Nine-to-Five 033 (Patreon)

Workforce Development VII

~~~

“Where are my parents?” Amanda shouted as she burst into Arthur Cadogan’s office.

Her armor was almost fully materialized around her body; only the helmet was missing. She supposed that made her a somewhat bizarre sight, not that the CEO of Regum seemed to notice. Arthur Cadogan didn’t even acknowledge her entrance. He had his back to her and was staring at the city’s skyline with far too much composure considering what loomed on the horizon. Matilda Martel and Alice Steiner were both with him.

“Are they here already? Are they safe?” She kept asking as Tim walked in after her. Unlike her, his armor was almost completely gone. It had been cracking and shattering into dust on their way back, and only a few pieces remained stuck to his skin.

“Your family was safely evacuated,” Alice told her. “They were surprised when our men showed up at their doorstep, but your call helped things go smoothly. Right now, they are in the shelter beneath the building with the other civilian employees. They wanted to see you right away, so we had to tell them you had volunteered to help out with the evacuation.”

Alice’s words were like a soothing balm to Amanda’s soul. The tension that had been wracking her body ever since she saw the mighty glacier drained away all at once.

“You should go see them as soon as we are done here,” Alice added. “Rest assured, no harm will come to them. This building is a fortress. Everyone here will be safe, even if the worst case scenario happens to pass.”

The worst-case scenario being the giant block of ice falling down on top of everything and everyone.

“Yeeaah, about that worst-case scenario.” Tim’s face twisted with discomfort. “Are we going to do something about, you know, that?”

He waved his hand at the window.

“Because that really seems like the type of thing that needs some doing about. I mean, I’m mega glad Amme’s family is safe.” Tim nodded at Amanda. “My mom is here too, so that’s all my family safe. Buuut, I kind of have non-blood-related people that matter to me, you know? I don’t want them to die all crushed. Or at all, really. So yeah…Thing. Do. What?”

“Tim’s right!” Amanda said, feeling guilty that, until she heard him speak, she had only been thinking about her family. Sophie was in the city too! She didn’t want Sophie to die!

She didn’t want anyone to die!

“There has to be something we can do!” She hesitated as she looked at the three adults. “There is something we do, right?”

“There is no need to.”

Amanda immediately turned around. Even Tim took a few steps back. Neither of the two had noticed there was someone else in the room. She was a tall woman with long black hair. Though her height was perhaps a little intimidating, nothing about her appearance justified the dozens of alarms that blared in Amanda’s head at that moment. A glance at Tim revealed him to be so unnaturally blank-faced she had to assume he was feeling the same thing.

Despite that, or maybe because of it, Amanda did not back down

“What do you mean there is no need to?” She asked. “Do you not see how big that thing is?!”

“Yeah!” Tim not-so subtly moved, so he was standing right beside her. “I know Slate’s wiki page heart, and he’s got nothing on that.”

“Isn’t it obvious, girl? The black-haired woman’s smile raised Amanda’s hackles.

“Morgan, don’t tease them!” Alice said, briskly walking over to the woman and placing herself between them. As soon as she did, the elevator doors opened again.

“Oh? Hart is not here? Color me surprised. I did not imagine he’d want to miss this.”

Unlike Gerald and Mr. Cadogan, the man who walked into the office was quite thin, wispy even. He wore an expensive suit but had a shifty look on his face that made Amanda instantly mistrust him.

“Miss what?” Amanda asked. “What exactly is about to happen that has you all so calm?!”

No one answered her. No one needed to. Even Amanda felt it in her bones right before it happened. That was why she didn’t even try to struggle when Tim grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to face the window.

Amanda saw the sun.

The golden radiance that streaked across the sky as if pulled by Apollo’s chariot was one Amanda recognized immediately. She had seen that same light in a video she and Tim watched during their first weekend at Regum.

Alpha Defender.

The golden hero smashed into the ice hard enough to shatter it into a million tiny pieces that fell harmlessly to the streets. As if to mock the idea a tragedy could have ever happened, the impact blew away all the dark clouds, allowing the sun to shine down in the city. Amanda could have sworn she even heard birds singing.

In the blink of an eye, the darkness was vanquished, and millions were saved.

That was the power of the strongest hero in the entire world.

~~~

Robards had been thrown into some dark cell deep beneath Regum Tower. The Squires had drugged the old man so thoroughly he wouldn’t wake for the rest of the day. Possibly more. Had it been anyone else, Amanda might have felt concerned. As it was, his fate brought her vindictive satisfaction.

The danger to her family had passed, and the city had been saved by the timely intervention of Alpha Defender.

There was just one thing left for her to do.

“Amanda!”

Her parents caught her in a crushing hug, and she melted into it. How long had it been since her parents held her like that? How long had it been since she felt so safe and protected?

“I am so glad you are safe!”

“We were so worried about you!”

“Sorry,” she mumbled into her father’s chest. “I wanted to come down here right away, but I also wanted to help with some things upstairs. Evacuation stuff.”

The lie felt bitter in her mouth and marred what would have otherwise been a beautiful family moment. Amanda told herself to put up with it. Robards was captured, and with him gone, so was the threat to her family. That was what mattered.

Thinking could wait.

Worrying could wait.

For the first time in a long time, Amanda was together with her family, and she was happy.

~~~

The sofa in his mom’s room was pretty comfy. It could even lean back to act as a bed, something Tim was feeling pretty tempted to use.

“... and that’s more or less what happened. Crazy, huh?”

His mother didn’t answer. It’d have been cool if she did, but he hadn’t expected it. One of the doctors told him her vitals were improving or something. Doctor words were usually hard to understand. The gist of it was positive, so that was a good thing.

Tim yawned.

He was feeling pretty sleepy ever since he had taken out the armor. The doctor said that was normal. Their armor was not something they put on; it was created by their nanites. No different than growing hair, really. Only really, really fast and at will.

It was pretty damn cool, but the nanites used a lot of energy to make all that extra mass.

The doc told them they’d probably be sleeping for several hours, and to not bother trying to come to work tomorrow. He’d not been exaggerating. Without the threat of a mighty glacier hanging over his head, Tim felt like he was about to nod off at any moment. It reminded him of when he was a kid. He could run around all day, but the moment he stopped moving, he’d be out like a light.

“This… feels like that…” Tim said in between yawns. “Hey, you don’t mind if I sleep here, right?”

No one answered.

“Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

~~~

Tim woke up late at night, but only long enough to walk back to his apartment. He didn’t even make it all the way to his bed. The allure of the couch proved far too tempting. He crashed there and did not wake up until the afternoon, and only because someone kept ringing the door.

“I’m going, I’m going,” Tim mumbled in between rings. He almost tripped twice before making it to the door and opening it.

It was Amanda. The girl rushed in before he got to say anything. It was the sort of thing that made Tim wish people worked by vampire rules. No walking in unless invited.

Yeah, that sounded cool.

Vampire rules ruled!

“Hey.” He waved at her with one hand. The other one covered his mouth while he yawned. “You seem peppy today.”

“I am on so much coffee right now,” she told him.

Tim blinked. Did coffee even work on them? Wait, never mind, she was still talking.

“My mom almost didn’t let me come here today. Have you seen what it looks like outside? No, of course, you haven’t. It’s freezing.”

“I thought Alpha stopped Frost.”

“Frost was stopped. You can read it in the newspaper.” She threw one at him. He somehow caught it. “Locked up tight and awaiting trial. People are already talking about putting him in Crusher Creek for life. Anyway, not really relevant. All the ice and the snow he made don’t just go away. They’re going to have to melt the old-fashioned way.”

“So what you are saying is we can still make snow angels if we hurry?”

She glared at him. “Be serious.”

“But I’m really bad at it.

“I am aware,” Amanda dryly said before sitting on his couch and burying her face in her hands. A long while passed before she spoke again.

“We fought superheroes.”

Ah, so it was this kind of talk.

“Technically, I fought a superhero,” Tim said, sitting down next to her. “You fought a criminal.”

Amanda’s glare had never been so intimidating.

“Oh, don’t you dare!” She punched his arm. “You would have never done that if I hadn’t wanted to get Robards so badly.”

“Are you sure? Maybe I just wanted to fight a hero really bad, you know? Guys have urges women will never understand.”

Amanda’s glare somehow grew angrier.

“Okay, fine. Fine!” Tim raised his arms. “We fought a hero. Happy?”

“No.” Amanda sighed again. “You get it, right? We are criminals. Real criminals. Even ignoring the part about Disk, we captured a guy and took him to our secret underground dungeon. There is not going to be a trial for him, and I honestly don’t want to know what they are doing to Robards down there.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Not one bit,” Amanda replied without hesitation. “I feel a bit guilty that I don’t feel guilty, but mostly, I’m worried because we are on the wrong side of the law on this. We can’t take this back.”

“Kind of figured this was a no take backs thing before we left.”

“Then why did you do it?” Amanda yelled at him. “You could have stayed here and let me go alone! You didn’t need to be there!”

“Nah,” Tim said. “We’re buddies.”

Amanda’s anger crumbled.

“You… you can’t just say things like that,” she said in a much softer voice.

“Would it help if I said I’m not attracted to you? Like, at all.”

She punched him in the arm again.

“Tim!”

“What? I just didn’t want to give you the wrong idea! It’d get awkward otherwise! That’s no bueno, you know? What? You want me to be into you?”

“No! But it’s the principle of the thing! You just don’t say that to a girl!”

“You’re kind of the only girl I talk to that’s not my mom, so you can’t really blame me for having no idea what I’m doing.”

“Stop saying weird stuff that makes sense!”

Amanda glared, and Tim chuckled. A comfortable silence fell over the room.

After a minute, Amanda spoke.

“We support each other. Whatever happens. We have each other’s back. That’s how we do this,” she told him. “Anything you need help with, I’m here for you.” She paused. “Because we’re buddies.”

Tim grinned.

“Damn right we are, Ammes.”

~~~

AN:

This chapter was very hard to write for some reason. I kept deleting stuff that just felt awkward.