Once more, Gloriosa, with the feels.

If smoking wasn’t so bad for your health Drew might have light up then and there. Too much to do and at times everyone always expected her to fill in the gaps. She couldn’t help by raise an eyebrow as the transfer managed to try to seem smart. A mere glance to him only to look back to the area, he was new, she didn’t know much about him . . . it was two things she didn’t like. That didn’t mean she should hold it against him though after all he seemed harmless enough so far.


When it seemed that she might ignore the guy all together, like she thought he was a total waste of her time she finally spoke up. “You’re wrong . . . studies have proven people are more likely to listen to people in uniforms . . . if they’re official uniforms or not. The ‘do what you’re told not to do’ only reflects when one feels something might be wrong . . . when they are out of their comfort zone and their security is lost. You keep them secure, snug in a warm blanket and they will let you lead them like sheep. You take that blanket away . . . then and only then do most the masses truly start to question. This may have been a lift of the blanket, but those out here . . . they’re the safe ones. We make them believe that and they will be more inclined to listen. The ones inside will be the troublesome ones . . . they have their blankets ripped from them. I can only imagine the trouble those stuck working in there are having. Trying to bandage a fresh wound on the masses minds . . . to prove their safe yet lock them away.”


A smirk, a small honest smile at the boy, it was rough and in ways he looked way too young to play these sort of games. Cops and robbers with real life, but hell she had been practicing and playing it before she could even remember so who was she to judge. “I’ll tell you a secret kid . . . you’ll be surprise how many people aren’t brainwashed. You’re not from around here obviously, but it’s in every place around the world . . . it’s just done with different methods and teachings. I think people like to give it the nice nickname of culture.” A twinkle in her eyes, who knew if she was picking or just teasing the boy, then again she could easily just be testing him as well. “You ever follow a command, or order without questioning at least silently and you know you’re one of them. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep your head down . . . it just means this world is more of a mess than most wish to admit or see outside that bubble of theirs.”


At that Drew sighed and glanced back towards the area, picking up her radio as if tempted to toss it aside to the ground before slowly placing it back on her belt. Those eyes of hers were easily always edge in pain and the wisdom that came with it. “I need a break . . . perhaps some company. There’s a nice café around here, care to join me? I tend to like to get to know all of those I may work with . . . even if it is for a short time.”
 
Yurev had been Lizzie´s partner in crime at the time, he had helped her find her family once again but that didn´t make her stop the two guards from dragging him away. No, it only made her feel like trash, scum that didn´t dare to raise her finger to help someone in return. A frustrated sigh left her as the scene caught the remaining guards, doctors and the crowds attention. Lizzie´s thoughts made her feel even worse, as she saw his incident as an escape. Quickly she ducked down a bit to peek behind a seam of the large tent. Lizzie saw a truck parked almost right outside and with the looks of it, people were getting out of the Quarantine zone. Normal people. "Mommy! Auntie Ann has foun Uncie Lucas, ish tha great?" Giving Amber a glance, Lizzie abruptly stood up at the thought of Lucas.


She hated him, loathed that bastard to the core yet she always put on a smile for Ann´s sake. She couldn´t understand how such a sweet girl could hang out with that cheating douche bag of a man. But Lizzie wouldn´t ever let Amber know of this, she looks up at the obnoxious government agent and right now he could get her out of this mess. So when he came up to her with that damn grin, holding on Ann´s hand loosely Lizzie smiled like she just saw the sun for the first time. "Lucas, good to see you here! Amber has been complaining all about how you´ve left for... um... company with some friends, I believe it was? So do we have to worry about this... tests that are being made on us?"


Lucas ruffled his blonde hair before throwing Amber over his shoulder. "Well Amber won´t need to worry, nor Ann actually. Since they are normal. You aren´t. Life is so difficult for a single mother... Isn´t it?" His voice was sharp, his eyes were colder then their ice-blue color and his words pierced Lizzie´s heart as he smirked.


Ann stared at him shocked, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open before she began stuttering. "I-I... You told me you´d get us out of here, safe! Lucas! Lucas, let go of me! Now... Please, don´t do this!" Guess what his reply was? That he was getting here to a safe place, away from Lizzie.


A tug on her shoulder. A scream. Some tears. Another scream.


She couldn´t take this, for god sake; she was losing her family AGAIN! They... They couldn´t do this, right? She isn´t suppose to feel this pain, nor betrayal. Sure, Lucas had always been a jerk but this? This is not even human.





The multiple guards that held her, some even had weapons out as if she was an alien. A chuckle escaped her as they threw her into a truck and right there was her partner in crime. Yurev with some unknown dude next to him. She could hear a few voices and glanced to the exit to see two people coming her way. Karma sure wanted to get back on her for leaving the poor Romanian sucker behind and right now it stinged like a bee.


"Guess we meet again, Yurev."
 
More likely to listen to guys in uniform, huh? Igarashi rubbed the back of his neck and turned away for a second, just enough to hide a scowl. Not a lot of people listened to him in his seven years of service. Maybe it was because of his rather flamboyant appearance. The Mikaze who thought this were all six feet under as a testament to his ability, however. He turned back towards the lady, his grin still plastered on his face. Then again, his association with the Mikaze-Ueda rivalry was not exactly one of the best things to make for small talk. His eyes narrowed slightly, as he listened to the lady reply to him. Her expression, tone, her entire body language spoke thousands. He was an impertinent, uneducated child in her eyes. He pushed his dark hair backwards and his glasses upwards on the bridge of his nose. His hands dropped to his sides and began to dust his trenchcoat, searching through several documents once more in his head. He didn't pay attention much to the dossiers regarding those who would be part of this quarantine, but he might as well try to recall the names.


Click.


Igarashi stopped, and slowly raised both of his hands. Without prior warning, he began clapping his hands, and laughing jovially. "Well put, Ms. Drew. Well put." He bowed to his colleague. "I'm afraid I haven't introduced myself. Shinichi Igarashi, Foreign Affairs. Well, up until a few days ago. Apparently, you guys need every spare pair of hands you can get." He gave a chuckle and straightened up, brushing his coat down. "About that coffee break, sure. I'm fine with it. As long as it's cheap."
 
Drew watched the guy at first, his reactions, his pulling away. Perhaps there was hope for the kid, maybe not just a waste of time or someone just to pass the boring quarantine with to merely amuse her. Hell taken other’s under the wing was useful when it came to shaping them into doing a job well done where it counted. Stubborn, although he seemed to know where to keep his head down . . . her smile quickly faded though when he raised both his hands.


The clap, the laugh, the mention of her name, this man was a bigger fool than he realized. She knew a mock when she saw one, his arrogance taken over to prove her treatment of him wrong, and in the end she couldn’t help laugh some herself. A hand quickly moving over her lips as she tried to be polite about it or hide it. He knew her, who in their right mind would make sure to file away most people’s names, unless there was more than the bumbling fool he seemed to play about the office at times. She couldn’t help wonder if that bow was another mock if he had a sly smile as he did so, and she easily was willing to go along with the game.


“You know me? I guess they’ve truly been over working me for even the new agents to know my name. Not sure if I should be honored or hunt down the one spreading my name. I’m not the woman to go to if you’re hoping to be shown around or how to do stuff. Too busy, or could care less to do so, one of those two reasons.” She would easily allow him to think she had no interest in babysitting him, still crushing his pride to see what reactions or truth doing so might reveal. Secretly filing away his name to look into later “Foreign Affairs?” amusing what gets dragged into the picture when the police don’t show as much. Then his mention of coffee . . . yeah, that chat would be more valuable now, here she thought he might be some rooky she could help mold and get somewhere. This though, this guy was more, and she didn’t like more.


“Coffee is free to cops here, and they have the best.” Drew smiled to him as if the perks of cops may be one of the few reasons she was one. “You know why they do that right? To keep us coming into the store, criminals don’t tend to head places where cops show up frequently; well the smart ones don’t at least. Give something to get something . . . don’t let them fool you into thinking it’s just out of the kindness of their hearts.” She knew he might already know this but was playing it as if she expected him not to know any of the basics, as if she might be actually thinking she was helping him by educating him with these facts. Pride what a wonderful thing when it came in men.


Ordering herself a large cup she didn’t even look around the Café although secretly she used the reflections in stuff like the glass and metal casings to take note of all. Danger could be anywhere after all, not that she planned to step in or do anything unless stuff got serious or she had too. She wasn’t about to prove her prowlness to someone who knew her name by her mere looks. Especially one that used her first name over her last . . . “So tell me, what is your job in your apartment? What department was it again?” Foreign Affairs . . . damn she never got a break from work.
 
Alani had been watching the screen of the television rather intently after rejoining the others with her cup of noncaffeinated cinnamon tea and a morning biscuit. She had made the wise choice to forgo coffee as heaven knew she didn’t need to be any more on edge right now. That was perhaps the only reason she noticed the two officers in the glass of the front door before they even had entered the small café. The sight sent a shiver down her spine, but already she was thinking about a power play here. Honestly, this whole situation was rather invigorating and even her rather calculative mind was scrambling just to keep up with things. In any case, their meeting time was up ...


“You’re going to be late for work again, aren’t you?” she purred into the cup without taking her eyes off of the television. “Did you even bother to call your ******* boss this time or are you doing another god damned no call, no show, you lazy ass bum?” Given Sebastianne's personality, she was dead. Alani knew that before she had even started this particular play, but she stood nonetheless as she grinned and glanced towards the cops as they approached the counter.


“You’re going to get your worthless, punk ass fired at this rate …” she mused distractedly as a sudden idea lit in her cold blue eyes. “But … what-*******-ever, ya know? Just don’t come crying to me later … I, however, am going fishing. Later, losers.” With that she basically skipped across the room to the counter where one of the officers had just finished ordering her drink. Quickly she dug into her back pocket for a bit of cash before budging in front of them and laying it on the counter as she gave them an impish grin.


“Let me get those for you?” she asked quickly, real and unrestrained curiosity shining brightly on her young face. “But I have to know … first off: is a coffee bribe still considered a bad bribe? And second off: if I throw in breakfast might I get you to explain a bit of what’s going on?” Her eyes flitted to the display screen where the news program was repeating itself for the umpteenth time this morning. “I get the feeling they don’t know everything and … who better to get the word from than our brave men and women of public service, right? So …?”


She didn’t look back at the table as she was talking and forced herself to not even think of the others. If they had any brains at all they would have used the exit she gave them to get out of the coffee shop as she, a normal and unaltered person, allowed her curiosity to finally consume her. Really, though, her lust for information made it so that forgetting them momentarily was very easy. She had a lot of pieces to this puzzle already but needed far more if she was going to put things together more efficiently. With any luck, the people out here had more information than the idiots in the quarantine zone. Now that she thought of it, those officers in the cordon area were quite probably contaminated themselves if any of this was caused by the glowing lightshow. On that thought she wondered if it had occurred to any of them yet that they were just as screwed as the lab rats they were condemning.
 
Before Gerry knew it, they'd began through the tunnels. It could have been his lack of sleep or the entire situation of the morning, but everything seemed to move now as one big blur. He just followed the motions and kept quiet for awhile, until the Angry Girl stopped to look at him, mentioning a flaw? When she held up her phone, he sighed a put a hand on his head. "Lovely," he murmured with a less-than-jovial chuckle. "I guess it's the price to pay for all of this." When he looked away from the phone, however, his vision 'shifted' a little and lightened around him. "I'm... going to guess it has to do with me seeing in the bloody dark. And yeah... shades when we get out. Good idea."


They continued and, finally, ended up at some their destination. Joining them in the bathroom, he washed the blood and grime off of his face from both falling AND having his nose bleed everywhere this early in the morning. After rinsing his mouth and drinking about fifteen cupped handfulls of water, he moved and joined the others again, giving them space however. This situation was just a bit awkward... load of folks in a small area, especially with him being the only male. The pierced girl spoke to him, twisting him away from his own thoughts. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's me." He snickered a little. "Oh gods, I just realized how stupid that shirt comment earlier must've seemed outta' context. Sorry, luv," he joked then blinked as she blinked and exited the bathroom to look for first aid. He wasn't even sure she heard him...


When she came back, she was going on about her powers and talking about locking up altered folks. Gerry frowned at this, but felt an almost hopeful feeling at the mention of a bloke that 'stopped' the powers.He started to say that he'd go with her to find the guy, but she stopped him, giving him her name and mobile number... by writing it on his arm. He blinked, but nodded. "Alright." There wasn't much else to say. Before he could protest, Sebastianne and the Angry Girl were off.


Looking to the stoner girl, the bearded man gave a smile. "Well, guess it's just us then, luv. S'pose we should go meet up with the 'Random Person' or whatever..." he grumbled, rubbing his head. All the more this was discussed, it just felt like a bloody movie. Poorly written one at that. He felt like, at any moment, he'd wake up in a loony bin, strapped down with the rest of the crazies. Shaking the thought away, he moved forward and out of the bathroom hell bent on getting to the meeting place and getting this all over with.


 
This was going to be quite the tiresome job, and Igarashi could feel it just stabbing into his head. He rubbed his temples, but said nothing more to Drew. If there was anything he should have done, it was to shut up earlier. This practice was supposed to be only utilised when he felt like being polite, which was sort of rare in his experience. His head stopped hurting once she mentioned that the coffee was free, however. Whether it was that there was coffee, or that it was free, it was questionable which one made his eyes sparkle with delight. The reason behind it was less than the joy he felt though. Really?He had been in Homicides, once. The old saying "Many returns to the crime scene yields more evidence.". This applied to the perpetrator as well. Hoshiie Kazuma, arrested for murdering his superior, used his post as a secretary to keep returning to the area of the crime, just so he could dispose of the evidence he had hastily hid away in the building earlier. Junpei Ayazuma, arrested for the murder of his wife, also used his relationship to his wife to repeatedly trespass on the crime scene, even when Igarashi was investigating. Each of these times, the criminal almost escaped from the supposedly long hands of the law, had it not been for Igarashi's friends in the underworld. It was safer to play two sides, it seems. This veteran cop hadn't seen too much, it seems. Discounting her context, criminals do try to hide in plain sight. Everyone looks so far ahead to find the bloodstain, that no one ever pauses to look under their nose.


"Long black."


Igarashi leaned against a table, sipping his dark brew. Boiling hot, bitter and black as the sins of hell itself. Just as he liked it. "My job? Currently, helping you guys keep this under control. Previously? Narcotics smuggling. There was a report out that certain Yakuza organizations are smuggling drugs overseas." He sipped from the cup again, and then licked his teeth, making a sucking sound, before continuing. "These are the kinds of criminals I hate. No honor, no morals, no respect." He took off his glasses, and breathed on the lenses, fogging them up and then wiped them clean with a nearby serviette. He raised them up and checked to see if they were completely undirtied. Satisfied, he put them back on and leaned towards Drew, and spoke in a whisper.


"If you get reflector shades, you could probably do what you're doing easier by just pretending to clean them." He then straightened up and downed another gulp of black bitterness. He licked his teeth again. "Besides, you'd look great on them."
 
Drew glanced down to the money then up to the girl who offered to pay for their free drinks. “You know it’s illegal to bribe officers right?” Igarashi ignoring it she figured was his way of dealing; damn she wanted a read into the kid more than that. Waving off the girl she paused normally would have been more than happy to have a chat but juggling two different personalities would be difficult without showing some of her cards to one of them. “You a reporter? If so you know how much fire would be under our butts if we let stuff spread to the news?” A twinkle in her eyes toward the girl and a light shrug “Sides, what gives you the opinion that we know more than you? And . . . we get our coffee free.”


At that she left the girl, not caring if she decided to push her way and join them at the table or not though. She had caught site of the few getting up to leave as soon as they were in, random people for the most part but obvious. She really didn’t care, wasn’t about to stop anyone, she was on break. Not that her present company was very exciting or amusing . . . shame she was enjoying when the boy talked more.


His explaining of his job got a deep frown though, and she leaned back in her chair as she thought it all over. “You want some help?” Yakuza’s eh? Smuggling drugs here . . . yeah that wasn’t good. “Think they might have anything to do with what happened today?” Easily ignoring the part where he claimed criminals had no morals, honor, or respect . . . after all she didn’t know them, and as she stated earlier it was a matter of culture in away how someone turned out.


The mood easily lightened though when he told her about getting shades. Her smile bright, she knew that trick but it wasn’t the same. How could you expect others to trust you if you obviously were hiding something . . . course they could come in handy at times. “I’ll consider it.” She confessed, her eyes going back towards the girl who approached them earlier, a nudge of her head towards if she was there at the table with them or not. “So what do you think of that one.” Drew had an easy way of ignoring someone or pretending they weren’t right there, until they properly caught her attention.
 
While they drove around, Lorii leaned forward and craned her neck. “Sister Christina, if you would be so kind as to pull in front of that building up there?” She pointed out which one she meant. “Duncan, I am going to need you here. I don’t want to have any troubles. And these boys may not like what I am going to ask.”


Duncan raised an eyebrow, but just nodded.


Sister Christina was more vocal. “These are very bad people. Your donations --”


“My money is good money Sister. And I know exactly what these people are. Tong. Extortion, racketeering, gambling, loansharking, drugs, prostitution, and worse. It will be fine.”


The building was a small martial arts training gym. Lori suspected money laundering as well. but she couldn’t prove it and didn’t really care. When she walked in she glanced around careful to keep her hat pulled down lower to shield her face from cameras better. She hated hoodies or she would have been using the one she wore. Spotting a young man who looked away she stared at him, practically forcing eye contact.


After less than 30 seconds of constant starring the guy broke discipline and walked over. But instead of getting mad at her he flexed for her and smiled at Duncan. “Maybe you should find yourself a better man.”


Lori had seen herself playing it cool. That didn’t quite happen. She had never actually been the subject of two men fighting over her. She was a little irritated when Duncan didn’t even respond. He’d had more of a response to Jevel than this guy. “Uhm …” she looked up at Duncan as if waiting for him to do SOMEthing.


Duncan sighed and shook his head at the man.


“Oh?” The Tong man look at Duncan. “You looking for lessons? Maybe you’d like some free lessons.” This had brought a few of the guy’s friends in to take interest.


Lori frowned. “You and I need to speak privately. This is business.”


Duncan smiled. Very calmly he responded. “It’s okay. Sorry, but I’m not really the competitive sort. But I suppose a lesson might be fun. But you may want to go easy on me. Do you have a flyer?” He looked at Lori. “Hang on to the flyer. With all the police swarming the streets, I wouldn’t want one of them to stop me later without an explanation for all the bruises.”


“We need to make this quick. Remember … our meeting? And not him.” Lori pointed at the guy she had called over. I need him conscious.”


The Tong looked sharply at Lori, then back at Duncan his eyes narrowing.


**********


The fight didn’t take long at all. Duncan dropped the first man so fast that Lori wasn’t really sure how. But that got him bum rushed by the other four. Several seconds later one came flying out of the ring to flatten the Tong man. And in less than a minute the other three were laying on the mat in pain. Duncan stepped out barely breathing hard, but with a few mementos of the fight that he would have to nurse later.


Lori handed the man a strip of paper torn from the flyer. Written on it in Mandarin was the phrase, “Take me to your leader.”


The man ordered her to wait while he went in back. After a few minutes he came out and spoke in Mandarin. Lori and Duncan were then led back to an office where they met a man behind a desk. Duncan breathed in as if to speak, but Lori grabbed his hand and shook her head.


The Tong leader - Lori was sure he was hardly the boss, but the man put in front of people like her to act the part - spoke Mandarin. Lori kept her business simple. She had brought the payment for the restaurant she resided over for the next month. Put bluntly she knew very well the situation there would curb their extortion business within that area until insurance claims could be honored.


“You are the tenant that resides above the restaurant?” the man asked.


“I am. And I would like to keep it that way. It has only been a couple hours. While there is time their are two addresses I want overlooked in the search. Mine … and his.” She indicated Duncan. “Just so I am clear, a trail of dead bodies is not what I am looking for. If unable to --”


Duncan squeezed her hand and shook his head, pointing a finger at himself.


“You sure?” Lori asked. Duncan merely nodded. “Just my place then. As I was saying, a trail of bodies is messy. If unable to prevent a search, I just need to know the results of the search. I can always disappear. But while I live there, the payments will be made. Now the Search … how much?”


Lori was a little surprised at the cost, nowhere near as bad as she had expected. It didn’t leave her with anywhere near as much as she had in her purse to begin with. She handed the remainder to the Tong that had challenged her and Duncan. “Take care of your friends?”


************


At very close to 0900 the St Anne’s minibus pulled around the block to where the group was supposed to meet them.


Duncan looked at Lori, who was closing her laptop and adjusting her cords to make sure people didn't trip over one. (Lori would be seated behind the driver with Duncan next to her.) “I’ll step out to meet them. Just point them out to me.”
 
"No, I'm good." He waved away her help. "Thanks for the offer anyway. It might be just another small-time company trying to make a big name and a big fuss. Won't be surprised if it was Daito Holdings. As for ehether they were involved with this Altered bullshit? No, probably not. Otherwise, I'd be there, at Japan dealing with the exact same problem here."


At her indication, Igarashi turned his head, looking further ahead, out into the crowd, his focus being on his peripheral vision rather than where he actually looked at, before turning back. "The brunette with the wind blown hair? Heh, paying for free drinks. I wished I had that much money." He looked into his coffee and frowned, as if he found a fly swimming in it. If there was, he drank it up with the next gulp. "Well, I think she's interfering, for one. Second, she obviously didn't get the memo regarding all officials part of this investigation and quarantine issue are given a contract to sign regarding the silence with anything affiliated with the information, unless ordered to do so by the big guys. As they say it here in your culture, "Mother's the word."." He drank again and this time, sucked on his teeth and licked them. "She's holding so little for a reporter or a journalist. She can't be with the news, probably just another busybody wanting to flaunt her knowledge to her friends. How awfully prideful." He turned around again and stared at the crowd outside, one hand reaching for a sugar packet. Absentmindedly, he tore it open. He turned back and poured the contents of the packet into his mouth and chewed on thr sweet grains, the grinding sound causing one of the other customers to shift away slightly. At least it was better tasting than salt packets.
 
Jevel raised an eyebrow at the strange girl's questions. He couldn't help but wonder how in the world she learned so much about him. Then again, he hadn't taken much care to remain subtle...


"I helped the police because it was the right thing to do, and I just kinda felt like I had to do something. Of course, I had no idea I had a power like this until I touched that firebreather. And uhm...no, I had no idea that they were imprisoning altereds. And I have no theories on what started the explosions. Well, scratch that, I DO have one. There's no way any sort of ordinary natural disaster could have produced that psychedelic light show that accompanied the blasts. It had to have been something building up over several eons...like an armageddon or something of the sort. Except, you know, the world didn't bloody end. Sounds kinda crazy, but it's all I got."


Jevel could practically smell the strange girl's impatience.


"Ah, excuse me, I've got a tendency to ramble on. So, you wanted me to disable your powers? It's only temporary, mind you, the effects will only last probably a good solid five minutes I think. Well, for now at least. Who knows what I'll be able to accomplish once I've mastered these abilities of mine?"


Reaching over, Jevel lightly grasped the pierced girl's arm, feeling the familiar (yet, at the same time, foreign) draining sensation, as if water was gushing from the girl's arm into his hand.


"That should do it. Oh, and I'm as curious as my friend here," he said, gesturing to Robyn, "how DID you find me?"


As they talked, Jevel caught sight of a couple of officers entering the cafe out f the corner of his eye. He did his best to seem as if he was just a normal person who wasn't out of place, but stealthiness was most certainly not his specialty. Then the pierced chick's companion nearly kicked them out.


He facepalmed and said, "Are you always this much of a people person?"
 
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It took a moment to click.


Sure, Robyn had been listening in on the conversation the whole time, as the girl explained away her knowledge by way of police gossip. Already knowing the story from Jevel, it didn’t surprise her to hear that police were talking. The way this girl was speaking though…it was like she was making him out to be a villain…helping the police capture people like him? Jevel seemed to hold his own ground though, his rapid fire mouth explaining the situation as he was placed in it. This didn’t catch Robyn as odd, nor his apology for his rambling, it was a trait she had spotted earlier on.


"That should do it. Oh, and I'm as curious as my friend here,"


It was when he said this, and gestured back at her, that she completely froze up, snapping back a moment later with a glint in her wide eyes. A genuine smile stretched across her face; he thought they were friends too! The joy only lasted a second, as the plain brunette at the table didn’t seem so plain after all. It took a moment of her yelling at them about being late for work for Robyn to look around, questioning the outburst.


Spotting the two officers at the counter making their coffee purchase, she hung her head in mock shame until the female skipped off. The girl was giving them an out. Despite not knowing Robyn’s circumstances, here this girl was, letting Robyn walk right past the police. Watching Jevel reaction to it, a grin pulled and she looked at the two officers who had now found their way to a table. It would probably look bad of them to leave right now… maybe they should wait for pierced girl to finish her coffee?


Catching site of the female cop at the table, Robyn did something unpredictable. After she got over her shock, she slowly got up and took a hesitating step towards them. Her hands seemed to clench and unclench meticulously as she started walking, before pausing and remembering the boy. A hand gesture behind her back is all he gets, a slight shooing with a flick of a wrist. Then Robyn keeps walking until she’s two steps from the table, stopping and staring at the female cop.


Looking at the male cop with her, she turns back and forth in between the two of them before a frown creases her face. “You never told me you got a new boyfriend…” she mumbles, before finally moving to try and caress the cop’s face. The woman was the spitting image of her sister, or at least when Robyn saw the similarities in their hair and eye color it was her mind that adjusted the differences in her head.
 
Emilyn blinked and it was like suddenly time had skipped for her. She'd gone into autopilot and just let the others guide her out of the tunnels and into a public restroom. While in there, she took advantage of the time and cleaned her self up, washing the dirt from her face and straightening the her pigtailed hair that hung past her shoulders under a black beanie. She ditched the large dirty jacket and decided to just stick with the cleaner black shirt that had a pug on it and her dark denim jeans that were still a bit dirty looking from the tunnels. When she was done cleaning up she looked herself over, shrugged and scooped Puddin' up before walking out and finding the Angry woman gone, along with the pierced girl. She barely caught the end of whatever Gerry said.


"What, yeah." She mumbled and instinctively followed him as he walked ahead of her and out of the building. "Do you think that they'll be there, waiting for us, really?" She asked. "What if we got the wrong street or something?" She added, remembering too many times where she was supposed to deliver some products from the store to customers who were way into super discreet mailing and often she got lost and would end up wondering around for hours, coming off her high, irritated and lugging around a discreetly packaged 'adult toy.'
 
Quiet. Five minutes of blessed silence.


Well, not really-- there was still all the din of the cafe to contend, with but her thoughts were now all her own...except for one that seemed to be inarticulate, yet still haughty and commanding. It desired freedom from darkness and cramped space. Sebastianne frowned at the thought.





Her rucksack rustled again.





Sebastianne shoved her backpack underneath the table a little more, and then realized..."Oh, you can't be serious," she muttered to no one in particular.


Returning her concentration to boy sitting in front of her, she gave him a small smile of gratitude, despite the mistrust that she still felt. She looked at him critically, trying to discern if his responses were genuine or if he was just babbling the same answers anyone would give under pressure. Although, the "psychedelic light", as he described it, made her wonder. Of course she had seen the same phenomenon, but it hadn't really felt real to her until this moment. Here they were-- two people casually discussing Altereds like they were talking about the weather or football. Yet, it seemed that being Altered meant that you were suddenly stripped of all your rights! Like you were...


Inhuman.


The Angry Girl's words from over an hour ago made her cringe. Howwever, the Girl's actual voice cut through these thoughts, saying, “You’re going to be late for work again, aren’t you? Did you even bother to call your ******* boss this time or are you doing another god damned no call, no show, you lazy ass bum?”


At the remark, Sebastianne momentarily forgot that they were trying to be inconspicuous and seriously considered either upturning her scalding coffee over the Angry Girl's head or slapping her. She settled for gripping the table and yelling indignantly, "What the ****? Did you forget to take your lithium pills this morning?" But it didn't matter what Sebby said; the Angry Girl left the table and Sebastianne just glared after her, right up until the point where Angry Girl when up to the counter and started talking to two police officers.


Her eyes went wide and the back of her neck prickled. She realized the Angry's Girl's motive at once, and in a slight panic, she grabbed the boy's wrist from across the table and tried to pull him out of his chair while murmuring, "Police. Come on--they're probably still looking for you. I'll explain more once we get out of here."





Sebastianne dragged her ruckback out from under the table and slid it across her shoulders, wincing a little as her ankle protested at the sudden weight. Ignoring her discomfort, she picked up her laptop and coffee and turned towards around to find the boy's friend talking to the-- wait-- trying to kiss the police officer. "What the hell is your girlfriend doing?" Seb hissed to the boy. She had no idea how the girl was going to get out of the cafe now, but Sebastianne didn't really care. It was this Altered boy that needed to be kept away from the police, not that chick, whoever she was.


Seb slipped through the crowd of people and out door of the cafe, waiting around the side of the building where the officers wouldn't be able to see them-- as long as they stayed inside the cafe.
 
She had apologized when the female officer had reprimanded her, but the apology had been half assed and obviously fake. Quite honestly, the woman had given her something to play with in spite of her half teased reprimand – whether that had been done intentionally or not was currently beyond Alani, however. The way that she had commented first about letting information spread to the news and then immediately followed it up with a comment meant to cast doubt on her intel base looked a bit suspicious. Alani was fairly confident that she had located someone with a bit more information than the petty pawns of the quarantine zone.


Rewarding the barista’s bemused smirk by flipping him the bird before leaving a small tip, the girl made her way out of the shop with a thoughtful expression. She had several options available to her now. She could wait for the idiots who hadn’t taken a well-played out, but she didn’t think she cared for the company of people so stupidly reckless as to spend more time in danger’s path than necessary. That left her with the simple choice of direction. Instinct dictated that she move away from the quarantine zone and thus farther from danger. Intuition, however, told her that to sell the role that she had just laid for herself she should at least start back towards that area.


Alani sighed slightly to herself as she cleared the door before any of the people that she had attempted to grant a head start to. Somehow, in spite of some dark curiosity that made her want to see the outcome, she ignored the new girl’s odd actions and turned back towards the circus at the disaster site. Not feeling obligated to farther help those unwilling to help themselves, she started off in that direction.


The fingers of the girl’s right hand clicked thoughtfully together as she walked, a mannerism she had been fighting to keep from revealing nearly all day. She had so many data points currently that she had to keep replaying them in her head to risk losing them. Honestly, she was reaching a point where she would kill for a pen and a pad of post its. At least then she would be able to see and rearrange her thoughts in order to find patterns that might make this make more sense.


“Damn that ******* tease,” she murmured quietly into the brim of her tea cup as her fingers ticked away. There were more brusque ways of brushing off curious civilians than that damned investigator had used. The lengthy explanation and noncommittal dismissal left Alani infuriatingly curious. Unfortunately, even as her curiosity slowed her steps to an almost crawl, the girl knew that she had cast her die and would have to see where it fell. For now her only option was forward, and that meant that she couldn’t go back. For now, that ***** had won …
 
There had been two more errands to run, but simply not enough time. Duncan had wanted to hit an office supply store for some writing materials and a laptop. While Lori had her own ideas along these lines, she also wanted to get some groceries. But the latter was a task for the whole group.


It had been a quick run. Duncan and Lori had literally filled a shopping cart full of office supplies. Duncan had really just wanted to get back to some of his studies while they were on the lam. Lori, however, enjoyed making conspiracy boards. The sticky notes, string, tacks, dry erase markers and the like were for her. They also bought not one, but six laptops and a desktop, a router hub, memory sticks, external hard drives in the terabyte range and all the other paraphernalia for building an intranet. As an afterthought, Lori picked up a variety of computer games - just in case. And of course they got the burner phones.


For once Lori paid with plastic - a prepaid card. Duncan didn’t have to ask. It ran out and she had to pay the last part with cash.


By this time it was getting too close to their meeting time to do the grocery shopping anyways. At very close to 0900 the St Anne’s minibus pulled around the block to where the group was supposed to meet them.


Duncan looked at Lori, who was closing her laptop and adjusting her cords to make sure people didn't trip over one. (Lori would be seated behind the driver with Duncan next to her.) “I’ll step out to meet them. Just point them out to me.”


But Lori didn’t see any signs of the group at the meeting spot. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t given them plenty of time. It wasn’t as though there was a park on every block. How could they have possibly got lost? She face palmed herself as she stopped to think of the sort of people she was talking about. But even so, how hard could it have been to move a blip on a GPS to the pre marked spot? Of course, this assumed they hadn’t shut the GPS functions. split up, or not even tried to make the meeting. They may have had plans of their own.


“Sister, drive around the block.” Lori suggested. They drove around two blocks before spotting the Bearded Man and the Stoner Chick. The girl was spotted more by the pug she hauled around. Lori hated to admit it, but the pug looked adorable. But then she had never had a real pet - except for one that had come to a mind scarring end when it ran off to chase some rodent or bird and had discovered a land mine. She also recalled a couple of the men her parents had worked with starting to laugh before one of the others had shut them up and tried to comfort her.


“That’s them - or at least two of them.” Lori pointed. “The bearded guy and the girl with the pug.” She frowned as she realized the group must have split up. That was a mix of good and bad.


Duncan nodded. “Okay, I got this. Sister, pull along beside them and I’ll make the introductions.” He waited while the nun pulled the bus over beside the sidewalk a little ahead of the people they were meeting. Then he stepped out and looked directly at the pair.


“Boo?” Duncan said with a little more than a hint of a smile. “Did we get lost?”
 
Jevel turned a shade of red. Girlfriend!? He most certainly didn't see her as that. They hadn't really known each other for long at all. In fact, Jevel wasn't quite sure they they even knew each other. His companion was clearly keeping secrets from him, but he wasn't sure about what. All he knew was that the girl's power was definitely not lie detection.


"She isn't my girlfriend!" exclaimed a flustered Jevel as he was pulled to his feet by the wrist and hauled hastily towards the exit. His face turned a somewhat richer shade of red when he realized that the girl really WAS trying to kiss the officer, or at least flirt with them or something of the sort.


Who in the world is this girl? thought Jevel as the pierced chick opened the door and pulled him out into the open air.


"Wait, we cant leave without my...friend! What if the police detain her or something? And do you even know where we are going?"
 
Drew merely shrugged when he waved off the help. “Who knows, of course if it wasn’t such a big deal they wouldn’t need you over here would they?” The annoying way he drunk his coffee, the odd quirks had Drew do her best to keep her own cool. Troublesome . . . he seemed useful but had a repel about him of sorts. “Paying for the free stuff is the easy part . . .” She allowed to slip, who knows maybe Drew herself was having money problems. She did know most the places her job got free perks after all.


Glancing to Igarashi a smirk on her face as he continued, he did have a few redeeming qualities perhaps. “Close . . . ‘Mums’ the word.” She corrected him as politely as she could before leaning across the table some to get a better look at him. A gleam in those eyes as it looked like she could see past his directly into his soul. Wondering just how much she could tell him, should tell him. Like she may be considered one of those big guys, and didn’t sign a contract. Pulling back as he messed with a sugar packet. “You know that would work more effective if you put it in your coffee before you drank it.” She teased, wondering why the hell this troublesome guy was endearing in some ways.


It was about this time she was approached by a younger female. Her eyes widen and narrowed at the touch and she would quickly pull away her face. “We’re not dating.” She found herself wanting to correct right away what she heard mumbled, not sure why it was such a big deal. She didn’t date much, prefer not to, many didn’t understand her passion in her line of work and why she went lazy in areas but put her heart and soul in others. “And if that’s a pickup line, I don’t swing that way sorry.” Her eyes narrowed as if in warning, who did this girl think she was? She sure was ballsy that was for sure.


A hand going to her head as a scene arose around her . . . she didn’t want to deal with this mess. Why couldn’t people be less obvious? Her eyes going to Igarashi as if waiting to see what he would do, that deadly silence. They have a limited time to act after all . . . and were the matter that important to him or not. After all she did say they were on break, and it could be the kids were all just some minor punk shop lifters or running out on some small bill.
 
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Moving outside, the dreaded male held the door open for Stoner Girl. When she moved through it, he let it swing shut and took no time lighting up a cigarette as he continued to move closer to the 'meeting point'. "I sure hope they are," he said dryly after exhaling a plume of smoke above him. "If we got ditched by the others for no reason, I'll be a little upset." The end of his words were said almost jokingly, but they were a little sharp on the edges, showing his mood. "And, no worries on the street, either. Should be easy enough to happen upon. I've been 'round here before."


Continuing to walk, a beat passed in silence. Sighing, Gerry broke it, talking again and keeping his voice at a reasonable level as he turned to walk slightly backwards. "Hey, I never got your name," he started, figuring he'd at least get to know his companion. "I'm Gerry, guitarist and beard extraordinaire," he joked with a laugh. He'd meant to continue when a van pulled up beside them and a man stepped out.


Turning, Gerry looked the other up and down for a second as he spoke. "Hm. For some reason, I expected you to be shorter. And not a bloke," he said, almost deadpan at the ridiculousness of the situation. "And yeah... lost isn't the half of it. More late than anything. Between the others gone faffing about to try and find some other lad and... well, all the fun of this mornings half-assed apocalypse, I'd say the whole day's been a bit outside of 'according to plan'."


Realizing just how bitter he must've sounded, the bearded male blinked and put a hand to his head. "Sorry, sorry. I'm dealin' with all this on about two hours of sleep. Still not sure if I'm dreaming or not, ya'know." Moving his hand from his temples, he extended it toward the other. "I'm Gerry and I swear I'm not this much of a prick to folks I just meet," he said with a lopsided smirk that held more politeness than outright joy.
 
Emilyn nodded as she listened to Gerry, she followed him as he led them, until a van pulled up alongside them and a rather tall and handsome man stepped out and said "boo."


Emilyn gave a blink of surprise and almost giggled because in that short moment she believed that perhaps she would have been kidnapped. It only took another moment for her to realize that it was ghost's guy-friend she'd mentioned earlier. "Well, howdy." She replied after Gerry finished his small snap and follow up apology.


"Yeah, I'd say less lost and more just running a bit late." She sighed and nonchalantly scratched Puddin' behind his ear. In return, the pug leaned his head back and licked just under her chin before looking back at Duncan and giving him one of his 'pug-looks.' "I'm also still not entirely sure what happened to our other two friends, Gerry- yeah something about some other dude but I was in another world while it was all discussed, I'm sure they're fine though." She added with a small smile.


"So, where are we going? Is there food because I could totally go for some burritos or chips." She sighed and leaned to the side to look past Duncan and into the van.
 
Duncan felt as though a wave of chemical attack had hit him as the pair approached. He almost staggered as they reeked of weed, vomit, alcohol, wet paper towel, dog scents, cheap restroom hand soap, cigarette smoke and other lovely smells. He had to fight back a gag reflex. Normally he had a tougher constitution. Hell he had worked on the Thames Tideway sewer upgrades. Today, however, the smells were hitting him harder than usual. He wondered for a moment if that had anything to do with the pyrotechnical displays earlier that morning.


He kept his displeasure as inobvious as possible, even smiling as best he could. He stepped out and gestured for the pair to enter. “Step on in. Uhm, better ask Sister Christina about the smoking. I didn’t smell any in the bus, so they may have a policy. We can wait a few if you want to finish up.


“”First stop is going to be to get some groceries. Some for us. A bunch more for the soup line at the church. As to where we are headed. For tonight, the church. The lady leased the main hall and this bus for a day. The area setas 100. That should be way more than enough space for some temporary beds. Tomorrow we can figure out what to do from there. This is just to get us a chance to collect our thoughts.


“Uhm…” Duncan looked at Lori. “Anything you want to add?”


Lori shrugged in her wheelchair. “Just that I wish people would stick to plan! I told Robyn and Jevel we’d meet them at the church. But they literally walked several blocks BACK to the the edge of the cordon. I even arranged for a medical doctor to tend to her - and could have had him look at the other lady - discretely!”


Lori scowled. “I don’t know. I guess she had a good reason. Although how she knew where …” Lori stopped and squinted her eyes as she began to connect some possibilities. They were just possibilities, far from definite.


Lori was more frustrated by the fact that her background check on Sister Christina had ran into a brick wall. Then again, the woman had a slavic accent, not that that fact did Lori’s nerves any good. After all, so did the average GRU agent. She didn’t sound Russian though. Maybe Polish. And it was as if the woman hadn’t existed at all until a few years ago. Of course, Lori couldn’t have known that there was a perfectly rational explanation.


She tore her eyes away from the laptop and closed it. “Why don’t we call your friends and see if they still want to be picked up?”
 
Sebastianne kneeled down and pretended to be busy with taking Isis out of the rucksack and replacing her laptop. In reality she was mostly focused on watching the black-haired girl talking to the police through the glare the cafe window. At the boy's last words, Seb swivelled her head to stare at Jevel, wondering if he really was thick.


"Yeah, well, for someone who isn't your girlfriend, you seem share quite a bond," Sebastianne observed drily, her hands folded over her chest as she looked up at him with lips pursed by no small amount of suspicion. "Listen, while I appreciate your loyalty and all--" Sebastianne really didn't-- "the police are after you. If you're working with them and all to detain all the altereds, well, I guess you can stay here and wait 'til they catch up with you. But don't be surprised if they throw you in jail with the rest of the Altereds-- and who knows what they'll do to them once they're there. Probably experiment on them or some shi..."


police refusing to comment 01011000010.... "It's over, Jake!"


Seb felt slightly nauseous even before the dizzying amount of information Quarantine Zone evacuated washed over her. She closed her eyes and bowed Garrick Rake, philanthropist and lawyer arrested for attempting to incite a riot her head as the "thoughts" crippled her once again.


"Oh, for ****'s sake," Sebastianne murmured, clutching her head with her hands. It was never going to stop, was it? Focus. Focus. Focus. It was an old mantra by now. Her eyes almost glazed over, Seb looked out on to the street for a full thirty seconds before realizing she was staring at the Angry Girl's back.


"You can stay here if you want," Sebastianne added brusquely to the blond boy, before pulling Isis by the leash and running after the Angry Girl as fast as her sprained ankle would allow. When she was finally only a few paces behind, Sebastianne slowed down to a hobble and commented, "Hey, thanks for trying to provide a distraction." Even though it didn't work, Seb added silently. After a moment she added, "So, what are you planning to do now?"
 
Alani’s fingers stopped ticking the moment she heard the familiar voice from behind her, and she sighed as her eyebrows quirked slightly. She had no answer for the girl’s question. Honestly, she had found herself to be rather without direction currently. “I don’t know,” she whispered in an almost defeated tone as two fingers clicked against her cup, a clear give away that she was thinking hard. “Those ******* idiots drew too much attention far too quickly with that stunt … They’ll notice the ******* boy for ******* sure now and then what? Damned poor morons … And they had to ******* get us caught in their shit as well … We can’t even turn to the damned ghost without possibly condemning every ******* one of them now … **** …”


In the middle of this whispered tirade of annoyance, however, she paused thoughtfully. “Give me your phone,” she snapped after a moment’s thought. “Staying together will ******* get us caught now … but my address is in my contacts and my security code for the month is saved in the notes program on the second screen. There are caps in the hall closet to put on and you can raid the ******* fridge if you want … you’ll have to lose the damned piercings though …”


The girl sighed as she dug out her own phone and held it out while still walking, making certain to take the most crowded route possible for the added cover. “Just … don’t ******* make me regret this, ok? I’ll be home in about an hour or two … gunna go sniff around a tad bit more to sell the image a bit more, alright?” Highly agitated, Alani glanced back to see if either of the other two had made it out safely. This was too damned complicated for her, but she was in far too deeply to back out now.


Waiting for the girl to trade phones with her, she ran a quick mental inventory of her apartment. There were dirty clothes outside of the Barbie sized bathroom, a few single serve trays that she had been meaning to throw away on her counter, and several weeks worth of O.Chem notes scattered around the floor or taped to the appliances … Sebastianne was going to think she was ******* nuts. Although, after considering it farther, she concluded that her actions currently argued quite in favor of that conclusion.
 
"Huh? No! No, no, no. This is lunch." Igarashi chuckled and crushed the packet in his hand, disposing of it under the table. "I'm used to living in rather poverty-stricken states, so I," his hand reached forwards and grabbed another handful of sugar packets, "have to find more and more ways to fill my stomach for free. Salt packets do better but it never hurts to indulge yourself once in a while." He noted a rather curious glint in her eyes, almost as if she were...sizing him up. He'll let that slip, seeing as that they were having more problems, like several customers exiting the cafe when they entered, some of them with suspiciously similar profiles as the ones he had downloaded into his phone. And then there was the matter of that gal slithering up to them from behind.


The viper in his heart hissed when the girl came near to touch his colleague. Had he let the creature take over his instincts, there would be another hole on the girl for her to breathe out of. His own hand shot forwards and caught the girl's. With a subtly tightening grip, he turned slightly and drank fron his cup. This time, he didn't lick his teeth. Rather, he merely cleared his throat and gave a soft smile. "Sorry, miss, I'm already engaged to someone else. As for your rather smashing date here, do wait until she gets off work. " He released her hand and clicked his tongue. One hand slipped away from his cup and under his trench coat, reaching for something hidden within the depths as the other hand propped his head up on the table. "How about you scoot along now, miss, before I have to put you under arrest for being oh so criminally attractive." His hand extracted his phone, a rather large touch screen one, which he unlocked with a single swipe. Still keeping a rather foolish grin on his face and looking at the newcomer, his thumb swiped across the screen again and again, the contents unseen by both ladies in front of him.
 
The male officer caught Robyn’s hand and clenched it, forcing her to look over to him with sharp eyes. The girl was relieved to hear from them both that they weren’t dating, but that still didn’t mean the man could touch her. Wrenching her hand from his grip, she turns back to the woman only for the vision of her sister to falter. What had the man said again? After she had gotten off work?


The uniform suddenly stood as a forefront in her vision…Lacy had never been in the force, she was going to college until...


The visage of her memory disappeared and with it came the hard reality. The fact that the male officer was threatening to arrest her only barely reached her ears. Looking back at her coffee table for help, she saw that the group she was with was gone. Right now she couldn’t remember that she had been the one to usher them out in the first place, as her abandonment issues took over. When the man pulled out his phone and the girl stiffened, it was a sudden movement for eyes that weren’t watching him.


Eyes that now were rather watery, as she panicked and looked around the shop for somebody, when she caught sight of Jevel in the window. Without looking back at the officers or saying anything, she ran for the front of the shop, close to cracking. Whoever that woman was at the table, she wasn’t her sister, but her mind kept playing on the similarities. When she yanked open the door, she practically jumped on the poor boy in the front, trying to keep the only friend she had now, close. His comfort seemed to make the visions disperse, despite only knowing each other for a few hours at the very most.


“I’m sorry” her voices cracks, and she tries tocalm down, to breath evenly, she can still see the other two girls on the street and she wasn’t sure if they had only just given up waiting, but it made her feel a lot better seeing them. Finally slipping her grasp, she nods, pinching the bridge of her nose lightly; in her mind she makes a decision to stop lying to Jevel. He seemed to care about her, which made it a lot easier to cling to him, but here she was lying to the poor fellow. "I've lied about a lot" is all she confesses to now, noticing the others still trailing away, "But we should probably catch up to the others..." she notes, sniffing.
 
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