42Prelude 0.1
September 1994, Brockton Bay
In a rundown bar in the Docks district a man sits by the bar. The name of the bar isn't important; it's merely one of many hangouts for dockworkers that are off the job. The name of man is though; he is Danny Herbert, a dockworker by trade, a job he followed his father's footsteps into. However, despite years of hard work, he remains a skinny stick of a man when compared to the muscular physiques of his fellows and so is thinking of taking a desk job. Not that it will do much good; work is slowly drying up for the dockworkers, hence the drinking.
Danny nearly jumps out of his seat when someone claps a hand on his shoulder and says, "Hey my man, it's not right to be drinking alone you know."
Spinning around, Danny sighs a breath of relief when he recognizes the one who startled him. "Jesus Lex, you nearly gave me a heart attack."
Lex, a tall young man with the body of a surfer and the tan to match, merely laughed. "That's a sign that you're working too hard, my man. All that work is making you old. You should take a day off, relax a bit."
Danny rolled his eyes. "Not all of us can just sit on the dock fishing all day. Some of us actually have to work for a living," he grumbled good-naturedly before returning Lex's grin. "Still, it's good to see you. It's been awhile since we talked. How's Benjamin doing?"
"Same as usual," Lex replied while sliding onto a barstool. "Still traveling. Last I heard he was in China somewhere, probably picking up a katana or some other souvenir." Lex leaned onto the bar lazily and waved at the bartender who started prepping his usual. It was easy, all Lex cared was that it had alcohol and a little umbrella in it, anything else was just a bonus.
"Aren't katanas Japanese?"
"Same difference." Lex waved a hand dismissively before straightening up, more excited than Danny had ever seen the laidback slacker. "Hey, speaking of family there's someone I want to introduce you to. Hey, Sis!" he suddenly shouted, waving back towards the entrance. "Over here."
Danny turned toward to see who Lex was waving at and was shocked, very nearly dropping his jaw. Walking towards the two of them was the most beautiful girl Danny had ever seen. She was thin and lithe, almost delicate it seemed, like fine china. She was wearing a white sundress that showed off her flawless, pale skin despite the dropping temperatures. She brushed her platinum blonde hair from her face and Danny forgot to breath at the sight of her sparkling blue eyes and soft smile.
The girl walked over and shyly looked at the ground before letting out an eep of surprise when Lex wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into a one-armed hug. "Angel, this is Danny Hebert, the guy I wanted you to meet. Danny, this is my little sister, Angel Ender."
"H-hello," Angel said, nervously waving at Danny. Despite her uncertainty her voice was melodic, almost as if she was singing instead of talking.
"H-hi," Danny replied, returning the wave, just as nervous.
Lex just grinned. The first step in his brilliant plan was working. Sure, he might not be as great at intricate plots as his sister but sometimes the less steps you took, the quicker you reached your destination and the more you could enjoy it when you got there. Now for step two. "So, Danny. Angel here is new in town and I was hoping you could show her around. I'd do it myself but you know the Bay isn't going to fish itself. Bye!"
Before either Danny or Angel could say anything in response Lex left as suddenly as he had arrived. Both of them watched his rapidly repeating back for a bit before simultaneously bursting into laughter. Danny stopped first and just listened to Angel giggle, enjoying the bell-like sound.
All things must come to an end of course and soon Angel stopped laughing. As the two of them lapsed into a semi-awkward silence, Danny struggled to find the right words to say. "So, uh, do you want to… you need someone to show you Brockton Bay?"
Angel giggled again, which Danny hoped was a good sign. "That would be great, thank you. Lex is too lazy to do it and I'd like to get to know my new home."
"Sounds good." Danny nodded and got up. "Do you mind if we take my truck? All the important places are a bit spread out and it'll be faster than walking."
"That's fine with me." Angel answered and the two of them headed out of the bar.
"So," Danny asked while they were walking to his car, "you'll be sticking around town, not traveling like Benjamin?"
"I hope so," Angel replied. "I want to settle down but I'd like more of a reason to stay than that."
"Right." Danny nodded, not quite understanding. The two of them didn't speak much more until they reached Danny's car. When they did Danny held her door open. A tad old-fashioned maybe but he believed in being a gentleman. After Angel was safely inside Danny made his way to the driver's seat and turned the car on. The sound of the radio filled the car.
"I'm here with PRT Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown to get some answers on this new Endbringer, which is tentatively being call the Sim-"
The radio announcer was cut off as Danny hit the power button. "Sorry. I don't think we need to be listening to that right now. Awful stuff, hearing about all those lives lost." He put the truck in reverse and was about to back out of his parking spot when Angel asked a question.
"What do you think of them?"
"Pardon?" Danny said, turning to look at Angel. She was looking at him intently with an expression that he didn't quite understand.
"The Endbringers. What do you think of them?"
Danny turned back to the front and leaned back in his seat, staring at the ceiling. After a minute of thought he spoke. "That's… a difficult question. Obviously I think that they're terrifying. The attacks they make are insane. All those people, dead. But… I don't know, I just can't help but question why? Why are they doing this? What do they gain from killing us? What purpose do they serve? Maybe… Maybe if we understood them a little we could do something about them instead of just sending heroes to their deaths." Danny looked back at Angel. "Does that make sense?"
"Not really," Angel said with a little smile. Still, she looked satisfied with the answers Danny gave, or perhaps she was feeling thoughtful. Maybe both? Danny couldn't tell. She had a beautiful smile though.
Danny decided to put that particular bit of strangeness behind him and focus on showing Angel a good time. The two of them spent the rest of the day and a good portion of the night seeing the sights around two of them soon found that they felt comfortable together and enjoyed each other's company. As the hours went by they wound up paying less attention to the sights and more attention to each other. Eventually though, all good things must come to an end. Danny ran out of ideas for things he could show her and so was disappointed that he would have to see her go.
"I think that's it for the tour," he said, regret clear in his voice. They were sitting in Danny's truck again, on the side of the road next to their last destination. "I can't really think of anywhere else to go. Is there somewhere I should drop you off or…?"
Angel bit her lip nervously. She wasn't sure that what she was about to do was a good idea but just like Danny, she didn't want to see the night end. "Actually, I don't really have a place to stay right now. Lex was supposed to set that up but he was too lazy to get anything ready. I don't suppose I could stay the night at your place? Please?"
It was a good thing they were parked at the moment because if they were driving Danny likely would have crashed out of shock. As it was he merely stared blankly at Angel, blinking owlishly. As Danny tried to figure out exactly what Angel meant, whether she meant stay the night or stay the night, Angel was getting nervous. Had she been too forward? Had she read the social cues wrong? Was Danny not actually interested in her? Or worse, was he interested but scared off because she had tried too move too fast? All those questions and more ran through her head.
Luckily for Angel, Danny came to his answer before she could have a nervous breakdown. His answer was one word. "Yes". It was the most beautiful word Angel had ever heard.
Angel spent the night at Danny's house. They shared a romantic candlelit dinner of takeout pizza. When she woke up he brought her breakfast in bed. Danny took the day off work to spend time with her. She ended up staying at his place that night too. And the next one. And the next one.
Over the next nine months a whirlwind romance took place, ending in a small discreet marriage ceremony with only their closest friends and Angel's brothers in the audience. Alan Barnes served as Danny's Best Man while Benjamin gave away the bride. Neither of their parents attended.
The marriage came none too soon because the very next day Angel's water broke. Distrustful of hospitals, she gave birth in her own home. Danny thanked whatever deities would listen for making sure that the birth passed as painlessly as possible with no complications. After several hours of sweat, tears and blood, Angel finally held her pale-skinned child in her arms while Danny looked on, pride and love filling his heart so full he thought it might burst.
"What do we call her?" Angel asked.
"Taylor," Danny answered. "Her name is Taylor."
Hey Guys, what's up? I'm RexHeller and thanks for checking out my story. In case you're unsure of what's going on, the premise is that the Endbringers turn into regular humans between rampages and the Simurgh is Taylor's mom. For those of you who are sticklers for details, yes I know that the Simurgh shows up years after Taylor's birth in canon. We're changing that here. The Endbringers each showed up much earlier than in canon in addition to being human when not in use.
I hope you enjoy the story. Feel free to leave constructive criticism.
EDIT: OH! And thanks to Cailin for betaing. She receives some leftover pizza for her work.