[hr][i][h1] [color=#FFDAB9]Anna Aikau[/color][/h1][/i][hr]
[u][i]Immediately following the riot....[/i][/u]

The smokescreen of shimmering red gas and the clamor of voices all shouting to be heard was the perfect cover. The obscuring smoke and sea of people left no good vantage point for the Allegiance members to be seen. When several within the crowd began to unleash their powers with impunity,  desperate to struggle against the effects of the power-suppressing gas, Cézanne and few of his crew used this opportunity to escape. 

Having been near the edge of the crowd, the gas had yet to reach them. They each made a break for it. A spray of foam erupted from a thrown canister dropping one of them. The other discorporated into a cloud of ruddy green smoke and dispersed. Cézanne vanished in an arc of lightning.

By this point, Anna had circled around the rioting crowd, and taken up a position behind a few other RAVENs standing by with suppressor collars and dart guns. The first gas grenade to be thrown seemed misplaced. At first Anna thought, it was intentional, but seeing the look of confusion on her fellow agents´s faces, she grasped quickly someone in the enforcement squad had broken rank. However, when she traced the path of the grenade toss to its origin from the street, there was no one but parked cars--no agents. She quickly turned back to see the chaos unfold, and was awestruck as the following fusillade of foam and gas grenades reaching a frightening crescendo alongside the rising sound of screams, groans, and monstrous roars. 

Presently, a streak of light far afield stole Anna's attention. Her eyes jerked to follow the trail, and as the soft rumble of thunder shook through her body, she caught glimpse of a man materialize several blocks away before disappearing into the shadowed alleyway. 

[i]Sonnuva bitch...[/i] Anna could see his face from here, but she knew that Cézanne had gotten away. Her eyes narrowed on the empty sidewalk where he disappeared. It felt like if she could burn a hole in that spot with her stare, it would make things better. It didn't. She fumed silently as a bitter taste rolled across her tongue along with the sterile scent of suppressant foam.

She was determined to catch this guy, even if it meant getting another verbal thrashing, or worse, from the NYC Director. This Cézanne bastard was dangerous not because he was a metahuman, but because he manipulated people, because intentionally incited a full-blown riot to serve his own ends. [i]That[/i] she could not forgive.

[hr][u]The next day...[/u]

The stark contrast between the high-octane experience of yesterday and the mind-numbing doldrums of today left Anna half-dazed. All morning her imagination conjure new and exciting ways to avoid thinking about requisition forms and invetory reports. The events of yesterday still lingered in her mind: the way she felt when she heard the Allegiance speech, and how she hated herself for agreeing with them, even for a second; the impossibly intense aria sung by a girl no older than sixteen; the sound of gas exploding overhead and the screams that follow; but, most of all she remember the bright streak of light that melted into the darkness. 

He, that... Allegiance [i]bastard[/i], had just walked away and vanished into the streets like nothing happened. She cursed him repeatedly under her breath.

During her normal daily inventory check, she had to rescan the tags in the evidence locker three times because, midway through the work, her thoughts would wander and she would forget where she left off. She still had requisition orders to prepare for the ongoing cases and if she wanted to leave on-time, she needed to get it together. 

But then... an idea sprung into Anna's head. [i]If I finish quickly, I can use the spare time to dig up more info on the Allegiance. I'm sure there's at least a record of their members' previous activities.[/i]

Old habits die hard.

With renewed vigor, she finished her work in record time and spent the remaining few hours of her work day, the few precious hours of time when her access to the RAVEN intelligence database wasn't restricted, researching the Allegiance and all known sightings and aliases of Cézanne.