Of Heroes and Villains

The Chapter Where They Do Office Work

The medics declared there was no need for Don to go to a hospital, as all damage he'd sustained had been superficial. Besides, he wouldn't have let them take him away anyhow; Not when there was so much more excitement to be found.

'Where are the others?' he wondered, not seeing anyone else from the group there. 'They must've gone back.'

He got out of the ambulance truck and was about to turn into a hawk, but then noticed officer Norm walking toward him.

"That was good work you did in there," the man told him, looking like he expected to instill some pride into Don - something he wasn't interested in in any way. "If that was me in there, I definitely would've died. I owe you." He took out a piece of paper, then scribbled something down and handed it to Don. "If you ever need a favor, don't hesitate to ask. Sean will likely get on your ass about a lot of things. Even if it's something as small as calming him down, give me a call." The captain then did something Don didn't see coming; He saluted him, then walked away.

Was he above the police now? Is that how Helter Skelter worked?

'One way to find out.' Don used Polymorph to turn into a hawk, then took off toward his office. The bandages put on him fell off, but he didn't mind. 'A little blood never hurt anyone. Well, unless they're a hemophiliac. A hemophiliac would be pretty screwed. Good thing I'm not a hemophiliac. Why am I thinking about that word so much? Hemophiliac. Hemophiliac. He-mo-phi-li-ac.'

He was so lost in thought that he just narrowly avoided flying into a pigeon. Taking that as a sign of being pumped on adrenaline, Don tried his best to remain careful for the rest of the trip.

Once he got back to the office, he walked in on Jordan getting dressed. She was doing it at the bar. Dean was in the room, too.

Don was neither shy nor embarrassed, because he just wasn't interested. "So are you two a thing?"

Dean smirked at first, but it turned into a sulky frown after Jordan burst out laughing.

"No chance in hell, kiddo. I've got standards."

The two seemed to have compatible personalities to Don. Neither one took things too seriously, and both were fairly friendly and social. Dean was undoubtedly the better looking of the two - which was was always the case when you compared him to someone else - but she was pretty attractive, too. This could all only mean one thing.

"You're a lesbian?"

Dean looked taken aback, but Jordan just laughed again. "You're a pretty smart kid, y'know that?"

"So I've been told."

Then she got in his face. "The last guy who tried to analyze me was my shrink, and his car wound up mysteriously being set on fire afterwards. Don't do that shit again."

Don just nodded. 'She's got a tragic backstory she doesn't want me learning about. Maybe in a later chapter.'

The woman's smile returned. "Good, good. We're all caught up now. Well, not really." She gestured toward the room from which the phone had rung earlier that day. "Bossman wants us to figure out who was behind the trap right away. Man, doing two things in one day is exhausting."

'Just how little do you guys actually work!?' Don thought, but, once again, decided not to voice it.

"You can rest if you want to," Dean said. "Sean's gonna take a few hours to theorize about all the possibilities. He's going through the list of espers we've dealt with in the past to try and see if this big bad mastermind could be one of them. You can do whatever til' then."

Don nodded, then realized something. "How come you're not hurt?"

Dean smiled. "One of Sean's abilities is the healing factor his blood provides. The more you drink, the better you feel."