Profession

Sorting things out

First, though, we detoured to the communication room and I called Aunt Ann. Uncle Tony had already given her the bare bones of what had happened, and she was hopping mad but glad to hear from me. She cooled off enough to see the sense in making any exit by Stark Scientific and Technical calm and ordered, reining in Uncle Tony.  Grandpa Damian popped his head in and practically melted when he saw me.  He nodded at my explanation.

"We've been contacted before by Sark, one of the Channel islands. It became independent from the UK a few hundred years ago," Grandpa said thoughtfully, and Aunt Ann nodded, smiling as she caught on.

"We could start to work with them to relocate facilities; with their permission we could also make an island in their territorial waters where there aren't big shipping lanes, which would free up their land but still improve their tax base. And we could shuttle our workers from the UK if they wanted to continue their employment," she said. She and Grandpa smiled at each other and me. "Don't worry, Lys, we'll take care of our people too. And Ireland's making proposals to expand our presence there as well." After a few more reassurances, the call ended and I reluctantly called my dad's office. To my surprise, his executive assistant who screened his calls told me that he was at home, so I called there next. Daniel picked up immediately, and I could see Diana rush over from behind his chair. My parents barraged me with questions, most of which Jon answered.

"The incarceration wasn't fun but it wasn't too bad," I shrugged. I quickly ran down the conditions, and they were forced to agree, although they really didn't like the isolation and the dark. "At the... meeting, I guess you'd call it, it wasn't so nice." And I hit the pertinent parts. Jon held my hand supportively. Daniel's face went crimson with anger when I said that they'd used shock sticks on me.

"That is completely unnecessary," he snapped. "And cruel, considering what you've been through in your life. You said Pete Wisdom was there? He's going to be hearing from me. The Avengers have been helping them out with that Mys-tek thing, but we'll be limiting our involvement. It's their mess, they can clean it up. They've got us doing low-level work anyway."

"I'm going to call Dr Lance," I said, a little wearily. "I had some flashbacks to that episode at the SATs."

"We'll have her call you, dearest," Diana said, then turned away briefly to speak into a communicator. Daniel really hit the roof when he found out about their plans to separate me from Jon.

"Wayne isn't as nimble as Stark, we're too entrenched in the UK to completely relocate," he said. "But there are ways to make them pay. If they'd dare do this to my daughter, who knows what they'd do to less well-connected people?"

"On the bright side, at least by making a fuss in public I'm useless now as an asset," I said, and Daniel nodded. "And Uncle Richard can be proud; apparently they didn't find about that incident, at least, and who knows if they were able to access the investigations of the other incidents. The police system is pretty secure." I knew why; Aunt Barbara had helped strengthen the programs. The police department didn't officially know about it, but it was hardened against supervillain hackers.  Mom turned back.

"That was Grant," she said. "Deri has delivered a daughter. Nine pounds, fifteen and a quarter ounces." Ouch. That sounded like a lot to be squeezing out.

"Congratulations on being grandparents," I said. They smiled at me, pleased.

"I know that Deri would welcome a visit from you," Daniel said, and my small smile dropped away. The call ended rather quickly after that. Just because I'd been tortured didn't mean that I was going to be open to talking to Derinoe, and it really wasn't a good time to push me.