Sighing, the woman shook his hand. Cool, smooth metal met gently with the rough scales as they shook.
“Apology accepted,” she said. “As for myself, I can be a bit over-protective at times.”
“Lucy has been here for quite some time,” Angelo said. “She was the first booster student.”
“So you’ve been here for about forty years, then,” Drake calculated.
“With some absences to continue my education in other areas, yes.”
The group of three boosters began to continue the original walk toward the main building, though their pace was a bit more leisurely. Drake let his curiosity lead him as he continued asking questions.
“So what do you teach?”
“English, Latin, French, some earth sciences, basic mathematics, astronomy, agronomy…among others. Our teaching staff is renowned for its knowledge of more than just single subjects. We try to provide our students with a well-rounded education while at the same time remaining grounded in the basics.”
“Who teaches basic booster law?”
“We have several teachers who conduct classes in civics and government.”
“Yeah. But who teaches them about the laws that specifically apply to the Emerged? Like how their powers can be held against them should they be used offensively, or that, I don’t know, something like the Emperor’s Defense?”
“Which is?” Wilshire asked. Silver seemed to flow for a second as an eyebrow arched.
“Established back in the early eighties. Supreme Court ruled that just ‘cause someone is or can be invisible, it doesn’t mean they can go around without clothes on. Public Decency thing. Gets your name registered as a sexual offender. Stupid shi…, um stuff like that, that , you know, only applies to boosters. You got anybody telling them about that, or you just gonna let them find out the hard way?”
“Our students are, more likely than not, never going to face troubles like that, mister Drake. The vast majority of them will not even leave the campus, and certainly not any time soon.”
“Why not? You keeping them here?”
“No, mister Drake, we most assuredly are not. Quite simply stated, most of our students are not in a position to interact with the outside world due to the prejudices they might encounter as a result of their appearance. That is, I would surmise, a form of prejudice with which both you and I are intimately familiar."
“Yeah," Drake said, pointing with a talon toward Angelo. "Patriot said you guys had quite the Addams Family thing going on up in here.”
Wilshire’s tone turned frosty again. "Mister Drake, we do not, under any circumstances, refer to our students in such a derogatory manner. These children have been through quite enough as it is.”
“Hey, Patriot? I’ll take the job," Drake said, never letting his eyes waver from staring at the woman. "Looks like someone might need to teach the freaks what being a freak is all about.”
“Drake, stop it," Angelo ordered, laying a hand on his shoulder. For a second, the old Patriot was back, standing tall and godlike in comparison to their forms, and they both fell silent. "I am tired of playing the peacemaker here! I swear, between the two of you this is going to be the toughest day….”
The remainder of the trip inside was spent in an uncomfortable silence, and Wilshire detached herself from the pair once they had entered the building, muttering about something more pressing to which she must attend. Drake looked around himself, admiring the interior of the building. Though designed primarily for function, the walls had been overlaid with a mix of oak and maple, and the floor on which they walked was made up of polished oak planks. Drake regretted the marks his claws were leaving on the heavily waxed floor, but there was nothing he could do to stop the effect. Paintings hung on the walls, and occasional square pillars rose up to support the floors above. Each was more than a foot in thickness, and comprised of solid stone. Banners hung on many of them, and those that had no banners were home to framed awards and certificates. Most extolled the virtues of one graduate or another. The temperature inside was seasonably warm, and gentle breezes wafted from ceiling fans that were suspended overhead. Their blades twirled almost lazily.
There was a muted hum of sounds audible in the halls, and Drake concentrated on filtering the noises until it became clear that he was hearing dozens of quiet voices speaking all at once. The doors they were passing had no windows, but he was fairly certain that if they had, he would have been able to see into several classrooms.
A bell chimed once, a sharp sound that was accompanied by the flashing of the surrounding lights. Within seconds, the noise level increased dramatically and several of the doors they had passed flew open. Students began to flow out into the halls, and many of them called out to Angelo. Eyes at once suspicious and curious regarded Drake. He tried to smile without exposing his teeth. Despite Angelo’s statement to the contrary, Drake saw no one here that he was convinced would not panic at the sight.
A girl with two sets of eyes waved at them as she passed, followed by a boy wearing a t-shirt with a silk-screened image of two boosters shooting bright beams of energy at one another. The boy had thin, rubbery tentacles dangling from above his mouth, and they writhed constantly as he moved. Sliding his eyes along the crowd of students, Drake noticed abnormalities present in the majority of them. Here an extra limb, there one missing. Skin like melted wax on one student and moving, prehensile hair on another. Tails, wings and horns were present in quantity, though not on the same student. Scaled skin and chitinous plating could be seen. One child appeared to be made entirely of flowing liquid, and walked slowly, encased in a suit of blue rubber. Features that could be called a face looked out on the world from behind a Lexan faceplate.
No one seemed to be too stunned by the presence of the enormous reptilian booster in their midst, though his presence was treated with respect. They gave him a wide berth, and Drake figured it was probably due to their lack of familiarity with him, as no such efforts were made to avoid Angelo. The students smiled and waved at him happily, some pausing to exchange a word or two with the legend.
“See what we’re dealing with?" Angelo asked him as the sea of students began to enter other rooms and the pair of them were left more or less alone once more.
“Yeah. You get the ones no one else wants, right?”
“Pretty much. The average school is ill-prepared to deal with anyone Emerged, and those that Emerge, well, differently, are often treated with disdain or worse. So they come here.”
“The ones who can afford it, at least.”
“Drop the cynicism for a minute, Drake. Hurst makes sure that no one who needs to be here gets turned away, even if they live here for free. If their families can afford it, then yeah, they pay. If not, well, Hurst has a little put away for those kids, too.”
Drake shook his head for a moment. "Sounds too good to be true, slick, and you know what they say about those situations.”
“Meet with Hurst," Angelo urged. "Just talk to him and see what you think. You don’t like it, then fine, we’ll leave. No problems, no pressure, no questions. I think, though, that you could be an asset here.”
“I’m on vacation. I’m still a cop, not a teacher.”
“Great. So teach them about being a cop. Like I told you, I need someone here who can teach them about being human. You live every day in that world, and you see reality. These kids, much as I love the deal they’ve got going here, don’t do either.”
“So you want me to what? Remind them how bad it can be? Scare the shit out of them? Tell them how they’ll be looked at every day?”
“I want you to make sure they realize just how real life is. Yeah, you should tell them how bad it is, but you should also remind them that even though they’re different, there are people out there who will respect them, who will see them as something more than a monster. I chose you, Drake, because I see your humanity. I’ve seen it in action and I’ve read your reports. Like I told you before, you take what’s coming and you ke
ep going on. You never give up and you never give in. You could just as easily have stayed in the woods all those years ago, but you didn’t. Why not?”
“Somebody needed to look after Monster," he replied automatically.
“That was before the incident with your parents." A powerful hand poked a stiffened finger against Drake’s chest with a thump. "Your mother was still taking care of him. You came back for other reasons. Tell me why," the booster challenged, standing with his legs apart and his arms akimbo.
Drake thought back, his eyes drifting as the memories rushed back to him. “I didn’t want to be out there like that," he admitted after a minute. "No point being alive if you’re just gonna hide from the world. I figured I had as much right to a life as anyone else.”
“And these kids? Do they have that right, too?”
“Yeah. Sure.”
“So tell them that. Show them that they can be a part of the world. Teach them that their existence is important, too.”
“Anybody ever tell you you’re a pain in the ass?”
“Only when I’m right about something,” Angelo answered, teeth flashing as he grinned.
“So let’s say I take the job,” Drake said. “What happens when Hart calls and I have to go back to work? Out there, you know, in the real world you keep talking about.”
“You go,” Angelo said with a shrug. “Folks here have other lives. They fill in here and there, and they teach what these kids need to know. There’s a math teacher here that’s also a sanctioned rep for Detroit. He doesn’t stay here all the time, either. You know Ronnie the Runner?”
“That monkey that makes all the Nike commercials?”
“Yep. That’s the one. He’s one of the fastest runners on the planet. He also helps out here with Phys Ed classes every now and then. Shows the kids how they can move better, conserve energy, that sort of thing.”
“And then there’s you," Drake said, fixing Angelo with a sidelong glance.
“Yeah, there’s me. Normal looking as they come, but still I come here and teach. Mostly I tell them bits of booster history that the textbooks make boring. I show them what it was all about.”
"How’d you get hooked up with it?”
“Believe it or not, Hurst himself brought me on board. Called me up out of the blue. No idea where he got my number or how, but he did. Man didn’t bat an eye when he told me what he needed. Five minutes here and I knew these kids needed help.”
“Playing on my guilt?”
“You got any?” Angelo countered. Drake snorted a laugh.
“These days? I got enough," Drake said. He pointed to one of the pillars as they passed. “So what’s the deal with this place? Built by dwarves or some shit? Looks like something out of 'The Lord of the Rings.'”
Angelo laughed. “It looks good,” he said simply as he shrugged.
“I keep waiting for orcs to come raid the place.”
“No orcs,” Angelo promised. “But we do have a resident wizard or two.”
“Yeah, like I need that,” Drake said, shuddering as he remembered the time he had met with Karma.
“They’re kind of fun, actually,” Angelo continued. “Apparently, they can do whatever they want to, so long as they pretend it’s magical. I watched one create a fountain of gold coins the size of quarters just so everyone could play video games for free.”
“All right, I’ll admit it, that would be a handy talent,” Drake said with a chuckle accented by a puff of smoke. A flicker of light above him drew his eyes to a smoke detector on the ceiling. His breath had caused it to register for an instant. Sensitive, he thought. I’ll have to remember that.
“Here we are,” Angelo announced. They had drawn up outside an office with a brass plaque mounted on a heavy wooden door.
“HEADMASTER”, the plaque exclaimed in thick black letters. Beneath it, in the same Old English script as had been engraved on the exterior archway, “Dr. Kevin Hurst”.
“I’ll leave you here,” Angelo told Drake. “If you decide you want to stay, great. If not, no hard feelings.”
Shaking the hand of the aged booster, Drake grinned widely. “I’ll go see him, slick, but I’ve already made up my mind,” he said.
Firedrake - Volume Two Page 19