Astilleros

Summary: In which Daniel Hebert isn't a spineless marmot, and is instead a well liked and respected leader amongst the Dockworker's Union.

When Alan threatened to financially ruin his once friend Danny and the man's daughter over his own daughter's actions, he knew he was burning a friendship of years. But he did it, and he knew he would do it again on a heartbeat.

He might not be a very good parent, but he did love his daughters, and would do anything for them. Almost too sad that he didn't know that punishing Emma to prevent her from becoming the monster she had become would've been far better than protecting her from the consequences of her actions.

But even sadder than that, however, was that he had acted recklessly.

Part of him knew his threats meant nothing. Danny would win. Certainly, until that time, the Heberts would be in financial ruin, but when that time came, Alan would no longer be able to practice law, he would likely lose most of his savings if not all of them, might even lose his car, his house, or what have you.

What he had done was very illegal and Alan knew it had only worked because Danny was a spineless potato - part of Alan felt justified in steamrolling someone like that.

Still, he looked at himself in the mirror. His teeth were brushed. His tie was straight. His suit was impeccable.

Time for the day to begin.

The first problem came when his car was not where it should have been.

It took him a moment to realize it had been stolen, and the moment he raised his cellphone to call the firm to inform them why he would be late, everything went black, his phone was snatched out of his hand, and he heard a loud squeal as a car pulled up.

He tried to scream but he was stuck rather harshly and his head swam for a moment. By the time he got his bearings he had been gagged and two men were holding him in place while a third tied his wrists together. Only a moment later he was shoved into the back of a car, he surmised, and then they were moving.

Alan had a moment's respite as they walked him to a chair, somewhere - he didn't know where they had gone.

Moments later the bag over his head was removed, and he now saw he was in a warehouse full of old wooden crates, some rotting and emptied, others still sealed and full.

"Alan, Alan, Alan," he heard a now familiar voice speak, "you really fucked up this time, huh?"

It was one of Danny's friends. Kurt... something. Alan had met the large dockworker many times in barbeques and parties and such, as he was Danny's close friend and their family had been invited to Dockworker related celebrations many times.

The man had to crouch slightly to look Alan in the eye, seated and tied to a chair as he was. "Or would you prefer 'Mr. Barnes'?" he said, mockingly.

Alan prickled up, knowing that he was being mocked for his attitude. He had never really felt at home amongst the working class, ignoring the fact that he too came from that same background. He tried to speak up but found he was still gagged.

"Yeah, no one here wants to hear whatever comes out of your front asshole," Kurt said, to a few snickers. "Instead, you're gonna listen, and you're gonna listen good. We ain't got no patience, y'see," he said, his tone as nasty as the man's scraggly, unshaven beard.

Alan glared at him.

"Woah there, he thinks he's scary!" they all laughed. "Now, you done goofed, boy," Kurt said. "You thought you could fuck with one of our own, and you thought you could fuck with Danny of all people, and you really thought we wouldn't do anything about it?" Kurt asked, his tone seemingly puzzled.

He reached forward and tapped Alan's forehead.

"Stupid, Mr. Barnes," he said with a smile. "Now, Danny is a good man," he said, "and he asked us not to be too rough. You know how it goes with these things. If it was up to me you'd be sleeping with the fishes, but that was how Marquis did things, not Danny," he said.

Alan realized, right then and there, the true gravity of the situation.

He wasn't amongst law abiding citizens, he knew that, but he had not expected - it was weird, how had he never noticed?

"Surprised are ya? Well nobody accused you of being smart I s'ppose," Kurt said, laughing. "Really, how people never noticed that Marquis stayed away from the docks is beyond me," he said, stretching a little. "Anyway, we're here to have a little chat, and maybe impress upon you a few teeny tiny details you might've missed."

Alan spoke, but it was muffled.

Kurt snickered. "You know, we all know Taylor. Danny used to bring her 'round to the office when she was about yae high," he said, gesturing to the lowest height he could go, as he was a fairly tall man, looking gigantic to Alan currently. "Girl was a motormouth but you know kids," he said. "We heard about what happened at school Alan."

Alan froze.

"And we're not happy."

It was redundant, Alan already knew that.

"In case you're wondering where your car is, don't bother looking for it, it's at the bottom of the bay," Kurt said. "I just want you to know that every scrape, bruise or harsh word your spawn has ever visited upon Taylor? Well, call me the IRS because I'm here to collect the tax."

Alan saw the man grin. He drew back and stretched his arms.

"And oh boy, this looks like it's gonna be one long and arduous tax season!"

The next time Taylor came to school after the meeting with Blackwell and the terrible trio's parents, it was almost a world of difference.

Blackwell had resigned. So had several teachers. It'd been two weeks since, but it was amazing how much could change, just from a news story about the corruption in Winslow. How much damage it could make to the career of so many people.

Sophia was gone. Apparently she was off to Juvie - rumor went that she was on probation for something or other. Taylor wouldn't be surprised to know she crucified puppies in her spare time.

Madison had been transferred out as her parents had moved out of the city, trying to escape the reputation of their daughter the attempted murderer.

But the greatest change was the social pariah, Emma Barnes. Her reputation was destroyed. Her burgeoning career as a model was destroyed. It seemed that 'Uncle Alan' had apparently calmed down from being in 'defend your daughter to the death' mode and had laid down the law, he'd even come to apologize to Taylor in person, dropping to his knees and begging forgiveness for his actions.

Taylor had even talked with 'aunt' Zoe and Emma's sister Anne, both of whom were completely uninformed of the events, both of whom had apologized profusely for never noticing anything was wrong with Emma.

Now that she was known to be mentally ill, without support from her ferocious attack dog, without having all the latest fashion and accessories, Emma had turned from being Queen Bully to being the outcast everyone bullied, where it had once been Taylor instead.

It just so happened to be that she was a redhead, from a Jewish family, in Brockton Bay, in a school were gang allegiations were plainly seen. Nobody wanted her, now that she had lost everything but her good looks.

And as for Taylor?

Well, her situation was only different in that she wasn't actively the target for bullying anymore. People steered clear when they learned that she had been one of the few who had ever succeeded in the mythical feat of attempting to exercise change on Winslow.

And that suited her just fine. After all... School was just a distraction from the thriving business she had as a pest eliminator and part time hero.

She was really glad she had actually talked with her father about her powers. It was amazing how many opportunities there were to make money for her. Between selling spidersilk, weaving the odd outfit here and there, cleaning out pest infestations of all sorts and sometimes running an odd job or two, the Hebert family was certainly seeing an upswing in their future.

As classes started, she more or less ignored the lesson - it was simply more preparation for an exam she wasn't going to take in the first place - and focused instead on the design she was working on.

It was her first contract with the heroes, and she didn't want to mess it up!