Capítulo 586: 25
Date
2011 January 17th - Monday - Earth Bet Time
Taylor woke up on Monday with a renewed sense of purpose. Her talk, however one-sided, with her mother, allowed her to get rid of a weight that she didn't even know was there.
She had powers, was out of Winslow, her tormentors got everything they deserved, she got her father back, and was even on her way to make a great friend. All she had to do now, to take this opportunity and make the most of it.
She went on a refreshing run around the block, ignoring the frigid January weather and enjoying her new shoes. By the time she got back, her father was also up and making breakfast. After a quick shower, and settling on a new hairstyle, this time trying twin-tails, she sat down with him to eat it.
Danny dabbed his mouth with a napkin and stood up. "Have a nice day, honey. Could you take care of the dishes?"
"Sure, Dad! Good luck with work!" She answered while standing up too. She smiled at him and hugged him.
He smiled back at her, though his smile was a little sadder, and also returned the hug. "Thanks. We will need it."
Taylor gave him an encouraging look. "I believe in you, Dad. Maybe today is the day?"
He chuckled and made to leave. "Let's hope so…"
After her father left for work, she cleaned up the kitchen, prepared a little for lunch and dinner. She also sent a few messages to Tess.
The answer put a big smile on her face. Apparently, today was the day.
She spent the first part of the day doing the required studying. Once again blazing through the online schooling party thanks to the freedom from Winslow and partly to her power. Though if she wanted to be honest with herself, it was her power. She was always studious, but she didn't want to lie to herself and say she was a genius.
After finishing with that, she ate a quick lunch and turned her attention towards tinkering.
Her discussion with Tess and Admin about the recycling facility, resulted in them talking about what kind of things she could tinker up. The list Admin gave them really surprised Tess. She immediately made a request for the gynoid body. She was already building one, but taking a look at another one would speed her up.
So she went through the designs she made, and when she was satisfied that they were done, she sent them over to Tess for an overview. The thank-you message again put a smile on her face. It felt nice to have a friend again.
Next, she turned to her project that she hoped to go worldwide with. It was a project that Admin suggested, but she agreed wholeheartedly. This project was having her sharing the designs of devices that would produce something called medi-gel. She would create a website where people could buy licenses to the device for a pittance. The most important part was that the entire thing was tinker black-box-free so anybody could build it.
She would provide several devices with different yields. One for home use, one for a bigger group, and one for industrial manufacturing.
Tess was already in the middle of constructing a server farm that would house the website and the files.
She would also help to set up a company that would handle the patenting, licensing, and handling of the money in her name. As a little bonus, she would collect all the money people would pay, and then donate it to a charity. Maybe an Endbringer Recovery Charity, she wasn't clear on that yet.
At first, she wondered why Admin couldn't give her a simply a healing power like Panacea, but when he pointed out the consequences of having a healing power, she decided she didn't really want the power.
Though she made a note to try to help her out somehow.
According to the projections, Admin showed her that just the fact that this trauma medicine exists would save millions of people. Which she could never achieve with a simple healing power. After all, most people die at the scene and if they could reach the hospital, their life expectancy would rise exponentially.
Tess just confirmed this fact with a grim face. According to her, if soldiers or government agents could take it with them to the field, it would really help. So she was really supportive of this venture.
Currently, she was building a website for the project. It included a page with an explanation, one with the required medical info, another where it showed how much money they collected, one where people could buy the licenses, and finally a page where it showed how many institutions have given their approval for it.
According to Tess, the Guild scientists were already testing it, and if the noises they made were any indication, they were thrilled with it.
Imagining the number of people she would save with this, she stopped her daydreaming and went back to coding. With renewed spirits and double the speed.
Date
2011 January 17th - Monday - Earth Bet Time
Danny was sitting at his desk and was looking out at the ocean with a forlorn look. Today was another failure. No matter how cheerful a face he put up for his daughter, he knew that their days were numbered. Sometimes he wondered if he should look for something more profitable, but he couldn't leave his friends behind. They depended on him, and wouldn't be able to live with himself if he betrayed them.
He was technically the Head of Hiring, but over the years, due to downsizing, people leaving, or even deaths, he acquired other responsibilities. He was still responsible for hiring (not that they hired many people nowadays) but he also helped with the accounting and sourcing jobs.
Thankfully, he was a good enough negotiator, so over the years, he managed to get a few well-paying jobs that kept the place afloat, and the people paid.
Today, however, he was just waffling around. None of his emails were answered yet, and he has found no opportunity that he could use to gain jobs for the guys.
Despite this, he was rather happy. His new therapy was already was paying dividends. His relationship with Taylor was getting better by the day, and she was also getting happier. She was much like the happy little girl he remembered her being. And it was fascinating watching her working enthusiastically on Tinker tech, then trying to explain it to him. He understood little of it, so he simply enjoyed being in her presence.
He was about to take a walk and then a quick lunch when there was a knock on his door.
"Yes?"
The door opened, and the general secretary, Jenna, leaned in. "Danny, there is a suit here for a meeting with you about a job."
Her delivery was deadpan, but he could see in her eyes, she was a little perturbed.
"Trouble?" he asked, ready to dial the PRT. It wasn't the first time one of the gangs tried something. In the back of his head, he thought about placing a call to his daughter, but then immediately discarded it. She may be powerful, but he didn't want her to introduce herself that way.
"Oh no, just weird. He says he is from Dragon Industries."
"From Dragon Industries? Here? For what?" he asked, surprised.
She just shrugged. "Didn't say. Should I send him in or get one of the boys to escort him out?"
"No. Send him in. I doubt anyone would dare to start something in Dragon's name."
"Sure, Danny." She turned around to do so but called back with a question. "Do you need to me bring some water?"
"Yeah, if it is legitimate, then I suspect this would last for a while."
A minute later the door opened again, and an older gentleman, with salt and pepper hair, shrewd looking eyes, and a rather big briefcase followed Jenna, who was carrying a tray with water bottles on it.
He stood up, waited until Jenna put everything down, thanked her, then turned to the man and offered his hand.
"Good day, Mr.…?"
The man accepted his hand, grabbed it firmly, shook it, then sat down at the seat that Danny indicated.
"Hello, Mr. Hebert. My name is James Levesque, and I work as a Senior Legal Representative for Dragon Industries."
"I see. And how can the Dockworkers Union help someone like Dragon?"
"Straight to the point, I see. I can respect that," said the man with a thin smile. "Dragon recently acquired a considerable amount of land in Brockton Bay. Filled to the brim with all sorts of metal, and she decided to set up a recycling facility."
Hearing that, Danny's eyes grew the size of silver dollars. "What? Why?"
"Her reasoning is her own, but what she shared with us, apparently she has a need for cheaply sourced metal. And instead of sourcing it from somewhere, she decided to get two birds with one stone."
"That makes sense. I always heard that Dragon was rather involved with charities and environmental cleanup efforts."
The lawyer didn't answer, just smiled at him.
"But my question still stands. What use could we be to her?"
The man nodded, then answered. "That's fair. Dragon wants to employ a local workforce who have the required qualification. Upon doing research, we found your group. Dragon already purchased the land where several bigger warehouses stand. We are still working out several licenses, but as soon as that finishes she wants to start the work. For that, she needs experienced people who know what they are doing."
Hearing the explanation, gears started to move in Danny's head. Recycling usually involved a lot of moving stuff around, with metal, some cutting, and maybe a few chemical processes. They should have at least one person with the relevant qualifications.
"Will Dragon be using normal machines or some tinker contraption?"
"I was told that she would be using normal technology, albeit improved by the knowledge she gained from tinker tech."
"I see," he said, then fell silent, contemplating the offer.
Mr. Levesque just sat there and was obviously letting him work through it while calmly opening a bottle of water and pouring some of it in a glass.
After a few minutes of uninterrupted thinking, some research in the Union database, but in the end, his decision was given. They needed the work.
"Would it possible to talk to Dragon about the specifics?"
The lawyer smiled in triumph, as if sensing his unsaid decision, and nodded. "Yes. Would now be okay?"
With that, he took the unusually sized briefcase from the ground where he put it, placed it on his lap, clicked it open, then stood up. He took the open case place on his desk and turned around with a dramatic movement.
And he found himself face to face with Dragon's famous avatar.
"Hello, Mr. Hebert. It is a pleasure to meet you…"
By the time the lawyer left the compound, multiple people were swarming several warehouses near the Bay's water. They were cleaning them, throwing out the trash, and just doing general housekeeping.
It was obviously not the most glorious work, but every one of them looked like they were happy there.
Unfortunately, this fresh development didn't go unnoticed. Several groups made sure to keep a tab on the Union. Each for their own purpose, but this made sure that when they moved with such speed and enthusiasm, everyone knew about it in short order.
Some noted it and moved on to other things. Some, however, made plans.
Date
2011 January 17th - Monday - Earth Bet Time
When her father got home, Taylor went to finish dinner. However, when she served it, she was surprised to see her dad sitting there with a faraway look on his face.
"What's wrong, dad?" she asked, worried. "Did something happen? Did somebody get hurt? Are you hurt?" The last one maybe has been said a little hysterically. She also used her power if she could sense something wrong with him, though she found nothing out of ordinary.
Danny snapped out of wherever he was. "Oh, Taylor, don't worry. Nothing bad happened. It's the exact opposite!"
That calmed down Taylor. She released a big breath and relaxed in her seat. "Really?"
"Yeah. Your favorite dad is all right. And left." he answered with a small smile on his face.
It took Taylor a few seconds to get what some may call a joke. She just raised an eyebrow in answer. Her dad chuckled freely at his own pun, then started to explain.
"Get this, we got a call from Dragon."
Taylor hoped her acting skills have improved. "Dragon? The Dragon?"
"Yeah… It was a rather big surprise!" he answered, again chuckling at her disbelief.
"And what did she want?"
"You would never believe…"
Taylor just sat there, food forgotten by both of them, and listened as his dad happily and animatedly told her the tale.
In the end, they finished dinner while Danny talked, then moved to the living room and continued to discuss it.
Taylor was rather familiar with the plan, but it was still interesting to hear about it from her dad's viewpoint.
She especially liked how Danny talked about how much this would help Brockton Bay. It served as proof of Admin's plan. Because if her dad was right, then he was doing everything he promised.
She vowed to work extra hard and diligently on the designs for Dragon.
Maybe she could ask her father to allow her to help out at the Union as an intern during the day? It would allow her to be near if one of the gangs wanted to try something.
"So what did you do today?" asked her father when they exhausted the topic of Dragon's recycling facility.
"Some exercise, did online school and tinkered a little," she answered simply.
"Anything interesting?" he asked now sipping something stronger, his entire body radiating contentment.
She nodded and gave him a big smile. "Oh, yes. I wanted to help a lot of people, and I come up with something…"
"And what is this idea?"
"Well, I worked out a recipe for a…"
She spent the rest of the night explaining her plan and introducing her dad to medi-gel. He was suitably impressed. He even mentioned they would love something like this at the Docks.
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