Pulling into the parking lot outside the DWU admin building, Roy turned the ignition off and unfastened his seat belt. His security guy did the same, both of them getting out. "Looks busy, sir," the security agent commented, his eyes on the large number of people who were heading towards the main yard. It appeared that pretty much every single DWU worker was probably here at the moment, which didn't surprise him, since they'd all put a lot of effort into the whole project and undoubtedly wanted to see the first train to the smelter upstate head out.

More cars were coming in through the gate, each being checked carefully by the security team there, which was considerably larger than normal. They were thorough, efficient, and surprisingly fast, he thought. By the looks of things, a lot of the new arrivals were family and friends of the various DWU people, along with a few he recognized as reporters other than the ones he'd talked to, the word having apparently got around.

Turning back, he spotted Mark, the DWU head security man, coming out of the admin building in their direction. The blond man waved a greeting as he approached. "Hello, Mayor Christner. Nice to see you again." The man also nodded to Roy's own guard, who returned the gesture.

"A hell of a lot of people seem to want to see this, I notice," Roy smiled.

Mark looked around and grinned. "It's an important day for us, and the city. Everyone wants to watch. And around here it's any excuse for a day out at the moment. Hot dogs are on us."

Laughing, Roy replied, "I'll take you up on that." Yet another vehicle arriving made them all look to see another city administration car pull up next to his, which disgorged several of the Brockton Bay councilors.

"Looks like everyone from your end also wants to see," Mark noted, sounding amused.

"That it does. I hope someone is still running the city," Roy commented wryly, before spotting a familiar vehicle just entering the gates. "And here comes my wife and sister, plus niece." Very soon his family were getting out of their car as well, Dinah looking around with great interest. He greeted his sister with a hug, then did the same to the girl, who smiled at him.

"Thanks for inviting me, Uncle Roy," she said happily.

"You're welcome, princess," he told her. "Come on, let's find Danny and see what's going on." He put an arm around his wife, who smiled at him.

"Just follow the usual route, Mayor," Mark said, waving to the side of the admin building. "You know the way. Danny's somewhere near the BBFO office, he was talking to Saurial the last I heard. I need to stop these reporters wandering off so I'll leave you to it." The man looked over as an SUV came into the yard, bearing the logo of the local TV station. "That's three different TV crews now, including one from New York," he added, before heading over to the latest arrival.

Roy watched him go then turned to his family. "Shall we?" he asked, gesturing in the direction the crowds of people were going. His wife looped her arm through his and smiled at him, while his sister and niece exchanged a look before Dinah waved grandly towards the bay.

"After you, Mother," she said in a deliberately posh voice.

"No, after you, my dear Daughter," her mother replied, in similar tones. The girl giggled then trotted off, the others following with amused looks. Behind them, yet more vehicles turned up. He glanced back over his shoulder in time to see a very expensive black limousine he recognized park in a spot a few cars down from his own.

"Huh. Even Max Anders," he commented to the security agent, who was also looking back.

"It seems so, sir. That's definitely a Medhall vehicle."

"Interesting." Musing on the reasons that one of the richest people in the city might have for watching this event take place, Roy turned back to the front and kept walking.

A couple of minutes later they found themselves in a large crowd of people who had arrayed themselves across a significant part of the DWU yard, many of them having thought ahead and brought folding chairs. There was a distinct party atmosphere going on which was only enhanced by the smell of popcorn and hot dogs emanating from a number of carts around the place, each emblazoned with the DWU logo.

"I wonder if they're getting into the street food business too," Deb asked quietly after inspecting the nearest one, which was manned by two large dock workers who were handing out food at a great rate, looking very pleased with things. He shrugged, grinning.

"I wouldn't put it past them," he replied. "Considering how much of the recent past has involved most of the people here helping out at public events, it's a smart move."

Dinah followed his eyes, then turned her own towards him with a beseeching expression.

"Oh, good lord," he sighed. "Stop that, Princess, it's more than a little disturbing."

The girl grinned but the expression became even more pathetic moments later. With a sigh, he headed for the cart, inwardly snickering. Shortly all five of them were each holding a remarkably tasty hot dog. Dinah had one in each hand, in fact, and was taking bites alternately from them with considerable enjoyment.

Scanning the crowd while eating his snack, Roy finally spotted the very distinctive form of Saurial, who was taller than many of the people here, even though a lot of the dock workers were pretty substantial people. Next to her he could see Danny, both of them talking while watching the crowd. She in turn spotted him and waved, then said something to the DWU man, who looked over and nodded. The odd pair began heading their way, talking to various other people for a moment here and there as they did so.

Roy was interested to see how familiar all the DWU people were with the lizard girl, not looking even slightly intimidated or worried as she passed them. He could easily see just from the body language how much they respected Danny Hebert, and it seemed that Saurial was held in the same regard, but at the same time each of them was also just one of the dock workers too. He found it fascinating how quickly that had happened in her case bearing in mind how short a time she'd been around.

'Adaptable people,' he thought to himself with respect and admiration. 'Not to mention damn hard workers.'

Arriving at his small group, Danny shook his hand, greeting him. "Glad you could make it, Roy." He turned to the others, adding, "It's nice to see you all again. I assume your husband couldn't make it, Cheryl?"

Roy's sister shook her head with a smile. "No, unfortunately not, Danny. He's tied up with a big project right now, but he sent his best wishes to you all."

Danny nodded, looking down at Dinah a moment later. "Are you enjoying those, Dinah?" he asked with a grin. The girl was half-way through her pair of hot-dogs and looking like the answer was a definite yes.

"Yep," she chirped, looking happily up at the tall man. "They're great." She looked around while taking another bite, then swallowed. "This is really neat."

"We're quite pleased about it," Saurial noted with a small smile. She squatted down next to the girl and held out her hand. "I'm pleased to see you again." Dinah quickly shuffled her snacks into her left hand and shook the lizard-girl's offered appendage with a grin.

"Me too," she replied. "I had so much fun when I was here that time. All my friends were really jealous." Based on her smirk, she was quite pleased about that. Saurial chuckled, then stood again.

"Hopefully you'll have as much fun this time," the reptilian cape said.

"Is Kaiju really going to be here?" Dinah asked eagerly.

"Yes, she's due in about fifteen minutes," Danny nodded. He indicated the still-growing crowd. "Quite a few more people are going to be here by then. The train leaves in an hour, the crews are finishing off the final loads right now. That's what those cranes are doing over there, see?"

Everyone followed his pointing finger. Roy watched as two huge cranes, themselves sitting on a sort of railway that obviously let them move back and forth along the edge of the waterside of the docks, moved large sections of scrap into the last half-dozen open-topped rail cars. One was apparently using a giant electromagnet to shift steel, the other a massive four-part grab mechanism that looked like a huge version of the sort of thing some arcade games used. It was transporting quantities of shiny twisted pipework into another car.

"The magnet crane moves the ferrous metal, the other one does non-ferrous or non-magnetic," Danny went on. "Right now that's stainless steel, then the next load is copper and brass. When they're done moving the big stuff, crews will top the cars off with all the smaller bits, using those excavators over there. And a couple of Vectura's mechs, she's finished four more of them and we've got so many people wanting to use the things we decided to let some of the guys get some practice in." He grinned as Dinah's eyes widened as a pair of the robotic slightly reptilian-appearing bipedal machines appeared from behind one of the rail cars, each carrying a pile of scrap like it was nothing.

Roy was watching with enormous interest, since seeing it in person was much more impressive than the videos he'd seen before. Which certainly wasn't to say that those weren't impressive.

"Oh, cool!" Dinah giggled, staring at the machines as the operators easily tossed the scrap into one car, then wheeled the things around and jogged off for another load. "Those are really, really neat."

"They're fairly popular," Danny said dryly, glancing at Saurial who was grinning. "We ended up having to draw straws, there were so many people wanting to have a play. There are four more guys practicing around the back of Vectura's workshop right now with the other two, and I can sure tell you that those six people are looking pretty smug about it."

Roy laughed. "I can imagine, Danny," he commented, shaking his head. "You really do have some of the best toys I've ever seen. Are you going to make enough for everyone who wants one?"

Danny sighed. "That would be about… Hmm, how many people are in the union right now?"

"Three hundred and sixty eight or something, I think?" Saurial snickered.

"Three hundred and sixty eight mechs, then," the Hebert man finished. He shrugged as Roy laughed again. "They're very popular..."

"Oddly enough, that doesn't surprise me," Roy noted wisely, making the other man nod. "Can Vectura even make that many?"

"It would take a while, but sure," Saurial replied with a shrug. "Most of the systems are made here, although some of the computer parts we still have to buy in and modify. We'll work out a fix for that sooner or later. That said, we'll probably stick with the first dozen for a while, since she doesn't really want to spend the next six months doing nothing but mass producing the things. In the long run, though…?" She shrugged again as Roy looked at her. "We're pretty sure they're a profitable side line, even if we only lease them out. Something we're still thinking about."

"Impressive," he remarked, watching the machines come back again. "Very impressive indeed. I was under the impression that Tinker tech was fairly fragile for the most part. Won't there be servicing problems?"

"Not that much," the lizard girl said with a shake of her head. "Vectura's stuff is really robust. I and my sister make most of the parts to her design anyway, out of materials that aren't going to fail in the first place, and the actual Tinker parts are pretty solid. She's fairly certain that they'd only need maintenance on a yearly basis, and a lot of that could be done by a trained engineer. Vectura put a lot of effort into making them as reliable as she could."

Roy nodded slowly, absorbing the information and considering it. Yet another unusual byproduct of the Family skills, it looked like. Tinker tech that actually lasted long enough to become a viable commercial product was rare, while not unknown, and seldom something this effective. If they could genuinely pull it off, he could envisage some fascinating results over time.

"They move in such a lifelike manner," Deb said, sounding curious. "Not like machines at all."

Saurial grinned. "Everyone notices that. There are some really cool analog computer systems running the motion control, with a control interface that links directly to the neural system of the operator. Vectura came up with it as a modification of something Leet designed, and between them and Über, with some input from Panacea, they got it working incredibly well. Much better than the first control system and that was already pretty good. Took the guys a couple of hours practice to get used to it, but so far everyone who's tried it loves it."

Roy stared at her. "Just that part is probably a game changer," he said with amazement.

She nodded. "Yep, we've already come up with about fifty different applications for that without even thinking too hard," she smiled. "I'm sure there are a lot more we haven't considered yet. There's no rush, though, we want to get things right. Oh, while I think of it, Roy, Raptaur and I will be making the first batch of all the hardware Lisa showed you guys during the week. We'll be able to get your people and the PRT the sample gear by Tuesday or so. If you're happy with it, a larger quantity won't take long to arrange."

"Excellent," he nodded, smiling widely. "Both the fire department and the police were very impressed with Lisa's demo. Almost stunned, in fact." She grinned at his words. "I expect that the PRT was similarly taken aback?"

"Lisa said Armsmaster and the scientists he was with were gaping, then looked fascinated," she nodded. "Knowing the guy, I bet he's already got about ten different designs for places he can use some of our stuff."

"At least," Roy agreed, amused. He thought once again that the Family were probably a Tinker's dream come true.

Saurial glanced past his shoulder, her eyes narrowing slightly, causing him to turn and look that way. He spotted Max Anders and his entourage heading their way. Sighing very faintly, he put a welcoming smile on his face despite feeling like he'd prefer to pretend the man wasn't there.

"Mr Mayor," Max said grandly as he arrived next to them. "It's been a while. How are you on this fine and memorable day for the city?" His teeth, Roy thought, were almost offensively white and sparkling.

"I'm fine, thank you, Mr Anders," he replied politely.

"Now, as I've said before, call me Max," the man said with another brilliant smile. "We're all friends here." He turned to the others as Roy inwardly thought that the statement wasn't exactly accurate. Max didn't have friends, he had people he could use, from what he knew of the man. Ego wasn't something he lacked either. "Ah. Mr Hebert. I've wanted to meet you for some time now." He held out his hand.

Roy watched Danny's eyes, pretty sure that the other man felt much the same about the rather over-eager businessman as he did. There wasn't a flicker of annoyance on his face, though, the guy was remarkably good at hiding what he was feeling, as Roy knew from long experience. Danny shook hands with Max, smiling slightly. "That's nice to hear, Mr Anders. I've heard a lot about you. And of course Medhall is one of the largest employers in the city."

"We like to think we add something to our fair town," Max nodded, still showing his teeth. Roy was beginning to wonder if his face was stuck like that. "And the renewal program can only help with everything. It's already showing dividends from a commercial perspective, the increase in marine operations in the last two weeks has been a pleasant surprise. Going forward I expect great things to happen."

"Hopefully," Danny agreed mildly. "We're doing what we can. With the aid of many others, of course, such as New Wave and the Family."

"Yes, indeed. Our local superhero group is going from strength to strength from what I hear," Max nodded. "I'm impressed at how much good publicity they've gained by recent developments. For some time it appeared that they were in decline, but now look at them! New costumes, helping the PRT with official operations during the most recent incident… Excellent work and good PR."

Danny merely smiled again a little, with a nod. Max turned to Saurial, who had been watching him closely, in a manner that Roy was fairly sure was slightly more intense than he might have expected. He was familiar enough with reptilian expressions these days that he could see something in her eyes that was… curious. "And not forgetting our latest friends. The Family have made a significant number of changes in a remarkably short time. I've been following the news of your exploits with great interest."

He held out his hand again, Saurial shaking it and nodding, her smile nearly as toothy as his. "We do what we can, Mr Anders," she said calmly. "Luckily we found that our skills and interests and those of the DWU and city aligned very nicely. We're pleased to be able to make a difference."

"You have made an extraordinary difference already, my dear girl," he chuckled, full of ebullient bonhomie. "I can hardly wait to see what happens next."

"It should be fun," she agreed, studying him. "It's nice to be able to help out, not only with increasing the number of jobs around the place, but also decreasing the amount of crime." Her smile this time was quite predatory. "We've found that the number of villains seems to have dropped considerably in the last couple of months. It's almost a pity, rounding them up is hilarious and good training for us." She shrugged as Max's smile seemed to flicker. "No doubt they'll come back sooner or later, that sort usually doesn't seem to learn all that fast. We'll be ready for them, though, never fear."

"With your sisters and cousins ready to protect us, I'm sure we don't have too much to worry about," Max noted, appearing in good humor again.

"We'd like to think we can deal with anything that turns up," she assured him with a small smirk. "We've still got all sorts of techniques we haven't had to use yet." She glanced at Roy, who wondered what those would be, and how large a hole they'd leave…

Clearing his throat, Max nodded after a moment. "I understand, I think. Well, we're in good hands, between you, the DWU, and New Wave, I have no doubt." Turning to Roy, who was finding the entire thing slightly weird, but oddly amusing for some reason, he went on, "Medhall is going to be holding a dinner for some of the larger clients and local celebrities, as something of a publicity exercise, sometime next month. We're still working on the details. There will be a charity auction among other things. I hope you will be able to attend. We'll be sending out the invitations next week."

"I'll keep an eye out for it," Roy replied.

"Excellent. Well, I must talk to a few other people," Max smiled, nodding towards some of the other council-members who were standing a hundred feet away, talking to one of the reporters who was pointing at the train. "Until we meet again." He glanced at the hot dog carts and added, "I believe I will try one of those as well, they smell delicious." With a small wave, he headed away, his people following. One of the two blondes who had been standing close to him smiled at Roy.

When they were a safe distance away, out of earshot, Roy sighed. "That man, for some reason, gives me the creeps."

"Oh, good, I'm glad it's not only me," Deb said with relief. Cheryl giggled, while Saurial and Danny grinned.

"He does sort of give the impression of trying too hard doesn't he?" the lizard-girl snickered. "Maybe I'm being rude, but that's the feeling I get."

"He's always been like that," Roy noted. "On the surface he's a very popular and believable person, but you'd be surprised at how many people don't really like him at all. No one says it to his face, though. He's too powerful to insult if you don't want trouble. Medhall is the single largest, or at least, richest, employer in the city, and they have deep pockets. And a lot of lawyers. Not to mention no sense of humor."

"They have that research hospital too, right?" Danny asked. "I've heard that while it's nowhere near the size of Brockton General, it's got a good reputation for dealing with the really difficult cases. Assuming Panacea hasn't got to them yet."

Nodding, Roy replied, "They're pretty good. Expensive, but good. But then, they do have a lot of money to pay their researchers and doctors, so you'd expect that."

"True."

Looking down at Dinah, who was finishing her last bite of hot dog, Roy smiled. "Have you had enough of those or are you going to want another one?"

She shrugged. "I'll have another one later, please. I'm full now."

Saurial grinned at her. "There are plenty to go around, so don't worry about that." Looking around for a moment, the reptilian girl turned to Danny. "I'm going to go find Metis and the others. Back in a while."

"OK." Looking at his watch, the Hebert man said, "We've still got nearly forty-five minutes or so. Kaiju should be here shortly too."

"See you guys soon," she remarked, smiling at them all, then jogging off. Roy watched for a moment, before turning to his wife. About to say something, he caught sight of a familiar looking reporter and cameraman heading his way and put a professional smile on his face. Deb looked over her shoulder, turned back to him, smiled a little, and moved out of the way, Cheryl, Dinah, and Danny following. Shortly afterwards he was doing his thing to camera, quite enjoying the day.

"Hell of a lot of people out there," Amy commented, closing the door to the office having stuck her head out to have a look.

"Yeah," Taylor, who was currently in her base form, nodded. "All of them, I think."

"It's only about twelve hundred people," Lisa laughed. "But that's sure a lot for around here. Looks like this first train is a popular thing to see."

"There's been an awful lot of buildup to it," Amy said wisely. "All that stuff in the papers, the documentary about the Family, and all the other stuff has made people curious. It's only been a couple of months or so but the amount of talk about it makes it feel like it's been going on for a couple of years or something. I'm not surprised we're full. People will be talking about this for a long time."

"Better make it memorable, then," Taylor grinned.

"Don't overdo it," Lisa sighed.

"Would we do that?" Amy and Taylor chorused. The blonde gave them a look, making them both laugh.

"By now you know my answer to that question," Lisa muttered. Putting an arm around her friend's shoulder, Taylor smiled at her.

"We know. And we know you enjoy the crazy as much as the rest of us, but you just have a need to look like a sensible person for some reason."

"Get off me, you scaly nuisance," Lisa snapped, pushing the arm off. Moments later she grinned. "Fair enough, I suppose. If I was a sane woman I wouldn't be here in the first place."

"That's the spirit." Taylor turned to Amy. "Were any of your family coming? You did mention this to them, right?"

The healer nodded. "Mom said she was busy working out the next step of Rachel's case, and Dad had a previous engagement." She smiled slightly. "Which proves he's already improving, since he actually remembered it. Aunt Sarah was thinking of coming to watch, though. Uncle Neil is out of town until Monday."

"And Vicky and your cousins?" Lisa asked curiously.

"Vicky is still in a funny mood and as far as I know went out with Crystal. Eric might turn up though." Amy shrugged. "It's not impossible Vicky and Crystal will too since they're somewhere downtown, but I couldn't get a straight answer out of her."

"Your sister is weird."

Amy looked at Taylor, who was smiling at her. "I know. But then, aren't we all?"

"You two are. I'm perfectly normal," Lisa commented, coming back out of the workroom as Metis. Both the other looked at her, then exchanged glances, before falling about laughing. Lisa joined in.

"Yeah, completely normal, all of us," Taylor giggled, turning back into Saurial. "Come on, let's get things going." Her other aspect appeared next to her, as a duplicate lizard-girl. "You're staying as Amy, right?"

"Guess I probably should just so we definitely have a New Wave representative handy," Amy nodded. "Roy will probably appreciate it, I think. He seems pretty pleased with us at the moment and it can't hurt. Good PR, as Mom would say."

"Fair enough."

Both Saurials looked at each other, then one of them winked and vanished.

"Kaiju will be here momentarily, I believe," the one left behind said, the Varga smiling at the others. "Shall we?" He motioned to the door.

"We shall," Amy replied, pulling her helmet on, then grinning at her friends. "Let's go watch what happens."

All three of them left the office, heading out to the huge crowd gathered to watch the historic event.

A mile outside the bay and two hundred feet down, Taylor's second aspect grew into the full Kaiju form and started swimming back to the dock area. She was in a very good mood and smiling to herself. Her other aspect was moving towards her father, 'Metis' and Amy bringing up the rear, all three of them stopping intermittently to greet various people. The whole event was almost like a carnival, she mused. The entire thing had made everyone present very happy, the end result of a hell of a lot of work being one of the longest trains she'd ever seen, piled high with close to eighty percent of the old tanker that had been a blight on the city for her entire life.

'It's almost hard to believe this is actually happening,' she said to her demon.

"Understandable, considering how long the problem has existed and how quickly things changed once we got started," he replied with a mental smile. "I'm sure that everyone else probably feels much the same. But at the same time, from what I can tell there is both enormous support for this project, and huge relief that it's working so far. Certainly the entire DWU seems to have taken on a new lease on life."

'They're sure making the most of it,' she chuckled, watching through the other aspect's eyes as people moved around, talking and laughing. Children were running about and playing, carefully shepherded away from the danger zone by the two or three dozen DWU workers in high visibility jackets acting as security, while their parents sat in folding chairs or on the ground, safely behind the fences that had been set up, watching and talking. A lot of beer seemed to be present too, which along with the free food was definitely adding to the mellow atmosphere.

"Indeed they are," he replied happily. "It's very pleasing to see so many contented people."

Now passing the boat graveyard, she rose slowly until her back just broke the surface, a huge bulge of dark water showing before it dissolved into foam. 'Just to give the tourists something to look at,' she giggled. There had been a lot of people on the boardwalk earlier, and they'd have a nice view as she passed.

His snicker inside her head made her grin as she kept moving.

Newter felt his jaw drop open and he nearly let go of his can of Coke. "Jesus Christ," he mumbled, his eyes wide. He watched the absolutely preposterously huge scaled back cross the bay from his vantage point in the Palanquin common room, Gregor next to him and Mel at the next window, both of them silent. When Kaiju disappeared off to the side, only her wake left and slowly dissipating among the ships that had left her a respectful space, he looked at his companions. Mel was gripping the windowsill with both hands hard enough that her knuckles had gone white, and Gregor was looking blankly out the window.

"I did actually see that, right?" he asked faintly.

Both the others nodded a little jerkily.

"Fuck me."

"She is rather more impressive in real life, even at this distance, than the news reports showed," Gregor said after some thirty seconds.

"She's big enough to eat Leviathan for a snack," Newter mumbled, looking back to the water where the last traces of ripples from the impossibly large reptilian creature were spreading out. Half a dozen fishing boats were trailing her, from what he could see.

Mel abruptly turned and left the room, her face tight and worried. Both the men watched her go, looked at each other, then Newter went and turned on the large TV, tuning it to the local news. Hopefully there was live coverage of the thing at the DWU.

Gregor was still peering out the window, appearing thoughtful.

"I still can't believe how fucking enormous Kaiju is," Crystal said quietly, standing next to Vicky on the roof of one of the taller warehouses a mile or so from the DWU facility. They'd seen the enormous reptile swim past, causing the entire Boardwalk to pretty much lock up in shock, then come up here for a better view. Her cousin looked at her. "Sure you don't want to go over to the DWU place and watch?"

Vicky slowly shook her head. "No, we might as well finish shopping. Aunt Sarah will be there, and Amy is too, so they're showing the flag. I'll watch it on the news."

"I doubt anyone would mind," Crystal said.

The younger girl shrugged, not wanting to explain why she was a little reticent to approach the place while Kaiju was there. She wasn't entirely certain herself, to be honest, but while her thoughts were trying to come to grips with the whole Taylor/Saurial thing, she was just a tiny bit nervous…

"Probably not, but we were right in the middle of finding a dress. Let's finish that, OK?" She lifted off and flew back towards the Boardwalk.

Behind her Crystal watched her go, turned her head to look at where Kaiju was standing up next to the docks, then shrugged. Vicky was an odd girl, but that was nothing new. Moments later she followed her cousin.

"Hi, everyone!" The ridiculously deep voice echoed around the suddenly silent DWU yard. Dinah looked up. And up. Then up some more. Her face was split in a huge grin.

"Kaiju!" a few hundred voices yelled at the same time, making her giggle. The insanely big lizard peered down at them all, looking pleased. She waved, causing a lot of people to wave back, and a couple of the reporters nearby to take a step back. The girl looked around, thinking that it was pretty easy to pick out the people who'd seen Kaiju before from the ones that hadn't based on their expressions...

"Hello again, Mr Mayor," the lizard added, looking right at them from her position in the water next to the shore. She was leaning casually on the ground like it was a table in a more human-scale area, appearing relaxed. "Nice to see you again. Hi, Danny." She waved again. Mr Hebert looked pleased and called a greeting.

Beside him Saurial was grinning at her enormous sister, with her cousin Metis saying something in a low voice and that odd language to her which made her nod. Beside them, Amy Dallon was standing with her arms folded, watching events with a smile.

Dinah looked around, wondering where Taylor was. She thought it was likely that the girl would attend, but she couldn't see her. After a moment she shrugged, she was probably with Ianthe somewhere else. With the number of people here it wasn't surprising that she couldn't spot the other Hebert. Turning back to Kaiju she studied her, still amazed at the sheer size of the reptile, which was so big as to almost look unreal in some hard to explain way.

"Hello, Kaiju," her uncle called, speaking into the radio that Danny had handed him a little earlier. Speakers around the yard let everyone hear him clearly. "It's nice to see you too. And on behalf of the city, I would yet again like to thank you and the rest of your family for all the hard work you've put in on this project. Today is a milestone in the history of Brockton Bay, one we would never have reached without your aid. We're expecting great things to come of this, thanks to all of you and the immense work put in by the Dock Worker's Union too."

A massive cheer rang out, making Dinah jump, then look around with a smile. Her uncle looked pleased, and Danny and the two other Family members were grinning.

"You're very welcome, Mayor Christner," Kaiju replied politely with a smile of her own. "We've enjoyed helping so many people, and doing useful things that can improve life for everyone. Not to mention cleaning up the bay, of course." The great reptile looked in the direction of the Boat Graveyard, then back to them. Putting a hand near her mouth, she whispered in tones that half the city would hear, "Between you and me, it's a bit messy at the moment."

Laughter filled the Yard, making her snicker. Saurial was chuckling while Metis was shaking her head.

"We've noticed, believe me," Uncle Roy said into the radio mic with a very dry tone which caused more laughter, from Kaiju too. The sub bass chuckle made Dinah's chest vibrate.

She glanced around to see what the other important people, who were mostly hanging about near her uncle, were doing. The various city officials were watching with interest, some of them appearing a little stunned, and several smiling slightly, while all the reporters and news crews were taking photos and pointing video cameras at both Kaiju and her uncle. That peculiarly oily Max Anders man who smiled too much was staring at the reptile with the weirdest expression she'd ever seen, making her suppress a giggle, and several of his friends seemed a little odd too.

Dinah noticed that Lady Photon had just landed behind them and walked over to talk to Amy, while a boy she was pretty sure was Shielder was standing on a glowing force-field gaping at the enormous lizard, an expression on his face that made her grin.

Turning back to Kaiju, she nibbled the remains of the last hot dog she still had, listening with interest.

"Well, we'll sort things out properly, don't worry about that," Kaiju went on, smiling, in more conversational tones. "Once this train has gone, and the last parts of that old tanker have been cut up and put in the next one, I can easily start bringing some more wrecks over here. Danny says that it shouldn't take long before the DWU can begin working on the graveyard itself. In a year or so we'll have made some serious changes to things, I think."

"I 'm fairly sure I speak for everyone when I say I'm interested to see what happens," Uncle Roy replied. Quite a number of people nodded, most of them looking proud.

"Should be fun if nothing else," Kaiju laughed.

"Quite," he nodded, smiling widely. He turned to the Hebert man. "I think the next part is yours, Danny." Handing the DWU person the radio, he stepped back, while half the cameras present focused on the other man, the TV crews aiming great big microphones of their own at him. A loud wave of applause followed his short speech. As many of the crowd as possible craned their necks to see Mr Hebert, people up on the roofs of several of the buildings looking down too. The two mechs were parked off to one side, their canopies open and their operators standing on the seats watching. Dinah noticed that the cat-woman Vectura she'd heard about had appeared out of the crowd and was standing next to Saurial now, watching as well, with a couple of younger men near her who she was whispering to.

"Thank you, Mayor," Mr Hebert said, accepting the radio and speaking into it. He looked around at the huge crowd, stopping on various individuals for a moment, then moving on. Practically every person in the DWU seemed to be here, and all of them were smiling. "I can't overstate how proud I am of everyone involved in this project. For years the DWU, and the city, have been struggling to survive in the face of enormous odds. Parahuman gangs, drug dealers, economic woes, we've kept going through all of them, despite numerous setbacks. Every time things look like they might mean the end, somehow we manage to pull through. All of that is, ultimately, down to the people who simply won't give up and keep going no matter what."

He paused, the entire area dead silent. Kaiju was looking down at them, her head nearly as high as the dockside cranes, and her scaly face showing thoughtful interest. Her relatives and their friends were also listening carefully. Saurial looked both pleased and proud. Amy and Lady Photon seemed approving too, as far as she could see.

"When this opportunity was gifted to us, I was as surprised as anyone. At first it seemed impossible. But the more I thought about it, the more excited I got. With the help of our friends here, Kaiju and her relatives, it looked like something we'd desperately wanted for literally decades could actually happen. But even with their help, freely offered without strings or complaint, it was still a massively complex project that could easily have failed."

He looked around at the crowd of DWU workers and their families. "To my immense pleasure, everyone pulled together. The city administration, who could well have just considered the entire thing ridiculous, instead carefully considered the proposal and approved it. The DWU stepped up without complaint, putting in very long hours for weeks to prepare the facilities for scrapping the tanker. The Family came through for us, and delivered the ship on time and without problems. The residents of the city accepted the massive changes with remarkably little complaint and overall approval. And everyone worked damn hard to get from where we were to where we now are."

He pointed at the very long train, two engines connected to the front, a faint rumble coming from them as the huge diesels idled. Their crews were standing on the platforms that stuck out near the back also listening to the man speak. "That train represents the first results of a project that will transform this city, produce hundreds of jobs over the next few years, put a large and welcome amount of money into the city finances, and guarantee employment for everyone here for the foreseeable future. I don't know precisely what the next decade will bring, but I think that it will be interesting finding out."

Ripples of laughter crossed the crowd, making him smile. Turning to Kaiju, he went on, "We, the city and the Union, owe your family a debt of thanks. You've made possible the impossible, and I for one am very pleased and very grateful."

He lowered the radio, the crowd silent for a moment, before an even louder round of applause came, everyone present clapping like mad people. Even a few of the reporters, Dinah noticed as she also clapped, smiling broadly. An old man in sunglasses in the crowd shouted "Excelsior!" which made her giggle. When it all died down, the huge lizard, who was looking slightly embarrassed, nodded.

"Thank you, Danny. And all of you, for that matter," she began. "We've all been very pleased by our reception among you, which has been far more accepting than it might have been." She scanned the crowd, then looked down at Saurial. "Since my littlest sister first came here, she's found almost everyone to be really nice and very friendly. Because of that, more of us came, and we've all seen the same thing. We're proud to be a part of this, and we're happy to keep helping out as long as you guys need it. It's fun, helps everyone, and makes life better for all of us."

Smiling, she looked around as yet more people applauded. "Thanks, basically."

Danny raised the radio again, looking amused. "I think that everyone is pleased to have you all helping out. I know I am, definitely." He glanced at Dinah's uncle. "With that, I think that what everyone is waiting for is ready to begin."

Uncle Roy nodded, looking at his wife and smiling. Mr Hebert looked to the side at Saurial, who grinned at him, then turned towards a man standing about a hundred feet away, on the other side of the fence that separated the dangerous part of the yard from the spectators. "Over to you, Kurt."

The man in question waved back, then turned around, raising his hand to his mouth. A shrill whistle, loud even at this distance, sounded twice. The train crews waved in turn, then disappeared into their machines. More whistles sounded, in some sort of code, from several places down the immense length of the train, which stretched entirely across the huge open yard from one side to the other, the far end disappearing between the buildings nearer the water.

Seconds later clouds of smoke rose from the two train engines, accompanied by a rising whine and a roar. A huge cheer sounded as the engines jerked slightly, then the roar became throatier as the vast mass of metal began, very slowly, to move. The gates crossing the tracks were open, and from where Dinah stood she could just see shiny metal disappearing between the old warehouses into the distance.

Gradually picking up speed, the train kept going, a series of dull metallic clunks echoing around the place as each car jerked into life. Shortly the entire thing was moving at a walking pace. As the engines, roaring and whining, vanished behind the buildings, the crowd became even louder.

Saurial came over and grinned down at Dinah, then motioned with a hand. The girl accepted it eagerly and moments later found herself sitting on the scaled woman's shoulders, her head eight feet in the air, and in a position to watch easily as the train slowly disappeared car by car.

When back end of the train finally moved out of sight, she could still hear the engines in operation, their sound slowly diminishing. A long low moan of a train whistle sounded, causing the crowd to clap again.

Then it was gone.

"Looks like people are pretty happy right now," Saurial chuckled below her. Dinah looked down, then around, before nodding. That was very obvious.

"Want another hot dog?"

"Yes, please," she said happily.

"And I expect you want an introduction to my big sister too?"

"Very much indeed," she agreed with a laugh. Saurial chuckled again, glancing at Uncle Roy, who was watching them and smiling a little. The lizard-girl motioned with her head towards the food carts, Uncle Roy nodding, then saying something to Dinah's mother, who followed as Saurial walked off, looking amused as Dinah grinned down at her and waved.

On the whole, the girl thought, it had been fun. She was very pleased she'd been invited to see this whole thing.

It was something else certain people at school would be envious of, aside from anything else…

That alone made it worthwhile.

"That went well, I think," the Varga said, sounding pleased.

'Yep,' Taylor replied, carefully moving her Kaiju aspect's head a little. She'd rested it on the ground, relaxing with most of her body in the bay, to talk to the DWU people, the reporters, and anyone else who wanted to say hello. Including a very pleased Dinah Alcott, who had simply gaped at her from twenty feet away before grinning like an idiot. 'Practically everyone is really happy, as far as I can tell. Even Max seemed sort of pleased.'

"I wonder if he'll be a problem?" her demon mused.

'No idea. But as long as he keeps out of the way, I don't much care what he does,' she said with a mental shrug. 'We have other things to worry about right now.'

"True enough." 'Saurial' looked around, both of them observing the crowd of onlookers. A few people were starting to leave, presumably having other things that they needed to do, but the bulk of them had ended up mobbing the food carts which were handing out edibles at a great rate. Everyone seemed to be making the most of the day out as far as she could see. Which was nice, really.

'Dad looks really happy too,' Taylor added, looking over at her father who, next to Roy, was being interviewed yet again. This time by a TV crew that had come all the way up from New York, apparently. They seemed to still be in a slight state of shock every time one of them happened to look at her Kaiju aspect, which was pretty funny.

She given several interviews with both aspects, as had Lisa, and Amy had also been asked a few questions as a representative of New Wave. Her friends had done a good job and she hoped that Amy's mother would be satisfied with the result. Her aunt certainly seemed OK with it, the older woman nodding approvingly from the side at the time. Eric had watched closely, then when the cameras moved on, had gone over to his adoptive cousin and moments later said something that made them both laugh.

"All in all, a very successful day so far."

'Definitely. And Dragon should be here soon too, so we can see how that all works out.'

"Hopefully well, but we'll have to see," he replied.

'Yeah.' She wondered whether they were actually all right, and the Tinker was in fact an AI. It seemed likely based on all the evidence they'd compared, but until they had actual proof, still was a little weird to think about. But it seemed like they'd probably find out shortly.

Checking no one was at risk she carefully lifted her head, Cheryl having collected Dinah a moment ago, the girl waving to her as she left a little reluctantly. Thinking that at some point she should probably give Dinah a ride on this aspect as well, just for fun, she waved back.

Her father looked over at the motion, then turned to Roy, who had just answered the last question the reporter had asked. The man lowered his mic, thanking the Mayor for his time, before rejoining his cameraman, who panned his camera in her direction. Both her father and Roy headed her way.

"I need to get on with some other stuff now, Danny," she said as quietly as this form would allow when they were fifty feet away, looking up at her. Lowering her head a little closer, she went on, "It's been a lot of fun meeting everyone. I'm very pleased how well things have gone so far, and looking forward to the next part."

"So are we, Kaiju," her father said with a smile. Roy nodded next to him.

"Very much so," the other man added. "Without you specifically, and your relatives in general, this project would have been impossible. Not to mention how much of a positive influence you've all been on the city as a whole."

"Thanks, Roy," she chuckled. "That's nice to hear, and I'd like to believe it."

"You certainly can, trust me," he grinned. "When I met you that first time, I didn't quite expect just how fast things would change around here. But I'm very glad they have done." He looked around at the crowds, most of whom were keeping a respectful distance. "I'm pretty sure everyone else is too."

"Except a few of the less law-abiding elements of society," her father smirked, making her laugh again.

"I don't much care about them," Roy said with an evil look. "That is, if they don't all end up coming over to the lizard side of things anyway."

"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean," she assured him with a deep chuckle.

"Of course you don't," he snickered. "I'll believe you. Just keep doing whatever it is that your family does and we'll see how things are in a few years..."

"Should be fun," she agreed with a devious look, which made his smile widen. "OK, I'll be on my way. See you guys around."

"Thanks again, Kaiju," Roy called as she carefully straightened up.

"No problem," she assured him. More loudly, she called, "Bye, everyone. It was fun seeing what happened."

The entire crowd, who had all turned as she stood up, shouted as one, "Bye, Kaiju!"

Highly amused, she waved, then backed into deeper water, before submerging with only her back sticking out again and swimming off, giggling internally at the sounds of people on the boardwalk choking slightly on their lattes…

All in all, it had been a hell of a lot of fun.

Dragon watched as the immense reptilian form went past the Rig at fairly high speed, heading for the shipping channel and moving around the various boats in the bay, many of which were packed with people with cameras. A few of the closer ones rocked a little from her bow wave, before Kaiju submerged in the deeper water and disappeared. One of the larger vessels sounded its foghorn, the blast echoing around the bay for several seconds.

A huge scaled hand came out of the water and waved, then the second largest Family member was gone once again.

Wondering where she actually went, the AI stopped recording and turned to her friend, who was now peering at the distant DWU facility a few miles away with a pair of high tech binoculars. The angle wasn't ideal, but they'd been able to watch most of the recent event. She glanced over Colin's head to where the now-distant train was just visible rounding the low hills to the west of the city.

"I suspect that Mayor Christner's election chances next time just went up yet again," she commented with an internal smile.

"It seems likely," Colin agreed absently, moving the binoculars to watch the train disappear around the contours of the distant landscape. "There were certainly a large number of people present and the approval appeared to be near-unanimous." Lowering the optical instrument, he added, "Unsurprising considering the history of the city in recent years. The Family has made some large changes for the better in remarkably short amounts of time."

"That's definitely true," she nodded, emoting a smile in her voice. "Hopefully things will continue to improve."

"They appear to have a remarkable success rate so far," he noted, putting the binoculars back into the protective case at his feet and closing it, then turning to her. "I suspect this will continue. They are very competent."

"So it would seem," Dragon replied. Glancing over to the DWU again for a second, she returned her attention to him. "I should get over there, I'm due in five minutes."

"Are you certain you don't require my presence?" he inquired, a tone in his voice suggesting that he'd prefer the answer to be no.

"No, you can get back to your own work," she chuckled. He almost smiled, which amused her. As much as he appeared to like the lizards, he was also definitely wanting to return to his own projects now all the immediate emergencies appeared to be being handled.

"Excellent," her friend nodded. Picking up the case, he added, "Please give Raptaur my best wishes."

"I will do, don't worry." She grabbed the handle of the case she had a number of things she needed to take to the BBFO office and stepped back. "See you later."

"Until then, Dragon," he replied, watching as she deployed her flight system and lifted off with a whine of turbines. Waving with her free hand, she headed towards the lizard's office and some probably interesting discussions.

At the knock on the door, Taylor's Saurial aspect looked at her Raptaur one, then 'Metis' and 'Ianthe.' "This should be interesting," she commented dryly, before heading to the door to let the quite-likely-an-AI Canadian in.

Both her friends and her other aspect exchanged looks, then sat down, waiting with interest to see what happened next.

She opened the door and smiled. "Hello, Dragon. Come in. I think we have a lot to talk about."

"I do too," the silvery power-armored figure nodded, stepping inside. The door closed behind her with a slight click.