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Interlude 10: Dads

Danny received a call from Taylor just before she boarded her flight. The rest of New Wave was still busy trying to sort things out between the PRT and each other's lawyers, so the job of transportation was on him. He knew how long it would be before he'd have to drive down to the airport to pick her and Amy up, after factoring in how long it would take them to get through customs and pick up their luggage. But a few minutes after being on the road, there was an emergency announcement over the radio. Leviathan was attacking Brockton Bay. All airplane flights were being diverted away.

Danny, to his own surprise, felt relief. Not at the monster attacking his hometown, of course, but that Taylor would be taken far and away from the fight. He turned around and went back home, to make sure he knew what was going on with the rest of New Wave.

By the time he got back home, though, New Wave had already joined the fight. The only one home was Mark. Danny knew the man had some days where he was extremely unmotivated, and nothing – not even his family heading to fight an Endbringer – could get him out. This was one of those days. It seemed like a monumental effort just to convince him to eat food and not starve himself. Sometimes he would sit and watch television, but many days he couldn't even muster up the motivation to get out of bed.

Danny was fairly certain Mark could be left alone for a while; he had other things to tend to. Airplanes were being diverted, so Taylor would be safe for now. He had tried to call as many of his old friends and co-workers in Brockton but, predictably, the phone lines were either overwhelmed or down completely.

After that, he tried to call Taylor, but that resulted in no signal. Either her phone was off, out of range, or... damaged. Danny feared the worst as he tried to track down where his daughter was. He first called the airport, which was of no help. After an hour of being on hold, they could only tell him that the flight had landed, nothing more. They were already trying to manage a high volume of redirected flights and passengers; they didn't have time to search for one specific passenger that, by all accounts, had landed safely.

While Danny understood why his concern was actually a low-priority issue during a crisis, it certainly didn't help him feel any better. He didn't know what to do, until he remembered that his daughter would likely have to contact the PRT, so he tried calling them himself.

"All our operators are busy at the moment. Please hold until the next operator is available. Your call is important to us. The estimated wait time is…"

The repeating message was becoming a very familiar sound to Danny. He listed to it over and over for so long the words started to lose meaning and his ears became sore from having the phone on it. When a real live person answered, it caught Danny off-guard and he almost missed it completely.

"Hello? Hello! Yes! I'm Daniel Hebert, I was wondering if my daughter ever reported in to the Philly PRT…"

"Please hold…"

The light, inoffensive music was becoming Danny's most hated sound. It took another hour before they managed to confirm his identity, Taylor's identity, and the fact that she had passed through there briefly before heading on to the battle. It was well into the night at this point, and even over the horizon, he could see the flashes of light coming from Brockton Bay. He could only imagine the level of destruction that was being wrought. If he could see, and sometimes hear, the massive blasts coming from the city over forty miles away, how was his little girl doing less than a mile from the epicenter?

But Taylor was like her mother; she couldn't sit still when she had the power to do something. If he had tried to stop her from trying to help, it would have just driven another wedge between the two of them. It was like he would lose her either way. At the very least, he would have liked to have up-to-date info, but since Leviathan had knocked out the power grid and phone lines, there was no news coming out of the area.

All he could do was watch the flashes coming from beyond the horizon.

All through the night, he couldn't sleep. His heart jumped with every flash, every thundering boom. Even when all the light and noise died down, he couldn't settle his anxiety. Even though there was no news, his own imagination and fear created imaginary news for him. He kept the radio on, in case of a tsunami warning. Concord may have been pretty far inland, not truly at risk from a normal tsunami. But Leviathan's waves were anything but normal; the entire state was still on alert.

The tsunami warning came late into the night. But only a "normal" sized one, that would only reach maybe five to ten miles inland. Nowhere near Concord, but that easily covered the entirety of Brockton Bay, where Taylor was. What had been good news on the radio wasn't for Danny.

It wouldn't be until dawn that actual news crews and confirmed news reports would come out of Brockton Bay. And he needed to know what was going on. He wanted to find the casualty list, dreading what he would find. He hadn't slept a wink, but he was desperate to hear something. Anything. He wandered downstairs, where he found that Mark had actually gotten out of bed and was watching some soap opera rerun.

"Mark, change the channel," Danny said. "I need to know what's going on in Brockton Bay."

Even though Mark had family in the Leviathan fight, he didn't seem interested in keeping up with the news like Danny was. Honestly, with powers, some might have expected him to volunteer. He hadn't, but then again, only a small percentage of actual capes volunteered for Endbringer fights.

What bothered Danny was that Mark didn't to care about how they were doing. Then again, people dealt with fear and hopelessness differently. Danny stayed up and kept himself busy, pretending to do something helpful even if he knew he was just lying to himself. He used to turn to alcohol, but since Taylor gained powers, he swore that he would be there for her instead pushing her further away.

He thought that, as another father of a parahuman, he and Mark would be able to find some common ground. Though he knew some things would be different, especially since Mark had been diagnosed with depression. To be honest, Danny didn't quite understand how depression worked. It was far from the layman's description of the condition. Mark wasn't always moping or sad. In fact, more often than not he was blank or disengaged. He wasn't as happy as he should be when his family celebrated a success – even the man's birthday. Or as sad or fearful when his family was in danger. Like right now.

The man seemed to struggle to even care – about anything. His family, his home, his life. Danny couldn't be sure, he could barely get a word out of Mark on a good day. After moving to Concord, he spent most of his jobless days looking after Mark by default, as the rest of the family already had things to do. Even spending so much time with him, he still hadn't gotten a handle on how the man's emotions worked.

Maybe he was just avoiding the news. Then again, he didn't particularly care about what he was watching either, and acquiesced to Danny's demand without protest. He changed the channel from the soap opera to the early morning news.

"Our helicopters have finally been cleared to enter the airspace, and the first images are actually quite promising. Despite the massive amount of property destruction, incoming reports state that the survival rate is above average. As you can see, the rescuers are effectively limited to capes with flying capabilities."

The helicopter and focus shifted.

"It appears that one cape is searching for survivors underground. Clearly an Alexandria package, though we have received word that Alexandria herself has returned to California to deal with another Fallen threat…"

Danny stared at the image blurry and shaky camera footage. He nudged Mark. "Hey, is that Victoria?" Not only was the helicopter far away, but the cape's costume was absolutely filthy. It was a girl about the right size, and flying female capes who had the strength to lift up a half-ton steel bucket were pretty limited.

"Could be," Mark replied. He sounded bored.

"Aren't you worried about your family? Wait, there's your sister-in-law!" Danny pointed out as the camera panned across the city. Lady Photon was visible for just a second as she flew across the skies, probably searching for survivors.

"I suppose so," he said with a sigh.

Danny didn't know what to say to that. He kept watching.

Images of the streets of Brockton Bay told Danny what a stupid idea it would have been to try to head down there to find his daughter. He knew it was bad, but when the news helicopter actually showed it, he realized it would be impossible. Not that he could actually contribute to the effort even if he found her.

The highways were impassable, which was why the news teams still didn't have anyone on the ground. Whenever they could, there would usually be some quick, in-person interviews. Many capes found it annoying, but people loved to see the heroes that risked their lives against the monsters. Today, that was put on hold for another few hours, so Danny couldn't get a look at whether his daughter was still around. Still, the fact that a medical area existed was a good sign, and at least he had caught glimpses of other New Wave members on camera as they flew back and forth.

With little new or exciting footage for the past hour, most of the news channels had moved on to other discussions. Statistics about both Leviathan and Brockton, the capes participating… and the confirmed dead.

Danny had his eyes glued to the screen as the names scrolled past.

A commemoration to those who gave their lives in defense of humanity

…

Ebonique (FRA)

Efreet (MAR)

Egg-Gregarious (USA)

EIEIO (USA)

El Elefant (USA)

El Escudo (MEX)

Emrakul (USA)

Endpoint (GBR)

Enoblility (CAN)

Endslayer (USA)

Epic Pawnch (USA)

Essentia (USA)

Eterisk (SWE)

Evanescence (CAN)

Evangel (USA)

….

Danny breathed a sigh of relief when the list got past the E-U names. His daughter wasn't there. That was good. He finally leaned back and breathed a sigh of relief. He knew his daughter was busy, probably working around the clock to save as many lives as possible. But she wasn't on that long list of names scrolling up the screen. The sleepless night finally caught up to him. He tossed the remote back to Mark, and collapsed onto the couch.

When he woke up again, it was to the sound of rumbling trucks. The house wasn't on a main street, but close to one. There were many cars and trucks squeezing through the smaller streets. He flipped to the news channel once again, and the reason wasn't hard to find. Brockton was condemned, and everyone who could evacuate was doing so. The highway towards Concord had been cleared before the one leading to Boston, and thus the streets were now flooded with Brocktonites getting out and supply trucks heading in.

"Remember, all Concord residents, over the next week there will be a temporary closure of all public community centers, libraries, and schools, which are being converted to temporary shelters. Please do not visit unless you are there to volunteer or donate aid. The city is also asking everyone to pitch in what they can in this time of crisis to help your fellow Americans. Any canned foods, spare clothing, and toiletries are welcome. If you are willing to take someone into your home in a spare bedroom, it would be greatly appreciated by everyone. The following private institutions and churches have announced that they are opening their doors to provide shelter and food as well…"

Danny supposed he could take in a few people. The house was mostly empty, and it was a pretty large house. Even if they didn't have enough bedrooms, the living room and other places still had plenty of space. Maybe he could help out a poor family. After all, it was only recently that he had found himself homeless as well, and if it weren't for the generosity of the Pelhams and Dallons, he'd probably still be searching for a room somewhere.

Though the problem is, the home wasn't his. And Mark wasn't exactly and… authority on the matter in his own family, either. Legally, he believed it was either under the Pelhams' names, or possibly New Wave as an incorporated entity. Either way, he would have to contact them first somehow, but he didn't even know how they were doing. Cell phone service was still down around Brockton Bay, so he couldn't even call them. Their names weren't on the memorial list, but that didn't mean they weren't incapacitated or otherwise hurt.

Just as luck would have it, the doorbell rang. He went to answer it. Standing at the door was a little blonde girl, all alone.

"Hi! I think me and my uncle got separated! Can you help me?" She seemed oddly cheerful for a young girl who was lost. Danny looked around but didn't see any other adults. Still, he couldn't leave a little girl alone in this situation.

"Okay, come in," he told her. Even if they couldn't find an adult, he was sure that nobody else would have a problem with housing a lost little girl. "Do you know your uncle's phone number?"

"Oh, my uncle doesn't have a phone," she said. "But I know he'll come find me."

Danny sighed, more at himself than anything else. For several years, especially after Annette's death, he had refused to use cell phone and forbade Taylor from getting one as well. Looking at the situation now, he wanted to smack himself for such a stupid, short-sighted and emotional decision. Taylor could have ended up in a similar situation as this little girl.

"Alright, what's your name, then? I think we'll have to call the police so that he'll know where to look."

"My name's Riley! But don't call the police just yet, they just keep breaking my toys. I wanna have some fun first!" The child's smile widened to an unnatural degree.

Author's Note:

I totally forgot that this fic is over a year old. Time sure flies.