Joy snored loudly as she laid in her sleeping bag. She couldn't help it after the long night she had been through. A harsh banging on the back door of the van drew her slowly out of her slumber with each instance until she finally woke up. She unzipped her bag and crawled over to the back door. A small pair of curtains kept the sun out and prying eyes. She slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes and holding her handgun. Slowly she drew the curtain to peek out to the outside. An older man with graying hair under a work cap and a matching beard was standing there. The groundskeeper of the junkyard. Slowly she opened it and peered out.

"What is it, Big Joe? You know what fuckin' time it is?"

"Yes, little lady, I do. I also know that some military types were on their way through here. Said they had rights to search fer squatters and whatnot."

"Military? Oh fuck..."

"You and I both know they ain't here fer the squatters."

"Big Joe..."

"Don't make nothin' of it. Git yerself together and make yerself scarce. I'll try to keep them out of this area as long as I can. Saw one of their big vehicles out front too."

"That makes thing difficult. They near the break in the fence?"

"Not yet, but they may be soon."

"Alright. Take it easy, Big Joe. I'll be around sometime."

With that info fresh in her mind, Joy quickly popped some caffeine pills and washed it down with some rainwater she had been collecting from her rain catcher in the sunroof. She threw her jacket, her belts, and all her pouches onto her person. She tore down everything that indicated the van had been lived in and threw it into her rucksack. Finally, she holstered her handgun and stepped out of the van, pulling her hood up. She gave Big Joe a quick hug goodbye before turning around and high-tailing it out.

The junkyard was a maze, truly, which was both a blessing and a curse. She needed to get out, but finding her way around parts unknown was harder than it looked. At least she knew if she was always heading at least some direction, she'd hit the fence eventually. So even though the soldiers were out and around, they weren't aware that she was moving out. They'd be taking their sweet time, trying to sneak up on her and hoping to catch her napping. Not now, though. No, this time she'd be gone before they knew she was ever there. At least, that's what she hoped. Getting around was difficult, and she had to climb over car piles a lot more than she found comfortable. They were unstable, and it made her nervous.

Just when she climbed up and took a few seconds to judge the distance she was from the fence, she heard metal creaking underneath her. Thinking fast, she jumped and hit the ground on a roll. The four-car tower became a three-car tower as a sedan slipped off the edge and crashed. That was going to draw attention, so Joy beat feet onto her goal, which was almost in sight. Voices from behind her only served to increase her speed until, finally and thankfully, she was able to slip out. For now, she was okay, but it wasn't going to be like that for long. She kept up her pace to head deeper into New York, keeping a lookout on a place to dive in and lay low. An apartment complex that looked like it had seen much better days in the past (and more residents), seemed like a good place to stop for now. She slipped in through the front door after making sure no one else was around and sighed.

Out of the frying pan, but not sure if the burner was lit. Joy drew her 1911 and clicked the safety off. Leaving it cocked didn't hurt it, so she hadn't messed with it after her encounter with Miro. Miro...well, at least he was good for one thing: he let her know just how well her disguise was working. Well...from the neck up anyway. She looked down. With the rucksack straps around her shoulders, she noticed her prominent mounds under her jacket. Great. She cursed herself for her natural bustiness and vowed to try binding herself down with some pressure bandages later on. At least, if she could. The first thing to do was to make sure no one was going to fuck with her in this building, if there was anyone to do so.

Slowly, but surely, she carefully made her first steps inside and began to clear out as much as she could see from the building. She knew to pie her corners, but she really wasn't wanting to try jiggling door handles. Her combat boots also made audible noise that was only slightly softer the slower she stepped. Well, at least if anyone else was here, they'd be wanting to get the hell out. Combat boots were usually worn by the government types, and spelled trouble. Joy prayed that anyone would get the hell out at the sound of her footsteps if they were here. It was just easier. And yet, sometimes things are never easy, nor do they usually turn out the way we want them to.

Miro's eyebrows lifted visiblely as his personal space was rudely invaded. Eyes met eyes, a jaded tired gaze, with a steely inquisitive one. Miro did only wander once to look at Bea's seat, now vacant. Apparently she had taken the Thinker orders at heart as well, too.

Lil' bugger knows when to fold em. He thought with a bit of relief, as he grew increasingly pressured by the awkward position the Thinker had when questioning him. Nice butt wiggling. Miro added, being slightly distracted before refocusing on the face of the older girl.

"I came for booty." He deadpanned, his voice following suit to his gaze. "You know, chicks dig heroic, reliable figures... and do you know how hard is to find people of my age? Really hard. But noo, you have to get in my way and don't swallow my lies!" He added raising his eyebrows and voice for a brief while, before letting a small chuckle.

"As if." Miro smirked. "What I told you before is what I honestly feel. Or what I want to feel at this moment. Of course, it's the edulcorated version. But you doubt everything thrown at him? Right. Hunt or be hunted? The world is full of liars? I know. I try not to lie. Much. An open hand is better than a fist." Miro scratched his head, his gaze now acquiring a rather serious intensity.

"But if you must know as a head honcho, I'll tell you that much." He paused, and inhaled.

"Reckoning. I want revenge. Justice. To see the responsible of all this dead and helpless. Words cannot tell how angry I am. They plucked out the flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood. And I want them to PAY. Olga didn't deserve it. And I didn't deserve to be duped. like this." Clenching his teeth and fist he inhaled a second time, an effort to calm himself.

"But going like a crazy berseker yelling on top of my lungs is stupid. Stupid and selfish. Cooperation is wiser for the time being, brain for brawn and that stuff. It's still suicidal, not that I care that much, I mean, by my forties I will be a wreck with the conditioning my body already has." Miro added, in his calm voice. "So why not try to set rights for once, instead of wallowing in hatred and pity?".

"Only when I know they're going to return the favor at earliest opportunity." Adrian replied as he started laying pieces of herring onto each individual cracker, lining them up neatly and slowly and methodically chewing them down one at a time.

He listened to Joslyn's idea of following him everywhere, at least until she felt he could be trusted to make-good on the deal, and nodded kindly as he reached into his shirt-pocket.

"By all means, you may accompany me." He replied, as he pulled-out a flat metal flask; "this should help with your jitters." He offered, but seeing as she probably didn't trust him enough to believe it wasn't poison or tranquilizers, popped the cap and took a lengthy draught for himself before offering a second time, shaking it to indicate that the offer was not empty.

Joslyn stared at him for a moment, eyeing the flask before she reached out and took it from him, careful not to touch him before she brought the object up to her nose. When she was sure it was just alcohol, she gave him a look before downing some of what was in the flask and made a face. "You do know I am only 17 right?" she questioned as she looked at him, "And my shaking is a side effect of my heightened reflexes... there isn't really much I can do about that."

Offering him a shy smile, she plopped down next to Adrian and snagged one of the pickled herring covered crackers before popping it into her mouth. While it was not her most favorite thing on the planet, it was something that she could eat easily and it didn't go bad incase she wasn't home for days on end. Now she was looking at being able to get something good to eat and hopefully some decent clothing on her back minus the maybe two outfits and her experiment uniform that she had.

"No, I did not. But I suppose I'm going to call-in a favor and have your papers forged in any case, if I expect you to work with me." Adrian admitted, as they continued to share a few more morsels, listening to her reason for having the shakes.

"And I suppose your sensitivity to light is enhanced, also. I'll make a point not to put-on any light-shows during your shift." He stipulated, before he froze for a second, trying not to make any noise so he could determine whether or not he was hearing things.

^"Boots." He whispered, as he slunk over to the closet-door to fetch a pair of knives, one for Joslyn, and one for himself as he gingerly lifted the SR-25 and aimed it at the door, praying they wouldn't have to deal with any seekers today. He gave a glance at Joslyn, and tried to see if she had any access to a nearby fire-escape, but knew that even if there was one, a military operation would already have most escape-routes covered.

Joslyn focused on what he was doing for some time, her mind a little slow but she wasn't exactly worried. "It's only one pair, I doubt that it's anything to be worried about," she grumbled, slowly standing up before yanking the door open, her firearm in hand, "Seeeeeeee, one person... who is in my house... why the fuck is everyone in my god damn house?! First this guy and now... this... person... urg..." She simply threw her arms up and sulked back to where she was and flopped back down, clearly displeased.

^Wait, _only ^one? Adrian asked, stupefied by Joslyn's sudden carelessness... probably more to do with her lack of sleep than from some sort of yet-unheard-of alcohol-intolerance... That or she'd make for one really cheap drunk... easy to tell if she's sampling the merch...

He carefully peeked around the corner, and sure enough, only one person... still one person with a gun...

"You're... not military, are you?" He asked, "they don't send just one... you their decoy?" He kept the rifle trained on the stranger's misshapen silhouette, but things seemed to be de-escalating pretty fast despite the paranoia being thick enough to parkour from here to LA without your feet ever touching the ground.

Well, there was the fire. Joy didn't understand much about why the other girl was so mad, but then again she had a run-in with someone trying to get into her home just today too. Still, the business end of a rifle made her stop and think.

"Jeez, that's a big gun. What is that, an AR-15? No, it's definitely longer. The magazine is also different. It must be chambered for seven six two then. This is bad. I hoped that they'd want to avoid contact but now I'm getting held at gun point. Is my safety still on? No, okay at least there's that but still. What are the chances that I can make a step back without getting shot? Not very likely. I'm still in no position to make any sort of moves unless I want a new hole. Damn, this isn't how it's supposed to go! Wait...a girl? Maybe...it's worth a shot."

Slowly, Joy took her left hand off the handgun from the Weaver stance she was in, and swung the 1911 around slowly until she was pointing it at the wall. There was a soft metallic click as she reengaged the safety before carefully putting it into her holster. She still had her knife, though, so she knew that if anything happened she wasn't entirely defenseless. She put her hands up, but pointed into the doorway. Hopefully, Joslyn would have enough mental capacity to be able to make the distinction from military to GMG with her dog tag.

Adrian watched as the figure swung a gun out towards the wall, then he heard a click. Thankfully, said wall was the one opposite the room Joslyn was behind. They then made a motion that indicated they wanted to see this other person for themselves before speaking.

He didn't trust this person, if they were military then they were probably looking for a quick-kill that was less risky than only a pistol to a serious gunfight.. if it was a rival GMG... then it probably didn't matter what he did if they decided to go hostile.

Lowering the rifle on his shoulder, he began slowly un-slicing the pie through the doorway, being careful to keep eyes and distance on the intruder. Once everyone was in the relative privacy of Joslyn's "home", it was 'bout time he tried to seriously identify the figure as he pulled out his flashlight and shone it at the girl's face.

What he saw was a scruffy short-haired blonde person with red eyes and either pects-of-steel or breasts... Then he saw the chain of silver dangling round her neck, dropped his flashlight with a dull thud, and raised his rifle back up.

"_Tags. ^Now." He ordered, in a very hushed mono-syllabic tone.

"Vengeance? Vengeance. Let me tell you a little something about that word." Lyn took a deep breath, her peculiar blue eyes darting away from Miro momentarily as her grip tightened to her water glass.

"Wh- Miss Lyn." Lyn sighed with relief as Aria peeked her head through the door. "Christ Aria I thought we already talked about the 'Miss Lyn' thing. I'm only a year older than you for God's sake." Aria shook her head, "Miss Lyn you know I respect you a great deal too much to refer to you as common folk after what we've been through together. Please now mam', if I may have your attention."

Aria uncloaked a small tablet from her raggedy jacket, placing it on the table in view of both sexes.

EYES ONLY
CITY HOLDING FACILITY 17
XX/XX/2052
XX:XX:XX
SENT BY: [REDACTED]
TO: [REDACTED]

ATTN [REDACTED]: ATTACHED IS THE LIST OF GIRLS WE HAVE CAPTURED IN THIS WEEKS SWEEP. THEY WILL BE TRANSPORTED VIA THE STANDARD ARMORED CONVOY. THEIR TRANSPORT WILL BEGIN AT 0100 HOURS, WITH THE CONVOY TO ARRIVE AT CITY EXECUTION FACILITY BRAVO AT 0130 HOURS. THIS IS A NOTIFICATION MESSAGE ONLY, PLEASE USE NORMAL CHANNELS FOR SPECIFIED INSTRUCTIONS, ROUTES AND OTHER PLANNING. THIS IS AN AUTOMATED MESSAGE, PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND. ALL OTHER QUESTIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO [REDACTED] AT [REDACTED]

-[REDACTED]

"The convoy is leaving in seven minutes. If we hurry, we should be able to catch it about twenty out. Supermax 17 is pretty close to here, but the closest NARVA set up is over 20 out south of here, they won't make it in time. If you want to go on the assault, we do have four AT4's we liberated from the last convoy strike we could use. Your call mam."

"Well..." Lyn mused, pulling up her digitizer. "Maybe you won't have to wait so long after all. If you're really all you say you are, put your ass on the line. Follow Aria to the armory. She'll give you some basic provisions for the assault. We'll learn quickly how serious you are about avenging your sister."

"Hrm." Miro frowned upon seeing the news. So, they're rounding them up and flat out executing them like cattle now? His fists clenched somewhat as he scoffed. "Just like cattle, huh. Bastards." He blurted out, unable to keep it inside for any longer. His head then met Lyn's gaze and words.

"Sink or swim, huh? Let's roll." He added, before producing some keys out of his pocket, as well as his wallet. "Hold on to these while I'm out. House and motorbike keys. Would be a shame if the pigs got em, in worst case." He mused. He didn't expect to die, of course, but it never hurt to be careful. He then cracked his neck thoughtfully.

"Lead on, ki- Aria." Miro corrected himself half sentence. Even if it was true, Miro didn't want to lose time because some girl would be fussy after being called a kid. "Show me the tools."

Worst day to get a bruise. He mentally added.

Joslyn looked between Adrian and the new comer for a few seconds before she let out an annoyed huff and stalked up to the Joy, her enhanced vision already having picked up on the sudalties that indicated that the one before them was, in fact, female. "Don't you know it is rude to point a weapon at an underage female?" Joslyn demanded of Adrian as she shoved the barrel of his firearm towards the floor of her home, "Even though this building will be your's, I rather not have to deal with blood stains so can you refrain from shooting someone?" Without much thought, or care really, to what the female before them may say; Joslyn reached out and grabbed the girl's dog tags as she finished speaking. Yanking them forward slightly, though she really did not need to, her eyes scanned the pressed metal and she couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corner of her lips.

"Knox, Joy S; GMG 014; O Pos; Poperty of US Government," she read outloud for Adrian's benefit before releasing the Tags, "Good to see you again Fourteen... it's me, Twenty... Well, Joslyn Vulkas. Haven't seen you since about a week after the groups split. Hey Adrian, she's cool... she's one of me." Joslyn actually smiled at the newcomer and looked back at the male who had offered her a job and a place to stay not so long ago to see what his reaction would be.

Adrian was so surprised at how quickly Joslyn realized the intruder was a woman, while intoxicated, that he hardly reacted to her pushing the muzzle aside and snatching the dog-tags for a quick peek.

True enough, she managed to almost completely defuse the situation on her own; leaving Adrian only to consider the challenge of now having two of them to deal with, and the second one didnt seem to like him all that much.

"If she's staying here, you're going to end-up paying for her rent." Adrian finally decided, as he found his words again and set the rifle away just so he could fold his arms at at least try and look as though he wasn't too concerned.

Then as he looked up, "Of course, the cost of renovating a room is going to be nearly the same regardless of how many occupants are inside it." he corrected, smiling just a bit.

"Should also make keeping tabs on me a bit easier, four eyes can out-blink two any day and still win a staring-contest."

Joslyn blinked and simply stared at Adrian for a moment before letting out a huff, "Does that mean I am going to have to work double shift to pay for the two of us if she would like to stay?" she questioned as she slowly started to manuver Adrian and Joy away from her apartment, figuring it was time to leave, "Hey Adrian, show me the bar I am meant to work at, I would like to familiarize myself with the territory so I'm ready to work."

Sweat had been dripping since she'd been held at gun point. When the other girl came out to see who she was, she felt a bit relieved but still scared. She at least seemed to have Joy's well-being somewhere in mind. At that, she let her hands down and sighed, smiling after a long while. Finally, some good news for today. She listened in to the girl and the guy before Joslyn turned her around. Bar? Rent? Job? Wasn't life hard enough? Well...I suppose if any time's the most important to make a living, it's now. She sighed again.

"All I wanna do is take a shower...and a nap..." Joy moaned.

The caffeine pills would hold her but she'd feel the effects of being up almost all day soon. Not that she couldn't hack being awake for 24 hours, but it didn't do her any good in this state. She looked to "Twenty" and flashed another smile.

"Hadn't seen anyone since that week after the breakout. Got separated and had been on my own ever since. What've you been up to lately besides all this...and why's he here?"

Aria grunted in dissatisfaction as the door to the armory slammed behind her. A few girls looked up towards Miro, half-clothed as they switched from their patrol gear. "Growing up on your own, a lot of these girls didn't learn common decency, but I'm sure you did. You stare, you die." The girls, paying no mind to Aria, stared at Miro as he came through. The question of what he was doing there was the obvious gaze, and many shifted away from him as Aria escorted him into the weapons room of the armory.

"Being a POLTAVA forward base, we have even less armaments than our normal sister bases. But pick out whatever you're used to fighting with, if anything comes to mind. Hopefully we'll be able to grab some armaments from this raid while we're extracting. We haven't had weapons run in over 3 months since they stepped up the checkpoints on the back streets."

The room was small and cramped, filled with lockers torn from an old school. A few old-war flak vests lined one wall, with different sets of fatigues, and a couple of military issued helmets. Alone in a corner was a large waste basket filled with miscellaneous hand to hand weapons, including a baseball bat, several ice picks, and some piano wire among other things. Finally, along the longest wall of the room was the guns. Several civilian long guns including a Mini-14 and Mossberg 500, along with a several Sig P238's in great condition, acquired from slain military members.

"Grab what you want then meet me outside, we're heading out soon."

2 minutes from convoy

The white panel van most certainly deserving of a free candy sign raced through the alleyways. The occupants crashed around in the back of the van, bumping into each other harshly. Lyn pointed towards the wall of the van, "There's a reason it says 'Safeties on', being on the run doesn't leave you with much equity to upgrade your suspension, accidents happen you know?" There was a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice, reflecting the shit-eating grin she had on under the mask. "We already have our advanced recon team stationed on the intersection of Rodgers and Philips. They're going to take out the lead escort vehicle, then use the other AT4's to take out the pavement on the cross-sections. They'll be so focused on the frontal assault, they won't notice us pull up from behind for the ambush."

"The real question is, are you ready for this?"

"30 seconds!" Aria hollered over the creaking of the panel van. Muffled explosions could be heard from outside the van, only from a few blocks away.

"Well, time to find out."

At mention of taking a shower, Adrian sniffed the air, and noticed a very pungent odor had come with their newest 'guest'.

"I'd offer you one, but this place doesn't have any warm water, so unless you really don't mind a free-" Adrian started to explain the problem of a shower, suggesting a very adamnt "Hell no" to her sleeping here smelling like that planned for afterwards, but which never came before Joslyn interrupted him.

"Shower first, I am not about to let you stink up my living space," Joslyn interjected, "There is a gym that I go to to use the showers, thankfully they do not question it. I will take you there, have you bathe, and then you are welcome to sleep here while I go to work or whatever." Once she finished speaking, she threw a look over to Adrian, wondering if he would have any objections to what she had just said, not that it really mattered in her mind since she had already decided on a course of action.

"Well, in that case. I have a car. If our friend doesn't mind sitting in the back-seat, we can get there a bit faster and with less hassle." Adrian offered, knowing he was going to probably stuff a metric-ton of car-fresheners in the back after this. Still would beat walking, especially since he was pretty sure a patrol would be sweeping through.

"I'm all for it... Can I drive?" While she did not have a liscense due to who and what she was, she had trained herself to drive using vehicles she had stolen over the past year, so she really wasn't all that bad. "Oh... If I am going to work for you, aren't I going to need a photo ID of some sort that states I am at least 21? I know a guy who can make one for me if you want." As she spoke, she started to steer Joy out of her apartment and towards the outdoors.

You can navigate. Adrian responded as he led the way to his car, not trusting an Joslyn to drive more due to the fact that she'd just drunk half his flask than to being too young.

The car was an old gray 4-door sedan with a slowly rusting undercarriage, it creaked and even seemed to sag slightly as the three of them piled-in, Joslyn and Adrian in front, leaving Joy to have the entire backseat to sprawl-out on.

Joy didn't really say much of anything. Yes, those pills and adrenaline were definitely wearing off now. The prospect of a chance at bathing herself made her a bit excited, to be honest. To finally rid herself of the smell of...well it certainly was more than metal and fuel that she reeked of. She flopped into the back seat and laid down along it. A nice place to rest for a bit, and to keep people from knowing she was there. She yawned loudly and turned onto her back, taking her rucksack off and her belt and putting them on the floor. Well, at least things were looking up now. She hadn't met friendlies since she got into the junkyard, and even then Big Joe was only a conscientious objector to what was going on who took pity on her in her situation.

Joy pulled the hood up over her dirty hair in an attempt to shade her eyes before putting her sleeve over her face instead.

Miro clenched his teeth, and summoning all of his willpower, managed to find his shoes more interesting than girls while in the lockers. A second time this day he had to pull the same move. But now, he could feel he was being observed. He imagined some of them had lewd stares at his buttocks aswell, being someone with defined fit figure and muscles, but he had to endure it. It was bound to be unfair, this was their turf.

The gruff, annoyance-tinged voice of Aria managed to jerk him from his thoughts, as he examined the pickings of the base. Pretty slim pickings, by the show of it. And he had only very rudimentary training with guns. He wisely only picked a single SiG handgun of of the basket, while gearing himself with a flak jacket. He pondered on the gravity of head injuries and wearing a helmet, but for the same reason of scarcity, he opted to leave it for the girls.He did put on a balaclava to conceal his face and identity, though. It was their fight first and foremost, he was just an addon. His revenge could never get into the way of that. The melee weapons, on the other hand... offered a much better perspective, but they were kind of rudimentary. He weighted an icepick in his hand. It would do it. Sturdy and pointy.

And then the travel in the van. Lyn made a comment about the suspension being poor and having no money to fix it, but Miro was focusing his attention elsewhere. He had clamped his sight to his feet once again. A van full of girls with poor transmission...So much jiggling ensued from the more endowed members. And he was a male afterall.

"30 Seconds!" The voice of Aria announced. Is she always so gruff and pissed? Miro wondered. Before discarding all thoughts.

"I am sorry. It will be scary." He said, almost in a hushed whisper, clenching his fist and teeth.

20 Seconds.

He cracked his knuckles and neck, and let out a sigh.

10 Seconds.

All sound died out. His mind became fire. His pulse accelerated. A single thought circled through his mind. KILL.His gaze dulled and focused. Power reserves coursed through his body. The bruise didn't matter now.

He was the lion. And this was his hunting pride.

0 Seconds.

The doors of the van slammed open, bringing the full battlefield into view. It was a three vehicle convoy, with the van of the middle being larger than the rest. The first vehicle was a mess, full of smoke and fire, and the escort personal were outside the first and third vehicles, like a swarm of angry bees, their guns roaring at the opponents in front. Their attention had not been caught yet. Miro's legs exploded in a burst of speed, running with all of his swiftness and might towards the first target.

He was fully armored, from head to toe. He knew that a single gun couldn't make it. The ice pick might not prove enough to pierce his defense quickly enough. So he resorted to the one way he could kill someone that armored while ignoring all the defense. His hands deftly shot towards the neck and top of the head, much like the MMA holds he had been so fond of. Except, that this time, there was no tapping out.

KILL THEM ALL. FOR OLGA.His thoughts urged him as he applied leveraged and pressure.

"WHAT THE-!??" The trooper managed to mutter before in a single swift strike, the neck turned in an awkward angle, and he slumped, losing all control from neck down. He began to gasp for air, unable to talk, drool spewing all over. Miro's grip didn't falter though, as he grabbed the neutralized and probably tetraplegic for life soldier as impromptu bullet shield, before charging on a second soldier, picking up the discarded soldier's weapon as he aimed for suppression fire before the second target could react.

"Die." Miro snarled, in an uncharacteristic somber voice.

Joslyn settled into the passenger side seat with a small pout on her face, a little upset that he would not let her drive, but did not say much about it. "The way there is fairly simple actually," she said as she buckled her seatbelt and glanced around the car, "Just go down four lights, take a left then a right when you hit the first stop-sign, go down about five more lights and the gym will be on your right. Good news is they have shampoos and stuff there that people leave behind so I'll be able to help Joy scrub the stink from her flesh." Once she finished giving him directions, she let out a yawn and simply flopped to the side, her head coming to rest against his shoulder. She still had every intent on giving him proper directions, but she was rather tired and just wanted to get the other female bathed and back to the apartment so she could sleep.

Adrian could only listen and nod as Jossie rapidly prattled-off her 'simple' directions to the gym, which involved at least three turns, and knowing whether to look for a stop-light or a stop-sign and how many to ignore on each leg.

His apprehension of getting lost and left to his own sense of direction only increased as their fearless-navigator yawned and decided to take a nap on his shoulder. Rather than wake her, he merely placed a hand soothingly on her leg, if he felt like he didn't know where he was going, all he'd have to do is give a gentle squeeze.

But as the directions became simpler with each step completed, he simply rubbed her thigh as they drove right past a parked armored-car by the junkyard so-as not to alarm her, noting that she seemed much clamer and less twitchy now than when they'd first met.

Joslyn mumbled something when she felt him rub her though, a look of confusion on her face as she tilted her head back to look at him, though when she saw the armored car, she dropped down the best she could, her head now landing in his lap. While she was not at all certain that they had seen her, or would find a man driving around with a girl in his car suspicious, she waited a few moments before sitting back up. With a frown, she craned her head to look back at where the vehicle was, then looked forward and remained alert the rest of the time.

Once they made it to the gym, Joslyn climbed out of Adrian's car and pulled Joy from the back seat. "Come on," she urged, her voice hushed, "Lets get you cleaned up and back to the apartment so you can rest up. I'll help you so it goes by a bit faster, you look dead on your feet.

Joy groaned, mumbled, and generally didn't want to get up. She was tired, but there would be time to rest later. One whiff of herself told her that yeah, okay, maybe it was finally time to get going. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and stepped into the gym with Joslyn. Joy made the walk at a leisurely pace, trying to still stay alert enough to get things going in her mind until they came to the showers. Just take her stuff off? Okay. She put her clothes on one of the benches and felt pretty alright until she turned around and caught Joslyn in her sight. Was she there the whole time?! Joy swiftly covered herself as her cheeks flushed. She didn't know why, but she was incredibly embarrassed.

On the other hand, Joslyn herself seemed to not mind standing in her birthday suit. Joy looked at her, and then at herself. She did this a few times, noticing a very distinct difference in their sizes. What'd she do to get them so big? Joy sighed and looked down at her own in contempt before Joslyn ushered her into the shower stall out of the locker room. She still covered herself, for reasons she didn't know, and felt chills run up and down her spine at the cold water and Joslyn's assisstance in washing her back. With her body shaking and her lip quivering and about turning blue, she tried to focus on other things as the girl whimpered from the icy water, making goosebumps on her skin. This wasn't like back at the facility, and she was started to miss that little difference a bit.

As Adrian was given teh all-clear, he stepped into the changing-room, and began sorting-through Joy's clothes, from things in most need of cleaning to things that just needed a good soak in clean soapy water. He chose to start with the later in one sink plugged with a badly-browned and blackened pair of ehr socks, which resaulted in a pungeantly-smelling gray brine which was mostly used to moisten and slough-off some of the super-caked crud from her jacket and pants as the previously soaked clothes were rinsed in the next sink over.

He was making fairly good progress at cleaning off Joy's clothes, having them go through the wash at least twice by the time he heard a noise. He didn't think much of it until he heard it again... It was a door... And boots... Army boots...

Thinking quickly, he stuffed mostly all of both Joy and Joslyn's clothes into the sinks, stripped down, and hopped quickly into the shower between Joy and Jossie, just to get himself thuroughly wet, then popped out as he grabbed a towel to scamper-out and meet the bootfalls as they could now clearly be heard coming towards the noise of running water.

"Oh! I didn't see you there!" He gasped, in dull-surprise to the military-patrol as they gazed upon his unabashed manhood until he finally managed to wrap a towel around his waist with one hand as the other reached into the shower-stall blindly to turn off the water.

Joslyn was forced to surpress a startled noise when Adrian dropped his clothing and hopped into the shower, forcing himself between the girls for a moment. On top of that, she was pretty sure she saw a certain part of the male anatomy she was not really supposed to see, which caused her face to heat up and her ears to turn red. However, she never got the chance to whisper anything to the male as he got out of the shower to speak to whoever had entered the locker room and even had to dodge his hand as he reached in.

"What are you doing in here? one of the men demanded, a flashlight, as well as a rifle, trained on Adrian, "And whose clothing is that you are washing in the sink?"

"I was taking a shower." Adrian shrugged at the rapid volley of questions, "decided to do some laundry while I was at it, but didn't feel like messing up the men's locker-room. I'm sure you can check with the gym owner if you think they'd have a problem with it, but I assure you he doesn't mind." He finished answering as he pulled Joy's sopping-wet army-jacket out of the sink and wrung it out for the third time, letting the gray water drip back into the sink before taking a brush to a muddy and worn-out pair of army-boots.

When he saw that the explanation wasn't making them leave, in fact, one of them was starting to work along the side of the wall behind him, likely only curious if the rumors about the women's locker rooms having a couch hidden in them were true or not...

"If any of you plan on sticking around, you could help me hang these clothes out to dry..."

The errant soldier swiftly turned around, having reconsidered malingering in this part of teh gym any longer if it meant having to go through this stranger's clothes, however, turning down the offer to stay while still staying quickly tried Adrian's pretend-patience with these people, as he shoo'd them back out the door before they could even think to peek behind the shower-curtain.

However, as they were leaving, he make a motion to check himself for body odor and scoffed, "ugh... needs more soap..."

Joy paled. Sure, Joslyn with her was one thing, but Adrian?! And she about gagged and was visibly flustered about that...that...thing he had. Of course, the emotional height didn't stop at that when she heard voices of what she deduced were soldiers in the other room. She covered her mouth, feeling completely naked without her guns or knife around. She looked to Joslyn, visibly worried as to be expected. She stood there, holding her breath, shaking like a leaf as cold water dripped down from her hair. Given the days events, she was about ready to cry. She was more than ready for a rest now.

With the military men gone and them done with their shower, and thankfully with Joy smelling a lot better, Joslyn stared at the clothing in the sink and frowned. It was clear she was not pleased about the lack of dry clothing, even more so since she was stark naked without a means to cover herself when they had to leave the locker room. "My clothing was washed yesterday.... now we have to wear wet shit," she grumbled as she started to wring out the clothing the best she could, throwing Joy her things as she dried them out a bit. While they were far from dry, they were no longer dripping, which was much better in her eyes than walking around soaking wet.

When they were all dressed, and Joslyn was no longer staring at Adrian more than she probably should have, they went back to the car to return Joy to the apartment so the female could rest.Once they got back to the apartment, Joslyn told Joy to go ahead and get some sleep in the bed that was there before she turned to Adrian. "Do all... um... whatever that thing attached to your hip is, look like that?" she questioned, "Are they all that soft?" As she had spent most of her life being tested, she never had any real interaction with men, let alone naked men. She was completely naive to the entirety of how they acted, or what it would mean to be involved with one in any compacity. When she had seen Adrian's, she had been both intregued and a little nervous, her entire body jumping slightly when it had brushed against her hip. Part of her wanted to see it again, maybe even touch it because of her curiousity, but she wasn't sure if that was something she could ask.

It took a second for Adrian to realize what Joslyn was even enquiring about, but then he had a warm smile as he tried his best to explain things without getting too specific or possibly get himself caught lying due to his own ignorance of the capabilites of the human reproductive system "Not all of them. Some are black, some are bigger, some are smaller, I've heard some of them even glow in the dark." he answered, only to be a bit surprised by her next question... She, touched it? When? The shower? he thought to himself as he started to blush, "No, not always.... well, not-soft isn't how I'd describe it... more just, rigid." He tried to explain, knowing he was probably just making her more curious, which would lead to further questions, an more awkwardness as they approached the car...

"So what would you like to eat? The kitchen here isn't the best, but it has plenty of warm food and a better selection than your fridge." He asked, trying so very desprately to change the topic before they entered the bar.

"Is it bad to ask if I can see it again? I've never seen anything like it," she questioned before she thought about what he had just asked, "I am not sure what I would like to eat as I haven't eaten much other than what you have seen in the fridge when you came into my home... and do they really glow in the dark? Your's didn't... are they all that size?" She looked at him, curious as to why he was blushing as she did not think that what she was asking was something that was worth being embarrassed about. Then again, she wasn't sure what to expect when it came to sex or even the male reproductive organ, she had no reason too as she never really found anyone of interest (male or female) to ask about such things. Now that she had seen whatever that was, she was entirely too interested to stop asking about it unless he found a way to make her stop.

"Well, not right now. Maybe later, after your shift?" Adrian rebuked with his own counter-offer as he quickly tried to think of some sort of dish to serve her, the gridle was still disgusting from last night, the deep-fryer was still serviceable. Since he'd just woken her up not too long ago, something breakfast-y would be considered, and since she looked hungry, high-calorie as well... and fried... because that gridle ain't be getting cleaned tonight.

"I said some of them do. Not all. Mine is special." He stated, protesting her further questions as they drove for the bar, as Joslyn sat beside him as usual and dressed in dryer clothes.

"I am going to hold you to that," she said simply, now staring out the window as she wondered why he hadn't answered her other question. As far as she knew, anything and everything he told her was true, but that was the downside of being naive to such things. Just as the silence was starting to get to her, Adrian pulled into a parking space just outside of a building she assumed to be his bar, "Oh... you aren't that far from my home, at least I will be able to walk to work."

Adrian had mixed feelings about being threatened with his own promise.... wait? did he make a promise? Yes... yes he did. And Josslyn didn't seem nearly as embarrassed about her questions as he thought a typical seventeen year old girl would be.

Thankfully, she finally commented on something that was not his penis as they parked, and walked the final way to the back-door of an unassumingly quiet nightclub. Inside was the foyer for workers to head off and wash their hands, further in was the kitchen, followed by the main-floor. Another side-way from the foyer led to changing-rooms and the main-stage originally for whoever was performing on a particular night; as the bar had switched to karaoke, the changing-rooms were open for use by Adrian for days he just didn't feel like risking a trip on the streets to his apartment.

As they passed through the already-lit kitchen they were greeted by the short-order cook who immediately recognized their boss, with a guest and stood attentive as he gave a special order for him: "Four eggs, deep fried; a side of cheese-curds and two pints for me and the miss. She'll be working here and I don't want her serving food on an empty stomach."

The chef bowed and went straight to work as he led Joslyn by the hand away through to the main-floor and to a secluded crescent-shaped booth while taking both pints from the bar, allowing her to sit first before entering from the opposite side.

"The food will be here shortly."

Joslyn couldn't help but blush when Adrian had taken her hand, though she couldn't exactly reason why that was. "Food sounds good," she said after a moment or two of trying to figure out if she should actually drink the beer he had gotten for her, "So, is it normal for you to just show up with a chick? The guy didn't really seem all that surprised that you had me in tow." Reaching forward, she grabbed one of the pints and sniffed at it before downing about a quarter of what was in the cup. She was still rather thirsty, and not at all pleased with her still damp clothing, but she wasn't sure if that would be something she could say to him.

Looking down at her person, she frowned when she noticed that her shirt and pants were hugging her body, not baggy like she usually liked them. "So... um... do you have anything I could borrow for tonight if I am to be working? I can't walk around in wet clothing that is practically suction-cupped to my skin," she pointed out.

Adrian nodded after considering what he could do on short notice, "I suppose I could offer you some of my spare clothes." He mused, as he took a drink from his own pint, waiting for the food to be carried out to them promptly as one of the patrons tried to drunkenly belt-out some reworded lines from MDC before being boo'ed offstage.

"I mean, I have some clothes stored here. Not that I'm offering you the clothes I'm wearing now." He started to explain, noting that his own clothes weren't exactly bone-dry either. "There's a back-room where we came-in, second door on the left is mine. You can excuse yourself and go find something that fits while I wait for our food."

Joy's wet clothes laid in a pile on the floor of Joslyn's bedroom. The girl in question was so tired after the caffeine pills were finally wearing off, but she knew that water can grow mold or something like that. Wait, could it? Joy shook her head to clear her mind and decided that she could just throw them onto the side of the bathtub. So she did, and looked at her panties as she shivered, having not enough time to dry herself off. Well, it wasn't like Adrian used soap on it. She sniffed them and then quickly pulled them away from her nose.

"Oh fuck, gross..." She groaned, throwing them onto the tub with her jacket and pants.

She looked behind her and sighed. Wherever those other two went, she was sure that they weren't going to snitch on her. Well, it wasn't like she was going to be able to get an opportunity like this again. She kicked her sleeping bag into the corner and took out her 1911. Joy slipped it under the pillow before sliding in between the bed sheets and sighing. A bed. Finally, an actual bed to sleep in. Despite it being cold, she was soon enough out like a light, snoozing the daylight away.