“It’s been ten months, how long does she need?”

“And she’s had how many years, without parents, teachers, bosses?  I mean, even when she had foster parents, I don’t think it was sunbeams and rainbows, y’know?”

He rubbed his chin.  “…Yeah.”

Yeah, this might take a while.

“Tell me she hasn’t gotten at least a bit better in the course of those ten months.”

“Marginally.”

“There you go.  It’ll only improve from here on out.”

A little bit of hope for the being that lives in the dark.

He offered me a theatric groan in reply.

Hehe.

“That might be the problem.  You’re in charge, she looks up to you, respects you, but…” I paused.  How could I word this without getting into the particulars of her mode of thinking?  “…But you’re something of an authority figure in our group, and her personality demands she tests authority.  Especially when she’s insecure.”

Hm, yeah, makes sense.

But not scents. Rachel’s alpha is scentless, after all.

Brian considered that.  With a note of approval in his voice, he commented, “You have been giving this some thought.”

It’s Taylor. She gives pretty much everything some thought. :p

But yeah, it is pretty clear from what she said that she’s been paying close attention to how Rachel thinks.

“I think that you’d have a much easier time handling her if you took an official leadership role in our group.  Not just being the sorta-kinda leader, but actually taking the position.

Hm, yeah, might work. Not sure everyone would be happy with it, especially if not given an explanation for why, but it wouldn’t ultimately be that big of a change except when it comes to Rachel.

If you’re not comfortable with that, or if you think the others will make it too hard, well, she’ll probably get more comfortable with relying on you as someone in charge over time, as you prove you can handle it.”

Makes sense.

“I don’t want to underestimate him, is all,” I said.

Brian sighed, “Yeah.  Maybe you’re right.

Decent save.

But Kaiser was willing to demand restitution for the attack on his dogfighting ring, and I’m more than willing to do the same for this attack from his skinheads, if it comes down to it.”

Yeah, don’t let him get away with thinking that’s a one-way street.

“Both events having something substantial to do with Bitch,” I noted.

“I’m aware of that fact,” he told me, frowning.  “She’s useful, she’s a credit to the team, but she comes with some problems.  We’ve dealt with it in the past, we’ll deal with it in the future.”

“Right.”

Right.

I don’t think Rachel should be blamed for the skinheads’ attack in itself, but she should’ve informed the others long before it got to this point. Much like the main complaint in 5.2, really.

“Funny that it’s Kaiser that’s having trouble controlling his people,” Brian mused, when I was done.

How so?

I wondered if he was still sore over what Kaiser had said at the meeting.

Ahh, right, that.

“Coil upped the pressure the moment the truce against the ABB was broken.  I would be surprised if Kaiser didn’t have his hands full with that,” I replied.

“You’re defending him?”

Hm, no, I don’t think she is. Suggesting a plausible explanation isn’t the same as excusing someone’s actions.

I say this as someone who hates when people assume explanations for my own actions are meant as excuses.

It wasn’t often that I felt acutely aware of the difference in our skin colors, but being asked if I was making excuses for the white supremacist supervillain was one of those moments.

Oof, yeah. That didn’t even occur to me right then – it’s a non-visual medium, after all, making it easier for the difference to fade into the back of one’s mind until it suddenly becomes relevant again. I do appreciate that Taylor has the same experience, one that reflects and to some degree explains how the narration (which of course is supposed to be by her) doesn’t mention it very often.

Bitch scowled, but she nodded.

“Taylor, we should go.  The sooner we check on Lisa and Alec, the better I’ll feel,” he was already moving as he finished talking.

Yeah, let’s get on that.

The moment we were out of earshot, he pulled off his helmet, tucking it under one arm, and asked me, “What happened?”

You mean why Rachel is downright friendly at the moment and willing to accept the temporary hit to her pride on the issue of leaving the doghouse?

Or the details of how the attack was dealt with, without Rachel’s spin on it?

Those things aren’t entirely disconnected, either.

I told him, explaining everything after the point Bitch and I heard the ruckus the bottle man and his gang were causing.

Ah, yeah, at the end of the last chapter I was sort of figuring that this chapter might start immediately after this recap, but this works too.

“No,” Bitch spoke.  “I don’t need babysitting, and I’m getting annoyed being badgered by you two.  Taylor goes with you.  I’m going to stay here and pack up.”

Fair enough.

…if this were Lisa I’d suspect her of trying to set something up. I’m still slightly suspicious, but that’s not really Rachel’s style as far as I’m aware, and again, I’m inclined to believe what she says.

“Not a good idea,” Brian said, with a shake of his head, “If you get attacked in the meantime-”

“-I have Brutus, Judas and Angelica.  I managed on my own for years, dealt with people tougher than those fuckers.  If there’s trouble, I run.”

Valid point.

“And if they take one of your dogs hostage?” I asked her.  “One of the ones you can’t use your power on, yet?”

A dark look passed over her face as she considered that.  “Then I run… and I get revenge another day, on my terms.”

Well. As long as you’re confident that you’ll actually do that, I guess.

Brian tapped his foot for a few seconds.  “Okay.  If there’s trouble, it’ll be good to have Taylor at my back.  If and when I get hold of Coil, I’m going to see about getting you some trucks, and people to drive them.  In the meantime, stay alert, and don’t get yourself killed.”

Good luck.

“I couldn’t get Lisa or Alec, before,” I replied.  “You think something’s up?”

He nodded, “Maybe.  You stay here with Rachel.  I’m going to go check on the others.”

Hm, this sounds like trouble. Possibly localized to wherever Coil, Lisa and Alec are, but… wait, no. I was going to say it was possibly localized to where Taylor, Brian and Rachel are, but that doesn’t make sense – Taylor wouldn’t be able to contact Brian any more than she would Lisa and Alec if there was something blocking telecommunications from the doghouse.

But if it’s at the other end, it seems to apply to both Coil and the two other Undersiders. That seems a bit odd to me, or maybe suspicious – Lisa and Alec probably wouldn’t go somewhere with Coil all of a sudden without telling the other three, and anyone who would specifically target both Coil and two of the Undersiders in one operation likely knows about the employment relationship to some extent…

There are a few people who are known to do so – the Travellers, Circus and Trainwreck. Circus in particular seems to have a rather vocal disdain for the Undersiders. Honestly, though, I doubt any of them are behind whatever this is.

We do have one suspect who has something against Coil and likely views the Undersiders as an obstacle: Kaiser. And if any opponent of Coil is to have found out about the relationship between Coil and the Undersiders, I would expect it to be Kaiser.

That said – we don’t know for sure yet that this isn’t  an issue that covers a larger area that just happens to include the locations of Lisa, Alec and Coil but not those of Taylor and Brian at the time of their messages.

“Thank you, though,” I told her.  “I’ll, uh, I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Don’t care if you do.”

Fair enough.

We crossed the building’s interior and Bitch unlocked the door to let Brian inside.  For a second, I thought her bluntness would lead to her telling Brian outright that I liked him, but it wasn’t the case.

I don’t think she cares enough to.

It’s somewhat unclear how much she actually doesn’t care about things, but she’s usually rather straightforward (even if she’s not quite on the same lane as most others) and honest, so I’m inclined to believe her most of the time.

She was more focused on keeping the more unruly dogs from slipping outside and stopping them from barking at the new visitor than on our discussion.

“I can’t get hold of Coil,” Brian informed us.

Hm. Well, he’s a busy guy, I suppose. And hey, this gives Rachel some time to reconsider.