got dinner ourselves." She already had her phone in her hand. Amy seemed a mix of amused and resigned, as if she expected this from her sister, but nodded.
"Sure, why not?" she replied. "I haven't had Italian for ages. And I've never been to… Gino's?"
"You're missing out then," Anne grinned. "I want to have a quick look for some fiction, then I'm done at least."
"I've got what I came for," Taylor agreed, Lisa nodding as well.
"I'll only need another ten minutes if that's OK," Amy put in, turning back to the shelf in front of her. "Just want to find a couple of titles I've been look… Ah. There's one of them right there." She grabbed a book off the shelf to one side and looked at it, smiling for a moment. It only took her a couple of minutes to locate the other one she was after, Taylor looking at the title and smiling as well as it was one she'd enjoyed. The other girl seemed to have good taste in fiction. Soon afterwards the expanded group was heading for the checkout, carrying between them a couple of dozen books and looking forward to a good meal.
Edgar, Taylor noticed, seemed fascinated by her and kept studying her with interest, which amused both her and Administrator who was watching the whole thing from the background of her mind. And apparently feeling quite cheerful.
Wiping her mouth with her napkin, Amy leaned back feeling pleasantly full. She looked around the restaurant, seeing the various customers eating and talking to each other, the long narrow room pretty full and giving an atmosphere of happy companionship. Anne and Taylor had been greeted by a couple of staff members in a way that made it clear they were well known here, and had spent a little while talking before their entire group had been shown to a table.
Anne had certainly been right. The food here was remarkably good, and Amy had decided within the first few bites that she would definitely come back here in future. The prices were pretty decent too, especially considering just how nice the fare was. By the looks of the place it catered largely to locals, rather than tourists, which fitted with the way it was down a side street she'd never even heard of before, some distance back from the waterfront. Most of the people wandering past outside had the look of blue collar workers, and there were a fair number of them inside as well, with a scattering of customers that seemed to be those you'd expect to see in a high end restaurant instead.
If this place had been on the boardwalk it would probably be full of such people, she thought, but apparently from what Taylor had said the owners didn't care about that. They got more than enough business already and were perfectly happy to be where they'd been for forty years or more. Which was fair enough, she supposed, while snagging one last piece of really good bread and wiping up the last of the sauce on her plate with it before sticking it in her mouth.
Glancing to the side she saw Edgar was still perched on the awning over a shop on the other side of the road where he'd ended up after she'd managed to persuade him that he had to stay outside. The raven hadn't been at all keen on the idea but Amy felt that taking him into a place that served food would probably be pushing her luck and had spent some time convincing the bird that it was in both their best interests that he stayed outside. All the while thinking that this was ridiculous, because she was explaining to a bird that he had to stay in the open air rather than come into a building with her.
Which he clearly wanted to do. The whole thing was nuts, but apparently that was her life now.
She'd made sure to save him a couple of meatballs to make up for the indignity of having to remain in the cold, though.
Looking back to the table, she watched and listened as Vicky described with lots of gestures one of her more dramatic fights, this one against Kreig who she had a particular dislike of, both because he was an unrepentant Nazi and because his power was quite effective at opposing hers. Kinetic energy manipulation tended to fuck up her application of copious amounts of kinetic energy in the form of a punch, which annoyed her a lot.
Nazis, after all, needed to be punched on a regular basis and she felt he wasn't playing fair if he avoided what was coming to him.
Amy rather agreed, as she was also very much not fond of the E88. She'd had to fix far too many of their victims since she Triggered, and hadn't been in time in more cases than she liked to think of. If the entire Empire up and vanished she for one wouldn't shed a tear. They were worse than the ABB, who at least had the decency to mostly keep their crimes in the background rather than burning down apartment buildings because one or more of the tenants was the wrong color or some such bullshit.
That had happened twice in the last four months, and if Amy ever had the opportunity to discover who did it, she was thinking that perhaps Edgar might like an eyeball meal or something. It was traditional with ravens, wasn't it?
Shaking her head with inner dark amusement at the path her thoughts had gone down, she tried to push the annoyance with bigots and racists to the back of her mind and enjoy the current situation which was much more fun.
Bumping into Anne Barnes in the bookshop had turned out to be a good thing. She'd got a nice meal out of it, and met a couple of interesting people. Lisa was someone who'd clearly been living on the street or something like that based on some of the things she'd said, presumably having left home because of an event that had caused her a lot of trouble. Amy had met enough people in a similar state since she'd been working at the hospital to recognize the signs, which were subtle but definitely there. Things the girl said, and things she didn't say when the conversation came around to that area, gave her past away if you knew what to look for.
Amy didn't know the details, and wasn't going to ask as it was none of her business, but she was glad Lisa had met Taylor, who seemed to have basically rescued the other girl and given her somewhere to live. Taylor herself was obviously a very intelligent and observant person, and someone who gave the impression of watching everything around her with a degree of awareness that most people didn't have. Amy had noticed how at one point one of the other restaurant patrons had tripped while standing up at the next table and Taylor had deftly avoided a flailing elbow without actually looking at it, before putting her hand up in just the right way to steady the older man.
He'd thanked her, apologized for nearly falling in her lap, then left with his wife, while Taylor just went back to eating. Amy had watched with interest, glancing at her sister to see Vicky hadn't appeared to notice anything, Anne was talking to her, and Lisa… had been watching her with a somewhat analytical gaze. The other girl had met her eyes for a moment then reached for a bread stick while saying something to Taylor, her attention leaving Amy completely.
That little episode had given her something to think about. That being wondering if Taylor was a Parahuman. Because reflexes like that were pretty unlikely in someone who wasn't… Again, it wasn't something she was going to ask, or talk about, because you didn't do that, but it was intriguing nonetheless.
Ten minutes later she'd accidentally brushed her fingers against Taylor's hand as both of them had reached for the same roll at the same moment, and got her answer. Interestingly enough, Taylor was not a Parahuman. Her own powers told her that immediately. She had a Pollentia, sure enough, but so did about twenty percent of the population apparently at random. But she definitely hadn't gone through a Trigger event, so she couldn't have powers, which meant she was just that quick and observant all by herself.
Impressive.
The thing that Amy did notice via her momentary contact and her own ability was that Taylor's brain was… somewhat odd. Not in a way she'd ever come across before either. And not in any sort of malignant fashion, she didn't have anything wrong with it, but it was somehow, in a way that the healer couldn't put into words even in her own head, not the way a brain was normally laid out. For the life of her she was unable to describe it better than just odd. For some bizarre reason she had a momentary feeling that even her own power thought the same, but shook her head at the fanciful idea and it went away.
It made her want to have a better look, just to satisfy her own curiosity, but she couldn't work out how to go about that. Walking up to someone you'd only just met and saying, 'Do you mind if I examine your brain because it's weird and I find that interesting' seemed like a pretty good way to get some very strange looks followed by quite a lot of running away…
Probably not the sort of thing you should do if you didn't want people crossing the road to avoid you.
"Dessert, ladies?" their waiter said as he paused beside the table, holding a sheaf of menus.
Anne smiled at him, then looked around the group. "I could go for something. Their tiramisu is amazing." Vicky's eyes lit up and Amy suppressed a grin. Her sister loved tiramisu.
"Can we see the dessert menu, please, Guiseppe?" Taylor asked with a smile. The man nodded and handed out some of the stiff laminated paper he was holding. Everyone studied it briefly before placing their orders. Shortly they were waiting for the last course to arrive and discussing Arcadia, while Amy reflected curiously on exactly how Taylor's brain differed from most peoples and why.
Perhaps one day she'd manage to find out...
As they left the restaurant, everyone feeling pleasantly well fed and in a generally good mood, Taylor pulled her coat up around her ears against the chilly wind blowing in off the bay. It was nearly half past seven now, long since dark, and by the feel of it below freezing by some way. The clearing sky meant that at least no more snow was imminent but at the same time without the clouds to reflect heat back to the ground it was going to get pretty cold tonight, she thought. As she turned to say something to the others an aggrieved cawing sound was accompanied by a flurry of feathers, heralding Edgar arriving on Amy's shoulder. The raven complained bitterly about being left outside, making the girl he was sitting on shake her head a little and sigh, while her sister grinned.
He scolded his human for a few seconds, before grabbing some of her hair and holding on as if it was like a comfort blanket for a baby. Taylor watched, along with her friends, with amusement and slight bewilderment. Amy met their gazes in a resigned manner and shrugged helplessly.
"See? He's… weird."
"He definitely is very attached to you," Anne commented with a chuckle.
"Tell me about it. Stupid bird…" Amy reached up and stroked Edgar's head. Her other hand dipped into her pocket and pulled out the napkin she'd put a couple of meatballs into during their meal along with some pieces of roll. "Stop eating my hair and have this you feathery menace," she added as Edgar let go and leaned forward eagerly. He quickly but neatly gobbled down the food as they stood outside Gino's, before making a satisfied churring sound and leaning on Amy's head in an affectionate manner. "I take it I'm forgiven for the horror of making a wild animal stay outside where it belongs?" the girl commented dryly, looking at her avian friend.
"Kronk!"
"That's what I thought."
By now the other four were laughing, while Amy just looked resigned although in a good humored manner. Various passers-by had stopped to watch and were smiling before moving on. "Your life is apparently a little strange," Lisa remarked.
"You have no idea," the healer sighed, reaching up to scratch Edgar behind his head. The bird produced a small sound of delight at the move.
"It'll get stranger when the rest of her flock of minions moves in," Vicky put in brightly, making Amy glare at her sister who only grinned back. "Mom's not going to be happy about that though…"
"Stop making it worse," Amy growled. "That's not going to happen anyway."
Vicky winked at the rest of them as she reached out and patted her shorter sister on the head. "You just keep thinking that, Dark Lady Amy."
Slapping the hand away, Amy grumbled almost inaudibly, the others watching with amusement. Taylor thought that by the looks of it the two sisters had a very good relationship to each other, as Amy clearly wasn't actually offended. She could feel Administrator at the back of her mind emoting a sense of amusement as well, which caused her to smile privately to herself.
"It was nice meeting you two," she said a moment later. "And thanks for all the information about Arcadia. It sounds like a much better place than Winslow. Although that wouldn't be hard, really…" She sighed a little. "I won't miss it."
"From what you said I'm not surprised," Vicky replied, her sister nodding agreement. "I'd always heard it was a shithole, but I didn't know it that that much of a shithole." Taylor had described life in Winslow fairly vividly and entirely accurately and the Dallon sisters had not been happy about what she'd explained.
"It gave shitholes a bad name," Taylor grumbled, making Lisa snort with laughter. "But that's in the past. I'm never going there again, and with any luck they'll end up knocking the entire place down and building something more useful there."
"Considering how much asbestos they found in the place that might actually be cheaper than ripping it all out and rebuilding the school," Lisa pointed out, which was certainly a possibility.
"Yeah. The last report I heard on the news is proof that people have been fucking around with building codes for a long time," Anne commented, shaking her head. "Mayor Christner at least seems to be trying to fix that finally."
"Mom thinks he's pretty good for a politician," Vicky replied. "Which is a hell of a compliment from our mom, trust me. She's… not impressed by politics." The blonde shrugged, smiling. "Or a lot of other things."
Amy nodded, appearing reflective. "She's not wrong," the other girl added. As she opened her mouth to say something else, there was a screech of rubber on tarmac at the far end of the road, causing everyone in the area to whip their heads around to look at where the noise came from. At the same moment Administrator sent a wave of caution to Taylor. She saw a dark colored van scream around the corner from the main street, barely making the turn and rocking violently up onto two wheels then slamming back onto all four as it fishtailed wildly, the driver frantically correcting. Whoever it was managed to regain control just enough to stop the vehicle flipping, but only by bouncing off a number of parked cars in showers of glass and a series of metallic crunches.
The engine roared and the van, still sliding a little sideways, accelerated again, even as another vehicle followed it around the corner, this one being a large black SUV. The driver of the second vehicle managed to make the turn without quite as much in the way of dramatics although it was still loud and sideways, both of the machines moving at far above the speed limit and a sensible speed considering the icy roads.
All this happened in no more than seconds, and everyone was still gaping in shock. Taylor hadn't bothered looking beneath that far away and was thinking that perhaps she should get into the habit of scanning more than just her immediate surroundings, while she watched both vehicles roar down the middle of the road in their direction.
"What the…?" Anne managed to say, before everyone ducked at the sound of gunfire. "HOLY SHIT!" she screamed, dropping to the sidewalk in a manner that was an ingrained instinct with almost anyone who lived in Brockton Bay for any length of time, never mind grew up there. Taylor and Lisa hit the ground right next to her at the same moment, and Vicky threw herself in front of Amy, while Edgar squawked loudly enough to nearly drown out the engine sounds for a second. All around them pedestrians were now hiding behind anything heavy, in a way that from an external viewpoint would probably have looked like something out of a movie it was so practiced.
The initial shots had been from a pistol, Taylor recognized, as it was something much too common in the city. Most locals could identify by ear a surprising range of firearms. It had come from the rear of the van, which when she peered into it, contained three people, one driving, and two in the back. The return fire came from the SUV and it was much more voluminous, by the sound of it from a machine gun, probably some AK variant. The noise was very distinctive and she'd heard it on the news far too many times, and at a distance in real life once. Right now, it was way too fucking close and a hell of a lot louder than she'd realized. Looking into the SUV her eyes widened as she recognized one of the people in it.
She glanced at Lisa, who was peering at the SUV as well, and beyond her at Anne who was clearly also staring through beneath. "Alabaster," she whispered urgently to Lisa, who nodded. "E88. Who are the other guys?"
"ABB. Got interrupted raiding an E88 weapons stash," her friend hissed back quickly, her power more than up to the job. "E88 got three of them, these guys managed to escape. E88 followed."
"Those lunatics are going to kill someone," Anne said just loudly enough to hear over the roar of the engines, which were nearly on top of them now, and the gunfire, which was intensifying. Stray bullets whined overhead, one punching a hole in the window of the restaurant, several more shattering windshields of a number of vehicles and bouncing off the road.
It had been under twenty seconds since the two groups had appeared at the end of the road half a mile away, although it felt much longer to Taylor. Something had to be done and a quick glance over her shoulder showed that the one most likely to be able to directly intervene, in other words Vicky Dallon, was occupied in covering her sister, both girls now in the doorway to Gino's. Vicky looked like she wanted to leap into action but didn't want to abandon her sister and was very conflicted and very angry. Edgar was, Taylor noticed, huddled underneath Amy, his glittering gaze fixed on her.
She returned the look for a moment, then turned her attention to the van which zoomed past a second later. Deciding enough was more than enough, she reached out.
The left front wheel fell off the van just as the driver turned slightly, making the front end drop to the road, the left side hitting in a shower of sparks. With a rending crash the brake rotor dug into the tarmac, causing the vehicle to slew hard to the side, then flip and roll several times. It came to a halt on its side against a telephone pole which cracked but didn't quite snap, steam rising from the exposed engine. A moment later the SUV hit a pothole which ripped the entire right wheel and suspension out of the body, spun twice, and also rolled. It ended up slamming into the curb, bouncing over it, and sliding into the service alley directly across from Gino's where it wedged in place with sparks flying. The engine raced for a moment, smoke pouring from the exhaust, before it coughed and died, rattling into silence.
The van's engine died a moment later with a nasty crunching bang and silence fell.
"Jesus Christ on a trampoline," Vicky finally breathed from behind them, breaking the incredulous shock almost everyone on the street felt. Sirens could be faintly heard in the distance as the cops closed in, but the immediate vicinity was weirdly quiet. Quiet enough that moaning could be heard from both vehicles, as well as closer to hand. Hot metal ticked as it cooled rapidly.
Taylor turned to look at Lisa, who met her eyes knowingly. She nodded, then both stood, Lisa giving Anne a hand up. All of them were covered in snow and dirt from the sidewalk but otherwise undamaged. "I think you're probably the best one to make sure no one decides to start shooting again," Lisa commented to Vicky, who was gaping at the two wrecks with a somewhat bewildered expression. The blonde turned her head to look at her, blinked a couple of times, then her face hardened. She looked at her sister who was standing up, Edgar having retaken his place on Amy's shoulder while still examining Taylor, then nodded.
"Yeah. I think someone needs to have a time out," she grated. Amy nodded, indicating she was fine, then the plainclothes Glory Girl lifted off and zipped over the street to land at the back of the SUV. She grabbed the tow hitch and yanked, dragging the entire vehicle out of the alley with a groaning sound in a fine display of Parahuman strength, before walking around and bending down to look in the driver's side window.
"Hey, motherfucker. You guys still alive?" She didn't sound happy at all. "Want to stay like that? Toss those guns out right the fuck now."
Several weapons clattered out the broken windows. Taylor smiled, impressed. Even as Vicky heaved one of the rather battered gang members, who squeezed out of the window through a deflated mass of airbags, to his feet, two BBPD cars quickly approached them. Blue and red lights illuminated the whole area.
Turning to Vicky's sister, Taylor asked, "You alright?"
"I'm fine," Amy replied, nodding. She looked extremely irritated. "You guys?"
"Yeah, nothing damaged except my coat," Lisa said, looking down at herself with annoyance. "But I think that guy over there probably needs medical attention." She pointed to the side, where two women were helping a middle aged man to his feet. His right leg was dark and wet, while his face was white.
"Fuck," Amy snarled, hurrying over. The others followed, Taylor and Anne helping the two women who were both in their late thirties or so and looked panicked to the side while Lisa and Amy quickly took possession of the victim. "Sir? I'm Panacea. Don't worry, you'll be fine. Just sit down here on the sidewalk for me, OK?" Her voice had changed to something that was still irritated but clearly not at the person who, by the look of it, had collected a fragment of a ricocheting bullet. Taylor checked and could clearly see a small chunk of metal lodged in his upper thigh near his waist, although luckily it had missed hitting anything critical as far as she could see. "Do I have permission to heal you?"
"Please," he said in a rather strained voice, attempting a smile. "And thank you."
Anne waved to one of the cops who had gone over to where Vicky had extracted all the E88 gang members, having them lying face down on the sidewalk with their hands over the backs of their heads. One had apparently gone right through the windshield and she'd retrieved him from the alley itself. The cop looked over at the healer, clearly recognizing her, and came towards them. "Panacea?" he said to Amy with a nod to the others.
"Gunshot wound, looks like a bullet fragment," Amy reported, her hand on that of the victim who seemed to have suddenly found himself without any pain and was thankful for it. "Got an evidence bag?"
"Yeah. Hang on." The cop rummaged through the pouches on his vest, then handed her a plastic bag. She worked on the man's leg for a moment, having pulled his clothing down just enough to expose the wound, before dropping a small piece of metal into the bag and sealing it. Handing it back, she returned her attention to her patient, moments later nodding in satisfaction.
"There you go. You'll probably be pretty hungry, so get a good meal. I also fixed a minor heart valve issue. Not dangerous right now but in ten years or so it could have been nasty." The man looked surprised as well as pleased when he carefully stood up, then tested his leg.
"Thank you, Panacea," he said gratefully. "Thank you very much."
"You're welcome," Amy replied with a smile, looking much more cheerful. The man's two companions rushed over as she stepped back and hugged the former victim, while the cop and the rest of them watched. Turning to Amy, the officer finished signing the bag and put it back into his vest.
"You were here during the attack?" he queried.
"Yeah, we just came out of Gino's," Amy replied. "Then those assholes turned up and it all went to shit. Who the hell are they?"
He shook his head. "That bunch are ABB, those guys over there are E88. Looks like a turf war or something that got out of hand. They've left a trail of destruction for about three miles back that way." He waved at the other end of the street. "By some miracle no one was killed although we've got four more gunshot victims, two wrecks with minor casualties, and fuck knows how many other cars smashed all to hell."
"Goddamn Nazis," Amy snarled. "I hate those bastards."
He took his cap off and wiped his brow then replaced it. "Join the club," he muttered. Looking around, he added, "We'll have to get witness statements from everyone. Can we start with your party as long as we're here?"
Amy glanced at Taylor and the others, who shrugged. "Sure." He pulled out a small recorder and started it, before beginning with the questions.
Lisa finished giving her statement, the cop thanking her, then stepped back as he moved onto the man who'd been shot. More cops had arrived and the two dozen or so witnesses to the event were all standing around being interviewed, while the staff of Gino's had brought out trays of coffee for everyone. One of the waiters was taping some plastic sheeting over the inside of the bullet hole in their window, which luckily hadn't resulted in any injuries, the round having ended up in the ceiling just inside the building. She joined Taylor and Anne, who were sipping coffee and watching the proceedings. The whole area was a mass of flashing emergency lights coming from by now five police cars, an ambulance, and a fire rescue vehicle, the crew of which were making safe the two wrecks. All the captured gang members had already been carted off, Amy having patched them up just enough to make sure they were going to stay alive but apparently not even slightly inclined to do more than that.
Oddly enough Lisa couldn't find it in herself to disagree. She wasn't keen on being shot at on the whole, and very much didn't like Nazis anyway.
"Apparently Alabaster was in that SUV according to what the other gang members told the cops," she commented idly, leaning on the wall next to her friends and taking a drink of her own coffee. "Looks like he got away. Pity, that."
"Huh," Taylor remarked, glancing at her, then returning to watching the fire crew guide a flat bed vehicle recovery truck into position to retrieve the SUV. "How did he escape I wonder?"
"Must have gone out the windshield with that other guy, but his power let him recover and he legged it," Anne pointed out with a small smile. "Ran away like the coward a Nazi is."
"Sounds plausible," Lisa agreed. Inwardly she was grinning. "No sign of the PRT yet though."
"No actual Parahuman on site, so they're not really interested, I guess," Taylor shrugged.
"Yeah." Lisa sipped more coffee. "Good thing someone didn't bother with proper maintenance on that van. Fire guys said they found a couple of the lug nuts on the road way down there by the corner. Must have been loose and fell out when it slid like that. The others probably came out miles away."
"Yep. Dad always told me you need to check your car properly and pay attention to funny sounds," Taylor agreed. "Good advice by the sound of it, if this is what it leads to."
"We should make sure that pot hole gets mentioned to your Dad's guys so they can put it on the list to patch," Anne commented, nodding to the road.
"Been a long winter, I bet there's lots of new potholes all over the place that need fixing," Lisa suggested.
"Sure looks that way."
The trio exchanged glances full of humor, then walked over to where Vicky and Amy were now chatting, while watching the goings-on. "That got a lot more exciting than I expected," Lisa said with a smile. "Although maybe it's normal for Brockton Bay?"
Vicky sighed, while Amy snickered. "More normal than it should be. Fucking gangs. And I can't believe Alabaster got away… Oh well. Next time I'll nail that shit head." She smacked her fist into her palm, looking annoyed.
"Good luck with that," Anne replied with a nod of understanding. She looked at her watch. "We need to get back I think. It's taken longer than we'd planned on. It was nice meeting you two after all this time, and thank you for filling Taylor and Lisa in on Arcadia. Stay in touch, yeah?"
"We will, Anne," Amy replied, her sister nodding. "And… I hope Emma recovers. If I can help…?"
Anne sighed faintly. "I doubt you can, but thanks for the offer. All we can do is wait and see." She glanced at Taylor who smiled. "Time will tell."
"Fair enough. See you guys at Arcadia, I guess," the healer remarked, looking at Taylor and Lisa.
"See you there. And look after her, Edgar," Taylor replied, reaching out to stroke the raven, who dipped his head and produced an amusingly affirmative sound, before clacking his beak. Amy grinned at her bird, who poked her in the nose then cackled.
"Damn it, Edgar!" she yelped. Vicky started giggling causing Amy to glare at her.
Laughing, the other three headed back towards Anne's car with a wave to their new acquaintances. Once they were safely driving back to the Hebert household, Taylor chuckled.
"Two. I have two Nazis. Ha Ha Ha."
Anne and Lisa were laughing so hard moments later they had to pull over to let the hilarity subside.
"Where the fuck is Alabaster?"
Krieg shrugged helplessly, watching as Kaiser smashed his desk to flinders in an apoplectic fit of rage.
Danny sighed faintly, examining his daughter and the other two, who looked rather pleased with themselves. This was getting just a little silly.
On the other hand, it was one less Nazi on the street so he couldn't actually complain about it.
{So. Ready for another lesson?}
[DATA!]
{Yeah. Lots of data. And thanks, by the way.}
[AFFECTION]
{Same.}
