Monday, January 31, 2011
"Did you apologize?" Dean asked, as he walked up behind Vicky, who was standing on the steps of Arcadia waiting for him, looking the wrong way. Amy was off to one side casting her sister the occasional slightly curious look but as usual seemed somewhat withdrawn and uninvolved, although she did acknowledge him with a small nod. That was a bit unusual, normally she either more or less ignored him, or said something snarky and cutting, then ignored him.
He was used to it although he wished it was otherwise, he rather liked the girl. The feeling was apparently not mutual.
Turning around, his girlfriend stared at him, then hugged him, hard enough to make him grunt, while Amy seemed mildly amused now. "Ow. Vicky, relax a little before you break my arms, please."
Embarrassed she let him go but stayed close. "I did," she said in a low voice, casting a glance around, although no one was close enough to overhear her. "Mom, Aunt Sarah, and Crystal came with me. We met her down at the docks." She didn't go into more detail.
"And?"
"Let's say I'm glad I took your advice and leave it at that. And if I ever do anything like that again, I'm leaving the US and moving to Europe. Or Mars."
He inspected her curiously. "Did she take it OK?"
"That's not the part that was… worrying." The golden haired girl shivered a little. "I'll tell you later when I stop being scared."
Dean found the comment odd but instead of pressing for details, said nothing and simply smiled. He could feel his girlfriend was more than a little down at the moment, for a whole complex mess of reasons he didn't care to try to unpick.
"Hey, Dean, how's it hanging?" The cheerful voice from behind him made him turn to see Dennis, Carlos, and Chris approaching, having apparently come together.
"We need to get inside, the bell will go in about five minutes," Amy announced, putting the paperback she was reading into her bag and standing up from where she'd been sitting on the low wall next to the steps up the front entrance of the school. He checked his watch and noticed she was right. Following the fairly large number of students still arriving, he and his friends went into the building, separating after a minute as they headed off to their different home rooms. He, Dennis, Carlos, and Vicky shared one, while Amy and Chris were in a different one.
Heading to his home room he slowed for a moment as he noticed the slightly younger tall curly-haired brunette walking towards him on the other side of the corridor, checking locker numbers. He met her eyes, then quickly looked away. She said nothing, not apparently noticing, but he could feel mild satisfaction from her, knowing she'd noticed and knew, somehow, how he felt.
Turning into his room with the others, at the back of the pack, he looked at her again for just a moment, at which point she peered sideways at him through her hair and smiled very slightly.
Shivering, suddenly knowing what Vicky was feeling much more than he wanted to, he lost sight of her as he entered the room, heading for his desk while trying not to look worried.
Hiding a smirk at the faint waft of worry that came down the corridor towards her from the Stansfield boy, Taylor checked the number of the locker she was looking at with the piece of paper in her hand, then smiled. Reaching out she spun the combination dial built into the door back and forth to the numbers she'd memorized already, until it clicked and she could open the thing. The lockers here were much smaller than at Winslow, not to mention much newer and much cleaner. Arranged in two rows all the way down both sides of the corridor there were at least four hundred of them, with her assigned one being number 212 on the top row.
Looking inside she saw with satisfaction that there was no way to push anyone over two feet high into the space revealed, although it was rather deeper and wider than the hated cell she remembered so well in the middle of the night even now. The Varga had helped her several times so far, showing her things from his old world and the experiences of his previous Brains to distract her.
Sighing a little at the thought, she firmly pushed the memories down, which was getting easier by the day, then swung her backpack from her shoulder and put all the books she didn't need before lunch into the locker. Most of them were brand new, given to her when she went to the secretaries office to retrieve her introduction information from Meg, who seemed genuinely pleased to see her again.
Double checking she had everything she needed, she closed the locker and spun the dial, then tugged the handle to check it was locked properly. Satisfied, she looked at the map she had once again, nodded, and headed for her new home room, curious to see what the day would bring and actually happy about being in school for probably the first time in nearly two years.
She reached the relevant room just as the final bell rang, looking at the door with momentary trepidation, then taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out.
"It is easy, Brain. Go in, do well, and go home again," the Varga advised with calm amusement. "If anyone causes trouble like they did in your old school, we can eat them."
'It would probably be better to follow the guidelines,' she giggled inside. 'I don't think that eating bullies is one of them.'
"Perhaps. Perhaps not." Her demonic companion laughed for a moment. "We will see. But in all seriousness, you will be fine. Go inside and prove it to both of us."
Nodding once to herself and him, feeling much more confident, she opened the door and stepped inside. The teacher sitting at the desk, a man of about thirty, tanned and fit looking with a head of black hair, glanced over at her then down at his desk.
"Miss Hebert?" he asked in the tone of someone who already knew the answer.
"Yes, Sir," she replied calmly. "I'm sorry about nearly being late, I had to pick up my things from the school office."
"That's fine, Miss Hebert, just try to arrive a little sooner from now on, please. You can take any free desk."
She looked around the room, spotting to her pleasure Mandy and Lucy near the back of the room with two empty desks next to them. She raised her eyebrows inquiringly, making the first girl smile and wave to the seat next to her. About sixteen pairs of eyes followed her as she went over and sat down, slipping her backpack off her shoulder and under her chair with a quick motion, trying not to hit anything with her tail.
"Hi, guys," she said in a low tone. "Thanks."
"I'm glad you're in this room, Taylor," Mandy whispered back, looking quickly at her then back at the teacher, who was watching but said nothing. Taylor nodded and gave her attention to the front of the room, making him smile a small smile, then look down at the register.
"Anderson, Lily," he said in a not loud but easily audible smooth baritone voice, the result of much practice.
"Here."
"Arthurs, Jack."
"Here."
The roll call went on for a little while as he ticked each name off, nodding to himself. When he reached her name, he looked up at her. "Hebert, Taylor, also here," he remarked, ticking her name off. She smiled at him.
The teacher continued until the last voice had replied, then put the pen down.
"All right, people, as you have already gathered, we have a new student. One Miss Taylor Hebert, a new transfer from Winslow, so be sympathetic and also pleased that yet another human being has survived that place."
A ripple of laughter ran around the room as Taylor grinned. If nothing else the teacher had a sense of humor, not to mention a very pleasant voice. "If you wouldn't mind, Taylor, could you stand and tell us a little about yourself, please?"
"Of course, Sir," she replied, standing and moving to the side a little so she wouldn't hit her tail on the desk behind her. Everyone turned in their seats to see her clearly.
"Oh, by the way, my name is Mr Hanks. Like the actor. You may refer to me as such if you want, although I quite like Sir." He smiled at her in a friendly but not too friendly manner. Remembering Mr Gladly from Winslow, she was grateful. This man seemed to want to be professional and respectful, not every student's best friend, something that suited her perfectly.
"Thank you, Mr Hanks. Sir." She grinned as he chuckled. "Well, my name is Taylor Hebert, as you just heard. My father is the hiring manager at the Dock Workers Union, my mother was a professor of English literature at the University until she died a few years ago." She managed to get the words out without letting the pang of regret she felt color her voice with the calm reassurance of the demon linked to her, who had helped in so many ways. "My interests include reading, mathematics, computers, and running. Recently I've decided I want to learn first aid and self defense."
She looked around the room. "I didn't have much fun at Winslow, the place is crawling with bullies, and I don't like that sort of thing at all. But other than that I just want to get on with learning and live my life."
"Wise words, Miss Hebert. Thank you, you can sit down." She did as requested while beside her Mandy gave her a thumbs-up, smiling. "Brief and to the point. Good. Now, I know that you tested very highly in the evaluation exams on Friday, but I still suspect that you may run into minor difficulties with the practical differences between your last school and here. Please don't hesitate to approach any teacher to explain why and ask for help. I'd think you'll be up to speed very fast based on your test results."
She nodded, feeling pleased. He seemed genuine.
"All right, let's get on with it. Eyes front, people." The other students who had been inspecting her curiously all turned around again, and paid attention. Taylor did the same, smiling to herself and pleased with how simple that had all been. This might work out just fine.
Tapping her pen on the pad of paper in front of her, Hannah listened with interest. She made the occasional note, then sighed slightly. "Thank you for the information Lady Photon, it's appreciated. I understand why you're reluctant to get involved but I agree it could be important."
Listening again, she smiled. "Thank you. Give my best to your family. Bye."
Hanging up the desk phone, she kicked back in her chair, put her feet on the desk, and intently studied the notes she'd made for a while.
Eventually coming to a decision, she stood up and made sure her scarf was in place, before leaving her office and heading for the lower levels of the Rig and a boat to shore.
Not that long afterward, she was cautiously riding her motorcycle through the outskirts of the Docks, in the direction of the DWU facility, while keeping a wary eye open for trouble. This close it was unlikely, the dock workers had somehow come to an arrangement with the merchants and other junkies who infested the area, which she suspected was along the lines of 'stay away and we won't break your legs', a thought that made her smile for a moment.
Eventually arriving at her destination she slowed, looking around, then parked the bike somewhere it was inconspicuous but not so much someone might be tempted to interfere with it, although in that case the security system would make them regret it. Arming it, she looked over towards the large and fenced in DWU compound, seeing a number of men working on a large unidentifiable steel construction, the light of the welding arcs bright even in the sunlight. A couple of them were watching her with what looked like considerable alertness and readiness, but didn't move from where they were.
Feeling the eyes on her back she turned and looked up, then around at the mostly empty and in many cases long-abandoned warehouses surrounding the facility as grim reminders of better days. The only buildings that looked even vaguely maintained were on the other side of the fence.
Deciding on her target she headed for one particular building, finding a doorway with a smashed door hanging from the bottom hinge only and making her way inside, pulling a flashlight from her pocket in the process.
In the bright light she could see a dozen or more sets of footprints embedded into the crud on the floor, which seemed to be a mix of crumbling concrete, mold, and something much less salubrious. Suppressing a grimace of disgust she picked a path through it towards the metal staircase she spotted in the back of the building, rusty and damp with condensation.
When she got to the top, the heroine walked down a hallway that ran down the back of the old building, past broken windows looking across an alley into other broken windows of the next warehouse along, until she found what she was looking for.
A set of footprints, from what looked like worn but serviceable military-pattern boots, led into but not out of a side room. Cautiously looking in, then entering when she was sure it was safe, her power forming a pistol in her free hand even so, she looked around the room.
In the middle of it was a pile of six or seven moldy wooden pallets with a ratty wool blanket draped across them, while in front of this was an office chair that had seen much better days. Probably about the time of the moon landings. Curious, she moved to the back of the stack and looked across the chair, to see she had a perfect view of most of the open area of the DWU facility.
"Interesting," she mumbled to herself.
She also noticed that the two apparent guards were still watching her, or at least the window. From where she was, in the sunlight, she didn't think anyone outside could see in very well without a good pair of binoculars.
Looking around the floor, she spotted the glint of shiny metal to the side of the pallets, going over and squatting down. There was a fresh expended 30-06 cartridge lying against the wall. Glancing around she saw at least half a dozen more scattered about. Turning her pistol back into the large knife on her leg it was normally in the form of she picked the brass up and sniffed the open end.
"Definitely fired recently. OK," she muttered in a low voice.
She retrieved a couple of the other ones then put them in her pocket before standing up again and looking around some more.
In a line from the window to a set of marks on the floor that suggested a struggle she saw more footprints, but these ones weren't from anything that wore boots. They had three slender toes tipped with impressive claws, and no heel prints, although there was a mark in the dust that suggested a long tail. She studied them for a moment, then went to the window and looked out and down. It was at least sixty feet to the ground. Inspecting the windowsill she could see small divots in the stonework that looked like they were from claws as well, claws that were harder than the stone.
She pondered the scene for a moment, looking around, then squinted at the people working inside the fence. The two watchers were still there, watching, although one of them seemed to have a walky-talky at his mouth. Ignoring them she peered around at the other buildings, before spotting what she was looking for and memorizing the location.
Miss Militia pulled her head back into the room and looked around one last time, before leaving, thinking hard.
A little later the watchers in the union facility saw the motorcycle-riding female cape leave, heading back towards the good part of town.
"Did she, now..."
Danny listened, then nodded thoughtfully. "Thanks, Mark."
"No sweat, Danny."
"Did you find the bullets?"
"Yep. Or at least, we found eight of them. No sign of the ninth, it probably bounced over the roof from what you said she told you. There's also a freshly patched hole in the yard about two feet across but the boys have no idea what it's patched with."
"Don't worry about that, it's not important." He accepted the small glass jar with eight badly flattened bullets in it, shaking it and watching them rattle around.
'Jesus, Taylor, this is horrifying,' he thought to himself, inspecting them. 'I don't like the thought of someone shooting at you. Although I'm amazed that you can take it like this.'
"So why was someone shooting at this cape, Boss?" the other man said, then grinned when Danny frowned.
"You've been hanging around Zephron too much, Mark."
The man, a tall slender blond with a wiry strength visible through his clothes, smirked slightly but didn't reply.
"I'm not sure," he added, answering the question.
"How did you meet her?" the blond asked curiously.
"She found out who was the person to call to ask about using the yard when no one is there and called me yesterday. I couldn't think of any good reason not to let her and we could use the goodwill, so I told her to go ahead. I've written a letter of permission for her as well in case anyone gets nosy, she's going to pick it up this afternoon around four or so."
"I'll make sure to be here, I'd like to see her," Mark grinned. "Hey, is the DWU getting a cape of its own, then? That would help if those asshole merchants come around again."
Danny sighed, smiling. "I don't think we're a gang or need a cape just yet, Mark. She's just a good natured independent looking for some empty space to train in." His colleague shrugged, still smiling a little.
"OK, thanks. Tell the guys to keep an eye out for anything odd, but hopefully this is a one off."
"You got it, Boss."
"Stop calling me Boss," Danny shouted after the man as he left, chuckling, but couldn't help a grin of his own.
Rattling the bullets around again he studied them for a moment, shook his head, then put the jar away in his desk, going back to his research.
"So how's your first full half day at Arcadia, Taylor?" Taylor looked up at the cheery voice, to see Mandy and Lucy standing next to the table, trays in hand. She smiled, nodding to the chairs on the other side, both girls sitting.
"Full half day?" she queried. "Isn't that a bit redundant?"
"Of course it isn't," Mandy grinned. "You've been here for half a full day, or a full day of which you've only been here for half so far. Full half day." She picked up her burger and bit into it as both Taylor and Lucy smiled at her logic.
"Don't argue, or she'll keep talking for the entire lunch period," Lucy whispered loudly from behind her hand. Taylor got the feeling this was something of a running joke between them.
"Ah. In that case, my first full half day has been fine, and I expect the next full half day to be similar," she snickered, then took a bite of her mac and cheese, nodding appreciatively as she chewed. "This really is pretty good food for a school," she said after she swallowed. Her companions smiled back.
"I told you. Sometimes I like to bring something from home for variety, but it's more than edible," Mandy replied happily. Taylor was realizing that the girl was generally pretty cheerful most of the time. She glanced at Lucy, who was much less outgoing but still friendly. It had turned out that she shared two of the four hour-long slots in the morning with both of them, and one each of the others with each of them. In the afternoon she shared one class with both and the other two with neither.
"You're taking advanced mathematics and computer studies, aren't you, Taylor?" Lucy asked quietly. Taylor nodded.
"Yes. The administration thought that my marks were good enough to place me in the advanced classes in both. I may also end up there in English, but they wanted to see how it went after the first couple of weeks."
"Wow. An intelligent person, at last," the other girl giggled, shooting her friend a sly look, which caused her to splutter in indignation.
"Hey! I smart! Look, me eat with mouth now!" Both Taylor and Lucy collapsed laughing as Mandy shoved half the burger into her mouth in one go, completely ruining the classy teenager look she normally promoted.
Nearly choking as she chewed because she was also trying not to laugh, the girl went slightly blue before she managed to swallow enough to clear a path for air, then took deep breaths for a while. Several of the other tables of young people looked over at the laughter, most of them smiling.
"You're going to kill yourself doing that one day you idiot," Lucy giggled. Mandy shrugged.
"It's funny."
Shaking her head in amusement the Chinese girl looked back to Taylor who was now just enjoying the company of people her own age who were basically normal. Although in Mandy's case that was possibly not entirely correct, she mused, smiling internally.
"Have you thought about any after school clubs or extracurricular activities yet, Taylor?"
Taylor had a sudden moment of wondering what the other girl would say if she told her what she'd been doing in her evenings recently but tried not to let the amusement make her sound odd as she replied. "Not yet. What sorts of things are available here?"
Lucy thought for a moment as Mandy listened. "Well, there's the computer club, the chess club, a classic film club, the literature club, several sports groups like swimming, track, judo, that sort of thing..." She glanced at her friend who nodded.
"There's also the electronics club and an engineering one," Mandy added. "Not to mention a number of courses that aren't really clubs, but extra credit things like advanced first aid and basic paramedic training, car maintenance, basic household repair… A few others but I forget what they are now."
"Wow. That's a lot. We didn't have anything like that at Winslow." Taylor grinned for a moment. "There it was more along the lines of basic firearm cleaning, knife fighting, car theft… You know, practical skills to allow a young person to get ahead in life."
Both her table-mates started laughing again. "Honest, it really was nearly that bad. I'm sure you could have found someone to teach you all that, but you probably wouldn't actually have received school credit for it. I think."
"You must be so relieved to be out of that place," Mandy commented, picking up her can of coke and popping the tab, then taking a drink from it.
Taylor sighed heavily, nodding and wiping her forehead with a hand mockingly, making the other two grin again. "More than you'd believe. The mere fact that I can simply sit here, have lunch, and talk to people without..." She fell silent as they looked at each other. "I haven't done this in a long time."
"What happened?" Mandy asked quietly, looking concerned and leaning forward a little.
After a while, Taylor shook her head slightly. "I don't want to talk about it for a while, sorry. Just thinking about it depresses me, talking would be worse, and it would ruin the good day I'm having. Maybe one day." The other girl nodded, straightening up again. "Sorry."
"Don't worry, it's not really important, I'm just incurably nosy," Mandy smiled. "But I'm glad you made it out alive and sane."
"Alive..." Taylor quickly took her pulse with a finger to her neck and a look of concentration. "Yep. Sane… How do you check that?"
"I think you have to unscrew the little cap under your hair at the back and look at the dipstick," Lucy replied immediately with a straight face, making Taylor snort with laughter.
"I'm as sane as I need to be and no saner," she replied, going back to her lunch. The two girls who she decided were definitely becoming friends nodded wisely, doing the same.
While she ate, she listened to the chatter around her, separating out the individual voices into understandable conversations, then moving on after briefly listening to each on. She wasn't deliberately eavesdropping, she was simply practicing with her enhanced hearing, taking the opportunity the crowded lunch room provided her as she sat there.
Her own name being spoken quietly, in a female voice, made her listen more carefully, though. "...Hebert, I think. She's a sophomore who transferred in from Winslow, Maria said she heard there was some sort of trouble there with bullying. She's in Maria's home room with Mr Hanks, she introduced herself as the daughter of someone called Danny Hebert who's supposedly someone important with the dock workers union or something." The voice wasn't one that she recognized, but the one that spoke next was.
"Thanks, Alicia," the voice of Dean Stansfield replied.
"Why?" the girl asked curiously.
"Just curious, I saw her on Friday, then twice today, she was looking for a locker this morning. I wondered why since I don't remember seeing her before. Nothing important."
"OK, Dean. Say hi to Vicky, I need to get back to the girls now."
"Bye, Alicia," he replied. Taylor suppressed a momentary flare of indignation, realizing that it was a perfectly normal thing for someone to do and the scene had probably been replayed dozens of times today. Teenagers were curious. It was only the juxtaposition of the question with the questioner that concerned her. Looking in an apparently idle manner she spotted Dean staring at her from the other side of the cafeteria. As soon as their eyes met he flinched, then turned around and hurried over to his friends, who were all at one table with Victoria and Amy Dallon as well, the latter watching him the same as Taylor was.
The dark haired girl transferred her gaze to Taylor for a moment, then went back to reading her book.
"He's pretty good looking, isn't he?"
The sudden voice from feet away made her look, to see Mandy smirking at her. "Hey, it's not like that, I was just curious, that's all," she replied hastily.
"Suure you were," the girl smirked. Taylor sighed.
"And he's taken. You know, Vicky Dallon? Glory Girl? The Coleslaw Queen?"
Mandy howled with laughter while Lucy stared, then giggled furiously. "Oh, god, she'd go purple if you called her that. People are still poking her about that whole thing nearly a year later. She was really embarrassed."
They all looked at Vicky, who was now sitting very close to Dean, talking quietly. His friends were listening, huddled together, with Dennis popping up like a curious meerkat now and then to check no one was close enough to hear. "It looks like our plan may be having an effect, Brain," the Varga commented as they watched. There was a certain degree of disbelief and nervousness coming from the six people now, as far as she could tell, but from this distance with this number of people in between them, she couldn't quite decipher the scents enough to be sure what they were feeling.
'Looks like it. With any luck they'll have the right amount of worry and pass it around. I don't want to really upset them, though, I kind of like them.'
"I think they are good people as well. It is a careful balance to strike between terror and cautious respect, but I believe you can manage it, Brain." He sounded amused as he so often was.
"I dare you to go and say that to her," Mandy added, making her look back at her new friend and raise an eyebrow as high as she could, which made the girl snicker. "Work it casually into conversation."
"No thanks. I like my liver where it is, and having it pulled out my nose would be annoying," Taylor replied calmly, finishing her food. Both girls looked amused and did the same.
"I might look into that first aid course," she went on when she'd put her knife and fork back on the plate and pushed it away. "Like I said in class, I'm interested in learning more about it. I know enough to put a bandage on someone gushing blood, Mom taught me that, but I'd like to know how to do it properly. Just in case. You never know when it would come in handy."
Lucy looked thoughtfully at her. "That's actually a really good idea," she mused. "I've been thinking about finding some extra credit work and that could be a good one to look at."
"It would be nice to have someone I knew there," Taylor smiled.
The bell rang a few minutes later as they were discussing the merits of knowing how to stop someone bleeding out, so they headed back to class, still talking.
Taylor was in a good mood and having fun, something that little more than a month ago she would never have thought she'd say, probably in general and definitely anywhere within a mile of a school. It was a nice change.
Dean cautiously watched the girl he now knew to be Taylor Hebert, as well as Saurial, leave the cafeteria in the company of the same two girls he'd seen her sitting with on Friday, all three of them seeming happy and talking to each other. She didn't turn at the door and give him a knowing look as he half-expected her to, something that relieved him more than he liked, especially after hearing the story Vicky had related. He didn't recognize the name, which didn't mean anything, but the fact that her father was someone with some local government pull was interesting.
Dennis was still protesting that the blonde must have dramatized it for effect, while Vicky was getting mildly upset, claiming every word was the absolute truth. He glanced at Amy, who looked back as she put her book away and stood up, but said nothing.
"Come on, guys, back to the grind," Carlos commented as he picked up his tray and headed off to return it.
Sighing to himself, still wondering what the hell to do about the whole thing, Dean followed, as did the others.
He wasn't in a particularly happy mood and was worried. It was not a nice change.
"Danny?"
Danny looked up from his computer, to see Habib, one of the office workers in the DWU, leaning in the door with an odd expression on his face.
"Yes, Habib?"
"There's… someone… here to see you. Says her name is Saurial?"
He smiled. "Tall, sort of scaly?"
"That's her."
"OK, thanks." Danny opened a desk drawer and pulled out a sealed envelope, then got up and went to the door. Looking into the other, larger, administration office, he saw his daughter in her public persona signing an autograph for Mark, who looked pleased. The blond man glanced at him, grinned, then wandered off again, while she looked over then smiled.
Reaching her he held out his hand, which she took and shook, still smiling. "Hello Saurial. It's nice to meet in person. Here's the letter of permission to use the yard whenever it's empty. You're responsible for any damage of course, the DWU can't take responsibility for anything that happens to you while on our property either."
"That's fine, Mr Hebert," the lizard girl said, a look on her face that even through the non-human physiology he recognized as Taylor trying not to laugh. "It's very good of you and the DWU as well. I'll make sure not to break anything when I use the area."
"Did your session on Sunday go well?" he asked.
She nodded. "Very well. I was here for about four hours or so I suppose, it was a useful training exercise." She grinned, exposing enough teeth that two or three of the half-dozen office workers surrounding her, all of whom were staring and listening intently, gasped a little. She didn't seem to notice. "There was a minor problem with a merchant sniper but I grabbed him and handed him to the police before I left. I didn't want him shooting at any of your people. Other than that everything was great."
"Yes, you mentioned that. How annoying." Danny smirked internally as several of the odd glances shifted towards him. He was beginning to see what his daughter meant, acting casual while saying or doing something peculiar was quite funny.
"It was rude of him, yes," she laughed. "He was a good shot, though. Only missed once." Looking at the envelope in her other hand, she smiled, then folded it up and put it away in one of her pouches. "Thanks very much for this. If the DWU ever needs help, just call and I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you, Saurial, that's very good of you."
She nodded politely to him.
"Would you like a quick tour of the place, maybe?" He glanced at his watch. "I was just about to start packing up to go home, so it's not a problem."
"That would be very nice, thanks, Mr Hebert," she replied.
"Call me Danny," he told her, suppressing a grin. "Come with me and I'll show you around."
They left the admin rooms, talking quietly, while behind them the office workers looked at each other. It took them several minutes to get back to work.
The legend of Danny Hebert was growing…