Chapter 6

A Job.

Lucy woke up to her alarm and groaned, she picked it up and threw it weakly at the wall, it hit the wall with a bang and a ping and the alarm stopped ringing.

She rolled onto her back and yawned, morning... She groaned again and turned to the wall grabbing her pillow and hugging it to her in an effort to reclaim her sleep that had been interrupted.

'Lucy!' She jumped and sat up looking around. The alarm saga had woken her Dad.

'Sorry!' She yelled back, she got out of bed and rushed to get dressed, he wouldn't bother to get up but she didn't want to stick around and miss the bus, Gos had told her enough horror stories to deter that from ever happening.

Negaduck groaned and covered his face with the pillow, they really needed better curtains... this one let the sunlight in.

He closed his eyes, hearing Lucy scuttering about quickly getting ready for school, he looked at the clock on the bedside table, 7am.

Nat groaned and pulled the sheet up over her head. 'Does she really have to go to school?'

He had to agree with that question. 'I'd rather not get stuck with her during the week as well.'

Nat sat up and grabbed the pillow from him, he recoiled as the light hit his eyes again, he squinted at her and glared as much as he could. 'What do you mean "you"? I'm always the one that gets stuck with her!'

'So what?'

Lucy's voice called out from the lounge-room. 'Is it alright if I take the car?' Nat and Negaduck looked around both too dazed to click with what she had said. 'Thanks!'

Nat's face went horrified and she jumped out of bed and rushed out of the room yelling. 'No it is not okay! Lucy get back here!'

Negaduck chuckled and reached over for his pillow, it wasn't there. He looked around and saw it at the end of the bed, he rose an eyebrow and grabbed Nat's instead, her effort to annoy him wasn't going to work.

He put the pillow behind his head and smiled as he turned and drew the covers up over him, he heard Lucy say "It was worth a try." and just burrowed deeper, closing his eyes and lying contentedly undisturbed until Nat returned and snatched the pillow from him.

'That's my pillow!' She pouted.

He rolled over and sat up looking at the way she was hugging her pillow and glaring at him. He shrugged and got out of bed. 'Yeah...' He said. 'Well... you took mine.'

'It's right there!' She pointed and he rose an eyebrow.

'Yeah and this ones right here.' He grabbed it from her and put it down on the bed. 'We need better curtains.' He said as he got back under the sheets.

Nat remained glaring at him with a renewed annoyance. 'Get them yourself!' She spun around and left the room slamming the door shut behind her.

Negaduck reached down and grabbed his pillow and lay back down putting his pillow over his face, he pulled the covers over him again and relaxed.

The TV came on, then the kettle. He growled and covered his ears, 'All this over a pillow?'

Lucy hopped off of the bus with the other kids and loitered around as the bus sped off down the street. She looked around the school-yard and spun on her heel and headed down the street instead.

The other kids stared after her envious that she was going to get the day off of school again.

Lucy went into the alley by the cinema to take the back way into the movie.

She was suddenly grabbed from behind and kicked the guys leg, he let her go and she spun around hitting him hard in the face, he backed away and glared at her for a moment, he lunged at her and she jumped aside.

He hit the wall of the cinema and she grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him up to his knees. 'You picked the wrong girl to mess with bub!' She growled.

'On the contrary, we picked just the right one.' She looked around to the large walrus who had just stepped out of the shadows, he clapped his hands. 'Well done.' He said calmly. 'That's not bad for someone who hasn't had any training.'

'I don't need training, I'm from the Negaverse.'

His brow furrowed in confusion and he shook his head deciding to let it go. 'You are just the person we are looking for to join our enterprise.'

'Whatever it is, forget it. I've got better things to do-'

'Please, hear the offer before you refuse it.'

'I don't think I need to.'

A gun was cocked from behind her and she looked around, it was pointing at her and the weasel was too far away for her to stand a chance of getting it from him before he fired.

'I don't think you realise who I am.' She said straightening and looking back to the walrus.

'I assume you are the girl who has been rumoured to be Negaduck's daughter.' The walrus said. 'We've been watching you for a while, you're quite impressive, even though he clearly doesn't think so.' She took a step towards him ready to swing and the walrus shook his head. 'Don't try anything stupid.' He said to her.

'You're the one being stupid! You wait till my Dad hears about this!'

'I'm offering you a job, a job that you should find...' He smiled slyly. 'To your taste.'

Lucy cocked her head. 'What kind of job are we talking about here?'

Lucy considered the warehouse, cardboard boxes up on scaffolding shelves large crates of various objects. 'I need to take this up with my Dad.' She said not sure about how he would take this, was this his competition? The objects in the crates varied from illegal fire-arms to purple teddy bears, it was hard to say what business this was.

'From what I've seen he doesn't want you involved in anything criminal.'

'He thinks I'm in over my head.'

'Nonsense!' The walrus exclaimed. 'You have only gotten superficial injuries! We have a saying in our business.' He put his arm around her neck. 'You have three hospital trips.' The weasels held up three fingers each demonstrating it. 'And on the third, don't expect to come out.'

She blinked. 'Three you say.' She said ducking out from under his arm.

'Yes, and I strongly doubt that you'll ever reach the third.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' She asked sharply.

'By the time you reach your third...'

'Are you saying I'm going to be killed before I get to the third?'

'Most of our employees die on their third, it's a predictable procedure in this business.' The walrus said. 'But you... you know where to draw a line, you never get involved in something you can't handle on your own.'

She blinked, she'd used those words before.

'And with the way you can hold your own, by the second "trip" to the hospital you'll be ready to retire.'

She raised an eyebrow. 'Something tells me I won't be in any condition to do otherwise.'

He shrugged. 'We have complementary training for all our employees.' He continued not losing his calm business voice. 'To ensure that they are adequately prepared for all the jobs we ask them to perform.'

She smiled and looked to the gun on the table. 'Do I get to play with the fun toys too?' She asked picking it up.

He took it from her quickly and she raised an eyebrow, he cleared his throat. 'It is incorporated in the training package. You'll forgive me for being uneasy about you having a gun on hand, I have seen footage of your father using guns, and... well.'

She smiled and folded her arms feeling cocky. 'I'll take that as a complement.'

'You're his daughter, you have quite a few of his personality traits and his abilities. Which is why we have picked you.'

'I don't know...' She said. 'My Dad won't be happy about me joining you lot.'

'I'm certain, in time, your father will come around, what we're offering you is a "trainee-ship" that will no doubt help you and your career.'

'Alright... I'm in.'

A/n: Trying to keep the chapters short now... it takes forever to write them otherwise.