Free The Trouble With Heroes.... by Jo Beverley Page A

herself
up.
    "Creepy, if you ask me."
    Jenny blinked and looked at the two young
men in office wear drinking pints. One was blond with a sharp face,
the other dark haired and heavy.
    "They've always been a bit strange, haven't
they, fixers?" the blond said.
    "No one knows how it works," the heavy one
replied.
    "No one knows what they did to win, either.
One minute the blighters are all over us, next minute they're
gone."
    "Fixers were supposed to be gone, too. So it
can't really be him, can it?"
    "Or they're playing silly buggers with
us."
    More faint hostility. Was this a dream? It
wouldn't be surprising to dream that Dan was back, but why would
she dream this? She wanted to ask what the hell they were thinking.
If Dan was back, it was wonderful!
    "They had stories on Earth about this sort
of thing," the heavy man said.
    "About what?" his friend asked.
    "About people who come back from the dead.
Ghouls. Vampires. Zombies. Ghosts. Monsters."
    Jenny couldn't keep quiet.
" Monsters? "
    The man turned to her. "Can't know for sure,
can we?"
    Perhaps she looked alarmed rather than
angry, because the other one said, "It's probably not even him,
luv. Some berk thinking he can impersonate a hero, that's all. And
not even good at it. I saw Dan Fixer not long before he left, and
his hair was no longer than mine. Look at that."
    He pointed at the screen and Jenny looked.
The camera wasn't on zoom so details weren't clear, but it did look
as if the man had a rope of hair down his back.
    She didn't realize how much hope she'd
gathered until it drained away.
    "Like a Trojan Horse."
    Jenny looked at the dark-haired man in
disbelief. "Bringing what into the town?"
    "Who knows. That's the point, isn't it?"
    Jenny couldn't entirely fight off the idea.
The fixers and the blighters had fed off the same force. What if in
the end the remaining blighters had taken over their enemies?
    She opened that neglected part of her mind,
trying to detect something. Was the faint tingle real, or wishful
thinking? Was her churning stomach and throbbing head a sign that
the blighters were back, or just shock and nerves?
    The screen picture changed to a stocky man.
Alderman Higginbottom! She sidled so she could hear him.
    "...have to take the cautious road here. We
were given to understand that all the fixers had died in their
gallant victory. We’ve been in touch with other major centers, and
none of them have heard from their fixers. None of them have one on
the doorstep, so to speak."
    The camera shifted to the reporter, an eager
young woman. "But Dan Fixer has explained that some survived,
hasn't he?"
    "He can explain all he wants, but we can't
just take his word."
    The message bar on the screen began to
scroll.
    Alderman Jack Higginbottom talking to
Angliacom reporter Alinda Brown. Subject -- arrival at the southern
gate of a person claiming to be Daniel Rutherford Fixer, our hero
of the Hellbane Wars. Gates are currently being kept closed to
everyone while a committee of the Witan reviews the situation.
    Committee. Jenny had to bite back laughter.
It was a standing joke that when anything unusual happened in
Anglia, the response was: "Let's form a committee." Now they were
doing it, and as always it was a way of passing time in the hope
that the problem would go away.
    "But given the heroic victory," Brown asked,
"doesn't it seem wrong to leave someone outside for the night?"
    "Well now, there's no saying how long it
will be. The committee may come to a rapid decision. As always, all
citizens of Anglia are welcome to observe the discussion and make
presentations, either at Parliament Hall or from screen
phones."
    "But why not let him in to speak for himself
?" Brown persisted.
    Alderman Higginbottom shed his official
veneer and looked older and more strained. "Because we don't know
what's come back from the war, and nor do you! This is a time for
cautious thought, not impulsive action."
    The screen abruptly switched to the
Angliacom desk. "We have reporter