13

Ripple 2.4

+++Riptide+++

I glared down at Hookwolf from my position in the air. He was smarter than I would've given him credit for, given how he'd tried to reach me. Leapfrogging between the buildings of the alley like that wasn't something I would've credited him with even considering. Evidently there was more to the Empire's chief enforcing than the slavering mad dog that he seemed to project to the world.

The same applied to how he had escaped from my water prison bubble. The sudden appearance of so many blades punching out of his body at the same time had disrupted my control, and that 'blender of doom' trick he'd pulled had ripped the remnants apart before I could re-exert any form of control. I legitimately hadn't expected him to get out of that, so it was the fault of hubris on my part.

No, this particular monster had some cunning behind it, far more than I'd ever expected. I'd have to be more careful about underestimating my enemies in the future.

Fortunately, I had Vista on my side for backup now; and, by the looks of things, she wanted payback for Hookwolf chasing her down like a rabbit. I was still gonna find out exactly why she was out here at night without a partner, but it would have to be put off until later. For the moment, we had bigger problems to deal with.

"Gonna pay, Tinker." Hookwolf growled, his voice metallic and warbling slightly coming from the throat of a giant metal wolf. "You think you and that scrawny half-pint can fight me? I'm Hookwolf! I've killed Tinkers before and you won't be any different!"

"I am not your average Tinker." I answered evenly, more calmly that I actually felt to tell the truth. "And insulting someone based on their size? Are you in kindergarten or something? Fine though. Insult Vista at your own peril; I have little doubt she can and will make you regret it."

And I truly did believe that. I had examined the publicly known powers of all of the Wards and even with what was likely a sanitized and heavily diluted description of what she could do, Vista was obviously a very powerful Cape. Insulting and underestimating her just because she was petite or a kid was a very stupid thing to do.

Then again, Nazis and intelligence rarely go hand-in-hand, so…

"BASTARD!" the metallic wolf roared and leapt up at me. In an instant though, the distance between us had shifted to the length of a football field, which gave me more than enough time to shift the apertures and pressure levels of my gauntlets to better suit my situation and fire them. The twin streams shot out and then split in half, each snaking around one of Hookwolf's limbs and grasping them tightly. Even with his enhanced strength, it would take a while for him to break free, and I was ready if he tried the same trick as before. With a strong mental yank I then swung them around, the force of hydrokinesis strong enough to drag their prisoner along with them.

With a shout, I slammed Hookwolf into the ground headfirst, the concrete and tarmac splintering and shattering on impact. I wasn't done though. I heaved him up and repeated my action again. And again. And again.

Letting go after smashing him into the ground four times, I let go of my control of the water I held and it splashed down onto the ground. Checking the amount of water left in my reserves, I winced slightly. I had used ten percent of my reserves already on just those two attempts and my Tinkertech air purifier was drawing the water in at a very slow rate, so I hadn't recovered even half a percent of my expended water.

Resolving to work on improving my filter's efficiency once I got back to base, I turned my attention to Hookwolf, who had slowly reformed his head into something resembling its original appearance. It was obvious that he was reeling from being thrown around like a rag doll, not that I could blame him.

"Ryou…royu…die…Imna kill ya!" Hookwolf slurred through his still battered and bent jaw. His lupine eyes were focused on me though, hatred practically glowing in them. Great, this guy now had a mad-on for me. Just bloody perfect.

"Vista, a kennel for the dog, if you please?" I asked dryly. A second later, the ground around Hookwolf bulged and twisted as four thick walls seeming shot up from the surrounding concrete and tarmac, sealing the Empire Cape in a cage. Before he could react, I activated my grenade launchers and had them fire four micro-Goo Grenades into the box, triggering the detonators for all four at exactly the same time, completely filling the cage.

"Wha-?!" the Changer roared as he was swamped by the thick and treacle-like water that my grenades held within them. A single grenade wouldn't be enough to cover his enlarged body, so I had used four because fuck holding back against a murdering Nazi.

Deciding to further sell the illusion of me being a Tinker, I deliberately raised my right gauntlet and mimed pressing a button in it before changing the aperture and firing rate of it to single-shot. Blasting it into the water beneath me, I waited until it struck the surface of the water before using my hydrokinetic abilities to harden the water into being as solid as steel.

"What the?! What the hell is this shit!?" Hookwolf roared, struggling in the grip of his water-steel prison.

"And on that note, we shall leave." I informed him. "Try not to be a bad doggy now or I'll have to take you to the vets to be neutered."

With that, I swooped down, scooped up a startled Vista and flew off, leaving the second in command of the Empire 88 trapped in a prison of water, even as the walls Vista had made withdrew back into the ground.

+++Vista+++

Being carried bridal style by an unknown Cape was not something that Vista had expected to go through when this night started. She'd expected to kick some ass against some muggers at best or be bored out of her skull as she had been before being chased by Hookwolf, but it seemed someone was cackling like a loon and throwing unexpected hurdles into her way tonight.

"Um…ah…" she stuttered out, cursing herself for sounding like a kid.

"Wait a moment so we can get into neutral territory." The Tinker said, the disguised voice said softly. "Flying is a lot harder than it looks and I'd rather not hit a billboard because I was distracted by riveting conversation."

Nodding, the Shaker waited until they were on a roof in the Docks area, on a street that was in a kind of neutral zone between the Empire and ABB territories. Being set down on her feet, Vista automatically checked her costume over to ensure it was intact and that her visor/mask was on straight.

"Thank you very much for your help." She said once she was satisfied everything was in its place and turned to face the person who had saved her.

"I was passing by and it looked like you could use some backup." The Tinker said somewhat humbly. "The name's Riptide, by the way. A new Independent Hero in the Bay. Nice to meet you."

Riptide. The name rang a few bells to the Ward. There had been a few reports made about a brand new Indie Tinker in Brockton Bay, but very few details made it to the Wards, aside from an instruction to befriend and investigate them if possible.

"Oh!" Vista said with a blink. "You're the one who's been taking down gang members all over the Bay recently."

"I wouldn't think that it was anything special enough for the Protectorate to be concerned over." Riptide said, somewhat bemusedly.

"The fact that the person who took the gang members down is a Tinker is what drew most of the attention." The Ward explained. "It certainly got Armsmaster and the Director's attention pretty quickly."

"Huh." The Tinker still sounded bemused. "Well. There's a thing. Moving on, are you OK?"

"Just a sore head." Vista said ruefully, gently touching what she knew would be a small bump on her head. "Hookwolf was playing around with me really. Had he wanted, he could have really hurt me. In fact, he probably would have had you not attacked when you did."

"I'm glad I was able to act in time then." Riptide nodded. The mask part of their helmet was intimidating, but as the eyes were no longer blaring that bright blue light over everything they looked at, Vista found it pretty easy to look at the Tinker's face.

"Good…now, can I ask why a Protectorate Ward is out here at night alone?" Riptide asked sternly. "I know for a fact that you aren't supposed to patrol solo, let alone at night."

Urk. Vista started to sweat. "Um…that's…"

After waiting a moment, Riptide sighed. "Look, I'm not going to tell anyone about this. I'm sure you have your reasons for this and if you really don't want to tell me why you're out here, that's fine, but I won't bail you out if you piss off Lung or something next time."

"I wanted to prove that I can do things by myself." Vista found herself talking before she knew it. Quite why she felt the need to talk to this stranger, even if they had helped her out, was beyond her. She didn't know them from Adam. Or maybe it was because of that fact. Regardless, she very carefully and very vaguely spoke about her troubles in the Wards, ensuing to omit identities and secrets such as the fact that Gallant dated Glory Girl, as the famous Victoria Dallon was openly in a relationship with Dean Stansfield.

"…I see." Riptide nodded after she finished. "Sounds like you've had it tough."

"Not tough exactly, but it all just a big pain in the neck." Vista demurred.

"The way the Wards work is ridiculous." Riptide disagreed. "On paper, you are by far the most experienced Ward as well as likely the most powerful. Even the sanitized PR on the PRT ENE website basically shouts that out. If I were to ever hypothetically fight the Wards, your space warping abilities would be a far, far greater danger than Kid Win's laser pistols or Aegis' punches."

Much to her embarrassment, Vista found her cheeks flushing at the honest and frank assessment. "R-Really? You think so?"

"Anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot." The Tinker stated firmly. "Aside from perhaps Labyrinth, who isn't really a Brockton Bay Cape due to the fact she is a Mercenary, you are the most powerful Shaker in the city and I'd guess that while a few could likely claim to be your equal on the East Coast, no one is your superior as a Shaker. Rather than trying to face Hookwolf head on where you'd be at a clear disadvantage you focused on creating distance and retreating. Not many Capes, from what I've read on PHO, have that kind of common sense. And really the only reason you can't fight well on your own is due to the fact that you lack any real means of direct attack."

Aaaannnnddd her blush was heating the surrounding area, she was certain.

"You should perhaps ask Armsmaster or Kid Win to make bracers with concealed containment foam dispensers." Riptide suggested. "One of the reasons I don't join the Ward that the Protectorate's PR department seems to have a ridiculous amount of control over their capes, and the Wards in particular. Yes, appearances are important and all that drivel, but there has to be a point where functionality take precedence. Not escalating is one thing, but leaving you unarmed when you might be attacked in costume is plain stupidity."

Blinking, the Shaker considered the Tinker's words. Yes, the bane of her life was indeed the PR department. Glenn Chambers from the New York branch, had been adamant about her not being armed, saying that it 'clashed with her cute and inoffensive image' or some such claptrap. She really disliked him for that. If the weapons were just some containment foam launchers and they were concealed in specially made gauntlets that looked identical to her own, then possibly he might let her have them.

Not to mention that it wasn't hard to build the things with Armsmaster, a miniaturization and efficiency Tinker. He could probably make them in a single night or something.

"I'll see, but the PR department is really strict about this kind of thing." She said at last.

"If you can, do. If you can't, try again." Riptide shrugged. "Anyway, I need a favour from you. Can you possibly keep what you've seen tonight a secret?"

"Huh?" Vista blinked in confusion.

"My cloaking device." The Tinker clarified. "It likely won't last long, but I'd like to keep the fact I use one a secret until necessary. Hookwolf had a trashcan on his head while I decloaked, but he'll at least suspect something. Despite acting like some kind of feral berserker, our little fight proved that if nothing else, there's a feral cunning hidden that metal skull and he's liable to suspect something. I'll likely have to expose my cloaking device at some point, so all I'm asking is for you to keep the fact that you know about it secret until then."

"Well I can't exactly tell them how I got to find out about it without getting into trouble." The Ward drawled before letting out a sigh with a smile on her face. "Fine. You saved my bacon back there, so I owe you one. Go villain and the deal's off though."

"A stipulation I have no issues agreeing with." Riptide nodded and seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing. "Also…if you do ever want to patrol at night again, send me a PM on PHO. Having backup when you can't fly like I can is a good idea, especially at night."

"Um…wow…uh…thanks…" Vista managed to get out. "But…shouldn't you have backup as well? Even flying can't provide you with absolute security."

"That's why I have a cloaking device." Riptide deadpanned. "Also, I'm …negotiating…with someone to join up with me, so your concern will be moot soon."

"Oh…that's good." Vista nodded. "Is your PHO account your name?"

"Yes, although I'm not going to bother getting it verified." The armoured hero shrugged. "At least until I finish building a hacker-proof laptop or something. I've heard rumours that PHO tracks people who have [Verified] that they're Capes and I have no wish to be tracked back to my workshop."

"I haven't heard that…" the Ward said with wide eyes behind her visor.

"I doubt the PRT or Protectorate would tell you; after all, they're the ones who most likely implemented it." Riptide laughed wryly. "Anyway, fighting Hookwolf tonight was more than I had planned for, so I'm gonna call it a night here. Have a good night, Vista."

With that, the wings on Riptide's back glowed blue and lifted the Tinker into the air before the air around them rippled and the armored form of the Tinker faded from vision. Vista strained her eyes and ears, but couldn't see or hear a trace of the Cape who had saved her.

"Tinkers are such bullshit." The Ward shook her head slowly in disbelief. She had known that Tinkers, once they had a chance to build up their equipment, were a worrying threat to contend with (just look at Armsmaster with his Swiss Army Halberd!) but she felt a slight chill go up her spine at imagining how hard fighting an opponent you couldn't see or hear could be.

'Though Riptide seems to be on the heroic side, so it's probably won't cause any issues if I keep my promise.' Vista reasoned. 'I even added the condition that if Riptide turned villain, I could tell the Protectorate about that cloaking field. Actually, I should have asked Riptide what their gender is! Referring to them as 'They' is going to be a pain in the rear.'

Berating herself for that, the Ward nevertheless smiled. Riptide, at the very least, seemed to respect her abilities, which was a bit more than she could say for certain members of her own team!

Deciding that Riptide had the right idea, Vista started heading home for a good night's sleep. She'd had quite enough action for one night.

+++Riptide+++

As I watched Vista roof-hop (or would it be 'roof-step' considering she's using her space warping powers to reduce the distance between the buildings to nothing?) away, I breathed a sigh of relief. I had been worried that she would be stuck up, but she seemed to have her head on straight and lacked any of the superiority complexes I was worried a Ward might possess.

What she had said about her troubles in the Wards though made me glad that I'd decided to avoid applying for membership. Teen drama, plus Cape politics and Parahuman powers? Thank you, but no.

"Riptide to base." I said into my radio. "Amphitrite, I'm heading back. Be ready to put the defenses to maximum once I'm in."

What little defenses I had anyway. Currently my only real defense was a simple shielding system that doubled as a camouflage system. After seeing how truly powerful and persistent a villain Cape could be, the Nevermore suddenly felt a lot more vulnerable…more exposed than it did before. I immediately resolved to start adding external and internal defenses as soon as I could swing it. Not to mention make a suit or modular component for the Triton MKII designed to deal with Hookwolf.

Speeding back through the air towards the Boat Graveyard, I was busy thinking about people possibly finding out about my cloaking device. Vista knew about it, but had promised not to tell. Hookwolf had been taken off guard by my sneak attack and had been blinded by a trashcan while I decloaked, but as I had said to Vista, Hookwolf had proven himself far more than a mindless Brute when we fought. If he didn't at least suspect something I would be vastly surprised.

Presuming that somehow, people found out about my cloaking device, the Tinkers would try to find a way to detect me while I was cloaked. There were a few ways to do that; temperature differentials, disturbed air currents and locating the frequency of my cloaking field would be the top three I could think of.

I could counter the first by adding a module to my armor that controlled and modulated the temperature of the vapor field my cloak produced so that they would hide my own body heat. The second was tricky and I was coming up blank in how to counter it. The third was a nonissue, because I didn't truly have a cloaking device; I had a generator that used water refraction to bend light around me. Unless someone made a visor or a visual filter for one that was specifically designed to counter light refraction, I was safe.

Well, as safe as you could be when dealing with Parahuman powers and bullshit Tinkertech, anyway.

Arriving back in the Nevermore, I tiredly hauled my armour off and sat down on a chair I had thrown together a few days previously (using water cushions designed for maximum comfort and support, they even had an inbuilt heated and massage function) and idly started looking over the schematics of Amphitrite's soon-to-be sister's robotic body. As I was going to be having her masquerade as an actual Cape rather than a robot, the range of motion shouldn't be beyond that of a human, but the body would also have improved servos that should give her enough power to stop a mainline battle tank and enough strength to not crumple if it was put under that sort of stress.

"A busy, night, Mistress Riptide?" Amphitrite asked, her hologram appearing above her main unit.

"No…more like mind-numbingly boring for the most part, ending with a quick rush of bowel-clenching terror." I replied dryly. "I saved Vista of the Wards from Hookwolf of the Empire 88. Things are progressing faster than I would have liked, so I'll be expediting the creation of your 'sister' to help me deal with it, just in case."

"Understood." The VI nodded her hologram seriously.

"I'll also be preparing some serious upgrades to the interior of the Nevermore to ensure that anyone who makes it inside without my permission has a hard time." I said grimly. Facing Hookwolf had let me see how much I had been underestimating the villains of Brockton Bay. While secrecy was an excellent protection for now, relying solely on it would be suicidally foolish. Building defenses should have been my first priority, Dodge had even said to me several times that a Tinker's lab was their last fortress when everything went wrong. I really should have heeded him.

I'd been too caught up with the idea of being a hero and building my armor and weapons. Too focused on my dreams rather than seeing the practicality that my situation demanded.

I wouldn't make that mistake again. I couldn't save the world or make it a better place if some random villain managed to hunt me down before I was ready.

"I'll have a schematic of strategic locations and chokepoints designed within the day, Mistress." Amphitrite stated.

"I'll be counting on you then." I said wryly. "Also, have you decided what armaments your 'sister' will have on her armor?"

"I am still calculating the optimum choices based on the requirements and the values of the options you've presented." The VI admitted. "However, I calculate that I will be done by this time tomorrow."

"Excelle-" My words were cut off by a yawn. "-nt. Oh dear. I'd better go home. Looks as if fighting a villain is a lot more tiring than the usual gang scum."

Not just physically, I was mentally tired. I had focused so much on the fight against Hookwolf and then on Vista that I had very little mental strength left.

Saying goodbye to Amphitrite, I set out for home and my lovely, soft, warm bed…

+++Kaiser+++

The Next Day

Empire 88 Headquarters

"And it was this new Cape that made…this?" Kaiser asked. Clad in his usual steel armor and mask, the leader of the Nazi organisation hefted a block of what looked like solidified, not frozen but solidified, water.

"Yes." Hookwolf growled back gruffly. While Kaiser was seated on a throne-like chair, the chief enforcer was standing a few steps away from him. Even though this was a private meeting, they both had roles to play, despite the fact that both had been friends for years.

"Hm." Kaiser examined the shard for a moment longer. It had taken Hookwolf over half an hour to break free of the prison he had been thrown into and it intrigued the Nazi leader to no end. He knew exactly how destructive his chief enforcer could be, so anything that could hold him that long was impressive. "Well, at least we now have a face to put on our mysterious new hero flying around and causing no end of trouble for all of the big three gangs."

Hookwolf sneered beneath his mask. "Hardly. This Tinker stopped a few slants and druggies from stealing shit and a few unauthorized beatings of lesser races. Whoop-de-fucking-do. The only significant thing they've done is fight me and run away."

Kaiser levelled a gaze at his enforcer. "No, this Tinker managed beat you like a drum before immobilizing you and retreating with Vista, likely the entirety of their objective. Which, just so you know, is a very good thing. You almost took things way too far."

"Tch."

"I am being completely serious, Wolf!" the metal-clad villain snapped at his unimpressed subordinate. "We both know that you already have a Birdcage sentence hanging over your head if they ever manage to catch you and get you out of town before we can retrieve you. Even worse, you are within a hair's breadth of receiving a Kill Order and a bounty placed on your head! The only thing stopping the damned White Hats from doing so is that you are both capable and always show up for Endbringer Fights. If you'd managed to severely injure, let alone kill, one of their precious little Scouts then not even that would have saved you from a Kill Order."

"And if that happens I'd do what I had to protect the Empire from the vultures that would swarm us in an attempt to claim that prize." he finished threateningly, finally causing his subordinate to back down. Even Hookwolf wasn't stupid enough to think he could survive having a Kill Order on his head without the Empire to protect him.

"So what was I supposed to do? The little bitch knows where one of my dog fighting rings is now." The Changer grumbled defensively.

"Don't use that location for a month." Kaiser ordered. "And like I said, you took it too far. Chase her off, fine. Scare her a bit, by all means. But you were about to rip her to shreds, by your own account. As gratitude for this Tinker's actions, I won't mobilize the Capes of the Empire to find this…Tinker…and bring them to heel. For now."

"And if the Tinker comes to us?" Hookwolf started to smile ferally beneath his metal mask, his regular bloodlust starting to return despite the chastisement still hanging in the air.

"If a deer walks into the den of a wolf, it can't really complain about being eaten, can it?" Kaiser answered lightly. "Capture the Tinker alive, no missing limbs either, and bring them before me. A bit of persuasion and I'm sure that they will…see the light."

Both men were in perfect accord. Neither actually believed in the Nazi rhetoric; Kaiser used the racist beliefs of the Empire 88 to control them. He would have preferred not to rely on fascist beliefs, but using the bigotry and blind hatred of the Empire had allowed him to take it over after Allfather and Iron Rain, his father and sister, had met with 'unfortunate accidents' in short succession. And really, Kaiser felt that he'd done Brockton Bay a favour in that regard; Iron Rain had been a diehard fanatic with no impulse control and no ability to abide being constrained by little things like the Unwritten Rules. She would have started a gang war that would have bled the bay dry within a few months.

Kaiser, on the other hand, was in it for the power, pure and simple, and he at least went through the motions of pretending to abide by the rules so long as it benefitted him to do so.

In Hookwolf's case, he cared more for a person's ability to fight than whatever ancestry they had. He considered that kind of 'overcomplicated political claptrap' beneath him in all honestly. Acting the part wasn't hard and to an extent, he did think that the 'lesser races' were contemptuous, but in a passive 'man-the-fuck-up-you-spineless-losers' way, rather than the traditional Nazi racial hatred.

Really, begging and weeping when armed men drag your family out and beat them up? Grow some balls!

Ignoring that the above example was a perfectly normal reaction to a perfectly normal household, Hookwolf nodded at his leader. "Want me to send the twins in?"

"No, they have weapons practice." Kaiser demurred. A shame really, as the twins were excellent at relieving his stress. Still, he had other business to do. "Has Bitch struck your dog rings recently?"

Hookwolf snarled. The canine controller of the Undersiders had been a persistent thorn in his side ever since she had arrived in Brockton Bay, constantly gatecrashing his dogfighting rings and savaging the gang members that he had guarding them. It had gotten to the point that he had to guard them all at random in order to ensure the cunt didn't scare everyone off. Even when he wasn't there, he had at least one Empire Cape guarding them. It had just been Vista's misfortune that he had randomly turned up to the fight the previous day.

"No." he grated out. "The hobo bitch hasn't struck my operations in a couple of weeks. She hasn't held off this long before, so I'm just waiting for her to pull something again. If I get my hands on her…!"

He made a tearing motion with his hands.

Kaiser didn't really care for the dogfights; they were Hookwolf's pet project, funded by his money and guarded by subordinates that he'd personally picked or recruited. Compared to the income from the Empire's drug and prostitution operations, the take from even the most successful night of dogfighting was chump-change by comparison. Still, having an Empire operation gatecrashed by a teenaged girl who had Triggered as a result of abuse and had been guilty of murder only due to the incompetence of the investigating PRT officer was galling.

Yes, Kaiser had investigated the Trigger Event of Rachael Lindt, otherwise known as Hellhound and Bitch. She was an unmasked Cape so it had been a fairly easy task. And the sheer incompetence that the investigating PRT Officer had displayed was, to be frank, an insult to any Parahuman. A Trigger Event was something that no Parahuman could treat lightly, that no Parahuman would dare ridicule. Even Kaiser would not stoop so low as to disrespect the trauma that came with a Trigger Event.

The man, Jonathon Blood, was now retired and dying of cancer. Karma. It has a way of going around.

"OK, Wolf. Anything else to report?" the armored cape asked.

"Coil's mercs knocked over a jewel store in our turf, but other than that, nothing." The Changer answered.

Kaiser raised his eyebrows. "A Jewelry store? It seems a bit…pedestrian…for Coil. Usually he goes after people to ransom them, or perhaps to acquire some information. Is there anything special about the store?"

"Nah, standard Mom and Pop store, family run for generations." Hookwolf shook his head. "Pays their protection money promptly, keeps their heads down…nothing special at all."

"Hm. Perhaps our serpentine friend is expanding his horizons." The Empire leader mused. "Have Crusader, Rune and Alabaster raid what pathetic territory Coil possesses in retaliation. Also have a group of men openly guarding the street that the store is on. We want our 'clients' to get their money's worth, after all."

People who pay the Empire 'protection' money were, in fact, protected. Kaiser cared not a jot for them, but it kept them paying without a fuss and improved the reputation of the Empire as a whole: 'Pay the Empire and we do what the police can't!' was the message here.

"Got it." Hookwolf nodded.

"And with that, I shall have to go and tend to my other persona." Kaiser sighed. "Good lord, a day's work is never done."

+++Danny Hebert+++

Later

Meeting Room, Dockworker's Association

Danny had a ferocious temper, he would be the first to admit that. He would also state, very firmly, that he kept aforementioned temper under tight control.

So the fact that he felt his grip on it loosening ever so slightly said a lot about the situation he was currently in.

"Are you serious?" he asked in disbelief. "I can't go to Boston!"

"You have to, Danny." Jeremy Irons said wearily. The man was the acting president of the Dockworker's Association, having formerly been the Vice-President. When the previous President had been arrested for embezzling what little spare funds that the Association had, Irons had been forced to assume the idiot's duties. "There's a meeting taking place up there between most of the ENE Dockworkers to perhaps work out a tighter relationship with one another. They're sending their Union Reps, so we have to send you."

"You said it would be for a week, at least!" the bespectacled father snapped. "Given how some of the other Union Reps tend to argue about damn near everything, it's more likely to be two at best! I can't leave my daughter alone that long!"

"Danny, Lacey and I can look in at her for you." Kurt said reassuringly. "Taylor's a good, smart girl with her head screwed on straight, just like her mother. She'll be fine. I'd offer to have her over, but you know she'd say no."

At that, Danny had to chuckle dryly. Taylor was a fiercely independent girl, especially since that hellish incident at her former school, if the place deserved such a name now. Last he'd heard, the place was being heavily investigated by the National Board of Education to discover exactly why seventy-plus students had been withdrawn simultaneously.

Revenge was sweet.

"I'm still not happy." He said seriously after thinking for a minute. He knew how important these talks were, after all. Better relations with the other unions could only help, particularly with the recent upswing in work meaning they might need to bring in extra manpower to keep things going smoothly and keep the jobs coming in. "But I will go, so long as Kurt and Lacy stays here to look after Taylor and that I have full rights to negotiate on the Association's behalf."

"Done." Irons said instantly. Danny was the most trustworthy man in the entire Association and had worked tirelessly on their behalf. If anyone could be granted carte blanche authority, it was him.

"OK then." Danny sighed. "I suppose I'm going to have to break this to Taylor now…"