Christopher groggily awoke to a splitting headache and blurry vision. He could hear someone walking into a room, and then a voice that sounded slightly familiar. "You're awake. Good. Now we can continue. First off, how do you feel? Anything... Different?" The man said, smiling.

Christopher then managed to spit out, "My head is aching," before once again falling unconscious.

Winfred then smiled to himself, and wrote down on his notepad, "Mental enhancements cause headaches. Must fix."

---

((Ack, Julius got sovereignly ignored sorry I couldn't post earlier, work is killing me))

Julius saw the man with the funny hat go deeper into the alleys. He felt it was kinda rude, but gave it no importance.

He approached the goon in the floor. His knee was badlydamaged, the man would not walk again. After seeing that no one was nearby, he approached him with a friendly smile while toying with his knife

"Now, I suddenly got this great interest for science. could you tell me what this experiment is about?))

---------------------------------

It had been an accident, but Imprevious Jones saw him, and adrenaline rushed in his blood.

It was Jack the Knife, and Jones hated Jack the Knife.

As his skin hardened, and even though there was quite some distance between them, he pulled his magnum and went for a shot (though in a slightly sloppy manner). He really didn't care much for the woman next to him, nor the superheroes down the alley. After all, what could they possibly do to him now?

((Jone's shot is meant to miss. Also, even though his skin is hardened, he is still succeptible to pain or damage that 'skips' skin, even though he is slightly more resistant to those))

---

Connor looked up to them. "Miss, just now I felt something. What is it?" Connor asked, beginning to sense the aura through Sayoko. His heartbeat showed to quicken through the line on his suit. Then he felt it. "Jack!" he shouted. He span around to face Jack's hiding place.

He quickly pulled out a Rubik's cube from his pocket. He swept his hand over it and the cubes sped away, revealing a small portal he stole from Julius when he wasn't looking. ((Don't kill me Mr. Cardo))

It was held in geo-stationary reverse orbit by his powers. (Stopping it from closing.) It was linked to his stash of junk at home. He pulled out multiple pieces and fixed them into a helmet with visor and wires. "Ms. Harukaze!" he put the helmet onto her. "This in theory should let you see him by enhancing your powers. Jack, I mean."

Last edited by Reverie on Sat Dec 06, 2008 11:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

(...I'm confused as to what Connor's name is supposed to be, now. )

Jack felt a bullet fly by his head... narrowly missing him. He turned in the direction the bullet came from, and saw him.

...Impervious Jones.

Jack knew him. They had a couple of run-ins in the past. The feeling was mutual, Jack despised Jones as well. Mainly because the couple times they met, he got in his way... and having a bullet just shot at his head was enough to irritate him, as Jack tended to have a bit of a short temper at times.

"...hmph... Jones... you dared to shoot me?" He growled to himself, furrowing his brow.

In a blur, Jack reached into his trenchcoat and threw a knife at Jones. Despite the distance, Jack could throw pretty darn far. He figured that the knife would not cause much harm to him given his power, if not bounce harmlessly off him. But it was meant to be a warning more than an attack in response. The warning was 'don't piss me off'. He hoped Jones would get the memo. In a way, he didn't want him distracting him from his current mission.

---

"Huh!? What?" Shrinesmaid yelped, the helmet being forced on her, "Hey... wh-wh-what is this thing? Kinda clunky... and please, call me Shrinesmaid while I'm dressed like this... I kinda wanna keep my alter ego secret..."

Wobbling a bit, she soon regained her balance and somewhat felt the helmet amplify her sensing power somewhat. She had no idea how the kid did this--she was never very good at science or technology--but she could see it... a faint red glow in the visor. Yes, that had to be that 'Jack the Knife' fellow. She could see a second one some distance away from him, but didn't know who it was.

"...I-I see... strange helmet, but... it probably has nothing to do with us," she then said, "Well, ah..." she then took the helmet off... felt heavy in her hands, for her, "What should we do? Maybe we should go after those goons who took that man first?"

The knife made a hit straight in the forehead and bounced back. Jones only laughed at the pain.

"As if..." From what Jones could see, jack was focused on the people bellow. 'He must be in the middle of a job' he thought. That, of course, didn't mean a sh*t for Jones. Jack the knife had insulted him several times in the past.

He was glad the shot missed, this was personal, now he could bear the bastard's blood in his own knuckles.

((I don't hate you Apollo, don't worry , but I find it odd how one of Julius' portals could remain open for so long since Julius can only summon two, an entrance and an exit, at any given time. Though I guess that inverse-cyber-stuff thing explains it. However, we need to come up with two things now: How did Flux get a hold of the portal, and why did Julius ever make a portal connecting to Flux's junk room in the first place))

---

((What is that goddamn boys name? Flux? Connor? you know what Im just gonna call him Bobby Joe from now on.))

"Shut up!" Ty yelled, trying to hear what was going on. He had heard a gunshot first, and now he just heard something like metal hitting something. "It came from where the alley is!" he said, slowly walking toward to find out what was going on. He saw someone in the darkness of the alley, but couldn't make out who it was. Unknowing that he was a hit, he slowly walked into the alley. He reached into his jacket and produced his twin revolvers, and he pulled fire from his cigar and made a fireball that hovered in front of him to serve as a light.

---

Goon #2, being threatened by Julius, sighed and decided he would tell the kid. After all, he was going to die anyways. " The boss... he's a drug dealer and creator. He made some new drug, Enhancer. He had us go out and get ourselves some test subjects. You looked like a good one, so we went after you. Don't think we're the only ones though..." he managed to say before dying of blood loss.

---

((Oooooooh, I love explaining technical stuff.
I originally meant I sneaked it during it during the goon battle but........................))

((Let's go with that for now. And yeah, my powers hold it from collapsing, while the modified cube changes the location specifically to my room.))


"No! Don't!" Connor warned Tyray. He'd figured it out. Shrinesmaid wasn't the hit, thanks to the fact that she didn't get out much. (No offense.) And it wasn't him because he had no enemies. It was Ty. Connor shot out like lightning bolt. "You're the hit!"

Gunshots, clangs, fire, crashes.

Ryan could hear all these sounds out in the streets from his hiding place of the bushes at the foot of the temple, and they were scaring him greatly. 'Something's going on... something bad!!' he thought pitifully, and tried to get deeper into wherever he was hiding, hoping to stay out of site as long as he could to avoid being seen.
The real thing that frightened him, now, was that he really couldn't tell if he was all that hidden or not, and exactly how far away that fighting was. If it got close enough and if his hiding place wasn't as fullproof as he thought it was (which it truly was, the leafs and brush shielding him from sight) he could be in serious danger. Unable to take the suspense, he blocked it all out so as to not have to keep listening, and curled up with the box, waiting until it was safer. He soon fell alseep.

---

'a fireball huh? all right, I accept the challenge!' Jones got out of his hiding spot and sidestrolled to Jack's directtion, not without shooting the source of fire not too far away from him. Maybe in a different situation he wouldn't be that bold, but jack was a man hard to find. He couldn't miss this opportunity.

------------------------------

Julius didn't expect the goon to expire. 'Oh well' he said to himself as he searched the man's belongings...there wasn't anything important on the clothings of the goon save for a gun, several catridges, and a keycard Julius couldn't make up what it was for. Then he disposed of the body in a nearby alley.

'Enhancer huh? that sounds useful' he thought to himself, also, he considered the goon's last words about them not being the only ones, so maybe a master escape was in need. With the help of 'that' Julius started a portal and in a matter of two minutes it was done, connecting the place with his own house, and pretty much skipping his own power's distance limit. He could only make portals connecting such long distances as long as his home was the destination, and it was all thanks to technology.

He was about to leave in his van when he noticed a badly hidden man behind some bushes, just outside a temple. The man was asleep, but in his face could be read distress. "Must be the fight" He said and thought of leaving...but there was something about that blind mind that told him to help. Finally, he sighed and approached the man "Sir, I think you shouldn't be here, I can take you out of here if you want" he said, sounding as friendly as possible for him.

---

Jack saw Jones approach...

"...what do you want now, Jones?" Jack the Knife asked, grumbling, as he came over to him, "I don't have time to deal with you right now. And thanks to your trigger finger, you may have attracted unwanted attention."

((He was well hidden, I say! And he's only 15, not an adult... and not some two-bit rookie thief either!))

Ryan jumped out of his sleep, dashing past the guy and onto the sidewalk, tripping him intentionally as he went. He cast an old trick he learned, and made his footsteps sound from the other direction he was running, making it sound like he was running the other way. He had to get back home, and fast, and hopefully this guy wouldn't get up in time to follow too far-- he could hear-sense that he was still on the ground.

---

Ty stopped in his tracks. "Hit? Who's hit?" he asked Bobby Joe Connor. "Boy what are you talking about? Who's got a hit on me? Why do they got a hit on me?" Then Ty sorta didn't figure it out "...wait a minute.....THIS IS 'CAUSE I'M BLACK, ISN'T IT?" he said, being completely off. "SO A BROTHER CAN'T WALK THE STREETS NO MORE?"

Completely enraged, Ty threw down his revolvers and reached into his jacket again, this time pulling out a modified Glock 18C pistol (A pistol, usually with an extended magazine, with rapid fire capabilities). He fired three magazines worth of rounds into the alley, completely unaware of what he could have just started.

((I hope I didnt god-mod))

---

"For God's SAKE!" Connor explained. "Jack's hit. I told youse he was here 2 minutes ago." ((No I'm not Brooklyn. *sigh*.))

Not really. Jack had gotten out of the way of all the attacks, narrowly... in a sense. Half of it was just luck. The rest were just blind shots. Great. Now people were shooting at him. What the hell, man?

"Fuck this," Jack growled, "This is not a time to stick around..." With that, Jack began running off, taking Erin with him, "Do the wise thing Jones and vamoose too. There's more than one out there."

[quote=Kunio-kun](which it truly was, the leafs and brush shielding him from sight) he could be in serious danger. Unable to take the suspense...[/quote]

((Ack, misread that, sorry))

Julius scratched the back of his head somewhat confused, he was only trying to be nice. It wasn't that important anyways. What was important were the several gunshots he heard not far from the place. The slums had become far too dangerous for his likes now. He got in his van and went into the portal, dissappearing as he passed through.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hah! nice firepower!" Jones made a mistake...forgot about Jack for a second, a bare second, and headed towards the man in the white suit with the rapid fire weapon. There he stood, grinning, There was something wrong about his grin, something...wicked about that blood thristy smile. Then he raised his magnum....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Stirgald manor, Paradise city outskirts]

The Stirgald manor wasn't huge, but it was exquisite, elegant, filled with details worth an artists' life...and several credits. It had twelve bedrooms, a nice foyer, a big dining room with a nice kitchen, an entertainment room, a rather big art room and an even bigger secret art gallery that made up for almost 1/3 of the hous, a library, a workshop, a small but glamorous pool, a tiny spa, a stable, and several miles of open field where horses could be seen running free.

Julius portal had materialized in Stirglad manor's garage, a garage like any other...except for the several cables in the ceiling, the tubes with shning colored fluids, and computers stuck into the wall. The techonlogical complex that allowed Julius to make a portal connecting there no matter the distance between them. And maybe Jeremy Stirgald's work of his life.

Upon reaching the garage, he was received by Clyde and Bandit , Julius' favored Chocolate Labrador Retriever and German Shepherd.

"Hello there" Julius dropped a little beer and both dogs gleefuly licked the floor.

"I told you not to do that Julius, the poor things have no idea..."

Julius didn't give the sentence an opportunity to be finished, as he rushed to kiss the woman by the steps. The woman replied accordingly, hugging him back in a passionate kiss.

"How were the children from the orphanage?"

"They seemed happy that much I could tell, those kids really needed that money"

Jennifer answered back with another kiss.

"Come, let's have meal"

------------------------------------------------------

New Character

Name: Jennifer Stirgald (single name O'Shea)
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Appearance: Clear skinned, orange haired, blue eyes under eyeglasses. Likes wearing jeans and anything useful for working with horses. She is not exactly physically gorgeous, but there's something about her that charms all men alike.
Details: Childhood friend of Julius Stirgald, just wed with him about a year ago or so, deeply in love with him. She knows the identity of the portal thief. Loves horses.
Disposition: Good
Job: Breeds horses, used to work in Alpha pharmaceutics as research and investigation leader but quit after holding the position for barely two months favoring horse breeding. Has a couple patents on inventions of common use in the city. Her horse breeding succes is used to barely explain the wealth of Stirgald manor and cover for Julius' thievery.
Power: Eagleye: Jennifer's eyes are capable of collecting impressive quantities of information from a slight glance of anything, and has a rather impressive photographic memory. To acertain this she can read a several thousand pages book in matter of minutes without even tiring, which added to her natural scientifical curiousity and intelligence makes her a great chemist and inventor. This would also mean she would be a great marksman (or markswoman, whatever), but she is not profficient with guns at all.


((Yay, new char! Todog, If it is O.K. I would like to update my bios...basicaly, get rid of the already forgotten name of ray Gardlel in Stirgald bio, add the fact that he is married with Jennifer, and a note about Jones hating Jack the knife. Thanks in advance))

---

Ty just looked into the hole of the gun being held up at him. He wasn't sure what he could do. "Quick-Draw Prince" was kind of in the dark. He had nothing to draw. He had thrown both his revolvers on the ground. All he had was the Glock and one more magazine on his belt, but he wasn't sure if he could unload the other one, load the new one, cock the gun, and fire fast enough.

After thinking for a few seconds, Ty dropped the gun, and held his hands in the air, as one who is being arrested would do. Then in the blink of an eye, he used his fire manipulation power to blow fire on the ground and shoot him into the air. He landed on top of a building, where he thought he would be safe. "Damn, look at the mess I got myself into."

---

"Miss Shrinesmaid, we have a little problem." Connor said, advising Sayoko to do something. "If only Dad was here."

((And it's all because you're black. *shot*))
Name: Alex Rydell
Age: 23, but looks three or four years older
Gender: Female
Appearance: Brown shoulder-length hair, dark green eyes, olive-skinned; looks like an American Indian. Wears a Flash T-shirt and jeans, custom-made tennis shoes
Personal: Alex was always very competitive in school and will not let any challenge beat her without a fight. She is very determined and hates it when people treat her like an inferior, especially any boy
Disposition: Good
Job: Undercover agent for the Police, has worked various places throughout the city, including Alpha Pharmaceutics, John Baro's company, even in the orphanage to look for children affected by The Leak.
Power: Super-speed, and even though it's not a super power, fine-tuned deductive reasoning skills that were what got her hired by the Police in the first place
--------------------------------------------
Alex was walking down the street aimlessly. The Police didn't have a use for her, so she had off the next few days, unless an emergency came up. But what were the odds of that? They'd probably find some rookie who just joined two days ago and put him in and he'll screw the whole thing up. I mean, it's not like it takes me time to get the- "Aaaah!" She had run straight into a boy who looked about fifteen, but was dressed in rags and just overall dirty. He had been wearing sunglasses, but they had been knocked off from the impact, revealing clouded eyes. "He's blind but how the heck could he have been running he must have some sort of power come to think of it I didn't hear footsteps some sort of sound manipulation?" Alex muttered to herself under one breath. She always did her best thinking aloud. She quickly grabbed the kid's clothes and pinned him against a wall. "Look you, you better be careful next time you run into a Police member. And I know you've got got some kind of power. Why were you running, huh? Got something to hide?" Alex resisted the urge to smirk, like some sort of interregating cop, and instead stared the kid down harder. He seemed pretty scared; maybe it'd be easier to get him to talk.

---

"N-no! Hey! Let me go!" Ryan shouted in protest. He snapped his fingers right as he muffled his own hearing, and amplified the sound to painful levels, sounding loudly like a cannon blast. It was enough of a distraction for anybody, and he almost felt sorry for the strange woman's ears, but not enough to care more for her than his own safety. In the seconds of surprise the snap-blast made, he broke free of the woman, knocking her down with a quick kick to the back of her legs and bolted again.

---

"A problem?" she asked, turning her head to Connor with a curious look on her face, "...what kinda problem?"

"AUGH!" Alex clamped at her ears after falling to the ground. "I knew it," she muttered as she threw off her tennis shoes. "He's trying to hide something." She dashed right after him, caught him by the back of his neck, and brought him down to the ground. "Look, kid, you're either going to tell me what you're hiding or you're going to be arrested. Would you like that? A cold, dark, silent place for you?" She hesitated at her words, realizing the harshness of them. Wh-what did I just say? I-i've never been that mean... have I? Alex released the boy's clothes, but stayed close by. "Alright, I wouldn't arrest you, but I would like to know what the heck's going on. You looked scared out of your wits and were running like a bat out of hell back there. What scared you so much?"

---

Erin had no clue where Jack was leading her, but decided not to ask as they left the alley so they could get Ty when he was alone.

---

Ryan couldn't move to escape. He wasn't done yet, but if it was the only thing he could do...

"Gunshots! Fire! There's fighting!" He said panting, realizing that he still had left the box full of credits back in the brush. "I-I don't wanna go back there! It's not safe! I-I," He paused for a moment, then finished, "I'm blind... I can't see... so I don't... I can't tell if I am in..."

For good measure, he started to cry. He was already worked up, so it only took a small push to get the tears flowing. He was fifteen now,and he always wondered when that trick would start to fail him... not for another few years,that much he knew, but still...

---

The man in white suit used some form of power and propelled himself atop a building. Jones could only stare blankly at the man, he certainly would never be able to reach him that far.

'Fag' he thought to himself and quickly turn around "FU**!!!" he screamed, Jack was already gone. He inspected the area, there were a woman and a kid in uniform down the street. None of his interest.

In a furious fit, he shot a couple bullets to the top of the building anyway, aware that they were not likely to hit anything, and got the hell out of the place headed for the Black Cat Pub.

((I wonder if there's any rich guy interested in hiring him around here...if not Jones is going to randomly kill the first character he finds ))

-----------------------------------------

Julius and Jennifer finished their meal and went to the fields behind the estate. Jennifer was happily riding one of her horses and Julius was trying to finish a painting of a beautiful, but ordinary sunset. However he couldn't really focus on it and quicly gave up his art to pay attention to his wife.

'Why do I remain a thieve?' he asked to himself. Several of his previous thefts were worth several little fortunes, and Jennifer's horse breeding alone was more than enough to give them a nice life from a start, and even continue their impressive donations to local orphanages. And about stealing art, yes, Julius had an amazing art collection, but he didn't feel it to be worth the risk of being caught eventually.

'Maybe I do it because I can' he said 'Or maybe I don't want to live those gray days from St. Jeanne Orphanage' Julius remembered his previous life as an orphan. The gray walls, the bad food, the cheap caretakers, the gangs, the violence outside those walls...and inside them. The life in Saint Jeanne was though, most of the kids inside formed gangs and sometimes getting the dry bed or having the best dinner (if that could be properly called dinner) depended solely on bullying the gang next to you, prooving yourself superior. Some of them would become fearsome criminals when out in the streets.

Maybe if Julius and Jennifer had not met, they would have ended just as agressive. This pair have known each other from so long they can't even remember it well, and they depended one on the other to survive such a crude life without turning mad. Jennifer was a quick learner and shared with Julius stories, and also helped him with homework and such. Julius, on the other hand, used his thieving skills to steal food from stronger gangs without them realizing, and also committed himself to defending Jennifer from bullies to the point of mastering dagger fighting to that effect (though the only thing he ever did was masterfully scaring two or three kids) They seemed meant one to the other.

Eventually they were adopted and taken away from St. jeanne, maybe just in time. But even then they still kept on seeing one the other. Jennifer soared in university in the chemist career (though she excelled at almost everything) and Julius started petit works, but couldn't shake off old tricks and started a couple professional thefts, slowly earning a name as a master thief without his adoptive parents ever suspecting anything. Eventually the two of them got married and the rest is story.

Even though his adoptive parents had more than enough money to give him a good life, he couldn't stop stealing.

"Honey, are you all right?" Jennifer approached from behind and took him out of his thoughts "You look concerned about something?"

"Me, oh no!" he laughed "I'm just painter-blocked"

"Not a first" she replied

"Say, jenny...Have you ever heard of something called 'enhancer'? it's supposed to be a new drug, maybe an illegal one'"

"Enhancer?" She gave it a deep thought "Not really, but I could ask Sally, I have to meet her at te city in about an hour. She is still working at Alpha pharmaceuticals and has a thing for learning about that kind of rumours...but, an illegal drug? why do you want to have anything with illegal drugs? please don't tell me you..."

"Oh, no, not at all!" Julius gave her a sincere smile "It's not for me...nor anyone I know anyways"

"Will you tell me what do you want with that drug?"

"Hmmm...maybe if you get closer"

Jennifer leaned low, but instead of an answer she received a kiss.

---

Gerald was skulking around the city, just waiting for someone to mess up so that he could arrest them, or maybe even use "Necessary force". All that happened though was that he got even more pissed off at himself for being unable to find Jack the Knife, so he went to his enlarged office to use his seldom touched terminal to search for high-profile criminals. As he waited, he looked out his window to the broken down building a few blocks away. "Probably make drugs or some shit there," he thought to himself as he reclined in his chair.

---

Alex chewed at her lip, trying to figure this kid out. "I can understand why you would be scared, but I highly doubt the fact that your blindness is a problem. As I said before, you were running like crazy down that street, but not running into anything except me. I didn't hear any footsteps coming down that street at all. And your little snapping thing didn't hurt your ears. You can manipulate sound, can't you? Some sort of echolocation thing to help you see?" She wiped the tears off of his face. If he's acting with this, he's doing a good job. Better than some of the guys down at the center. "Could you tell me exactly what was going on? And maybe even take me back there? I won't let anything hurt you, promise." She stood up and looked around to see where she was at. "I'm guessing this happened... fairly close to the Harukaze Temple?"

---

Ryan sniveled a few times and then stopped crying. Clearly this woman had her wits about her.
Speaking in a completely calm, if not forced, voice, Ryan slowly said: "Yes, whatever was happening went down in the area out from Harukaze. I won't bring you there because I don't exactly KNOW where it's happening, and I am not gonna walk right into a shooting. Now Lady," He said, slightly agitated. "I have my own things to attend to, so could ya let go of me?"

---

Connor realised Sayoko hadn't seen Ty being threatened by a magnum and jumping onto a roof. He put the helmet on her so that she could see Jones.
"Have a look for yourself!" he said

Shrinesmaid blinked for a moment... she then saw it--Jones' aura! Ah! So he WAS there!

"O-oh!" She gasped, "I see...! I can see him... my what a soul of badness..."

(Short post, again, but I can't think of much... :x )

Winfred snapped on his gloves as he walked briskly into Christopher's room as he was greeted by a middle-aged woman with features strikingly similar to Christopher's. He then smiled to himself, and Christopher was moaning in pain in his chair.

"They just came out from my mind..." he trailed off, voice too quiet to hear.

Winfred however was not interested in that. " So this is what it did to your ability. Is it physical, or holographic?," he said as he made a fist and then struck at the woman in front of him. His fist met air, and he then smiled and wrote something on his clipboard. Winfred then smiled and said, " This was truly a pleasure," before leaving the room and those who passed by could hear someone's mother lecturing the test subject inside about their antisocial tendencies.

---

Ty saw the man run off, and waited a while until he was a good distance away. He then jumped off the building, and just before hitting the ground, blew a small bit of fire into the ground to give him a safe landing. He picked up his glock, the magazines unloaded from it, and his 2 revolvers, and stuck them back in his jacket. He walked back over to Connor and Sayoko. "Sorry about that," he apologized "I dont know what hit me. I just lost my cool"

He stood for a while, a worried look on his face. "I don't think it's because I'm Black, but why would someone have a hit on me?" He wasn't sure if either Connor or Sayoko would know anything about it. He spit his near finished cigar on the ground and stepped on it, smearing the ashes onto the pavement. "I ain't done nothing to nobody." He tried not to show it, but Ty had a little bit of fear in his heart.

---

"...well..." Shrinesmaid then said, clutching her gohei as she approached Ty, "...don't hits usually involve more than just having done something? Like, what if you know something a myserious person doesn't want getting out? Or you were nosing around in their business? Those are other probable reasons, right?"

((I already let him go. :D))
I'll give him a 3.5 out of 5 on the acting scale. He's not that bad. Alex thought with a smirk. "Gunshots and fire, huh? I've got a hunch about who's down there. Knock yourself out, kid. That's all I needed." Not really, but I'll have the boys look him up. "Thanks for telling me, um, didn't catch your name?"

---

"It's Ryan. Don't bother with a last name, lady, I ain't got no family title." Partially true. He remembered years ago, during the days at the orphanage, he had been called Ryan Cruze by the nuns there. They must've once had all that information on him at the orphanage, but the place was a dump, and if they didn't lose or destroy his records while he was there, they must've removed them when he ran away. He couldn't remember how many years it had been since he bolted... 8, 9 maybe? Possibly even the full ten years he had his powers.

He shook his head, he was getting sidetracked. "Anyways, smell ya later, lady." He said, walking down the street and turning the corner that would take him around the block and back the other way to the Hurakaze temple, so he could grab the box he left.

---

"Nosing in their business? I'M A FREAKIN LAWYER! I'm paid to do that..." Ty said. Then he thought for a second, "but there WAS that one case.." he said, thinking aloud. It was long ago and he couldn't remember much. Then he remembered the kidnapped guy. He walked in the direction Sayoko pointed earlier, and motioned the others to follow.

---

((What time is it in Paradise city? I propose the whole gunshotery took place at 03:00 pm))

[Alpha Pharmaceuticals cafeteria, 4:45 pm]

Jennifer Stirgald and her friend, Sally Stern, had been in the cafeteria for about 15 minutes or so. Even though Jennifer spent most of the morning and evening with the horse, she smelled fresh and looked clean, earning the interested look of one or two men from inside.

Jenny and Sally made a tradition of meeting at that place every ten days from the time they met, and discussed about everything, from horses to the most recent art gallery to politics to chemistry to Alpha pharmaceuticals, and sometimes even about men.

"Never thought about it that way" they both laughed "Changing topic, Sally, Have you heard of a drug named 'enhancer'?"

"Enhancer? yes, there are several medicines of that kind in the market, even Alpha has..."

"No sally, 'Enhancer' is the name of the drug, might be an illegal one"

"Oh, That's different, and far more interesting" Sally grinned "Enhancer huh? no, haven't heard of it. Why would you be interested in an illegal drug anyway?" the question was filled with malice, after all, Sally had been an ocassional user of illegal drugs herself and Jenny knew it. Sally was working hard to get out of it and was actually being succesful at that.

"No, of course not. It's Julius that asked me about it"

"Does he..."

"Of course not! But apparently someone he just met offered him some and he got curious about it" Or at least, that was what Julius told sally, and she had no motives to doubt him

"I see...wait, now that you mention it, I may have overheard it in the industrial side of town. Yes, at peeping tom's"

Peeping Tom was the code name of a petit drug dealer.

"I can take you to him if you want"

"What! of course not" Jenny quickly replied "It's just that, well..."

"Oh come on, Peeping Tom is petit work"

Jenny was going to refuse the offer again, but couldn't. It was the first time Julius asked her about a drug, and though she was convinced her husband would never do drugs, the whole thing got her curious.

"O.K." she answered back....

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Black cat pub, 4:30 pm]

"Hah! I don't believe it!" Jones studied the picture again

"Must I understand you can't get the job done?" replied the man in black suit

"Of course not idiot, it's just the irony"

"Mr. Jones, I don't mind telling you that you were not our first option for this job. But your fame preceds you, and we know you are behind this morning's heist on the diamond shop"

"Of course my fame precedes me. I'm the best!" Jones studied one of the pictures from the target again "Fine, I'll do it. You want him alive you say?"

"Yes, it is important to the man I represent that he remains alive and capable of being questioned"

"What about anyone hunting his ass?"

"Ah, I'm impressed you know this much already" replied the man "There might be other mercenaries hired to kill him in the act, of course that must never happen, even if you must kill them"

"or if I want to kill them" Jones took a pile of monet from the table got up from the chair without a single word, leaving the man in the black suit with the black glesses alone in the dark room.

The man didn't mind of course. He started grabing his stuff and preparing to leave the place as well, starting with the several pictures of a young man with a dark skin and a feathered white hat.

---

"If you ever need help, ask for Alex Rydell at the station!" she yelled after Ryan, hoping he would take it to heart. "Harukaze Temple, then." She shot off down the street and stopped at the door. She notcied a few shards of a shattered something, but no other signs of a struggle: empty gunshells, scorch marks, blood, etc. "So if it wasn't in the temple..." She walked down the street a little more, and noticed a knife lying on the ground, a few empty magazines, and a big black mark on the ground. "I bet you a hundred bucks..." she muttered, picking up the knife. Looking down the alley, she saw the threesome, one wearing a very distinct white hat. "Well, haven't seen you around recently, Ty," she said, twirling the knife in the air.

---

Ty turned back to see Alex coming at him holding the knife. "Haven't seen you around either." he said, while in his mind repeating put the knife down put the knife down. He motioned to the other two "This is Connor and Sayoko. Theyre helpin me out." He figured Alex wasn't going to hurt him so he stopped worrying about the knife.

---

"Umm... it's... Shrinesmaid while in the alias, actually..." Shrinesmaid said, rubbing the back of her head and blushing, "I'm a superhero, you see..."