Post by Neo53 on Nov 11, 2007 19:11:59 GMT -5
Small ficlet from the Revved Forward RPG a friend (Rusti Knight 
) wrote. Thought I would share, and I hope you guys enjoy....even though no one knows any of the characters o.o; BUT THATS OK! 
RPG is a mix of Knight Rider, Team Knight Rider, Farscape and a melding pot of other ideas all in one 
When: July 5th
Where: Foundation for Law and Government HQ and Project Fast Traxx Homebase
Who: Rusti Vitori (Rusti Knight), Sable Knight, Dr. Alan Dickson (CEO of FLAG) and FLAG's board of directors
What: Viper needs a job
RPG: Revved Forward PFT
(Viper and Sable are 100% Livitian, Rusti is a Livithian/Human hybrid and Alan is 100% Human)
Terminology - trs2001.homestead.com/Dictionary.html
_______________________________________
Her alarm went off way too early in the morning. Getting up at 0500 was tough when the day before had made you lazy. It also didn’t help that the night hadn’t been really all that restful. She closed her eyes and smiled, then stretched like a sleepy cat, slipping out of Beast’s embrace and out from under the blankets.
Fumbling around in the predawn light, praying Beast hadn’t dropped something besides clothes on the floor that she would trip over she found clean underwear and got dressed. Nice jeans, nice top this time. She’d felt overdressed when she had confronted FLAG’s board of directors for Beast wearing a suit and most of them were actually rather casually clad.
She snapped up a notebook she had some thoughts written down in and felt her way to Beast’s side of the bed and bent to hug and kiss him. He stirred and wrapped his arms around her. “Really gunna try, huh?”
“Got to,” she whispered. “Couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t.”
He was silent for a moment, looking up at her, then he offered her a sleepy smile. “The little shit doesn’t deserve it, but good luck.”
She kissed him again. “Back by evening, I hope.”
She gave Jaidyn a pat on the head and ran out the door to meet Sable for the quick flight down to Los Angeles. She went through the front hall where Viper was currently stuck and crawled over him, shaking her head at the little truth Star had carved into his hood. Maybe she really should have forced him to go to BUD/s. They would have yanked his defeatist attitude right out of him and shoved it up his ass like the mess of shit it was. “I know you can’t hear me, but hopefully we’ll have good news for you tonight. You’re coming back up one way or the other.”
“Are you ready?” Sable asked by way of greeting.
Rusti gave her friend a small, wry and partially bloodthirsty grin. “I didn’t bring my Colt just in case McDick shows up.”
Sable chuckled. “Lets get gone then. They’ll probably be waiting on us when we get there.”
Rusti used the commute time to turn slightly inward and meditate. Sable seemed to be doing the same thing, because she was also silent. I’m likely to meet the terminally stupid in this boardroom, but I need to remember that there’s nothing I can’t do if I want it bad enough. I may not be on the Teams anymore, but that training will always be a part of me. I will Never Say Die. I will never throw up my hands in defeat. I will not let Dickson’s personal vendettas ruin my friend’s life, or mine. I will not give up until what needs to happen, happens.
She stared down at her feet, running over the words in her mind until they were imprinted in her brain. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t realize they had arrived until Sable reached over and gave her a light poke in the arm.
“Rusti? You can snap out of it now, we’re here.”
She looked up, then followed Sable out and climbed up into her cab for the short trip to FLAG’s offices.
“What am I here for again, Rusti?”
“Moral support and a diplomatic head. You know how I get.”
She heard the smile in Sable’s voice. “Right. I think you did fine with Beast’s citizenship, didn’t you? Just handle it the same way I told you last time. Introduce yourself and just make your argument. I’m sure McDick already knows we’re coming, so he’s probably presented his case long ago. Maybe we won’t run into him today.”
Rusti sighed and got out as Sable pulled up to the front door of the building. “One could hope.”
The same unenthusiastic woman who had greeted them almost a year ago was still at the front desk, the same pencil behind her ear and sour expression on her face. “You again?”
“Miss me?” Rusti muttered. “I know how to get where I’m going, no need to direct me.”
The receptionist snorted and gestured in the general direction of the boardroom without further comment. Rusti headed up with Sable close behind, a patient air of support that Rusti was certain she’d need. Even more so when she saw Dickson outside the door of the boardroom…waiting. The female chairman of the board stood beside him, but her expression was far warmer than his. Rusti’s heart hit her stomach as soon as she saw him, in spite of the mantra she’d repeated to herself on the way there.
The chairwoman spoke first, smiling at Rusti and stepping away from Dickson. “Welcome back, Ms. Vitori, or is it Mrs., yet?”
“Not yet,” Rusti smiled a little.
“Please come inside. Dr. Dickson has presented his side of the story, and now we will hear what you have to say. I do understand that you have a proposal for us,” she shook Rusti’s hand.
“I do,” Rusti moved past Dickson at a motion from the chairwoman. His barely contained hostility was rolling off of him in waves. She felt like she was eight years old again, slinking past Joe Caudle when he was on the verge of exploding into a vicious beating. Her adrenaline shot through the roof and she fought the urge to flinch or duck, taking a deep breath and forcing herself to straighten up and walk past him, pointedly not looking at him, chin up and aloof.
Behind her, Sable did the same, walking into the richly decorated room and relaxing as the heavy doors closed behind them and locked Dickson outside them. The board members nodded in greeting to Rusti and Sable. The chairwoman took her seat and nodded to Rusti.
“Dr. Dickson’s argument was that we have had several problems in the past with the Viper DeVont, and it is unwise to do anything further with him. We are inclined to see the wisdom in his argument. You were just the latest in a series of outbursts. Do you really think it wise to return him to PFT Commander and hand him a weapon?” The chairwoman folded her hands on the table in front of her and fixed Rusti with an unwavering gaze, although it was not hostile.
“Madam, with all due respect, the incident you refer to was hardly something that I feel FLAG needed to get involved in. It was a personal altercation and it was not so one sided as him simply attacking me out of the blue. The only reason he came away from it unscathed is because I redirected aim when I pulled the trigger.
“But at the moment I do agree that he does not need to be reinstated as commander and handed a weapon just yet. He will have to rebuild his teammates faith in him first. What I want to propose will help him do that. Upon his retirement, PFT lost its medical officer, and we’ve been without one for almost a year,” Rusti paused to take a deep breath. What she was about to say could send McDick after her in a whirlwind of fury. “It is my opinion that Viper was forced into this situation because of someone else’s personal vendetta. The decision to either destroy or retire him was not made for the good of FLAG or Project Fast Traxx. What happened instead was that the teams lost the help of an extraordinary officer and leader. Three strikes or more only counts in baseball, ma’am.”
The chairwoman’s eyebrows climbed her forehead as Rusti stopped for a moment. She looked at Rusti as if she knew she had kept Dickson on the other side of the doors for a reason. “And what makes you think the decision was because of someone’s opinion and personal problems with DeVont? That should not be an accusation you make lightly, it could come back to haunt you.”
“And I didn’t make it lightly, ma’am. The afternoon I spent here last August fighting for my commander’s life and the arguments made and rebuked are what brought me to that conclusion. I realize what the consequences could be, but I cannot let it go unsaid,” Rusti held herself up straight, meeting the woman’s gaze. “In Dr. Dickson’s office last summer I was treated as if I meant nothing and was expendable and that is not treatment I take lightly. I am not expendable, and neither are my teammates, and neither is the man that commanded PFT,” she preferred for more straightforward fighting, but at least this battle was not turning into a flurry of mindgames.
Sable glanced up at Rusti, mildly impressed as the board members looked at each other, whispering. Rusti’s jaw was locked up tight, hands pressed flat on the vast table the board sat at, watching them.
“What is your proposal, Ms. Vitori?” An older gentleman nearer her and Sable leaned back in his chair after a moment.
“Revoke Viper’s retirement and reinstate him as PFT’s medical officer. We need one. We have been without one for a year, and it should be someone we all know and trust. It will not require you to give him access to weapons and it might give him the opportunity to prove himself again. Right now you have a very talented and highly trained asset sitting dormant when he could be giving back to FLAG. The reward for his years of service to you should not be a miserable, pointless existence.”
“That doesn’t seem too unreasonable,” the old man looked up the table to the chairwoman, then back at Rusti. “Would you mind telling us what happened last August, then?”
Rusti smiled wanly. “I find it hard to believe you don’t know at least most of the details. I just want to make it clear that he let go and didn’t leave any lasting damage to me. I could have killed him. Neither one of us were in the right that evening.”
The chairwoman turned her head slightly and looked at Rusti out of the corner of her eye. “You still trust him?”
“Ma’am, if I were injured, bleeding or dying, Viper DeVont would be the first person I would drag myself to, regardless of whatever decision you make today. I trust him with my life.”
The chairwoman looked at Sable. “And you?”
“I share Ms. Vitori’s view, Madam,” Sable nodded.
“And would both of you eventually be willing to follow him again?”
Rusti nodded slowly, guarded. “In time.”
“Very well. If you would both step outside, we need to discuss it. We will let you know shortly,” the chairwoman gestured to the door. “Just have a seat outside.”
Rusti sketched them all a loose salute. “Thank you,” and headed out the door with Sable.
Dickson was still there, waiting. Fortunately it didn’t appear as though he had his ear to the door, but the look he shot Rusti was still just as hostile as it was when she and Sable walked around the door and came into view. Sable pulled the doors closed behind them again and turned in time to see Rusti meeting Dickson’s challenging glare in a way that was far to flammable for comfort, and both were silent.
She moved over to her friend and took her by the elbow. “Come on Rus, let’s sit down over here. Hopefully it won’t take them long. And what on earth did you need me for? I’d already told you your idea was a pretty good one.”
Rusti allowed herself to be led away from Dickson and steered into a chair across the room. “Sable, honestly, if you hadn’t been sitting down next to me, I probably couldn’t have done it. Even if your support was silent, having someone whose calmness rubs off on me does wonders.”
“Well, I’m impressed. The way you argue at home, I didn’t know you had it in you.”
She grinned a little at Sable. “Yeah, but I did it all in a nervous southern accent. I could hear myself.”
“It was cute!” Sable laughed. “You were charming!”
“Oh shut up.”
Across the room, Dickson coughed. Rusti stopped grinning at Sable and shot him a vicious look. “What do you want?”
“You’re so arrogant and sure of yourself that it’s comical,” Dickson hissed.
“Yeah well, sorry.”
“It won’t happen.”
“Makes me glad the board can still override you with a two-thirds majority vote,” Rusti turned away and feigned deafness before she said anything else. McDick’s time was coming anyway. If she didn’t do anything about it soon, it was starting to sound like Beast probably would.
She leaned back in her chair and stared up at the ceiling. The wait for the board might not take forever, since lunchtime was approaching, but it was going to feel that way if she couldn’t calm down. She rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes, thinking again and again of her determination to not give up. This would come out favorably, she knew it would, it had to.
At long last she had managed to still her churning stomach and pounding heart when the door to the board room opened again and set them right back to acting up. The chairwoman called all three of them in. Sable grabbed her by the elbow in a grip fierce enough to indicate that she was feeling the same as Rusti.
The chairwoman rose from her seat, smiling kindly at Rusti. “Ms. Vitori, Mrs. Knight, we are inclined to accept your proposal-“
“What!?” Dickson barked. “Madam Chairwoman, I-“
The chairwoman held up her hand. “Dr. Dickson, please. We have taken your argument into account as well. The proposal is a reasonable one, and it still keeps DeVont removed from weapons as you have requested. Project Fast Traxx does need a medical officer and if the both of you are any indication as to the respect DeVont still commands at PFT, everyone there will accept the decision as well. There is one condition, however.”
Rusti held her breath, guarded. “And what is that?”
“There will be a period of probation. He will be released from house arrest and allowed to come and go anywhere within the city of San Francisco, but he cannot leave city limits, and he must keep his nose clean until the end of the year. You are still responsible for making sure our good will is not unfounded, Ms. Vitori. If DeVont gets into trouble, you will too. Much as it has been this past year.”
Rusti nodded slowly. That was nothing new, at least. “Does that release Star of responsibility?”
“She will be essential to you, still, for the next six months. After that, you will both be absolved of responsibility. Perhaps that will give DeVont incentive to behave himself just as he has since last year. I realize that ‘babysitting’ him must have been stressful, perhaps this will help all of you, allowing him to roam the city.”
The elder chairman who had spoken earlier handed Rusti a folder. “Here are copies of the papers. We will send whatever else DeVont may need after you by post.”
Rusti took the folder, exhaling in a rush. “Thank you. Very much. You may have just made my life ten times easier…”
The chairwoman smiled. “We understand that your job these past few months could not have been easy. I’m sure this will help.”
There was sudden movement on Rusti’s left side where Dickson was standing. He whipped around on her like he might strike. Startled, Rusti leapt out of reach and dropped into a crouch, knocking over a chair and bumping into Sable. The board members raised their eyebrows, but the sudden, threatening movement on behalf of Dickson ended with that. He kept his fists at his sides, turned and stormed out of the boardroom, face beet red with fury.
The chairwoman sat in silence for a moment, then nodded to Sable and Rusti. “Good afternoon to the both of you. I’m sure your friend will feel a bit better to hear the news. Hurry home.”
Outside the boardroom, Rusti and Sable looked at each other and started laughing. Sable grabbed Rusti and gave her a big hug. “I’m proud of you!”
“Me too!”
Dickson stood in the doorway, arms crossed. “That’ll be the last time you go over my head, girl.”
Rusti’s grin faded. “Was that a threat? Cuz it sure sounded like one. I dare you.”
Turning his back on them, Dickson stalked back up to his office without another word.
-----------------------------------------------
Back at home at last, Rusti took a moment to leap into Beast’s arms for a strong hug. “We did it!”
“Good for you!” Beast smiled.
All the heads in the garage turned. “Did what?”
“Vern,” Rusti waved the mechanic over. “Let’s go wake Viper up!”
The whole garage followed them to the front hallway, curious. Vern set about taking Viper out of his self-induced stasis.
The outburst was just as Rusti had actually expected. “Why the I use F-bombs because I'm stupid can’t you people leave me the hell alone!?!”
He switched back to human form to back away from them all, giving Rusti the opportunity to shove the folder into his hands. “Shut up for a second and have a look, Doc.”
.
) wrote. Thought I would share, and I hope you guys enjoy....even though no one knows any of the characters o.o; BUT THATS OK! 
RPG is a mix of Knight Rider, Team Knight Rider, Farscape and a melding pot of other ideas all in one 
When: July 5th
Where: Foundation for Law and Government HQ and Project Fast Traxx Homebase
Who: Rusti Vitori (Rusti Knight), Sable Knight, Dr. Alan Dickson (CEO of FLAG) and FLAG's board of directors
What: Viper needs a job
RPG: Revved Forward PFT
(Viper and Sable are 100% Livitian, Rusti is a Livithian/Human hybrid and Alan is 100% Human)
Terminology - trs2001.homestead.com/Dictionary.html
_______________________________________
Her alarm went off way too early in the morning. Getting up at 0500 was tough when the day before had made you lazy. It also didn’t help that the night hadn’t been really all that restful. She closed her eyes and smiled, then stretched like a sleepy cat, slipping out of Beast’s embrace and out from under the blankets.
Fumbling around in the predawn light, praying Beast hadn’t dropped something besides clothes on the floor that she would trip over she found clean underwear and got dressed. Nice jeans, nice top this time. She’d felt overdressed when she had confronted FLAG’s board of directors for Beast wearing a suit and most of them were actually rather casually clad.
She snapped up a notebook she had some thoughts written down in and felt her way to Beast’s side of the bed and bent to hug and kiss him. He stirred and wrapped his arms around her. “Really gunna try, huh?”
“Got to,” she whispered. “Couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t.”
He was silent for a moment, looking up at her, then he offered her a sleepy smile. “The little shit doesn’t deserve it, but good luck.”
She kissed him again. “Back by evening, I hope.”
She gave Jaidyn a pat on the head and ran out the door to meet Sable for the quick flight down to Los Angeles. She went through the front hall where Viper was currently stuck and crawled over him, shaking her head at the little truth Star had carved into his hood. Maybe she really should have forced him to go to BUD/s. They would have yanked his defeatist attitude right out of him and shoved it up his ass like the mess of shit it was. “I know you can’t hear me, but hopefully we’ll have good news for you tonight. You’re coming back up one way or the other.”
“Are you ready?” Sable asked by way of greeting.
Rusti gave her friend a small, wry and partially bloodthirsty grin. “I didn’t bring my Colt just in case McDick shows up.”
Sable chuckled. “Lets get gone then. They’ll probably be waiting on us when we get there.”
Rusti used the commute time to turn slightly inward and meditate. Sable seemed to be doing the same thing, because she was also silent. I’m likely to meet the terminally stupid in this boardroom, but I need to remember that there’s nothing I can’t do if I want it bad enough. I may not be on the Teams anymore, but that training will always be a part of me. I will Never Say Die. I will never throw up my hands in defeat. I will not let Dickson’s personal vendettas ruin my friend’s life, or mine. I will not give up until what needs to happen, happens.
She stared down at her feet, running over the words in her mind until they were imprinted in her brain. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t realize they had arrived until Sable reached over and gave her a light poke in the arm.
“Rusti? You can snap out of it now, we’re here.”
She looked up, then followed Sable out and climbed up into her cab for the short trip to FLAG’s offices.
“What am I here for again, Rusti?”
“Moral support and a diplomatic head. You know how I get.”
She heard the smile in Sable’s voice. “Right. I think you did fine with Beast’s citizenship, didn’t you? Just handle it the same way I told you last time. Introduce yourself and just make your argument. I’m sure McDick already knows we’re coming, so he’s probably presented his case long ago. Maybe we won’t run into him today.”
Rusti sighed and got out as Sable pulled up to the front door of the building. “One could hope.”
The same unenthusiastic woman who had greeted them almost a year ago was still at the front desk, the same pencil behind her ear and sour expression on her face. “You again?”
“Miss me?” Rusti muttered. “I know how to get where I’m going, no need to direct me.”
The receptionist snorted and gestured in the general direction of the boardroom without further comment. Rusti headed up with Sable close behind, a patient air of support that Rusti was certain she’d need. Even more so when she saw Dickson outside the door of the boardroom…waiting. The female chairman of the board stood beside him, but her expression was far warmer than his. Rusti’s heart hit her stomach as soon as she saw him, in spite of the mantra she’d repeated to herself on the way there.
The chairwoman spoke first, smiling at Rusti and stepping away from Dickson. “Welcome back, Ms. Vitori, or is it Mrs., yet?”
“Not yet,” Rusti smiled a little.
“Please come inside. Dr. Dickson has presented his side of the story, and now we will hear what you have to say. I do understand that you have a proposal for us,” she shook Rusti’s hand.
“I do,” Rusti moved past Dickson at a motion from the chairwoman. His barely contained hostility was rolling off of him in waves. She felt like she was eight years old again, slinking past Joe Caudle when he was on the verge of exploding into a vicious beating. Her adrenaline shot through the roof and she fought the urge to flinch or duck, taking a deep breath and forcing herself to straighten up and walk past him, pointedly not looking at him, chin up and aloof.
Behind her, Sable did the same, walking into the richly decorated room and relaxing as the heavy doors closed behind them and locked Dickson outside them. The board members nodded in greeting to Rusti and Sable. The chairwoman took her seat and nodded to Rusti.
“Dr. Dickson’s argument was that we have had several problems in the past with the Viper DeVont, and it is unwise to do anything further with him. We are inclined to see the wisdom in his argument. You were just the latest in a series of outbursts. Do you really think it wise to return him to PFT Commander and hand him a weapon?” The chairwoman folded her hands on the table in front of her and fixed Rusti with an unwavering gaze, although it was not hostile.
“Madam, with all due respect, the incident you refer to was hardly something that I feel FLAG needed to get involved in. It was a personal altercation and it was not so one sided as him simply attacking me out of the blue. The only reason he came away from it unscathed is because I redirected aim when I pulled the trigger.
“But at the moment I do agree that he does not need to be reinstated as commander and handed a weapon just yet. He will have to rebuild his teammates faith in him first. What I want to propose will help him do that. Upon his retirement, PFT lost its medical officer, and we’ve been without one for almost a year,” Rusti paused to take a deep breath. What she was about to say could send McDick after her in a whirlwind of fury. “It is my opinion that Viper was forced into this situation because of someone else’s personal vendetta. The decision to either destroy or retire him was not made for the good of FLAG or Project Fast Traxx. What happened instead was that the teams lost the help of an extraordinary officer and leader. Three strikes or more only counts in baseball, ma’am.”
The chairwoman’s eyebrows climbed her forehead as Rusti stopped for a moment. She looked at Rusti as if she knew she had kept Dickson on the other side of the doors for a reason. “And what makes you think the decision was because of someone’s opinion and personal problems with DeVont? That should not be an accusation you make lightly, it could come back to haunt you.”
“And I didn’t make it lightly, ma’am. The afternoon I spent here last August fighting for my commander’s life and the arguments made and rebuked are what brought me to that conclusion. I realize what the consequences could be, but I cannot let it go unsaid,” Rusti held herself up straight, meeting the woman’s gaze. “In Dr. Dickson’s office last summer I was treated as if I meant nothing and was expendable and that is not treatment I take lightly. I am not expendable, and neither are my teammates, and neither is the man that commanded PFT,” she preferred for more straightforward fighting, but at least this battle was not turning into a flurry of mindgames.
Sable glanced up at Rusti, mildly impressed as the board members looked at each other, whispering. Rusti’s jaw was locked up tight, hands pressed flat on the vast table the board sat at, watching them.
“What is your proposal, Ms. Vitori?” An older gentleman nearer her and Sable leaned back in his chair after a moment.
“Revoke Viper’s retirement and reinstate him as PFT’s medical officer. We need one. We have been without one for a year, and it should be someone we all know and trust. It will not require you to give him access to weapons and it might give him the opportunity to prove himself again. Right now you have a very talented and highly trained asset sitting dormant when he could be giving back to FLAG. The reward for his years of service to you should not be a miserable, pointless existence.”
“That doesn’t seem too unreasonable,” the old man looked up the table to the chairwoman, then back at Rusti. “Would you mind telling us what happened last August, then?”
Rusti smiled wanly. “I find it hard to believe you don’t know at least most of the details. I just want to make it clear that he let go and didn’t leave any lasting damage to me. I could have killed him. Neither one of us were in the right that evening.”
The chairwoman turned her head slightly and looked at Rusti out of the corner of her eye. “You still trust him?”
“Ma’am, if I were injured, bleeding or dying, Viper DeVont would be the first person I would drag myself to, regardless of whatever decision you make today. I trust him with my life.”
The chairwoman looked at Sable. “And you?”
“I share Ms. Vitori’s view, Madam,” Sable nodded.
“And would both of you eventually be willing to follow him again?”
Rusti nodded slowly, guarded. “In time.”
“Very well. If you would both step outside, we need to discuss it. We will let you know shortly,” the chairwoman gestured to the door. “Just have a seat outside.”
Rusti sketched them all a loose salute. “Thank you,” and headed out the door with Sable.
Dickson was still there, waiting. Fortunately it didn’t appear as though he had his ear to the door, but the look he shot Rusti was still just as hostile as it was when she and Sable walked around the door and came into view. Sable pulled the doors closed behind them again and turned in time to see Rusti meeting Dickson’s challenging glare in a way that was far to flammable for comfort, and both were silent.
She moved over to her friend and took her by the elbow. “Come on Rus, let’s sit down over here. Hopefully it won’t take them long. And what on earth did you need me for? I’d already told you your idea was a pretty good one.”
Rusti allowed herself to be led away from Dickson and steered into a chair across the room. “Sable, honestly, if you hadn’t been sitting down next to me, I probably couldn’t have done it. Even if your support was silent, having someone whose calmness rubs off on me does wonders.”
“Well, I’m impressed. The way you argue at home, I didn’t know you had it in you.”
She grinned a little at Sable. “Yeah, but I did it all in a nervous southern accent. I could hear myself.”
“It was cute!” Sable laughed. “You were charming!”
“Oh shut up.”
Across the room, Dickson coughed. Rusti stopped grinning at Sable and shot him a vicious look. “What do you want?”
“You’re so arrogant and sure of yourself that it’s comical,” Dickson hissed.
“Yeah well, sorry.”
“It won’t happen.”
“Makes me glad the board can still override you with a two-thirds majority vote,” Rusti turned away and feigned deafness before she said anything else. McDick’s time was coming anyway. If she didn’t do anything about it soon, it was starting to sound like Beast probably would.
She leaned back in her chair and stared up at the ceiling. The wait for the board might not take forever, since lunchtime was approaching, but it was going to feel that way if she couldn’t calm down. She rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes, thinking again and again of her determination to not give up. This would come out favorably, she knew it would, it had to.
At long last she had managed to still her churning stomach and pounding heart when the door to the board room opened again and set them right back to acting up. The chairwoman called all three of them in. Sable grabbed her by the elbow in a grip fierce enough to indicate that she was feeling the same as Rusti.
The chairwoman rose from her seat, smiling kindly at Rusti. “Ms. Vitori, Mrs. Knight, we are inclined to accept your proposal-“
“What!?” Dickson barked. “Madam Chairwoman, I-“
The chairwoman held up her hand. “Dr. Dickson, please. We have taken your argument into account as well. The proposal is a reasonable one, and it still keeps DeVont removed from weapons as you have requested. Project Fast Traxx does need a medical officer and if the both of you are any indication as to the respect DeVont still commands at PFT, everyone there will accept the decision as well. There is one condition, however.”
Rusti held her breath, guarded. “And what is that?”
“There will be a period of probation. He will be released from house arrest and allowed to come and go anywhere within the city of San Francisco, but he cannot leave city limits, and he must keep his nose clean until the end of the year. You are still responsible for making sure our good will is not unfounded, Ms. Vitori. If DeVont gets into trouble, you will too. Much as it has been this past year.”
Rusti nodded slowly. That was nothing new, at least. “Does that release Star of responsibility?”
“She will be essential to you, still, for the next six months. After that, you will both be absolved of responsibility. Perhaps that will give DeVont incentive to behave himself just as he has since last year. I realize that ‘babysitting’ him must have been stressful, perhaps this will help all of you, allowing him to roam the city.”
The elder chairman who had spoken earlier handed Rusti a folder. “Here are copies of the papers. We will send whatever else DeVont may need after you by post.”
Rusti took the folder, exhaling in a rush. “Thank you. Very much. You may have just made my life ten times easier…”
The chairwoman smiled. “We understand that your job these past few months could not have been easy. I’m sure this will help.”
There was sudden movement on Rusti’s left side where Dickson was standing. He whipped around on her like he might strike. Startled, Rusti leapt out of reach and dropped into a crouch, knocking over a chair and bumping into Sable. The board members raised their eyebrows, but the sudden, threatening movement on behalf of Dickson ended with that. He kept his fists at his sides, turned and stormed out of the boardroom, face beet red with fury.
The chairwoman sat in silence for a moment, then nodded to Sable and Rusti. “Good afternoon to the both of you. I’m sure your friend will feel a bit better to hear the news. Hurry home.”
Outside the boardroom, Rusti and Sable looked at each other and started laughing. Sable grabbed Rusti and gave her a big hug. “I’m proud of you!”
“Me too!”
Dickson stood in the doorway, arms crossed. “That’ll be the last time you go over my head, girl.”
Rusti’s grin faded. “Was that a threat? Cuz it sure sounded like one. I dare you.”
Turning his back on them, Dickson stalked back up to his office without another word.
-----------------------------------------------
Back at home at last, Rusti took a moment to leap into Beast’s arms for a strong hug. “We did it!”
“Good for you!” Beast smiled.
All the heads in the garage turned. “Did what?”
“Vern,” Rusti waved the mechanic over. “Let’s go wake Viper up!”
The whole garage followed them to the front hallway, curious. Vern set about taking Viper out of his self-induced stasis.
The outburst was just as Rusti had actually expected. “Why the I use F-bombs because I'm stupid can’t you people leave me the hell alone!?!”
He switched back to human form to back away from them all, giving Rusti the opportunity to shove the folder into his hands. “Shut up for a second and have a look, Doc.”
.
