Chapter 12 - Episode: Lessons Learned (Part One)

"You're serious?" Anna sat behind her desk, a no nonsense look giving her normally smiling face more intimidating than Eric had ever seen it.

"Yes, Ma'am." Eric had falling back into a more military tone the entire conversation, Anna hadn't seen fit to correct him, or tell him to relax. Frankly, he'd need to be ordered to, if he wanted to manage the latter. She sighs and leans back in her chair. Eric had taken the room in by glances and pieces with his focus on his boss, however he realized it was quite comfortably furnished. A fine desk, with a computer and the other necessities of office work, but also a pair of comfortable looking seats in front of the desk.

Eric was standing, rather than sitting in either of those chairs, or the long comfy looking couch set against the outer wall of the office. He stood straight, and the 'professional' atmosphere helped bring his heart rate closer and closer to normal. He'd been running high since the morning and, after changing and writing a report for the logs, been waiting by the office for Anna to arrive.

He was surprised when she arrived a few minutes before the sun rose, and by the time he'd finished his explanation, the tones that curfew was lifting and the all green was sounding were echoing through the halls.

"I'll file your report with City Construct Security, though they still might call you in for an interview." She set down a printout of the report, a copy of one Eric had emailed to her. 

"That seems likely, Ma'am." He agreed.

"Relax, Eric." He fidgeted in place as he tried to shift posture. "At ease." She ordered, and he that made it just a little easier to relax the tense posture his shoulders were held in. "That wasn't your first time meeting a Regulator was it."

"No...Belle..." He forced some informality into the conversation, and from the smile that formed on beautiful woman's face, it was appreciated. "I met two during my tour. They had 'attached' themselves to our unit and patrolled our base perimeter during the evening, or followed forays into the Emerald Zone." He shuddered. "Vids don't do them justice, I've seen them 'regulate' Beasts and Constructs, and a lot of what's popularized is fiction."

"Then, I say you did the right thing, backing off like you did. Do you think I should send out a notice to the building?"

"Ma'am?"

"A few of our tenants have post-curfew jobs, authorized of course. Do you think we should concern them?"

"Absolutely. There's no telling when this Regulator last had an update, it might not recognize any kind of authorizations. It sat on top of the windmill with the clear intent on triggering an inspection, there's no guarantee it wouldn't have 'regulated' me if it hadn't wanted me up there. Plus, there's no telling how many days its been doing this, it could have other faults that it doesn't recognize."

"I'll send out a memo then." She nodded and stretched, pulling her shirt tight against her massive breasts. Though Eric doubted she wasn't going to inform her tenants in the first place. "How are you feeling, Eric?"

"Still a little tense, Belle." Eric admitted.

"I meant about your walk with the Missuses." She elaborated, her voice a little lower, angrier maybe?

"Still a little tense, Belle." Eric confessed, and he lowered his head.

"Hm... I'd followed you up there, after you'd come back," She started, and Eric brought his gaze up to look her in the eye. She shrugged. "I was... curious... I'm sorry. They were laying it on really thick, it seemed like." She motioned for one of the chairs and now, Eric felt like sitting.

"I just..." Eric started. "I get they were just being nice," He lied about his doubts, and he could tell she wasn't buying it, but Belle didn't call him on it. "But, I panicked, I guess."

"Eric, you don't have anything to be sorry for. Whatever they did want to ask you in for, they weren't clear or considerate enough," She shrugged. "You read the signals that they were giving, and you didn't like how it looked. It's that simple." She smiled. "Sometimes people say the wrong thing, the wrong way, and people hear that instead of what they mean."

She said that, and it sounded good, but Eric still felt a lump in his chest. "Well, here's something for you to do in the meantime." She held up a sheet of paper. "Professor Landry reported that something's wrong with her oven. Its not heating up, and making an odd smell when it does."

"That sounds urgent." He stood up. "When am I scheduled to look at it." 

"Sometime today," she tapped at a lower part of the sheet, "She says she'll be in all day and just to knock and she'll let you in."

"Well, Sun is up, I'll collect what I left on the roof and once that's done I'll see if she's up. Hmm."

"What?" Belle cocked her head to the side.

"Just thinking it might rude to just show up, should I bring coffee?" He asked, and Belle blinked, and laughed. "What?"

"What are you; a handyman with a touch of delivery boy?" She asked, and he shrugged back. "She takes a darker roast and very little sugar. There's a shop a block over that sells it how she likes it." Eric gave a name of a shop he'd seen yesterday, while walking with those two wily wives, and Belle confirmed that was the shop.

"Right. Tools. Coffee. Professor's Oven...." He tacked off the list out loud, then when Belle laughed he replayed it in his head. "I swear, Boss," He laughs. Well, if he was getting things into that mood. "Belle... I... about what you did for me before..." He started and say the look in her eyes, she met his eyes and was listening intently.

Don't say 'thank you'. Don't say 'THANK YOU'.

"If you want to come up and have a drink with me. Or go out some time, I'd like that." He pushed out the offer with a smile and felt his heart jump as Belle returned it with a beaming grin on her own face.

Thank the LIGHT!

"I'd like that very much, Eric. Things are busy right now, but, I'll give you a heads up when I've got some time." She handed him the sheet with Landry's maintenance request and Eric excused himself from her office. He exhaled and made his way back up to the maintenance airlock that lead up to the roof. Now that the sun was out and curfew was over he didn't need much equipment. Still he wore heavy gloves and brought a vacuum all the same.

The parts and bag were where he left it, and a small sensor built into the vacuum chimed to let him know there was some residual Haze nearby. The heavier than air gas had condensed inside the parts bag, the purple murk hiding in the shadows. Eric stuffed the nozzle into it and hit the button, sucking out the haze into a container that exposed the contents to the same brilliance as the sun and expelled a stable vapor. 

As he continued to clear out the bag of any murk, he tuned out the sounds of the machines around him and looked out at the vastness of the City. It spread to North and South Horizons without breaking Sky scrapers and buildings scores of stories tall. The morning sun made some buildings gleam bright while others soaked in the light like massive dark pylons drinking in the morning light.

To the East, a massive artificial lake spanned the middle third of that horizon, tall spindles spinning above it, gathering and filtering vapor to collect into the massive body beneath them. and to the West the foothills of the mountains rose high above and along the City's western edge. The glimmering light of hundreds of solar panels collecting the morning sun and feeding power into the city gave the mountains the look of something fabricated.

The little pocket of civilization, such as it was.

After vacuuming out the sensor's interior, and closing the panel, Eric gathered his tools and returned them to storage before heading down to the ground level. It was still early, but a few people were setting out to work. Among them, Maz. He was just turning from the entrance to the Apartment building when she was exiting it.

"Hey, Eric!" She waved as Eric stopped to wait for her. "What's up?" She slapped her arm over his shoulder and pulled him close. 

"Making a coffee run before I check in on a ticket." Eric summed up. Maz nodded, and Eric felt himself moving forward as she seemed to be inviting herself along.  "So... what's up?"

"That's what I asked ya." Maz nodded again, and Eric felt her grip move over his shoulder, not a tight grasp but a soothing stroke.

"I -may- have messed things up with Julia and Amanda..." He began, and explained what had happened yesterday, adding in how he'd met Jack and Alex for good measure.

"Geez, those four... Jack and Alex for not giving you a proper heads up, I mean you were probably still high when you talked to them right? If you caught them when you said?" Eric nodded, "And Julia and Amanda.... I swear." He'd finished explaining by the time they'd gotten to the shop and were at the back of the line.

"Yeah." Eric agreed. "So that killed my buzz for the week, between that and the Regulator this morning," he started and Maz spun to look at him.

"Regulator?!" She nearly shouted and everyone in the cafe turned at the word as much as the noise. "When'd you see a damn Regulator?" Eric looked around when everyone in the store had grown quiet, only the drip of coffee and the hiss of the milk steamer could be heard.

"I woke up before Dawn and found the building's pressure gauge wasn't working right. I suited up and went out to check, there was a Regulator sitting up their with a broken part. I fixed it, and it told me to go back inside. I did, and I guess it left afterwards." He summed up. "So yeah." He looked around at the cafe as everyone suddenly had something new to gossip about.

"Cornelia's gonna frag me for that," he grumbled. Maz blushed and apologized. Eric ordered himself a coffee and one matching the Professor's preferences, while Maz picked up a pair of 'Boxed' Coffees; two pots worth each. "I'll see you later, Maz." Eric said as a word of parting, and Maz leaned in to kiss him. He met her halfway and shared the affectionate contact and let it push some of the worry out of his head.

"Definitely." She agreed and sauntered off, her toned ass shaking with each lone stride of her muscular legs. Eric smiled as he watched her go, before making his way back to the apartment building. Tenants were starting to head off to work now, and Eric saw a few gathering at the Office to speak with Belle, who was assuring them that the email was not a joke and that a Regulator HAD been spotted that morning.

She gave Eric a wink over their shoulders that she had the tenants covered and Eric kept moving toward the elevators. The ride up to his floor was quiet, and when he walked out onto the walkway he saw Cornelia, Officer Woolrick, knocking at his door. He walked the long way, and heard her knock twice, three times and cross her arms as she waited, in uniform. He padded silently, until he was a few arms lengths from her.

"Officer Woolrick?" He asked, and she turned as he spoke, eyes wide he'd gotten as close as he had.

"Eric!" She turned. "What the hell happened?"

"Oh. I went out this morning to do a sensor check, and there was a Regulator out there, in need of a tune up."

"Not that!" She lowers her voice, and steps close. "What the hell happened last night with Amanda and Julia?" She hisses, and Eric glowers. "Geez, I'm just asking."

"We went out. We walked around. We came back. They asked me in for a drink. I didn't like how it sounded. I might have panicked." He summed up, pointedly ignoring the part where they got ice cream because it would only remind him of how they showed off for him and teased him the way they had.

"Geez, they were just asking you for a drink, that's all." She sighs and crosses her arms.

"Well given how 'having a drink' has gone with the past couple women on this floor, including you," He added and she blushed dark, "I made the correlation. Anyway, I need to get my tools, Professor Landry has a ticket I need to check out." He gestures at the coffee and Cornelia smirks. "What?"

"Looking to nail every women on the floor except the ones who are married?" Her eyebrow rose as she gestured at the coffee.

"Coffee can just be coffee. Besides, I don't have any desire to tread on their vows." Eric said softly, but Cornelia felt a chill run up her spine. "Did you need anything else?" He asked, and she shook her head. "Okay, Good morning, Cornelia." He smiled. "I hope you have a good day at work. It might be a busy one." He added with a smirk.

She left, and Eric quickly collected a bag with basic tools from his apartment before heading to the door with Joanna Landry's name beneath the number plate. He gave a few quick knocks on the door before stepping back to wait.

"Just a moment," A sleepy voice called out and Eric put on his most neighborly smile, then he dialed it back to something less intimate since his definition of neighborly had changed since moving here. "Ah!" A long graceful arm opened the door, and Eric boggled at the woman it was attached too. "Mister Wyre, I presume?" She stood just shy of 6 feet and her silky silver hair was bound up in a bun that looked approriate on a school teacher, not hte bombshell he was staring down. Her deep red sweater held swells of breasts larger than any he'd seen, including Amanda's or Julia's. They were titanic, and stretched the sweater's fabric so tight, he could see dark circles between the thicker braided threads, where her areolas must be. He blinked and met her eyes, a cyan blue that glimmered and gave him tingles down his spine.

Her soft gaze was held in a face that was both soft and severe, a subtle smile forming on puffy, soft, lips.

"Professor Landry?" He asked back, and she nodded. "Nice to meet you, yes, I'm Eric Wyre, It's nice to meet you. Belle mentioned you had an issue in the kitchen," He held up the carrier with the coffees. "I also got you something since, I wasn't sure if you'd be awake when I got here. You mentioned being a teacher but, I wasn't sure if you were having classes at this point in the year."

She smiles. "Oh that's so sweet of you," She chuckles, "I haven't had a chance to get out myself, she gestures down and Eric's eyes follow her arms and boggle. Her massive hips are as impressive as her breasts, and he can tell the sweater's hem is stretching to cover a great mass of ass behind her, however that fails to distract him from the fact she's wearing nothing but dark brown stockings, and he averts his gaze before his eyes popped out of his head. Joanna giggle softly. "Oh I am, Sorry, I didn't mean to distract you." She reached out and grabbed his free hand and pulled him inside, closing the door behind them her breasts pressed and smooshed against Eric's chest spreading thick and wide as he was pinned by her tits against the inner wall of her entryway. 

Okay, so 'just coffee' isn't 'just' coffee in this building, or at least on this floor. Eric admitted. He tried to smile as Joanna leaned against him. "Now then, I should let you get to work, shouldn't I?" She sighed. Eric started to nod. "Hm. Oh well," She looked at the tray of coffees and read the markings on them. "Oh!" she picked one that had been made the way Belle had suggested, the larger of two. "Is this for me? Oh you are the thoughtful one." She smiles as she sips at the coffee. "Mmm nice and fresh." She turned, dragging her massive breasts over Eric's chest, her heavy sweater stuffers sliding against his flat packed pecs and Eric nearly gasped when he felt something firm and almost cold, knock against his nipples.

"Kitchen's this way," Joanna called, as Eric stood still in the entryway, catching his breath. "You okay?"

"Yeah.... Yeah." He answered, and made his way into the kitchen, careful of the erection starting to tent his pants.