by Derek Slaton
She shrugged. “Consider it my way of thanking you for helping me save the world.”
“Well, I was kind of hoping for some lottery numbers, but I guess this will do.” He grinned.
“Now now Hodge, gotta save something for your birthday,” she replied with a wink.
He laughed. “So, now what?”
“What do you mean?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Are we still going to work together? Are you going to use some sort of future ray and wipe my memory clean?” he asked. “Or worse?”
“For starters don’t worry, I’m not going to go all Rudo on you,” she assured him. “I think you understand what possessing your knowledge means, and I’m pretty sure you’ve seen me in action enough to know you’d never be able to take me in a fight, so you don’t want to press your luck.”
“Well that’s a relief.”
“But to fully answer your question, yes, we can certainly work together,” she continued. “I’ve been working solo for so long, this was a nice reminder that it’s good to have a partner every now and then. I gotta warn you though, I have a high motor and run through more cases than you can imagine, so you’ll need to be on your toes to keep up.”
“I’m game. Just... not today,” Hodge replied. “I’m already going to have a tough enough time explaining to my wife where I’ve been the past few days.”
Artemis laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll be in touch.”
“Phone call this time, no laser carvings into maniac’s chests,” he said with a smile.
“Anybody ever tell you that you take the fun out of everything?”
“I’ve heard that a few million times in my life.”
They chuckled and headed for the door.
“Okay, go home, get some rest,” she instructed.
“You get some rest too,” he shot back, and then waved before closing the door behind him.
Artemis walked back to her desk, picked up an eraser and cleared the President’s board. She picked up a marker with her other hand and marked out Duke’s name before pausing.
She took a long look at the Saved board. She thought for a minute before erasing the number and writing EVERYONE. She smiled at that sight as her computer beeped with an alert. Before responding to it she added a plus sign below EVERYONE.
She nodded. “Looks like it’s time to start a new counter.”
END