Walter waited while the other heroes left the conference room. Few of them lingered. Conversations among them sounded forced and subdued. Harrison’s proclamation had done little to ease their concerns raised by Red’s report. Although the evidence it provided was arguable, its implications were not.
As the small crowd thinned, Walter noticed that Random had also remained seated. She looked at no one, seeming content to just wait. Walter watched her, but failed to gain her attention. She appeared deep in concentration about something.
The last trio was leaving, clustered together in conversation as they headed through the doorway. Random rose from her chair. Walter rushed to stand, banging his knee against the edge of the table, and then nearly tangling himself in the chair next to him. He performed an awkward waltz to free himself from it. To Walter’s relief, Random appeared to have noticed neither the racket nor his clumsy gestures. Somehow, he made to the door just an instant before she did.
Walter stood there, wishing he had rehearsed a proper greeting. Standing there, he realized that he was only about an inch taller than she was. For some reason, he had thought her to be a few inches shorter. She looked at him with curious amusement.
“Um,” Walter said, clearing his throat quietly. “Hello,” he said, swallowing. “I’m Walter.”
He held out his hand to her. Random looked down at it and then grinned.
“Nice to meet you, Walter.”
Walter read genuine warmth in her smile, reassuring him that he had not completely bungled her first impressions of him. Her hands were warm; her grip firm and confident. He could sense something of their underlying strength.
“You didn’t say much in there,” she told him.
Walter felt himself bristle before he realized that it was merely a statement, not an accusation.
He shrugged. “Even Harrison didn’t seem to know what to do.”
Something flashed in Random’s eyes. Walter was not certain that he had seen it there, as it was gone in an instant.
Anger? he wondered.
Certainly he did not agree with every one of Harrison’s policies, but he also believed that the man had a better view of the “big picture” than he did. Try as he might, Walter had difficult trying to wrap his mind around more than the current crises their small city without broadening it to include the world at large. Certainly, as he had seen, the heroes had their role to play in all that, but sometimes it was all they could do just to keep relative order in their little corner of the globe.
“I’ve heard good things about you,” Random was saying. Walter felt himself flushing at the compliment.
“I’ve,” he cleared his throat again, “heard . . . interesting things about you as well.”
Random’s grin took on a look of impish bemusement. “I’ll bet you have.”
Walter’s cheeks burned anew. This conversation was not going at all as he had hoped. Yet, she did not seem upset by his statement. If anything, she seemed to find it a source of amusement. He did not believe that it was directed toward his graceless introduction.
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