"So what do you have to report?" Ira's ice-blue eyes regarded Allie across the desk.

She knew he expected her to sit in the client's chair across from him, but she was feeling playful this evening, so she perched on the edge of the desk instead. "Aside from the expected complaints about shoddy work done by some of the other construction people that's caused me two weeks' worth of grief with no end in sight, nothing." Allie smiled. "Your Colony is so full of happy people it even makes me cheerful. I spend so much of my day singing as I go from apartment to apartment, or business to business, fixing things, upgrading things. You know. All the things a girl has to do to keep the water running around here."

"There have been six fights and five brawls today alone in the common areas of the Colony. That's not a sign of happy people."

Allie shrugged. "It could be. I've met men who were happiest when they were punching or hurting someone. And there are those who enjoy the pain. It takes all sorts to make a universe." She paused, puzzled. "What do you mean, six fights and five brawls? What's the difference? Aren't they the same thing?"

Ira tapped his tablet and held it out as video footage appeared on the screen. "In this fight, a pair of shifters attacked a Human." While Allie watched the brutal attack in horror, Ira continued, "A kitsune was badly beaten by what she says was a Human, but she wasn't sure. A Human and an incubus got into a punch-up over a succubus outside the strip club you invited me to this evening. In the Arbor Dome this afternoon, six Humans attacked a giant. Some shifters rushed to his aid, and then some more Humans, until some fifty people, both Human and Titan, were arrested and fined for brawling in public. We're not sure what started the other brawls – sometimes the surveillance cameras don't capture everything. All we do know is the one place brawls don't happen is the Aqua Dome. And wherever you happen to be."

Allie wet her lips. "How many of your Watch have noticed that?"

"I'm pretty sure all of them noticed the Aqua Dome is peaceful. It might take them a lot longer to associate you with the unusual patches of peace, if all this unpeaceful activity keeps them busy."

Allie breathed out a sigh of relief. "I can't be everywhere at once. And I'm not doing much, honest. Just...calming things. Putting people in a good mood. There's nothing wrong with that."

"There are quite a few who'd argue that doing anything to control their thinking is wrong," Ira said.

"Only if they're aware of it," Allie argued. "They don't complain when they're being brainwashed by bigots, or warmongers, or advertising, or the smell of a new restaurant wafting down the street, enticing them inside. Having a humming plumber in their house is no different to any of those things!"

"They can reject ideas, or advertising, or even food, but they can't resist you," Ira said.

"Aww, that's so sweet of you to say. Does that mean you can't resist me, either?" Allie fluttered her eyelashes and slid off the desk. She laughed, knowing Ira was one of the few Titans she'd met who could. Maybe that's why she liked him so much. It couldn't be his sense of humour. "I'm not asking them to do anything outside their nature. I'm not controlling them. I'm simply...calming things. Bringing a little more peace into this place. Like we agreed we wanted."

"I want you to find the troublemakers. I know there are some in here. One of the most militant anti-peace movements, the Humans First group, boasted that the Colony wouldn't last six months before someone blew it up. They have sympathisers inside the Colony, I'm certain of it. Find them before anyone gets hurt. Your supervisor has connections to them. What about him?"

"My supervisor? You mean Galen?" Allie couldn't help laughing. "He's the last man I'd consider if I was looking for a terrorist. His passion for peace is only slightly less fervent than my own. There's absolutely no way he could be planning on blowing this place up. Next thing you know, you'll be trying to convince me that he's building a bomb."

Ira looked annoyed. "He could be. He has the technical knowledge and the tools to construct one."

Allie shrugged. "So do I, but you don't see me doing it." She held up her hands in surrender. "All right, all right. While I'm working to keep the water running, I'll keep an eye out for terrorists. And I'll ask Galen if he recognises anyone he used to know from the Humans First group. In between singing."

Before Ira could ask her to do anything else, she left, humming. Galen building a bomb. Honestly. Maybe Ira had a sense of humour after all.