Just Another Job by Casey Peterson

around
them into the mall. Next were the throngs of reporters crowding the
police line like an old, black and white serial except half of them
held up cell phones to record it all. Klaus pushed his way to the
front to take on the questions. He was easy and natural amidst the
rush of questions as if he practiced beforehand. Johnykin had some
practice or at least tutoring about the situation too. She
positioned Frank to the right and just behind Klaus and then put
herself and Chris to Klaus's left with Chris paralleling Frank by
being just a bit behind her. Two Supers in front; their sidekicks
or partners or whatever dutifully next to but behind.
    A couple of questions were directed
explicitly at Johnykin, Frank, and Chris, but beyond those few
Klaus answered everything. The four stood for less than thirty
minutes, but when it was done Chris felt soaked with sweat. Of
course his costume along with an afternoon sun did their part, but
really he was nervous about what Sadie would think and say. This
wasn't going to go unnoticed, even though she did her best to stay
away from news channels and sites. And of course he would tell her
about it when she asked. Chris racked his brain for a good enough
reason to convince her, and himself, this was a job worth
keeping.

Chapter Ten
    Erik gave Chris and Frank two weeks paid leave along
with a salary bonus due to their timely intervention with the mall
shooter. Even though they were off work, Erik did enforce mandatory
counseling sessions with Neal. Frank counter offered going back to
work in place of the psych visits, but Erik relished getting the
reports about the team from Neal. It was all part of the data
needed to keep the experiment running in a transparent fashion.
“Teams don't have secrets,” said Erik. Then Frank asked to see
Neal's psychological analysis of Erik, which prompted an ambiguous
reply along with a few rhetorical questions about how long Frank
wanted to work for Timely National, and if he wanted to return his
bonus with interest.
    “Fucking pussy,” said Frank, adding some
director’s commentary to the retelling of his and Erik’s
conversation. They were heading back across the Altamont from the
first counseling session. Chris had been with Neal when Frank’s
story happened. Although Frank was angry with Erik, Chris could
tell that Frank was happy with their jobs, especially since he
didn't have to hold back in front of their boss. In fact, now that
Chris thought about it he was pretty sure Frank called Erik a pussy
to his face and still didn't get fired.
    “You're still coming over for barbecue
Saturday, right?” asked Chris.
    “I guess. Don't you ever get tired of
cooking on that piece of shit? You should at least get something
new and spring for steaks this time. I know you got a bigger bonus
than I did because your dumb ass got shot.”
    “I deserved every penny of that check. That
shotgun freaking hurt. Maybe I’ll talk to Sadie about a new grill.
I think she's finally not mad at me for almost dying.”
    “Tell her to lighten up. You saved the
day.”
    “If I get steaks, you better bring good
beer.”
    “Keystone is good.”
    “If you're at a frat party, maybe. I have to
drink at least five of those to get any kind of buzz and Sadie
won't let me drink more than three.”
    “You're more of a pussy than Erik. Man up
and tell her to fuck off. You got shot in the ass and deserve to
drink five beers.”
    “ I'll tell her you said
that and see how many beers you get to drink. She'll throw them
over the fence into the neighbor’s like last year.” The memory gave
Chris the giggles. “Oh my God. You two were so pissed at each
other. Just staring, red-faced. I swear I thought your heads were
going to explode. It was like Arnold in Total Recall .”
    Chris puts his hands to his contorted face
with bulging eyes and used his best Austrian accent, “Aaaahh!”
    Frank couldn’t help but laugh.
    “I guess Scanners would’ve been worse,” said
Chris, and