Chapter Six: Luck Be a Lady
Middlemobile
On the road to destiny
12:11 PM
Time, did in fact, heal all wounds. It several months but Wendy started feeling normal, and even could be friends with Tyler again, though it was quite a while before that had happened and she had to proceed cautiously at first, and even back away once. She was glad, in a way, that they'd broken up because she could see now that Tyler had been right, that he had wanted his soul-mate, sans flaws and warts. He wanted the idea of a perfect partner and when confronted with the reality of a very real girlfriend, hadn't been able to handle it.
And Wendy, for her part, had not been able to to be in a relationship with Tyler because she had been unwilling to step back from her job to accommodate a boyfriend. she hadn't been willing to bend, even a little, to make things work. She felt bad for her actions but all she could do now was learn from her mistakes.
"Are you ready, Dubbie?" Wendy looked up at her boss, blinking out of her reverie.
"Ah..."Wendy shook her head a little to clear the cobwebs. "Yeah, let's get this show on the road," she said.
"Alright, we're going to try to stop the Beldarians from getting back through that portal and stealing the earth's supply of toothbrushes and mouthwash, thus causing extreme confusion for the inhabitants and allow the Yutcags to take over. To do this, you'll have to locate their Gartak Ray and shoot to incapacitate. I'll be watching your back and trying to take out any Beldarian Lizards who try to attack you."
"I'll use my weapon to aim for the belly of the Gartak Ray," Wendy said, clarifying. "Uh...I think we're here," Wendy said, eyeing the hundreds of Beldarian Lizards in trench-coats, standing near the center of town by a giant signboard, which Wendy knew was the portal back to Beldar.
"I see the portal!" she shouted, exiting the car. The din of excited humanoid Lizards was nearly deafening and Wendy tried to block it out as she got into position to take out the Gartak Ray. "I'm on it boss," Wendy made her move, but just as she did, an enormous convoy of Lizards surrounded her, unaware of her presence. She was trapped in their midst as they surged forward, towards the portal. Screaming at the middleman for help, she tried to fight her way out but they took no notice of the small human among them and continued moving. She heard the blasts of firepower and the Middleman shouted for her, but even fighting like hell she couldn't make any leeway, and firing her own weapon at the Giant Lizards would likely only put her in more danger. She pushed as hard as she could and was rewarded for her troubles by getting sucked through the portal.
"Help!" she shouted, falling onto her knees. She coughed and spat out what tasted like blood. Wiping her nose, she realized it had gotten bloody somehow.
"There is an assassin in our midst!" Someone shouted. "Seize that human girl!" Wendy tried to stand but was grabbed and as she kicked out to wretch free, a boot connected with the back of her head and she was enveloped in blackness.
Somewhere
Where?
When?
Wendy's eyes slowly opened, wincing at the agony in the back of her skull. She touched a hand to it gingerly and saw there was blood on her hand. She vaguely remembered a bloody nose and wondered whether the blood was from her nose or her head. She sat up, feeling cold stone under her hands and when she blinked to focus her eyes, realized wherever she was at was entirely dark. Only a little light shone in from outside the immediate area, and Wendy blinked, trying to make out what was in front of her face. Bars. Thick metal ones. She must have been in some kind of cell or cage. She tried to call for help but her throat was thick with phlegm and she had to clear it several times before she found her voice again. She was in serious trouble. Where was she? It was dark in the cell and her head felt like her skull was going to explode right through it. Everything that had happened came rushing back at once. There had been the mission, then the Lizards had trapped her when they surrounded her, then it seemed to Wendy that was the last thing she remembered. She shivered, feeling nervous and trying to come up with a plan of escape without thinking, which hurt her head.
She was afraid, she was very afraid. She didn't know if Middleman had gotten through the portal before it closed but she was in her cell, without her gun (she had checked), it was too dark to see much of anything (other than those bars, the fat metal bars) and there didn't seem to be anyone around. She heard a steady drip-drip (one mississippi, two mississipi, Wendy could use it to find out how long she was going to be in here if she wanted) which was the only sound in the area. She gingerly shifted again and discovered her hands and feet had been chained, it was long enough that she didn't notice before when she had moved to touch her head. The metal cuffs weren't too bad but the ones on her feet were thick and heavy, making them feel leadened. (this must be why prisoners can run so fast, Wendy thought, free of these things and you'd feel weightless). She breathed in and out softly, trying not to hurt her head, though the pain seemed to be diminishing a little. She moved her hands to her face, wiping it a little vigorously to try to clear her vision from the gummy gunk in her eyes and she could see that she was in a single cell, which was part of a bloc of cells, there was another row opposite her bloc as well, and one further beyond that (though it was dim, Wendy could see that through the other side of the blocs metal bars).
Wendy heard the noise of heavy boot against stones. Her heart was pounding so loudly she could hear it (or was that the dripping noise?) and she let out a low whimper, trying to decide what her best chance would be, she obviously couldn't make a run for it unless the let her out of the chains but she had to get out of here (wherever 'here' was).
"Get up, Boss wants to see you!" A tall, shadowy man came around the corner, into the dim light outside Wendy's cell, carrying a set of keys. She stood, though the heavy chains made it difficult. He came in and Wendy saw it was a Lizard, one of the Beldarians, carrying keys and a torch. He unlocked her chains, grabbing a hold of tightly around the wrist and dragging her along into the dim corridor of the holding cells and out into the bright light of a...police station? Wendy blinked, eyes adjusting to the brightness as she could see Lizards milling around with several shady looking alien creatures in handcuffs, a few standing around in uniforms, smoking and talking to other alien creatures...it was all very odd but Wendy took it in stride as she was marched out of the jail and into a waiting area.
"Boss, here she is," The Lizard stopped short in the waiting area, making Wendy almost fall over.
"Thank you, Officer Swagg," a thick man wearing an expensive looking suit grabbed her by the arm, leering at her. He was puffing away on a fat cigar as well, making Wendy cough as the smoke filled her lungs and made her eyes water.
"Eh...let's see here," Wendy could barely understand the man, between his cigar and thick accent, something that vaguely reminded her of Brooklyn or Jersey. "You're a doll, kiddo. You'll do quite nicely."
"Excuse me?" Not one for exactly keeping her mouth shut, Wendy immediately felt defensive and spoke, even through the alarm bells going off in her head telling her to shut up.
"You're probably worth the most out of my collection," The man nodded, to himself probably. "But lemme introduce myself. Name's Tweed. Boss Tweed."
"Um...I'm Wendy," Wendy shrugged. "But I don't know how introducing ourselves will help this awkward situation."
"Ah, you're a funny girl! I like your spunk, m'dear," he laughed but tightened his grip on her. "You're definitely valuable. Just have to get you cleaned up a bit."
"I'm not sure I'm going anywhere with you," Wendy said, allowing a smile to come onto her face. She executed a series of moves Sensei Ping had taught her, escaping from his grasp easily, and leaving him mildly incapacitated, long enough to get free.
"Mac! Paulie!" he coughed and snapped his fingers and immediately two goons surrounded Wendy, grabbing for her. She fought them and though she had the element of martial arts training on her size, they had sheer brute strength, and as soon as two more hulking goons came out and surrounded her, Wendy knew it was going to be a difficult battle. She continued fighting though, until one of the goons simply reached down and picked her up, and though she kicked him in the shins and the crotch, he refused to set her down and Wendy continued kicking until one of the other goons grabbed her legs.
"She knows how to put up a good fight!" Boss Tweed sounded more pleased than angry and Wendy wanted to punch his nose. "Take her to Little Anna and get her all cleaned up nicely nicely. We'll have her ready for betting soon enough!" he clapped his hands together eagerly and Wendy was disgusted and glowered. He merely laughed though, and Wendy screamed in frustration, which seemed to tickle him to no end. "She's a tiger!" he exclaimed and Wendy merely shook her head in sheer disgust.
Boss Tweed's Home
Escape is impossible. Help.
Time has no meaning here.
Little Anna turned out to be Boss Tweed's wife, or rather, more like his maid and slave. She was treated roughly by all the members of Boss Tweed's household staff, touched inappropriately, made to sleep at the foot of his bed and chained up at night so she wouldn't run away. All women were treated like slaves and property in this world, Wendy came to realize. They were all called "Little", which was as much of a title as a way to reinforce their diminutive status in this world.
Anna cleaned Wendy's bruises and gave her medicine to help her headache and Wendy was fed some sort of drug that made her feel slightly sluggish and unable to properly concentrate. It was to keep her docile, unable to properly focus or try to run. It was utterly humiliating. Even more humiliating was the clothing Wendy was required to wear all the time. She wore skimpy outfits full of frills and lace, stockings and ridiculously high heels, which made it also difficult to think of running. She was made to sleep in the kitchens at night, but every morning was gussied up prettily and made to stand, in her heels, next to Boss Tweed during the day while he worked on his 'business' tasks. She wore a collar which was attached to a leash, which was held by Boss Tweed. If he was angry or in a state, he would jerk the leash about the room, making Wendy's entire body bruised from the beating it took, bumping into everything.
He was the leader of the Mob, she found out, which ran everything on this planet. The Lizard men had been slaves of the Yutcags, a race of giant Crocodiles, who had their own Mob, which were rivals of Boss Tweeds' Mob. They made a covert deal with Boss Tweed to free them from the Yutcags in exchange for working as Security on this planet, which operated much like the Law Enforcement of Wendy's home. Every night, after the business of the day was over, the Games began.
Boss Tweed, who was for all intents and purposes the Supreme Ruler of this planet (for though they had a government, it was weak and ineffective and the Mob were the ones who truly ran things), organized gambling games every night for his powerful friends, from every planet in the system. They played high stakes poker until all hours of the night sometimes, betting everything from property to life-savings and women, who were exchanged like commodities on this planet. It truly frightened and disgusted Wendy. Fortunately, Boss Tweed himself only played one game with his friends, the last hand of the night, when the stakes were so high people were known to quietly go home and commit suicide over the outcome. Wendy was his bet, the right to her as property, to do whatever the owner wished or pleased. It was the same every night though, for a what seemed to be about a week: Boss Tweed's last bet would always be Wendy, and just as the game seemed to be taking a turn for the worse, when Wendy's heart would feel like it wanted to stop from fear, he would reveal his hand and he would always have a higher hand than everyone else at the table. She suspected the game was rigged, that Boss Tweed's playing was merely for show, to flaunt the power he had over everyone else, but she couldn't be sure.
It was a horrible existence but she kept her spirits alive by making up scenarios where Middleman came to rescue her. She missed him terribly, missed their relationship and their yin-yang way of working together. She was buoyed by the hope of seeing his amazing face again, rescuing her from this fate-worse-than-death. Of course she missed Lacey too, and Noser, and her mom and Joe90 and even Pip a little bit (his petty cruelty was nowhere near what this was, this was worse than anything he could have done), and she longed to see them all again, and just be grateful to have them in her life again, but she couldn't help focusing more on her boss, most of all.
She liked to attribute part of it to the fact that it was his fault in part, that she was in this predicament, but she knew that there was something else there too, something she couldn't put her finger on or name. The something that kept her awake at night, chained to the stove in the kitchen, wishing she could hug him one more time (she regretted not taking him up on his offer last time), to hold him tightly and refuse to let go, to hold him until she was certain that life could go on normally again, that she would never be haunted by nightmares of this horrible place, that she could hold him until she never thought of this place ever again. If she never, ever had to think of this place again it would for sure be too soon.
Middleheadquarters
Frantic franticness
Thirteen Hundred Hours
He is absolutely, positively panicked. Not much panicked him ever (not even the time one of his apprentices accidentally shot at him with a laser beam) No, he kept his cool then (he merely stepped out of the way at the last second, like a cucumber, that one). He is very good, very very good at keeping calm (he prided himself on his ability to think rationally in the most panicking circumstances) and would like to think that even if this had happened to anyone else, he would stay rational. But this wasn't anyone else, this was his girl, this was his Dubbie that they'd taken. His heart was in his throat when he saw her disappear into the portal (he tried to follow after but had gotten distracted with several Beldarians who tried to kill him with their guns) and he'd nearly had a panic attack right then and there. He'd somehow gotten knocked in the head though (he was only out for a little bit, that's what he kept telling himself anyway) and when he awoke, the Beldarian Lizards were gone and so was the portal, so was his Wendy, his girl, his sidekick.
He paces. Back and forth, thinking. It seems an eternity since it happened but in reality, it's been less than an hour. He stops, wondering if its possible to lose sanity one minute at a time, a slow trickle until he's totally gone. He wonders if there is any way to rewind time and when he shoots that idea down, he sits, thinking. His Dubbie is gone, his sidekick, his Girl Friday (so to speak). She's gone. Departed. Buh-bye. Escaped from this reality to another. Not escaped, more like dragged kicking and screaming. That was his apprentice, feisty and fiery and never one to give up without a fight.
He feels sick to his stomach, wondering how he's going to get a hold of her. This wasn't like last time, not like when she was taken through the wormhole to the Alternate Universe with the eye-patch version of him) at least last time he could talk to Ivan Avi and his twin (doppelganger? clone?) and figure out a way to communicate to Dubbie then. This time though, there is no way to communicate with her. He stands again, making Ida eye him warily. She's certain he's losing it but of course, she isn't going to say anything. He can tell she thinks this, though. Neither has spoken since he returned.
"We've got to find Wendy," he says finally, making Ida roll her eyes.
"Of course we do," she snaps. "Tell me something I DON'T know." He wants to throw things but holds himself back, he's focused on the important task at hand right now which is finding his sidekick, his Girl Robin. He lets out a sigh, making Ida snap. "Boss, you're a Middleman, you're more than equipped to handle things, even without your sidekick. You've had apprentices in worse situations than this, don't let some weird bond you have with this one overshadow your judgement and ability to handle complicated situations." He feels horrible, Ida is right of course, and he takes a second to straighten his tie and jacket and bow his head and clear his mind. He needs to get on the H.E.Y.D.A.R. and find out his options, get into action instead of pacing and fretting. This isn't like him, he's not a fretter by nature, or rather, he does his fretting in private, when he's all alone.
He steps up to the H.E.Y.D.A.R. and types in 'Portals' and narrows it to the immediate area. A list comes up of all portals within a fifty mile radius, which is surprisingly long. It's almost a relief, until he realizes he'll have to check out every portal to figure out which one leads to the right place. That could take a while...he wants to get started right away but there's the little fact of having to continue working to save the world as well. He's starting to feel sweat on his forehead, what if he's unable to find Wendy for ages? No, he wouldn't think about that, he'd throw himself into this effort with everything he had. That's who he is, he's almost a superhero for pete's sake! He makes a list of the portals, hoping that he can get everything done fast enough for Dubbie's sake.
If he works hard, and quickly, and gives a couple prayers to the Almighty Above that nothing huge comes up suddenly, he can find her before long. It's the 'before long' that worries him though. No matter what, time is of the essence here and the longer he leaves her to her fate, the more danger he's putting her in. It seems wrong, it IS wrong but part of their job description is that the world comes first, it's important to save the world. Sometimes he thinks rules are bad. He knows that they aren't, but sometimes it seems worse to follow the rules.
"I have an idea," Middleman says, stopping suddenly. It's a good idea, it will save him time and all he'll have to do is save the world and then go find Wendy, go find his Dubbie. He doesn't know why he didn't think of it before (probably due to his atypical panic at the situation). He has time though, to get his head together and the idea comes to him.
Famouse Fashion House
Calling for reinforcements
Thirteen twenty hours
"So you can do it?" Middleman asks anxiously. Roxie looked thoughtful for a moment.
"But of course I can, MM. Anything for you," she gives a lusty wink and Middleman turns his head, reminding himself that he's immune to her powers of persuasion.
"Gather!" she calls her Succubi around her. "The apprentice has gone missing. I need you to check out the portal locations listed here and find out which location she's at. Just look for giant green Lizards, probably wearing trench-coats, and a whole lot of toothbrushes. Report back here the second you find it! Go!" She wears a self-satisfied smile and Middleman feels an enormous rush of gratitude and stops only long enough to give her a giant hug, which she looks mildly freaked out by before rushing off.
Middleheadquarters
Time is of the essence
Fourteen hundred hours
"I'm going to check out the report of a radioactive hamster!" Middleman returns, checking the H.E.Y.D.A.R to find the tasks he needs to get done. Ida though, is already preoccupied with her online mahjong and barely acknowledges him before returning to her game. It's a matter of hours when he returns, sweaty and covered in faintly pulsating green goo, but the job is done, the radioactive hamster has been destroyed before it could grow too large to control and Cindy has a new hamster that looks just like Mr. Flibble. The next two tasks take a similar amount of time each, and he returns, only stopping long enough to shower and change again, handing his dusty, grimy, sweaty and sometimes ooze covered uniform to Ida to wash. He hopes that he isn't doing a bad thing, by rushing his jobs. He's been a little more forceful with the suspects maybe, a little less thorough in paperwork after, but he likes to think he's still behaving as efficiently and diligently as normal.
It's more frustrating, he decides, to be waiting for Roxy to get back to him about the portal than it is to still have jobs to take care of before he can rush off to rescue Wendy. Every job that comes up is something to take his mind off his enormous level of guilt and worry that has seemed to settle onto his shoulders. Every task he can throw himself into is a little more time to focus on nothing but the task at hand, to forget the rest of the world and throw himself into being a hero and savior to others. It eats at him though, that he can save everyone but her, that he is able to look out for the world even while Wendy is in so much danger. But the world can NOT stop turning, even for Dubbie, even if it were him, he would expect no less from her than to devote herself to the world first, his welfare second.
Finally though, after another task which has left him feeling thoroughly disgusting and completely exhausted, the call comes in which immediately revitalizes his energies. Roxy Wasserman informs him that Wendy has been transported to an Alternate Universe (again? he thinks) and is being held a captive of a man named Boss Tweed, on the planet Sigma Iota II. She's a slave there, to the boss, who runs the Mob on that planet. Everything is controlled by the Mob. The Beldarian Lizards made a deal with the Mob to protect them from the Yutcags, of whom they had been slaves and Wendy had been captured and sold to Boss Tweed. Roxy revealed that Boss Tweed ran a card game out of his enormous palace every night, and that he himself only played the last hand of the evening, and that Wendy was the prize. If he wanted to rescue her, Middleman would have to get into the game and outmaneuver Tweed at his own game, he'd have to find a way to win Wendy. He's incredibly wary, but feels that he can do it. He knows how to play poker, he's an ex-SEAL after all, and he's great at out-thinking villains, but this is Wendy on the line and he can't help feel a little worry at least.
Roxy gives him the Portal's coordinates with instructions on how to open it for his purposes and his instructions on the subtleties of how to behave around Tweed, especially with his cover story. He was to be a visiting Moldorfean Ambassador who wanted to meet Boss Tweed for business talks, which never happened until they could prove themselves to Tweed via The Games. He had an iron-clad 'in' with Tweed, all that was necessary was for Middleman to be on his guard in case Tweed got suspicious.
He's decked out in Moldorfean clothing (a ridiculous get-up, he thinks. He looks like he's come out of a Jane Austen novel. Mr. Darcy indeed!) and to top it off, he has a top hat, of all things. He feels quite absurd, but if it will help save Dubbie, he's willing to parade stark naked in front of his own grandparents. He checks himself out quickly, making sure he looks the part of a Moldorfean Ambassador (do they really dress like this?) before following one of Roxy's succubi in the Middlemobile, hoping and praying that this works. According to Roxy, time has a different line in the Alternate Universe, somehow it's already been more than a week there, which makes Middleman despair over circumstances even more, he shouldn't have to put duty first like this, its unfair to the Middlemen in training, unfair to everyone. The car is stopped in front of him, two Succubi get out and with several sworn promises to be careful, he allows them to move his car, with the understanding that they needed to hide it out of site of people but close enough to get to when he returns.
With massive trepidation and promises from Ida that she would monitor everything from the H.E.Y.D.A.R. as long as she could, he approached the coordinates of the portal, following the instructions Roxy gave him to the letter, waiting with baited breath as the portal opens. It's easy for denizens of hell to open otherworldly portals, it takes more effort for mortals to do so, and he's afraid for a little bit that it hasn't worked, but there, in front of him opens a small portal, large enough to fit through but not much larger than his body. He takes a breath, stepping through and hoping for the best.
Sigma Iota II
Find her, get out, go home
Twenty Three Hundred Hours
"I need luck. Lady Luck," he whispered to himself. Middleman barely managed to avoid tumbling out on the other side of the hole and landing on his rear. He straightened his tie methodically, brushing non-existent lint off his outfit and marched forward, making sure all his weapons were concealed. The house was atop a small hill in the distance, it was enormous and well lit and Middleman followed behind several other Alien species, trying to look like he was a rich and important dignitary as well, following them to the front door where he was politely stopped by a rough looking guard briefly, and searched for his weapons. Thankfully only half of his weapons were actually confiscated, apparently Boss Tweed's guards weren't that smart, they were picked for their brute strength. He was taken to a Billiards room and seated around one of several enormous tables and offered a cigar. His heart leaped into his throat when Boss Tweed finally came in, with a very frightened and tired looking Dubbie. He wanted to fight the lot of jerks right here and now and snatch her up, but that would cause a lot more problems than he might be capable of dealing with. She looked too weak and drained to fight, so he would have to go it alone and with all the Mobsters and guard around the room, he decided not to risk anything that might lessen Dubbie's chances at escape.
"Alright boys!" Boss Tweed leered at the room in general, a fat cigar hanging out of his mouth. "Tables are now open!"
The games lasted for hours. Middleman sat most out, thankful that others did as well and that didn't arouse suspicion, but it was nerve-wracking enough with the few things Roxy had given him to bet with. Fake gems, fake property deeds and fake assets were so easy enough to lose that Middleman could see how having real things to bet with would probably send him into cardiac arrest. He won some as well, he was the current holder of a piece of property on Luna V and accidentally won a woman, who were traded like just another commodity here. During a break he had taken her outside with him, claiming that he was going to safeguard his 'property' by handing her to his valet to look after but as soon as he got outside, he had given her whispered instructions to the open portal and urged her to run, quickly. It made him sick to see how Dubbie was being kept, like little more than a prized pet or piece of property. He was waiting for Boss Tweed's game, the last one of the night. It was endlessly nerve-wracking waiting for the ugly man to decide it was the last hand of the night and it made Middleman sick with nervous anticipation, though he kept a calm, cool demeanor throughout the evening.
Finally, when no one else wanted to bet against each other anymore, Boss Tweed declared "Last hand, boys!" gleefully and dragged Wendy to the table with him. Only one person was going to play against him, that person had to stake something that was worth the final bet, something to match whatever Boss Tweed brought to the table. Middleman stepped forward.
"I have something," he said, not looking at Wendy. "I'll put something up against the girl."
"Indeed?" Boss Tweed smirked, almost exuberant in his unbridled glee.
"I'll put my life against hers," Middleman said. He didn't look but he could feel Wendy's horrified eyes on him. He sat down at the table, pulling a scratch pad for score-keeping and a pen and writing out a neat little IOU to Boss Tweed. This was it, this was the moment of truth.
"Most excellent! I accept the bet," Tweed looked like the Cat Who Swallowed the Canary.
Middleman looked at Dubbie's eyes from where she stood, dressed in a provocative red satin dress "Don't blow this," her eyes said. "Please." He prayed to the luck-gods that he would be blessed significantly. She was too valuable for him to screw up and he held his breath, waiting. Roxy had warned him that Boss Tweed cheated by using his own deck, and insisting on dealing the cards himself. He would have to make a bold move if he were going to be the winner here.Sure enough, Tweed brought out his deck, and started shuffling.
"If you please, might I shuffle once?" Middleman bowed his head in fake reverence. It was fully allowed for the opponent to shuffle one time and Middleman knew he had to make it count. If Tweed didn't accept his suggestion though, all was lost. He waited with baited breath, finally Tweed handed over the cards and Middleman almost laughed at his good fortune. He had come prepared. God bless those years of obsession with Magic that he had in his youth, he performed the sleight of hand trick with practiced ease, switching one deck for another he had concealed before he came to the games. It was marked in two of the same places Tweed's deck was, all Middleman had to do was make sure those two cards got into Tweed's hand, so he wouldn't become suspicious. He finally handed the cards back, Tweed reshuffled once and Middleman had to keep from grinning as he took the bait and shuffled exactly in the right order.
"Dealing," Tweed said, shuffling out a hand for Middleman and for himself. Middleman held his breath, hoping that his luck wasn't about to run out.
"Luck be a lady tonight," he thought to himself. "If you've never been a lady to begin with, luck be a lady tonight. I've got more than money on the line here." Tweed turned his hand over, revealing a flush. Middleman almost fainted, he'd have to beat a flush.
"Alright, show yer hand," Tweed looked like he was about to crow in glee, thinking he had the hand. Middleman turned his cards over one at a time. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
"ROYAL FLUSH?" Tweed screamed, looking enraged. "You cheated!"
"I did not," Middleman said calmly, feeling like his heart was going to burst in his chest. "Now, the girl, if you please."
"Rules is rules, Boss," one of the goons chimed in, trying to keep the peace as was his job.
"Damn you to hell, Moldorfean. Take the *beep* and get out of here. You played well," he looked half enraged still, half pleased. He'd lost his valuable possession but with a slight 'easy come, easy go' attitude. Wendy tottered over on stupidly high heels and looked positively wild with gratitude. He took her hand and led her down to the front of the house where he grabbed his coat and draped it over her, leading her outside. She tottered behind him on the heels until they got outside, where he scooped her up in his arms and took off quickly for the portal.
Home, again
Relieved.
Oh one hundred hours. Time passes differently between worlds.
"Oh my god," Wendy said, as they passed through the portal. Middleman closed it quickly and turned to face her, taking her hands in his.
"Are you alright?" he asked, thoroughly scared for her. She nodded slowly.
"I'm fine now that you're here," she said, almost sounding...shy. He nodded too, moving to scoop her up again, not trusting her on those disgusting heels. It was insane that she was made to wear them, they were painfully pointy looking and dainty. She couldn't move very fast in them and her feet were arched at an almost impossible angle. If she wanted to wear her own sneakers to work from now on, he wouldn't object. He wouldn't even mind that they were usually more scruffy than he liked his apprentices to look, she could wear whatever footwear was most comfortable for her from now on. "Oh my god, oh my god," she said, sounding on the verge of tears. She grabbed his face suddenly, and before he could react, she was kissing him.
The kiss was hot, feverish, lingering and made him feel strange. He gently pried her off though, (a part of him was saying rude things to him for this, but he never listened to that part if he could help it anyway). "Oh Dubbie," he sighed. "Let's get you home."
"I'm so sorry!" she looked horrified and unsteady on her feet and he scooped her up again in his arms. She was still his Dubbie, and his Dubbie needed a long, hot shower and a peaceful couple days rest but he didn't want to leave her alone either, so he decided to bring her home with him, just so he could watch out for her.
"It's alright, Dubbie," he said gently. "You've been through a tremendous ordeal. Your emotions are all over the place right now and you acted out of a sense of gratitude to me and let yourself get carried away in the moment, which is normal." He'd never been in a situation before though, where an apprentice threw themselves at him, so he couldn't say for sure if it was normal but he assumed it would be. "I'm taking you somewhere where you can have a long, peaceful rest for now." Wendy nodded, looking up at him with trusting eyes and he carried her to the Middlemobile, hidden in the alleyway of two brick buildings, gently placing her in the seat next to his and taking off. It was going to be a long healing process for her.
- Location:Middlemobile, Tweed's, Middleheadquarters, Famouse, SI II
- Music:Luck Be a Lady by Marlon Brando (Guys and Dolls)
The Illegal Sublet Wendy Shares With Another Young, Photogenic Artist
Where am I? How did I get here?
10:19 AM
Wendy woke up the next morning, wondering what time it was. She had been asleep for a long time, it felt like. It was easier to sleep than deal with life, at the moment. Normally she was quite good at dealing...more or less anyway. In matters of life she could deal with tremendous amounts of *beep* and breeze through like it had been nothing. Not, however, in relationships. She tried with Ben but the truth was that most of the time she dealt very badly. She held a hand to her head, wishing that she'd never gotten up that morning, never gotten out of bed. Or at least had decided to listen to Tyler and stay with him instead of running off to her job, her job that had cost her a relationship already. She pressed a cool hand to her flushed cheeks and moved to brush her hair out of her eyes. She coughed, her throat felt like sandpaper and she needed water. She pushed groggily out of bed, intending to get herself a cup of coffee and a bagel.
"What is my boss doing here?" Wendy stopped at the foot of the stairs, brushing her hair out of her eyes and scratching her arm. She pulled her sweater across her chest, accidentally highlighting rather than hiding.
"Dubbie," Middleman looked embarassed but tried to sound cheerful. "Er...I came over to enjoy...the sunrise with Miss Thornfield," he blushed deeply, and Wendy moved towards the kitchen, trying not to recognize the fact that he was clearly lying. She didn't, however, fail to recognize Lacey's giant grin of satisfaction with herself and Wendy ducked her head into the fridge to try to dissuade herself from taking a knife to her wrists. Clearly while her relationship with Tyler had failed miserably, other relationships were going better than ever. She was surprised though, that Bossman had morals that allowed him to be intimate with someone before marriage, but she stopped herself at that though, not wishing to go any further.
"So, did you sleep okay?" Lacey came over to Wendy, giving her a back-hug while Wendy was leaning into the fridge.
"Yeah, what time is it though?" Wendy asked, tucking her hair behind her ears and grabbing some schmear and the bagels.
"It's...10:27," Middleman said, checking his watch.
"Wait...in the morning?" Wendy asked, feeling confused. She remember vaguely going to bed around 9am, after the confusion of being taken home from Tyler's house by Middleman and telling him and Lacey the entire story while still tired and weepy.
"You've been asleep since yesterday," Lacey said, sounding worried. "I checked on you early this morning but I didn't want to wake you up."
"Thanks," Wendy said, feeling bad for going to absolute pieces over her Tyler break-up like this. She slathered organic cream cheese on her whole wheat, gluten free bagel and took a big bite, feeling angry at Tyler again. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to be so demanding. He was terrible about that, even after they had both gotten used to the weird scheduling with their respective demanding jobs, he'd started being whiney and girly about her schedule.
"I was wondering, would you like to accompany Lacey and I to Takei's Vegan Bar-B-Q tonight?" Middleman asked politely. Wendy rolled her eyes.
"I'm going to be okay by myself," she snapped. "I don't need to be a third wheel on your dates at the Vegan Bar-B-Q. I'll be fine," she said, sounding braver than she felt.
"It was only an offer, Dubbie," Middleman said. "By the way, I'll need you at work in an hour. There's some paperwork to be done about our ah...problem...the other night. I mean, this year has been a little crazy for the Anderson account. I'm sorry that you'll have to work overtime today. Maybe it'll take your mind off things. But I'd appreciate if you could get it done today."
"Fine," Wendy was too tired to even think of coming up with a reason to argue. It was too awkward, she decided, being a third wheel to boss and Lacey.
"I'm so sorry about Tyler," Lacey said again, hugging her friend. "You're too good for him." Wendy was grateful for her sympathy but she wanted to avoid the drama for a while, to escape from what promised to be some serious smothering.
"Really, I'll be okay," Wendy said. "It'll hurt for a while but I'm going to heal," she promised. She saw something unrecognizable flicker across Middleman's face before it was gone, replaced by a smile.
"That's the Dubbie I know," he said. "Do you need a hug?" he asked, looking awkward standing in a sweater and khaki slacks. Wendy realized that besides seeing him in a tux once, she'd never seen him in 'normal' clothing. It kind of suited him, strangely. He looked like his uptight, pressed and starched self, but a little more relaxed and comfortable somehow.
"Uh, no thanks," Wendy held up her hands. "Hugging my boss...awk-ward..." she said stiffly. It wasn't that she didn't want to hug him, it'd just be weird to do so in front of Lacey and everything. And Lacey could get posessive of her things sometimes.
"I think Wendy is going to be okay without us for a little bit," Lacey said, sensing that she was growing more uncomfortable with the excessive sympathy. "Let's go get some lunch."
"Alright, but it's only a quarter to eleven," Middleman said, consulting his watch. "I'd like to go for a walk first, if you don't mind." Lacey looked beyond thrilled.
"Walking is a great form of exercise!" She said with a perky smile. "It helps with Cardio health, weight-managment and it's fun! Sounds great, just let me put on some sneakers if we're going to the park. Oh, can we stop at the bakery first? I like to feed their day old bread to the ducks at the duckpond. They let me have it for free if I come in before lunchtime."
"Of course," Middleman looked pleased as well and Wendy wanted to throw up at their super-samaritan cutesy-ness. "I'll wait for you down here." he folded himself onto their couch and Wendy tried not to laugh at the incompatibility of his large frame with their crowded, girly couch.
"Are you okay?" Middleman turned to Wendy, looking at her. His voice was soft, sincere. It wasn't a 'will you be alright or do we have to talk you down from yourself?' tone, rather it was more like 'I know that pain and I want you to know that I do'.
"I think so," Wendy answered, moving to sit on the chair next to the couch. "I mean, it was a shock but I feel like maybe he was right...I did put my job ahead of my other life. But...that's just right to me, that's the right thing to do. You understand, don't you?"
"I do," Middleman said. "But Wendy, I want you to know too that while saving the world is truly, truly important, it's also important to look after your own life and make sure that you are safe and happy. You're my partner, if I don't look after you, I'm not doing my job." he smiled and Wendy felt an inexplicable sense of happiness at his words, wanting to actually hug him this time. She felt like if she did, she'd feel safe and happy. As she moved to give him a hug, Lacey came back to the livingroom, chattering about plans for the day and Middleman stood up.
"You can talk to me later if you want," he said, looking her in the eyes. She nodded and looked down at her hands, wishing she was at work. She decided that would be just the thing to take her mind off of the mess of her love-life so she stood up and walked back up the stairs to her room to get changed for work.
The Duck Pond
Feeding the cute little quackers
11:19 AM
"So, do you think Wendy will really be alright?" Lacey turned to Middleman, concern for her best friend written in her eyes. "I know Wendy, I remember what happened with Tommy Tan. She was a bit of a mess for several months. At least, until she started seeing Ben. Come to think of it, she always got into another relationship quite soon after her previous one had ended. I don't think that's healthy," she frowned.
"I agree," Middleman said. "One needs to approach relationships carefully, study your options from every angle and from there, determine the best course of action. I've always been of the mindset that you should take things slow, be careful, really get to know the other person. Don't you agree?" he asked, tossing a hunk of bread to a particularly chattery duck who gobbled it up and demanded more.
"I do," Lacey said, eyes shining in adoration. "I think courtship is a lost art form. It's so beautiful how in the past, a man would set his sights on a girl and woo her to capture her heart," she said softly. "It's beautiful."
"It's a shame how so many men nowadays are so quick to become intimate with a woman and then lose interest as soon as it's over," Middleman said. "Rest assured that that has not yet happened to me," he looked at Lacey, who smiled and tilted her head.
They were sitting on a bench and Lacey moved a little closer, looking up at Middleman with round eyes and pursed lips. He leaned his head down a little, capturing them in a soft, slow kiss that made Lacey feel weak in the knees. He took her hand in his, squeezing it gently, making Lacey feel lightheaded. She tipped her head back, giving him another gentle kiss that caused a slow burn in her stomach.
"This is nice," she said, pulling away to throw another bit of bread to a duck that was a few feet away from their bench. "I love it. I...love you," she turned and searched his eyes for his reaction, cheeks turning pink in embarassment. "That didn't exactly happen how I wanted it to," she admitted.
"It's...alright," he said, putting an arm around her. "I do as well, Lacey Thornfield." She smiled and settled into the crook of his shoulder, just sitting with him and enjoying the revelation of their feelings for each other. She felt like this had been the perfect day. The only thing that would make it better would be if Wendy could somehow share in the supreme happiness she felt, right at this moment.
- Location:Sublet, Duck Pond
- Music:Chiron Beta Prime by Jonathan Coulton
Tyler's Apartment
Cuddling like bunnies
2:35 AM
"Hi," Wendy looked up, blinking in the dim light that spilled into the room from the moon outside. Tyler was holding onto her, staring at her face and she blinked again, feeling groggy.
"Hi," he whispered, brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. "You're beautiful, Wendy Watson," he murmured. "Go back to sleep." Wendy snuggled against his chest and closed her eyes again, wondering why this moment felt strange, for some reason. It felt...weird. She chalked it up to a lack of sleep and the strangeness of being out of her normal sleep environment and let her breathing even out, falling slowly back into a state of sleep.
"BEEP BEEP BEEP" Wendy sat bolt upright, getting tangled in Tyler's arms as she sat up, trying to locate her Middlewatch.
"Go back to sleep," Tyler said. "Your boss will understand. I mean, does he really expect you to handle a crisis at 3am?" Wendy's eyes fluttered shut again as she tried to get a hold of her faculties and snap into action.
"I gotta go to work," Wendy mumbled. "Lemme out," she pushed Tyler away, trying to struggle out of the bed and get her feet onto the floor. Tyler grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him.
"C'mon Wendy, even my boss isn't that much of a sadist, he lets me sleep in most days, even if I have to go to bed late others."
"Can't, job needs me," Wendy mumbled, pushing Tyler away again.
"Please?" he begged, trying to give her the puppy look, which didn't work because her eyes were still half shut. She rose from the bed finally, and pressed her feet into the nearest pair of shoes, which happened to be fuzzy slippers. As soon as she could manage, she stumbled into the bathroom eyes shut and hair falling in her face. Five minutes later she emerged, in uniform and eyes alert and focused.
"I'll be back in a few hours," Wendy whispered. Tyler was looking disappointed so she gave him a quick peck on the lips before grabbing her watch and making her way down to her Middlemobile and tried to get to headquarters as quickly as she could.
Middleheadquarters
Too early
3:00 AM
"What's going on?" Wendy stifled a yawn as she walked into Middleheadquarters, trying not to fall over anything in her tiredness. "Also, the trainee requires coffee," she glanced at Ida who smirked.
"Been boozing it up all night, MaryJane?" Ida asked sarcastically. Wendy shook her head and held her hand out.
"Coffee, or it's the shredder for thee," she shot back. Ida rolled her Android eyes and opened her midsection, revealing a steaming cup of joe, which Wendy took, blowing on it vigorously before taking a sip.
"Wendy, if you've had your coffee, can we get down to business?" Middleman looked anxious and Wendy turned, trying to concentrate without thinking longingly of Tyler's bed and the warmth of his body and his comfy sheets.
"What's the situation, then?" Wendy asked.
"It's a fire, down at the East Street Diesel Tractor Factory," Middleman said, showing her the footage from a local reporter on the H.A.Y.D.A.R.
"So?" Wendy asked. "Fires are bad and all, but what's that go to do with us?"
"The first fireman on the scene reported it to the reporter...as a shark attack," Middleman said. Wendy blinked.
"Weird," she said. "But what if he's just had too little sleep and too much coffee?" she glanced down at her cup, trying not to make the connection to that fireman and her.
"Yes, that's what we thought at first. But look..." Middleman pointed to the screen again and Wendy watched with growing interest as three firemen reported the same fire as something outside their jurisdiction, that they were dealing with a rather large scale shark attack, and there were sharks in the building, the building that was on fire no less, as they spoke.
"We're going in as The Department of Shark Regulation and Control," Middleman said. "Keep your eyes and ears open, we're going to try to figure out what's going on." Wendy followed him out to the Middlemobile, wondering what could possibly be causing Firemen to report a fire as a large scale shark attack.
East Street Diesel Tractor Factory
A fire...or a shark attack
3:15 AM
"Hello," Middleman got out of the vehicle and Wendy followed behind, fumbling a little for her badge. "We're with the Department of Shark Regulation and Control. We're going to take a look at the shark problem and try to figure out what's causing it," he said. The police officer let them through the caution tape and Wendy followed Middleman inside the building, trying to stifle another oncoming yawn.
"I apologize for waking you up at three in the morning," Middleman said. Wendy shrugged. "Obviously something is up. I wish we could have waited a few hours to have this problem but I can't help the weird things the world does, and its our job to tackle this kind of stuff, isn't it?"
"Glad you recognize that, now, we're looking for actual evidence of a shark attack here, so if anything jumps out at you, let me know."
"Will do, Boss," Wendy said, yawning again. "I need more coffee," she complained. Middleman looked at her sternly and shook his head.
"You mustn't be dependent upon the substance to help you focus," he said. "If there's ever a time we can't get coffee, such as now, you need to be able to gather your wits about you quickly, even without coffee. Now, I'll use the Truth Bomb first, to determine whether or not these men are telling the truth, if they are, we'll know what we're up against and if they aren't, we'll uncover the truth." He set the bomb off, rolling down towards the firemen, who were grouped around their truck, looking at each other strangely.
"Excuse me," the Middleman approached the men and Wendy and he flashed their badges. "Sergeant Hugh Darcy, this is my partner, officer Bridget Jones. We're with the Department of Shark Regulation and Control. Could you tell us what happened here?" he asked.
"Well, my men went in the building, wearing their full gear of course," The Chief began. "They were making sure there wasn't anyone inside, or in danger. And they wanted to check for arson. As soon as they got in though, it was clear what this was, it was no fire. This was a shark attack!"
"I don't believe it," Wendy muttered. "A shark attack? This is nuts and they haven't answered the basic question of how does a shark attack happen in a warehouse?"
"Great Barrier Reef, Dubbie!" Middleman gave a soft exclaimation. "We need to go inside and investigate."
"Fine by me, the sooner we get this over, the sooner I can go back to bed," Wendy said. She pulled out her BTROS scanner and started scanning the building, waiting for her boss to join in.
"Dubbie, I think we will have to go inside for that to work," he said gently. She looked embarassed and hurried inside the building, ignoring the fact that she wasn't wearing a protective fire suit. Middleman followed, pulling her back before she got all the way in.
"Safety first, Dubbie!" he exclaimed. "Go put on a fire suit, it's in the trunk of the Middlemobile. I'll be there in a second, I just want to run something past Ida first." Wendy walked over to the Middlemobile, donning firepants, boots, and the heavy firejacket before pulling on a helmet last, to cover her head and in a moment, Middleman came over and did so as well. They walked towards the building, which seemed to be alive with fire, there was no heat though, and it wasn't burning the building down. Curious, Wendy thought.
The entered the building, Wendy right behind Middleman and as they did so, everything in front of them changed, they were in water the second they stepped in the building and Wendy gasped, struggling to stay afloat. Her heavy gear weighed her down tremendously and she thrashed, trying not to drown in the heavy equipment. As she dipped below the water she could see a shark that was mere feet away. Trying not to panic, she turned herself around, making for the door she'd come in from. With several heavy lunges and a desperate dog paddle, Wendy finally walked through the door, feeling much, much more light-weight all the sudden. She was out of the water, back on the grey-black pavement and dry as a bone. Middleman came out behind her, looking grim but unpanicked.
"Great Caesar's Ghost, Dubbie...I've seen this before. There's been a mixup here. It appears that there are two ghostly apparitions here, but somehow both are mixed up with each other. I talked to Ida and she's researching the local ghostly legends about this area, trying to come up with a factory fire and a shark attack. Corporeal Physics dictates that a ghost scene must never repeat more than once a night. If that happens, their ghost can get switched with the next nearest ghost scene, which is the one that happened nearest the time the original accident took place. If two accidents happened at the same moment, not only do the ghosts get switched but the scenes get mixed up as well. It takes a recreation of each scene to seperate each and restore the ghost's spirit to the earth, where it can then reach the afterlife. The ghosts are now in a state of limbo, Dubbie. If we don't act out the scenes FOR our ghosts, they'll get trapped in Limbo forever, and their ghostly scenes will never finish, causing them to replay over and over for the rest of eternity, putting others who encounter them in danger of a similar fate."
"Well, I guess we'd better find a factory fire and a shark attack then," Wendy shrugged. "Ida, did you find anything?" she asked into her watch.
"I'm sure you inhale the ghost all the time, McStoner. This should be fun for you. So, April 10, 1948, at 11:13pm, there was a fire at the Weyman Baby Carriage Factory. The factory owner Frank Weyman, and one of the employees, Eloise Hart were lovers, and he confided in her that night that he was going to burn down the factory and collect the insurance money. As they left, Eloise realized she forgot her purse. Mr. Weyman had already started the fire but she promised she would be in and out within a second. According to legend, the fire took off faster than either had anticipated, and it spread quickly, trapping her and cutting her off from being able to leave. She tried to get to the roof, to await firemen for rescue, but by the time she reached the third floor, the entire building was on fire and she was trapped when the fourth floor collapsed on her. They say her ghost haunts the third floor of the new factory, and sometimes late at night, people see the building on fire and they can hear a woman screaming for help, and laughing maniacally as she realizes her fate. There's nothing there though, when the firemen come to put out the fire."
"And what about the shark attack?" Middleman asked, leaning over Wendy's shoulder to look at Ida in the watch face.
"I'm getting to that," Ida snapped. "Cool your jets, Boss. April 10, 1948, also at 11:13pm, Richard Lockley was out for a night swim, twelve miles away, at Harbor Beach. He was a writer, so the legends say, and he used to swim every night around this time to clear his head for the next deadline. This particular night was a little windier than most and there was a particularly large riptide out there and as he tried to swim to shore he was sucked far out, where there was a group of sharks who attacked. He was never seen again, but late at night, if you're not careful, you can hear a man screaming for help and laughing maniacally as he realizes his fate."
"Alright, so one of us has to go to Harbor Beach to recreate the shark attack scene and the other has to stay here and recreate the factory scene," Wendy said.
"Not quite," Middleman said. "Remember, the two scenes themselves are mixed up. Whoever stays here at the factory has to recreate the shark attack, and the person at Harbor Beach has to recreate the Factory fire. It's odd, I know, but since when were the forces of supernatural ever SANE?" he said. "Now, since Eloise Hart was a female, the supernatural forces will probably recognize another female better than a male, so you'd better go to Harbor Beach, Dubbie. I hate leaving you alone, but I have to be here to do my part."
"Alright, let's get this going then. I'm ready to go back to my cuddlebuddy and the joys of passing out, hallucinating vividly and waking up not remembering a thing."
"You'll get to your drugs fast enough," Ida said with a smirk. "You can wait an hour to puff the magic dragon."
"I'm off," Wendy called, rushing to the Middlemobile. "I'll radio you when I get there."
"Wendy, it's important that we do it at the same moment! Don't forget to radio me!" Middleman called, hovering around the entrance of the building. Wendy drove off in the Middlemobile, pressing her foot to the gas to get going. As she drove, she wondered how her relationship with Tyler was going. She thought it was good, but lately, every time they were together, Tyler was more and more clingy. He got annoyed at the littlest things, too. He was really getting on her nerves with getting upset every time she forgot to put the dishes in the sink, or she had to leave in the middle of dinner for a mission. She was patient with his job, she didn't understand why he couldn't be a little more patient with hers. He explained it away most of the time as just job stress, or that he wasn't feeling good but she had a feeling there was more to it than that. She loved him though, very much. Other than random arguments, they were good together. Tyler was a great guy.
"Okay boss, I've just gotten to Harbor Beach," Wendy said into her watch, arriving at her destination. "Send me the coordinates of where I'm supposed to be going."
"Get your wetsuit on," Middleman said to her. "But don't put in a breathing apparatus. If I know ghostly apparitions, as soon as you hit the water, it'll look like you're inside the factory."
"I see," Wendy said. "Alright, I'm heading for the water now," she said, after donning her wetsuit. She couldn't wait to get this all over with and get back to being with Tyler in his warm, cosy bed. Even if she would be having to get up for work in just a few hours.
"I'm in the water," Wendy called. It was freezing and she was glad for the wetsuit, even if it was only shorts and mid-length sleeves. "Okay, going in, Boss!" She called.
She dove under the water and all the sudden she was inside the factory again, only this time it was dry, except for the presence of flames all around her on three sides. She was on the ground level, blocked from going out the front entrance. "I'm inside!" she called to her boss. She realized he couldn't respond, as he was under water. Wendy walked towards the stairs, which were only a few feet away. Knowing she was under water made everything slightly surreal as she reached the third floor, wondering what she was supposed to do now. Just then, she heard a horrific crunching noise and realized the fourth floor was about to collapse on top of her. She panicked for a moment, wondering if she'd have to die to rescue a lousy ghost, but just as the floor came down upon her, she blinked and was standing outside the Tractor Factory again, holding a purse.
"I guess I'm safe then," Wendy shrugged and grinned. She had to sit on the steps outside the door, waiting for Middleman to come get her since he was probably at Harbor Beach, with the Middlemobile. The police and firemen were scratching their heads in confusion at the disappearance of the fire but Middleman would probably explain it away as being put out by the rain that had begun to fall. As soon as Middleman arrived and sorted the situation out, they left and Wendy had him drop her back off at Tyler's apartment and was given the day off to catch up on sleep.
Tyler's Apartment
Bedtime. Again.
5:14 AM
"I'm back," Wendy said, coming inside. It was bright and Tyler was cooking breakfast. "How about you feed me and then we go back to bed for the rest of the day," she grinned. "Bossman gave me the day off."
"Oh, what happened then?" Tyler asked. "Because I kind of think it must have been important if your boss had to page you at two am. Is he okay?"
"Um...these super important documents got mixed up and we have to turn them in today and it was imperative to sort them out."
"So your boss called you. At two am. To sort out documents?" Tyler sounded incredulous. "That sounds crazy, Wendy. I know you work as some kind of international attache but seriously? I'm starting to feel like there's stuff you're lying about."
"I'm not," Wendy said quickly, looking away, at the table.
"That's the thing, you say that but I can't ever feel like I can trust you. Sometimes...sometimes Wendy Watson, I think I love you but other times...I think I'm more in love with the idea of loving you." Wendy's stomach bottomed out.
"What?" She whispered, moving to grasp at the kitchen table.
"Wendy..I love you a lot. But sometimes I start thinking about how you always put job ahead of boyfriend, ahead of life, your job IS your life sometimes. And I don't know, maybe it's me too," Tyler turned from the stove, turning the heat off to look at Wendy as he spoke. He blushed and fidgeted with his hands and Wendy wanted to go hug him but she couldn't make her legs move. "I mean, I think part of this is my problem, but regardless...I don't think we're really doing so well together, I think we need a little space. I mean, I could lie and pretend that I'm fine, that everything is fine, but that's not who I am. I don't want to hurt you but I think you could only love me if I knew how to lie."
"What?" Wendy asked, feeling too tired and unfocused to deal with this right now. She wanted to yell at Tyler to shut up and stop having drama when she was dumb with need for sleep and making her freak and panic and wonder if this was the end of something truly glorious that she never thought she'd have and she wanted to slap him or cry to regain some form of control over things.
"Wendy, I just think we're...not really working." Tyler said softly. "I'm sorry." Wendy grabbed her bag from under the table, moving on jelly legs to the door.
"Send my stuff back with Noser. He'll come by later to get it," Wendy said, starting to cry. Tyler looked like he wanted to reach for her but he continued standing by the stove, making her sob harder. It was over, it was over between them. It was over. She kept repeating it in her head, trying to make sense of it, trying to make it real or maybe unreal with repetition. She said it so often, it lost all sense of meaning. She kept crying, hoping he'd come after her and apologize and say he would work harder at accepting that her job was high maintenance and not being so demanding of perfection from her. When it didn't happen, she stood out in the rain, feeling like she was going to collapse. She needed someone to get her, so she wouldn't have to navigate the bus.
"Boss?" she pressed a button on her Middlewatch, crying too hard to be coherent when he came on and asked what was wrong. He was at headquarters and she could hear Ida in the background, making some sort of snide comment about how she'd just gotten dumped and Middleman said to say no more that he was on his way and Wendy stood outside Tyler's apartment, leaning against the cold brick, crying and wishing she'd never gotten out of bed that morning. Her nose was stuffy and the tears were making her face colder in the cold air. She breathed in and out, trying to stop crying. She was practically a soldier for pete's sake, this was not the time to have a break down. She tried to get herself together, to think it through rationally. It didn't work though, she kept replaying the scene over and over in her head, trying to figure out how she could have made the outcome a little different. Middleman finally arrived in the Middlemobile and Wendy climbed in, burying her face in her hands and trying to get herself together in front of her boss. He didn't say anything though, or try to comfort her, he just drove her back to her apartment.
"Great Barrier Reef, Dubbie!" Middleman gave a soft exclaimation. "We need to go inside and investigate."
"Fine by me, the sooner we get this over, the sooner I can go back to bed," Wendy said. She pulled out her BTROS scanner and started scanning the building, waiting for her boss to join in.
"Dubbie, I think we will have to go inside for that to work," he said gently. She looked embarassed and hurried inside the building, ignoring the fact that she wasn't wearing a protective fire suit. Middleman followed, pulling her back before she got all the way in.
"Safety first, Dubbie!" he exclaimed. "Go put on a fire suit, it's in the trunk of the Middlemobile. I'll be there in a second, I just want to run something past Ida first." Wendy walked over to the Middlemobile, donning firepants, boots, and the heavy firejacket before pulling on a helmet last, to cover her head and in a moment, Middleman came over and did so as well. They walked towards the building, which seemed to be alive with fire, there was no heat though, and it wasn't burning the building down. Curious, Wendy thought.
The entered the building, Wendy right behind Middleman and as they did so, everything in front of them changed, they were in water the second they stepped in the building and Wendy gasped, struggling to stay afloat. Her heavy gear weighed her down tremendously and she thrashed, trying not to drown in the heavy equipment. As she dipped below the water she could see a shark that was mere feet away. Trying not to panic, she turned herself around, making for the door she'd come in from. With several heavy lunges and a desperate dog paddle, Wendy finally walked through the door, feeling much, much more light-weight all the sudden. She was out of the water, back on the grey-black pavement and dry as a bone. Middleman came out behind her, looking grim but unpanicked.
"Great Caesar's Ghost, Dubbie...I've seen this before. There's been a mixup here. It appears that there are two ghostly apparitions here, but somehow both are mixed up with each other. I talked to Ida and she's researching the local ghostly legends about this area, trying to come up with a factory fire and a shark attack. Corporeal Physics dictates that a ghost scene must never repeat more than once a night. If that happens, their ghost can get switched with the next nearest ghost scene, which is the one that happened nearest the time the original accident took place. If two accidents happened at the same moment, not only do the ghosts get switched but the scenes get mixed up as well. It takes a recreation of each scene to seperate each and restore the ghost's spirit to the earth, where it can then reach the afterlife. The ghosts are now in a state of limbo, Dubbie. If we don't act out the scenes FOR our ghosts, they'll get trapped in Limbo forever, and their ghostly scenes will never finish, causing them to replay over and over for the rest of eternity, putting others who encounter them in danger of a similar fate."
"Well, I guess we'd better find a factory fire and a shark attack then," Wendy shrugged. "Ida, did you find anything?" she asked into her watch.
"I'm sure you inhale the ghost all the time, McStoner. This should be fun for you. So, April 10, 1948, at 11:13pm, there was a fire at the Weyman Baby Carriage Factory. The factory owner Frank Weyman, and one of the employees, Eloise Hart were lovers, and he confided in her that night that he was going to burn down the factory and collect the insurance money. As they left, Eloise realized she forgot her purse. Mr. Weyman had already started the fire but she promised she would be in and out within a second. According to legend, the fire took off faster than either had anticipated, and it spread quickly, trapping her and cutting her off from being able to leave. She tried to get to the roof, to await firemen for rescue, but by the time she reached the third floor, the entire building was on fire and she was trapped when the fourth floor collapsed on her. They say her ghost haunts the third floor of the new factory, and sometimes late at night, people see the building on fire and they can hear a woman screaming for help, and laughing maniacally as she realizes her fate. There's nothing there though, when the firemen come to put out the fire."
"And what about the shark attack?" Middleman asked, leaning over Wendy's shoulder to look at Ida in the watch face.
"I'm getting to that," Ida snapped. "Cool your jets, Boss. April 10, 1948, also at 11:13pm, Richard Lockley was out for a night swim, twelve miles away, at Harbor Beach. He was a writer, so the legends say, and he used to swim every night around this time to clear his head for the next deadline. This particular night was a little windier than most and there was a particularly large riptide out there and as he tried to swim to shore he was sucked far out, where there was a group of sharks who attacked. He was never seen again, but late at night, if you're not careful, you can hear a man screaming for help and laughing maniacally as he realizes his fate."
"Alright, so one of us has to go to Harbor Beach to recreate the shark attack scene and the other has to stay here and recreate the factory scene," Wendy said.
"Not quite," Middleman said. "Remember, the two scenes themselves are mixed up. Whoever stays here at the factory has to recreate the shark attack, and the person at Harbor Beach has to recreate the Factory fire. It's odd, I know, but since when were the forces of supernatural ever SANE?" he said. "Now, since Eloise Hart was a female, the supernatural forces will probably recognize another female better than a male, so you'd better go to Harbor Beach, Dubbie. I hate leaving you alone, but I have to be here to do my part."
"Alright, let's get this going then. I'm ready to go back to my cuddlebuddy and the joys of passing out, hallucinating vividly and waking up not remembering a thing."
"You'll get to your drugs fast enough," Ida said with a smirk. "You can wait an hour to puff the magic dragon."
"I'm off," Wendy called, rushing to the Middlemobile. "I'll radio you when I get there."
"Wendy, it's important that we do it at the same moment! Don't forget to radio me!" Middleman called, hovering around the entrance of the building. Wendy drove off in the Middlemobile, pressing her foot to the gas to get going. As she drove, she wondered how her relationship with Tyler was going. She thought it was good, but lately, every time they were together, Tyler was more and more clingy. He got annoyed at the littlest things, too. He was really getting on her nerves with getting upset every time she forgot to put the dishes in the sink, or she had to leave in the middle of dinner for a mission. She was patient with his job, she didn't understand why he couldn't be a little more patient with hers. He explained it away most of the time as just job stress, or that he wasn't feeling good but she had a feeling there was more to it than that. She loved him though, very much. Other than random arguments, they were good together. Tyler was a great guy.
"Okay boss, I've just gotten to Harbor Beach," Wendy said into her watch, arriving at her destination. "Send me the coordinates of where I'm supposed to be going."
"Get your wetsuit on," Middleman said to her. "But don't put in a breathing apparatus. If I know ghostly apparitions, as soon as you hit the water, it'll look like you're inside the factory."
"I see," Wendy said. "Alright, I'm heading for the water now," she said, after donning her wetsuit. She couldn't wait to get this all over with and get back to being with Tyler in his warm, cosy bed. Even if she would be having to get up for work in just a few hours.
"I'm in the water," Wendy called. It was freezing and she was glad for the wetsuit, even if it was only shorts and mid-length sleeves. "Okay, going in, Boss!" She called.
She dove under the water and all the sudden she was inside the factory again, only this time it was dry, except for the presence of flames all around her on three sides. She was on the ground level, blocked from going out the front entrance. "I'm inside!" she called to her boss. She realized he couldn't respond, as he was under water. Wendy walked towards the stairs, which were only a few feet away. Knowing she was under water made everything slightly surreal as she reached the third floor, wondering what she was supposed to do now. Just then, she heard a horrific crunching noise and realized the fourth floor was about to collapse on top of her. She panicked for a moment, wondering if she'd have to die to rescue a lousy ghost, but just as the floor came down upon her, she blinked and was standing outside the Tractor Factory again, holding a purse.
"I guess I'm safe then," Wendy shrugged and grinned. She had to sit on the steps outside the door, waiting for Middleman to come get her since he was probably at Harbor Beach, with the Middlemobile. The police and firemen were scratching their heads in confusion at the disappearance of the fire but Middleman would probably explain it away as being put out by the rain that had begun to fall. As soon as Middleman arrived and sorted the situation out, they left and Wendy had him drop her back off at Tyler's apartment and was given the day off to catch up on sleep.
Tyler's Apartment
Bedtime. Again.
5:14 AM
"I'm back," Wendy said, coming inside. It was bright and Tyler was cooking breakfast. "How about you feed me and then we go back to bed for the rest of the day," she grinned. "Bossman gave me the day off."
"Oh, what happened then?" Tyler asked. "Because I kind of think it must have been important if your boss had to page you at two am. Is he okay?"
"Um...these super important documents got mixed up and we have to turn them in today and it was imperative to sort them out."
"So your boss called you. At two am. To sort out documents?" Tyler sounded incredulous. "That sounds crazy, Wendy. I know you work as some kind of international attache but seriously? I'm starting to feel like there's stuff you're lying about."
"I'm not," Wendy said quickly, looking away, at the table.
"That's the thing, you say that but I can't ever feel like I can trust you. Sometimes...sometimes Wendy Watson, I think I love you but other times...I think I'm more in love with the idea of loving you." Wendy's stomach bottomed out.
"What?" She whispered, moving to grasp at the kitchen table.
"Wendy..I love you a lot. But sometimes I start thinking about how you always put job ahead of boyfriend, ahead of life, your job IS your life sometimes. And I don't know, maybe it's me too," Tyler turned from the stove, turning the heat off to look at Wendy as he spoke. He blushed and fidgeted with his hands and Wendy wanted to go hug him but she couldn't make her legs move. "I mean, I think part of this is my problem, but regardless...I don't think we're really doing so well together, I think we need a little space. I mean, I could lie and pretend that I'm fine, that everything is fine, but that's not who I am. I don't want to hurt you but I think you could only love me if I knew how to lie."
"What?" Wendy asked, feeling too tired and unfocused to deal with this right now. She wanted to yell at Tyler to shut up and stop having drama when she was dumb with need for sleep and making her freak and panic and wonder if this was the end of something truly glorious that she never thought she'd have and she wanted to slap him or cry to regain some form of control over things.
"Wendy, I just think we're...not really working." Tyler said softly. "I'm sorry." Wendy grabbed her bag from under the table, moving on jelly legs to the door.
"Send my stuff back with Noser. He'll come by later to get it," Wendy said, starting to cry. Tyler looked like he wanted to reach for her but he continued standing by the stove, making her sob harder. It was over, it was over between them. It was over. She kept repeating it in her head, trying to make sense of it, trying to make it real or maybe unreal with repetition. She said it so often, it lost all sense of meaning. She kept crying, hoping he'd come after her and apologize and say he would work harder at accepting that her job was high maintenance and not being so demanding of perfection from her. When it didn't happen, she stood out in the rain, feeling like she was going to collapse. She needed someone to get her, so she wouldn't have to navigate the bus.
"Boss?" she pressed a button on her Middlewatch, crying too hard to be coherent when he came on and asked what was wrong. He was at headquarters and she could hear Ida in the background, making some sort of snide comment about how she'd just gotten dumped and Middleman said to say no more that he was on his way and Wendy stood outside Tyler's apartment, leaning against the cold brick, crying and wishing she'd never gotten out of bed that morning. Her nose was stuffy and the tears were making her face colder in the cold air. She breathed in and out, trying to stop crying. She was practically a soldier for pete's sake, this was not the time to have a break down. She tried to get herself together, to think it through rationally. It didn't work though, she kept replaying the scene over and over in her head, trying to figure out how she could have made the outcome a little different. Middleman finally arrived in the Middlemobile and Wendy climbed in, burying her face in her hands and trying to get herself together in front of her boss. He didn't say anything though, or try to comfort her, he just drove her back to her apartment.
- Location:Tyler's apartment, Middleheadquarters, Factory
- Music:She Had the World by Panic! At the Disco
The Illegal Sublet Wendy Shares With Another Young, Photogenic Artist
Introspection. And coffee.
7:15 in the PM
Wendy sipped her mug of coffee, holding a brand new green leather journal in her lap with her free hand, balancing it and just thinking. It had been cathartic to paint what was in her head, but she also wanted to keep a record of things because she had a feeling it was going to be awesome to look back later and see all the crazy things that had happened to her with her new job. It was amazing, totally and completely amazing how much she absolutely looked forward to her new job. It was the first time she'd felt that way, ever. She hadn't expected what had happened though. Not by a long shot. Setting the mug down on her bedside table, Wendy pulled the journal open, grabbing for the pen she'd brought with her and set on her bed earlier, starting to write.
Holy New Job, Batman!
So, I got a job today. Not the average, every day kind of job but something totally once-in-a-lifetime. No one can find this journal or I'm going to get in serious trouble, but here it goes. I totally went to this trippy place called the Jolly Fats Wehawkin Temp Agency yesterday, expecting to get another lame temp job. Instead...I'm kind of a secret agent. Freaky, right? Well, here's what happened, basically I got there and this smarmy old lady had me take some wacky tests (which some I bet are kind of illegal for temps to take I bet) and at the end, I met that guy again, that mysteriously weird guy who showed up at my other job and framed me for arson. He offered me a job with their agency, which I forgot to ask the name of the guys we work for, but I'll find that out later.
So anyway, I turned him down cos I was totally tripped out. The smarmy old lady turned out to be an android and the guy turned out to be The Middleman, a secret agent guy that fights crime and saves the day and shit for weird and exotic problems. Like aliens, monsters, androids, mad scientists, etc. Anyway, I ended up deciding to take him up on the offer after my BOYFRIEND decided to break up with me for a MOVIE for his class! How *beep* is that? So I went down to the 'crime scene' where the Middleman was checking things out and got involved in helping solve a crime. It turns out that Simionics Labs (yes, the one I almost got a job at!) was doing genetic experimentation on apes, making them genetically enhanced and this one cranky scientist was twisting it for her own personal gain by making them commit mob crimes to rake in dough for her lab funding. It was one heck of a mess, as Middleman would say.
I'm glad I met him though, I just have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy working with him. He's like the epitome of Dudley Do-right'edness though. All 'gosh, golly, gee and ma'am'. It's kind of weird, to be honest. Anyway, that's all for now.
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Holy Clay Barf, Batman!
Well, today I took on a Terra Cotta Warrior at my new job, met reformed Succubi and got clay all over me twice in one day. Lacey and I had a fight too. The other morning at 4am, I had to bail her out of jail for her naked protest against a sushi restaurant. She turned around and got a job with one of the reformed Succubi. Well, the reformed succubus, Roxy Wasserman. She apparently works as a fashion mogul now. Weird, huh? Fashion and succubi, who'd have thunk?
Anyway, so apparently this old man wanted to awaken a terra cotta warrior in his restaurant and bring 1000 years of fire to rain down upon earth. Why? I don't know, he was crazy. He got swallowed by clay muck though, so it sucks to be him! Anyway, it turns out that we had to rescue the last heir to the Ching dynasty, who turned out to be a whiter-than-white nine year old boy, (weird story, apparently his mom had an affair in China, I felt kinda bad for the kid but the dad totally deserved it for being a jerk!) and we almost had him safe but then he got kidnapped and we had to go to the Underworld to rescue him and it turns out my boss DOES have a sense of humor. I almost found out about my dad, too but...I had to help Middleman and the Heir, it was not to be.
So anyway, I was freaking out thinking that one of Roxy Wasserman's succubi was going after Lacey but he turned out to be a decently reformed nice guy who helped her distribute the fur coats she liberated to the homeless. I guess I'll just have to forgive him. Still keeping an eye on him though. Lacey and I made up and all is right with the world. All for now. Later days.
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Holy Bad Tempered Asian Men, Batman
So today, Sensei Ping came in to train me. He's a highly skilled martial artist trainer who trains all the Middlemen in training. I almost blew it though, as my boss pointed out "Was the best way to deal with a cranky Asian man who's just come off of an international flight really to bring up the three things I specifically told you NOT to bring up?" Yeah, I went there. My Latina temper can get the better of me sometimes, okay! Besides, he kept smacking me. But my stupid temper got us all in hot water when some Lucha Libre guys kidnapped him and I had to take a job (Lacey's job actually, but that's a story for another day. Or a rant) at The Booty Chest. Yes, the pirate-themed sports bar with the scantily clad waitresses, to try to resolve the situation.
I got into a fight with the Lucha Libres and ended up getting my potential new boyfriend knocked out and stricken with two day amnesia. Just great. That seems to be my luck with guys lately. His name is Tyler and he's soooo cute and I want to cuddle like bunnies with him. He even fixed the Hrug! So I jetted off to South America on a fighter jet (there were 2 things Dad gave me before he disappeared under mysterious and, as of yet unexplained circumstances. His lucky zippo and the ability to fly any crate with wings and an engine) and tried to rescue Sensei Ping and Boss. Boss was impressive, he fought and knocked out 75 Lucha Libre wrestlers but he was getting the *beep* kicked out of him when I came. I was so glad to see him too, I can't explain it but I feel like he's becoming a friend in my life, not just my boss. Anyway, I freed Sensei Ping from the Cage of Light he was imprisoned in and he fought ALL the Lucha Libre wrestlers. Super impressive, in my opinion. He used the Wuhan Thumb of Death on the ring-leader to settle an old score and we all go the heck out of there.
So I'm not sure what the next exciting adventure will be, but at least now Sensei Ping is impressed by me, and not mad anymore. Maybe a little. Anyway, later days.
----------------------
Holy Psychotic Psychotherapists, Batman!
So it turns out Dr. Gil, TV Therapist, is a huge fake! I knew it, I knew it! Okay, I'll back up a little. Anyway, so I've been apparently 'down' about the whole Ben break-up, according to Lacey (where does she get these ideas??) and she wanted to cheer me up, especially after the video the dirk made of our break-up was posted to the internet (By the sleezy scumbucket himself) and EVERYONE saw it. I was okay though, I mean, he was a dirk, we all knew it, I got over him. Okay, maybe I felt a LITTLE used but I can't help that, and seriously, no one believed me when I said I was FINE. Lacey even got Noser to come to my WORK to try to cheer me up. And what's worse...my boss put training wheels on my gun today! He didn't trust me because of the whole Ben-thing (did I mention Ben turned the video into a MOVIE deal? The scumbucket has business sense, I'll give him that...) It hurt more than anything that Bossman wouldn't trust me. That he didn't trust me to be okay.
Anyway I probably deserved it though, I was about to shoot the good guys, essentially. I didn't know that though. It turns out that these aliens were living on our planet, called Mannacoids, and they looked like humans with too much plastic surgery. They were getting kidnapped and returned a few minutes later, headless. We tracked the source of the signal that was kidnapping them and it turned out to be Dr. Gil! That man is seriously *beep*'d up. He hunts Mannacoids for sport. He kidnapped me and I freaked out and I got so mad, I was like "This is just perfect! The perfect ending to a perfect day!" On the plus side, I managed to get Dr. Gil distracted because he can't resist helping someone 'in need' while I waited for Bossman to get my back.
Lacey had a heart attack when the news revealed that Dr. Gil was a cruel 'animal' hunter, so I guess that's the end of Dr. Gil for a while. I'm glad, because I really am okay, no joke and no lie. I can't stand Ben now that I know how much of a dirk he is. I'm so not dating another dirk ever again. That was my last one, after the whole Tommy debacle I thought I was done with Dirks but along came Ben. I'm going to have to reevaluate who I attract, here. Anyway, later days.
----------------------
Holy Art Crawl, Batman!
So I almost missed Art Crawl because of my job. It's starting to get hard, balancing being a secret agent with having a social life and some best friends that would have been really hurt if I didn't manage to make it to Art Crawl. I mean, on one hand there's Zombies! In real life! On the other, there was the fact that Lacey and I had been planning and looking forward to Art Crawl for ages! And I almost missed Lacey's confrontational spoken word piece about the city. I wish I could have taken back some of the time that I took away from my friends to devote to my job, but I also really love my job. It felt especially bad because I accidentally bitched about my mom to Lacey, whose own mother, Dr. Barbara Thornfield MD, Ph.D, hasn't spoken to her daughter except once a year and only to rationalize missing her daughter's birthday. I convinced Lacey to call her, though, and she actually managed to get through! Sort of. Her mom's PA answered but she promised to come. Unfortunately something came up. I feel bad for Lacey. I'm going to try to appreciate my crazy Latina mom a little more I think.
I should have stayed at Art Crawl, I would have, but I'm just very conflicted. It was bad enough that Dr. Barbara Thornfield, MD, PhD. couldn't come, but her best friend deserted her as well. At least I had a good excuse, Bossman and I had to tackle a crazy idiot who was trying to poison the world through !!!! energy drink and turn them all into Zombies and take it over. It was cool, but crazy. I have to choose between my job and my friends sometimes, which is Not Cool.
The sucky part of the mission though, was that Bossman and I were having a silly little feud about the fact that I'm Sensei Ping's new favorite apprentice. It hurt for some reason, to fight with Bossman. Probably because I'm getting really close to him now, and we're starting to actually be friends. At least we got over it when I accidentally killed our Flying Fish specimen. I did manage to help though, when we figured out that there were more fish in the warehouse which led us to find the crazy man who was trying to take over the world. Bossman and I made up afterwards and all is good again. All for now, later days!
-----------------------
Holy Preteens, Batman!
The sucky part of the mission though, was that Bossman and I were having a silly little feud about the fact that I'm Sensei Ping's new favorite apprentice. It hurt for some reason, to fight with Bossman. Probably because I'm getting really close to him now, and we're starting to actually be friends. At least we got over it when I accidentally killed our Flying Fish specimen. I did manage to help though, when we figured out that there were more fish in the warehouse which led us to find the crazy man who was trying to take over the world. Bossman and I made up afterwards and all is good again. All for now, later days!
-----------------------
Holy Preteens, Batman!
I should have stayed home. Or seriously reconsider my position on having children. First we found these random black holes everywhere, one even had a duck stuck inside! Half-way through. It was totally trippy. Then we found out that the boy band, Varsity Fanclub, is in fact five evil dictator aliens from another planet, exiled to earth and bent on returning to their home planet to take over again. We also found a really potty-mouthed preteen brat who turned out to be in disguise. She was really a rebel soldier from the aliens' home planet, sent to defeat their evil scheme. Unfortunately, what she needed was something that if she got a hold of it, would kill Ida. I don't much care for that cranky librarian Android but...I couldn't help feeling majorly bummed anyway when I found out that was the only way to stop the aliens from succeeding in their dastardly scheme. Listen to me, I sound like a comic book character.
I mean, Ida isn't very nice to me. She thinks I'm a stoner for some reason. (I tested negative in the drug screens, why does she think this? It's beyond me). And she thinks I'm a sorry excuse for a Middle-trainee. But, there's something about our little three-person (two people and an Android?) team that wouldn't function as well without one of the parts. It's like a three-legged stool, the stool can't stand if there are only two legs. Remove one and the whole thing falls over. I mean, I guess I wouldn't want to work with anyone else, even if that is weird to admit. She's as part of the Middle-team as Boss and I are, and she REALLY runs things, more or less. Sure she's hooked on online mahjong, sometimes callous and more interested in calling me a pothead than knowing me, but I kinda care about her anyway. Eh, yes she's an Android but that doesn't make her any less of a real person to me. I guess. I sound sentimental and sappy today, I blame Bossman. I think he would miss her as much as I would though, she's kinda like a cranky second mom to us or something.
It's weird how attached to this job I'm getting. It used to just be that I worked to pass the time, to pay the bills and to occupy myself to keep myself from sheer boredom and mind-rot. But this job is different, I mean, something happened that surprised me. Pip tried to plagiarize my art. I was furious and hurt and upset and angry of course, and Bossman was even moreso, which was REALLY sweet of him, and I didn't know how to fix the situation so I was just going to let Pip get away with it, get away with stealing a part of my soul. And you know why? It's terrible but I was going to let him because deep down I knew that even if I couldn't have my art anymore, even if I couldn't be successful as an artist and famous and stuff, I still had this job. I still had Bossman and even Ida. I really love my art, and I'm glad that Pip got his comeuppance with the whole Truth Bomb thing but at the same time, I'm grateful to have this opportunity available as well. Ahh...I'm getting so mushy tonight. Anyway, later days.
-----------------------
Holy Heart of the Ocean, Batman!
My job sometimes puts my friends in danger. Which bothers me a LOT. I mean, more than I can even express. I wouldn't mind as much if it wasn't MORTAL PERIL though. Like yesterday, I totally could have lost both Lacey AND Noser, because they insisted on going to this fancy party on board a yacht where Bossman and I had a mission, to try to stop this insane immortal dude who was going to condemn the entire ship into recreating the night the Titanic sank in the icy waters of the North Atlantic, with his cursed tuba. I tried to get Lacey and Noser to safety but they refused to listen, they thought I just didn't want them around while I did my job, which wasn't true at all.
And if having them in danger wasn't bad enough, I found out that Lacey and Bossman have been on dates behind my back. I feel vaguely angry and betrayed. I don't want Lacey dating Bossman, though I managed to suck it up and tell him that if he wanted to see her, I would be cool with it. The thing was though, he said he wasn't going to, that he had made a choice for himself which would lead to a different path for him. I feel bad for him, I mean, his life is not an easy choice. He literally puts everything ahead of his duties as Middleman, including a social or personal life. I admire that he's so dedicated to the fight for justice, I just wish he could also be happy, and not as lonely as he's got to be. Just not with Lacey though. I don't know why, but I just don't like seeing them together. I can't explain it, but I think that things would get hard for both of them if that was to be the case. Anyway, that's all for now, later days.
-----------------------
Holy Omega Theta Nu, Batman!
So, this has been an overall freakish day, but good I think. Tyler came by this morning, to Middleheadquarters but Ida chased him off because we don't want him to find out about us because of his two-day amnesia. I really like Tyler, so I was happy that I saw him later that day. The not cool part though, was that he remembered a girl from his day at The Booty Chest, the pirate-themed sports bar with the scantily clad waitresses. One of the scantily clad waitresses was Lacey, and he put two and two together and thought she was his Soulmate. It almost killed me, I swear. I like him sooo much and it was frustrating that he and Lacey were so cutesy happy together.
Anyway, so I got sent undercover to investigate this freaky-*beep* ghost thing at the Omega Theta Nu sorority house, at the local university. I met a really nice girl who kind of helped me with the Lacey-Tyler problem and Tyler ended up admitting that he remembered me too, that day, or rather that he has strong feelings of good things when he's around me. Yay, that's all I can say. Yay. Just yay. Of course, things got really freakish and bad when the creepy girl who'd infiltrated Omega Theta Nu turned out to be a mad scientist type who was bent on destroying the Greek System and then trying to take over the world. And she took over Bossman's body. That was weird as all, fighting Bossman who wasn't really Bossman. I was kind of scared, I'll admit, that she was going to succeed and destroy Bossman's body.
After it was all over, Bossman and I sat around in the locker room, recapping the events of the day, and it felt like we had formed a true comraderie, that we were 'buds' as well as Boss-employee and as well as friends. It's weird how he means so much to me now. I don't know, I can't get used to having him so close, he's all Old-Fashioned and uptight and conservative to my thoughtless, youthful, liberal self. We're sort of opposites, but we're also really really close. I feel like I can tell him so much, which is cool, in a way. He's the first guy I've felt that way about besides Noser. Not that I have 'feelings' for him. I really, really like Tyler, but it's cool having other really super duper close guy friends.
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Holy Close Calls, Batman!
I'm still kind of in shock as I write this. I came SO close to losing Bossman today. It seems like we spend so much time saving the world and stuff and we're always in danger and we come close to death, but never THIS close. This is the first time today that it hit me. I could lose Bossman forever. He's like a part of my family now, and its crazy how much that hurt, that I came so close to just losing him.
See, there was this crime, it resembled an old case from a former Middleman and it turns out that that Middleman had himself cryogenically frozen, with instructions to come back if this criminal turns out to be the former Middleman's arch nemesis. It was so weird, meeting a former Middleman. I definitely prefer MY Middleman (Er...the current Middleman that is). He was really rude, bossy and lewd. He tried to seduce Lacey and he tried to get me to go against Bossman. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part is that he turned out to be an old coward. He staged the whole thing, once he was unfrozen, to try to make it look like he was right and Bossman was wrong. But he did the right thing in the end and sacrificed himself for Bossman and that made up for a lot of what happened. I'm just glad to have Bossman still around to give me orders like we're soldiers in a war. Which in a way, I guess we kind of are.
He even gave me better advice than 69 did, when I was worried about my relationship with Tyler. See, my secret mutant power wasn't working, I didn't have one of my normal visions which told me in a vague way, how the relationship would end. 69 told me that I should give Tyler up because I'm inherently putting our relationship second to my life as a Middleman (Middlegirl...person...) and he'd always be in danger, or in the dark, or my identity as a Middleperson would be in danger. I was worried until Bossman pointed out that I didn't have to do that, that I could have both and I should have both, if that's what makes me happy. That even if he's alone, its by choice. I wonder why he's alone by choice. I mean, it seems like he really likes Lacey. I wish I could try to be happy for the two of them, I should try to get them to be together, to see that they could be happy together. Anyway, that's all for now, later days!
--------------------------
Holy Carpathian Holy Wood, Batman!
Oh my gosh, today was freaky. It started out boring, we just went to an auction to buy a ton of old vampire artifacts which were owned by Vlad the Impaler but it took a nasty turn when the last item up for bid turned out to be a puppet version of Vlad, which took posession of the Auctioneer, and made its way to the downtown to the Ventriloquest convention. It turns out, by the way, that Noser is a world-famous Ventriloquist, since the age of nine. How odd! Pip and Lacey teamed up to find him which brought them to the convention at the worst time because it ended up that all little Vladdy needed to unleash the forces of darkness was his puppet-bride, Lizzy. And the freaky part of the day was when Vladdy forced Bossman and Lacey to don the puppets and get married in an evil ceremony of Doom. Fortunately I was able to stop them, with ironically, Noser's dummy. The universe gave me a hand in that, which was kind of cool, in a way.
I learned though, that Lacey isn't the only person that Bossman has feelings for. This is a curious situation, which requires further investigation I think. I want Bossman and Lacey to be happy though and its starting to seem that the only way for that to be possible is to help Bossman overcome whatever past he's got and get with Lacey, already. I mean, it's almost pathetic how much they CLEARLY like each other. What are we in high school? I think I need to enlist Noser's help somewhere in here and play matchmaker with them. They want to be together, it's just a matter of working away the barriers that make it difficult. There was that weirdness with Lacey and Pip though. She told me about the sexy dreams she'd been having about our resident Jerk-of all-trades-who-is-master-of-jerks. It was weird, bizarre and it made me uncomfortable, to be honest, but then they teamed up together to find Noser when he went missing, and Lacey confided in me that he turned out to be semi-slightly decent to her, though she said her dreams have stopped now, which is good. I really wonder what all is going on here. Anyway, later days!
------------------------
Holy Cheater-of-Death, Batman!
This feels surreal to write, but...I almost died today. I almost died. I was almost worm-chow. I came close to meeting the Grim Reaper. See, the Clotharians were pissy cos a probe of ours accidentally got sucked through a wormhole into their part of the Galaxy and spied on top secret goings-on. So they sent it back with a virus that infected Ida with nanobots that started taking her apart from the inside out, and were to detonate and cause an explosion that destroyed the city and spread the virus into the air, and would then destroy the world. Bossman and I had to get nakey-time with each other because at first we thought WE were contaminated when the container holding the virus exploded (All I'm going to say is that it's a good thing we have such physically demanding jobs that I could be a little less self-conscious about my body and didn't have to fear what I'd be subjected to with him). I got the unexpected joy (yeah, right...) of seeing Bossman's Code 46's, which are like, prerecorded final goodbyes as it were. It was really morbid, at first, but when I was THISCLOSE to death, I think I really understood the sentiment behind it.
Is it weird though, that the only person I thought of when I was stuck in Ida's brain, on the verge of death, was Bossman? I mean, I didn't think of Lacey or Noser or my mom or my dad or Tyler, even. The only person I was desperate to live for was Bossman. I needed to see him again, to hug him and reassure myself that it was just a stupid, bad dream or something. I think I'm just really connected to Bossman, now. I think I just consider him family, and probably part of the reason he was the only person I thought about was because I was on a mission, in the middle of my job, at headquarters. I thought of Tyler and Lacey and Noser and Mom and even Joe90 afterwards though. I even called my mom and thanked her for being my mom, and that threw her for a loop. Great, now she's going to think I'm a total headcase. Not that she didn't before, because she definitely thinks there's something wrong with me that I'm not married yet. No way, no thanks there. I'm pretty sure Tyler and I are a long way off from THAT. Anyway, before this turns into weird wedding fantasizing, I'm gonna end it here. Later days!
----------------------
Holy Alternate Universes, Batman!
Seriously, this one sounds like it's actually from the comic universe. I'm laughing right now, at that. I got sucked into another DIMENSION! How cool is that? It was freaky-creepy though, like some slightly less friendly version of 1984, I mean. Like, there were 'Manservant Neville Loves You" posters everywhere and everyone was all weird and opposite. Bossman was a curse-like-a-sailor, drink-like-a-fish biker dude, Ida was a slim, Barbie-doll looking plastic thing and Lacey danced for money in our apartment. Even Noser was creepy, a total hard-*beep* with a gun. The weirdest part though, was seeing Pip as a priest. I think I'm going to be laughing about that for a LONG time to come. I almost wet myself with laughter when I came home and thought about it. It turns out that I...I was the evil dictator though. My counterpart (because I can't quite bring myself to think of that person as...me, in any world), had taken over F.A.T.B.O.Y Industries and disposed of Manservant Neville and even killed Tyler (who had been the Middleboy in this universe). I'm so glad Tyler is alive though. Even if he might be turning into Tennis Bracelet Man.
There was only one thing that unsettled me, which was that I missed Bossman SO much. I mean, it was good to have him there, and he turned out to have some of MY Bossman's character in the end, when he helped me escape and get back to my own universe, but I still was a little disturbed by the lack of qualities I've come to know and appreciate in Bossman, like how he never swears, how he's ALWAYS ready to help those that need helping, and how he'd never make people pay to have his help either. I mean, he's a great guy, all around, and I was very glad I was able to get home safely and work with MY Bossman again.
Lately, things between Tyler and I have been getting weird ever since he took the job at F.A.T.B.O.Y Industries. We're both so secretive about our lives now. I mean, I know why I'm secretive, but what is Tyler hiding? He's going off in the middle of the night a lot, like me, jetting to foreign countries, living a different life than he normally has. I just have to trust him, I guess. We all have things that we want to keep quiet about ourselves and I don't want Tyler probing too deep into my job, so its probably for the best that I don't get all over him about his. Lacey pointed out too, that they went through the same thing when I started working for Bossman, so I should accept that things are going to be different now, with Tyler and I, in our relationship. So, anyway...later days I think!
--------------------
Holy Robin Hood, Batman!
I think my job is starting to skew my perception of the world. I mean, we had a situation today and compared to what I've been through lately, it seemed almost NORMAL! Seriously, my life has turned into a big Science Fiction Double Feature. See, this guy transported Robin Hood through time, to our day. And he made Robin Hood steal from the rich to give to the poor. But that's still theft, even if the idea behind it is decent, so we had to stop him and return Robin Hood to his own time. Robin Hood looked a lot like Westley, for some reason. But then, instead of cooperating, Robin Hood decided that he wanted to stay, and he tried to use the money he stole to send the other guy back instead, and alter history. Bossman and I managed to find a way to send him back, but Bossman was upset, I could tell. He thought of Robin Hood as a personal Hero, a man who fights for truth and justice against the corrupt men of the day, but when Robin Hood turned out to be kind of corrupt himself, Bossman was very hurt.
It turned out good though. See, Lacey accidentally met Robin Hood too, who she thought was a jerk from the start when he accidentally called her a wench. Even though we convinced her he was an actor playing the part of Robin Hood, she was still upset. So it was almost too perfect when he tried to kidnap her and force her to be his Maid Marian, and Bossman had to rescue her. He got to play the Knight in Shining Armor to her Damsel in Distress, which was probably quite enjoyable for both parties.
I found out later though, why he was so upset about the whole Robin Hood thing, and especially with Lacey's part in it...see, a long time ago he was engaged to a girl while he was still a Navy SEAL, and while he was out on duty one day, she got into a car accident and was killed. It was clear to me that he had trouble with this part of the story, he cried a little and said he'd never told any of his Middle-assistants in training about Nellie, and what had happened back then. He said that his job required him to be out saving the rest of the world and that he couldn't be around to protect the one person he had cared about the most, and we had a long conversation and I basically convinced him that even if he couldn't be around to protect Lacey from every danger out there, that I would be looking after her as well, and so would Noser and even Tyler. And that even if something happened, that he should know that everyone was looking out for her and that she would know that she was loved and that would be more important to Lacey than a long lifetime of being together, all she cares about is loving people and being loved in return. So...he officially asked her if he could court her, and she accepted. I'm REALLY happy for the both of them. Pretty much 100%. We'll see how everything turns out. Anyway, later days!
- Location:Sublet
- Music:Science Fiction Double Feature by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Chapter Two: I Will Survive
The Sublet of Benjamin "Ben" Stanley
A hot August morning
10:12 AM Happy Time
"Ogod, oooh yeah," Wendy moaned low in her throat, writhing around and arching her back. The massage was absolutely amazing, sheer brilliance.
"Alright, my turn." Wendy stopped moaning and growled.
"Ben! You barely did anything!" Wendy shoved him off her and glared at him. "That wasn't even ten minutes like you promised."
"Whatever, just do it Wendy. I'm tired, I don't want to deal with this today."
"I'll be right back," Wendy muttered. She crossed the room and grabbed the bottle of Shea Butter Lotion on the bedside table and brought it back to the bed and squirted some on her hand, pressing the palms together to warm it up. As she waited for Ben to lift his shirt, she thought about how nice it had been for them the last few weeks. They'd spent all the their time together since Wendy had lost her job at Coco Bakery, the time that Ben wasn't in class they were cuddling like bunnies or watching the Weather Channel or one of Wendy's huge library of Zombie movies. They ate whenever they wanted, read, listened to music...it was almost like being a married couple, except Wendy knew the fantasy would have to end someday, that she would have to get another job and that she'd have to go back to living at her own sublet soon.
"Wendy, I think you need to look for a job again," Ben said, startling her out of her musings.
"Huh?"
"It's been nice and all, but you're always here." he shrugged. "So you should try again to find a job. Go to that Temp agency that you were at last time. They'll probably have a good placement for you."
"Why are you being so weird lately?" Wendy asked, pulling away. "All week you've been moody, snotty and irritable. Are you PMSing?" she joked.
"Wendy," he said, shaking his head tiredly. "I'm tired of playing host to you. You've been here every day, day in and out and I just need some space, Wendy Watson."
"Uh..."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not like, breaking up with you, I just don't want to spend every waking moment with you."
"I see." Wendy said, grabbing her bookbag. "I'll leave then."
"Wendy...don't be mad with me," Ben said, smiling at her. "I'm just being honest with you."
"Thank you sooo much for that," Wendy said. "Because I know how mean that would have sounded if you hadn't been totally honest."
"Hey, no need for hostility," Ben sounded defensive and Wendy wanted to stalk off or slap him. She settled for letting out a sigh and turned to face her boyfriend.
"Look, Ben. I'll go out and try to find another job. I promise not to come back until I have another job, okay? That could take a few days or a week or so and by then I'm sure we'll have both had plenty of space. How does that sound?"
"That sounds...fair enough," Ben shrugged.
"Okay well I guess I'll be going then," Wendy said, moving towards the bedroom door.
"Alright," Ben smiled. "Buddy." He grasped her around the waist and pulled her slowly to him, kissing her cheek. "Mm, Buddy you taste good."
"You too Buddy," Wendy smiled and kissed him back, glad that for now, the argument was over. The weirdness had evaporated as well, which Wendy was very grateful for.
"I need to go," Ben pulled away again and gave her a weird smirk. "I have to get my camera from Luis at the library for film class."
"Oh, okay," Wendy said, feeling the weirdness again. "I'll leave then." She moved from the bedroom to the living room, heading for the door. "Bye!" she called. She heard a muffled bye in response and walked out the door and down the stairs, to her car. As she drove she wondered where she'd start looking. She was good at typing and being sarcastic especially, and at learning quickly. Lately though, she'd been getting placed at a lot of bakeries. She hoped she would be able to get a job at somewhere non-food related. Even working in the office of bakeries had still given her a strong aversion to icing and sugar cookies.
"I need to get changed," Wendy mumbled to herself, feeling sluggishly gross and grungy all over. She couldn't remember the last time she'd properly showered, shaved and changed in that order. Before she went back to her place though, she decided to stop off at Whole and Pure Foods and get a box of Fudge Pops for Lacey. Cacao flavored, lactose and gluten free, no sugar added fudge pops of course. She made a face, Wendy needed her chocolate. She couldn't eat Lacey's Fudge Pops, they were just too much like eating chocolate flavored icicles.
The Illegal Sublet Wendy Shares With Another Young, Photogenic Artist
A Hot, August Day
12:43 PM
"I need a shower," Wendy said to herself as the elevator stopped on her floor. She pushed the wooden bars open, spying her friend Noser hanging around the hallway.
"Hey Wendy Watson," he called, clutching his guitar.
"Hey Noser," Wendy said, smiling.
"Wendy, what have I done?"
"A lot of things you're not so proud of? Took a lot of turns that turned out wrong?"
"But I will survive." Noser smiled and Wendy grinned back at him and disappeared into her apartment. She and Noser got each other so well. Lacey was sitting at the kitchen table, hand painting a sign when Wendy came in and she glanced up and smiled at the fudge pops.
"Hey Dub-Dub," Lacey said. "I'm just making signs for the Polar Bear Protest. did you know our zoo is BORROWING polar bears from the Huntsfield Zoo? Transporting them as if they're CATTLE! It's the pinnacle of inhumanity!"
"Hey Lace," Wendy wished slightly she was back at Ben's. "I need to get a job."
"You should work at the zoo. Maybe if someone sane worked there we'd be dealing with a lot less insanity," Lacey complained.
"Right," Wendy disappeared into the bathroom, taking a quick shower to wash the stink of unemployment off her. She came out in a towel and pulled on a skirt, a button up shirt and a red tie and her least favorite ugly high heels, hoping she'd be able to find a job that would give her enough money to at least buy some not-so-ugly dress shoes. She was tired of going job-hunting but the sooner she got a job, the sooner she'd be able to see Ben again. She wished she could figure out why he was acting so weird though. At least she'd be able to pay to take them out again, instead of having Ben pay all the time. She hated how he used his father's money for everything, though she couldn't put her finger on why, exactly. It was nice that they didn't have to waste his rent money or her precious few last bucks at least. She ran a hand through her damp hair and tucked it behind her ears, placing her glasses neatly back on her face.
"How do I look?" Wendy asked, turning to face Lacey. She felt a strange sense of something like despair dig at her, internally. Her art had been suffering as well, she hadn't touched the canvas in a couple weeks. Living with Ben had turned her lazy, languid, content. She knew she needed a job to shake her life up a little and get herself out of the rut that unemployment brought, but she didn't want to take another temp job with another pointless, boring company and contribute little to the world of fine arts again because she was always too tired or too uninspired or too bored to work. It was a never-ending cycle sometimes. She was too bored, tired and uninspired when she was employed but she was too lazy and content with her laziness when she was unemployed. Lacey put the finishing touches on her sign and turned to look at Wendy.
"You look decent," Lacey said, cocking her head. "Normal. I don't know, was there some kind of look you were going for?"
"The "hire me, I'm smart, responsible and normal" look?" Wendy suggested.
"Yeah, seems fine to me. Though your hair is still kind of wet," Lacey pointed out. "You can use my hair dryer if you want."
"Thanks," Wendy said. "I thought you were against hair dryers. You said it did bad things to the environment."
"No, that was last week. I found out they don't cause any problems other than using a minimal amount of electricity. I'm aware of the power I use with my hair dryer and I only use it a small amount of time to prevent too much electricity going through the circuits."
"Riiight," Wendy shrugged and pulled the hair dryer out, drying her hair and trying to stop feeling nervous for some reason. It wasn't like she was going on any sort of life changing interviews or anything, she wasn't likely to get any kind of job like that now at least. She doubted she'd ever find a job that she liked as much as her art, especially not from a temp agency.
"Hey, I almost forgot!" Lacey called as she started on another sign. "Your mom called earlier in a frenzy about some cousin named Carmelita who just got engaged or something?"
"Oh god, she'll never stop freaking out!" Wendy wanted to cry. "Carmelita is nineteen, she was fat until last year and she didn't have a date until the day after she went to the doctor and found out she was pregnant with the son of her mother's gardener after their one night stand at the Halloween party. He skipped town after that so I don't know who she's marrying. I can see it now. 'Oh Wendy, Carmelita, she's fat and ugly and she's getting married, how come Carmelita find a man and you don't, you prettier than Carmelita has a baby, you don't have a baby Wendy, how come you don't find a man like her?' I am so not wanting this. Do not want." Wendy balled her hands into fists, wishing she could find a way to hide until after Carmelita's wedding.
"Your mom just wants you to be happy," Lacey said. "I mean, you're her only child and she wants grandchildren like any normal older woman with a grown child."
"I'm nowhere near ready to have her grandchildren," Wendy shuddered. "I need to definitely be older and more stable and not in a shaky relationship."
"Shaky?" Lacey looked up from her work, raising an eyebrow. "What happened with Ben?"
"Nothing," Wendy shook her head.
"C'mon Dub-Dub, I know you. Talk to me."
"I don't know," Wendy took a bite of apple and sat down at the counter next to Lacey. "That's the thing, I don't know what's wrong. He's just been weird."
"Do I need to get the Dr. Gil tapes out again?" Lacey asked. Wendy shook her head, not wanting to hear any psychobabble from a suspiciously qualified doctor who said mean things in an attempt to sound comforting.
"I'm fine, Lace. I just need to find out what's up with Ben," Wendy said. "Anyway, I need to go get a job before I run out of money and have to Bonnie and Clyde it with Ben."
"See you later," Lacey said, turning back to her work. "Good luck."
"Eh," Wendy shrugged. She wasn't sure if she wanted the luck or not. At least she'd have a chance to find something interesting. Maybe. The chances were slim but at least she could try.
Murtage Temporary Agency
Finding a job. Again.
2:21 PM Desperation Time
"So you were fired from your last job for throwing flour on your boss..." the temp placement secretary glanced at her from over the top of a file folder.
"It was an accident," Wendy blushed and ducked her head. "I didn't mean to hit him with the flour bag."
"I see."
"I just need another job. I'm a very fast typist, I have great phone skills and I'm a hard worker. I just need the job. I'd prefer an office job."
"Well, there's an opening for a temp secretary at The Great Bake-Off Bakery."
"I would rather work in a more office like environment," Wendy said slowly, trying to not sound desperate. Oh god, she didn't think she could take another job in a bakery, she might pull a Curly like in that kids tv show Hey Arnold! and go crazy and hole up in the office with all the cookies and laugh maniacally and sing weird songs. She imagined it for a moment, getting a far off look in her eyes and the sight of the woman waving her hand in front of Wendy's face caused her to snap out of it and jump back slightly. "Oh, sorry," Wendy said, looking sheepish. "I would rather work for a more professional type of environment," she added, feeling stupid.
"What are your career plans?" the woman asked. Wendy looked down at her hands, wondering the same thing herself. She wanted to say that she wanted to be an artist, a successful painter and live off that someday but she knew that only doing art day in and out would suck her dry as much as never being able to do so again. She needed the other things in life to feed her soul, give her reason to paint, to motivate her to do something other than the mundane, to give her life meaning and purpose. But she also needed art to express herself and say the things she couldn't communicate to anyone with words alone.
"I want to...work in temp jobs. I want to make money to pay the bills and have time to do my art on the side." Wendy admitted, after thinking it over. "I've got two credit cards on my back now and a mother on my case about wrong with me that my ugly, pregnant, cousin Carmelita is getting married before me and I can't afford to take my boyfriend out anymore so I just need a job, any job."
"Like I said, The Great Bake-Off Bakery is looking for a temporary office secretary," the woman said, without a trace of humor in her voice. She turned to her computer and did some poking around in the files. "There's also a job with Simionics Labs available. You'd be working with scientists who work with primates in helping to create a better future." Wendy decided she sounded like she was reciting from a pamphlet.
"Okay, what about the Simionics Labs job then?" Wendy was desperate but not so desperate she would take the bakery job. And heck, it could be cool working with scientists. She had never worked with the maths or science kids before, not in a very long time. She hadn't needed to take but a single math and science course in art school and she'd avoided it strenuously in high school, she'd managed to graduate with only three math classes and two science classes in four years of high school.
"Alright, I'll call them right now," the lady said, picking up the phone and giving a suspicious look to Wendy before dialing the number. Wendy held her breath, hoping against hope that something good would happen today, which could mean that Ben wouldn't avoid seeing her anymore, because she'd have a job and not be over at his place all the time. And it would mean that at least she had something to counter-act her mother's Spanish rantings tonight, when she called her.
"Hello, this is Martha Margolies. Can I speak to Ruth Hischel? Mmhm, it's about the temp job," the woman said. She glanced over at Wendy who had taken the opportunity to bite her nails and jiggle her knees, since it was so rare that she got that kind of opportunity all in one go. "Yes, Ruth? It's Martha, I think I have someone to fill that temp spot you needed filled. Oh, of course I'll hang on," she held a large, age-spotty hand up over the reciever and gave a stern look to Wendy. "If we send you there, please do your best to represent Murtage Temporary Agency. That means no more throwing bags of flour at people. And if we find out that you have, we'll see fit to terminate your listing with us." Wendy nodded vigorously. She was willing to do a little Corporate Booty-kissing if it meant she could just have a *beep* job already. She jiggled her leg again and tapped her other foot against the ground and tried not to bite her nails.
"Yes," Wendy looked up again as the woman started talking in the phone once more and held her breath, hoping it was good news.
"I see. Alright. Thank you Ruth. I'll talk to you later. Have a nice day, bye." The woman hung up the phone and turned to her computer, clicking and typing and making Wendy crazy with nervous anticipation. Wendy was certain it was bad news, there was just that look in the woman's face.
"Well, Miss Watson...it looks like the Simionics job has already been filled, I regret to tell you. Miss Hischel did inform me of another job with a science laboratory. You would be working with some of the top scientific minds of the country. It's at a place called A.N.D. Laboratories. They do DNA testing and genetic experimentation and they need a temporary secretary for the front offices."
"I'll take it," Wendy said flatly. She could get used to working with scientists and maybe the genetic experiments *beep* would give her some inspiration for her art.
"Alright, let me give them a call," the woman said, picking up the phone again with her large, wrinkled hand and punched buttons to call out. "Hello, this is Martha Margolies calling for Dr. Francis Furter. Yes, I'll hold. Hello, Dr. Furter, this is Martha Margolies. Ruth Hischel from Simionics Labs Human Resources referred me to you. I work for Murtage Temporary Agency and I have a temp interested in the position at your business. Hmm? Yes. Wendy Watson. She can start right away. Yes. Alright. Thank you." Wendy felt like she had stopped breathing and then she realized that she had, in her nervousness about the job. Her leg was jiggling like crazy now, she really hoped she could get this job, this time. The woman got off the phone, setting it down and turning back to her computer. Wendy swore she did that to make her sweat, to torture her a little for all the times she'd had to come back here to try to find another temp job. She typed a little on the computer and moved the mouse around, dragging out the agony of uncertainty. Wendy noticed the five rings on her fingers, the lingering smell of her heavily flowered perfume and the slightly crooked way her brows had been drawn on with pencil, wondering what she would emphasize if she painted this woman. Perhaps she would emphasize the woman's overlarge, old looking hands. They were wrinkled and peppered with age spots and a mole here or there and they looked like they didn't belong to this woman, like they'd been picked out of a catalogue of ugly hands and sewn onto her wrists to replace missing hands.
"So, Miss Watson," Wendy looked up from studying the woman's strange looking hands and blinked. "It looks like you have a job with A.N.D. Laboratories if you would like it. They would like you to come in for an interview tomorrow morning, early and then start right away if they decide to hire you."
"Alright!" Wendy said with a glee that she wasn't sure she fully felt. "Thank you so much, Mrs. Margolies. I appreciate your help and assistance."
"Here's the address and the contact information," the lady said, writing information out slowly on a piece of paper with a formal looking pen, in spidery script. "They want you there at eight a.m. sharp and dressed for work. Bring your social security card, your drivers license and your resume. Please be aware that you're representing Murtage Temporary Agency and act accordingly."
"Yes, thank you," Wendy said, taking the piece of paper. "I appreciate your assistance, ma'am." She nodded and grabbed her bookbag and slung it over her shoulder, tucking the piece of paper into the bag.
"Have a nice day," the woman said. Wendy nodded, glad to have an excuse to actually leave the temp agency. She hated the bland look of everything, the scary people who worked here with their disapproving eyes and strange faces and frustrating ways of conducting business. Hopefully her new job would mean the end of temping, if it was a good one. She was looking forward to working at a place as important as A.N.D. Laboratories.
A.N.D. Laboratories
Present Day.
12:15 PM
"Geez mom, what do you mean what am I doing in a science lab? I happen to be working with the top scientific minds in the country, mom," Wendy sighed, trying to explain to her mother for the fourth time that week about her new job at A.N.D. Laboratories. She fidgeted with her dad's lucky lighter as she spoke to her mother, wishing her dad was still around to calm the older Latina down once in a while. Wendy heard the beep of an incoming call so she pressed the 'switch' button.
"Hold on," she said to her mom. "Thank you for calling A.N.D. Laboratories, rescrambling your DNA, how may I direct your call?" she asked, voice chipper with purpose. The caller asked to speak to one of the clinicians and she transfered the call before clicking back to the line with her mother. "This is a really important job, mom," She tried to explain. "Yes, as a matter of fact lots of art school graduates get jobs in science labs. Hold on mom," she switched to the other line, hearing another incoming call. "Thank you for calling A.N.D. Laboratories, rescrambling your DNA, how may I direct your call?" she recited.
After a second she transferred them to billing and went back to try to talk her mother into stopping the worry brigade over whether Wendy was happy in her new job (she was), whether she was making a mistake taking a job at a science lab even though she was an art student (Wendy didn't think so) and of course, the subject of Ben came up again. Her mom didn't like Ben, she thought Wendy was making a mistake dating him (she kept calling Ben gay, which he definitely wasn't, if last night was any indication). As another call came on the line, Wendy realized it was the first caller, she had mistakenly connected them to Human Resources and as she moved to press the button she heard a loud pounding sound on the glass behind her before the entire world exploded around her.
The next thing Wendy knew she was being attacked by a giant, tentacled monster and as she tried to escape it grabbed her. She managed to escape from its grasp though, and lept for the only thing she saw, a letter opener that was sitting on the floor, mere inches away. She grabbed it, standing up to defend herself and stabbed it in the tentacle, twice, before a mysterious man in an Eisenhower Jacket showed up and started barking orders at her like she was some kind of soldier under his command. At least he'd gotten rid of the hideous tentacle monster.
The police came too, and the story was told that it was a gas-main explosion and Wendy was sent home for the day after finding out that two of the scientists working there had somehow contacted gas poisoning and everyone was evacuated.
Wendy went home, trying to puzzle together the events of the day. It had started out normally enough, it had been the third day at her new job and even though her mother was still on the Worry Brigade about the job and the boyfriend, at least she'd stopped crying about ugly, pregnant cousin Carmelita. That was a plus at least. Wendy had been determined not to let her mother get her down about her new job, which was minorly better than most of the jobs she'd had so far after she'd graduated.
Then the call came in. "We're sorry, Miss Watson but there's been a lot of changes that we need to make here at A.N.D. Laboratories as a result of the gas main explosion and we cannot justify having you back at work at this present time. Your employment has therefore necessarily been terminated." Wendy couldn't believe it. She had just been fired. Fired! After only three days on the job! It was absolutely nuts. She could understand why though, given that probably there wasn't much to come back to after all. So, facing defeat, she dragged herself out in her best suit again and tried to find another job.
Only to find out that she was under suspicion for possibly having caused the gas main explosion. This was ridiculous! She couldn't explain what had happnened because no one would believe her and everyone thought she was an arsonist. She threw her tie away and trudged home, feeling majorly defeated. Ben would probably be disappointed in her too, after she'd managed to find a job only to be fired from it within a week.
The Illegal Sublet Wendy Shares With Another Young, Photogenic Artist
7:01 PM
"Hey Wendy Watson," Noser said as she came through the elevator door. "Who's the man?
"That would be Shaft," she said, feeling a small sense of hope build inside of her. If she and Noser were still good, things couldn't be so bad, could they?
"What kind of a man?" Noser asked, watching her walk to her apartment.
"A complicated man," Wendy answered, smiling a little.
"And who understands him?"
"No one but his woman," Wendy said, walking inside her apartment and heading for the X-Box. She needed some serious kick-butt action before she was able to process again, to get out some of the frustration and disappointment she had felt today. She'd been turned down by every temp agency in town and had been framed by that strange man that seemed vaguely familiar who acted like he was the captain and she was the soldier in some whacked out army.
It was time for Gut Wrencher III and no one was going to get in her way of playing it. Except Lacey, who'd gotten more of her fake blood on the X-Box somehow while she worked on her efforts to stop French Cuisine from killing bunnies, it turned out.
"Did I get any calls while I was out?" Wendy asked, shucking her corporate outfit for jean shorts and a long sleeved top. Lacey recited the messages. There was one from her mom, more Worry Brigade, one from Ben who was coming over later and one from a Temp Agency called Jolly Fats Wehawkin Temp Agency.
Wendy figured she might as well give the day one more shot to not suck, so she decided that she was too tired to pull the suit back on and anyway, if they were interested for real, they wouldn't care what she wore. So, she decided to go, just to see what this place with the trippy name was, if nothing else. She figured it would probably be a dead end like everything else. It was worth a shot at least.
- Location:Ben's place, Sublet, Murtage Temp Agency,A.N.D. Laboratories
- Music:I Will Survive by Stephanie Bentley
Jefferson Airport
Picking up a Surly Asian Guy
14:43 Roger Doger Time
“Well. I guess I just wanted to say something before you took me back to your apartment.” Wendy stood there, gaping at her boyfriend of the last thirteen months, wondering what the hell just happened. “So anyway, Morgan is going to be here in a few minutes. I’m sorry, Wendy.” Tommy gave her a half-hearted smile and started walking away.
“You...how could you find someone else!” Wendy finally burst out, jogging to catch up to him. “We’ve been together for the last thirteen months! You’ve been traveling around the country for the last four months, touring with the rock violin group, Ulysses S. Jammers!”
“I’m sorry Wendy. I met Morgan at one of the concerts. She and I just hit it off really well and well...”
“I so knew this was going to happen,” Wendy muttered. “I just didn’t know it was going to be a red-headed, Rock Violin loving, Ulysses S. Jammers groupie.”
“What’s that?” Tommy asked. Wendy shook her head, trying to clear the mental image of her boyfriend cuddled up to a petite red haired girl with a tee-shirt of “Ulysses S. Jammers” on the front and his boxers on her bum.
“Nothing,” she said. “But Tommy, I thought you...loved me.” A dull ache was spreading in her chest, making her feel weighted down, tied to that very spot she stood in. Her chest was constricting painfully, trying to force her heart to continue pumping even though she felt like there was a distinct possibility she was dead. She had to have been, it was the only explanation for why she felt like she was about to wake up in another reality, with another face and another life. It was like a joke, she thought. A really mean joke.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked, voice dry of emotion. She tried to think of a way out of this, tried to get her senses together long enough to get together some kind of argument to convince Tommy he was making a colossal mistake in doing this, that he was just being a bit stupid and he’d come to his senses soon and say “Just kidding Wendy! You’re the only person I could be with, I was crazy to think I could ever leave you for someone as ridiculous as Morgan.”
She stared at him, trying to form the words that wouldn’t come and the arguments that wouldn’t present themselves refused to form in her head.
“Yes, Wendy. I thought I loved you but I realized that I just loved your offbeat quirkiness and the comfortable stability of a relationship that I didn’t have to work at. I wasn’t challenged by you, I couldn’t make myself a better person to please you but with Morgan, I am challenged. She makes me work at our relationship and because of that, I grow as a person.”
Wendy was dumbstruck, she was angry, she was absolutely peeved but she couldn’t cry. Tears wouldn’t come. That was the last resort in a failing relationship for her, to try to gain some control over the situation, and she couldn’t cry. She thought about all the times they’d spent together in her apartment or at his, all the things they’d done together, all the time they’d shared and none of it seemed real anymore, it seemed like it was just something that happened to someone else, like watching a movie, a romantic comedy except that there was no hope of some reconciliation scene later followed by a happy ending.
“I’ve got to go then,” she said, grabbing her bag from the ground where she’d laid it to give her now-ex-boyfriend a hug when she saw him after his four hour flight from Toronto for what she thought, was going to be a sweet reunion between the two of them. She stumbled on nothing, felt her stomach churn and sprinted for the door, not wanting to be around Tommy anymore, or let him see the turmoil she was going through.
Outside the airport she found Lacey in the Hrug, sitting at the curbside waiting for them and before her roommate could ask what had happened to make Wendy look like the recent victim of shell-shock, Wendy jumped in the car, slammed the door and said “Go,” very quickly to Lacey.
“Are you okay?” Lacey finally spoke after several miles of road had separated Wendy from the bad taste of the airport. Wendy pressed her cheek against the cool glass of the car window and shook her head, staying silent.
Tommy had been her first serious long-term relationship. She thought they would end up married for Pete's Sake. She’d let her mother talk her into beginning a wedding notebook, just ideas and stuff for a someday wedding, things she could clip out of magazines and paste into the notebook for future reference. She knew it was silly, she wasn’t a wedding kind of girl, she was more a “Let’s go to City Hall and then grab a beer afterward” kind of girl but at the same time, it was kind of fun to do it sometimes, it had made her mother very happy and most of all, it let her imagine a dreamy future with who she thought was her perfect partner. They didn't fight or argue ever, they were comfortable together, they seemed to be happy...Wendy supposed Tommy had been right, that essentially they were all wrong for each other. After all, he liked Rock Violin loving, Ulysses S. Jammers following girls and Wendy wasn't one.
"Wendy...what happened?" Lacey tried again. Wendy shook her head against the glass and tried to remember how to breathe in and out. She swallowed, feeling a lump in her throat and pressed her whole face against the glass as the tears started, coming out hot and making it hard to catch her breath.
"Is it Tommy?" Lacey asked. "Did he break up with you?" Wendy nodded, unable to speak through the tears.
"I understand," Lacey said softly. "I'll get the ice cream when we get home and we can watch Zombie movies all night."
"Mmm." Wendy managed a small sound and nodded again.
She closed her eyes, a random memory of Tommy holding her and singing to her a song he'd written about Zombies which made her feel better even though she was sick with a cold. He was such a sweet man. At least, up until he'd revealed to her that he'd met and fallen in love with someone else. A tiny redheaded girl named Morgan who was into Rock Violin and making tables and chairs. She sobbed, hating Morgan and hating herself for loving someone who had been such a dirkwad in the end. It was good that she had her Secret Mutant Power though. At least she knew she was going to get broke up with because Tommy had found someone else. It made the end a little more bearable. A little, she thought, not very though.
It was so stupid that she was jealous of Morgan, she should have been glad that Tommy found someone who suited him better. After all, isn't that what Love was supposed to be? If she was supposed to be happy as long as Tommy was happy, why was it that she felt like violently throwing something through a window? Why did she contemplating finding Morgan and stabbing her repeatedly in the arm? She let out a frustrated whimper and buried her face in her hands, mad at herself for acting so sloppy-weak over a guy, of all things.
"I need to get out," Wendy said finally, grabbing for the door handle. She felt like she was going to pass out if she had to stay in the stifling heat of the car anymore. Lacey pulled over, looking extremely concerned and Wendy pulled the door open and stumbled out on the side of the road, feeling her knees give way underneath her. She slid down onto the gravely pavement and continued crying, feeling a wet sensation on her head and realizing it was raining outside, or snowing. Lacey put her arms around Wendy and helped her up, sliding a comforting hand over her back to rub it as Wendy cried. She helped Wendy get back inside the car and turned the heat back up to warm them after the icy chill of February had come after them once they left the car.
"I think I'll be okay," Wendy said hoarsely. "I think my problem is...my weakness is that I care too much." Lacey nodded in understanding and pulled the car off the interstate and down the side roads to their apartment.
The Illegal Sublet that Wendy Shares With another Young, Photogenic Artist
6:15 AM
"I'll be okay," Wendy repeated to herself in the weeks that followed, trying to find her way out of a numb funk that she'd settled into. She continually examined her old wounds every day, picking at the metaphorical scab and trying to find some way to heal. She wasn't progressing though. All she could think about was that maybe it wasn't working out with Morgan, that he'd realize that the only person he could be with was Wendy and they'd get back together and she would be incredibly happy and she'd look back at this period and laugh at herself for being so morose and depressing. She settled herself on the couch and draped a blanket over her clammy legs and looked around to find Lacey who was busying around in the kitchen.
"What are you waiting for?" Wendy asked Lacey. "The movie's about to start!" Lacey pulled a sweater over her slender body, smoothing it down over her stomach and hips and tugging it down past her shorts, huddling in the creamy pink colored sweater for warmth in their under-heated illegal sublet. She joined Wendy under the tatty blanket and huddled next to her, wishing their idiot landlord would let them turn up the damned heat once in a while.
"Oh Wendy, you didn't pick another Zombie movie..." Lacey cringed as the screen filled with the undead, chasing a punk looking guy down the street.
"It's called Cheerleader Zombies Versus Punks!" Wendy said gleefully. "Noser found it for me at a garage sale."
"I swear to Krishna if I have to watch one more zombie movie..." Lacey said, crossing her arms.
"You aren't Hare Krishna," Wendy pointed out.
"Yes I am."
"I thought you were a Wiccan..." she frowned.
"No that was last week," Lacey said quickly. Wendy shook her head, turning her attention back to the screen, where a ravenous looking cheerleader zombie proceeded to eat the brains of a punk in front of L'Eau Cafe. She almost laughed though, at hearing Lacey mumble to herself about stupid job finding spells that didn't work and got her a job at a meat packing plant. Lacey's spiritual quest had become something of an in-joke between her friends. Lacey tried on religions like most girls tried on clothes. One week she was a Buddhist monk, another she was a Clotharian Rebel, whatever that was. Last week she'd been a Witch, filling their sublet with smoky incense and various 'healing stones' and crystals. Wendy was grateful for their removal, it was starting to fuck with her allergies.
"Gah, I hate these movies," Lacey said. "I'd rather watch Westerns."
"I can't believe you like those!" Wendy said. "I can't stand all that Dudley Do-right *beep*."
"Dudley Do-right may be a little old fashioned but at least he's not as much of a jerk as Tommy Tan."
"What does that mean?" Wendy turned to her roommate.
"Nothing," she shrugged. "But Wendy...do you notice you have a tendency to pick artist-types who turn out to be self-centered dirks?"
"That's not true, is it?" Wendy's eyes were staring into Lacey's realizing that the truth was plain as day. "I need a drink," she muttered. "I'm going out. I have cab money so you don't need to worry about me."
"Be careful," Lacey said softly, shutting Wendy's laptop. "Don't drink Tequila!" Wendy shuddered, nodding. "I'll stay away from that," she promised, remembering a college frat party, tequila shots and a very weird guy.
"I need a strong drink," Wendy said to herself as she left her illegal sublet, feeling a burning sensation in her stomach, realizing she had dated a lot of *beep* in her past, that she was always attracted to the same type. Short, Asian guys who loved art and had strong political opinions and a better dress sense than she did. They were always kind of 'emo' and loved talking about how America was going to pot because of the government and how they knew exactly how to fix the country, but they had no aspirations to actually work to do that. They were only ambitious in when it suited themselves.
"Where to, miss?" the cab driver asked. Wendy checked her wallet, making sure she had enough for drinks before trying to decide where to go. "Er...how about The Booty Chest?" she suggested, naming a nearby Pirate themed sports-bar with scantily clad waitresses. Sure it was kitschy and Lacey would be furious about the fact that Wendy was going to a bar where the waitresses objectified themselves for money, but right now Wendy needed a drink and the closest bar was The Booty Chest.
The Booty Chest
Pirate Themed Sports Bar with Scantily Clad Waitresses
Happy Hour
"We're here," the cabbie said, pulling up to the bar. Wendy paid her fare and walked into the bar, ignoring the waitresses, the drunk, rowdy men and headed for the bar, sliding onto a stool.
"Beer," she told the bartender. He came over, offering a dark bottle which she took greedily. After several gulps, she relaxed, feeling some of the pain numb away. Life could be incredibly *beep* sometimes, she decided. Another failed relationship. It was her own fault, after all. She didn't challenge Tommy Tan, she didn't make him work and jump and beg to please her. Not like Morgan did. Wendy had always thought that the best relationships, the most perfect ones were ones where you and your partner always got along, didn't argue, were good together, fit like peanut butter and jelly.
She thought back over her relationships, the plentitude of them since middle school. There had been Kyle first. He was into drawing Manga and had asked her to be his girlfriend at a showing of Godzilla Versus Kong. They broke up when he wanted to go to an art high school, twenty minutes from the public high school she was going to attend.
Then Ryan. A photographer. Charlie, the drummer in marching band who ended up taking her best friend Anna's virginity on Prom night. Oliver, who played the lead in the stage version of Casablanca who ended up having a crush on Scott, who broke up with her eventually to be with Clarissa, the snobby popular girl who got Scott to give up doing art to play soccer. Chang Lee, who ended up breaking up with her because she didn't 'get' his weird poetry. After she paid for him to fly from Venezuela to see her briefly during his ten month study abroad, no less. Yako didn't even bother seeing her ever again when she went to pick him up after he accidentally took the wrong flight.
Then Tommy. Perfect, sweet, crush-worthy, he was different, she thought. He "got" her. They were compatible on a deeper level, they didn't fight or argue, they just worked, it seemed.
"Hmm. Ten failed relationships. A perfect ten," she murmured, taking another gulp of her beer. "At least I'm perfect in one way."
"Hi there," Wendy glanced from her beer up to the cute dark haired guy who sat down at the stool next to her.
"Hi," he smiled, a secretive, cocky, arrogant smile and Wendy felt her pulse race. He was cute and he wore glasses and he offered to buy her a drink. He was very cute, she decided, accepting his drink.
"My name is Ben," he said. "I'm in art school." Wendy swooned a little. He was an artist too, like her. She knew that she should be trying to get out of the artist-mold of relaitonships but it was like the gods weren't on her side, she was staring in the face of the cutest guy she'd seen in a while. The first one who made her feel a little weak in the knees after Tommy Tan.
"I'm Wendy," she said, sliding a little closer. "I do abstract impressionism."
"I love abstract impressionism!" he said. "I think it's a seriously neglected field."
"Right on!" Wendy said. "Like Zombie movies and Meterology."
"Who's your favorite Meteorologist?"
"Dan Friedman?" Wendy suggested.
"No way! I love his weather reports. He's always at least 88% correct."
They talked for hours and exchanged phone numbers and Wendy went home feeling happier than she'd felt in ages. She didn't even get drunk like she had intended, it was a pleasant feeling, having gone expecting hours of crying and depression and instead found pleasant conversation with an amazingly cute guy.
The Illegal Sublet Wendy Shares With Another Young Photogenic Artist
10:34 PM
She felt happy right up until she got home and went upstairs and found Tommy's sweat shirt in her bed. What was she doing pursuing another man? She should have been waiting for Tommy to realize what a dope he was, not going out and picking up a new man at a bar! She grabbed the sweat shirt, feeling conflicted and threw it down on the bed again and climbed in, huddling around it like it was her ex-boyfriend.
"I'm sorry," she murmured into the sweater. She felt like a faithless cheater, even though she knew she was being a dope. Tommy had dumped her for some red-headed Rock Violin loving, Ulysses S. Jammers groupie and hadn't looked back or called in a month. She pounded her pillow repeatedly and sighed, wishing more than anything that she could find a way to talk to him one last time, to have some sort of closure, or find a way to make him want her again.
"I need ice cream," she sighed, padding out of her room and down the stairs to their tiny kitchen. She opened the red fridge, trying to find a pint of Mocha Caramel Fudge that she'd stashed in the back the other day and realized she'd eaten the last of it when she saw an email from her mother about her 18 year old cousin Ramona who was getting married to her high school sweetheart. Stifling a whimper, she grabbed her keys and threw Tommy's sweat shirt on over her long sleeved "Still Not King" shirt and her track pants from high school and checked over at Lacey who was in the yellow teddy suit and not to be disturbed and decided to pick up a pint of Cherry Colada for Lacey's poor, patient spirit.
"I'm leaving!" Wendy called, knowing Lacey could hear her even if she wouldn't acknowledge. She walked out the door and down to her poor little Hrug Bugbear and hoped it would start on the first try tonight. She wasn't in the mood to deal with a busted car tonight, not when she had her heart set on getting some Caramel Mocha Fudge ice cream. After one false start and a string of profanity that would make a gangster cover his ears, Wendy's car finally started and she set off. As she drove, she wondered if she'd ever heal from this devesation that her heart had been through, if she'd ever feel normal and manage to get over Tommy Tan, especially since she hated people who moped and complained about their love-lives and here she was, doing the same thing. She hated herself too, a little bit.
She was just disgusted with how pathetic she was being over him, yet she still loved Tommy, very much. He had been very good to her, very sweet and kind and they always got along so well. They simply never fought. They both liked Zombie movies and art and he had given her his virginity. It was too much to hope that he could ever love her forever but she wanted to believe she'd been wrong when she saw a vision of him with another girl. That red-head in a Ulysses S. Jammers tee-shirt and Tommy's boxers. Of course she didn't know at the time it would be Morgan but when she found out, the vision was perfectly clear. She sighed and shrugged, figuring that getting upset over this and crying again in the car wouldn't be very productive so she steeled her spine, straightened her shoulders and walked into the store to get her carton of comfort food.
Whole and Pure Foods
The Grocery Store
11:16 PM
"Excuse me, miss." a tall man stood in front of her, semi-blocking her way. She shuffled to the right to get out of his way at the same time as he did and they ended up in a complicated, messy dance trying to avoid running into each other. Finally the man grabbed her shoulders and turned her, setting her off on her way in the direction she was headed. She was grateful but annoyed that he manhandled her. At the ice cream aisle, she stopped, trying to decide between Caramel Mocha Fudge and Very Berry Limonada, which also sounded good. She was surprised when the tall man with the neat haircut came next to her, standing and staring at the ice cream too.
"Sometimes I need a little ice cream to feel better," he admitted sheepishly. "I just don't know how I'd cope otherwise. A little ice cream does the trick for sadness though, I've found." Wendy was weirded out by this weirdly insightful fellow who had man-handled her and so she just nodded and opened the freezer door, getting hit by a cold blast of air. She shivered slightly, pulling back and bumping into the tall man who had moved forward at the same time.
"Oh sorry," Wendy apologized.
"No ma'am, it's my fault," he said. "Don't worry about it though, I'll be out of your way in a moment. I just need to get myself a little Very Berry Limonada to fix myself up for the night."
"That's what I'm getting," Wendy said without thinkinging. The man pulled out a second pint and handed it to her, smiling. Wendy was unnerved by his politeness and thanked him, making her way to the register before she realized she'd forgotten Lacey's Cherry Colada. She smiled slightly to herself, at least she'd bump into the nice, polite man again. He was reasonably good looking and wore no ring. Which didn't mean anything necessarily but he didn't seem like the time to step around, so to speak. She walked back to the freezer to find he had already left and she half-smiled anyway, realizing that this was the second guy she'd thought about in the same night other than Tommy.
"I need to stop worrying," she muttered to herself, walking to the registers. The man was there, in front of her, being checked out by the cashier.
"Oh hello again," he said. "I do believe I took your coupon when we bumped into each other," he said, handing her a coupon for a dollar off of Very Berry Limonada."But that's not..." she started, stopping and realizing the man was again being weirdly nice by giving her a coupon that she hadn't had earlier. It was a touching gesture and she made a note to try to thank him before he left. As soon as the cashier had totalled her up and she paid them, she hurried out to the parking lot, trying to locate Mr. Polite.
"Hey!" she found him loading his groceries into his car. "You didn't have to give me that coupon but you did anyway. Why'd you do that?"
"You seemed upset, ma'am," he said simply. "I have found that a little human kindness goes a long way to healing the broken-hearted."
"Thank you," she said, taken aback. "That's very kind of you. Have a good day." She didn't know what else to say but she was grateful for his kindness. She suddenly reached out and gave him a hug.
"What was that for?" He asked, mildly taken aback.
"You seemed upset, I thought a hug would help," she answered, feeling weird and uncertain. She had no idea what had posessed her to hug this stranger but she felt like he needed it anyway. He blushed a little, nodded his head and waved a quick goodbye, climbing into his car. He left and Wendy walked back to her own car, toting her grocery bags.
It was strange how she could go on such a rollercoaster of emotion all day long, she decided. She had been down all day because of Tommy, then she was up after she met Ben but down again at home and now meeting this strange, polite, kind man, she was up again. For some reason, she felt like things were about to get better.
- Location:Airport, Illegal Sublet, Grocery Store
- Music:Scars by Papa Roach
- Location:In the beginning...
- Mood:creative
- Location:12 Days Till NaNoWriMo
- Music:Middleman soundtrack
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