Blood Sisters

Paul had been biting his tongue for several minutes now as Deputy Attorney General Carl Welkowitz continued his phone call reprimand. “This whole operation has been a debacle, Paul. I have to admit I am having some lack of confidence here” Welkowitz said grimly. “All of your Marshals have failed, three of them injured to one degree or another, with nothing to show for it”. Paul was steamed, but just sat and took it like a good soldier. “We have all kinds of property damage, bad press, and four dangerous fugitives still on the loose”. The DAG just kept venting “and somehow, Jenny Goldstar has gotten even more caught up in this, which means Miss Liberty and Marty Goldstar are going to get involved whether we like it or not, and with the goddam New Human royal family in the mix, there will be even MORE media coverage of this mess”.

Paul finally got an opportunity to speak as Welkowitz took a breath. “Sir, you are absolutely correct, the Special Marshals were unprepared for the challenge presented by these fugitives, especially considering Miss Goldstar's unanticipated involvement”. The DAG grunted. Paul pressed his moment “I can only do so much with four agents, sir...” Welkowitz broke in with annoyance “That again, Paul, your bringing that up now?!” Paul kept on calmly “If anything, sir, what is occurring illustrates the need for it even more. I have thought of a compromise sir, give me the authority to deputize more marshals on a temporarybasis when we have a crisis like this”. On the other end of the line the DAG grimaced “...and naturally, your going to want more budget allocation to pay for them”. Paul snorted “Well, sir, I don't think I could get many qualified volunteers”. Welkowitz sighed. “Okay fine, D-Day, I will authorize that. We'll work out the details later. In the mean time, I am sending in a man from the Join Meta-Human Task Force to coordinate the current situation. I order you to give him your full cooperation, do you understand, Marshal?”. Paul gritted his teeth and muttered under his breath “son of a... fuck”. “Do. You. Understand, Marshal?” the DAG repeated insistently. “Yes, sir”. “Very well, Paul. Keep me posted. Don't let me down”. Paul sighed “I wont sir, thank you sir”. “Goodbye Paul” and the click struck like a gavel in Paul's ear.

Paul sent a message over the Comm system to his marshals to assemble at Ft. Miles for debriefing later this afternoon. Then he began searching through his database and Rolodex for New Humans he might be able to call in to help. The hours dragged on. D-Day started to wonder he had not heard from Miss Liberty yet. Something about that worried him.

More time passed and Paul kept worrying about Allison. It was getting too distracting, and he had a lot of work to do. He finally picked up his headset and sent out a call to Allison. Several moments passed, there was steady beeping in Paul's ear as the comm system tried to connect. D-Day was just about to give up when he heard the signal go through. “This is Liberty, hello D-Day”. There was a cool tone to her voice that Paul had rarely heard. He hesitated, trying to decide how to approach this. “Um... Liberty, have you heard from... Jenny at all?”. Silence. “I am told that she has started going by Miracle now, D-Day. We may as well get used to it”. Paul raised a brow at that, he wasn't expecting that reaction. “OK, have you heard from Miracle, Liberty?” he asked. She replied coolly “I'll let you know, D-Day”. Paul grunted, for Allison Ashton, that was downright evasive. “I... Allison, I am sorry that your family has gotten so messed up in all of this”. Paul could hear the wind whipping by Miss Liberty's earpiece, she was in flight, somewhere. “Paul, I know none of this is your fault. Your a good man. Don't worry, we're okay, more then okay. Jenny is alive because of you. When things settle down, we'll have a talk”. Paul sighed “I didn't know anything about...” Allison interrupted “I know you didn't Paul, please, lets save it for later. Liberty out.”

Paul sat in the quiet for several minutes. He got up, made a fresh pot of coffee and got back to work. D-Day had just gotten his focus back to the task at hand and was feeling productive when his inside line buzzed. “What now” he grumbled. “What?!” D-Day snapped into the phone. He winced when he heard his own voice. “Sorry, This is D-Day, how can I help?”. “Um, Sir this is Sargent Bales at the West Gate. I have... well, Mike Dallas' brother is here, he wants to see you”. Paul closed his eyes and took a breath. “Yeah OK, have him escorted to the Marshal's Ops center”. There was an unexpected silence. “Sargent?” Paul said. “There is one other thing, Sir. Mr. Dallas... flew here, under his own power Sir. He was... on fire Sir”. D-Day's mouth dropped open. Mark Dallas is a New-Hum? What the hell... he thought. “That's all-right Sargent, we have a few people like that around here. Have him escorted up”. “Yes Sir” the phone clicked.

Fifteen minutes later, a Ft. Miles MP escorted Wildfire into Paul's office. Mark was wearing nothing but a standard issue poncho. Paul missed a beat at that, then stood. “Hello, Mr. Dallas. Please have a seat...” The MP cut in “Sorry Sir, but I have to bring to your attention that this man has no identification, we only have Srg. Bales recollection of this man from several years ago sir, when Mr. Dallas visited his brother, Sir”. Paul asked “Well, how does Srg. Bales know you... Mr. Dallas?” Wildfire smirked and answered in his Texas twang “We all went out for beers and bowling mister”. Paul nodded. “Do you have anything that can help us verify who you are?”. Mark shook his head yes “Why, yes I do sir. You see, we got quite a drunk on, and, well, we all got these tattoo's on our backsides”. Mark showed him before Paul could say anything. The MP shook his head, somewhat bewildered. “Srg. Bales can speak to it mister D-Day, shur-nuff”. Wildfire said, completely at ease.

Paul suppressed a laugh, and besides, this man looked a lot like his brother. He waved off the MP. “Its okay Corporal, I'll take responsibility”. The MP nodded affirmatively and took his leave, shutting the office door behind him.

Paul motioned to Mark to have a seat at the table in his office and offered him a cup of coffee, which he declined. Paul went to sit next to Mark at the table. “Mr. Dallas” Paul began”. “Please call me Mark”. Paul gave a quick nod “Please call me Paul”. The two men shook hands. “Mark. I wish I has something more to offer you then just to say how much I am sorry for, and regret, your brothers death. I did not know Mike that well. But perhaps you can help me with that”. Wildfire gave a small shake of his head “shur-nuff, we'll go have a beer for him together, I'll tell ya some good stories”. Mark gave a grim smile. Paul continued “I can tell you Mark that, well. To be honest, we are doing our best to track down his killer, but she has fallen in with some other criminals that are making that difficult for us. That said, let me also tell you this...” Paul swallowed and let out some of the rage that he had been stuffing. “Mark, that cold bitch from hell killed seven correctional officers, including your brother, on my watch. It will BE a cold day in hell before I stop hunting her down like a mangy, rabid dog. That I promise you, Sir. That I promise”. Mark sniffed once, and said “Good man, that's how we do it where I come from, friend. Speaking of, Paul. That's the reason I came here to see you t'day. I want to help you out with that. I got a nice fat can of whoop-ass right here for that thing, that I just can't wait to open it, if ya follow”.

D-Day automatically started to decline, but then stopped to consider. He rolled his lips up for a moment then leaned forward, looking Mark in the eye. “What is it you do for a living Mark, do you have any kind of field experience?”. Wildfire said “Well, when I's young, my daddy taught me to shoot, and I helped take care of things 'round the ranch where he worked. My daddy also taught me how to fight, but not like ya might think”. Mark had a sour look at that. “I's in the Army, like my brother for a spell, infantry. Did a tour in the Gulf”. Mark smirked. “Now I sell the in-surance”.

Paul took a long look at the other man, taking his measure. “An insurance agent huh, well lets just skip that part” Paul gave the side of his head a scratch. “Okay, Mark. We might be able to work something out. I am going to have my assistant give you a little tour, then you can get yourself cleaned up and get a little rest while I consider this”. Paul gave a small grin “We'll also get you some clothes that wont burn”. Wildfire gave a lopsided smile at that “Well, that'd be much appreciated, Paul, thank ya”. D-Day nodded and spoke into his intercom “Private Sanders, come in here please, I have a guest I'd like you to look after”. Paul filled Sanders in, then said to Mark “We'll talk more later, Mark. I'm glad to meet you”. Paul shook his hand, then nodded to Pvt. Sanders. He led Wildfire further into the Ops center.

D-Day sat back in his chair and started to think about how to handle this turn of events. He was still sitting there a half-hour later when he saw Peregrine had arrived, early and first as always, for the debriefing, which was still more then an hour from now. Paul perked up and signaled her to come up to see him, then he went back to sit behind his desk.

Lisa came into his office right away in full armor, closed the door, took off her flight helmet and had a seat, resting the helmet in her lap. D-Day could never quite get used to how streamlined and beautiful Peregrine's flightarmor was, he took a moment to look it over, then looked up at Lisa with a friendly smile. “Hi Paul” she said without preamble “whose the guy in the poncho?”. D-Day gave a smirk and a shake of his head “possibly a new teammate, and...” Paul added grimly “He's Mike Dallas' brother, Mark”. Peregrine closed her eyes and bowed her head sadly “ah, okay” she said quietly. “Lisa” Paul tapped on his desk to get her to look up “I need your help on another matter. As you know, I have been working on a prototype for an upgraded D-Day armor. Something has come up, and I need it ready sooner then expected, much sooner”. Lisa started to respond “um....”. Paul interrupted “I want to replace the armor's hydraulics with something more like your flightarmor's solid state system, and I want to improve the efficiency of the jump jets. In addition to all of that, I want your help to finish the design and engineering of a new weapon system that I have on the drawing board”.

Lisa took all that in, then said “Paul, my flightarmor systems are classified... I can only help you so much...” Paul laughed, leaned over and tapped Peregrine's armored forearm “Lisa, who do you think came up with the original design of this titanium alloy outer shell here, and the composite kinetic dissipation layer behind it”. Lisa's small mouth opened in surprise “No shit? But your armor is thick steel alloy, and only has a bullet resistant synthetic rubber backing. Don't even get me started on your hydraulics and your lousy solid fuel rockets”. Paul nodded with a slight grin “Lisa, my armor suits are OLD” he laughed. Peregrine smiled “Then I would definitely say its well past time for an upgrade”. Paul replied “This is true, however, my new set is going to have to wait. The prototype that I have partially built in my lab, were going to prep it for a full sized pilot, and that's just the start”. Paul handed over a USB drive “Here are the specs I have come up with so far, look them over, and we'll get started after the debriefing”. Lisa took the USB drive and stood up, her helmet under her arm “Okay then. Get us some take-out Paul, sounds like its going to be a long night”. She gave a sly little smile and coyly blinked her big brown eyes. Paul smirked “you got it kid, now get lost until the meeting”. “That's Captain Kid to you, rookie” she jibed back. Lisa left with a bounce in her step, it had been a while since she got to build anything. To Peregrine, engineering was fun.