Silent Heroes: Wildcat

Chapter 50: Flight and Fight

"You!" he pointed fiercely in my direction.  "Curly hair!  Blue shirt!  You have exactly five minutes to explain yourself before I call the police!

Everyone went quiet almost instantaneously.  Deanna frowned. Jewel stiffened and released a very low growl.

I studied the man as he came closer, extremely confused.  He did not look the least big familiar.  I didn't recall ever seeing him before in my life.

Isaac stepped in front of me, staring the man down.  His silver eyes were calm, steady and stern.  "What's the problem, here?"

The man's steps faltered for a moment.  I saw doubt flash across his face, but he kept coming.  He stopped about a foot away from Isaac.  "I will tell you what the problem is, sir!  This young lady," he jabbed a finger at me, "just caused thousands of dollars in damage to my company!"

Oh right.  That.

"She vandalized my property!" the man raved.  "She destroyed highly sophisticated equipment!  She injured a senior employee!  He threw out his back!  That employee is one of my top producers and he'll be out of work for at least a week, if not more!"

He sounded far more concerned about the lost productivity than the man who had been injured.

"Err... yeah that was an accident," I said.

"I don't care what it was!  And I don't have time to stand around here listening to excuses!  I have to get back upstairs and deal with the two comedians who just dropped uninvited into my private pool!"

"Sir," Isaac's voice had grown cold.  "Kindly calm down and stop shouting."

"Who's going to pay for all that damage?  I should sue you people!"

"I would be happy to reimburse you." 

"You're damn right you will!"

"But I have a few conditions."

"Conditions?" the man sputtered.  "Conditions?  You are not in any position to be negotiating right now, sir!"

"Actually, I believe I am," Isaac said calmly.  "I'm quite familiar with your firm, Mr. Connelly."

The man froze with his finger in mid-air.

"You've been in business since the nineteen-forties correct?" Isaac went on.  "One of the largest companies in North America.  Also one of the most profitable.  Which is mainly due to your habit of defying labor laws."

The colour slowly began to drain out of the man's face.

"Unpaid overtime," Isaac stated, calmly and clearly.  "Denying vacation pay.  Paying below minimum wage wherever you can get away with it.  I believe you currently have approximately fifty unpaid interns who are being overworked and are additionally not being taught any useful skills but are rather being treated like indentured servants."

The man was now backing away slowly.  His mouth was moving, but no words came out.  He turned around and ran, bursting through the closest exit.  The tail of his business suit was the last thing to vanish from sight.

"Well," Isaac said, facing the rest of us.  "That takes care of him."

"Was all that true, Isaac?" Deanna asked.  She looked angry.

"Do you think he would have reacted the same if it weren't?  I'll deal with him one way or the other, but we have slightly more pressing matters to worry about at the moment."

"Like what?" I said.

"Evelyn, you do realize, don't you, that thousands of people just watched you shift forms?"

I swear my heart stopped beating for just a second.  In all the craziness and excitement, that particular fact had completely slipped my mind. 

But, he was right.  Countless people had watched my transformation just now, and thousands more would know about it by the end of the day.  Not to mention the attention I had drawn to myself running through an office building like a maniac, throwing a full-grown man over my shoulder like he weighed no more than a toothpick and shifting out of wildcat form in the middle of a parking garage.

"What?..." I looked at Isaac.  If anyone could bring some control and sanity to the situation, it was him.  I found myself childishly hoping that he could smooth things over while I hid in the background.  Kind of like he had done just now.  "What should I do?"

"Well, the media will no doubt have arrived by now."

Media?

"I think you should go out and talk to them."

I almost choked.  "Me?  You want me to talk to them?"

"I think that would be best."

Okay, he wasn't serious right now, was he?

"They will not want to hear from anyone else, Evelyn.  The will not be satisfied until they have spoken directly with you."

Oh crap, he was serious.

"But... but I can't!"  I sputtered.  "I don't know how... what do I... I can't do this, Isaac!"

"Did you not just jump off a building?" Julian said.  "Now you're afraid of a little public speaking?"

"I think I'd rather jump off another building."

"Evelyn," Isaac said.  "You need to take some responsibility for your own actions, here.  If you don't help people to understand what just happened they will draw their own conclusions.  And that could easily end in disaster."

I swallowed hard.  I didn't know why, but his terrifyingly blunt way of explaining things was somehow giving me more confidence.  Or at least strengthening my resolve. 

"What...umm.... what should I tell them?"

"Well, that's quite simple," Isaac said, raising his dark blue eyebrows.  How could he look so calm when I suddenly felt like throwing up? "Tell them the truth."