[@SinfulSkills] [hider] Two years ago. The woman before him had been an assistant to a prima donna newswoman who was annoyed with covering some cutesy story about some disabled vet giving a bear to some brat with leukemia. The program, Bears for Courage was begun by Duncan when he was nearly 16. The program was in its 7th year at the time. While her Jonna's boss was whining about the assignment, Duncan had entered along with some US Marines but split off from them. He stood about 6'7", a handsome caucasian male with black hair, and steel blue eyes hidden by Ray Ban sunglasses (though he removed them for the interview). He looked like anything but a doctor. Dr Duncan Moran tended to shun the Press. However, the words of Jonna's boss had been picked up by his sensitive ears. He had observed silently, not getting involved at all. He listened to the rather abrasive tones in the prima donna's voice and rolled his eyes, clearly bored. If anything he took a little pity on the assistant. Once Jonna's boss was busy pasting on her smiles for the camera, Duncan moved in to join the crew. He had leaned in and whispered asking if any job was worth being treated like that. Then he asked Jonna if she could get away for a 'real' interview. It had sounded like a pick up line. But once he was assured that he wouldn't get Jonna fired he pulled her into an office and gave a proper interview to explain the real reason this patient was so important. She represented the first patient to receive a new nanotech treatment for leukemia - one that would simulate the disease and bind up the sites in cells where the disease attached itself to replicate and force the cancer into remission. He finished up by calling his estate manager right there and had her get Jonna’s editor on the line. Duncan explained what he had just done and who he was. Then he asked to make sure Jonna wouldn't get fired over the matter. To sweeten the deal he said he'd call the next time he had a demonstration to conduct for the military or NASA - on the condition that Jonna was the reporter sent. He did suggest that the editor get Jonna some extra training in preparation. And that was the early start to Jonna's career. One contact with Duncan had opened up doors. It had gotten Jonna stuck working under a far better reporter, a Pulitzer prize winner, whose age was catching up to him. She didn't get any more respect, but at least she got less disrespect. Her new boss decided she lacked real experience and expected her to prove herself. Last week Jonna’s new boss has slowed her career down, but had slowly begun to give her begrudging praise, deciding that she was serious about being an investigative reporter, even though much of what she did was eyewitness or on the scene news. She'd had speech lessons and upgraded her wardrobe a bit. Her cranky boss was still hard on her, demanding more than perfection. But the occasional 'could be worse' was like an applause. They had been assigned to what everyone hopes will be the story of the century - her cranky bos's last assignment for he is retiring. They have been covering the hurricane about to hit New Orleans even though her boss had admitted that his gut said the flying guy was real. But he also said that if he was, he would be moving around so fast that there will be no way to track him. Better to go where he would be needed and let the story come to them. They had stopped at the scene of an accident where a handicapped access short bus assigned to transport some elderly (6) out of the area had been literally picked up and thrown into the second floor of a building injuring the driver and killing an ambulance tech. The elderly were O2 dependent and could hardly walk on their own normally, much less in high winds. Jonna and her boss concurred; screw the story they came for. It was a long shot anyways. They decided to use their own news van to transport the elderly out. That alone would be a story. Maybe not a Pulitzer, but still good press. The strain of the rescue proved too much for her boss who suffered a stroke while getting one of the last patients to the news van. So there Jonna was, trying to use CPR on a man who had given her tons of grief, but seemed more like a mentor and uncle than anyone short of family. Then she looked in horror out the windows to see a school bus rolling over and over tossed about by the winds on a collision course. That's when HE showed up. He wasn’t Superman. He wore multiple layers of biometric sensor defeating systems. His face wasn’t his. His eyes, if checked, had no retinal pattern. Even dental features were faked. His face was a mask. The hair was a wig and made of carbon nanotubes. Even his voice was artificial. But then Duncan simply couldn’t take chances on his technology falling into the wrong hands. Duncan has been running thermal scans for body heat in his search for stranded survivors. He was nowhere near strong enough to just catch the bus. He couldn’t just lift it to sail over them as the building was just on the other side of them. They had been using it to shelter the elderly from some of the wind and so they didn't have to walk far. So Duncan did something new. He sliced the bus in half with an invisible energy beam (laser) and let it break in half on his body, the two pieces slamming into the building to the front and rear of them. (At least that was what it looked like.) Then he walked to the survivors, projected a ray on Jonna's mentor and told her she had done good. Duncan was getting reading from the medical nanotech he used. The CPR was at least circulating blood and oxygen. Duncan used a life support field - for lack of a better description that would serve the same function as an iron lung until medical professionals could take over. He had then flown them - news van and all - to the nearest operational trauma center. Did he stick around? Of course not. The only answer he gave was to one question Who was he? The answer? A friend. [/hider] Duncan stared through the tinted windows and gave a mildly exasperated laugh. For a moment he wondered what on Earth would possess anyone to want to get out of the car while being threatened with bodily harm. Then yet another idea struck him. Just how badly did she want to hit someone? The logic of the situation hit him with a bit of humor. They were on a farm road. He shifted into reverse and peeled out for the first several feet to make sure she wouldn’t mess up the paint job, then slowed down … to see if she would try to run after him. He imagined her chasing him, him backing just enough to stay out of reach and wondering just how far she would go. But he didn’t have the heart to try to embarrass her like that, so he sped up to get enough distance to turn and pull a 90 degree turn. The maneuver left his driver side exposed. He stepped out and struggled to stand to full height limping a little. He had given himself a good 10 yards to spare. He couldn’t help but laugh, but held up his hands - one bare, the left covered with a fingerless glove. “You’re welcome?” He laughed some more. “And I wasn’t following you. I have a horse stabled here. And I have some business with the manager. You the new coach? Our kids are gonna love that! Jane .. right?” He got her name wrong. “We met a couple years ago. Leukemia? Duncan Moran? Ring a bell?” He jerked a thumb at the car. “I brought uniforms. Oh … and the Patches patches. Patches is my horse. Team mascot …. Which is sort of funny for a team named the Bears. “Say, while you have me cornered, don’t suppose you want some help unloading all those bags - assuming you aren’t going to use me for batting practice.” He laughed again. “Really … I’m not much the stalking sort. In anything I try to avoid the Press. So … what are YOU doing here? If anyone should be asking it’s … You’re driving Thompson’s …. Uhm … Jonna … Thompson.” He winced. “Ahh … aha … right. That would explain why you are driving his truck. Daughter? Niece?”