The slightest hint of a bemused smile slid into place on Phi's face.  She hated that it did, but the idea of someone taking her out for a hot dog and fries amused her.  It was almost refreshing.  She gave him a nod of her head, but kept her tongue in check for now, still too on edge to trust herself to speak.

He opened the door for her and led her to a booth.  There were several empty in the place, with faux wood benches and red tabletops.  After she slid into one he asked her, "How do you take your dog?"

"It's been a while.  How about ketchup, onions and relish?"  It was as much a question as an order.  She went to get some cash and realized that she didn't have anything on her.

"It's okay," he told her, "I got it."  As he walked away she heard him add, "Least I could do."

Phi watched him walk away and could feel a vibe of regret follow him.  She was still irritated and not sure what if anything she was going to say to him, but a part of her felt bad for him.  He was so obviously a fish out of water here.  She had no idea how or why Nemesis had talked him into joining the team.  It was all a mystery to her, and the circumstances that surrounded him made his eccentricities forgivable.

When he returned to the booth five minutes later he carried a tray with their order.  He'd gotten a dog, too, with sauerkraut and deli mustard, and a large order of cheese fries.  They were fresh and hot and tempting.  He turned the grease-stained cardboard dish they stewed in sideways to indicate it was a side meant to be shared. 

Ophilia had a slimy messy cheese fry in her mouth before Stone could sit down.  They didn't look that appealing, but the smell was positively irresistible.   

"I, uh..." he paused and thought about what to say, obviously somewhat uncomfortable.  "I want to apologize for earlier.  I shouldn't have pushed so hard.  I wanted to see what the bike could do but I didn't mean to scare you."  It looked like it took an effort to say, but it carried a definite sincerity that showed. 

She nodded her head a bit and ate another cheese fry.  "I know.  ...that you're sorry.  I appreciate that.  This just isn't something I do, I mean...I need to."  She stopped for a second before continuing, it was an irritating habit that she'd picked up from Luke, and one that she planned to break herself of, very soon.  "I'm used to driving my world.  I don't like to give up that control.  ...especially to someone that I barely know.  If you weren't a trusted friend of Nemesis', I would have forced you to stop.  I'm not powerless and if it's all the same to you, we can just put this behind us." 

Then she quirked an eyebrow at him and gave him a serious look.  "I would not, however, recommend taking me for a ride I'm not ready for again.  Seriously." 

He nodded.  "Fair warning."  He looked at his food but suddenly he wasn't hungry.  Something else was gnawing at him and despite the voice in his head telling him to stick to the stony silence that had gotten him through the past decade he felt a need to say more.  For a brief flashing moment he remembered she was some kind of mind-messer and he wondered if it was her doing.  Watching her as she ate her fries, the people reader in him said no. 

"Look, Miss DiSantiago...I'm..."  He cleared his throat.  Stone cast his eyes out the window to his left and then back to her once he was ready.   

She plopped another fry in her mouth, and then hesitated, giving him her complete attention. 

"I've been on my own a long time.  A long time.  I'm not used to thinking about anyone except myself.  So if I fuck up and don't do the right thing all the time, you need to cut me some slack.  Luke's the first friend I've had since..." 

The thought took a long time.  Then he realized how long and that was somewhat embarrassing in itself.  "Well, I just don't have many friends - any friends, really."  He looked her dead in the face.  "And I've never had a boss.  Don't want one, but here we are." 

His stare lightened back up a bit and he said, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that...well, I respect you, and the position you're in.  I doubt it's easy.  All I can promise you is I'll try and sometimes I'll fuck up."  He paused, still for a moment, and then shrugged.  "That's it." 

Ophilia began eating again and nodded, but remained quiet.  It was evident though that she was considering his words.  Plain spoken, true and perfectly conveyed, she had nothing but respect for that. 

"Look."  She said finally.  "I have to be honest with you.  I have no idea what Nemesis was thinking when he asked you to join the team.  You don't fit in.  At all...but that doesn't mean you're not welcome.  I can tolerate a lot, we all mess up."  She paused to eat another fry, the casual atmosphere doing much to help her forget her table manners.  

"I almost had to shut the entire team down a week before we were supposed to start.  I'm not looking for perfect here, as long as you're on my side, when and if I need you...then we'll be fine.  That's the only thing that really matters."  She wiped some ketchup off of her mouth with her napkin and gave him a smile.  "BUT...paleeze, try not to screw up in public.  I can only babysit one person at a time, and when we're out, that spot is already taken by Soldier Boy." 

He studied her with his hidden eyes, considering the situation.  As long as he was on her side, but what side was she on?  She was obviously not cut from the same cloth as the rest of her family, yet she was still one of them: a DiSantiago.  She wanted him to act heroic, but he wasn’t here because he wanted to be a hero.  He never wanted to play the hero.  He was here because a friend had asked him to watch his back, specifically because her family was who they were.  So where did that leave the two of them? 

“Okay,” he said after the pause, and left it at that.  He took a bite of his hot dog and let a calm quiet finally descend on the booth.  He drank some of his soda and before taking another bite told her, “You were full-on ditgo when I went off the pier.”

Phi raised her brow questioningly, "Ditgo?"

“Mmm-“ he swallowed.  “Dying To Get Off – I thought you were going to wet yourself.  That’s a cute little squeal you got there,” he added, ribbing her.
 
"Ha.  Ha.  Ha."  Phi said, mostly without humor.  "If I didn't think the cold water would have made my heart stop, I would have."  Her smile emerged a bit around her next bite and he could tell that she at least saw, some humor in the situation. 

"But, if it's all the same to you, I think this should stay between us.  Squeal and all.  ...and, I changed my mind.  I don't really think I need to learn how to ride one of those.  I doubt Nemesis will ever let me out in the field." 

He could hear a bit of regret in her words.  Stone's brow furrowed at that.  "Why not?  You said you weren't helpless.  If you could stop me then you must be able to handle yourself." 

"Oh, I can handle myself fine."  She gave him a cocky grin with that.  "I just get a definite vibe from Luke that he'd rather me hold down the fort.  The field is his department and I plan to respect, in most cases, his decision on where I should be.  I've never done this kind of work before, so it's hard not to see me as a liability.  ...and my defenses are completely dependent on my powers working, Jag has told me that if I get hit, I'll be in a world of hurt."

Her head waffled a bit back and forth as she considered her predicament.  "I don't know.  The last thing in the world, that I'd want to do, is get on the field and end up being a liability to my team.  ...but on the other hand, a part of me really wants to get out there and be a real part of this.  Not always...but sometimes.  I think I could make a contribution.  ...but I trust Lu- Nemesis' judgment and plan to follow his rules."

Stone nodded.  "Everyone should know their limitations," he said, but then shrugged.  "It was my understanding that we're all supposed to look out for each other, to play off each other's strengths.  I mean, sure, I'm bulletproof, but that doesn't make me the answer to every problem." 

He fished around for a cheesy fry and added, "Nemesis isn't bulletproof, but his suit mostly is.  Get yourself a costume like his."

"I need something light weight and flexible.  My uniform is rated fairly high against traditional weaponry...but Soldier Boy isn't satisfied.  He says that there's nothing traditional about what really happens out there in the field."  She screwed up her face a bit and made her voice deeper in an attempt to mock him. 

Stone snorted once at the impersonation, the closest thing he had to a laugh.  "Yeah, the old fart's hardcore."

"Speaking of Soldier Boy, I heard what he did to you at the party, and I really appreciate you being such a good sport about it.  The idea of what could have happened if he'd made you angry..."  Her voice trailed off and she shuddered at the thought.  "...it could have been the difference between the successful event that it was, and a humiliating farce in every news cast."  Her look strayed for a moment and there was a far off glint in her eyes.  "You have no idea, but the success of that event meant a lot to me and I still can't believe he was using it as his playground."

Stone shrugged it off.  "Don't worry about it.  I'm not crazy.  I know when to start a fight and when not to.  Besides, I had better things on my mind that night."

A small knowing smile hinted at the corners of her mouth, but she didn't pry.  In the party recap that she half heartedly listened to, from Christie about who did what with who, she'd taken note that Tara and Stone had disappeared together.

He lifted his eyes off his lunch and gestured to her with his half-eaten dog.  "Which reminds me, what happened with you and Nem?  Ever since the party he's been, I don't know, cranky."

"Um."  The question was unexpected and her first impulse was to say that 'nothing happened', but she remembered the deal that she'd made with Stone the night they met.  (You know what impresses me, Miss DiSantiago?  Honesty.)  He'd asked her to play it straight with him, and dropping into a calculated and easy lie would have certainly gone against the spirit of that arrangement.

"I'm really not sure."  Phi finally said quietly.  "We shared a moment.  I made it crystal clear that I was into him.  ...and he stood me up later."  Then she shrugged.  "I should have known better."

Stone didn't reply.  Instead he ate the rest of his dog, letting the quiet serve to hopefully relax her.  Frankly, he thought the entire DiSantiago clan was nuts, with Ophilia a possible exception and the jury still out.  But if he knew anything it was that Luke was into her.  So the standing her up thing made no sense at all.  Which meant there was a piece of the puzzle missing.

"What else happened, between you making it clear and him standing you up?"

"I don't know.  He...just takes his responsibility so seriously.  I'm sure he found a way to twist it into something that would get in the way of his job."  There was a clear edge to her voice as she said this and it was easy to tell that the whole thing still stung her, and that she wasn't in the mood to talk about it. 

"We'll manage, though."  She forced a smile to the surface and looked to change the topic.  "So...how was your evening?  Christie told me that she thought you hooked up with Tara Winston."  The forced smile turned into a genuine one then as she chided him lightly.  "...she also told me what deep soulful eyes you have."

Stone shook his head and pointed at her with a french fry.  "Don't change the subject.  Luke takes this hero shit way too seriously, true, but... no, that's not it." 

Phi shrugged her shoulders at the comment but didn't seem interested in pursuing the thought.  Instead she picked her hot dog up and busied herself with eating it.

The biker leaned back and sipped from his soda straw thoughtfully.  He had never considered himself a detective, but he had taken on some jobs probably better suited for a P.I. in his odd job past and he found the mental part of it enjoyably challenging.  Ultimately the answers to these mysteries always came down to what you knew about people, and so far things still didn't fit.

"Walk it through," Stone asked her as he set his cardboard cup down on the table.  He used a chopping left-to-right gesture with one hand as he said, "Break the night down into chunks, finite slices of time or activities.  Walk me through everything you did at the party from the time you came on to Luke to the time you were supposed to meet.  Don't leave anything out."

He leaned forward on his elbows, not eating, giving her his full attention.

She looked at him dubiously with her dark eyes, and if he guessed it right there was a strong streak of stubborn in the woman that sat before him.  She leaned forward, making a show of mimicking his posture by leaning in on her own elbows.  Only a few inches separated them when she spoke.  "No.  I won't do it.  It really doesn't matter what happened.  I was left humiliated and he didn't see fit to tell me if I did something wrong or if something came up.  He's temperamental, and I can not deal with another guy that just disappears.  I've managed to avoid romantic entanglements for over two years and I think that's exactly where I need to remain."

Stone's brow furrowed at her surprising intransigence.  He spread his hands, explaining patiently, "You don't know if any or that is true.  And Luke ain't temperamental.  Principled to a fault, sure, but temperamental?"

"Temperamental." Phi replied once to confirm as she took an overenthusiastic bite of her hot dog.

He shook his head a couple of times as he leaned back and studied Ophilia.  Stubborn denial was written all over her.  There was more going on here than he realized.  This was deep water, and she was holding up a 'no swimming' sign.

With a shrug, Stone let it drop.  "Hey, that's cool.  I just work here."

"Tell me this."  She quirked an eyebrow at him as she laid down the uneaten portion of her bun and licked a bit of ketchup off of her finger.  "Did you have anything to do with the biker gangs that were at the Party?"  Her tone was conversational.

"Yeah," he said casually.  "That was my idea."

She nodded her head and stared vacantly over his shoulder for a moment before she replied.  "That could have gone much worse and if it had, it would have reflected poorly on the team.  I'm pleased that you're making friends and contacts, but in the future, it would be appreciated if you ran any high risk guests by myself or Nemesis."  Phi seemed more comfortable and relaxed, now that the conversation had turned back to the team.

"You're right, I should have told you," Stone said.  "At the time it didn't seem important, but I get you.  For what it's worth, the gesture bought me enough cred with the Killers and Forbidden to get them to talk and to put the Conquistadors on their radar.  My ears tell me those two gangs alone have their hands in some third of the street crime out there in one way or another, either directly or by selling the guns to other squids who turn around and use them.  But I get you."

Ophilia's eyes squinted a bit as she listened to Stone.  She understood that it was important, but really didn't have the best handle yet on how things worked strategically on the street.  That was definitely not her department.  "Well...okay.  I don't really get anything out of that, other than these are really bad people...but I understand that there is a silent system of street contacts and levels of threats and all of that.  So, if that's a good thing, then great."

There was part of him that wanted to educate her on the significance of being able to just walk in and talk to these gangs as an outsider, but Stone was quickly learning that this woman knew what she wanted to know and if she cared enough to learn about it she'd ask.  Luke got it after he calmed down about it and Soldier Boy would, he assumed.  Still, as the money, she ought to want to know.  So he gave her a opening.

"It's just politics," he said.  "You want me to break it down?"

"No."  She shook her head and gave him a smile.  "It isn't that I'm not curious, but there are some things that I think it would be best for me not to know.  There will be times that I'll have to report the things that we do up the chain, and the less I know about anything illegitimate, the better.  I don't want anyone using me as a way to get to anyone on the team.  I trust Nemesis and he trusts you, so that's enough for me." 

One of her slender fingers toyed idly with the straw in her cup, as a stray thought occurred to her, and she continued with a grin.  "Unless, of course, there's some secret password that would get me out of any street trouble.  That I would want to know."

The sun through the plate glass glinted on his shades as Stone shook his head.  "No, there's nothing like that.  You get in any serious trouble on the street in HC you have to handle it, or kiss your ass goodbye."

He took a sip of his soda and then suddenly snapped his fingers.  "Kiss - that's it.  When the clock struck twelve at the party, that was after you came on to Luke, wasn't it?" he stated as much as asked.

Ophilia looked up at him with mild annoyance and picked up the cheesiest fry that she could find, and slung it at him.  "You're like gum on a shoe."  Her tone was dry, as she shook her head at his persistence.  His guess made her stomach sink, the same thought had crossed her mind, but it was way too crowded for him to have seen that kiss.  ...at least she hoped he hadn't seen that kiss.

Stone was undeterred by the potential for stains on his jacket.  Ophilia's reaction to his flash of insight was textbook guilt.  He nodded along slowly with himself as he walked it through out loud.  "You came on to him, but kissed someone else at midnight.  He saw it and blew you off.  And since you didn't see him see you, and he knows you didn't see him, he's not going to say anything.  The rest is just high school bullshit.  It fits."

Phi winced a bit at Stone's smug but fictional walk through of the ball drop.

Stone leaned back and sighed, clearly satisfied with himself.  Realizing that, he opened his hands and added, "Hey, what you people do to amuse yourselves is your business.  But that was starting to piss me off, not knowing what the bug up Luke's ass was all about."  He shrugged, again dropping it but much more relieved this time.  "One less thing."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."  She said, her tone petulant.  "But he didn't see it, it was way too crowded and he wasn't in the room.  ...and of course I kissed my date.  Right?  I mean, that's totally to be expected."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," he riposted smoothly. He pointed at her.  "And he saw you.  You came on to him, he thinks you're into each other - oh yeah, he's looking for you at midnight.  My money says he found you, you just don't know it."

Stone paused, sipping his soda and considering her through his shades.  "You know, you could just ask him."

"I'm well aware of my options."  Phi bit out as she stood up, giving him a hard look with her dark eyes.  "He's moved on though, for now.  ...and I don't need this, I can already tell that you're gonna be all the pain in the ass that I can take."  She huffed a bit, obviously not pleased by the way Stone lifted her veil of denial. 

Stone shrugged and finished his soda. 

"Since when do you talk so much anyway?'  She growled as she walked over to the trash can and dumped the tray.

He sniffed a small chuckle.  "Sorry.  I'll try harder."

She gave him one last annoyed look as he stood up.  "How about you? I hope your evening was more fulfilling than mine."

"I had a good time," he replied.  "I'm not much for a tux, but the people were friendly."

She approached him as he spoke, with a napkin in her hand, and tried to do what she could to wipe off the cheese.  It seemed to be bothering her more than it was bothering him.  He let her go about it without a fuss - no sense fighting her on everything. 

"Well...since your feeling so chatty and personal."  She gave him a small smile as she continued.  "Is it true?  Did you hook up with Tara Winston?"

Stone grabbed her hand with the napkin, a stern look covering his face revealing that perhaps this was too personal a question.  But the conversation they'd just had about her and Nemesis had been similarly so, and he hadn't considered the flip side of his stomping all through her secret garden playing detective.  It would have been hypocritical for him to play the gentleman now, and she likely knew it.

The stern look faded after but a moment and he let her hand go.  As she set back to finishing her task, a semi-triumphant half-smile on her face, he nodded.  "We hit it off at the party.  Seemed like a good idea at the time.  Anything I should know?"

She wadded up the napkin and tried to throw it into the garbage can, missing the shot by at least a foot.  She let out another growl as she began walking over to pick it up.  "Tara's nice.  I get along with her pretty well.  ...but she's got a side to her, that can be clingy.  As long as you didn't make too big an impression, you should be fine."

Stone did a mental face palm, but his exterior was cool.  "Good to know."

Just as he was about to head out he paused and asked, "What about your cousin, Jennifer?  What's her story?"

"She's harmless really.  A gossip.  A Daddy's girl.  Although, I think she's less under his thumb than he thinks she is."  Phi shrugged her shoulders.  "She doesn't like me much, but I kind of like her.  She's fun and unpredictable, and she makes me laugh.  If she wasn't so mad at me, I think we could be friends."

"Do you trust her?"  The question was a dumb one, he realized.  "What I mean is, she made it pretty clear she's been tasked by the family to figure me out.  There was a by-any-means-necessary vibe to it, too.  She's cute, I didn't mind.  But... well, I thought you should know."

A troubled look flitted across Phi's face.  "Well, I suppose that shouldn't surprise me.  You getting thrown on the roster like that, last minute, was not a shining display of my ability to lead this team.  Since they asked her instead of me for that information...  ...well, that's not good."

Stone pulled his smokes from his jacket chest pocket and shrugged.  "That's it."

"Anytime, Stone.  I don't know everyone, but I'll help where I can.  Seriously though, lay low with Tara if you can.  She's really hard to shake loose once she falls for someone.  ...or not, your a big boy.  Just trying to help." 

When they were done and outside once again, he picked up her helmet and handed it to her.  "Here you go." 

Phi took it from him, a bit reluctantly, and considered it for a moment.  She'd clearly stated earlier that she had no intentions of getting back on this thing, and he was conveniently ignoring it.  In a way she appreciated that, it did wonders for her stubborn nature for him to just let it go, allowing her a graceful way out. 

Finally, something in her cracked and she decided then and there to really trust Stone.  ...but this time, it wasn't just because Luke did, although that played a significant factor, this time she did it on principal.  He already knew her identity, and she was the one that had pushed for that, saying that if you couldn't trust someone with your own name that you couldn't trust them to watch your back.  If she were ever going to be anything besides what she was, right now, she knew that she was going to have to let go some of her control.  ...because out there, there would be no control.

"Alright."  She slid the helmet into place and lifted her skirt a bit to mount the hypercycle.  "Let's see if you can beat your time back."  There wasn't a lick of enthusiasm in her voice but it was full of determination.

"Uh-uh," he said, holding out the keys.  "You're going to learn to ride that thing right now."

"Oh...come on?!"  Her voice was full of disbelief and she stopped dead in her tracks, her knee suspended in motion at his suggestion, unwilling to finish mounting the hypercycle.  "You can not be serious."  Even as she spoke she could tell from his stone cold look that he was, indeed, serious.  She shook her head a bit and looked at the vehicle, trying to psych herself up for the challenge.  "I don't know, Stone...this just seems a bit premature."

He shrugged.  "Why?  You gave me a job to do and I'm going to do it.  Plus, I'm not gonna hold you back like Soldier Boy might.  You want to live the dangerous life then this is the easy part."

Ophilia found herself nodding her head but that was as far as her body was willing to go, without further prompting.  "Okay.  Yeah.  Okay."  She closed her eyes tightly for a moment, and withdrew her leg until both feet were planted firmly on the ground.  With her eyes still closed, she concentrated on her future in an effort to psych herself up.  "I can see tomorrow, so I know I don't die tonight.  This is a good thing."

Stone lit his smoke as he watched the small woman awkwardly try to get onto the seat without flashing her underwear to the traffic out on Route 36.  He snaped his lighter closed and put it away as he walked up close to her and stood by the bike.  Then he lifted her up gently, despite her protestation.

"Put me down!"  Phi said, her voice ripe with indignation.  "I was getting on.  You can't just go around man handling people, that's just not okay."  

"Yeah, yeah..." He ignored her tirade and placed her astride the bike, then he lifted it and her off the ground just enough so that he could flip the kickstand up and place them gently back on the ground.  He gently took her hand and opened it, and placed the key in her palm before closing her fingers.

"Not Okay!"  She growled again before her hand curled around the keys, she glared at him, still unhappy with his lack of boundary awareness.  Finally she nodded with resolve, her irritation dissipating.  "Okay.  ...but where and how?  I wasn't really paying any attention to you earlier."  She had intended for her tone to have a bite to it, but it came out much more vulnerable than she would have liked.

"Right here - this is a big parking lot.  We're gonna take it nice and slow.  I promise."  His tone was slightly less neutral, bordering on encouraging.  "First you got to start it.  Fortunately this thing is push-start.  But before you start it up you need to make sure you're clear all around in case the tranny is engaged.  Check your six and twelve and then grab the brake tight."

At first, Phi was about to object to his terminology.  Tranny, six, twelve, ...and where the hell was the brake?  ...but after a moments thought most of what he was saying clicked into place.  She looked around her surroundings and verified which apparatus was the brake, and then started the hypercycle by engaging the button.  She could feel the power underneath her and she had another wave of doubt, but this time she fought it down with determination. 

"Now what?"  Her tone finally held the conviction and commitment that he'd expect from a DiSantiago.

Stone realized too late that he probably should have left the kickstand down.  She was too short to sit astride it and keep her feet on the ground, so he held onto one of the handlebars to make sure she stayed upright.

"Okay, check out your handlebars."  He pointed with the two fingers holding his smoke like a pincer.  "The grip on the right side is your throttle, like a gas pedal on a car.  You twist it back towards you to accelerate.  A little goes a long way, so be easy with it.  The lever on the right is the front brake.  If you look down on the right you'll see a pedal by your peg.  That's the rear brake.  Smoothness is key with the brakes, especially the front.  Jam that lever too hard and you'll teakettle."

Phi nodded in understanding as she commited the words to memory.  Front brake, right handle bar.  Back brake, right pedal.  Throttle, pull back to accellerate.

He pointed to the other side.  "The lever on the left side is your clutch, and the left pedal is the shifter.  This bike can go fully automatic, so you only have to shift once to start and once to stop.  Your foot can lift the pedal up or press it down.  Up puts it into gear and down takes it out of gear and into neutral.  That green "N" on your dash will light up when you're out of gear.  To shift, you clutch, then shift, then release.  Feathering the throttle a bit helps make shifting smoother."

"Feathering the throttle?"  Phi asked meekly.  "Left clutch, left pedal down, left release clutch - to go?  ...and left clutch, left pedal up, left release clutch - for neutral?"

"Other way around," he explained.  "Shift up to go, shift down to stop.  Feathering means just a really light touch, just brush the throttle with your hand.  You'll get it once you try it."

Stone stopped and looked on as Ophilia tried following along.  It wasn't complicated at all, but the fear factor had a way of clouding what should be simple.  "You ready to give it a shot?"

"Yeah, I think so."  She bit her bottom lip in an unusual display of nervousness as she focused on her internal dialogue.  Left clutch, left pedal up, left release clutch...quick feather throttle.  Do not close your eyes.  Biiiig parking lot.  Niiiiice parking lot.

"Hey..." Stone gently took her chin in his fingers and turned her head up to look into his face which was now very close to hers as he leaned down a bit, the other hand rested reassuringly on her shoudler.

"Just relax," he told her.  "Don't over-think it.  You can do this."  There was a pause where Stone looked at her full parted lips and felt a dangerous and somewhat surprisingly strong compulsion, their faces slightly less than a foot apart.  But he shook himself out of it and leaned back.  It was abrupt but he covered it with a gesture towards the other end of the parking lot.

Phi snapped the visor down and nodded her head.  She swallowed hard at the latest reading from Stone and decided it was as good a time as any to give it a go.

"Now take it down there, turn around slow, and come back.  Simple."

"Simple."  She repeated the word as she pulled down the clutch and lifted up on the pedal, pulling the throttle as softly as she could towards her.  To her amazement the hypercycle slid into gear as if she knew how to drive it.  Too quickly the big parking lot was running out of room, and she realized too late that steering was NOT included in her tutorial.  She turned the handle bars a bit too briskly and knew immediately that she was in trouble.

Stone watched her go.  When she reached the end of the lot she wobbled into a turn too sharply and dumped sideways.  The biker sighed, closed his eyes and turned his head up to the sun.

There was a startled scream and a grunt of pain, before he heard the accusing shout of his name.  "Stone!"

"This is going to take a lot of work," he breathed.