* Danny Hebert *

The little shrine/altar thing was sitting exactly where his new memories said it was.

The little cup there was dry, so he placed a cold growler of New England Brewing's Gandhi-Bot beer next to it. He was only slightly surprised that it vanished a moment later. He also had a distinct feeling of someone somewhere somehow smiling and giving him a nod and brief bit of attention.

While wine was typically poured on the floor to honor the gods, he knew (somehow) that Grandpa preferred beer. Not that Grandpa or any of the others of his little group actually paid much attention to him or his family. That was actually a good thing though.

Even from what he'd overheard when Ares and Annette had begun trading stories on Taylor's tenth birthday - the scrutiny of the Olympians was to be avoided.

The brief feeling of attention from Elsewhere had completely faded a moment after the now-empty jug reappeared, with a little cardboard rectangle with the script proclaiming "a solid 8 of 10" so that was something to remember.

Next to the altar was the box with the padlock. Within were the simple, non-magical, spear and shield and shortsword that had been Taylor's coming-of-age gift. Annette had locked them away, as inappropriate for a ten-year-old. At least by current standards of behavior.

Maybe it was time to get those out.

Huh. Didn't he have something like that from HIS tenth birthday. Actually, now that he thought about it - he did. Simple iron-bladed spear. He'd practiced with it a few times in college. Except he hadn't but now he had.

Time travel and retcons were terribly confusing.

Danny Hebert considered something and tried to form a spear of ice. He wasn't terribly surprised when he did so, and the doru looked sharp as Tartarus.

Have to schedule some practice time.

Very far away, and very far removed, someone noticed.

Ares smiled.

* Wednesday, September 30, 2009 *
* Medhall *

When James Fleischer entered the office, looking as serious as he'd ever seen him, Max Anders pressed a button on the intercom. "Gladys? Reschedule my..." He glanced at the clock and realized time had gotten away from him again. "My one o'clock. See if they can reschedule."

That done he put his full attention on his Gesselschaft contact.

"Uprated threat assessment on Zenko and Sub-Zero," said James, placing a tablet on the desk.

"I suspected there would be serious reassessments after Behemoth," said Max Anders. "What of this 'Kurama' or with the revelations regarding our old 'friend' Coil?"

"Mostly speculation," said James, the secret identity of Krieg making a face. "Bad enough with these two."

"If we keep Kurama and Zenko apart, that drops their threat level," noted Max. "Wait. Brute level 3?"

"At least," said James. "Even without this 'chakra' bio-enhancement energy field being active, they are stronger and sturdier than one would expect. Which may indicate that there is a passive effect from the bio-field."

"If Victor was able to pull off his skill theft, we could do so much with that," stated Max.

"No word yet?" asked James.

"Nothing," admitted Max. "Victor vanished. I'll admit that spying on ninja is dangerous, but it was his idea to scope them out and try stealing the skills. Now we're down him and his computer skills and left trying to figure out how to deal with this group."

James was quiet for a moment too long.

"What's the rest of the bad news?" asked Max Anders of his subordinate.

"In the latest round, the 'ninja school' has accepted three more candidates from the PRT," said James. "One of whom is Vista."

"One of their Wards?" asked Max. "Isn't she a bit young?"

"Apparently ninja normally start training even younger than she is," said James.

"I'll have to figure out their angle on this," said Max, sitting back in his chair and turning his gaze ceilingward. "Are they trying to get Zenko to join, trying to strike up a friendship between Zenko and Vista? Is this just about seeing if a normal parahuman can learn these skills? Is this trying to get one of the more powerful Wards some skills that might allow her to survive encounters she might otherwise not?"

"Could be all of these, plus one other thing my contact indicated," said James. "Apparently the teaching of such things start early. Which would explain why Zenko popped up already having mastered some of these skills. She actually started learning them years ago and only went public recently."

"Interesting and it makes sense," admitted Max. "If we can get Theo in that class, perhaps he might yet prove of value."

* Yu Sing Imports, Upper Floor *

Kenta, the cape and criminal warlord known as Lung, watched the video clip again.

The Endbringers were forces of nature, they could only be endured, not beaten.

Except one had.

It had not been a total victory. Capes had died. A facility had been destroyed.

And yet... one had been forced to flee.

A nine-tailed demon fox was obviously a greater force of nature than that one Endbringer at least.

"Lee," said Lung.

The teleporting assassin turned his head to silently regard his boss.

"This 'Kurama' seems familiar," said Lung.

"He frequents the 'Killer Noodles' off the Boardwalk," stated Oni Lee.

"Ah, the fried tofu brunch special," said Lung with a nod. Well, didn't THAT make sense in retrospect?

Oni Lee waited patiently.

"I wish to be informed when this Kurama is there, so that I may meet them," said Lung. "If he and I joined forces? The balance of power may well shift in our favor."

Oni Lee nodded and a moment later he had left ashes swirling behind him as he went about his duty.

Lung was silent for a few moments more, contemplating, before he punched a button on a nearby desk. "Ying. Compile a report, use whatever resources you need. Subjects are the following parahumans: Kurama, Zenko, and Sub-Zero."

"It shall be done, Great Lung. Oh, and Great Lung - the laundry business has been doing so well that the manager wishes to open a new one on Captain's Hill."

"Profits are up then?" asked Lung.

"Not only the coin-op laundries but dry cleaning, especially the ones near the financial district. The tailors report multiple new orders and fitted suits are showing signs of record profits."

"Good. Get on that report then send my congratulations," said Lung, pleased. When your legit businesses raked in the cash, it just meant more resources for him.

Not that he was concerned about that when he had the chance to either acquire a powerful new lieutenant or get into a particularly spectacular fight.

He'd take either outcome.

There was a buzz and Lung groaned as he was just getting ready to resume his crushing of the game Candy Crush. "Yes?"

"Great Lung. We have spotted the Crimson Lady nearby."

"And?" asked Lung.

"Sir?"

"And? What is the Crimson Lady doing? Also, is she still wearing skintight red leather?" asked Lung.

"She appears to be looking for something on the rooftops near the laundromat on Derby Street, and yes she is."

"If she attempts anything, subdue her and bring her before me. I will question this cape who dares to poke a dragon," said Lung. According to his source inside the PRT, she was just a cape groupie. Was this correct or was this something more? Perhaps the Empire, despite being reprehensible, were actually correct in that Crimson was not Stalker's sidekick but it was the other way around?

Oh, it was time for that Korean soap opera. Candy Crush would have to wait.

He had already forgotten about Crimson Lady by the time someone called in to say she'd moved off.

* Elsewhere *

"Erwin Leibowitz has completed the basics of ninja training. His physician reports his arthritis no longer restricts him. The annual physical results also reports his health is within ranges closer to being in his fifties."

"Well... crap."

"He can also climb vertical surfaces unaided."

"We'll have to pull our agents from the area before he notices."

"Agent 86 already reported getting a birthday card from Leibowitz. It showed up in his lunchbox. In his locker. In a secure facility."

"Well... crap."

"That was Agent 86's reaction as well."

* Also Elsewhere *

Doctor Mother considered herself the head of Cauldron, at least as much as any single individual could be in charge of the clandestine organization.

So she was of two minds about the acquisition of the apparently natural Case 53: Possessive Intelligence named Orochimaru who was now camped out in Coil's body like it was his favorite parking spot.

There were signs of Coil's body beginning to fail, but apparently Orochimaru was enjoying access to Coil's power and resources and had come up with ways to slow down the deterioration. Further indication that no matter what else she could say about the mysterious figure - he was quite intelligent.

Going around the Flesh Forest left behind by Eden, he had an individual following him. He spent a fair amount of time talking into a tablet that had speech-to-text software enabled, and on occasion would hand it to this 'Lisa' who would repeat some observation of her own.

The Corpse Garden, where Eden had been attempting to make human-like avatars prior to its death, drew an exclamation of interest from Orochimaru and he began inspecting the figures with something akin to glee. Doctor Mother considered whether she really wanted to know, eventually deciding probably not.

Network analysis? Multi-dimensional energy flows? Why did he want access to some supercomputers?

The trained sharks with laser beams she was going to ignore as something left over from the original Coil. Mainly because Coil HAD decided to go with a Thinker ability and his second choice had been Tinker because he'd wanted laser-sharks.

So now here was Coil, or at least his body, going about and changing things.

That he kept giving her the feeling that he was the smartest person in the room was besides the point.

It didn't bother her.

It didn't bother her at all.

And now that girl following her around was looking at things he was pointing at and nodding.

She had a feeling the Case 53 was going to do something that would give her a headache.

Maybe several.

* Oriental Boulevard *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"(How can she run in those boots?)

"(I don't know how she can run in that costume in this humidity.)"

"(Hey, Bao! Stop that. We're supposed to chase her, not catch her.)"

"(Why do we care? She's intruding!)"

"(Because Lung said so and I don't want my briquettes to get charcoaled.)"

"(What is she doing?!)"

The ABB gangers stopped as the Crazy Girl ran into an open air market. With chickens. In rickety cages.

"(Oh crap,)" said Bao as the obvious happened. Rickety cages got smashed, chickens squawking and running in all directions, feathers flying.

(CLANG!) went a pot of something simmering on a stove as it got knocked over.

"AIEEEEEE HOT HOT HOT!"

"(She just tarred and feathered herself.)"

"(She's getting beaten up by chickens.)"

"(Uh oh. We got to run. I recognize that old woman. Best we not be here when she gets done slapping Crazy Leather Chick with that broom.)"

"AUGH!"

"(Yeah. I think you're right.)"

* Sophia Hess/Shadow Stalker *

She'd tracked down her best/only friend only to find out that not only had the Crimson Lady gotten tired of waiting for her - she'd basically done a solo patrol.

Emma had always been a little crazy. Apparently 'little' was becoming less accurate.

Though Sophia thought she had it figured out. The queef, that stick figure former friend of Emma's past, the target they tried (and frequently failed) to torment? Emma fancied that friend in a manner that exceeded the term "friend" and that focus was the whole Unresolved Sexual Tension thing.

Not that she had anything against lesbians per se. There was the strong and the weak, predator and prey, controllers or controlled, wolves and sheep. That was simply the way things were, nature worked that way. Who you slept with didn't make that much difference.

So Emma was strong enough to fight back, was her only friend (neither of them counted Madison as anything but a follower), and was playing a game that Sophia thought had one of two endings. Sophia herself didn't care as she didn't really view Emma that way.

Kurama, on the other hand, yowza. Strong, ruthless, and she had a hot fantasy about doing that silly-but-awesome dance with.

Not that she'd admit it.

Now, looking at a scratched-up, disheveled, Crimson Lady who had feathers stuck to the remains of her leather hero costume Shadow Stalker was faced with a new challenge.

Not laughing her head off.

* Taylor *

Wednesday at school had been weird.

Emma hadn't said a damn thing to her all day in school. No snide remarks. No petty insults. No stage whispers involving false pity and hostile words. No shoves, trips, or even spitballs. Frowning at her at several points, but that was about it.

Sophia had noticed, if the side-glances at Emma and lack of hostility was anything to go by.

So it was weird.

Getting out of school, blasting through homework, and getting out to the Docks as Zenko was still her plan.

Her father was there as her father, not Sub-Zero, though it was sort of an open secret among the people who knew him.

She didn't see him though. Just some admittedly kind-of attractive guy of unusual height and with a slight midriff paunch like her Dad... Wait.

What in Hades' name?

Neatly trimmed beard? Baldness replaced with a thick black chin-length hair? Muscular but in the manner of a power lifter. Raising a shaggy eyebrow at her as she gaped at him?

"What?" asked Zenko.

"What what?" asked Zephron.

"Something wrong, Zenko?" asked Lacey.

"Ah, nothing," said Zenko. "So... uhm, about the plan?"

"After the fight against Behemoth, the mayor is surprisingly on-board with removing some of the ships from the Ship Graveyard," said Danny Hebert.

"Gee, I wonder why he'd think it was possible after THAT," snarked Lacey.

"The main obstacles appear to be legal issues and the PRT desire to get their cut in," said Zephron, checking his phone. "For one thing, this PRT guy named Reave expressed the idea that it might make smuggling from the gangs easier than it already is."

"Seriously?" asked Zenko.

"Then there's the insurance company that technically owns the ship, the EPA, and PETA." Zephron paused as if he somehow knew there would be questions.

"Wait. PETA?" asked Zenko, setting aside the PRT issue for the moment.

"Apparently there are migratory birds using the wrecked cargo ship as a nesting ground," began Zephron.

"They can fly, they can find another nesting spot!" complained Zenko.

"And yet now that we've actually filed to do something about this, people are concerned about the economic and environmental impacts involved," said Zephron, shrugging one shoulder as he put the phone away.

* Hoyo Del Diablo, New Mexico *
* Thursday, October 1, 2009 *

"-and PRT Director ENE Emily Piggot states that the independent heroes Zenko and Kurama are independent heroes in good standing who are closely working with their branch."

Jack Slash sat back in the booth of the Last Chance Saloon & Car Wash and considered the television as it went on to a commercial break involving Cheese Doodles.