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[Chica]

Olivia left Rio in the office, with the clear instruction to stay where she was, not that she could get very far, anyway, since all the doors leading from the third floor were locked unless there was an emergency. She made her way down to the recreation room, where she hoped Vega would be. 

"Knowing my luck, he'll still be out on patrol, and I'll have to deal with the guy who never talks," she murmured, rounding the last corner. But, to her relief, the silent guy was nowhere in sight. She marched straight up to Vega, pulling the notepad from her pocket. "This is the kind of training you guys are into these days?" she teased, glancing at the video game on the screen. Then she tore out the important page of the notebook and pushed it into Vega's free hand. "You should probably check up on these individuals. At least two of them have powers, but I suspect they all do, and these two." She pointed at the descriptions of Kit and Jackal. "Arrived at a bus stop about half a mile from the location of a reported arson, smelling of smoke. I would have got the information here sooner, but unfortunately I was a little careless...They might be on guard." 

She gave an apologetic smile and slumped into one of the many soft chairs in the room. "As for finding out the location of their base, I have nothing." 

 

As Harlot approached the college, a clipboard in her hands, and a pair of stern looking glasses perched on her nose, she scowled back in the direction of the base. Castiel just loved humiliating her because he knew she would like nothing more than to kill him, but she was unable to. 

"I'll get him someone with the ability to mute everything he says," she hissed, rubbing her cheek, which still stung from the slap, despite the fact that it had occurred over an hour before. 

Right now it was lunch time, and Harlot marched into the cafeteria, blending in seamlessly. For the past couple of weeks, she had been disguising herself as a reporter doing an article on the college, and its students. No one seemed to notice that the students she interviewed almost never returned. Most of them were dead now, she guessed, as Castiel had put them to work straight away, once she had them under her powers, or they joined voluntarily, unaware of what was in store for them. 

This time, as her eyes scanned the large room, she noticed a girl sitting by herself, looking less than happy. The sign of one with conflicting feelings, and, hopefully, an indicator that this one had powers. 

"Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked politely, smiling down at Ashley with a sickly sweet look in her eyes. 

 

Jackal had left the apartment the instant he could, without Kit suspecting he was up to something. He teleported first to the rooftop they had observed the old man's arrest from, and wasn't surprised to find that the ICC agents, along with the shopkeeper, had gone. But it couldn't have been long since they had left. 

To his relief, however, one unmarked car, besides the fire engines remained, and a person wearing a similar uniform to the agents he had seen earlier, was climbing into it, making an unknown gesture with their left hand. Hopefully this was it. 

As the car began to move, Jackal teleported from street to street, keeping to the rooftops, and not letting the car out of sight. Finally, the car entered the gates of a large, secure building. But that security couldn't keep him out. He just hoped, as he made one, final teleport, that the security wouldn't keep him in, by nullifying his power. 

[PeppermintxKiss]

Ashley had sat on her own, hoping the girl from earlier would show up, but no such thing had happened. Ashley sighed as she licked the icing off the top of her cupcake. She was beginning to finish up her lunch when a woman came and sat across from her. She raised her eyebrow as she looked at the woman. "Even if I minded you'd probably still sit there, you nosey reporters need to know all the gossip. Truth be told, you're looking at the wrong girl, You probably need to speak to the populars, on the other side of the cafeteria" Ashley said rudely, but bluntly. 

Rio had been scribbling on paper with her crayons, acting like it was something important she was writing, at the desk like her mommy did from time to time. Then someone just appeared infront of her. Rio screamed. "Where did you come from?" she asked, her voice shaky, she recognised him from somewhere, but didn't know where.. his face seemed familiar.

[Chica]

Harlot raised her eyebrows, and clutched the clipboard tightly in her hands. She wanted nothing more than to pick up Ashley's knife, and stab it through her eye, but that would blow her cover, so she restrained herself. The smile did not leave her face as she replied. "But I'm much more interested in you," she said, sitting down across from the infuriating brat. "Is it really gossip if it's true? I'd like to know the truth about you, because you seem much more fascinating than those carbon copies over there." She smiled darkly as the word 'truth' left her mouth, and her eyes narrowed, x-raying Ashley for any change in her expression or body language. 

"Besides," she added. "I can offer the most amazing jobs to those who qualify...By the end of the month, you could be travelling to Russia!...It's a wonderful opportunity. Wouldn't you rather travel the world, than have those clones over there enjoying themselves even more than they are now?" 

 

Jackal's teleport was cut short, and he stumbled to the floor of the office, standing again slowly and holding onto the desk to steady himself. He almost felt as though he had run into a wall at top speed. The room seemed to spin for a moment, and his head began to throb, and he knew he would not be able to teleport again inside this place. 

Swearing under his breath, he turned to face the other person in the room, ready to attack them if they tried to alert other ICC agents. But he froze when he saw the person was a child; the same child he had seen earlier at the bus stop. 'Figures,' he thought bitterly. 'The mother is probably circulating our descriptions as I stand here.' 

"It doesn't matter where I came from," he said quickly, rubbing his eyes with his free hand, and trying hard not to stumble again. "Can you tell me what floor we're on?" 

[The Oro]

As soon as Olivia arrived, Vega shot up from the couch, hands behind his back to keep the v-cig out of sight, and quickly exhaled to the side out of courtesy for the woman. There was no second hand effect, but culturally it was still disprespectful. Besides, maybe she hated the smell of fruity citrus.

 

When she knocked on Grayson for glueing himself to their game console, he snickered at the comment that only made Carl respond curtly and without hesitation. "Yes, ma'am. This the only trigger time I've had in months."

 

Despite Olivia having no direct control over their patrols or operations, they still treated her as a superior. Vega shrugged in kind. "It's probably for the best. Better than cutting up live people," he said as he took the notepad's page.

 

"Teenagers," he stated, not in a light tone either. He knew how dangerous a hotheaded, hormone-fueled teen was. Giving one the power to destroy was a recipe for disaster. Every time Rick looked at a juvenile's mug photo he was reminded of his counter-terror training against situations like Columbine and Virginia Tech. People could snap no matter the genetic makeup; the old man proved that to him this morning. Still, "check on these individuals" typically meant recon, which wasn't his job--not entirely anyway. In any case, it wasn't something to give a tac-team unless they were going for a takedown. Maybe they were...

 

"What exactly are you asking me to do?" he said curiously.

[PeppermintxKiss]

Ashley rolled her eyes at the woman when she said she wanted to know the truth about her. Ashley kept up the front that what you saw was what you got, nothing more and nothing less. Ashley raised an eyebrow, "What's in Russia?" She asked, not really knowing why someone would want to travel half way across the globe to a country that could reach up to -25 degrees in the winter. It wasn't really her kind of fun. 

Rio looked at the man. "I could tell you, but momma told me never to speak to strange people, if I don't know where they came from" she replied and glared at the man, still scared in case he decided to hurt her. 

[Chica]

Olivia smiled slightly at the small cloud of vapour behind Vega's back. She herself had never smoked since she had found out she was pregnant with her first child, ordinary or v-cig, and she doubted anyone from ICC knew about her brief time as a smoker. 

"It's funny you should mention trigger time," she said slyly to Grayson. "Because, what I'd really like you to do." She turned her gaze back to Vega and pointed lazily at the piece of paper in his hand. "Is help me do something a little unconventional...You might not have the stomach for it, though. I'm also working with the science department, and they just love to dissect what they find." She sat up straighter in the chair, and her tone became serious. 

"The science department are working on a cure. We are now capable of nullifying their powers, but it's about time we move past that, and take the powers away for good. A vaccine was used on an Abnormal a few months ago, to test what we had, but it managed to have the opposite effect. He can now use his powers in containment. If we can make something like that, it means they can as well, and if they do, there wouldn't be any way to nullify them. They'd get into our headquarters and destroy everything we've worked our butts off for." She hesitated before continuing, although she guessed by now they knew what she was going to suggest. "I've been searching this past week for Abnormals outside our system, who we can use to create this cure, without the higher ups getting suspicious. If we take them from the streets instead of from the cells, they'll have no way of knowing...Unless someone leaks the information." 

With another innocent smile, she gestured again to the piece of paper. "I want them. I managed to narrow down their location, and I want them in the lab by the end of the week. I want this cure as soon as possible." Her voice remained unfathomable, but her smile faltered as she spoke the last sentence. 

 

Harlot drummed her long fingernails on the table impatiently, beginning to consider using her power on Ashley, who seemed determined to be difficult. "Don't sound so put off," she pouted. "It's the holiday of a life time! You just need to answer a few questions, and I'll tell you everything...And I assure you, you won't regret it." 

This was it. If Ashley refused to respond this time, Harlot would use her powers, and dispose of the kid if she was another disappointment. 

 

Jackal gave Rio a pained smile, as he slowly became accustomed to the nullifying material this building was obviously made from. He let out a deep sigh and leaned forward against the desk. "You're already speaking to me," he pointed out. "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you...But your mummy's friends will hurt me if I don't get to the cells. They took my friend there by mistake, so I need to take him home." He spoke gently, trying not to intimidate the child any more than he already had. 

"Can you help me?" he asked, his genuine desperation visible in his eyes. 

[PeppermintxKiss]

Ashley looked at Harlot. "Well, I'm not just going to get up and follow some random woman because she tells me she can give me the holiday of a lifetime" Ashley replied. The woman wanted to ask her questions, but she hadn't even told her why. "So, what exactly is in Russia?" She asked again, not budging from her earlier remarks and question. Ashley could be stubborn in her ways when she wanted to be. 

Rio looked at the man. " You might not want to hurt me, but I don't know where they keep people. I haven't ever been here before." Rio replied, lying slightly. She had been to her mothers place of work, but she hadn't left her in the office last time. "Where did you come from... and if they took your friend you must have done something wrong. They don't capture innocent people" Rio replied. Edging away from the man. She didn't know what he wanted or if he was dangerous. Even though she was only young, her momma had always taught her to stand up to people and not let them ask things of her. It wasn't good practice her momma had said. 

Castiel had been going through the lists of the Abnormals that Harlot had delivered to him prior to her last venture, most of them had been teenagers, there were a few whom were older, but this never seemed to make a difference. Teenagers were too hot headed and made mistakes. He just hoped the next batch of Abnormal people, wouldn't fail him like the others had beforehand. He needed to be in Russia before the ICC found his HQ it was only a matter of time. 

 

[The Oro]

Vega's eyes flicked up from the note as Olivia finished speaking. She wasn't even being discreet. She was essentially asking the agent to legally kidnap a pair of belligerents so they could be poked at by lab techs. Not having the stomach wasn't even the issue. He had seen some bad things in his time, but for someone to blatantly ask him to be the perpetrator made him uneasy.

He gave her a careful nod. "I'll have to run this by my Watch Commander before I deploy...unless I missed the memo and learned civilian management can issue orders directly."

[Chica]

Sighing impatiently, Harlot reached her hand across the table, and began to stroke Ashley's cheek. "I understand," she said in a quiet, yet dangerous voice. "But it's alright. I'll make you trust me." 

She stared into Ashley's eyes, and continued in a purr, her powers already at work. "If you have a unique ability, and I believe you do, don't you? If your ability is one that causes jealousy among the lower beings, then you must come to Russia. You'll be free to use your abilities once and for-" 

Just before Harlot was able to finish her sentence, something slammed into the table, and the connection was broken. Harlot pulled her hand back quickly and glared up at the cause of the disturbance. 

"Oi, girl with no manners," Kammy interrupted rudely, ignoring Harlot completely and speaking directly to Ashley. "Those two guys are outside college again. If I was you, I'd call someone to pick you up." 

 

Jackal put one hand to his forehead in exasperation. It was more than likely that the child was lying, but there was no way he could make her tell the truth; especially if he wasn't being truthful himself. 

"You're right," he said with a small smile. "I did do something wrong, but my friend didn't. They blamed him for what I did, and I'm sure you know it's important to take responsibility for what you do." He paused and looked out of the window, fully aware that the girl's mother could return at any moment...He really had no choice. He crossed the office and took Rio's arm as gently as possible. "I came from outside. I can teleport; and that makes everyone in this building my enemy. So I don't have time to waste getting answers from you." 

Turning towards the door, he lifted Rio from the floor with one hand over her mouth, then hurried out into the corridor, his heart pounding as he considered how much of a risk he was taking. Just because he had a hostage didn't necessarily mean the ICC would be powerless to attack him. But the old man was more important right now. But, as he reached the end of the hall, and pulled at the handle of the door with his free hand, he stopped. It was locked, and a keyboard in the wall suggested a password was required to get through to the lifts. 

 

Olivia got to her feet again, trying hard to keep the desperation from showing on her face. "You don't need to ask anyone's permission," she insisted. "This is a direct order...But it's one you don't have to follow. Your job could be on the line if you help us."

She ran her hand over her swollen stomach and gave a small smile. "Finding a cure for their powers is more important to me than my job. But I understand if you have different priorities." 

[PeppermintxKiss]

Ashley was about to say something in response to Harlot, she didn't know why, but there was something about her. It was dangerous...as though she could have gotten her to tell her every detail in her miserable life if she had so wished. But, just before she could reply to what Harlot had said about powers and Russia, someone banged on the table, and snapped her out of the trance she had fallen under. Ashley glared, 

"I have perfect manners, it would seem that it is you whom, doesn't have the manners, and have you ever thought they are there to protect me hmm? or seeing how you seem to see them everywhere, maybe, it is you whom they are after, and not me?" Ashley growled harshly at Kammy, she was in no mood, between her and Harlot, they had completely ruined her lunchtime and pretty much her whole day. 

 

Rio looked at the man warily, there was something strange about him. He asked her if she knew if it was important to take responsibility for things you do. She thought about all the things her Momma and Teacher would tell her about not telling  lies, and that if you do something bad, you have to accept the consequences. Rio nodded her head slightly, but that was when she wanted to run away. He told her he had teleported, she couldn't understand. "But, people, with magic can't get into here..it makes them sick!" She shouted back, she realised at once, he was one of the people who had been at the bus stop earlier. She was about to call for her Momma, but then, He picked her up and put his hand over her mouth before she could say anything. She tried screaming but it came out muffled. Rio started crying, she was scared, she wanted her Momma. When the man tried to open the door, that was when she bit his hand. And screamed loudly "Momma!!Help!!" she screamed over and over, when the man had dropped her from the shock of being bitten.

 

[The Oro]

Vega pretended to look over the notepad again as he caught a glimpse of Olivia palpating her abdomen. He understood well enough where her urgency was coming from, but he hardly knew where to draw the line on this one. Was this management asking him for a favor or was this official ICC business.

One thing he knew was that if he said no, she would just find another.

"I haven't been briefed on any cure being researched by R&D. I'm sorry, I'm not going to accept this assignment."

At this, Carl did a double take, paused his game and stood up. "I got it."

"Car--"

He cut Vega off. "If these kids started that fire, they need apprehension. I can handle it. Just tell me where I gotta take 'em."

Rick gave no protest to this, not in the right circumstance to make a scene. Instead he pushed the note-page into Carl's chest and walked off. This wasn't the last of their disagreement, Agent Grayson knew. Pocketing the note, he looked to Olivia with a forced smile and awaited further instruction.

[Chica]

"Ah!" Jackal cried out in shock, releasing Rio and quickly turning on his heel to chase after her. "Be quiet!" he hissed, catching her by the shoulder and covering her mouth again. "I'm not going to hurt you, ok? I promise, but I'm not going to make it very far without you." 

Getting her to co-operate was going to be almost impossible, but what else could he do? Careful to avoid being bitten again, he knelt down to her level and slowly removed his hand from her mouth. "Please don't scream. Help me get through this door, and I promise, once we reach the cells, I will let you go. Do you know which four numbers your mother uses to get onto this floor?" 

 

Olivia watched Vega go, and turned to Grayson with a grateful smile. "I can't blame him for not wanting to do this," she said quietly. "He hasn't let this job cloud his morals yet." 

Reaching again into her pocket, she pulled out a key and handed it to Grayson. "They're for lab seven. That's where we're taking the abnormals for now, once we've captured them. There's a cell in that one so it was convenient." She then crossed the room to a map of the city pasted on the wall. "I managed to narrow down their location to one of these," she continued, pointing at three blocks of flats. "Once you capture them, all you'd have to do is bring them to lab seven and leave them with the scientists. You wouldn't have to have any more involvement." 

She glanced towards the door guiltily, aware that her request would cause arguments between Grayson and Vega. "I have some of the details of what we're planning in my office, if you'd like to see them?" 

[PeppermintxKiss]

Rio looked up at the man as he grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth. She realised that no one had heard her screaming. She wanted to scream again, but she knew it would do no good. She nodded slowly as he said that he wasn't going to hurt her and as he removed his hand she stepped away, edgily. When he asked for the numbers, Rio thought of what to do.. she knew what the real combination was, but she knew it would possibly trigger something if the numbers were put in wrong. She knew what she had to do. "Well, it changes, and this morning she put in 2968" Rio said in a confident tone. The one thing her mother had taught her, was when you lie, do it with confidence. 

[Chica]

Jackal sighed with relief and smiled at Rio when she seemed to finally co-operate. "Thank you," he said gratefully, getting to his feet again and walking back to the door. It didn't occur to him that the numbers might be fake; that Rio was trying to trick him into triggering the alarm. He pressed the buttons with the numbers 2-9-6-8, and began to try the handle. But as he did so, an earsplitting alarm began to sound, and he jumped back from the door, an expression of horror on his face. 

"What have you done?" he whispered, turning back to Rio, anger and fear clearly visible in his eyes. "Didn't I say I would let you go if you helped me? You stupid girl!" 

He grabbed her again, roughly this time, by both arms. "Tell me, what did you expect would happen next? I don't care any more that you're a child. If I manage to get out of here, I'm taking you straight to Castiel. We can use your life to get what we want from the ICC." 

[PeppermintxKiss]

Rio looked up at Jackal, as the alarm went off, covering her ears from the noise that had erupted. Rio was scared as he shouted at her, she wanted to cry, but felt like this would only make things worse for her. Rio didn't know what to do. When he asked her, what she thought would happen next, she honestly hadn't thought about it, she thought the alarm wouldn't have made so much noise, and the guards would have come to save her. When Jackal said that he didn't care about her being a child, she was really scared. There was nothing she could do now, he was going to take her somewhere scary. Castiel sounded like a mean persons name, and Rio just wanted her mom. Rio couldn't help herself and started to cry. She just wanted her mom. 

[The Oro]

Grayson was about to decline the invitation to Olivia's office when the harsh blair of the station's alarm resonated through the halls. Vega wasn't far off, so he came rushing back at a moment's notice. "That was quick," Carl said as he watched the man start to don his gear.

 

"Shut up and grab your kit," Vega replied without even looking his way. The day was already turning out to be a grade A mess; first an arson-homocide, then a confession regarding black ops experiments being run on detainees, and now an incursion to their station.

 

Rick had expected better of Grayson, but he knew he could trust the man in this kind of a case. Point and shoot; simple enough. Unless of course their perp was attempting surrender, then simple boot to the neck would do. That was a harsh thought Rick had made in his haste as he charged and locked his AR15. You're not Rambo, he told himself in an attempt to derail his built up frustration.

 

"Check," he said, pulling a mask over his face and locking his helmet with the chinstrap.

 

Carl was seconds behind him, but kept up. "Ditto. We know where the alarm's coming from?"

 

"No idea, get on comms and find out."

[Chica]

"Stop that!" Jackal snapped when Rio began to cry. He grabbed her hand and strode quickly to the door of the nearest office, not surprised to see that it was deserted. Every office in the corridor must have been empty, otherwise someone would have heard Rio's screaming. "Be quiet!" he repeated, pushing her into the office and closing the door behind them. 

Of course, she continued to cry, and Jackal glanced warily through the glass in the door. The smart thing would be to run and hide somewhere separate from the child; but she knew what he looked like, what his power was, and Castiel's name. He couldn't let her go now. 

"If you don't stop that screaming right now, I will kill you!" he threatened, although he had no intention of doing so. 

 

"I thought security here was supposed to be better than this," Olivia commented as her companions grabbed their walkie talkies. She had a slight nagging feeling in her stomach as she hurried to the door of the rec room, but she knew Rio would be just fine in the minutes it would take to reach her. The third floor held very important information, and so was kept secure at all times. "I'd love to help you catch our little magician, but I need to get back to my daughter. She's going to be wondering what all this noise-" 

"Intruder is on the third floor," the voice of an agent called into the rec room as he hurtled past, his own walkie talkie buzzing with instructions. 

Olivia's face paled, and she hurtled out of the room, snatching the gun from the agent's other hand. 

[The Oro]

Grayson and Vega quickly exchanged a glance when Olivia disarmed one of the agents with a surprisingly determined vigor, leaving the man standin there armed with only a surprised look and a blush of frustration. Vega couldn't blame the man--he just had his weapon taken away by a civilian.

Rick gave him a sympathetic pat on the arm and went to follow Olivia, making sure he gave Grayson a nod. Coming around the corner, he saw her making stride to the elevator and started a jog to her.

"Hey!" He called, reaching for her arm. "I can't let you run around with a gun. Whatever's happening, we'll deal with it."

[Chica]

Olivia punched the button for the third floor and spun around to face Vega. "That intruder is on the same floor as my daughter," she hissed, her usual cheerful attitude gone. "Not only have they managed to get through our security, they've got onto the third floor, where some of the agents can't go without special permission. I know how to shoot a gun, and nothing will stop me using this one if my child has been harmed in any way." 

The doors of the lift opened, and Olivia pulled her arm free from his grip. "Just let me come along. I'm not some weak civilian who will get in the way." 

[The Oro]

Rick put a foot out to hold the elevator door as Grayson caught up with the unarmed agent. Looking back to Olivia, he stood firm. They weren't moving unless he did, and he wasn't letting the elevator go until she relinquished the weapon.

"Working a gun isn't the same as working with a team. You're emotionally compromised, and when it comes time to make a quick decision you won't be able to do it. So again, may I politely ask you to give up the fucking gun so we can do our jobs?"