I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bus line that ended at the old ferry put me only a fifteen or twenty minute walk away from the loft that Lisa, Alec and Bitch called home. I could be spending a fair bit of time there before I gathered enough information or earned enough trust from them to turn them in to the authorities, so the convenience was nice.

It was a nice day, if a bit windy. The air was crisp and cool, the sky was a brilliant and cloudless blue that was reflected in the ocean, and the sand of the beach sparkled in the light of the sun. Tourists were already crowding the railings or migrating to the beach, pinning down the corners of their beach blankets under picnic baskets and shopping bags. It was too cold to go in the water but the view was spectacular. I enjoyed it for a few moments before venturing into the crowd. I walked with my hands in my pockets, as much to protect the stuff in my pockets as keeping the worst of the chill out.

Living in Brockton Bay, you learned stuff like that. How to protect yourself, what to watch for. I knew that the Vietnamese teenagers who were leaning against the railing of the boardwalk were members of the ABB, even if they werent wearing their gang colors, because the only Asian kids in Brockton Bay that had that much swagger were already part of Lungs gang. I knew the tattoo on the arm of the guy lifting boxes into the florists van that read Erase, Extinguish, Eradicate meant the guy was a white supremacist because it had the letter E repeated three times.

The man in the uniform who was talking to a shop owner wasnt a cop or security guard, but one of the enforcers the merchants of the Boardwalk hired to keep the undesirables from making trouble. They were why the Boardwalk didnt have beggars, addicts, or people wearing gang colors hanging around. If your presence offended or worried the tourists, they would step up to scare you off. If someone shoplifted or panhandled in the Boardwalk, they ran the risk that one or two enforcers would drag them behind one of the shops and teach them a lesson. Anything more serious than shoplifting or panhandling, well, there was always someone on duty in the floating base of the Protectorate Headquarters. Any of the store owners or employees could call the likes of Miss Militia, Armsmaster or Triumph in, given a minute. The tourism revenue the Boardwalk picked up earned a lot of goodwill from the government and government sponsored capes.

I headed off the boardwalk and into one of the alleys leading into the Docks. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw one of the uniformed enforcers staring at me. I wondered what he was thinking. Good kids didnt hang out in the Docks, and I doubted I looked the part of a guileless tourist.

The abandoned factories, warehouses and garages of the Docks all blended into one another very quickly. The colors of the building exteriors werent different enough from one another to make buildings recognizable, and the people or piles of garbage that I had been unconsciously noting my previous visit had all shifted locations or been replaced. I found myself glad for the artistic graffiti and the row of weed-entangled power lines that I could use as landmarks. I did not want to get lost. Not here.

As I arrived at the foot of the huge factory with the Redmond Welding sign, I found myself wondering whether I should knock or just go on up. I didnt have to decide the door opened just a second after Id come. It was Brian, and he looked as surprised to see me as I was to see him.

Hey, he said, Lisa said youd arrived. I thought you had school.

It took me a few seconds to get my mental footing. Any demonstration or mention of Lisas power kind of had a way of doing that to me, and that was on top of having a conversation sprung on me without a chance to prepare. Changed my mind, I said, lamely.

Huh. Well, come on up.

We headed upstairs. I saw Brian was wearing different clothes than what he had been wearing earlier in the morning. What he was wearing now bore a closer resemblance to his clothes from the day before a green sleeveless t-shirt and black slacks with a lightweight fabric, like yoga pants or something.

Alec was waiting, leaning against the back of a couch, as we entered the living room. He was wearing a t-shirt with some cartoon or video game character on it and basketball shorts. He stood straight as he noticed us.

Alec and I were sparring, Brian told me, Lisas on the phone in the kitchen. Rachel and her dogs are in her room. You can watch us, if you want, but no pressure. Feel free to use the TV, put on a DVD or play a video game.

Dont save over any of my files, dork, Alec said. Hed started with the dork thing last night. It wasnt exactly malicious, but it grated.

My name is Taylor, not dork, and I wouldnt do that, I told him. Turning to Brian, I said, Ill watch, if its cool.

Brian smiled and nodded, while I moved to kneel on the couch and watch them over the back of it.

As it turned out, it was less of a sparring session than an attempt on Brians part to give a less than fully committed Alec some basic lessons on hand to hand fighting.

It was one-sided, and not just because Alec wasnt trying very hard. Alec was a very average fifteen year old guy in that he had little muscle worth speaking about. Brian, by contrast, was fit. He wasnt big in the sense of a bodybuilder or someone who exercised just to pack on muscle like you saw with some of the people just out of prison. It was a little more streamlined than that. You could see the raised line of a vein running down his bicep, and the definition of his chest showed through his shirt.

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Besides the difference in raw physical power, there was also the age and height gap. Alec was two or three years younger and nearly a foot shorter. That meant Brian had more reach and Im not just referring to the length of his arms. When he stepped forward or backward, he moved further. He covered more ground, which put Alec on the defensive, and since Brian was stronger, that put Alec in a bad position.

Brian stood without much of a fighting stance, hands at his sides, bouncing just a little where he stood. Twice in a row, I watched Alec swing a punch, only for Brian to lean out of the way. The second time Alecs arm flew by, Brian leaned in and jabbed Alec in the center of his chest. It didnt look like much of a punch, but Alec still sort of woofed out a breath and stepped back.

I keep telling you, Brian said, Youre throwing punches like youd throw a baseball. Dont bring your arm so far back before you punch. Youre just broadcasting what youre about to do and it doesnt add enough power to the hit to be worth that.

What am I supposed to do, then?

Look at how Im standing. Arms up, bent, then I just extend my arm, wrist straight. Fast enough that whoever Im hitting generally cant step out of the way, so theyve got to either take it or block it.

But you werent standing like that ten seconds ago when I was punching you, Alec complained.

I left an opening to see if you would take advantage of it, Brian replied.

And I didnt, Alec noted with a sigh.

Brian shook his head.

Well fuck this then, Alec said, If youre going to go easy on me and still kick my ass, I dont see the point.

You should learn how to fight, Brian said.

Ill do like I have been and bring my taser, was Alecs response, one poke and theyre out cold. Better than any punch.

And if the taser breaks or you lose it? Brian asked. He neednt have bothered. Alec was already sitting himself down in front of the TV, remote in one hand and game controller in the other. Brians disappointment was palpable.

Mind giving me a few quick and dirty pointers? I asked.

Alec sniggered, Beavis and Butthead style.

Grow up, Alec, Brian said, If you want to quit, fine, but dont be a dick. He turned to me and flashed that boyish smile. Then we started.

I knew he was going easy on me, but he was still a damn tough teacher.

Make two fists. No, dont wrap your fingers over your thumbs. Youll do more damage to your hands than you will to the person youre hitting, if you do that. Thats better. Now jab at me, okay?

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I tried to emulate what hed been describing to Alec. Arms up, bent, and extending my fist with a snap. He caught my right hand in his left.

Okay, now youre going to do two things different. Step into the jab so youve got your bodys momentum behind the hit, on top of your arms power. Second, I want your left arm up as youre jabbing with your right, and vice versa. If I see the chance, Im going to pop you one on the shoulder or ribs, so be ready to fend me off.

I winced at the idea, but I played along. I jabbed, he stepped away, and he jabbed me in the shoulder. He didnt hit as hard as he could have I think he only hit as hard as it took to make it hurt and drive the lesson home, but I suddenly felt a stab of sympathy for Alec.

Things continued in that vein. Brian didnt stay on one topic for long. When I started struggling with something, he shifted gears to another area that complemented or built on what I was having problems with. When I failed for the fifth time to fend off his retaliatory jabs at my shoulders and ribs, he started talking about posture.

Rest your weight on the balls of your feet.

I tried it, then told him, I feel like Im going to tip over backwards if you hit me.

He bent down to check, and I lifted my toes two or three inches off the ground to demonstrate how I had my weight balanced on my heels.

No, Taylor. The balls of your feet. He raised his bare foot and pointed at the padded part between his toes and the bridge of his foot.

How is that a ball? I asked, raising my own foot to point at the vaguely spherical part of the foot where the ankle met the ground, this is the only part that looks ball-like.

You guys are so lame, Alec chimed in, without turning around. Brian swatted him in the back of the head.

We moved on from posture, Brians recommendations on balancing did help, to self-defense again. From there, we changed topics to the mental side of things, both for me and my opponent.

So I throw a punch like Im aiming to put my fist through them? I confirmed.

Right, Brian said, Instead of just trying to make contact with the point where your hand meets their body.

What about when theyre attacking me?

Best bet? Dont give them a chance. Stay aggressive and keep them on their heels. If neither of you have formal training, then thats going to give you the best odds. They wont be able to turn the tables on you unless you make a mistake or they can guess what youre going to do as you do it. Which is why you mix it up. Rights, lefts, punches, jabs, elbow, knee, kicks and if youre bigger and stronger than them, you can try tackling them to the ground. With all of that, you stay on them until they arent in a position to fight back.

Are you formally trained in anything? I asked. I suspected he was, since the only other way for him to know as much as he was demonstrating was to have actually been in a good number of fights, and I wasnt thinking that he seemed the type to fight without reason.

Ehhh, he hedged, Some. My dad was a boxer when he was in the service, and he taught me some when I was little. I moved on to other stuff on my own Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Krav Maga but nothing really held my interest. I only took a few weeks or a month of classes for each. I know enough and keep in shape, which is enough to hold my own against anyone who isnt a black belt in whatever, which is the important thing, I think. Keeping up with the more serious martial artists is a full time job, and youre still going to run into people who are better than you, so I dont see the point in stressing too much over it.

I nodded.

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We moved on to key areas to attack.

Brian pointed to the body parts in question as he explained, Eyes, nose, temple, chin and throat are the areas above the shoulder. Teeth or ears if you can hit hard enough. I can, you cant.

Sure, I said. I wasnt offended by his bluntness. He was stronger than me, so he had more options. Tip toeing around it didnt do either of us any favors.

Below the shoulders, diaphragm, kidney, groin, knee, bridge of the foot, toes. Elbow is a good one if you can do anything with it, he took my wrist in his left hand and my shoulder in his right, extending my arm straight as he brought his knee up to gently tap the outside of my elbow. I could see how he would have screwed up or broken my arm if hed done it full strength. He went on, But in my experience, it doesnt come up often enough to worry about.

It was a little disquieting to hear Brian methodically describing how to break a human being. I saw him as a nice guy, if I ignored his career choice.

Not entirely by accident, I changed the subject, I was thinking about investing in a weapon for hand to hand. When I was fighting Lung, fists were no good and I found myself really wanting a knife or a baton or something. Dont know if they would have been any good against his armor, but you know I trailed off.

Brian nodded, Makes sense. You dont have a lot in the way of upper body strength, no offense.

None taken. I tried to get something like a push-up routine going, but I got sick of it fast. At least with running, theres that sense of going places, you get the scenery.

Push-ups get repetitive, yeah. Well, the boss is good about supplying us with gear. Lisas the one who talks to him, shes talking to him right now, in fact. Put in a word with her if you want something like that. Its untraceable too, so the good guys arent going to be tracing any serial numbers or whatever from your weapon back to your purchase.

The fact that Lisa was talking to their boss made me very curious, all of a sudden. That said, I couldnt really traipse in to eavesdrop without being suspicious. Instead, since Lisa was out of earshot, I thought Id seize the opportunity to ask, So who is this boss of ours?

Brian and Alec exchanged a look. When they didnt immediately say anything, I wondered if Id pushed it too far. Had I been too nosy?

Figured youd ask, Brian said, Thing is, we dont know.

What? I asked, We have an anonymous sponsor?

Its really fucking weird, yeah, Alec said, then he hammered a button on the game controller, Boom! Triple headshot!

Alec, stay focused, Brian sighed the words, with a tone suggesting he didnt expect to be listened to.

Alec bobbed his head in a nod, his eyes not leaving the television, before adding, Its weird but its basically free money, a good team, contacts, access to everything we need for stuff, and pretty much no drawbacks.

Lisa knows, I think, Brian grumbled, But she says that when she joined the Undersiders, she made a deal that she was going to keep quiet on the subject. Im not sure if that means she knows who he is or if its just to keep her mouth shut if her power tells her.

So let me get this straight, I said, This guy gathers you all together, offers you a salary and what? Doesnt ask for anything in return?

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Brian shrugged, He asks us to do jobs, but most of the time its stuff wed do anyways, and if we say no, he doesnt make an issue of it.

What kind of jobs does he ask us to do? I asked.

Lisas voice just behind me startled me, This. Pull up your socks, boys and girl, because were robbing a bank.