Lone Wolf
Author's Note/Disclaimer: Same rules apply. Many thanks to the authors in this category, without some positive support I wouldn't be as likely to express myself. And also if anyone has any info about Marco and possible involvement with Ivy could you please e-mail it to me through my profile e- mail address.
"Zack," said Chief, "You've just received a temporary assignment to the tech lab."
"Why Chief?" Zack asked.
"I just assigned Ivy to teach Nace, our new detective, how to work well with a partner, he seems to have this dangerous lone wolf attitude we must curb. I think it's from his days in Australia, Chief Inspector Farrago said Nace hasn't really been used to working with a partner. In the four months he's been here he's gone through that many partners." Chief replied.
"Nothing against Nace, Chief, but he likes to work alone, shouldn't we at least respect that?" Ivy asked.
"He's almost gotten himself up the creek without a paddle too many times that way. He tends to disagree with authority too much and already he drove his old partner nuts." Chief replied, "In short Ivy, we need to make him a team player."
"And just where is Nace anyway?" Ivy replied, "I stopped by his room and he wasn't in."
"Computer, locate Detective Bilby." Zack said.
"Detective Bilby is in the cafeteria." The flat monotone of the computer replied.
Ivy sighed, realizing she was probably not going to like this assignment very much. In her experience lone wolves tended to be irascible, stubborn, and very often too convinced they were right.
She found Nace sitting in the cafeteria with a croissant in one hand and a steaming coffee mug on the table along with a small notepad and pen. She took the seat in front of him. "This seat taken?"
"If someone were sitting in it, they were pretty well camouflaged." Nace replied, Rathe's leather jacket wrapped tightly about his compact, narrow frame.
"Very funny." Ivy said, "You've just been assigned as my new partner."
"What about Eichner?" Bilby asked.
"Ike's cooling his heels and getting reassigned temporarily. We've had to break up one too many confrontations between you two." Ivy said.
~ ~ ~ ~
Mercy Lewis, a fellow tech, a fat, sly merciless girl of eighteen wondered what Zack Darren, the "Boy Wonder" everyone called him, was doing in the technology lab instead of tagging along with his ultra feminist sister.
So she went to ask him, "Hey Boy Wonder, what are you doing in here?"
"They reassigned me." Zack said, sourly, "My sister's breaking in that new Australian guy."
Roy Manning, a skinny boy of about eighteen with tousled brown hair and a goatee, and one of Bilby's few friends said, "No wonder Ike's been so happy. He was saying if he had to spend another case with Bilby and his constant disappearing acts he was going to go crazy."
"No kidding," said Eric "Griz" Koch, a tall chubby Southern boy who worked in security, "I mean he's a good guy but turn your back on him for a moment and he disappears."
"Hopefully he's not causing Ivy as much trouble as he caused poor Ike." Zack replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ivy made it a point to make sure Nace stayed in her sight as long as possible; he always had a nasty habit of disappearing. Not that he had any inclination to disappear at this point, they were sitting on one of the outdoor tables of a small takeout restaurant in Chinatown Ivy had found a few years ago.
Nace was taking a look at the passing crowd, and every few seconds jotting something down on his notepad. Ivy was pretty curious; Nace seemed to be doing this all the time. They'd have their down time between cases and she'd see him wandering about, sometimes with a book, other times with his pocket sized notepad. He always seemed to come and go all the time.
Four months of this had really piqued her curiosity to a point where she couldn't stand it any further. As she brought their order in a paper bag with two soda cans she asked, "So what's with the notepad?"
"Just random observations." Nace replied.
"Of what?" Ivy said.
"Of my surroundings. This place is a gold mine." Nace replied grinning, "For writers of course, any location's a gold mine."
"You want to be a writer?" Ivy asked.
"Surprising eh, our resident lone wolf Australian has a poetic soul?" Nace replied.
"Yeah, kinda." Ivy said, "Why didn't you tell us before? And don't say you didn't ask?"
"You didn't ask, since you asked, I'll tell you. I want to write about the Bohemian ideals. You've heard of them, haven't you?" Nace asked.
"Truth, beauty, and love, yeah I've heard of them." Ivy replied, "You don't sound like you'd be a Bohemian, I mean you hang out with those crazy guys, Manning and them in the cafeteria and on free time."
"They're characters alright, especially when they tried to kill Griz by sacrificing a French fry to Satan." Nace replied.
"Oh my God." Ivy said, "You really need to hang out with more normal people. Manning, Griz, and them always are acting crazy and doing mean things to people and each other, they barely avoid getting any demerit citations on their records half the time."
"They're a relaxing diversion from ordinary ACME life, I mean you see me sitting back laughing either with them or at them. They're also a writer's gold mine, such crazy characters roaming around is perfect for a writer to write about." Nace replied.
"Well, if you ever want to talk to me and Zack you're always welcome. I mean I see you sitting alone all the time too." Ivy replied.
"That's when I do my deepest thinking." Nace replied.
"So where do you see these Bohemian ideals of yours in ACME?" Ivy asked as they threw away their trash. She figured she try and start conversation to break the ice and keep Nace from disappearing all the time but this conversation was really getting enjoyable. For underneath Nace's quiet contemplativeness, boisterous laughter, and lone wolf hard edge was the soul of a poet.
"Isn't it obvious Ivy?" Nace replied, making an expansive semicircle with his right hand, "Everywhere, all over the place."
"Where?" Ivy asked, not quite getting it.
"Easy. As an ACME detective, traveling all over the world I see beauty in all the exotic places I go. Truth I find because it is inherent to my profession. Love, not yet. Hopefully one day I find it, wherever it may be. Love for friends and family I have already found, but true romantic love, I really want to find it one day. I haven't really found it yet." Nace replied.
So that's why Nace had those sad and contemplative expressions on his face all the time when he'd be doing deep thinking.
~ ~ ~ ~
"So Zack?" said Mercy, which was unusual because Mercy rarely talked to him, instead resenting him as the Boy Wonder, or Boy Genius, "What's Nace like?"
"Why do you ask?" Zack replied.
"Well, he is kinda cute…" Mercy said.
Zack restrained himself from saying what was on his mind, which was something along the lines of what Manning said. "Careful Zack, she'll probably eat him."
"Oh that's mean." Zack said, though Mercy was annoying, she didn't deserve remarks like that directed at her just because she was overweight.
"So, she does look kinda like Griz's mom, a four hundred pound heifer." Manning said.
"Oh fuck you Manning." Griz said, chasing Manning down the hall.
"Walk for my life, the fat guy's after me." Manning laughed, staying well ahead of the strong but severely overweight security man, "Hey Mercy, if you want some high quality Outback beef, don't eat Nace until after he pays me the twenty bucks he owes me."
~ ~ ~ ~
"So what do you know about Mercy Lewis?" Nace asked Ivy as they stepped into her car.
"Only she and Zack do not get along. Boy she does eat quite a bit too." Ivy replied.
"You know, you could just say she looks like a damn dirigible." Nace replied.
"Oh that's horrible!" Ivy said, despite the crack it was kind of funny, "I thought you had more tact than that."
"Sorry, that's just some of Manning's habits rubbing off on me." Nace replied.
"Those guys are so terrible, I still don't see how you can stand them." Ivy said.
"They're also funny as hell too." Nace replied. They stopped off at ACME HQ and parked the car. Walking back to the building Nace realized he had just gained himself a real friend. While Manning, Griz, and the guys were fun to hang out with and laugh at, they didn't seem to be the sort one could readily express innermost feelings too. Sure he had his grandparents back in Australia but weekly long distance calls were in no way adequate. Well at least Ivy sounded like an okay person to talk to, but she seemed to be the sort who made friends slowly, at least Nace had scored a few good points.
It suited him just fine as he traipsed up to his room, closed and locked the door, hung his jacket and shoes and got ready for bed. "Maybe this temporary new partner assignment may not be so bad after all." He said to no one in particular as he climbed into his bed and closed his eyes.
To be continued…
Author's Note/Disclaimer: Same rules apply. Many thanks to the authors in this category, without some positive support I wouldn't be as likely to express myself. And also if anyone has any info about Marco and possible involvement with Ivy could you please e-mail it to me through my profile e- mail address.
"Zack," said Chief, "You've just received a temporary assignment to the tech lab."
"Why Chief?" Zack asked.
"I just assigned Ivy to teach Nace, our new detective, how to work well with a partner, he seems to have this dangerous lone wolf attitude we must curb. I think it's from his days in Australia, Chief Inspector Farrago said Nace hasn't really been used to working with a partner. In the four months he's been here he's gone through that many partners." Chief replied.
"Nothing against Nace, Chief, but he likes to work alone, shouldn't we at least respect that?" Ivy asked.
"He's almost gotten himself up the creek without a paddle too many times that way. He tends to disagree with authority too much and already he drove his old partner nuts." Chief replied, "In short Ivy, we need to make him a team player."
"And just where is Nace anyway?" Ivy replied, "I stopped by his room and he wasn't in."
"Computer, locate Detective Bilby." Zack said.
"Detective Bilby is in the cafeteria." The flat monotone of the computer replied.
Ivy sighed, realizing she was probably not going to like this assignment very much. In her experience lone wolves tended to be irascible, stubborn, and very often too convinced they were right.
She found Nace sitting in the cafeteria with a croissant in one hand and a steaming coffee mug on the table along with a small notepad and pen. She took the seat in front of him. "This seat taken?"
"If someone were sitting in it, they were pretty well camouflaged." Nace replied, Rathe's leather jacket wrapped tightly about his compact, narrow frame.
"Very funny." Ivy said, "You've just been assigned as my new partner."
"What about Eichner?" Bilby asked.
"Ike's cooling his heels and getting reassigned temporarily. We've had to break up one too many confrontations between you two." Ivy said.
~ ~ ~ ~
Mercy Lewis, a fellow tech, a fat, sly merciless girl of eighteen wondered what Zack Darren, the "Boy Wonder" everyone called him, was doing in the technology lab instead of tagging along with his ultra feminist sister.
So she went to ask him, "Hey Boy Wonder, what are you doing in here?"
"They reassigned me." Zack said, sourly, "My sister's breaking in that new Australian guy."
Roy Manning, a skinny boy of about eighteen with tousled brown hair and a goatee, and one of Bilby's few friends said, "No wonder Ike's been so happy. He was saying if he had to spend another case with Bilby and his constant disappearing acts he was going to go crazy."
"No kidding," said Eric "Griz" Koch, a tall chubby Southern boy who worked in security, "I mean he's a good guy but turn your back on him for a moment and he disappears."
"Hopefully he's not causing Ivy as much trouble as he caused poor Ike." Zack replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ivy made it a point to make sure Nace stayed in her sight as long as possible; he always had a nasty habit of disappearing. Not that he had any inclination to disappear at this point, they were sitting on one of the outdoor tables of a small takeout restaurant in Chinatown Ivy had found a few years ago.
Nace was taking a look at the passing crowd, and every few seconds jotting something down on his notepad. Ivy was pretty curious; Nace seemed to be doing this all the time. They'd have their down time between cases and she'd see him wandering about, sometimes with a book, other times with his pocket sized notepad. He always seemed to come and go all the time.
Four months of this had really piqued her curiosity to a point where she couldn't stand it any further. As she brought their order in a paper bag with two soda cans she asked, "So what's with the notepad?"
"Just random observations." Nace replied.
"Of what?" Ivy said.
"Of my surroundings. This place is a gold mine." Nace replied grinning, "For writers of course, any location's a gold mine."
"You want to be a writer?" Ivy asked.
"Surprising eh, our resident lone wolf Australian has a poetic soul?" Nace replied.
"Yeah, kinda." Ivy said, "Why didn't you tell us before? And don't say you didn't ask?"
"You didn't ask, since you asked, I'll tell you. I want to write about the Bohemian ideals. You've heard of them, haven't you?" Nace asked.
"Truth, beauty, and love, yeah I've heard of them." Ivy replied, "You don't sound like you'd be a Bohemian, I mean you hang out with those crazy guys, Manning and them in the cafeteria and on free time."
"They're characters alright, especially when they tried to kill Griz by sacrificing a French fry to Satan." Nace replied.
"Oh my God." Ivy said, "You really need to hang out with more normal people. Manning, Griz, and them always are acting crazy and doing mean things to people and each other, they barely avoid getting any demerit citations on their records half the time."
"They're a relaxing diversion from ordinary ACME life, I mean you see me sitting back laughing either with them or at them. They're also a writer's gold mine, such crazy characters roaming around is perfect for a writer to write about." Nace replied.
"Well, if you ever want to talk to me and Zack you're always welcome. I mean I see you sitting alone all the time too." Ivy replied.
"That's when I do my deepest thinking." Nace replied.
"So where do you see these Bohemian ideals of yours in ACME?" Ivy asked as they threw away their trash. She figured she try and start conversation to break the ice and keep Nace from disappearing all the time but this conversation was really getting enjoyable. For underneath Nace's quiet contemplativeness, boisterous laughter, and lone wolf hard edge was the soul of a poet.
"Isn't it obvious Ivy?" Nace replied, making an expansive semicircle with his right hand, "Everywhere, all over the place."
"Where?" Ivy asked, not quite getting it.
"Easy. As an ACME detective, traveling all over the world I see beauty in all the exotic places I go. Truth I find because it is inherent to my profession. Love, not yet. Hopefully one day I find it, wherever it may be. Love for friends and family I have already found, but true romantic love, I really want to find it one day. I haven't really found it yet." Nace replied.
So that's why Nace had those sad and contemplative expressions on his face all the time when he'd be doing deep thinking.
~ ~ ~ ~
"So Zack?" said Mercy, which was unusual because Mercy rarely talked to him, instead resenting him as the Boy Wonder, or Boy Genius, "What's Nace like?"
"Why do you ask?" Zack replied.
"Well, he is kinda cute…" Mercy said.
Zack restrained himself from saying what was on his mind, which was something along the lines of what Manning said. "Careful Zack, she'll probably eat him."
"Oh that's mean." Zack said, though Mercy was annoying, she didn't deserve remarks like that directed at her just because she was overweight.
"So, she does look kinda like Griz's mom, a four hundred pound heifer." Manning said.
"Oh fuck you Manning." Griz said, chasing Manning down the hall.
"Walk for my life, the fat guy's after me." Manning laughed, staying well ahead of the strong but severely overweight security man, "Hey Mercy, if you want some high quality Outback beef, don't eat Nace until after he pays me the twenty bucks he owes me."
~ ~ ~ ~
"So what do you know about Mercy Lewis?" Nace asked Ivy as they stepped into her car.
"Only she and Zack do not get along. Boy she does eat quite a bit too." Ivy replied.
"You know, you could just say she looks like a damn dirigible." Nace replied.
"Oh that's horrible!" Ivy said, despite the crack it was kind of funny, "I thought you had more tact than that."
"Sorry, that's just some of Manning's habits rubbing off on me." Nace replied.
"Those guys are so terrible, I still don't see how you can stand them." Ivy said.
"They're also funny as hell too." Nace replied. They stopped off at ACME HQ and parked the car. Walking back to the building Nace realized he had just gained himself a real friend. While Manning, Griz, and the guys were fun to hang out with and laugh at, they didn't seem to be the sort one could readily express innermost feelings too. Sure he had his grandparents back in Australia but weekly long distance calls were in no way adequate. Well at least Ivy sounded like an okay person to talk to, but she seemed to be the sort who made friends slowly, at least Nace had scored a few good points.
It suited him just fine as he traipsed up to his room, closed and locked the door, hung his jacket and shoes and got ready for bed. "Maybe this temporary new partner assignment may not be so bad after all." He said to no one in particular as he climbed into his bed and closed his eyes.
To be continued…