Chapter Text
Taylor remembered the first time she met the dragon. Her mother had taken her to a nearby park, with a bucket of mortar in their wagon, and Taylor was helping her mend a flowerbed wall that had fallen over.
“What are you doing?” a man’s voice said.
“Putting this wall back together.”
“Why?”
“Because fuck the Endbringers, that’s why!” Taylor chirped with all her six-year-old confidence. Mom sighed.
“Language, dear. But yes – I know it sounds silly but, as powerful as the Endbringers are, they can’t do this.” She set another brick in its place. Taylor heard a thump and turned to look; the man had sat down right on the ground.
“Are you ok, mister?”
“I – yes. Thank you for your wisdom.” He bowed, still sitting down.
“Oh, my. There’s no need to be formal. I’m Annette, and this is Taylor.”
“… Kenta.”
***
Kenta lost everything when Leviathan sank Kyushu beneath the waves. He arrived in America with no purpose beyond making a place for himself in a gang. It was what he knew. What he excelled at. He had done what even Eidolon could not do, and fought Leviathan to a standstill. Yet – his homeland was still ruined, and there was an emptiness where pride should be. It took an unpowered woman with a pile of bricks to show him how to fill it.
As long as he used his strength only to fight, he was no better than an Endbringer. But he could be better, one brick at a time.
With his mask on, he was Lung, the most feared parahuman in Brockton Bay, undisputed leader of the Azn Bad Boys. Without it he was Kenta, a man who patched walls and painted railings in his spare time.
***
Tayor and Mom ran into Kenta again – crossing paths around town at first, then asking Mom for advice and joining them on projects, and then eventually coming over for dinner every Thursday. He called Mom Annette-Sensei which was funny because he wasn’t in any of her classes. Dad was sure Kenta was in a gang, but said it was important to have a place to not be a gangster for a while, and anyway Mom had been in a gang before she had Taylor, so they didn’t talk about it.
He was there at Mom’s funeral. He let Taylor lean on him when she cried. He prodded Dad to eat when he was too sad to remember. And he got them a dog – a trained service dog for Dad. Walking Biscuit gave them something to do together, and she gave the best hugs.
And when Emma turned on her, when she didn’t want to add bullying to her father’s worries, Kenta was there to vent to.
[T: I can’t even figure out why they’re doing this.]
[K: It is nothing you have done, but the evil within themselves.]
[T: That makes them sound like my own personal mini-Endbringers.]
[K: Then, fuck the Endbringers.]
[K: I have spray paint and know of a rusty swing set.]
***
Taylor had put up with a lot of bullying since she started high school. The coping mechanisms that Mom left her with helped, but – no amount of yarn bombing was going to make up for this. The three Endbitches had trapped her in her own locker with things she was trying hard not to think about.
She could barely move, the stench was horrendous, she could swear there were things moving against her skin. The bell rang for first period, then second.
There was a commotion in the hall outside. Principal Blackwell was yelling, “You can’t just walk in here and expect – ”
“Do not tell me what I cannot do. ” Huh. That sounded like Kenta, only growlier …
***
The call came on Kenta’s burner phone, the line he had set up for school emergencies.
“Speak.”
There was a noise of alarm on the other end. “Sir, um, this is Zhou Jie at Winslow High School, I meant to call the school emergency line …”
“You have done so. Continue.”
The boy took a shaky breath. “Sir, a girl had been locked inside a locker, I attempted to inform the staff and was accused of troublemaking, and then of attempting theft. Sir, if this does not constitute an emergency, I am prepared to – ”
“You will await my arrival.” It took him only minutes to reach the school, rage building steadily. Even if Taylor wasn’t the student in danger …
A young ABB member was slouched on the front steps; he hastily stood up and bowed when he saw that Lung had shown up in person.
“Show me,” Kenta said. He was already so large he barely fit in the hallway. Even without Zhou, he could have found the locker by scent. He could hear the frantic heartbeat, the gasping breaths –
“You can’t just come in here and do whatever you want!” somebody, perhaps school staff, shrieked from behind him.
“Do not tell me what I cannot do.” Kenta hooked his claws into the edges of the locker door and ripped it from the wall. A figure tumbled out – Taylor!
***
[Destination]
[Agreement]
[Trajectory]
[Agreement]
***
All around her, Taylor could feel little specks of fire like fireflies. They were burning away the filth, all her scrapes and bruises, even the rips in Lung's pants and the dents in the lockers. Principal Blackwell was yelling, “I’m calling the police! And the PRT!”
“Tell them that Lung has more care for your students than you do.”
Oh, Taylor was being picked up. And carried. She was being kidnapped by a dragon, did that make her a princess? And now seemed like a great time to take a nap.
***
Danny’s phone rang just as he was getting ready to go to lunch. “Dockworkers Association, Daniel Hebert speaking.”
“Danny. Taylor has been in an incident.”
“Kenta? Where is she?”
“Safe. You must come. A car is waiting outside.” Danny was already on his feet, Biscuit whining anxiously at his heels. He grabbed the service dog’s leash as well as his wallet and keys, and rushed out the door.
Sure enough, an unmarked car was waiting in the street, and Asian man wearing red-and-green gang colors at the wheel. “You Hebert?”
“That’s me.” The rest of the drive passed in silence, while questions whirled through Danny’s mind. What happened? Was Taylor hurt? Why was Kenta calling him instead of the school? He didn’t register the details of the building they stopped at, or the gang member who escorted him inside. He did stop short on coming face to face with the leader of the ABB. Who was apparently waiting for him.
Danny took a breath and straightened his spine. “Lung. May I see my daughter?”
“Come.”
… Danny knew that voice. He followed Lung deeper into the building, with Biscuit trotting beside him. The dog wasn’t nervous at all. They entered a room where Taylor was lying on a cot, surrounded by three more dogs and a woman. Danny rushed to her side. “Taylor! What happened?”
“Show him,” Lung told a young man who Danny had barely noticed. He took out a phone and played a frankly horrifying video. Danny clutched Taylor’s hand and fought to rein in his temper. When he got his hands on whoever did this –
Lung dismissed his subordinate, then addressed the woman. “Inu-Onna, good work. Oni Lee will have your payment.”
She nodded, and looked over at Danny. “You’re taking good care of Biscuit.”
“She’s taken care of us, too,” Danny managed. The door closed behind the lady and her dogs, and Lung took off his mask to reveal – as Danny suspected – Kenta’s face.
“We figured you were ABB, but phew. ”
Kenta nodded. “I meant to keep gang business away from your family, but in this case …”
“I’m glad you were able to step in,” Danny said. “I don’t know how I can repay you.”
Kenta shook his head. “No debts. Not for you, ever.”
Danny didn’t know how to respond to that, because, holy shit. “I hope that young man is getting a bonus.”
“And a promotion. They were not given specific names to report on.” And had still called it in, and Kenta had still responded. “Danny – Taylor triggered.”
“I saw. Fuck.” No wonder she was out cold. In the video, her power had looked like a swarm of fireflies. “She fixed your clothes.”
“And the locker. And erased the filth. Annette-sensei would be proud.”
Danny smiled at the reminder. “She’ll take after her mother, I’m sure.”
“And you, Danny.”
“Huh?” He wasn’t anything special, was he?
Kenta grinned at him. “When you knew only that Lung had your daughter – you did not flinch. There is steel in you.”
While Danny was still floundering from that, Kenta stood and replaced his mask. “I must go. One of the Boys will take you home when you’re ready.”
“We’ll see you Thursday, then?”
Kenta paused the tiniest bit, as if surprised, and Danny knew he’d made the right call. “I will be there.”
***
“So. That happened.” Danny said awkwardly as he helped Taylor settle on the couch. She was still woozy but other than that, unharmed, thank God.
“And Kenta is really Lung, holy crap.”
“Yep. And you got powers. Pizza sound good?”
“Mmhmm.” Taylor was idly watchng a fiery butterfly flutter around her fingers. That would take some getting used to. After placing the pizza order, Danny sat beside his daughter, and cautiously extended a finger to the bug. To his surprise, it was cool to the touch.
“I feel like they can burn, but also do other stuff? Or, they can transform things in different ways and burning is one of them.”
“Taylor, that’s amazing. ” Biscuit was trying to chase the bugs around the room. She stopped and yipped at the door; a moment later, the bell rang. It was much too early to be the pizza. Taylor’s bugs disappeared, and Danny cautiously answered the door.
Armsmaster was standing on the doorstep, because that was all his day needed. “Mr Hebert, may I ask you a few questions?”
Danny put on his best Union negotiator face. “As long as it’s quick, we’ve had a stressful day.”
“I shall be brief.”
Danny let the Hero into his house. It made sense that the PRT would be monitoring them after such a public encounter with Lung. Still, Danny wasn’t about to betray Kenta’s confidences.
“According to our reports,” Armsmater began, “Lung entered Winslow High School, abducted Miss Taylor Hebert, and then summoned you, Daniel Hebert, to a meeting, presumably using your daughter as leverage. Is this accurate?”
“Did the reports say where I was abducted from?” Taylor commented.
“As I understand it,” Danny said, “Taylor was the target of a rather severe bullying incident, where she was locked inside a locker with – what was all that, anyway?”
“Rotten tampons and stuff,” Taylor said.
“Ew. And when school staff ignored the situation, a student gang member notified the adults he trusted, which would be his gang leaders.” Danny understood how that worked; there were plenty of Dockworkers who would go to the Association before they went to the police. “As for why Lung showed up himself, you’ll have to ask him that.”
Armsmaster made an acknowledging sound. “And what demands did Lung make in exchange for releasing your daughter.”
“None, so far. He was remarkably polite about the whole thing, considering his reputation.”
“... I see. Miss Hebert, do you have anything to add?”
“Not really, I was asleep for most of it.”
“Eyewitnesses agree that the locker door was ripped open, yet observation of the scene shows the lockers are not only intact, but in better condition than other lockers in the building. Can either of you comment on that.”
Danny looked over at Taylor. “It’s up to you, honey.”
Taylor did her best to straighten up. “I, um, I might have triggered?” she called up a fiery moth. “So it might have been me? I don’t know what I do yet.”
“So noted.” Armsmaster paused for a moment, inscrutable behind his helmet. “I recommend powers testing with the Protectorate and applying to the Wards program – ”
Danny held up a hand. “We’ve had a long day and won’t be making any decisions on the spot. If you have an information packet or resources that we could review, that would be appreciated.” The doorbell rang again. “And that would be our pizza.”