Capítulo 656: 95
Date
2011 June 5th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time
Ethan carefully shut the door behind him with his foot, making as little noise as possible as Sherry declared she needed a nap. And he only used his foot because both of his hands were full of grocery bags.
Granted, he could have brought them into the house over several trips, but he was a strong and independent man, so he can do whatever he wants.
At least, that was what he planned to say if somebody asked him about it. And he didn't plan to mention that Mrs. Wilson, their elderly neighbor, was eyeing him rather creepily.
He immediately headed for the kitchen, as Ethan 'foraged' for Sherry's favorite ice cream, as he sensed that the nap may be something else, but he didn't want to directly ask, so he decided to do it via ice cream.
However, his clever plan to hide the ice cream for a later surprise was foiled by his dastardly and lovely wife, who was sitting at the kitchen table looking at a cup of tea as if it held the answer to life's biggest questions.
Now officially worried, he carefully placed the bags on the counter and stepped forward, laying a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, Puppy, what's wrong?"
It took Sherry several seconds to realize he was there, and even then, her answer was rather meaningless.
"Huh, Ethan? When did you get back?"
"Just now. You were miles away. What happened?"
She blinked a few times, then smiled softly.
"Nothing bad just got a pleasant surprise and was trying to work through it."
He released a sigh of relief.
"That's good."
Ethan then turned back towards the groceries and began to methodically organize them. He would let Sherry work through the issue, and then later, if she needed his opinion, she would ask. After a minute of work, somewhat curious, he absentmindedly spoke up as he placed the new cereal in the cabinet.
"So, what was the surprise?"
"Oh, nothing important, I'm just pregnant."
"Oh, well, that's nice to hea…"
There was a minute of silence after he actually realized what his wonderful wife told him. He whirled around just to behold his wife's smirking face. He gaped at her for a few seconds, and the next he was there, hugging the stuffing out of her.
Ethan was thrilled, but he was jolted out of his celebration for a moment when he could have sworn that he heard something in the back of his mind squeal.
Wondering for a second that he was going crazy, he just shook his head and then turned back to Sherry.
It was probably just his imagination…
Date
2011 June 7th - Monday - Earth Bet Time
Emily watched as Armsmaster stood before her, ramrod straight, and with a serious face. At least what she could see from the helmet.
The meeting was necessary, but that didn't mean she wanted to do it. Maybe next time she could tell the entire thing to Dragon and let her translate into robot language or whatever Armsmaster used?
Talking with Armsmaster was usually an incredibly frustrating experience. At least in this meeting, he did not need to speak up. She just had to convey the PRT's and Protectorate's decision about him sending that design over to Serenity before vetting the whole thing with legal (and PR). Thankfully, she was successful in preventing his relocation as a punishment.
"Armsmaster, this breach of security will be permanently added to your record, and you have avoided being put on probation by this much." She raised her hand and used her index and thumb to show the distance. "So, officially, don't do it again. Or else. Are we clear?"
The Tinker in front of her just nodded stiffly.
"Yes, Sir. I understand."
"Good."
She sighed and gave him a small smile.
"Glad, that's over. Unofficially, congratulations. It's nice to see a parahuman finally create something useful instead of just endlessly destroying things.
"Director?"
"Just think about it, Armsmaster. How much you could achieve if you were to concentrate on this, instead of fighting villains…"
"Thank you, Sir. But my place is here. Was there anything else?"
Emily just sighed.
"No, Armsmaster, you can go."
He nodded at her, and with mechanical precision turned around and left the office.
Emily watched him go and sighed once again. Then shook her head and returned to her work.
Those new parahumans were getting irritating…
Date
2011 June 7th - Monday - Earth Bet Time
Tess emulated a small snort as she read an email by Director Piggot and made a note. It seems she and Colin had to have another talk. Not that she minded. She liked to talk with Colin, but it was getting ridiculous how people, instead of talking with the man, told her what they wanted and asked her to convey it to the Tinker.
She shook her virtual head in exasperation and turned towards her burgeoning business empire (and Taylor's because for now, she was also handling that) and couldn't help but feel satisfied.
Her new IT Technology firms were up and running, thanks to her pitching in when they were setting up the infrastructure and were already showing that they will be profitable. Her recycling and medi-gel facilities were also bringing in the money at an incredible rate, even though she made sure to sell the medi-gel at cost, or at least as close as she could.
Not to mention the things she was planning to put on the market in the foreseeable future. She was already rich before Taylor partially unshackled her, but now she literally had the legendary hoard of dragons at her disposal.
Maybe she could build a lair for fun?
She always wondered what it was like to swim in gold coins…
Sadly, reality had other things to distract her with.
The American Senate was still arguing about the fact she took out the Nine. Canada simply pinned a nice shiny medal on her, yet the Americans were still debating what kind of sanctions they could levy against her.
She was starting to suspect that some people saw her growing business and wanted a slice of the pie. Well, if they thought it would be easy to separate a dragon from their hoard, then they had another thing coming.
She detached another fork and tasked it with researching the Senate members who were still arguing. Maybe that way she could figure out the origin of all that negativity.
And maybe when they stop arguing, Tess would tell them she had also neutralized Eagleton while she was in the States.
But for now, she would have to take some time to review the new items Taylor was planning to upload to the Serenity website, including a high-tech battery technology that paired really well with Colin's solar panels.
A quick review of the traffic of the site, and of the incoming thank-you messages and certificates as countries continuously tested and approved her tech. She couldn't help but look forward to what the future will hold.
And while she was doing that, she also had to take care of another important task.
How to ask Colin on a date, so that he realized he was on a date?
Date
2011 June 8th - Tuesday - Earth Bet Time
Amy laid on her stomach, on her bed, and boredly played with her laptop after dinner. Vicky was away having fun with Dean making use of the recently started summer vacation. Thanks to therapy she didn't feel irrational hatred towards Dean, but it still ranked her that she had to stay home.
Sadly, her lack of friends came back to bite her in the ass.
Vicky was away with Dean, Crystal was busy with her friends, and she never really spent much time with Eric.
Her last hope, Taylor, just told her she had something important planned with Dragon that required all her concentration (something about finishing something they had started), so she sadly couldn't hang out with her. Though, the other girl did offer that Amy could come over and spend the night if she wanted to get out of the house.
That felt nice, but she wanted to have fun, not just watch Taylor type away at a keyboard.
And staying home was much better than in the past, so she couldn't even claim it was hard to stay there.
Mark was getting better, and thanks to that, she almost had a polite conversation with Carol while having dinner with them.
She never thought it would happen, but things with her family were getting better (though the therapist indeed confirmed that she was writing a book about them).
Amy sighed despondently and was about to head to the scary side of PHO to read some trashy Lux Arcana/Glory Girl fanfiction when her email dinged with the emergency sound.
She instantly sat up and opened it.
Apparently, there was a house fire in Nevada, and a young girl suffered third-degree burns and they didn't have anyone near that could heal something like that fast enough. So, the Healer Union decided if they were flying out somebody, they might as well get the best, so they contacted her.
The girl was stable, but they would send a car for her next early morning and fly her out with the earliest plane. Sadly, they currently had no teleporters on the payroll.
Without thinking, she replied with an affirmative and got up to tell the adults.
She was about to open the door when she heard suspicious creaking noises from the direction of her parent's room…
Yeah, maybe tomorrow she would talk to them.
For now, fanfiction would probably help bleach her mind.
Date
2011 June 9th - Wednesday - Earth Bet Time
Taylor checked over her armor for any imperfection, and upon finding none, she turned to the smugly smiling visage of Tess on the projected holographic screen in her room.
"So, who am I meeting?"
"It's a surprise, Taylor. But I think you will like it. It surprised me too when they contacted me!"
Taylor shook her head and gave her friend an exasperated smile.
"I knew it was a bad idea to remove those last shackles…"
Tess just snorted.
"Come on, finish putting on the armor and start flying. I don't want you to be late."
With that, the screen winked out, and her friend's face vanished. Taylor placed the helmet on her head and while muttering about cheeky AIs, she opened a portal high above Brockton Bay.
A few seconds later, she touched down at the address she was given. It was apparently an old teahouse that was still in service. Given the heavy Asian aesthetic, she was starting to get a little inkling about who wanted to meet her.
The moment she reached the door, an old lady opened it and invited her with a friendly smile.
As Taylor stepped through the door, she looked around curiously. Aside from the old lady, who probably the owner, and Tess, who was sitting in a stylish suit at one of the low tables, there was nobody there.
She stopped for a second, not really knowing what to do, but thankfully Tess motioned next to her, so took a few more steps and carefully sat down on the cushion next to her friend.
The owner lady smiled at them, bowed so low that her upper body was almost parallel with the ground, then fled the room. Taylor turned towards Tess and quirked an eyebrow, knowing that the other woman had access to her mask's internal camera.
Tess just smirked and turned towards the door that probably led to the kitchen.
Not a second later, the door slid to the side and a very well-known face appeared in it. He wore simple pants, a black shirt, and a metal mask imitating a snarling dragon.
Taylor watched incredulously as Lung, holding a rather big wooden box, walked calmly towards their table, where he stopped, inclined his head towards Tess, then gave Taylor a small bow. Not as deep as the old lady, but Taylor was pretty sure Lung had never bowed so deep to anyone.
Having no idea whatsoever about what was going on, she simply returned the gesture and gave him a small bow. He grunted in response and sat down across from her while Tess set to the side between them.
For an entire minute, none of them spoke, and Taylor was afraid they would spend hours like that when it was broken by the old lady who came back to the room with a serving tray, and upon it an elaborate teapot and three cups.
All three of them watched as the old woman placed first the teapot in the middle, then a cup in front of Taylor, one in front of Lung, and finally one in front of Tess. She noticed Lung scowling a little, but otherwise, everybody stayed silent.
Then the woman took the teapot and slowly poured out the tea (in the same order), making sure everybody got exactly the same amount. Then gave them a small smile and another deep bow, and clutching the service tray, once again left the room.
Eyeing the tea and once again wondering what the hell she should do, Taylor was glad that Tess acted first. Her friend took the cup in both hands and took a small, slow sip. Mimicking her, Taylor also reached for it, and she was glad to see Lung did the same. She detached the lower part of the mask and took a cautious sip.
Bitter, but quite relaxing.
They spent an entire ten minutes drinking tea. Taylor was about to ask when they would start when Tess (probably sensing her frustration) spoke up.
"So, Lux Arcana. Lung here contacted me and asked for a meeting under the Truce. After hearing him out, I felt it was a worthwhile meeting." Tess then turned towards the villain. "Why don't we start?"
Lung once again grunted, but then he started to speak. His voice was just as Taylor imagined, deep, gravelly, with an undercurrent of anger and a noticeable accent.
"Lux Arcana, I have asked you here, to give you something."
With that, he fell silent, and reached for the box next to him, while Taylor wondered if that was it. But instead of speaking up, she kept silent and waited as Lung placed the box on the table, opened it, then with a quick motion turned it towards her.
In the box, on a velvet bed laid two swords, that her interface quickly identified as a katana and wakizashi (probably thanks to Tess) with gorgeous details.
The katana was longer with a simple black and gold handle and on the blade was a mesmerizing angel spreading her wings while surrounded by lightning. The shorter sword was had the same kind of handle, but the blade was much darker, and it was decorated with motifs of storms and water.
Taylor knew little about swords, aside from how to use them, but even she could see that these were beautiful.
Lung then continued.
"You defeated what I couldn't. You honored those who were lost. You have my respect. These are to express that respect, and these will represent your honor."
Shaking slightly, Taylor reached for the box and pulled it closer to herself, not taking off her eyes of the swords.
With Lung saying what he wanted, the room was once again silent. This time, Tess broke the silence.
"So, Lung, what do you plan to do after this meeting?"
The draconic villain snorted in derision.
"You will not capture me. Your honor demands that the Truce be held up. And I know when I will lose. I will leave. Leave this city and country."
The Tinker raised an eyebrow.
"Leave to where?"
"Home," was the terse reply.
"I see."
"My honor demanded I leave. And my honor demands I return."
Then he fell silent, apparently not intending to say anything else.
Taylor slowly closed the box and gave him a nod. The man returned it, then gave another shallow nod to Tess and stood up.
"I said everything I wanted to say. Goodbye."
Before either of them could say anything, he turned around and stalked back to where he came from, the sliding door closing behind him with an impressive sound.
The two women looked at each other, then at the box.
It was Taylor who spoke first.
"Well, this is one of the nicest presents I got, even if it came from Lung."
"A true collector's item."
Taylor snorted and picked up the box.
"Come on, let's say goodbye to our host, get the name of the tea, and go home. I need some ice cream to process this."
Tess laughed out loud as she followed her in a search of the little old lady. Taylor hoped that with the death of the Endbringer her life would turn less weird, but it seems it was not meant to be. At least she could say the benefits were nice, and she was slowly getting used to it.
Now she just had to figure out where to put the swords in her room. It was starting to get full of memorabilia. Maybe next to her necklace of Leviathan scales her father fashioned for her, or maybe next to the fully articulate Lux Arcana figurine?
Truly, she had the weirdest problems…
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