“It’s for the people around us, sir,” Jamal said. “It demonstrates to them that I think you are someone deserving of my respect. And that affects how they see you. For the better, I should hope.”
“Uh... o-okay... but no one else is even awake, right now.”
Jamal paused. “Well, it may also be force of habit, sir.”
Hector smiled meekly and proceeded into the kitchen to grab something to eat. As usual, he was both exhausted and hungry. He still hadn’t replaced his motorcycle yet, so he’d been doing his crime fighting on foot. He’d been trying to develop a more efficient means of getting around using only his materialization. Garovel had a few suggestions for him, but they required considerable practical experience. Hector had taken more than a few bone-breaking tumbles over the last few days.
Gray Rock was a nice city, he thought. The crime here didn’t seem quite as bad as other places, perhaps because the police force was so vigilant. He’d encountered them several times, and while they hadn’t been especially pleased by his presence, he was just happy they weren’t shooting at him. Now that the nationwide manhunt for him had been called off by order of the Queen, Hector hoped to eventually form a working relationship with the Gray Rock Police Department. After two weeks here, he still wasn’t quite sure if that was feasible or not.
As for Warrenhold itself, Madame Carthrace’s troupe of construction workers had already managed to rebuild three of the six aboveground towers. Hector had also offered some assistance on that front, able to save them some time with the heavy lifting. The workers had quickly grown to appreciate Hector’s metal power, as he could use it to create a kind of short-range transport line for huge stacks of materials. He would lay down a long, solid strip of metal, have the materials placed at one end, and then push them along with a continuously materializing wall. And not coincidentally, this was similar to the method by which he’d been attempting to transport himself around the city.