"It's nice to meet you, Sean," Yolanda replied, a small smile forming. Ulterior motives still buzzed quietly in the back of her mind, more meek now, like a child asking their tired mother for something. She glanced away for a moment, contemplating whether to reveal her full name as Sean had. While she was more relaxed than a few moments ago, she decided against it.

"Yolanda. My name is Yolanda," She looked at him, the small smile still hesitantly forming. "Is that exotic enough for you, Sean Davis?"

“You need not force yourself to speak so archaically, child. You see, it becomes quite a bad habit,” Timothy, who had stood up when Miriam had, joked. “Regardless, it doesn’t seem like you have a place to stay for the night other than this miserable place. If you’d like to join me, I’m headed to Brooklyn. A friend of mine’s told me that there’s a safe place there for people like us. Quite a long way to there, but a lengthy walk is good exercise, don’t you think?” he offered with consistent gentleness.

Closing the zipper and slinging his bag over his shoulder, Timothy awaited the girl’s answer, but not before saying, “By the way, I won’t tell you my name, but you can call me whatever you like. It’s for security reasons I’m afraid. What shall I call you?”

The False Priest stood up at the same time Miriam did, and spoke, “You need not force yourself to speak so archaically, child. You see, it becomes quite a bad habit,” he said in what Miriam perceived as a joke. "Regardless, it doesn't seem like you have a place to stay for the night other than this miserable place. If you’d like to join me, I’m headed to Brooklyn. A friend of mine’s told me that there’s a safe place there for people like us. Quite a long way to there, but a lengthy walk is good exercise, don’t you think?"

Miriam was a little surprised. His destination was the same as her's. It appeared that the knowledge of a safe haven in Brooklyn was spreading around fast. Miriam hoped it wasn't spreading too fast though. Before she could answer, the False Priest spoke again:

"By the way, I won't tell you my name, but you can call me whatever you like. It's for security reasons I'm afraid. What shall I call you?"

Ah, so he's one of those types, thought Miriam. Very cautious Unnaturals tended to pop up here and there. It was probably the reason for the guns strapped to his back. He may have even been a real seminarian at some point before the Civil War. In any case, such types usually had something to hide.

"I've heard about the place in Brooklyn. It appears that we have the same destination," said Miriam, returning to her normal way of speaking, "as for what you can call me . . . well, I don't really like making up false names. I can build any trust like that. Just call me by my middle name, Christa."

Miriam hefted her bag off the floor and inspected her belongings again, just in case she might have left something at the cemetery. "And you don't mind if I just call you Kyrie, do you?" she said while tilting her head at him.

Julius listened to Mari's tales of her time abroad with a gentle smile; he was glad at least one of them had been able to live for a while before the world turned against them again.

"That sounds wonderful, I'm glad. I wondered a few times about going back to Britain in the last six months; nearly booked a plane ticket and everything." A sad look crossed his face. "One of the homeless shelters for disowned Empowered was bombed... I couldn't leave the survivors to fend for themselves. Sad thing is I've neatly rounded them up into one place for the authorities to move into a testing facility now. Maybe I should have left well enough alone and gone abroad." He sighed, following her slowly as she went from room to room and prepared a few beds. The mattresses were cheap but were mostly in decent condition and there were enough beds for two dozen people on this floor; he hadn't heard from Alexis on whether she'd started on the floor above or not and had no inclination to hobble up the steps for now.

"Ali went with Bryan to Britain. He started regressing about two weeks after you left; withdrawals from the drug they forced him to take in the House. Alexis could temporarily relieve the symptoms but he needed proper treatment and there's no way he could get it here. Do you remember Elena, from the British Guardians? She came over to collect him, said they'd look after him properly." He nodded at his laptop bag. "She gave me a few classified documents as well. MI6 reports on what the situation was over here; that was when I found out about the plan to get rid of me so I got Ali on that plane. She's not suited to combat and we've already been through too much. I managed to phone her two nights ago, told her what was going to happen. She was going to come back but she can really help Bryan's recovery so I managed to convince her to stay away for now."

When Mari went to change, Julius got his laptop out and put it on the desk. He wiped his glasses clean of rainwater on a microfibre cloth from his bag and tapped a few keys. Soon the CCTV footage from the various cameras in the area, those that still worked anyway, appeared on his screen. As far as the government knew these cameras had stopped working weeks ago and they were too cautious to enter the area to fix them; Alexis had simply redirected the feeds so the apartment block could be used as a safe house for a while.

"So, Mari... did you hear anything from Diego?" Julius ventured cautiously; for all his intellect he still couldn't work out what the relationship Mari and Diego had was. Over the past six months it had been put under so much pressure it was hard to keep up and he had never been good with the more complex and passionate emotions. "Although I guess if you were abroad you wouldn't have had much contact with anyone back here."

'The jig is up, the noose is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty

Never more to go astray
This will be the end today
Of the wanted man'

The song picking up as he was even moving his head a bit. It was slightly more appropriate cause apparently the Jig was up. Julius talking about him possibly fallowing them as he if the files were right he was intelligent, and being able to since him it wouldn't take long before he figured out that he was fallowing the pair. So, the Jig was up.

Following them along as the walked into the abandoned looking building. Walking through it he looked around seeing all the homeless "Jesus, six years in prison and this place is what makes me depressed" he muttered walking around looking around before starting to head up stairs "Don't mind the nicely dressed people not covered in shit, i'm sure you won't turn us in if people come asking" he tended to speak to him self sarcastically at times. Though did make a note that he might need to kill them.

As he walked up he started to sing some more only this time was different. His voice carried up the stairs and to julius directly so that he could hear it, and only him.

Welcome to the jungle
We've got fun 'n' games
We got everything you want
Honey, we know the names
We are the people that can find
Whatever you may need
If you got the money, honey
We got your disease

Coming up to the third floor his hands were in his pockets as he looked around smiling "LUcy I'm home, and you got some Splanin to doo!" he said still going only to Julius as he walked, his foot steps were muted as he found Julius leaned against a door way "Julius Ragnarson, Age 21, Highly intelligent and the power of Air currents something like that. So sorry about Cambridge." he smiled looking at him as Julius would be the only one who could hear his voice at this moment, and also when Julius would speak only he could hear it "and you are with Maribeth wilson, some kind of telekinetic and yadda yadda. I was also given files on Diego, Allister and other known associates. You and your lot are very popular amongst contract killers and other undesirables at the moment seeing as there is a lot of money floating around with your names on it."

Pushing off against the room he looked around the room they were in "Very different from your house, that was a rather nice place." finding a chair he sat down leaning back "Now for the reason I'm here. I'm not going to pretend to insult your intelligence, I know you would figure me out eventually, And i'm guessing sooner rather then later. Someone is paying me quite a fair amount of money to keep tabs on you, to help you and to ensure that you live, for now at least." the entire time that he spoke he had an air of confidence, or straight arrogance the way only a mercenary could.

Julius raised an eyebrow at the man's straight-forwarded arrogance. He had approached two of the most powerful and famous Empowered in the US, possibly in the world - there was no way of telling, with little to no fear. Then again, most Empowered hadn't had the same kind of stage to show off that they had had so it was difficult to determine how strong they were, relatively speaking.

"Sound manipulation is it?" He asked. Impressively, the man barely responded but no one could have kept a completely straight face and Julius' memory would never miss a single movement, no matter how small. "You have a good poker face, I'll admit. Oh, and your power isn't hard to work out for me; the sound waves from our voices are travelling in a very direct manner, only affecting the air in a specific way. It's most... unnatural." He smiled in a knowing way; a facade while he searched his memory for the sound of the man's voice.

It would be inaccurate to call Julius' memory 'photographic' because sounds and smells were engraved just as accurately and completely as images in his mind; with his batlike hearing he had learned to tune out a lot of background noise but if he focussed he could search for sounds from the past easily enough. He found a memory of a far off voice which matched the man's but still within his hearing distance, quiet but just about audible.

"Jeramy... not a name I recognise." He muttered, aware the other man could hear whatever he said. "I suppose I'll just have to keep one eye on you at all times for now, in case your employer changes their mind. There'll be a spare bed somewhere on this floor so go ahead and choose one. Oh, and don't pester Mari. She'll crush you, quite literally." He sat down on the chair on front of his laptop again and met the man's eyes.

"So, do I call you Faust or is that some kind of mercenary name?"

Sean smiled slightly when she replied. "Cool name too, more Exotic than most around here." Sean said nodding his head. he wanted to keep up this conversation as he originally intended but he noticed that the bus was on its way down the street, several lights down still. He didn't really have any intentions to get on it unless he needed to be on it so he thought it might be time to push it. "Hey I know we just met but I'm uh, trying to get somewhere and I lost my directions." he said and started to rub his throat and the lower part of his jaw. "This is gonna sound hella sketchy, but are you the kind of person trying to get somewhere in Brooklyn too?" Sean said while furrowing his brow a bit and absent mindedly used his hands as he spoke.

It really wasn't the must subtle thing he could have said, he may as well have just said; 'I'm empowered how 'bout you?' but this was at least a little vague, hopefully not too vague though. He peek down the street again to keep an eye on the bus it was slowly but surely making it's way towards them.

Faust smiled as that poker face of his held quite well as he wasn't surprised in the least that Julius worked out his power, he figured he would. Faust simply laughed some,he was rather enjoying this as it was somewhat refreshing to meet someone with a spine. "Faust is quite fine and I'm glad to see your reputation does not precede you, I have met to many people who have been found...Lacking" he said as he leaned forward keeping that smile on his face " And you don't need to worry about Jeremy, he is annoying and to smart for his own good, but there is also nothing he can't hack into. As for my employer, I have no idea who it is, didn't bother to ask for the absurd amount he is paying" rocking some he rolled up onto his feet putting his hands into his pocket "Now I trust that his little conversation will stay between us. Let's face it, most people aren't as understanding as us" he said smiling as he started to walk out of the room "oh and I make no promises towards your cute friend, after all this looks to be a boring job, and I'll need something to entertain myself with"

I close my eyes only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity

Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind

As he sang sound went back to normal as he walked to that cupboard pulling out a sleeping bag as his voice sounded like he could of been the lead singer of kansas as he altered his voice to sound like him. He walked through the halls passing by rooms and looking around as he kept singing.

Finally he found a room he liked, it was rather small and located near the center of the floor with no windows. Throwing that bag down he flopped down on the small bed looking up at the ceiling and sighing some. He should of just taken the a contract to kill the lot of them all. "damn greed" he cursed closing his eyes.

Yolanda's smile faded and she narrowed her eyes. Ulterior motives didn't so much as flash in her mind as it did walk in and sit down, arrogant and self assured. She knitted her fingers together tightly, almost to the point of pain. She glanced up the street and cursed quietly as she saw the bus. Yolanda didn't really want to get on the bus; she was tired and her muscles ached from being so tense.

"Everybody is trying to get somewhere," She stated simply as she stood and stepped to the edge of the shelter. The rain still fell. "I'll see you around, slang in die gras*." Yolanda glanced back at the man for a moment before stepping out of the shelter and into the rain, not caring that the rain was again chilling her to the bone.

[* Snake in the grass ]

As Maribeth changed in her room, she spoke loud enough so that Julius could hear, "No. I had no means of getting in touch to the outside world. I didn't know anything about any of you guys while I was gone.... I just wish I knew if he was alright." She sighed as she sat on the bed, slipping her boots on and listening for Julius' response.

There was a brief moment of silence, the only sound was the one of rain drops on the window. After her heeled boots were on, she shrugged on the jacket and began walking towards the door. The sudden sound of a man's voice singing making her jump, her heart nearly stopping. "What the hell..." She made her way out to the hallway and walked over to where Julius was, pulling her damp hair up into a messy bun. "Friend of yours?" She asked, giving Julius a worried glance before grabbing three pillows. She hummed quietly as she made her way to the room she had fixed for Julius and threw a pillow on the bed. Next she walked to hers and threw a pillow in that room and finally where the stranger was staying. "Hey." She stopped at the door and smiled at the stranger, throwing the pillow at him. "I know it's not a five star hotel but it's better than nothing." Her eyes studied the man's features and immediately recognized him from back at the station. He was sitting on the bus stop where the stranger that had asked for the time had retreated to.

She didn't say anything and kept the same cheerful tone. "I'm Maribeth. If you need anything, feel free to ask." She smiled once more and turned around, walking back to where Julius sat. "Hey, Jules, do you think there's food here, or do you want me to go on a supply run?" A chair from across the table slid out as she came into view and she sat down, crossing her arms on the table. "I feel like if you go anywhere you'll get caught. You shouldn't be walking out there alone at least."

Safe House, Brooklyn

It took him a couple of fly-by’s around the city, but Diego finally found the safe house. It was an old building, right in the middle of what he would call “skid row” if he was back in California. Diego landed right behind a group of homeless people, who stared at him wide-eyed. He turned his head to one of them, then held his finger up to his lips. He turned his head to the middle of the group, and looked into the almost empty garbage can in the middle. It had a small flame, barely enough to keep the already soaking wet group warm.

The young man sighed, and walked slowly into the middle. A ball of fire appeared in the palm of his hand, and then was thrown into the can. The fire grew about four times its original size. The homeless stared at him, thankful but afraid all the same. Diego nodded slightly and turned and walked into the building. That’s my good deed for the normals today.

For the most part, Diego remained quiet as he navigated his way through the building. He made sure to float through the halls, that way he wouldn’t be detected if the Feds had somehow found out about the place, which, by how safe houses seemed to be falling left and right, wouldn’t be that long.

After he turned another corner, he heard a familiar voice. His face lit up almost instantly, and he floated as fast as he could to the doorway. Thankfully, it was dark enough that they wouldn’t be able to see him, although he had a feeling Julius had already detected him roaming the halls; hopefully he had chosen not to say anything.

“Hey, Jules, do you think there’s food here, or do you want me to go on a supply run? ... I feel like if you go anywhere you’ll get caught. You shouldn’t be walking out there alone at least.”

Diego shook his head and took a small step into the room.

“And neither should you, Mari. I mean, not without someone like me to make sure you make it back safe and sound, and in once piece.”

"Awh shit, hey wait!" Sean said as he stood up and went after Yolanda, this obviously wasn't going as planned. "Hey I didn't mean to freak you out or whatever." Sean said following her briskly as the bus stopped at the bench leaving them behind seconds later. He assumed she wasn't an empowered, and if she was she just didn't trust him which he had himself to blame.
And that stupid bus.

"Look I'm not some psycho or something, I'm just having a rough time, do you know anything where empowered or unnaturals it whatever hang out a lot?" Sean said quickly while walking up to he. He put his hands up in somewhat of a subconscious self defence. He had clearly freaked her out enough now he was just desperate.

Yoanda stopped and turned towards him and listened as he spoke. She reached up, seemingly a subconscious movement, and touched her back, right where she knew an inked demon to be. Should she trust him? Yolanda was unsure; she had given him the slang nickname for a reason. After a few moments of consideration, she relented. "I've heard rumors of a place not far from here, for Empowered. I don't know the exact location, if I did, I'd already be there."

Yolanda stopped talking then and looked away, seemingly upset with herself. She had implicated herself as an Empowered through her words, something she had not intended on doing. Scowling, she returned her gaze back to Sean. "You didn't hear it from me, understand?"

“Kyrie?” Timothy echoed. “Well, no… but since you trust me enough with your middle name, I was actually just about to ask that you called me by my namesake, Thomas. ‘Kyrie’ is a bit too cute for someone like me, don’t you think?” he said, still smiling. Then he made way to exit the alley and beckoned Miriam to follow him, the glaring light of the lamp post beyond making a stark silhouette of him.

“Anyway, shall we, Christa?”

“Kyrie? Well, no… but since you trust me enough with your middle name, I was actually just about to ask that you called me by my namesake, Thomas. ‘Kyrie’ is a bit too cute for someone like me, don’t you think?” said 'Thomas' while smiling.

The False Priest then made his way towards an alley and beckoned Miriam to follow him. The silhouette of a nearby lamp cast dark shadows around him, but Miriam ignored how it looked. She would trust him as far as he would trust her, and that was that. Besides, the gun was a lot scarier to her anyway.

Miriam laughed lightly and replied, "Well, I guess it's a bit too cute sounding for you, but I thought it fit. Okay, Mr. Thomas, lead the way."

The girl walked towards Thomas and stretched a bit. It was refreshing to finally have a companion, and Miriam considering how long she'd been without one, her new companionship felt like an act of God for her. She smiled as she walked on.

"No but sometimes it's easier to not know. There'll be plenty of people coming here who none of us knew before; Alexia spread the rumours pretty far and wide for me. Just don't trust him for now, I'll deal with the matter if it needs to be sorted." Julius smiled at Mari, hoping to allay any worries. He knew the way he played things close to his chest could infuriate her but in this case he was the only target.

Julius didn't respond as she sat down since Diego was about to enter the room. He couldn't help but smile as his friend arrived, even if they hadn't left on the best of terms.

"Glad you made it, I'd thought those rumours would reach you with all your work with others like us. It would be much harder to do this without you."

Julius turned to Mari and pointed at the cupboard next to the one she had opened.

"There should be some dried foods in there. I couldn't risk fridges here or else the power use would be noticed. The cupboard next to it should have some camping lanterns and other useful bits. We should last for a while. At least until we have to move on." He grinned knowingly.

"You're right, they might recognise us but there's little chance any of us three would be caught. The new weapons they've been making haven't been transported to here yet so we still have the advantage."

Maribeth looked at Julius, slightly confused, when he didn't answer her. The smile that formed on Julius's face threw her even more off but before she said anything else, a familiar voice filled the room. She turned around almost immediately and gasped as she saw Diego. "Oh my god!" Without hesitation, she flew out of the chair and crashed into the young man with enough force to knock them both over. She banked on him being able to withstand the crash without falling but she was prepared to catch the fall just in case.

She wrapped her arms around his neck with a vice-like hold as she floated above the ground to be able to reach him. "You're alright!" She let him go after a minute and lowered herself, grinning at him and touching his face. "Where have you been?" It was like everything bad that had happened between the two of them didn't exist. She was just happy that he was still alive. "By the way, I can take care of myself. Last time I checked, I could kick your ass in a heart beat." Maribeth smirked and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly one more time before pulling him towards the table.

It felt nice to have most of the group back together. "Are you here to stay?" Maribeth asked Diego, somewhat hesitantly, afraid that he might decide to go MIA once more. Not that she blamed him. She had done the same and left to a whole other country.

Sean perked up immediately. It had been so long since he had even been close to something that even resembled a home, he would just needed to find it now. "Oh man thanks!" Sean said excitedly, then he realized what else she had said, basically saying she was empowered 'Wait.. Wait, wait you said you'd already be there... Dude! I knew it!" He said putting one hand over his mouth compulsively then removing it after a secondv"We should go, we should find this place I'm sick of living on the fuckin' streets."

He was talking quickly as this was a pretty big deal to him, and he was clearly excited. He wasn't sure where to go or what to do but this was a step in the right direction at least.

Yolanda arched her eyebrows in surprise at Sean's ecstatic display. "We? No, no. I don't think that..." She trailed off as she listened to his continued babbling. The hesitant smile returned, forming cautiously as before. Maybe he really was just a downtrodden kid, a victim of the senseless voiolce that had taken place and continued to. She knew that she would feel terrible if she was the cause of his imprisonment or, worse, his death. After all, he was a fellow Empowered.

"I...I guess we could try to find it," Yolanda murmured before her expression turned severe and her tone became harsh. "But the minute you try anything, or if I don't think you're even worth the small amount of trust I'm giving you, you're gone. Got it?"

Brooklyn – alley near safe house

A tall figure misted into existence, her sudden presence doing nothing to alarm the stray felines currently pawing through the trash. The cats acted as if nothing strange had occurred, which was sort of true. Nilin was cloaking herself from prying eyes – a nifty little trick she used often. The soles of her high heeled boots made no sound as she strode through the alley and stopped a little way from a large building that looked as if it could use more than a few repairs. A few seconds passed as she stared at the seemingly abandoned building, looking quite out of place in her fine clothes in the dilapidated and dead neighborhood.

<Arrive safely? How’s the view?>

A female voice piped up inside Nilin’s head, sounding far too amused by half. Then again, Karen found amusement in the strangest of things. Karen’s power allowed her to safely teleport anyone she wanted to, to any location in an incredibly large radius of which they had yet to reach the limits of. She acted as the gang’s transporter – a highly esteemed position.

<Breathtaking. Could always use a bit more dystopia.> Nilin replied as she dropped the illusions shielding her from detection, save for the ones that kept her invisible and from making any noise. It would be enough, if Julius Ragnarson’s reputation was anything to go by. The man was rumored to be able to monitor air currents within quite a large radius. She could’ve had Karen teleport her directly into the safe house but that would’ve caused unnecessary complications. Surprising a group of highly powerful unnaturals was never a good idea. Unless one was seeking creative ways to die or get maimed.

<You just mentally rolled your eyes at me, didn’t you? The disapproving thing you without actually rolling your eyes.>

<I would never. Anyway, I’ve got a meeting. I’ll see you later, Ren.>

The exchange had barely taken a few seconds, which decided enough time for the Empowered within the safe house to have detected her presence and strode towards it. The debris and trash littering the ground made no noise as she walked across them and into the building itself. The walls had certainly seen better days and the place had more than enough grime to make her shudder inwards. Nilin walked through the darkened hallways, completely dropping her illusions as she stepped into a large room which she’d heard voices coming from.

“Good evening, Mr. Ragnarson.” Nilin spoke up only loud enough for those in the room to hear, her cultured tones sounding professional. Her icy blue eyes flickered over the other occupants of the room and gave them a brief nod, choosing not to interrupt the ongoing reunion. “I believe you’ve spoken with my associates before. A moment of your time, if you please?”

It was an unspoken rule - and proper courtesy - that any Empowered who stayed within another group’s territory for longer than three days were to offer introductions and discuss terms. It helped those who ran things to do so smoothly without ruffling feathers or stepping on toes. War between Empowered factions was something that was far more terrifying and destructive even than the currently ongoing civil war. This was Syndicate territory and Julius Ragnarson and his group were the ‘visitors’.