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Cecily could no longer say she was a stranger to pain. Her tattoo had been almost unbearable when she got it. Bonnie's hand had nearly been broken in Cecily's grip. When she was seventeen and broke her arm after tripping over a laptop charger, she felt like she was going to die, that that was going to be it. And when they shot her, the bullet eating into her flesh, it had been a new level of agony she previously had no word for.

The only word that sufficed was the senseless screaming that poured out of her, as Natasha fished around for the bullet. Caesar only held her down stronger in response, and while she rationally knew it was for the best, she almost wished she was dead. By the time Natasha finally removed the bullet from her, Cecily was drenched in sweat, her throat hoarse from screaming. At Natasha's question about resignation, Cecily nodded a bit, struggling slightly to talk.

"I love my job--but not enough to die for it," Cecily explained, smiling weakly. Maybe she would take a job with Caesar, if that was a possibility. But the idea of retreating to the safeness of academia was equally appealing. There'd be not bullets flying towards her in a university lab, at least. But now wasn't the time to think about that. "Not until we close this case, however."

It was time to bring in Alicia and Lorna's killer. Whatever Natasha had found out, Cecily was nearly dying to know--literally.

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As Cynthia shrugged off the straight jacket and tossed it into the trash, Iris knew that it would be correct to be afraid. Cynthia wasn't a halfway house patient, and here she was, easily brushing aside measly security measures. But she could hardly bring herself to believe in the use of straight jackets in the first place, and from what she could tell, Cynthia was mostly harmless. Her infatuations hadn't caused too much harm, from what Iris had gleaned in the files.

"She sounds quite lovely," Iris smiled encouragingly. Cynthia told her very little, but at least the woman was talking to her. If she could learn more about Cynthia's relationship with this Jenny Green, then she could perhaps help the woman to regain some more of her long lost sanity. Even now, as Cynthia tapped her fingers against the desk to mimic playing the piano, Iris held out some hope for her. "Ah, excuse-moi, Cynthia..." Iris apologized, as the phone rang.

She picked it up, listening to the tired mumblings of the clerk. Her eyes flickered to Cynthia. It would be poor practice to send her away again, only to request for her to come back. And she certainly couldn't meet with this Relic until she had gotten Cynthia sorted. "Would you ask him to wait, please? I'm with a patient," Iris replied into the phone. Once she finished talking with the clerk, she'd hang up, and return her full attention to Cynthia.

"Terribly sorry about that, Valentine," she apologized again. "What sort of things did you and--is her name Jenny?--like to do together?"

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Justice Asylum: - The woman at the desk looked over towards Relic and sighed. "She is with a patient right now, you will have to wait." Turning she looked over towards Mali. "Actually rather often. This is a mixed building. part of it is a halfway house so some come in after a day on the streets rather shook up and the evenings are long. part is high end and we have the worst of the worst. We had one patient years ago that stabbed their doctor in the throat with a syringe full of window cleaner. He foamed so badly at the mouth before he died it was said he looked like an over done latte," she said. Relic was not happy by the news. "We can't wait, tell her Relic needs to speak to her now or not at all," he said with a force that was rather unlike him. The woman looked at him coldly before calling the doctor back and reciting word for word what he said with a follow up of.. "I am not paid enough to deal with this." Cynthia shook her head slightly as she looked at the doctor. "Nothing, she just asked me about growing up in Grimm. Only saw her that one time," she said quietly before looking down, she was obviously lying but she wasn't saying more than that it seemed.

Classic Building 3C: - "Oh no guns for you Castle. There is a metal detector, you wouldn't get passed the front door but..." he said rummaging through his bag for a moment before pulling out a knife in a Kevlar sheath that was nearly white. "It's ceramic. Sharp and sturdy as hell but won't show up when you walk in. It's the best I can do. here you go Riley," he said turning and handing her over a taser gun. "Yeah I have a vest in my car but if people are watching I don't want to draw any more attention. Here, take mine," he said as he slipped off his vest and unbuttoned his shirt. Slipping off the thin vest he wore beneath it he handed it over to her before buttoning his shirt up again. "Okay, go get your interview. We will follow you in five minutes," he said as he went back to get redressed.

Justice Morgue: - "We all end up dying for our jobs. Even if we retire fine our lives are cut short by the path we have taken," Natasha said in a rather grim voice as she rubbed her thigh and then stepped over to her purse and pulled out her med, gathering five or six different colored pills and taking them dry. Swallowing them down hard she coughed a little before sitting back down. "With the bodies we know they were not drowned, at least not in the ocean. Did you two manage to get any samples? I could run tests on the them and see if it matches the fluid in their lungs. Both women put up a fight. I have DNA that is in the system from one but while you were gone I found DNA from a second person but it isn't in the system anywhere. Another female, I will have to do some further testing to see if I can get any more. Might take a couple of hours. There last meal was pretty heavy in bar food. Wings, burger, fries, beer. Lot of MSG in the food and very low quality. Also found this," she said reaching over to one of the steel tables an handing it over to Caesar. It was a match book for club After dark. "That was in her digestive tract," she said pointing over to Laurna's body.

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Riley looked towards Felix for a moment as Marc dug into his bag and pulled out a knife and handed it over towards Felix, she wasn't sure if he knew what he was actually getting himself into. Then Marc handed her a taser gun which she accepted, she was glad it wasn't an actual gun she didn't want to touch another one for awhile. "Thank you." Riley said softly as she slipped the taser behind the waist band of her pants and tucking it under the back end of her shirt. Then Marc started to take off his shirt and handed her his Kevlar vest which she wasn't expecting for him to hand over to her, Riley wasn't sure if there was going to be another drive by would happen like what happened to Ronnie and Chloe.

"I'll be right back." Riley said as she started to walk towards her room, she didn't want them to see her getting changed and putting the Kevlar vest on. She started to take off her shirt looking at herself in the mirror and then the cast for a moment, wondering if her accident and caller were connected somehow. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply before putting the vest on and then her shirt and then her jacket. Riley came out once more looking at Felix once more as he mentioned calling for an uber to pick him up and mentioning some man, she wasn't sure what he was talking about. Once he was gone Riley plopped herself back down onto the couch and took out her phone once more.

Riley eyed an older picture of them together when they were younger when they were a lot closer, she ran a hand through her hair before looking up at Marc for a moment before turning back to the picture on her phone. She knew she would get a call soon to ID her sometime later on in the day. "What do I do if they call again?" Riley asked turning her head up at Marc, they had about five minutes before going out to hail a cab or call another uber to pick them up.

Well that was. Mali didn't really know what to think of that. On one hand, she had preemptively guarded herself for an answer kind of like that, but the specific story wasn't something she could casually handle. Not to mention how bizarre it was to fill a syringe with window cleaner in the first place. All that taken into account, she noted consciously and subconsciously to watch her neck while here if she ever happened to have the misfortune of making a return check.

"Sounds like this is a pretty risky place to work. Are the benefits at least decent?" Because obviously the pay was not making up for what she needed to put up with the drawbacks the job and its environment brought. Really the only reasons Mali could think of to even take a job here was either that you couldn't find employment elsewhere or you happened to live in the area and had a particularly naive sense of altruism. The kind of selflessness Hannah had. Seriously, how did a mental patient get their hands on a syringe and window cleaner while at a mental ward?

He hefted the ceramic knife in his hand and chuckled at the "No gun" rule he was quickly given by the agent. He felt like he wasn't trusted with a firearm, but ah well, at least he was being given a weapon to defend himself with. That's smart, metal detectors won't go off....I'll keep it under wraps." He slipped it into his pocket and patted his pockets as he walked out. See you both later!"

With that he found his uber had arrived and he hopped in, settling into the back seat and giving the driver the address of the asylum, scratching at his head as he was on his way.This was gonna be intense and he could tell. As exciting as it was, it was quite nervewracking. But he knew he'd be fine.

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Iris nodded a bit, making mental notes of Cynthia's appearance. She wasn't telling Iris everything, that much was apparent. After working at Justice Asylum long enough, Iris picked up a few tricks. It was a dangerous job, of course, but Iris enjoyed it. She liked doing her very best to help those abandoned by society. It was far better than an idle life.

"That must have been hard to talk about," Iris said sympathetically. "....Valentine. Anything you say stays between us, I promise. I won't even write it down in the file." And to show her honesty, Iris put all of her pens and such away in a drawer. Yet just as Iris was about to ask Cynthia if the mysterious visitor called herself Valentine, the phone rang again. She huffed slightly, and smiled an apology at Cynthia, as she picked it up.

"I'm sorry you're having to deal with this," Iris replied to the clerk. She was a psychiatrist--she knew the ploys people used to manipulate others. Imposing a time limit was a classic one, with this entire "now or never" business. And frankly, it left a sour taste in her mouth. She was here to help Cynthia, however she could. If Cynthia decided of her own accord to leave, so be it. But she wasn't going to throw a patient out of her office for a mysterious man from the internet.

"Please inform Mr. Relic that his demands are understood, but I cannot and will not abandon my patient," Iris replied. Her responsibility was to Cynthia--and not to him.

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Caesar snapped on one of the doctor's exam gloves from a nearby box before returning to Natasha. He gingerly took the matchbook from her, careful not to cause damage to the thing. The choice to use gloves was a no-brainer; it was generally policy in places like this. But a more pragmatic if somewhat paranoid reason was called for in this instance: He did not know this Dr. Brinne, and there was most definitely a conspiracy in play. The last thing he needed was his fingerprints on something that might later be labeled "State Exhibit A".

Bar food. Lots of it, from the sound of stomach contents. This Afterdark place was a hangout solid enough for them to eat comfortably, else they had been there numerous times. Or they took a fancy to hot and salty bar fare and had apps with their entrees. Whatever. Point was, they (or at least Lorna) was at this place shortly before she died. The presence of the matchbook in her gut meant that either someone else shoved it down her throat to bait an investigation, or she did it herself knowing that her time might be up to give him a lead. Hell of a breadcrumb. Risky too, considering the discomfort passing the damned thing would have caused had she survived somehow.

So, either this was a trap, or Lorna was a smart girl who jumped on an opportunity when it presented itself. Didn't matter, he had to follow up on it anyway. "I have to look into this." He checked the time. It was approaching evening; he could afford to rest for a little bit before heading out. And though he didn't want to admit it, he could stand to take a few minutes. The day wasn't exactly ideal, and he was getting up there in age. He could do the same things he always ever could, but these days, naps and time sitting down were becoming more common. "It's been fun today, Cecily. Has. Really. But I'm done putting other people in danger, at least for now."

Caesar punched in the name of the establishment into his sat phone, getting the address and a couple of questionable reviews for his trouble. He'd do a more in depth look later, but for now, it looked like the kind of craphole he spent some of his younger days in; a seedy bar in a disreputable part of town. He reserved the tab, and moved on to another application.

"Cecily?" Caesar said in an almost friendly voice. He quickly snapped a picture of her (not her best angle, obviously) and handed his device over to her. "Enter your Social, Email, and sign with the stylus. You will get something in your inbox within five minutes. The moment you confirm, you'll have provisional access. Confirm whenever you feel like it. Now, tomorrow, two months from now, whenever."

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Keystone sighed heavily. He had no idea how long this was going to take, and there were too many questions in play. For the moment, all he could do was make periodic checks with his team there in the R&D campus. Otherwise, all he had to do to pass the time was imagine scenarios in which he would have to disarm, mutilate, and or dispatch the other security team in his territory, should they prove to make an aggressive motion in the slightest. Sometimes his thoughts on the matter turned to the fanciful or outside of the box, but mostly it was an exercise in cause-and-effect, What If style scenarios.

Mostly, they involved unarmed, personal assaults, possible in these close quarters. But just sometimes, the imagined roar of a 50 caliber handgun at close range imploding the better part of a face away brought an internal chuckle. Other than that, he waited.

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Justice Asylum: - Cynthia nods and bounces in her seat some as Iris spoke to her and then took the call. Laughing Cynthia dove for the phone and picked up the receiver. "Relic, Relic, Smellick, Delick! Send Mr. Relic up for his evaluation. Dr. K and her nurse are ready for him!" she said before rolling off the desk, sending papers spilling everywhere. Landing up the floor, she popped up like a daisy and smiled brightly. A little too brightly before spinning around as the papers kicked up around her. Stopping she knelt down quickly and picked up a photo in it of her when she was younger. "Blah, look at that hair!" she said to herself before tearing the picture up into shreds. The woman at the desk wasn't sure what to do, just covering up the speaking end of the receiver and listening as she looked at Mali a bit perplexed. "Yeah, it isn't bad, better than what the doctors have to deal with that is for sure," she said matter-of-factly. Relic paced back and forth, checking his watch. He knew he couldn't stay long but this woman might have information he could use. Pulling out his phone he texted his sister and pushed back the meet time until Dinner later at her place, saying he would be bringing a plus one. "You like country food?" he asked Mali without looking at her as he stared at his phone screen awaiting a response.

Justice Morgue: - Natasha let the two do their thing as she sat there, hoping the meds kicked in because they would at least make her feel a little bit better. Cecily hadn't got a text back from Roy but it didn't matter the man ended up walking straight into the morgue looking rather beat up. Not new beating but one with a day or two of healing. Shaking his head he looked at her and then Caesar. "I am a cop, not a vehicle delivery specialist," he muttered under his breath before continuing on that he had gotten the bike and it was parked out back of the morgue for now. "Gonna tell me why I had to go over there? I was lucky to get in and out unseen, the place was crawling and looked like there..." he said before stopping himself an noticing Cecily's shoulder. "What the fuck happened?" he asked with actual concern in his voice. "And who's this?" he asked pointing over to Natasha.

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Riley looked down at her phone for several more seconds closing her eyes she sighed loudly to herself and shook her head, she would have time to mourn for Chloe later. Riley stood up looking over towards Marc sadly as she grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder putting her cellphone into her pocket. "I guess we should get going now to." Riley said as she started to leave the apartment, once Marc had walked out Riley closed the door to the apartment and made sure that it was locked up tight. Riley then put on her sunglasses and pulled the hat more over her head as she walked down the stairs. Riley walked over towards the curb making sure she wasn't anywhere near Marc's car she started to look around, she still wasn't sure if she was still being watched.

Sure she had her fair share of crazed fans stalking her from time to time, but they were taken care of by body guards whenever she was at a concert. Riley stood there for about five more minutes until finally a taxi cab was spotted down the road, she stepped forward and waved the taxi over. Which caught the driver's attention, looking at Marc for a moment and before opening the door and climbed into the taxi first. Once they both were in Riley sat on the other side still occasionally staring around very tensely. "Where would you like to go?" The driver asked, Riley adjusted her hair slightly before answering the driver. "Justice Asylum please." Riley told him as she pulled into her purse and started to pull out the money and handed it over towards the driver, the driver nodded and took Riley's money and the taxi started to drive.

Whatever was happening on the other side of that line evidently out of the ordinary, and given the information she had been told about this place and the patients that inhabited it Mali did not especially care to know what was baffling the desk attendant. Unbidden images sprang to mind of sterile white office walls marred with the green-yellow-brown of human feces while someone wearing a used diaper on their head sings the Societ Union's national anthem into the phone line among other similarly improbable but unpleasant scenarios. Somehow she didn't quite buy the assurance that working at the asylum, even as a receptionist wasn't a bad experience.

"What do you mean by country food?" Mali asked, turning her head to look over her shoulder at Relic. "Every country has food. Most types of cuisine are listed after their country of origin: Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Vietnamese, Thai, French, the list goes on. Are you talking about food commonly eaten in the rural US? Because that's also not a single sum game. What would be eaten back in New England wouldn't be the same as what's eaten in Wisconsin or Nevada. I'm not trying to nitpick, but seriously, I don't know what you're asking about."

It didn't take long for the uber to stop off at the Justice Asylum, allowing Felix to grin as he observed it from his window, quickly making sure his driver got paid before stepping out of the car and dusting himself off absent mindedly, a bad habit some would call it. He waved the uber goodbye as he cracked his neck, taking out his wallet and his notebook as he began walking towards the main entrance of the asylum.

This was an interesting occasion for him. He'd only ever been in an asylum once for a short visit, and he never wanted to go back and do that visit all over again. But this girl, she seemed interesting, a good subject for writing. He patted the ceramic knife in his pocket before grinning to himself, clapping his hands together and walking towards the entrance with a strong smirk on his face. This was going to be interesting that was for sure.

He arrived at the reception and smiled at the clerk and stood up straight, trying to be as formal and professional as possible "Hello there, Felix Hausten, I'm here, hoping I can have a small meeting with miss Cynthia? I believe she is an inhabitant of this facility?"

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Cecily paused for a moment, considering Natasha's words. Lab sciences tended to be relatively safe, or at least, that's what she had thought before. The worst that happened was an explosion rendered blindness if proper eye protection wasn't worn, inspiring posters such as: Sally was too cool to wear goggles. Now she doesn't need them. She grimaced slightly, mulling Natasha's words over. But at any rate, she still felt the coroner's office in Justice wasn't a good long term plan for drawing breath past the tender age of 23.

"Yes, I collected some samples," Cecily answered, pulling them carefully out of her bag. "C.O.D.I.S. didn't get a hit on the other perp?" she asked, frowning again slightly. Science didn't always end up making solving cases easy. The matchbook in Lorna's digestive track was an interesting and gruesome twist of fate as well. She couldn't imagine someone forcibly shoving a matchbook down someone's throat before death. Odds were, she figured, it was self inflicted.

"You pulling the 'I'm going alone, I'm macho' crap?" Cecily asked, raising an eyebrow at Caesar. She'd read enough books and watched enough television to know that old line. The hero doesn't want to endanger their friends and goes alone, and ultimately, they need their friends to save the day. But instead of arguing, Cecily nodded. She didn't exactly fancy leaving the lab and going out into the night again. Chemicals were her friends. Not bullets.

"I'll work the nightshift here, then," Cecily said, as she hesitated for a moment to recall her social, and then filled out the information for Caesar. Had she not been shot that day, she might have been a bit more suspicious as to why exactly Caesar needed all of those pieces of information, but she trusted him now. Went with the territory.

As Roy walked in, Cecily chuckled slightly. He was in a sour mood as always. However, as his anger turned to concern, Cecily shrugged--with just one shoulder, mind you. "Don't worry about it. Dr. Brinne here took care of things--she's been assigned to assist me with the autopsies until a new coroner can be found."

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There were moments when Iris had been tempted to curse under her breath. Had she been raised in France like her father, she supposed it would have been during her bac. But instead, this was one moment where Iris wanted nothing more than to curse, as Cynthia tore the phone from her hands, and began shrieking into the receiver. Had Cynthia been fully institutionalized, and not a halfway house patient, there would have been no question of her seeing Relic.

But per the paperwork, Cynthia was partially sane. Almost ready for release. Nearly cured. However it was to be phrased, Iris took the phone back with a heavy heart, watching the photograph of Cynthia be ripped to shreds. Iris was not convinced at all that Cynthia was ready for this, but in a way, her patient had requested for Relic to be allowed into the asylum.

"Let him in," Iris said weakly into the phone. She then set it down, and muttered under her breath, "Je pense que j'ai la tête de mouton." She forced a smile at Cynthia, and then explained to her that some visitors would be entering the asylum shortly.

"They're here to help," Iris said, more to convince herself than Cynthia.

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Caesar accepted the scornful remark from Cecily's friend in Law Enforcement gravely. He understood the position from where the man was speaking, and thusly responded with a little more grace than he ordinarily dispensed in similar situations.

"Si, si. Yo se, hura. You're no errand boy. This is why I appreciate your effort. Gracias." He extended a hand to the man, unsure as to whether they had met previously. "Caesar Gonzalez." he said as a means of simple introduction. Caesar would have wagered money that they hadn't met, yet the younger man seemed curious as to the identity of Dr. Brinne, and not himself. Perhaps it was a bit of a slip - if the grizzled Mexican were under investigation or watch of some kind by the authorities (that possibility wouldn't have surprised him in the least), then the man's overt curiosity about him wouldn't be as noticeable. Certain questions would have already been answered. At any rate, if someone gets your vehicle back from a general area in which someone tried to insert rapidly bullets into your physiology, you shake their hand.

Then Cecily's remark about Lone Macho Crap struck a chord. It did seem rather action movie stereotypical, if he was being honest with himself. Different time, he would have laughed about it. "You want to come have a drink with an old man, after taking a bullet? Be my guest. Maybe it's why they call them shots. I think you would stand out in this place. Maybe stand out more than me. Anyway, I'm just going to ask a few questions. Shake some more trees, see what falls out."

Caesar wasn't headed there immediately, anyway. He had to divest himself of some of the new hardware he had picked up, and wasn't 100% about his apartment. Not with the revelation that it apparently had previously unknown storm drain access, and people were using it enough to make a map. After a few minutes, maybe it was best to stop by his company's offices at Queensguard R&D; drop stuff off, check in on business personally.

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Justice Asylum: - Marc followed behind Riley and chuckled as she looked around. "Deep breaths, I got your six Riley," he assured her before climbing into the cab and sitting back as they headed towards the Asylum.

Over at the Asylum it seemed that the front area was starting to get crowded. "Country, as in soul food, deep south," Relic said finally looking up from his phone and grinning in a nervous manner. "Lots of fried stuff, collard greens, sweet tea, stuff that clogs the arteries," he added sheepishly. The way Mali was built he wondered to himself if the woman had ever eaten anything fried in her entire life.

The woman at the desk looked over towards Felix as he came up and cocked a brow. "Happen to have a last name?" she asked before looking over at Relic. "You two can go up," she said to them before buzzing Relic and Mali through the front and turning her attention back to Relic once the door was shut tight. Marc hearing the conversation over the wire kicked himself, had he told Felix the girls last name? Didn't matter now, he needed it. "McMillan," he said into Felix's ear piece.

Relic stepped through the door and headed up to Dr. Kingston's office, following the signs. Opening the door and peaking in to see Iris and Cynthia sitting there. Cynthia having pulled her chair behind the desk to sit next to Iris and grinning from ear to ear. Relic looked at her oddly for a moment before shaking his head. "Dr. Kingston I presume?" he asked looking at Iris and hoping to god she was the doctor and not the one grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Justice Morgue: - Natasha looked over at Roy and perked a brow. "Dr. Natasha Brinne, and you are?" she asked him personally. Roy groaned inwardly somewhat. "Det. Roy Gregory, homicide," he said before turning his attention back to Caesar and Cecily. "Would have been here sooner but I was at a scene when I got the text. You'll have more bodies coming in soon. There was a drive by at Club Afterdark earlier, looks like something out of a horror film right now," he said as he pulled up a stool a sat down. "Glad you are alright then and everything," he said to Cecily before looking over at Caesar and nodding. "Yeah, just mind telling me why I needed to grab your bike? Which, might I say is a damn nice."

Natasha sighed inwardly, more bodies? It seemed like this place was never quiet. "More? What on earth made Dr. Chang think this would be a quiet place for me to work while I recovered?" she muttered more to herself than anything as she stood up and and started getting more tables ready for the incoming dead.

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Riley turned to look at Marc and gave him a slight smile, she trusted him watching her back and gave him a slight nod. "I know, just feel like someone is watching me more closely now." She said as she ran a hand through her hair as she leaned back in the seat and took a deep breath to calm herself down. Riley listened in on Felix on the other end of the ear piece hoping that everything will go alright while they were over at the asylum. "Just I haven't felt this paranoid or stressed out since ya know the whole reunion thing." Riley said she turned her head and looked out the window as the cab continued to drive down the road. She took out her phone and went to maps, trying to look for a place near the asylum to sit down in.

Normally Riley never got stressed out whenever she was on stage with her friends and bandmates, she looked towards Marc once more. "So what should we do once we are done with checking out to see Cynthia?" Riley asked as she took off her sunglasses and putting them in her pocket.

"Most of it's too carby for my diet aside from the odd cheat day, but it shouldn't be too much an issue at the moment. Although I suppose you were asking if I liked it. I like it in small amounts, but the amount that food like that is usually presented in knocks you out for a week." Mali turned her eye towards the odd guy who walked in and asked to see 'Cynthia.' His accent indicated that he clearly wasn't from the area, or even the same country. It was definitely European. German perhaps? The name certainly reinforced that hunch. Whatever the case, they were cleared to go see this Dr. Kingston.

A piece of Mali's mind was relieved when she saw the mess in the room. Yeah there were scraps of paper everywhere and one of the two women here was grinning like she was possessed by some trickster spirit, but compared to the horrors of her imagination, it was all very tame. Maybe it was the fact that she was living in South California, but she noticed a sharp increase in the number of attractive women she had been running into since moving to Justice, not that she was complaining. And oddly enough, a lot of them seemed to be more significant than one would initially think. Let's see if this trend continued to hold true.

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Cecily realized that she likely touched a bit of a nerve with Caesar, and her blood chilled for a moment from fear. The man had terrified her, but after the day she had spent with him, most of that fear had washed away. And then, for a brief moment, it came back. But a moment later, Cecily smiled a bit, the anxiety fading away rapidly. She wasn't quite in the mood for needing another round of therapy, after all. And with how much they paid her, she couldn't quite afford it as well.

"Bloody hell," Cecily murmured, hearing Roy's news. Club Afterdark? The very place where Lorna's matchbox had come from? At any rate, it'd be swarming with cops for at least the evening. Forensic teams would be called in eventually, but Natasha and Cecily would have their hands full at the morgue. However, it also meant there'd be no one available for Caesar to question.

As Roy asked again, Cecily's eyes darted towards Natasha. The woman was sick and she was working away at her job. She had removed a bullet from Cecily's shoulder, no questions asked. There seemed to be very little reason to hold out information, and she trusted Roy. "We were collecting evidence samples from Queensguard," Cecily explained. "If it wasn't for Caesar and Natasha, I'd be the next stiff on the table."

She figured Caesar could fill Roy in from there. Careful not to move her shoulder, Cecily then set herself to the task of helping Natasha prep the tables. They'd have a busy night ahead of them.

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As the door to her office creaked open, Iris realized that it wasn't in perhaps the most pristine condition possible. Cynthia had scattered papers in the room, including the mangled photograph, and then had moved her chair to be adjacent to Iris. However, Iris smiled softly at seeing the happiness on Cynthia's face. It might have been a deranged happiness, yes, but it was happiness nonetheless.

"You presume correctly," Iris replied with a smile, rising from her seat to shake Relic's hand. "And who is your colleague, Mr. Relic?" Iris then asked, the smile fading ever so slightly. The more unknown variables in an asylum, the less secure it tended to be. And with her patient joining her behind the desk, safety had already been sacrificed.

"My patient was quite keen on seeing you immediately," Iris explained, gesturing towards Cynthia. "Please address her as Valentine." She didn't feel it would be the very best to call Cynthia by her legal name. The patient-doctor relationship was all about trust, and it was not unusual for women to have different names to go by in the asylum. However, Valentine in itself was a peculiar choice for Cynthia.

"Now, I do believe you had some information you wished to discuss," Iris continued, looking at Relic expectantly.

He turned to see the girl and the guy who were just leaving the reception as he had enterred. He cocked a brow at them, thinking what a weird couple they were. Well probably not a couple, just two people who were interested in the asylum. He nodded to himself thinking what could be happening as the girl seemed very buff.

"Oh my apologies! Cynthia McMillan! my memories not the best at times, sometimes I need prompted" he let out a light chuckle, trying to keep up the out of the water european boy atmosphere to acquire the receptionists trust. "I do hope she's frer, took me a while to get here"

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Club Afterdark? The very place that Caesar was about to investigate getting shot up that hour. This did not bode well. He looked to Cecily the second that the club's name was mentioned and shook his head slightly. There existed in this universe an infinite amount of possibilities, all situations dynamic and fluid. The only certainty was uncertainty, wrapped in a huge, shadowy cloak of recurring maybes. Which is why, given all that was happening, the drive-by could not be a coincidence in the least.

Of course, the situation made it impossible for him to carefully saunter in there later on and start asking questions over shots of tequila like a Mexican Sam Spade. If something screwy were going down, they'd have already been questioned thoroughly by the police still on the scene (this guy Gregory included), and the cops would not be receptive to an old, foreign civilian poking his nose into the drama. Afterdark tonight was out, for all practical intentions.

Well, unless he was really intimidating. And could get someone who knew something alone for a few minutes of Sharp & Pointy Extreme Interviewing.

He decided to be honest with this detective, more or less. Sure as hell couldn't hurt. But first... "Yeah, you're the cop from that other night... Boston Heights. Thanks again for getting my ride. I was investigating another murder, evidence put us in that area. Private security forgot State and Federal laws on detaining and firing at civilians. I couldn't risk going back after my trike, not with Cecily wounded. And I couldn't risk them finding it and using it to track her or me."

Caesar looked gravely at the Detective. "Lot of people dying. Looks unrelated, but it's not. Any decent cop would have figured this out by now, so I know you know more than you're going to say. That's probably smart. And I have good money that says your drive-by is part of this, too. Was anyone targeted? Specifically?"

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Justice Asylum: - Relic actually smiled, he smiled, over at Mali. "Well then you and my sister are going to get along wonderfully. Never seen anyone pack it away like she does. Reminds me of that movie Coneheads. She seems to just suck it in. At least there won't be left over this time," he said as they made their way into the office. Looking at Cynthia he cocked a brow and then looked over towards the doctor. "Actually, I am here because you contacted me. Said you had questions and well... Um... She isn't Valentine...." he said before rummaging through his pack and pulling out his lap top.

Pulling it out fully he opened it and hit a few keys before turning the screen around to reveal an image pulled up the screen. On the screen was a woman with blonde hair, pulled back tight, and a baseball cap on. She wore black fatigue pants and a matching tank top. She was built, hard core. Wirey build, lean, but cut as much as Mali was even though she didn't have the bulk. "This is Valentine." - The image was of the same woman pictured with Cynthia back at the other asylum. As the image was shown, Cynthia's face lit up like it was Christmas morning and Santa had just given her a pony.

"She's coming for me," she exclaimed excitedly. This made Relic take a step back slightly, surprisingly leaving his computer on the doctors desk before glancing over at Mali. "IF Valentine is coming here, we want to get the hell out of dodge..." he said as his voice trembled.

"And why do you wish to see her?" the front desk woman asked.

Justice Morgue: - Roy rubbed the back of his neck as he collapsed in a seat. "Perfect, just bloody perfect," he muttered under his breath. "You know what, fuck it. They're gonna kill me anyways..." he said as he rolled his sleeves up. "I'm about to dump a world of shit in your laps, I suggest anyone that does not want a target on their backs leave now...." he said in a firm voice, looking at each of the people in the room and waiting to see if anyone left.

Natasha sat there looking confused as hell but she surprisingly didn't move an inch. She didn't say anything but the look on her weary face was clear, she wasn't leaving. After a moment of waiting Roy unbuttoned the top of his shirt and pulled it back to reveal a branding of the male symbol on his right shoulder, it looked the same as the one Cecily had found on Wallace and in similar nature as the female ones she had found on other bodies.

"I am, reluctantly mind you, a member of a group called Aqueduct. It is comprised of males who are of use and usually blackmailed into the position by another group known as Juno - you will know them by female brandings. Every god damn one of them has one. And every woman that has one is in some position of power within the group. They run.... Everything. Crime, drugs, weapons, the government, and more. Both within the city and the nation. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if they were not world wide. They base their names and what each of their job entails on the names of Roman goddesses... Most of them are on that damn Rollar Derby team, but I don't know who is running the damn operation. I've been trying to find out but it's been a failure. I suspect they are behind the murders. Dragon was killed at the drive by. She was a member and captain of another rollar derby team, they have been making moves as of late trying to gain power. She was probably taken out as a message," he said s he buttoned his shirt back up.

"These women are dangerous, you hear shit about groups like the Illuminati. These women make them look like boy scouts in all honesty. Every ones of them is deadly and ruthless. I reported to Wallace before his death and Proserpine... She is the craziest of them all that I have seen so far. Former CIA, specializes in torture and linguistics. The woman is a ghost. Blacklisted after an event in South America where she was labeled "Valentine" after the massacre in Chicago during the 20's. Granted anything I find on her never pops in the system - she was scrubbed out after she killed the warden of a prison... Glass cleaner shot into jugular if I remember correctly. She killed Peyton, Danica. I had to cover it up... That's been my job... Covering shit up for these bitches. If I can't... Then that fucking judge does for them..."