Bull began walking back across the Danger Room as the elevator doors closed.
Nymph turned to Thad and leaned forward a little to get a better look at his cheek. "Might leave a scar."
Thad hadn't thought about that. He didn't like the idea of having a scar on his face. Without realizing it, he groaned.
"Don't worry," Nymph said. "Women like scars. They're hot."
Thad was taken aback by her comment. He slowly turned his head and saw that she was grinning at him. After she winked, he felt his face get a little warmer.
"Do you have one?" Nymph asked. "A girlfriend, I mean. Because..."
"I, uh..." He looked forward at the elevator door, but that didn't help. He could still see her staring at him in the reflection.
Not yet.
"Sort of." He glanced at her and she winked at him again. "I'm working on it. Yeah, there's already someone."
Nymph faced the doors of the elevator. "Oh, good. Fine young man like you needs a girlfriend."
Tell me about it.
"Hope she does like scars, though."
Chapter 8
TWENTY-EIGHTH FLOOR.
As he looked at his reflection in the elevator door, Thad touched his cheek where the shrapnel had torn a hole. "No scar." He had mixed feelings about that. He had been certain he didn't want a scar until Nymph said women liked scars. He wondered if that was true of all women—if Allison would've liked it. But the supers clinic staff on nineteen were wonder workers, thanks to several breakthroughs by Supers Inc R&D. He glanced at his arm. It also showed no signs of his accidental foray into the Danger Room.
I always wanted to go there, but not like that. When I become I'll go back. Maybe fight alongside Bull and Nymph. Bullfrog I could do without.
He glanced at the display to see how close he was to twenty-eight, Allison's floor. He had a few seconds still. He'd managed to pull out all the mail for her floor from the jumbled mess on the cart. He had it stacked neatly to one side, with an envelope for her on top of the pile.
As he felt the elevator coast past the edge of one of the floors, he looked up at his reflection, checking his appearance in preparation for seeing Allison. He ran his hand over his hair to flatten a cowlick he'd acquired from resting on the examination table in the clinic. Then he leaned over the mail cart and turned his head slightly to look at his cheek. "Huh."
His gaze drifted down from his reflected face to his reflected shirt. "Oh, crap."
Hoping the spots he saw were just on the elevator door, he looked directly at his shirt to check. They were there too: several dirty patches, a few blood stains, and a black grease smear. The explosions in the danger room and his subsequent injuries accounted for the dirt and blood, but the grease was a mystery.
Maybe from the clinic?
He didn't really care how it all happened. The disaster was he looked like crap and he couldn't let Allison see him this way.
"It had to be today."
He'd been planning to ask Allison out on a date, and when he woke up this morning to birdsong outside his window and the warmth of the morning sun, he decided today was that day.
So much for that. If she sees me like this, she'll never want to go out with me.
The elevator ding sounded and the doors opened to the twenty-eighth floor and Thad felt his chest tighten. He thought about staying put and waiting for the elevator doors to close, but John Bradbury came up to the mail cart and stood with their hand against the edge of the door to keep it open. As Reports Coordinator, he was always eager to see what mail was coming in.
"Hey, Thad," John said. "Running a little late today, huh? Got anything for me?" He looked at the jumbled mess of envelopes beside the single organized stack, then he noticed the stains on Thad's shirt. "Don't worry about. Looks like you've had a rough morning. I'll wait my turn."
Thad nodded slightly, wishing the conversation hadn't started. He desperately wanted to push the button to take the elevator to another floor, any floor. He had the idea that maybe he could do all the other deliveries first, and come back to twenty-eight during Allison's lunch hour.
"Well," John said, stepping back a little, but keeping a hand on the edge of the elevator door to prevent it from shutting. "Don't let me keep you." John glanced at the mail cart, then out at the room.
The center of the room had two rows of desks, but they lacked the wall partitions used on other floors. Of the eight desks in the middle of the room, only two were occupied. The other six had never been assigned to anyone. Most of the thirty-odd people on twenty-eight had their own small private office, all of them with a window, and all but four with a glass door. They had blinds for privacy, but seldom used them. Thick, black, stenciled letters on each window stated the occupant of the particular office.
The four offices at the far end of the room were the ones with solid wood doors. Each of those bore a nameplate. One of those in particular was on Thad's mind.
The one on the far left displayed 'Micron', the super who could shrink down to the size of a grain of sand. He had a collection of vintage Hot Wheels cars arranged on his desk like they were at a drive-in movie. On one occasion as Thad looked through the open blinds on Micron's office window after a knock at his door went unanswered, Thad spotted the hero in miniature form seated in a die-cast metal, red Corvette watching Goonies on his computer monitor. Thad didn't want to interrupt then, so he just slipped Micron's mail under the door.
The office next to Micron's was Siren's, whose voice was powerful enough to reduce concrete to rubble, but could be reined in to produce a hypnotic tune to any man who heard it. She frequently listened to 80's music and sang along. She kept the door shut as a precaution, since one time she looked out her office window and saw every man on the floor staring back in at her.
On the other side of her's was the book-filled office of the super who went by the name of The Author. He was the oldest superhero in the company by a decade, and he lacked the physicality most of the other supers possessed. But his unusual power made him one of the most formable, if unpredictable, of heroes. Packed bookshelves lined his office, and more books were stacked on his desk and around it on the floor. He enjoyed reading as a leisure pursuit. Nearly all the books were fiction. But the books were instruments of his power too. The Author had the extraordinary ability to read aloud any passage from a book into reality, on a temporary basis. The creation or event he called forth would only last for thirty seconds, but with the correctly selected book in-hand, that was usually sufficient.
The fourth office with a solid wood door had Thad's attention. It belonged to Allison, and he could see that the door had been left slightly open. Knowing she took the security of the work in her office seriously, Thad understood the fact that she'd left the door ajar meant she was either inside or maybe around the corner getting something from the snack machine or drink dispenser.
If she sees me like this my chances are hopeless.
"Any mail for me today, Thad?"
MaryAnn's voice pulled him away from his thoughts of avoiding Allison, for the moment. He waved to her and, glancing around the room first, pushed the cart the rest of the way out of the elevator. Pulling up beside her desk, the first in the left row in the middle of the room, he glanced toward Allison's door again. Then he spotted her coming around the corner, on her way back from the vending machines. She had a bottled orange juice in her hand.
Thad ducked into a crouching posture beside the mail cart to avoid being seen by Allison.
"Uh, is it down there?" MaryAnn sounded confused by Thad's behavior.
He wasn't looking through the mail on the bottom shelf of the cart. He was just kneeling and tipping his head back as he raised it up slowly and looked toward the back of the room.
"Thad?"
"Oh, um..." He rummaged through the pile of envelopes on the bottom shelf for a couple of seconds, then stood up after checking Allison's office again and seeing her go inside and close the door. "No. Not there." He smiled at her, t
rying to make the situation seem more normal than it was, then he pulled the organized stack of mail from the top shelf of the cart. "Maybe here." He remembered seeing a letter for her earlier and putting it in the stack he'd collected for this floor, but he had to play it off like he had a reason for kneeling beside the lower shelf a moment ago. "Ah, yes. Here it is." He pulled an envelope with her name on it from the stack and handed it to her.
"Thank you." She took it and put it on her desk. "Are you..." She glanced at his shirt, but quickly looked him in the eyes again. "Are you doing okay today?"
Thad chuckled, an act to hide the panic still flowing through him at the possibility of Allison seeing him looking like a slob and writing him off as a boyfriend candidate. "Yeah. I'm fine." He glanced at his shirt and shrugged. "Just had a rough delivery on one of the lower floors. You know how it is some days."
MaryAnn chuckled. "Yeah. I guess I do."
"Well," Thad said, putting his hands on the side of the mail cart. "More to deliver. Have a nice day."
"Thanks. You too."
Thad wheeled the cart to the occupied desk on the adjacent aisle and, after thumbing through the stack of envelopes, pulled out one for Ginger and handed it to her.
"Thanks, handsome." She glanced up at him from her work just long enough to take the mail, but evidently didn't notice his clothes.
"Sure thing."
Thad took the cart out of the center alley between the desks and headed for the first office in the left corner, on the elevator side of the room. He was hoping if he moved slowly Allison might step out of her office again, maybe to go to the restroom. He planned to drop her mail off under her door then, so she couldn't see him through her window.
Most days he enjoyed saying hello to everyone when he gave them their mail, but today he would've preferred this floor had a mailbox wall of cubby holes, like the marketing floors. But most of the work on this floor was more sensitive, often dealing with mission details. The risk of such information spreading around to people who had no business seeing it had to be minimized. That meant only hand-delivery of internal mail. Thad got that, but it kept him too long in danger of getting spotted by Allison.
He knocked or waved to each of the occupants in the first four offices along the left wall, waiting each time for the person to open the door so he could hand them their mail. Just before he knocked on the next door, he heard Allison's voice across the room.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw her coming out of her office. As her head turned in his direction, he dropped to his knees and then leaned over until his shoulder touched the carpeted floor.
She didn't see me, did she?
The chances of her coming over here are slim, he thought. He decided to stay put.
Give her ten seconds or so. Then check to see if she's still there.
"Oh, my God!" Angela had just come out of her office, the last one on the side of the room Thad had been working. She rushed to him and knelt down. "He's had a heart attack! Someone help!"
What? No!
She pulled Thad's shoulder to turn him over. "Don't worry. I know CPR. Oh, no. You're bleeding too? Mama's here."
Thad was horrified as Angela, dressed in a patchwork sweater she made herself, leaned over him, pressing her large chest and equally large stomach into him to get her generously lacquered face close enough to give him mouth-to-mouth.
He put his hands up to fend her off, despite the contact that entailed. "No. I'm fine."
But he wasn't. Ginger and MaryAnn had run over from their desks, and everyone else had come out of their offices to see what was happening. Thad wanted to get on his feet and wheel his cart to the elevator before Allison saw him, especially now, with Angela on top of him still trying to get her lips on his. By the time he freed himself from under her, it was too late.
Thad saw Allison step into an opening between her co-workers. She always had on a super suit. The one she was wearing this week was dark blue, like the depths of the sea—tight-fitting, which she handled better than anyone. Silver streaks outlined the plunging neckline and wrapped around her wrists and ankles. No mask, but that was normal. She didn't like them. Her long maple hair cascaded down over her shoulders, some of the locks spilling into the gravity of her cleavage. "Thaddeus?"
She was the only one who called him by his full given name. Normally he loved hearing her say it. This time he wished she was talking to someone else.
Thad got to his feet. "I'm okay, everyone. Really. It was a misunderstanding."
"But you were on the ground," Angela said. She reached for his chest. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Thad took a step back to keep her from touching him, but smiled and gave a dismissive gesture. "I'm fine."
A couple of people patted him on the back, one of them saying, "Glad to hear."
"MaryAnn walked closer to him. "Wow. You had us scared there for a minute."
"Sorry." Thad shrugged apologetically. "Didn't mean to."
Several more people expressed their relief that he hadn't had a heart attack. A couple of people pointed out how lucky he was that Angela knew CPR, to which Thad didn't bother replying.
All he could think about was how awful it was that Allison had seen him in such an embarrassing situation, on top of how he already looked before that.
I guess you'll be moving on now, huh?
He waited for everyone to go back into their office, including Allison. He had already decided there was nothing more he could say to erase what he'd done to himself.
Soon, everyone had returned to their offices, Ginger and MaryAnn to their desks. Everyone, but Allison. She was still at the end of the hall looking at Thad.
He wondered what she must be thinking of him.
At least she has the decency not to laugh on the outside.
He turned his attention to the mail cart, pretending to sort the letters, waiting for her to walk away. After a couple of seconds, he looked up. She hadn't left.
Allison walked over to him and gently touched his arm. "You sure you're okay?"
Her words were soft, like the two of them were alone somewhere quiet, maybe watching the stars together.
"I'm..."
Thad had imagined his encounter with her today going so differently. They talked briefly a few times a week for months, but it was always polite small talk or something about the company. He'd done the inquiries and knew she wasn't seeing anyone. He kept himself fit, going to the gym regularly. And, though she was a super and he wasn't, he had plans. He wasn't going to remain in the mail room forever. He'd be a super too someday. He knew it. So what if that was still a little ways down the road, he told himself. People do that. One person works while the other finishes college. Things change.
Allison giggled and touched his shirt. "You look like you've been through hell."
Thad glanced at the stains on his shirt and felt his face flush.
Allison put her hand over her mouth and stopped giggling. "I'm sorry. I wasn't making fun. It's just... Well, I've had days like that too." She looked back at at the rest of the room for a second, then turned to him again. "Last thing you must've wanted is for the entire office to find you on the floor. I'll bet you were trying to get in and out of here as quickly and quietly as possible."
Thad, felt slightly better, though he was still disappointed he wasn't presentable enough to ask her out on a date—something he'd been wanted to do for months. He raised his eyebrows a little and shifted his gaze to the side as he shrugged. "Maybe."
"Wait. I see." Allison punched his arm playfully.
Thad was glad her current super suit evidently didn't give her super strength. "What?"
"Were you avoiding me?"
What? Why would she think that? Unless... She knows I like her? Oh, great.
"I..."
Allison giggled. "Okay. Right. Well..." She looked at her dark blue hero boots for a moment.
Thad noticed she was softly biting her lower lip.
Oh. Does she...
Thad was speechless for a few seconds. He felt turned upside down from the sudden shift in emotions he was experiencing.
Allison continued to look into his eyes. She smiled, then raised her eyebrows. "What do you say?"
Thad glanced at the mail cart, but not because he was thinking about it. His brain just hadn't kicked into gear.
"Oh, right," Allison said, sounding a little deflated. "You're probably busy all day with the deliveries."
"No."
Allison furrowed her brow. "No, you're not busy or no, you don't want to have lunch?"
"Yes."
She giggled. "Okay. You're going to need to do better than that." She glanced at the clock on the wall to his left, then looked at him again.
Thad took a breath, composing himself. "I would love to have lunch with you tomorrow, Allison."
A big smile slowly formed on her face and her eyes widened. "Good." She nodded. "That's...good." She took a step back. "So...I'll see you tomorrow. Say...noon?"
"Yes." Thad's voice resounded with quiet confidence now. "Tomorrow at noon. I look forward to it."
Allison smiled again, then took a couple more steps backward and turned around. A step later, she stopped and turned back to Thad. "Oh. Fiftieth floor. Okay?"
"That's the..."
"Supers-only Cafeteria. I know. It'll be fine. You'll be my guest. Okay. See you tomorrow. Sorry. I need to run. I have an appointment. Bye." She flashed Thad another big smile, then spun on the heel of one of her dark blue super boots and walked toward her office.
"See you tomorrow." Thad watched her walk across the room, past her office and around the corner.
Man, I feel like I could leap over a tall building right about now.
He laughed, but cut it short when he realized he was doing it loud enough for people in the office to hear him.
Wait til Franklin hears.
Supers Incorporated Page 6