lets work through this storm... shall we?

Fifty Eight

"Hey, Tori.. you on?"

Tori unclipped her radio and answered it. "Yup. What's Going on, Sinjin?'

"My guys say we're ready to light up the network. You okay with that?"

Tori frowned at the radio. "Of course I am." She replied. "Since when does someone need my approval to push the on switch around here?"

The radio crackled. "Ahem… ah, just trying to be PC, 's all." Sinjin replied meekly.

"PC my gopher's eyeball." Tori told him. "Turn the suckers on." She clicked off and went to the base of the ladder, peering up. "Jesus."

Jade , up on the ladder with the satellite techs, her head poked halfway up into the plenum, looked down at her. "Problem?"

"People being weird." Tori said. "They're going to turn the switches on."

"Cool." Jade resumed her inspection, edging a step higher and flashing her light into the space. "Did you find the problem?" She directed her words to the sat tech up inside the ceiling, sweating and cursing under his breath.

"Not yet." The man replied shortly. "Fucking cable's so tight in here I can't see it."

Obligingly, Jade went up one more step, this time onto the top of the ladder, and extended her arm to direct her powerful flash over to where the guy was working. She could feel the ladder moving a little uncertainty under her and she gripped the ceiling supports with one hand. "Tor?"

"On it." Tori replied.

The ladder moved a bit more, then stabilized. Jade felt a hand curl around her ankle, and she relaxed. "Thanks."

"Son of a bitch." The tech muttered.

Reasoning the curse wasn't directed at her, Jade craned her neck to see if she could see what the problem was. "Ah hah." She saw the junction box installed on top of the cable access point immediately.

"Stupid electricians. What a bunch of freaking morons." The tech sighed, wiping droplets of sweat out of his eyes. "Now what are we gonna do? There's not even clearance to plug in."

Jade leaned forward and examined the box, acutely aware suddenly of Tori's thumb gently rubbing against her skin. It was a very warm feeling, despite the heat in the room, and she took a moment to take a breath before she peeked around the electrical piping that was blocking the way.

It was infuriating. The contractor had, to her eyes almost deliberately, ran his conduit and junction box right up against where the coax terminated, making their connection pretty damn near unusable. "Crap."

"Yeah." The sat tech snorted. "So now what?"

"Now we have to get those bastards back in here to redo it." Jade said.

The tech laughed. "You don't really think they're gonna do that."

"Not willingly." Jade carefully backed off the top step. "But Let me see what I can do." She emerged from the ceiling, moving down another step and receiving a pat on her calf as Tori got out of her way. She got down to ground level, and rested her elbow on one of the steps of the ladder. "We've Got a problem."

"So I gathered." Tori said. "What can I do?"

Jade eyed her thoughtfully. "I think this is my gig." She said.

"Your gig?"

"I have to go find the electrical contractor and scream at him until he moves some conduit." Jade said. "I will probably have to threaten legal action, and I might need to go find whoever owns the company and shake him by the neck until he piddles on the floor."

Tori studied her quietly, then sniffed. "Your gig." She agreed. "I'm going to go down to the server room and see how they're doing in there."

Jade looked around. The communications room was a bit of a shambles, with wires hanging out everywhere. A crew technician was sitting in a chair near the back of the room just watching them, arms crossed over his jump suited chest, and the only neat looking space was their rack full of routers and gear.

What a mess. Jade steered Tori out the door and into the hallway, walking with her towards the central staircase that would take them down. It was hot, and they both wiped their foreheads at the same time, causing them to chuckle a little.

"Jade . I have to ask you something." Tori plucked the sweat dampened cotton of her shirt away from her skin. "Because everyone is asking me this. Your mother asked, the reporters asked… so I'm going to ask you."

"Mm? Is this like the last personal question you asked me?" Jade inquired. "If it is, I want to know why my mother was involved."

Tori bumped her, shoulder to shoulder. "You're such a brat sometimes. Have I ever told you that?"

"Once or twice." Jade allowed.

"No. What I was going to ask, that everyone is asking.,. why in the hell you and I are here."

"Ah." Jade sighed. "Yeah, while I had my head stuck up in that ceiling I thought about that, too. You know.." She stared pensively at the wall. "I wish I had a decent answer for that right now, Tor. All I know is that I just have a bad feeling that if we weren't, a lot of this stuff wouldn't get done, and we'd end up having to explain why."

Tori considered that, as they turned the corner and started down the steps. "So, we don't trust our staff to get it done."

"No." Jade confusingly agreed. "We don't. But that's not their fault. This is out of scope."

With a tiny shake of her head, Tori let her hand run down the center banister, this high up already finished out with a new brass top piece. "I've been insisting to everyone that's not the deal."

"Hm."

"So now you tell me it is."

"Well, it is for me, Tor. It doesn't have to be for you." Jade protested mildly, as they walked down the steps in perfect synch. "You could be here…to um… "

"Take care of you." Tori smiled a little. "Make sure you keep dry, keep out of sewage, bring you your lunch…"

"Tell me when my shirt's see-through." Jade spotted John on the next level. "Hey, John!"

The wiring contractor whirled, spotted her, and trotted over. "Been looking for you two!" He said. "Listen, I got my guys together last night, and found the fella who bumped into Ms. Vega, here."

"Yeah?" Jade was faintly surprised, that someone had actually admitted to it.

"Yeah, it was Steve." John nodded. "Good old boy, but lazier than a dog. He was taken a nap in side that closet when you all came up there."

Tori put her hands on her hips. "He told you that?"

John shrugged. "I don't hire Rhodes scholars." He said. "Anyway, he said he didn't put no balls of cable anywhere, but what he did see was some guy walking around picking up scraps outside near where he was."'

"Really." Jade folded her arms.

"Yeah, and he said the guy didn't look like a contractor. He had long sleeves on." John said. "Now, gotta tell you, Jade .. he could be talking out his ass, but seems to be it'd be easier for him to just keep his trap shut than come up with some wild ass tale like that."

"Unless he was trying to put the blame on someone else." Tori said.

The contractor shrugged. "Yeah, could be, but he ain't a storyteller. He'd have just said one of my other guys, or an electrician or a ship guy did it. Not make up some fella in long sleeves."

"Long sleeves." Jade mused. "Yeah, that would be unusual…well, anyway, thanks John. Listen, do you know the name of the electrical sub?"

John snorted. "Johnson. Those sons of bitches."

Sons of bitches. Yeah, Jade recalled using them for something at the office once that had denigrated into a lawsuit, if she wasn't mistaken. "Figures Quest picked them. Lousiest jerks in the business."

"You know it." John agreed. "You need something from them?"

"Go look in the comm. room." Jade said. "Let me go see what I Can get out of them." With a sigh, she collected Tori with a tug on her sleeve and started down the steps again. "Damn, damn, damn. That's not good news."

Tori just put her hand on Jade 's back, and scratched it lightly with her fingertips. A flash of motion coming at them from below made her pull up and grab the back of Jade 's shirt, slowing her partner just in time to keep them both from plowing into Peter Quest hurrying in the other direction.

"Ah." Quest paused, spotting them. "I was looking for you." He folded his arms. "So. How are things going?"

"Fine." Tori answered. "We're making a lot of progress."

"You are?" Quest seemed a little astonished. "I mean, I'm Sure you are. But with everything and all the hold ups, I'm sure you're far behind the other ships. Is there any point to going on?"

If Jade and Tori had been dogs, both their ears and their hackles would have lifted and made quite a spectacle there in the middle of the stairwell. "I dunno." Jade finally answered. "I'll let you know on Friday."

"We may surprise you." Tori added, with a gentle smile.

"Everything has to work." Quest warned. "My people have already started reviewing the systems on the other ships. They know what they're doing."

"So do we." Jade replied calmly.

Quest looked at them, then he went around them and continued up the steps, shaking his head.

Jade and Tori stood quietly for a moment, then they turned and looked at each other. "You know what I'm thinking, Victoria?" Jade asked. "Aside from the fact that our lunch is sitting on the desk in that office, and I'm going to need to rethink my approach to the electricians?"

"Mmhm." Tori took her arm, and they continued downward. "I think you're thinking about long sleeves."

Jade glanced behind them. "Yeah."

"Well, so am I." Tori felt herself getting angry. "So am I."

The storm kept on keeping on, drumming against the window with boring repetition. A low rumble of thunder now joined it, and the light has dimmed so much outside it felt close to evening.

Jade leaned back in her borrowed desk chair, her forearm over her eyes as she put her cellphone down on her chest. "Jesus."

Tori looked up from the desk she was sitting at, licking a croissant crumb off her lip before she spoke. "No luck?"

"No luck." Jade confirmed. "I'm getting nowhere with that bastard." She sighed. "He told me to go talk to our lawyer."

"Ew."

"Which I can do, but it's not going to get that conduit moved and he knows it."

Tori got up and carried Jade 's sandwich over with her. She sat down on the desk her partner had absconded with, and unwrapped her lunch, offering her a neatly cut half. "Here."

Jade stuck out her lower lip in a pout. "I'm mad."

Tori broke off a corner of her sandwich and presented it to the lip. "Have some lunch."

Jade accepted the tidbit and munched a little on Tori's Fingertips in the bargain. "So now what do we do?" She swallowed. "I'm gonna end up having to pay a god damned electrician to come in here and move that thing, aren't I?"

More expenses. "Well, do we have a choice?"

"Sure." Jade leaned to one side and put her head down on Tori's leg, despite the wide open door. "We can blow this joint and go out on a sunset cruise. How about it?"

Tori produced a sound somewhere between a groan and a sigh. "Honey, don't tease me like that." She smoothed one of Jade 's dark brows with her index finger. "Should I call the guy we use at the office? The electrician, I mean?"

Jade reluctantly lifted her head and reached over for the rest of her sandwich. "I guess." She took a bite. "He's pretty good, and maybe he'll do us a favor this one time." She glanced up at Tori. "Especially if you ask him. He likes you."'

Tori's brow twitched. "Oh, I don't think he specially likes me."

"Yes, he does."

"Jade ."

"He does." Jade insisted, with a slight grin. "He asked Mariela, way back when, if you were available."

The brunette blushed, scrunching her face up and covering it with one hand as she turned a bright reddish pink color. "Don't tell me that."

Jade chuckled. "Why? He's not bad looking."

"I know. But now I have to go ask him to do a favor, and I'm going to feel so weird." Tori explained. "What…ah.. what did Mariela tell him?"

"Hm.. let me think." Jade chewed on her sandwich, apparently pondering the question. "How detailed.. hm.."'

Tori closed her eyes. "God."

"I think she just said no." Her boss relented, nudging Tori's knee with her elbow. "C'mon, this is Mariela. Do you really think she'd chatter away about us in front of some scrungy guy in carpenter's pants?"

"I didn't think she'd dump chili on someone." Tori looked mollified, however, and she continued eating her sandwich, swinging her legs a little. She glanced at Jade after a quiet moment. "How's your foot feeling?"

Jade studied her injured foot, encased in a pair of light sneakers as a grudging compromise between her preferred sandals and the boots Tori had really wanted her to put on for protection. "It.. "She wiggled her toes. "It's okay."

"Hm."

"How's your hand?" Jade tried some misdirection.

Tori wiggled her fingers. "It's... okay." She mimicked, raising an eyebrow. "Tell you what. How about you take those wet sneakers off for a while and I'll see what I Can do to get my electrician friend over here to solve your problem. How's That?"

Jade put her head back down on Tori's leg and exhaled, warming her skin even through the thick denim. "I love you." She announced, with casual honesty. "Whatever you want to do, sounds great to me."

Caught a little off guard, Tori put her sandwich down and took a moment to catch her breath. She gazed down into Jade 's eyes and found herself lost in them. She reached out and gently cupped Jade 's cheek, the intensity broken only when the sound of a few staff members approaching made them straighten up and sent Jade back into her slouched position in the chair.

Jade took a bite of her sandwich, chewing it in silence.

"Oh, there you are." Edith came in, spotting Jade in the chair. "The catering company wants to know what time we want dinner brought on."

"What are they bringing?" Jade asked casually. "Please don't tell me, pizza again."

"Oriental smorgasbord."

The mixed cultural metaphor almost made Tori do a mental doubletake. But her brain was really too busy dealing with hormones, and the sweet flush of emotion brought on by Jade 's unexpected romanticism. She knew she was still blushing, and so she was glad she had her back to the staff and it was tough for her to remember she was in a professional situation and they were both crossing lines it probably wasn't that wise to.

Did she care? She suspected strongly that Jade didn't. One glance at the devilish little grin on her partner's face told her that. What about the staff? Tori collected herself and half turned, peeking at the two women who had just entered.

Neither appeared to notice anything out of the ordinary.

Hm. "How about six, and nine." Tori suggested. "You know how it is with Chinese."

Edith chuckled. "That's not a bad idea." She took the suggestion seriously. "Especially if you all are going to be working on this stuff all night. What if we had them refresh it every couple hours?"

"Sure." Jade finished up her half sandwich. "Make sure they bring in more cases of water, too. It's hot as hell in there." She settled back in her seat and cocked her head at Tori. "Right?"

"Right." Tori nearly had to sit on her hands. "Do we know where all those reporters are, by the way? I know Banks is with Sinjin, but I haven't seen our friend from the Chronicle."

"She went over to the other ship." Edith supplied helpfully. "I heard her talking to one of the security guards on her way out… she seems pretty nice."

"Hm." Tori had her doubts.

"I'll message Sinjin and find out what they're up to." Jade told her. "Any word from the server bunch?"

Tori got up and went back to the other desk. She sat down and picked up her radio, keying it and pausing briefly to compose her thoughts before she spoke. Her eyes wandered a little, meeting a pair of blue ones across the office, and after a second, she unkeyed the radio and let it drop to her lap, completely distracted.

Jesus.

Jade stuck her tongue out a little, just the tip of it. Then she pulled her laptop over and focused her attention on it, leaving Tori to communicate in peace. As it happened, she had an email from the Army bastard, so it gave her a good excuse to stick her nose into her screen and read it.

"Ah.. Sinjin. You there?"

She could hear the slight huskiness in Tori's voice, and it made her smile. Which was a good thing, because the email certainly wasn't making her do anything of the sort. Damn Army bastard. "No, I won't be available for a meeting tomorrow. Or The next day. Or next week." She grumbled under her breath.

"Right here, boss." Sinjin replied. "What's up?"

"How's it going up stairs?" Tori watched Jade scowl, her eyes narrowing as she started to rattle out a response to whatever she was reading.

"Great!"

Tori turned her eyes to the radio, shaking it a little."What?"

"Great." Sinjin repeated. "We made some really cool friends!"

Huh? "Want to..ah, explain that?" Cool friends?Last time she'd been inside the ship it had been filled with hot, somewhat ill-smelling workers who were mostly cursing and giving them dark looks. What The hell had Sinjin done, had a crate of rum craned in to the pool deck?

"Sure." The MIS manager sounded very cheerful. "We only needed one of those ac units in the server space.. so we loaned the other one out to the bridge on the 're like, loving us to death right now."

"Oh.. really."

"No kidding." Sinjin said. "Man, I thought those guys up there never smiled. I was way wrong. I think the big guy with all the stripes just invited me to become a part of his family."

Ahhhh. "I see."Tori had to smile, and she heard a soft, reluctant chuckle from Jade yl's Direction. "How are the servers doing? Barry get them up yet?"

"Eh." Sinjin made a verbal shrug. "He was muttering something about active directory when I was up there a minute ago. Least we lost our shutterbugs."

Uh oh. "We did?"

"Yeah.. they filmed the boxes coming up, then took off."

Well, that could be a good thing, or a bad thing. With the luck they'd been having so far, Tori wasn't betting on a good thing. "Okay."She sighed. "Let me know if anything else happens. I've got to go see a man about a pipe."

Silence. "Uh.."

"Literally."

"Right. Later, boss."

Tori put the radio down, and switched to her cell cleared her throat."Hello, Pete? Hi. It's Tori Vega, from WesTrek?"

Jade grinned and turned back to her work but not before catching Edith peeking at her with an almost amazed expression. "Problem?" She asked, raising both eyebrows now.

"No, ma'am." Edith turned around and went back to whatever it was she was doing.

Jade suspected she was well and truly blowing her image. Ah well. She suspected she might grow to like the new image better anyway. It seemed more fun. Sheopened her next mail, and, with a sigh, started to answer it.

Tori found a spot near the window and amused herself by watching a bird trying very hard to fly against the rain. It was a seagull, and she reckoned it really should have known better yet there it was, flapping and clapping and going absolutely nowhere against the stiff wind.

She felt a certain kinship with it. Her cell phone rang and she answered it, hoping it was decent news. "Tori Vega."

"Well, hi there, Tori, it's Pete."

Ah. Fifty fifty chance. "Hi, Pete." Tori responded. "Am I Going to get lucky today?'

The man laughed. "Oh, ain't that a loaded question. Ah,yeah, listen, I got one of my guys, Guillermo, and he's gonna come over there and help you out. Be about a half hour, he's just finishing up some stuff in your building right now."

Well, what do you know. "Great." Tori responded. "I don't think it'll take him .. it's just a junction box. In fact, if he just moves it, lets us run the extension line down, and puts it right back, that's fine too."

"Whatever you need him to do, Tori, you go ahead and ask him. I told him to just do whatever you say." Pete told her. "Okay?"

"More than okay. Definitely you came through for us, Pete. I Owe you one." Tori winced a little as she said it, wishing her partner had kept Pete's romantic inquiries to herself. "These guys here are completely unprofessional."

"Johnson? Yeah." Pete made a clucking sound of professional licensure. "I've had to come in and clean up a lot of their jobs. I think they got in some legal trouble with the city.. surprised they're out there."

"Trust Quest to hire the very best." Tori muttered. "Well,anyway.."

"Hey, listen." Pete said, suddenly. "You don't own me nothing, Tori. Your boss stood up for me plenty when some of them others wanted to bring in their relatives and what ever work your place. Consider it a payback."

Tori smiled at her reflection in the window. Then she glanced up to find Jade 's slouched form in the same reflection. "Well, you know,she stands by people who stand by her."

"You got that right." Pete agreed. "Anyway, I'll try to drop by in a little bit, make sure everything's okay. See you later."

See you later. She turned and got up, walking over to where Jade was sitting and dropping a hand to her partner's shoulder. "We're all set."

Bright blue eyes flicked up to study her. "Yeah?"

"He's sending a guy over." Tori confirmed, with a smile.

"All right. Good job." Jade complimented her. "So what's next?" She set her laptop aside and gave Tori her full attention. "Networks'in, right?"

"Right." Tori said.

"Servers in?"

"Eh." Tori waggled her hand. "I hear there's some integration issues."

"When isn't there?" Jade asked rhetorically. "I swear, even when they pre-load those damn things, just looking at them the wrong way on boot blows a driver."

"Mm." Servers were something she was, in fact, more familiar with than her partner. Since the company she'd come from had been primarily an applications developer, Tori had spent a lot of time working with the intricacies of the devices, and their attendant operating systems. "Well, I'll go take a look at them and see what the deal is."

"And then?" Jade glanced at the rain. "Can we start moving all the rest of this mess in?"

"I don't know.. from what I saw on my last walk through there, I don't.."

Jade got up from her seat. "C'mon. Let's go take inventory of where we are." She started off towards the door, latching on to Tori's sleeve and pulling her along. "If we can't install today, I want to get everyone back in here, and just line all that stuff up."

"Okay." Tori amiably allowed herself to be towed across the carpet. "Are we going to stop for an umbrella, or are you going to thrill and shock the staff when we get there?"

Jade stopped. "Hm." She glanced down at her now dry t-shirt,and then looked at Tori.

"Nope. Can't borrow my shirt." Tori shook her head solemnly.

"Hah. You always take mine." Jade protested.

"Jade ." Tori stood back, indicated herself, then looking pointedly at Jade 's more generous bosom. "How silly do you want to look with my shirt on, honey?"

"Hm." Jade looked speculatively at her, as though considering the question in due seriousness. "It'd just look like a crop top." She held her hand just below her rib cage. "NO different from wearing my Telfar ribbed crop top."

"Oh, that'll help." Tori started laughing. "I can see explaining it to Cat now.. you fashion slave, you."

"Well, it's better than my wet see through act." Jade sighed,and looked around. "Damn it, I forgot to bring my bag in from outside, too. I Had a change in there." She gave the room an annoyed glare. "Remind me to have them bring over a couple cases of those tacky t-shirts Jose ordered for the trade show."

"We should make our own departmental ones." Tori said."With Gopher Jade on them."

Jade looked at her, brow arching sharply.

"Well." Tori turned around and surveyed the big of stacks of network gear, now the techs were stolidly pulling computers and the touch screen point of sale systems out of their boxes. Bitsof shredded Styrofoam were drifting around on the carpet, and the scent of new computers was very sharp in the air. "How about we help unpack things, until the rain slows down."

Jade 's expressive face scrunched into an engaging scowl.

"Okay. Want to maybe work on budgets?" Tori tried a different route. "Or, hey… you can help me put together the pricing for those guys in New York."

Jade put her hands on her hips, exhaling noisily.

"Want to run away and join the circus?" Tori mimed carrying a backpack. "We could train elephants."

Finally, Jade started chuckling. "Sorry." She sighed. "I Don't know what's wrong with me today. I've been antsy as a turkey inNovember." She leaned back against the glass and stuck her hands into her pockets. "I just want this whole damn thing to be over with. I'm tired of it.I'm tired of this stinking building, and that rustbucket outside, and this damn rain."

Tori chose a spot next to her and claimed it, leaning back also and hooking her thumbs into her belt loops. "Want to go back to the office?I'm sure you could get stuff done there."

'Trying to get rid of me?"

"No, hon. I'm just trying to make you a little happier."Tori pressed her shoulder against Jade 's. "Since you won't run away to the circus with me." She turned her head and looked outside. "Or, to hell with 's just get wet. I like you in a see through shirt. Hell with the rest of the staff."

Jade 's shoulders relaxed, and she chuckled again but this time with a far more casual tone. "Nah." She said. "Give me a minute, and we can go cut up some cardboard. My damn jeans are still damp and I don't really want that to get any worse."

Tori patted one of her partner's thighs, and grunted."Yeah, they sure are." She said. "I hope you don't catch a cold from the air conditioning in this place."

Jade grimaced. "Me, too." She said, "That would suck."

"Mm. But I'd get to make you chicken soup." Tori found atypically silvered lining in the thought. "And you'd get a chance to stay home and work on your new model."

The both reflected on that, the rain drumming at their backs against the glass. Finally,Jade straightened up and removed her hands from her pockets. "Okay."

"Over it?"

"Yeah." Jade headed for the stack of PC boxes with a determined, if limping stride.

Tori jogged to catch up, as a crack of thunder rattled the air behind her

The rain finally stopped near sunset. Jade and Tori went out onto the dock,and met a group of the techs including Barry and Sinjin as they came off the ship. They stood in the middle of the open space, with the still damp air moving over them.

"How's it going?" Tori asked, first off.

"Okay." Barry shrugged. "I mean, the boxes are coming up,but we knew they would."

Jade 's eyebrows lifted skeptically

"We can't really do much until we get the end units in,though." Sinjin added. "And start testing all that interfacing crap out." Hefted his backpack. "I wanted to keep going, but they've got some kind of special stuff going on tonight. They chased us off."

Tori put her hands on her hips. "Wait, that wasn't supposed to happen."

"No." Barry pointed down the dock. "But they're all doing it. I heard them talking."

They turned and looked where he was pointing, seeing streaks of workers coming off the next ship down. Loud, yet indistinguishable voices rang out as the men poured through the gates, some shooting rude hand gestures at the ships.

"Damn." Tori exhaled. "That sucks. If we could just keep going, we'd just about catch up from yesterday."

Barry nodded. "I don't want to hang out in there, but you're right, Tori. Things went really good today." He glanced at Sinjin. "Right?"

"Yeah."

"Did the electrician take care of that connection?" Toriasked Sinjin. "I saw him pass the back doors."

"Yep." Sinjin appeared pleased. "Not just that, but he did a bunch of other stuff for us. Good guy. He's from the office, isn't he?"

"Yeah." Jade murmured, her brow furrowed in thought. "What Did they say this special thing was?"

The techs were quiet. "I don't think they really exactly said." Barry admitted. "Some.. nautical thing or something?"

Jade headed for the gangway. "I'm going to go talk to the captain. See what I can find out about the.. nautical.. thing." She called back over her shoulder. "Stay here. Don't let anyone leave yet."

They all watched her head up the ramp before Sinjin shook his head. "That captain guy was okay with us, but man, he was not messing with wanting us all out of there. Hope he doesn't chew her head off. He looked like he could be a bastard."

"Not if he knows what's good for him." Tori excused herself and started after Jade . "Besides, Jade 's a nautical sort of person too.. maybe they'll hit it off."

Barry shook his head. The other techs remained prudently silent. "Didn't JW say for everyone to stay here?" The server manager asked.

Everyone with the exception of the now missing Tori rolled their eyes and headed for the terminal building.

"She did, I heard her." Barry protested, following them. "Won't she get mad?"

"Man." Sinjin held the door for the group. "You deserve to be an MCSE."

"What?"