Grind 1.4

Once I got out onto the street I couldn't quite figure out what to do next. I sure as hell wasn't about to go back inside. God I was such an idiot. All the pieces were right in front of me, and I just ignored them!

"Taylor!" I recognized the voice from earlier. I turned around, sure enough there was Clockblocker waving me down like he was trying get the bus to stop.

I stopped running but beyond that I was not really sure what to do. I still wanted to get away from here, but beyond that...

"Hey, what's wrong? You could have given Velocity a close race just now. Why the rush?"

"Because they let it happen." I choked out, waving an arm at the PRT building.

"Let what happen?"

"The Locker." I gripped my shoulders, hugging myself.

I don't know if he knew or if my tone gave away just how bad it had been. But that seemed to make him tense up. "Then they fucked up, badly. I won't pry but I'm willing to bet it was bad, and if they let it happen then they made a huge mistake. Maybe an unforgivable one, but running through the city at night, alone, is a recipe for disaster. So please just, just let me grab one of the PRT guys and we'll give you a ride home."

He was right. I didn't, maybe couldn't trust them. But he was right, and it would get me home faster. I nodded keeping my head down.

I stayed there for almost 10 minutes kicking at the ground before a thin red headed boy ran up to me. He stuck out his hand and said, "Hi, my name's Dennis, and I like clocks!" and then he winked.

"I, you, isn't that a big deal?! You're not supposed to go telling me that." I hissed at him.

Dennis chuckled. "You're right I'm not. Piggy will probably through a fit when she finds out."

"So why the heck did you do it?"

"Because I don't want you lumping me in along with management. You seem cool, more importantly you seem like you could use a friend. Unless of course you're one of those anti ginger racists. Because then we'll have to have an epic battle to the death."

"There are people that hate red heads?"

"Yup, South Park. Ever since their day walker episode I've had to listen to idiots make the ginger's have no soul joke. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if it was funny, but it doesn't even make sense! Besides the joke was old before the episode was even over, and yet still people use it." Dennis shook his head in a what can you do sort of way.

I may have smiled, a little. He wasn't really being funny but at least he was upbeat.

That only seemed to egg Dennis on, "The E88 aren't quite sure what to do with us red heads either, you know? I mean gingers are white, and we have blue eyes, but then they get to our hair. It's like someone lit the straw that's supposed to grow out of our heads on fire. It's really confusing for their tiny Nazi brains."

I giggled. Ok so maybe he was a little bit funny.

"Ha! See, I knew I liked you for a reason. You're the first cape other than Assault who appreciates my killer sense of humor."

A PRT van pulled up on the street in front of us. Dennis opened the back door with a flourish. "Your chariot awaits mademoiselle"

I smiled. Well I guess at least some of the local heroes were alright. Dennis piled in after me.

"Well since I have a captive audience for once, have you ever heard the one about the blond and the sheep herder?"

"No…?"

Dennis grinned, "Good it's one of my best jokes. So there's this blond woman, works in an office in England, right?"

"Sure." I'm not usually one for blond jokes, but he seems really excited to have someone willing to listen for once, I can't really bring myself stop him.

"Right well this woman is the but of everyone's jokes people won't stop calling her the office blond stuff like that. So she goes to the boss says she's sick of it and she's taking a two week vacation. Get her hair dyed, trade in for a new car, go see Scotland and come back as basically a different person. Her boss says fine so off she goes to Scotland with her hair dyed brown."

I nodded along, so far I felt a little sorry for the woman. Being picked on sucked.

"So the woman is driving through Scotland when all of a sudden she has to stop for a flock of sheep crossing the road. It's obviously going to take awhile for them all to cross so she rolls her window down to talk to the Sheppard standing by the side of the road. The man apologizes and tells her it's going to be about a half hour before the road is clear. The woman says that's fine and she compliments him on how fluffy and adorable the sheep are. She asks if she can guess how many are in the flock if he'll let her have one. The man is pretty amused by the idea so he agrees. She takes her time thinks it out and she finally guesses, 3,568 sheep she says. The man gets real quite for a minute before he finally says 'Lady, you're off by three. But you know what that's close enough. Go ahead and pick out a sheep.' The woman is ecstatic and she immediately picks up one of the adorable white fluffy animals and loads it into the back seat of her car. Then she settles in to wait for the rest of the flock to pass."

I'm starting to wonder where exactly this joke is going because so far it just sounds like a goofy story.

Dennis seems to catch on to my train of thought as he holds up his hands he says; "Don't worry I'm almost to the punch line." I nod and wave him on.

"So about a minute later the man walks over and knocks on the car window. The woman rolls it down and says, 'what's wrong I thought you said I could pick one out?' the man nods his head and says 'Yup but how about this? If I can guess what color you're hair is, will you give me my dog back?" Dennis finishes the joke with a wide expectant grin.

The PRT trooper driving the car snorts and I can't help but giggle a little bit at Dennis's story.

That set the tone for the rest of the ride back to my house Dennis telling jokes. Some of them funny, some of them not, but all of them goofy. It was, nice.

I waved goodbye from the front porch as Dennis and the PRT trooper drove off, before heading towards my room. Dennis was nice, and I appreciated the ride. But now I had a super power to experiment with, and I think I new what I wanted my next stop to be.

{}{}{}{}

Denis.

"So you mind telling me why I had to dress up like a PRT trooper and grab a truck to drive you and the new cape half way across town now?" Ethan asked.

"I saw her running out of the building like it was on fire, so I chased after her. She said something about how they let it happen. She mentioned a locker. I don't know what it was but it must have been pretty bad from the way she sounded. You were the only person I could think of that would be up for something Piggy probably wouldn't approve of like this. So I called you to get the car. called Piggot to tell her I was arranging to get Taylor home safe, and believe it or not she actually thanked me!"

Ethan whistled, "No shit?"

"Yeah I know right? Apparently Taylor's Dad and the director had a lot of stuff to talk about. From the sound of things her Dad was split between wanting to rip the place apart, wanting to chase after Taylor, and wanting to make sure he got Taylor some kind of immediate benefits before they would even consider the Wards program. I don't think I've ever heard Piggot that off balance before."

They drove in silence for awhile after that.

"Dennis."

"Yeah."

"If Taylor's Dad can win an argument with the Director like you're saying he can, you had better be very careful not to hurt Taylor."

"I, what? Damn it man!"

Ethan just laughed.