"…and another thing, when's the last time you guys paid me on time? Or at least covered the gas for me coming up here with all the backup equip…"
For someone with a broken ankle, Janine had a lot of energy, even hanging by the back of her coat from one of the large Art Deco statues adorning the Hope Memorial Bridge.
Once Egon realized that the smaller of the two lights circling them was holding the larger one at bay so that all it could do was dart at them, he'd hauled the secretary out of the snowpit and tried to put her on her feet.
Janine had collapsed whimpering before bursting into tears – something Egon had never seen her do before, so he'd hauled her to the side with the two lights feinting and dodging around them, and sat her on the railing. Once she'd settled down he'd pulled off her boot, which only got more crying, poked at the swollen foot, put the hat that caused all the trouble in the first place on it because trying to get the boot back on only made things worse, and bound up the whole mess with duct tape so it wouldn't fall off.
The duct tape refused to stick in the now arctic cold, but he managed to use it as a strap of sorts before hanging her up by the coat when she tried to follow him over the side.
Maybe he should have aborted at that point. No, he should have aborted at that point, Egon thought as he dangled coatless in a borrowed coverall over the half frozen Cuyahoga River, the ice cracking and booming in the current.
Above him, Janine continued her tirade, "…the things I do for YOU and you never even say thank you…"
Egon played out a little more rope; he'd held her for a few minutes until she'd settled down, the shared body heat had been pleasant and she'd smelled really good. Then the lights circled around them, the smaller of the two dancing around even as it held off the larger, giving off increasing urgency.
So he'd placed Janine where she dangled above the snow, sputtering, promising he'd be back quickly, there was something that needed doing.
"…and you didn't even check out of the hospital? You should be in bed!"
Perhaps Egon shouldn't have admitted that he'd not really checked out, but walked out in a borrowed coat, boots, and coveralls that he'd found in a janitorial closed by the Emergency Room entry way. The owner had been considerably shorter, so his legs kept popping out of the coveralls, and the boots too broad, but that wasn't important – something Janine didn't seem to realize.
"…what is it, am I not attractive enough?" She had started crying again.
Egon bounced off the bridge piling, sliding down further, the rope playing out smoothly – what Janine's appearance had to do with this was beyond him. Luckily a bridge inspection team had been working near where he needed to go before the ball lightning had driven them off nearly a week ago, leaving behind their equipment - this trapping would be relatively easy.
Better yet, Janine's unhappy rant was fading away in the growing distance, replaced by the silence of wind in the underpinnings of the bridge and the sound of ice.
He could think now.