The Spiderwick Chronicles is a series of children's books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.They chronicle the adventures of the Grace children, twins Simon and Jared and their older sister Mallory, after they move into the Spiderwick Estate and discover a world of fairies that they never knew existed. The diamond -grit edge on these hole saws cuts more accurately, leaves a smoother finish, and lasts up to twice as long as carbide-grit-coated teeth. Saws are for use on reinforced plastic, Kevlar, stone, brick, and other abrasive materials with high silicon content. Attach them to a drill or drill press.
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Jesselaroux
Lily walked the familiar path to her father's apartment. The city was as crowded as always, but she paid no attention to people rushing by her. Her face was buried in the book Miss Blizzard bought, her eyes trained on the abilities her father supposedly had.
The abilities she might have inherited.
Before discovering her psychic abilities, he never would have dared to dream of such power, but now it was a real possibility. Maybe, one day, she too would be able to save the world from astronomical threats.
Although, some of the feats described in the book were…a little ridiculous. She had a hard time imagining the soft spoken introvert she called her father doing some of the things attributed to him. She knew the Engine drove them both to seek out opponents of increasing strength, but it couldn't be powerful enough to make someone go against their nature like that, could it?
Fantastical 2 5 8 Hole Saw For Metal
Apprehension ate at her heart as she hurried into her father's apartment building. Questions burned in her mind, but she didn't have much hope for answers.
King was a private man, after all. Even she couldn't cross all his boundaries. No matter how hard she tried.
King opened his door and smiled down at his daughter. The days when she came over to play were the best part of his week. It was so liberating to be able to just exist as himself instead of putting up a front for the world to see. Being Lily's dad was much more fulfilling than being the World's Strongest Man.
'How have you been?' He asked as he closed the door behind her. Autodesk smoke 2018 0 0. 'Anything new and interesting happening with the Blizzard Group?'
He asked more as a courtesy than anything else. He wasn't actually all that interested in the goings on of the Heroics community, but his daughter took her role as a Hero very seriously. Much more seriously than he did his. That was probably because she'd actually earned her place and rank. He, on the other hand…
She returned his smile easily. 'I'm great, Dad, how about you?'
He had to look away as a large, goofy smile spread across his face. She very rarely called him Dad, preferring to use his name. He understood that. Not only had he never been a part of her life before she tracked him down, but he was a public figure, as much as he wished he wasn't. She knew his face as King, not Dad, so it was always nice when she called him that. Butterflies fluttered in his chest and he felt like a little boy again.
'I'm alright,' he managed to say without making a fool of himself. 'Better now that you're here.'
She blushed and looked away, the smile on her face a perfect pair for his own. Ah. Parenthood was wonderful.
'Um,' she said quietly as he led the way into his home. 'I had a few questions for you, if that's ok?'
More questions. His giddy mood came back down, but it didn't crash like it might have earlier in their relationship. Since Lily entered his life, he started researching parenting tips and child milestones. From what online forums told him, if a teenager asked their parents questions, that meant they trusted them. So, having his teenager ask him questions, even ones as uncomfortable as hers tended to be, was a strange source of pride.
Lights out 3 2 0 2. 'Of course, it is,' he said honestly. 'You know you can always come to me if you need something.'
Nailed it! He was the best at this parenting thing.
Her grateful smile proved it, too.
They took a seat at his kitchen table, cool glasses of lemonade set out and waiting. She took a sip of hers and her expression brightened. He added another point to his imaginary parenting quota.
'Here,' she pulled a book out of her bag and pushed it across the table at him. 'I was wondering if you could maybe confirm some of the things written inside?'
His confidence quickly crumbling, he opened the copy of Hero Infomatics to the chapter about him. He hated these things. They always wrote whatever they wanted and fed it to the public as fact. He didn't even want to imagine what nonsense his daughter had picked up from them.
Rather than read any of the idiocy within and give himself anxiety over the expectations the public might have of him, he flipped through the pages in a show of nonchalance. 'What exactly did you want to know?'
His play of confidence worked and he let out a small sigh of relief.
'Did you really invent a new martial art,' she asked eagerly, stars in her pale eyes. 'The book mentions King Style fighting and a new kind of qigong!'
Ugh. Always with the martial arts. How much respect would she lose if he admitted he didn't even know how to throw a proper punch?
'Ahem,' he began as he tried to figure out a reasonable excuse. 'It's not so much that I invented anything. Any martial artist will tell you that, after learning enough individual styles, you eventually develop one of your own. If someone saw me fighting and took inspiration from me, well, that's more their business than mine.'
How was that? Did he sound cool? Suitably aloof? He was basically quoting something Silver Fang said in an interview ages ago, but it applied here, too, right?
'That makes sense.'
Bullet: dodged.
'What about the Engine? Does it have any combat applications?'
'No.' He didn't even have to think about that answer. 'Not that I know of, anyway, though, I haven't exactly tried to use it that way.' Better to cover all his bases, just in case. 'You could say the destruction it causes by seeking out high profile opponents counts as a combat application, if you like, but other than that…It's not the kind of thing I've ever put any effort into strengthening, and I would hope you don't, either.'
She nodded sagely, her cute face serious. 'I understand. It would be bad if it got too strong to control and I ended up fighting someone I couldn't beat.'
He put on a proud smile. 'Exactly.'
'Then, what about the bomb?'
'Which bomb?'
'The one you threw out of the solar system into a black hole!'
The one he what into a what?
It took all his strength not to bury his face in his hands. How did people come up with this stuff? Did people really think he was capable of doing something so fantastical? The very thought of being expected to do that had his heart pounding in his chest.
'Dad, are you ok?'
His gaze refocused on his daughter's concerned expression and he realized his panic must have started the Engine. He took a moment to get his body back under control before offering her a strained smile.
'I'm alright, thank you. I don't remember ever doing something like that, but it's not unusual for things to get blown out of proportion. If I threw a bomb that saved a small child, they might remember it as me saving the planet, even though I didn't.'
He sure as hell didn't. Nor would he ever. Who was responsible for these so called 'almanacs'? Was there no peer review or editing?
'Then, I guess you aren't a time traveler, either?'
He choked on the lemonade he was sipping. 'What!?'
Lily shrunk in her seat, expression chagrinned. 'It says you time travelled and all the legends about kings returning are actually about you.'
That…was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. People didn't actually believe that, did they?
Oh, heavens, they probably did.
Once again, he had to breathe deeply to keep the Engine from running rampant. Though he'd paid an exorbitant amount to soundproof his home, he knew his one supernatural ability had a tendency to defy the laws of sound. He liked living outside the private eye. If anyone heard his panicked heartbeat, that would be over.
'It's nonsense,' he said shortly. 'Complete idiocy.'
She chuckled a bit nervously, a habit inherited from him. 'Right. I did think it sounded a little far fetched.' She bit her lip. 'Then, what about the moon?'
Oh no.
'What do they say about the moon?'
She shifted in her seat, no doubt already expecting his denial. 'Well, it says that during the alien invasion—you know the one, right?—you fought someone on the moon. They named a crater after you and everything.'
His heart leapt into his throat, beating so loudly even he could hear the Engine roaring. What the hell? He was there, sure, but he never fought any aliens! He spent that entire battle trying not to die! Was fighting on the moon even possible? Who—.
He knew exactly who.
He opened his mouth to explain, but stopped when he notice his daughter's wide eyes. Damn. He was scaring her. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he mentally detracted parent points from his mental quota. He took deep, calming breaths and managed to get his heartbeat under control.
'Sorry,' he said, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his neck and hunching his shoulders to try and minimize the difference in their heights. 'I—I was there, yeah, but I'm not the one who fought on the moon. That was…someone I know.'
Should he tell her about Saitama? If he did, then he would only be one step away from the truth. He could pin all the weird stuff people said he did on the other Hero and still maintain his own reputation.
No…it was too risky. If she figured out the truth on her own or heard it from someone else, she would never forgive him.
'I'll tell you about him later,' he said instead. 'When you're ready.'
The light in her eyes made it clear she was extremely curious, but she kept her questions to herself. Well, the ones about Saitama, anyway.
She took a long gulp of her lemonade as though she was chugging a beer for courage. Then, she met his gaze head on, her brows furrowed in an adorable frown. 'Are any of your abilities psychic in nature?'
That question caught him off guard, but he was glad he could answer it honestly. 'No. I don't have any psychic abilities.'
She slumped in her seat. 'Really?' Her voice was really small and she suddenly looked much younger than fourteen. 'Are you sure?'
His parent senses were tingling. There was something more here, something he didn't know about. What had the parenting forums said about situations like this? He should lead her to the issue at hand gently and keep any upset to himself, or she would stop trusting him. Or something. He really wanted to check, but his phone was on the other side of the apartment.
He'd have to wing it.
'What's the matter, Lily,' he kept his tone as soft and kind as possible. 'I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on.'
That sounded…parental, right?
She looked up at him with sparkling eyes, childish adoration oozing from her in waves. 'Miss Blizzard ran a test and…' she bit her lip again. 'She said I have psychic abilities. They…I'm as strong as Terrible Tornado—or, I will be! One day.'
Of all the things she could have said, that was far beyond all his expectations. This time, he did bury his face in his hands. His head pounded as his anxieties reached an all time high. Of course. Of course, it was his child that got the psychic powers. How was that even possible? Neither he nor her mother had any significant abilities—the Engine didn't count, he refused to count it. Maybe he or her mother had a distant ancestor with great power that had somehow skipped all generations except Lily's, but what were the odds of that? In all likelihood, it probably came from her mother's side. Even after almost losing his life a million times, no psychic power had ever manifested within him.
'I'm sorry.' Lily's voice broke his downward spiral into panic and he flinched when he realized his daughter was on the brink of tears. 'I didn't mean to keep it a secret, or anything.'
'No, no, no,' he rushed to say, leaning across the table to take her hands in his. 'No, I'm not upset. Really. It's just…really surprising. I never expected you to have that kind of power, especially not of the psychic variety. I was just surprised, that's all.'
Ah, what kind of father was he? He made his kid cry.
'So, Miss Blizzard figured it out? What have you been doing about it?'
She sniffled softly and broke his heart into a million guilty pieces. 'She's been trying to train me, but we don't know if her psychic techniques will work or cause me any harm if I've also inherited any energy based abilities from you. So, she wanted me to ask you, to see if you had any advice or if you could train me, yourself.'
That almost got his heart going again. He would need to lay down once she left, just to let it rest. He could never give his daughter the kind of training she needed, but Miss Blizzard…He should probably make an appointment with her to go over her plans for his daughter. While he was tangentially familiar with her sister, Tatsumaki, he'd never actually talked with the B Class Hero in depth. If she was going to be handling his child's education, then he definitely needed to get to know her better.
'I need to know a little more about what's been going on with you before I make any promises,' he said slowly. 'Have you noticed any changes in your body—?'
He cut himself off. That was a line of questioning most fathers avoided like a plague, even those who had been stable parts of their daughter's lives from the very beginning. Luckily, Lily didn't read into his faux pas.
'Well, I haven't been getting as tired, even when doing exercises that used to exhaust me.' Her face lit up with a memory. 'I fought some mutated wolves not too long ago, and that…went much better than expected.' She was holding something back, but he was just glad to move past the topic of bodies.
'So, you've seen an increase in stamina? I see,' he gripped his chin in an attempt to look knowledgeable. He was entirely out of his depth, but he couldn't let her know that. The internet said children saw their parents as all knowing and would lose faith in them if that assumption was proven false. He'd put up a front the entire time he knew her, so it wasn't that hard to pretend he had some knowledge of physical training. He could always use is ill gotten reputation to call in some favors from his fellow S Class Heroes. Silverfang had a dojo, right? Lily was smart and already had a foundation with a weapon, so it shouldn't be too much trouble to convince him to take her in. If Miss Blizzard was correct in her assessment of Lily's potential, he might have to call on Tatsumaki, as well. Maybe—.
No. He dismissed that thought before it could take root. Saitama was strong, but he wasn't exactly mentor material. King had witnessed his teaching methods first hand and he doubted his daughter would benefit from a generic 'Get Stronger' the way Genos seemed to.
Come to think of it, Tatsumaki seemed just as bad…
'Has Miss Blizzard spoken to you about martial training? I know we both count Silverfang among our acquaintances and he has much more experience teaching than either of us, I imagine.'
Lily tried—and failed—to smother a pout. 'C-can't I just train with you?'
His pride shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. How could he explain to his child that he wasn't at all the expert she thought he was? He wanted to help her, he really did! He was just…
An imposter.
'I'm sorry,' he told her earnestly. 'The way I train is…not suitable for beginners. Even if I did show you, I doubt someone of your level would be able to use it.' Indeed. A B Class Hero, running for her life? Inconceivable.
'Besides, it seems like you're developing along a very different path than I have, so I wouldn't have the first clue of how to teach you.' Not technically a lie, but he still felt like the lowest scum of the earth.
His daughter hummed lowly, clearly disappointed at his rejection. 'What about Terrible Tornado? Miss Blizzard is her little sister and she mentioned maybe asking for her help, since she says I'll be on her level, one day. Since you can't help me and Miss Fubuki isn't sure she'll be strong enough to help me once I start training, do you think Terrible Tornado would be willing to help?'
Having just dismissed Tatsumaki from his list of potential mentors, King quickly backtracked his line of thought.
'Um,' she said quietly as he led the way into his home. 'I had a few questions for you, if that's ok?'
More questions. His giddy mood came back down, but it didn't crash like it might have earlier in their relationship. Since Lily entered his life, he started researching parenting tips and child milestones. From what online forums told him, if a teenager asked their parents questions, that meant they trusted them. So, having his teenager ask him questions, even ones as uncomfortable as hers tended to be, was a strange source of pride.
Lights out 3 2 0 2. 'Of course, it is,' he said honestly. 'You know you can always come to me if you need something.'
Nailed it! He was the best at this parenting thing.
Her grateful smile proved it, too.
They took a seat at his kitchen table, cool glasses of lemonade set out and waiting. She took a sip of hers and her expression brightened. He added another point to his imaginary parenting quota.
'Here,' she pulled a book out of her bag and pushed it across the table at him. 'I was wondering if you could maybe confirm some of the things written inside?'
His confidence quickly crumbling, he opened the copy of Hero Infomatics to the chapter about him. He hated these things. They always wrote whatever they wanted and fed it to the public as fact. He didn't even want to imagine what nonsense his daughter had picked up from them.
Rather than read any of the idiocy within and give himself anxiety over the expectations the public might have of him, he flipped through the pages in a show of nonchalance. 'What exactly did you want to know?'
His play of confidence worked and he let out a small sigh of relief.
'Did you really invent a new martial art,' she asked eagerly, stars in her pale eyes. 'The book mentions King Style fighting and a new kind of qigong!'
Ugh. Always with the martial arts. How much respect would she lose if he admitted he didn't even know how to throw a proper punch?
'Ahem,' he began as he tried to figure out a reasonable excuse. 'It's not so much that I invented anything. Any martial artist will tell you that, after learning enough individual styles, you eventually develop one of your own. If someone saw me fighting and took inspiration from me, well, that's more their business than mine.'
How was that? Did he sound cool? Suitably aloof? He was basically quoting something Silver Fang said in an interview ages ago, but it applied here, too, right?
'That makes sense.'
Bullet: dodged.
'What about the Engine? Does it have any combat applications?'
'No.' He didn't even have to think about that answer. 'Not that I know of, anyway, though, I haven't exactly tried to use it that way.' Better to cover all his bases, just in case. 'You could say the destruction it causes by seeking out high profile opponents counts as a combat application, if you like, but other than that…It's not the kind of thing I've ever put any effort into strengthening, and I would hope you don't, either.'
She nodded sagely, her cute face serious. 'I understand. It would be bad if it got too strong to control and I ended up fighting someone I couldn't beat.'
He put on a proud smile. 'Exactly.'
'Then, what about the bomb?'
'Which bomb?'
'The one you threw out of the solar system into a black hole!'
The one he what into a what?
It took all his strength not to bury his face in his hands. How did people come up with this stuff? Did people really think he was capable of doing something so fantastical? The very thought of being expected to do that had his heart pounding in his chest.
'Dad, are you ok?'
His gaze refocused on his daughter's concerned expression and he realized his panic must have started the Engine. He took a moment to get his body back under control before offering her a strained smile.
'I'm alright, thank you. I don't remember ever doing something like that, but it's not unusual for things to get blown out of proportion. If I threw a bomb that saved a small child, they might remember it as me saving the planet, even though I didn't.'
He sure as hell didn't. Nor would he ever. Who was responsible for these so called 'almanacs'? Was there no peer review or editing?
'Then, I guess you aren't a time traveler, either?'
He choked on the lemonade he was sipping. 'What!?'
Lily shrunk in her seat, expression chagrinned. 'It says you time travelled and all the legends about kings returning are actually about you.'
That…was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. People didn't actually believe that, did they?
Oh, heavens, they probably did.
Once again, he had to breathe deeply to keep the Engine from running rampant. Though he'd paid an exorbitant amount to soundproof his home, he knew his one supernatural ability had a tendency to defy the laws of sound. He liked living outside the private eye. If anyone heard his panicked heartbeat, that would be over.
'It's nonsense,' he said shortly. 'Complete idiocy.'
She chuckled a bit nervously, a habit inherited from him. 'Right. I did think it sounded a little far fetched.' She bit her lip. 'Then, what about the moon?'
Oh no.
'What do they say about the moon?'
She shifted in her seat, no doubt already expecting his denial. 'Well, it says that during the alien invasion—you know the one, right?—you fought someone on the moon. They named a crater after you and everything.'
His heart leapt into his throat, beating so loudly even he could hear the Engine roaring. What the hell? He was there, sure, but he never fought any aliens! He spent that entire battle trying not to die! Was fighting on the moon even possible? Who—.
He knew exactly who.
He opened his mouth to explain, but stopped when he notice his daughter's wide eyes. Damn. He was scaring her. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he mentally detracted parent points from his mental quota. He took deep, calming breaths and managed to get his heartbeat under control.
'Sorry,' he said, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his neck and hunching his shoulders to try and minimize the difference in their heights. 'I—I was there, yeah, but I'm not the one who fought on the moon. That was…someone I know.'
Should he tell her about Saitama? If he did, then he would only be one step away from the truth. He could pin all the weird stuff people said he did on the other Hero and still maintain his own reputation.
No…it was too risky. If she figured out the truth on her own or heard it from someone else, she would never forgive him.
'I'll tell you about him later,' he said instead. 'When you're ready.'
The light in her eyes made it clear she was extremely curious, but she kept her questions to herself. Well, the ones about Saitama, anyway.
She took a long gulp of her lemonade as though she was chugging a beer for courage. Then, she met his gaze head on, her brows furrowed in an adorable frown. 'Are any of your abilities psychic in nature?'
That question caught him off guard, but he was glad he could answer it honestly. 'No. I don't have any psychic abilities.'
She slumped in her seat. 'Really?' Her voice was really small and she suddenly looked much younger than fourteen. 'Are you sure?'
His parent senses were tingling. There was something more here, something he didn't know about. What had the parenting forums said about situations like this? He should lead her to the issue at hand gently and keep any upset to himself, or she would stop trusting him. Or something. He really wanted to check, but his phone was on the other side of the apartment.
He'd have to wing it.
'What's the matter, Lily,' he kept his tone as soft and kind as possible. 'I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on.'
That sounded…parental, right?
She looked up at him with sparkling eyes, childish adoration oozing from her in waves. 'Miss Blizzard ran a test and…' she bit her lip again. 'She said I have psychic abilities. They…I'm as strong as Terrible Tornado—or, I will be! One day.'
Of all the things she could have said, that was far beyond all his expectations. This time, he did bury his face in his hands. His head pounded as his anxieties reached an all time high. Of course. Of course, it was his child that got the psychic powers. How was that even possible? Neither he nor her mother had any significant abilities—the Engine didn't count, he refused to count it. Maybe he or her mother had a distant ancestor with great power that had somehow skipped all generations except Lily's, but what were the odds of that? In all likelihood, it probably came from her mother's side. Even after almost losing his life a million times, no psychic power had ever manifested within him.
'I'm sorry.' Lily's voice broke his downward spiral into panic and he flinched when he realized his daughter was on the brink of tears. 'I didn't mean to keep it a secret, or anything.'
'No, no, no,' he rushed to say, leaning across the table to take her hands in his. 'No, I'm not upset. Really. It's just…really surprising. I never expected you to have that kind of power, especially not of the psychic variety. I was just surprised, that's all.'
Ah, what kind of father was he? He made his kid cry.
'So, Miss Blizzard figured it out? What have you been doing about it?'
She sniffled softly and broke his heart into a million guilty pieces. 'She's been trying to train me, but we don't know if her psychic techniques will work or cause me any harm if I've also inherited any energy based abilities from you. So, she wanted me to ask you, to see if you had any advice or if you could train me, yourself.'
That almost got his heart going again. He would need to lay down once she left, just to let it rest. He could never give his daughter the kind of training she needed, but Miss Blizzard…He should probably make an appointment with her to go over her plans for his daughter. While he was tangentially familiar with her sister, Tatsumaki, he'd never actually talked with the B Class Hero in depth. If she was going to be handling his child's education, then he definitely needed to get to know her better.
'I need to know a little more about what's been going on with you before I make any promises,' he said slowly. 'Have you noticed any changes in your body—?'
He cut himself off. That was a line of questioning most fathers avoided like a plague, even those who had been stable parts of their daughter's lives from the very beginning. Luckily, Lily didn't read into his faux pas.
'Well, I haven't been getting as tired, even when doing exercises that used to exhaust me.' Her face lit up with a memory. 'I fought some mutated wolves not too long ago, and that…went much better than expected.' She was holding something back, but he was just glad to move past the topic of bodies.
'So, you've seen an increase in stamina? I see,' he gripped his chin in an attempt to look knowledgeable. He was entirely out of his depth, but he couldn't let her know that. The internet said children saw their parents as all knowing and would lose faith in them if that assumption was proven false. He'd put up a front the entire time he knew her, so it wasn't that hard to pretend he had some knowledge of physical training. He could always use is ill gotten reputation to call in some favors from his fellow S Class Heroes. Silverfang had a dojo, right? Lily was smart and already had a foundation with a weapon, so it shouldn't be too much trouble to convince him to take her in. If Miss Blizzard was correct in her assessment of Lily's potential, he might have to call on Tatsumaki, as well. Maybe—.
No. He dismissed that thought before it could take root. Saitama was strong, but he wasn't exactly mentor material. King had witnessed his teaching methods first hand and he doubted his daughter would benefit from a generic 'Get Stronger' the way Genos seemed to.
Come to think of it, Tatsumaki seemed just as bad…
'Has Miss Blizzard spoken to you about martial training? I know we both count Silverfang among our acquaintances and he has much more experience teaching than either of us, I imagine.'
Lily tried—and failed—to smother a pout. 'C-can't I just train with you?'
His pride shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. How could he explain to his child that he wasn't at all the expert she thought he was? He wanted to help her, he really did! He was just…
An imposter.
'I'm sorry,' he told her earnestly. 'The way I train is…not suitable for beginners. Even if I did show you, I doubt someone of your level would be able to use it.' Indeed. A B Class Hero, running for her life? Inconceivable.
'Besides, it seems like you're developing along a very different path than I have, so I wouldn't have the first clue of how to teach you.' Not technically a lie, but he still felt like the lowest scum of the earth.
His daughter hummed lowly, clearly disappointed at his rejection. 'What about Terrible Tornado? Miss Blizzard is her little sister and she mentioned maybe asking for her help, since she says I'll be on her level, one day. Since you can't help me and Miss Fubuki isn't sure she'll be strong enough to help me once I start training, do you think Terrible Tornado would be willing to help?'
Having just dismissed Tatsumaki from his list of potential mentors, King quickly backtracked his line of thought.
'Well,' he said as his mind struggled to come up with acceptable reasons to refuse. 'I have a way to contact her.' All S Class Heroes had a means of contacting each other in the form of an Association issued phone. Still, he'd rather not deal with the tiny esper if he could help it. 'But we don't exactly know each other very well. Knowing her, she won't even pick up even if I did call her. I think it would probably be best if you spoke with Miss Blizzard about this, first, just so everyone's on the same page—.'
'I texted her,' Lily interjected. She passed her phone to him across the table. 'She says we should give it a try.'
So she did. He raised an eyebrow at his daughter. 'Lily, do you want to Tatsumaki to teach you?'
A pale blush colored her cheeks. 'Well, I just…'
Well, if his kid wanted to learn from the most terrifying woman in existence, who was he to say no?
With a sigh, he got up from his seat and walked over to the kitchen counter. He pulled open a drawer and stared at the Association phone for what felt like a million years. His hand reached for it, only to freeze just before touching the black screen.
'What's wrong?'
He jumped. When had Lily come to stand beside him? He hadn't heard her move.
'Ah, well,' he rubbed at the back of his neck with embarrassment. 'I should probably clean up before calling. She's kind of unpredictable, so I don't know if she'll end up coming over and…'
He and his daughter both turned to look out over the kitchen and living room. Magi-Pri merchandise was everywhere, from limited edition plushies to giant posters autographed by voice actors.
'Right,' Lily said with a nervous laugh. 'I forgot.'
Between the two of them, it took little more than half an hour to stuff all the incriminating evidence into his bedroom closet. His apartment looked bare and uninviting without his stuff, but it was better than Tatsumaki finding out about his hobbies.
It was bad enough she would find out about his kid.
He picked up the Association phone and dialed the only number in the contacts list. His heartbeat grew louder as it started to ring in his ear. With any luck, they would be closed and he could leave a voicemail no one would check and never have to worry about Tatsumaki coming to his come while still being able to tell Lily he tried.
Since when did he have any luck?
'Hello, you've reached the Hero Association Operating Board. Please state your name, class, and reason for calling.'
The dead cheer of the person on the other line helped calm his frayed nerves, just a little. 'Ah, yes, this is King, S-S Class, I was wondering if you could put me in contact with Terrible Tornado. I have an important matter which requires her assistance.'
He glanced down at Lily. She was staring up at him with glittery eyes, bouncing in place with excitement. She really thought he could do it.
'Well, what a coincidence.' A very different voice came across the line, stopping his panicky heart in his chest. 'I picked a good day to visit. What's up?'
'Oh, ah, um,' sweat began to bead on his forehead as he tried to regain control of his tongue. 'I would rather speak to you in private, if at all possible.'
'Why?' Her flippant tone became sharp as a knife. 'Are there lives at stake?'
'Not exactly,' he said, once again glancing down at the eager girl by his side. 'It is a matter of global security, though. It's just…a little private.'
Lily blushed bright red and ducked her head in embarrassment.
On other end of the line, Tatsumaki hemmed and hawed, no longer as serious now that she knew no one was in immediate danger. 'Alright. You're not the kind of guy to call me over nothing like those other losers. Where are you?'
He told her his address and she hung up after saying she'd be there as soon as possible. He set the Association phone onto the counter with a heavy sigh. Just a phone call with that woman was exhausting. A timid tug on his clothing claimed his attention.
'Did—why—am-am I really that important?'
He smiled softly at his stammering daughter and placed a hand on her head. 'You are to me. Although, I admit, I said that mostly to make sure she actually came. Tatsumaki is…an eccentric character. She takes her job as a Hero seriously, but little else. Besides,' he said as he ruffled her dark hair. 'You're my kid. I'd say that makes you pretty important.'
A knock on his door interrupted the happy moment between father and daughter. He tilted his head back and took a moment to get into character as the Strongest Man™. Then, he hurried to open the door. As expected, Tatsumaki stood in the hallway, an unimpressed expression on her face.
'Wow, King,' she said sourly as she forced her way past him into his home. 'I guess I should have expected you to favor the simple life.' She turned on her heel to stare up at King with wide eyes as he closed the door. 'What is that?'
She was pointing at Lily. The poor girl was picking nervously at her hands, suddenly shy in the presence of another S Class Hero.
King sighed. 'That's Lily.'
'Yeah, I know,' Tatsumaki said with a roll of her eyes. 'Why is she here? She's one of Fubuki's lackeys, right?'
King nodded. 'She is.'
'So, why is she in your apartment?'
'Because she's my daughter,' he admitted softly, unwilling to be cowed in front of said child. 'And your sister says she's a psychic in need of proper training.'
As tiresome as Tatsumaki was, she was ironically easy to deal with. He gave the most bare bones explanation possible and she understood everything she needed to.
'I get it,' she lamented. 'I'm literally the only person you could have asked for help with this.' She then turned to give Lily her full attention and King smiled slightly as his daughter straightened instinctively under the shorter woman's glare. Tatsumaki rose from the ground using her powers, floating over to a nervous Lily and looking her over from all angles before stopping to hover in the air in front of her.
'Sorry,' the Terrible Tornado said shortly. 'I probably called you useless at some point, but that clearly isn't the case. You're one the track to becoming a proper powerhouse like me and your father, so I'll give you a piece of advice as your future equal—ditch those losers you call friends as soon as you can. The difference in your power levels will ruin your relationships no matter how hard you try to preserve them, so it's better for everyone involved if you end it now, on your own terms. One day, they'll be little more than civilians compared to you, and you can't afford to worry about their safety when you're fighting Demons and Dragons, kid.'
She leaned in close to Lily's face, not pausing to give her time to process that 'advice'. 'Your dad wasn't just flattering you when he called you a matter of global security. You're the next generation of S Class Hero; do you know what that means? Do you understand the responsibility that represents?'
Lily nodded hesitantly and King had to smother his protective instincts. He hated seeing her look so unsure of herself, so small and afraid, but this was something she needed to hear. There were lessons she could only learn from real S Class Heroes, after all.
'Good,' Tatsumaki pulled away from the teenager. 'It just so happens I have an abundance of free time at the moment. Wanna go test out your powers?'
Lily's uncertainty was quickly replaced with excitement. 'Yes! Ah, I mean,' she looked past Tatsumaki's floating form to King. 'Can I?'
He nodded. 'Go for it. Tell me all about it when you come back.'
Disappointment dampened her joy. 'You're not coming.'
Hell no. Even though a small part of him did want to see what his precious child was capable of, a much, much larger part knew he would be exposed in an instant if he went. He wasn't anywhere near fast enough to dodge psychic blasts or whatever Lily's power decided to manifest as. And there were few things he wanted to avoid more than being caught in a psychic hold by the Terrible Tornado.
'I can't,' he said with semi-genuine sadness. 'I have something I need to do, and, besides, I wouldn't be of any use.'
'He's right,' Tatsumaki said matter-of-factly. 'His power set is completely different from ours. As great as he is in a fight, he'd just be dead weight in a training scenario.' Install4j 7 0 11.
Thanks, Tatsumaki. That didn't hurt, at all.
Lily rushed across the kitchen to wrap him up in a hug, only the second he'd ever received. 'Thank you,' she said into his shirt. 'For helping me.'
Then, Tatsumaki whisked her away.
Left alone in his apartment and totally exhausted from hours of vacillating emotions, King slunk into his bedroom. Falling face first into his bed, he reached over to pick up his personal phone. A text message from the contact labeled Invincible Egg lit up his screen and he groaned.
Maybe it was time to tell Saitama about Lily.
