---

---

---

As Bart made it to the end of the block, he gave a quick glance back behind him and saw nobody was following. He slowed his pace, and got himself into a rhythm. "Safe... I think" He thought to himself, relief passing over him, as he crossed over to the next block, and kept up his current pace for awhile, letting himself get lost in the city, taking random turns as he went, just to make sure he was shaking anybody who might be tailing him. After a good three minutes of this, he slowed down to a walking pace. It was at this point he heard a soft meowing behind him, and he stopped dead, facepalming. "Sorry Lucky, sorry." He said, and slung the backpack in front of him to see a very annoyed kitty looking up at him.

"Oh come on..." He whined a bit, an apologetic look on his face, "If I didn't run, who knows what could've happened to us!" He tried to explain. That really did concern him, and part of him wanted to report them to the police, but he couldn't see that ending well. What was he gonna say? It was his word against theirs, and they technically didn't do anything illegal. It unsettled him how quick they were to jump to that kind of behavior, he was a lot more concerned for his safety now. He hadn't realized people would be quite that... unsavory, and he even started considering trying to get his hands on a gun, or anything for self defense. He shook his head at Lucky, "I was just trying to protect you."

Lucky sank back down into the bag, clearly still annoyed, and refused to make eye contact with Bart.

"Hey hey... I'll make it up to you, yeah?" He saidm a little exasperated.He carefully slung the bag back around his shoulder, and gave it a quick pat. He looked around, and he saw street vendors around, and his stomach grumbled. "That's it, let's get some Sushi, Lucky'll like that." He decided. And started a quick walk down the street, finding a sidewalk sushi shop, and approached it. He gave a bright smile to the cashier, and said, "Afternoon! Can I get a piece of Tuna Sashimi and a California Roll?" He asked. He figured a piece of tuna would help smooth over what just happened, or at least he hoped so.

---

---

Maybe Natasha was right about one thing in her barrage of accusations and insults: Caesar was not acting as a particularly honorable man. He indeed was trying to get what he wanted regardless of bridges burned in the process. Hell, a huge part of him hoped it was a fire that spread, consuming everything in his path that was not helpful to him and his pursuit of what he considered justice. Though taken objectively, revenge itself was the darker side of honor. Revenge is what honorable men sought when they had lost enough of themselves. To that end, he was very much behaving as a man of honor, albeit a broken one.

He still couldn't gather much from the Doctor's responses, though. His points were not covered in her retorts. Quite the opposite, they seemed to be avoided completely. Perhaps it was simple outrage. It's not like Caesar sugar-coated anything. But if it was more than that... well, it meant that she was a talented conversational gymnast. He did sincerely hoe it wasn't more than that. Caesar gave himself a ten count, and trudged back to his rooms inside of the Hacienda proper.

Back in the courtyard...

"Oh, I'm flashing between grief, sarcasm, and being a hostess. It sucks." said Thalia in a flat tone. "Alright, I'm going to grab some stuff to eat, then. Keep strength up, right? Okay..." She shrugged and started to walk back into the crowd. "Just lemme know if you need something."

---

---

Priya merely shrugged. This man, while his concern was probably justified, just didn't know her all that well. She wasn't some starry-eyed do-gooder hoping to rise through the ranks. She wanted this job because it made sure others didn't end up like her: with questions instead of answers.

She put what she had on the table for Roy to look at. "I think the biggest thing would be the video from the bar. I want to look at that right away, if we can find something to play it on. Other than that, I've been caught up on most of the things on the case, but if you had anything you felt was off or anything of note, I'd welcome to hear it."

She noted he took a glance at that girl again. Who was she? She had to be important if Roy was being watchful over her. Still, she had no business being part of this particular investigation unless she ended up being the killer.

---

---

---

---

---

Diamond District: Helga laid the sheet down once Mali was rolled over and got back to work. She was wearing a simple pair of white slacks, white polo, and white shoes. Seemed to be the standard outfit for anyone working as a massage therapist there. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun. From the looks of it there was no symbol on her skin: no tattoos or brands. Nothing to say she was part of some organization. Granted, not all her skin was showing due to her clothing.

It was a good time before she finally finished completely and stepped back slowly from the table. "There you go. Lay there for a bit. Relax, stay as long as you want. Water is there. Drink a lot help wash out toxins and keep from feeling weak later. Card on counter, call me if you want to set up another appointment one day," she said before excusing herself and leaving Mali to relax for as long as she wished. The room lights were still dimmed and the ambiance music still played.

Police Department: Station 54: Roy reached out and picked up the SD card when Priya laid everything she had gotten form Marc onto the table. Flipping it over in his hand he quirked a brow. "Footage from the bar? What bar?" he asked as he took a seat and set the card back down on the table. The only bar he had heard about was Club Afterdark and that wasn't in connection to what happened to Lawson. Lawson had been killed outside of the Warehouse that was Clemins front for his gun running. Hell, he had been killed by Clemins himself on live TV. There was no bar around there and from all the information he had, Clemins had been there all morning, minus a few minutes outside of Boston Heights that morning when he left home.

Glancing over at Riley and noting she was still on the phone he turned his attention back to Priya. "Someone tell you there was a bar involved? Cause either A they were talking out of their ass or B I am way of track. I've been going in the wrong direction before but never THAT much." Leaning back he wondered if Tinder had mentioned a bar but Tinder hadn't. Tinder had told her he had camera footage from inside the Warehouse. "Either way I wouldn't put that on any of the systems here. Closed system, no net access, and a hard-drive you don't mind burning in a volcano after you are done."

Deadlight District: The man looked up from what he was doing and simply nodded at Bart. It could have been he didn't understand the language. Yes, was of some Asian decent but from looks alone one couldn't tell. One could assume he was Japanese considering he was making Sushi and everything was written in Japanese and Engrish (no that is not a typo). Or it could be he just didn't want to talk. He did have a gruff look on his face and he was probably old enough to be Barts father, or even grand father. It was hard to tell.

He worked quickly and placed several pieces of Sushi on it. One of them was what Bart ordered, tuna. The others were nothing close. He wrote on a slip of paper and slid it over to Bart without a word - $9.50. The look on his face was one that was pretty easy to read - Don't argue, pay and eat

La Hacienda: Maria cut Natasha off as her foot his the bottom step and the two exchanged a few quiet words in hushed voices. As they finished, Natasha headed upstairs and Marias eyes narrowed. Turning she sought out Thalia and shoved Liam into her arms. "You take Liam, I have to deal with your uncle," she said in a cold flat tone. She wasn't accepting no for an answer. Granted that didn't mean that Thalia couldn't pass the child off onto someone else. Hell the entire familia was there honoring Alicia. Most of them knew what was up with the baby. It only took Maria arriving and telling one person for it to spread like wild fire. It was why Maria had insisted on being there when he arrived at the house. She was half surprised Thalia hadn't said anything.

Turning she walked off and went to find Caesar. It didn't take long. They might have been divorced but they had been married for a long time, raised a child together, and now were in mourning for that child. "You never stop do you?" she said as she finally found Caesar. "Nunca dejes de husmear, ni siquiera por un día. ¡Ni siquiera para el funeral de tus hijas! ¡No tienes respeto por los muertos! Para nuestra hija! Lo entiendo, quieres encontrar los imbéciles que la mataron. Yo también. ¡Así es el último miembro de la familia! ¡Todos estaríamos encantados de abrir el hijo de puta que mató a mi bebé y usar sus órganos para columpiarse, pero hay un momento y un lugar, César! ¡No está aqui! ¡No es hoy! ¡No es cuando nuestra hija se presenta y se encuentra con sus antepasados! ¡Hoy no! ¡Así que detente o sal y voy a enterrar a MI hija SOLA!" she hissed. Her voice was loud and it carried. And it sounded nearly identical to one of Alicias rants in voice and manner, just with a lot less cussing.


Justice Asylum: Risa nodded slightly but kept her eyes on Jaina even when she spoke to Iris. "Je ne m'inquiète pas et il vaut mieux continuer à parler français. Je ne pense pas qu'elle le parle." She obviously wasn't switching back to English just yet. She had a point, as long as Jaina didn't know what they were saying it helped. It kept everything level between the Doctor and the Patient. Both needed Risa in between to speak to the other. Not that Jaina needed the doctor, oh well she needed her, but not to speak to.

A slight smirk came to her lips and she tilted her head to the side. "Игра, которую вы говорите? Я люблю игры. Давай играть. Я побеждаю, ты говоришь мне, что я хочу знать. Вы побеждаете, я даю вам этот телефонный звонок." Reaching over slowly she picked up her bag that she had dropped before she had laid out the crazed patient in front of her. She was careful and kept her eyes on Jaina at all times, even as she reached into the bag and her hands searched out. Slowly she pulled out a cell phone and waved it slightly before shoving it into her own back pocket.

Part of Mali that was previously tensed relaxed when she didn't spot anything immediately suspicious on Helga. It wasn't any external component of her body, but an internal mechanism. The mechanism did not lose all tension, but it slackened just enough so she could just enjoy the rest of the massage without actually trying to structure it or the remaining shopping stops into some kind of plan that somehow ends with her and the people she'd just met all alive and doing well.

And then she was alone again. Mali sat up and reflexively ran a hand through her hair. She had no idea where she was supposed to go next, although if she had to guess, Zoie, Wayne an attendant like Genny or some combination of the three would be waiting right outside. Mali hopped off of the tables and did a few stretches, feeling much more limber than she had before the massage, like some pasta cooked al dente. Speaking of which, she grabbed a bottle and downed it all at once, crushed it in her hand and dumped it into the recycle. Lastly she donned her robe once again and picked up the business card, looking over both sides before pocketing the paper and leaving the room. She could only hope that this card wouldn't be as significant as the last card she'd been handed.

---

---

"Yeah the accident was pretty big news everyone was spamming pretty much everything." Riley said with a light laugh as she leaned back and then started to write down the location in his apartment where the 'multisided' object was at. She didn't have the slightest clue what the hell was so important about it, and Riley had a feeling that he didn't know what it was either. "Whats your apartment number? That way i'm not having to constantly knock on doors of everyone." Riley said jokingly, she started to drink again some more from the coffee until she was finished with it setting it down on the table.

"Don't worry i'm taking precautions now to make myself safer, you just take care of yourself heres my number ill keep it on and call if you are in danger or if you just need someone to talk to. Laying in hospitals all day do get really boring." Riley said as she took out the burner phone Roy had given her. She looked around once more still a little bit paranoid at the people who were there, Riley only really trusted Roy at the moment, but he was in the next room. Riley started to recite the phone number to Felix on the other end, her eyes wondered back to the conference room eyeing Pyira for a second then towards Roy wondering if she should get up and talk to Roy now about what she found out.

---

---

---

---

"That does suck," Cecily agreed. It felt awkward, having Thalia tell her to stay strong and to let her know if she needed anything. While she had been hit with a physical bullet, it was removed and the injury was healing. Thalia's was emotional and the healing process had only just begun. The shrapnel hadn't been entirely removed quite yet. "Same goes for you," Cecily added, watching as Thalia headed back into the crowd. It wasn't long until she noticed the woman from before thrust a baby into Thalia's arms before storming off.

And while she didn't speak any Spanish, she heard the shouting as it carried and understood that it wasn't good. Something had gone wrong. Tugging on her hair, Cecily reasoned that the screamer may have been the woman that handed Thalia the baby - but it could have been someone else entirely. To say they were the same person was a deductive leap that Cecily wasn't entirely comfortable with. At any rate, she was out of place in this wake and Natasha didn't seem to be anywhere. Glancing around, Cecily resolved to head back to the room. Maybe she'd see about watching a movie or something, or at least, hopefully find where Natasha had disappeared to.

Taking her drink with her, as she wasn't entirely sure where to put it and didn't want to be disrespectful to the proceedings by accident, Cecily followed her mental map upstairs and back to the rooms the Gonzalez family had generously set aside for them. Once she got outside of her room, she paused for a moment and knocked gently. "Natasha? If you're in here... it's just me," Cecily said, before slipping inside. She didn't want to catch anyone by surprise. "Cecily," she then said, realizing that it's me wasn't the most clear thing to say.

---

---

---

---

Jaina applauded at the assassin's agreement to play a game. Why did she have to hang around doctors all day when there was someone this exciting and this fun? While Cynthia was undisputedly her painting buddy, she felt like Risa was a kindred spirit. Everyone needed multiple friends anyways - it just made life all the more exciting! She clicked her tongue as she started thinking through her favorite games. Russian Roulette? Mumblety-peg? Monopoly? Twister? Jacks? Of course, if they got a wheel and tied the psychiatrist to it, they could do knife throwing! It was a circus staple, one that she sorely missed...

"Oh...Oh! Je suis très desolée," Iris apologized. It hadn't even occurred to her that it may be better for communication between the two of them to be confidential. On a daily basis, she always spoke English to the staff and most of the patients spoke English as well. She preferred to be transparent like that, but with Jaina Sarbye, she couldn't deny that there was an advantage to some element of secrecy. The woman hadn't so much fallen down the rabbit hole as jumped down with a wide grin on her face.

"Elle semble...mieux," Iris commented. Jaina was still clicking her tongue as she thought, but she wasn't leaping up to attack. Just what was the translator saying to her? Risa had impressive grit and courage. Not many people would walk into an asylum, prevent an attempted murder, and still be so collected as she was.

"Mumblety-peg!" Jaina announced. She winked at Iris, before focusing her attention back on Risa. Risa was the fun one, after all. And Mumblety-peg was one of her favorites. The way Jaina always played it, it was a competition in knives. The competitors would throw knives at the ground between their feet. Whoever got the knife closest to their feet without cutting themselves would win.

"Добро пожаловать, приветствуйте всех! Сегодня вечером мы увидим необыкновенный подвиг! В этом углу, прекрасная леди, убивающая, ... как тебя зовут, кукла? И тогда, конечно, против нее, ваш действующий чемпион ... Удивительная Аврора!" Jaina applauded, after addressing her imaginary audience once more. Seems there wasn't subtitles in this version for Iris, who couldn't help but be a bit wary, shooting Risa a look that clearly asked for an explanation as to what was going on. Why did she take her phone out of her bag?

Felix actually let himself chuckle bashfully, it was low and sharp, inhaling quickly and stopping himself before it hurt too much. After finally getting through to the correct Police Department he had contacted someone he had already met before, someone who had already experienced the same levels of chaos and unprecedented conspiracy that he had. He hoped that to her at least he didn't sound like a raving loony. He could only hope, right now he had to make sure everything that needed done was done and after that he could worry about his reputation and the state of it at this point.

"My apartment's 3B, no roommate right now and I had given it a good clean before I left, so it's organised and not a mess,
at least it should be" He replied, tapping his finger on the phone rhythmically now, trying to keep focused on the call. "Again, thank you so much Riley, I owe you one"

he fell silent as he recorded her number, before taking the piece of paper with it written on and folding it, slipping it under his pillow, in case one of the nurses took it away as trash. "I'll call if I need you, I'm not here to be a nuisance, I'm glad you have connections" he smirked and nodded to himself. "Plus you look like you could beat someone up with ease, especially me"

---

---

Maria was on the warpath. Thalia figured that much out, at least, when she dropped off little Liam with her. The younger lady hadn't really been the best with small children or babies, owing to her mildly antisocial nature. But this was family, and family was different. This little baby was the future of La Familia Gonzalez. Besides, from the look of her aunt, the family was going to need that future because she was going to murder Caesar. Certified badass that he was, Maria was fierce and he always held back with her. So thee she stood, amid the wildfire storytelling, some fringe members of La Familia placing bets as to what would occur next. A few closed in on the dual-cultured Thalia, eager to get more detail on what had happened, but as it turned out, she knew little more than anyone else. Though she did put a bill or two on the upcoming wager. Such was life with these people. And apparently, such was death with these people.

"Your grandpa's in the shit now, isn't he?" she cooed to little Liam in a singsongy voice. "Yes he is. Yes he is..." As gratifying as it was to make a little sport of what was going on, she was worried. When these two fought, it was either resolved quickly or it spread out for months, with equal opportunity for something awful either way. If they got into a machete fight on the roof before the night was over, it wouldn't surprise her in the least.

Back in the main house...

Caesar damn near got back to his rooms, too, before his ex-wife caught up to him. He had occasionally thought it odd that she involved herself in the lives of his family as often as she did, but this event was fully understandable. Alicia was her daughter, period. She had every right to be here. Even his personal philosophy on the matter supported her presence otherwise; Maria gave birth to a Gonzalez and did not bring shame to them at any time. Though not his wife any longer, she was La Familia Gonzalez if she still chose to be. And in that moment, she flexed that privilege like a champ.

The grizzled former Federale withstood the chainsaw-esque barrage of Maria's verbal assault, taking it all as water cashing upon a cliff face. Of course, that was the thing about water on rock - eventually, the water was going to break off something. Eventually. The threat of removing him from his own house aside, she did make a single, valid point, recurring and hammering away at him with pointed insight: Caesar was working the case during a period he should be mourning and receiving the goodwill of his family. His suspicions be damned, he was not paying proper respect to his daughter, nor fulfilling his duties as a host to personal guests from the States.

Grimly, he nodded to Maria. "Sí, tiene usted razón₁." He turned and began to walk back the direction from which he had come. "If you follow me, it's not happening."

---

---

Priya looked slightly aghast. Why the hell did she say bar? Why was she under any impression that this all took place in a bar? Maybe she hit her head and forgot about it until now? Either way, she brushed it off. "Either way, we got a video we need to see. If you know of any equipment we can use, I say we view it as soon as possible." Roy's comment about burning it after came across as strange, but she was getting that gist on this case ever since she was handed it. Just what would be on that video?

Roy continued to look at the girl. His mind seemed too occupied, "Well partner, if you point me in the right direction I can take care of that and you can return to whats-her-name over there since you seemed concerned about her. Not sure what's going on, but if its important I think I can watch a video on my own." Truth be told, she wanted to view it alone anyway. She hadn't expected to run into her partner as she walked into the precinct.

---

---

---

Bart raised an eyebrow as the man served some food that was most certainly not his order. On any other day he'd complain and either not pay, or request a new order, but today was not normal by any stretch. He took a deep breath, and looked down at it, before exhaling, clearly annoyed. He took out his wallet, and passive aggressively laid a ten down on the counter, taking his food roughly and turning away, going to find a place to sit. As he walked, he found a bench and sat down on it, setting his bag to one side, and his food to the other. He gently grabbed Lucky out, and placing him down on his lap. He gave his cat a quick pet on the head, saying "Hey hey, I got you a little something to show I'm sorry." He said, trying to console the kitten, and reached over to the Tuna, and waving it in front of Lucky's face.

Lucky batted at the fish, before quickly grabbing it with his mouth, tugging it away and nibbling at it. His tail twitched for a second, and he purred, apparently showing Bart some forgiveness.

Bart smiled down at his kitty, and then glanced over at his own sushi. He quickly debated in his head about whether he should eat it or not, but in the end, hunger won out. He shrugged and started to nibble on the food. While it wasn't what he ordered, it wasn't that bad. As he chowed down, and Lucky finished his tuna, he started to plan out the rest of his day. He should be back home by four, and he supposed he should really get back to job hunting. Craigslist was historically a good place to get started, and if he couldn't find anything good there, he'd probably see if he could post ads up around town. He popped the last bit of sushi in his mouth, and placed Lucky back in his bag, before setting up navigation to the vet clinic on his phone, and heading off.

---

---

---

---

---

Diamond District: Genny was waiting outside of the room as Mali stepped out. Her tablet in hand as she pushed back her glasses from the tip of her nose. "I hope you are refreshed! Wayne wanted me to take you over to our Beauty Rejuvenation Specialist Shelia. She has several wonderful facials that she will go over with you after she does a base skin assessment. If you will just follow me," she said before motioning for Mali to follow her. Her pony tail bouncing as she walked down the hall and around the corner.

"Sweet baby Jesus Helga! Let up on them mits of yers!" a very familiar voice rang out from behind one of the doors.

"Haha! I forget you are delicate!" Helga laughed from behind the door as they passed.

Genny chuckled a bit before rounding the corner to a glass walled area of the salon and over to what looked more like a dental chair than anything anyone would relax in. On a high stool sat a a very built woman who couldn't have been more than four foot in height wearing a lab coat. Her skin was the color of ebony but her hair was shockingly platinum blonde. Looking up from the tray she was arranging her amber eyes nearly glowed against her skin. "Shela, this is Mali. Mali please let me introduce you to Dr. Elizabeth Johnson."

"Goo'day," the woman said in a thick Australian accent. Hopping off the stool and walking over to Mali. Tilting her head back she looked up at the woman and held her small hand out to her, it was adorned with numerous rings, long fake nails and several heavy high end bracelets. "How you doing?" she asked. Now that she was standing and her back was not turned, one could easily see that this woman probably worked out as much as Mali did. She might have been lacking in height but she didn't seem to let that stop her.

Police Department: Station 54: "Ah, yeah. I'm still lead on this case, so we will watch it together but like I said. Not here. It isn't secure," Roy said before glancing over towards Riley. "And yeah, she's a person of interest," he said as he leaned back in his chair. "Wondering how she fits in. Seems she knew Lawson before moving here to Justice. Was married to a girl she went to High School with. From what I can dig up, she killed a serial killer back in her home town the day after he came back from being a POW over seas. Now she is here when all this death is happening? Her sister bites the dust just recently and she keeps on trucking like nothing happened," Roy said as he looked back over towards Priya.

"Don't know if I can trust her. Don't know if I can trust you. Don't know if I can trust well shit, anyone anymore. Ever had that feeling?" he asked as he picked up his coffee and downed about half of it now that it had had a chance to cool down. "Same High School your Special Agent Tinder went to. Now, how weird is it that we have four people all from or in connection to the same area show up here and two are dead within weeks of each other?"

Deadlight District: Oh... Why spoil it? Death is coming...

La Hacienda: "What's not happening?" Maria asked as she tore off after Caesar. Just what was the man up to. Sure he had admitted she was right but that wasn't the first time he had. She wondered if he ever just agreed with her to shut her up.

"I know but I am coming back, soon as the cab gets here. I'll secure a flight when I get to the airport. No... Yes I know. I'm taking the meds yes. Yeah they're helping the nausea. Okay, yeah. Me too. Bye," Natasha said on the phone before hanging up and looking over as Cecily came into the room. "Hey," she said as she stood up and shoved her phone into her purse.

"How's the arm doing?" she asked as she walked over to the bed and started shoving the few things she had taken out back where they went. "Listen, I'm getting the hell out of dodge. That man isn't right in the head and I don't have time for his drama," she said as she closed up her suitcase and zipped it shut. "You might want to as well."

Justice Asylum: Risa kept a close eye on Jaina. The woman may have been a linguist by trade but working for the U.N. gave her more skills than just knowing what others were saying. It was knowing what they weren't saying. Her training in facial expressions alone went a long way to know what someone would do before they even did it or before it even registered in their own mind. Micro expressions were a wonderful thing. "Pas mieux, juste amusé. Soyez prêt à tout."

Quirking a brow, Risa decided it was best to play along. Rising to her full height, which wasn't much. Risa was only five foot four inches tall after all. Even in her heels she was barely five foot seven. When she was soaking wet she was lucky to weight 115 pounds. Yet she made the most of it. "Кто я? Кто я? Я Риса! Тень ночи. Я танцевал со смертью и выжил." Her hands waved around slightly, more than slightly, with presence. Her voice loud and proud and rather over pronounced. Then she winked at Jaina. "Я когда-то встречался с Бахзули."

---

---

---

---

Cecily set down the drink that Thalia had given her from earlier, having only consumed an inch a centimeter or two of liquid at the most. As Natasha asked how her arm was, she subconsciously moved her other hand to feel where the wound was. It was a bit tender, but as far as she was aware, it was healing nicely. As she'd jokingly remind her friends in college, she wasn't pre-med. Her judgment that everything was fine was as good as anyone else's. "I think it's fine - thank you," Cecily said.

Her hand was still covering the wound as she listened to Natasha, confusion and then ultimately understanding flickering across her face. She had been terrified of Caesar when she first met him - and even for a while after that. It was only recently that she had started to feel comfortable around him, largely due to the fact that he had saved her life. While he had endangered it in the first place, she had made the choice to go into Queensguard with him. She wasn't forced to put herself in jeopardy. She paced back and forth slightly, before pausing to look at Natasha.

"I can't get out," Cecily finally admitted. "This isn't the first time someone tried to kill me this month." She then shoved her hands in her pocket, still pacing slightly. "I went into work to finish up some analysis on a Saturday - found someone in the coroner's office and they shot at me. The coroner turned up dead not too long after and they put me - a 23 year old girl with no medical background - in charge." Cecily sniffled, turning her gaze away from Natasha. She didn't have a right to crumble down in front of someone who was facing, in Cecily's mind, a great challenge of her own.

"Until this is all over, I can't go. Trust me...I want to run. I want nothing more than to leave this all behind. I could...I could ask my old professors for letters, try to get into a graduate program for the fall," Cecily said, trying her best not to ramble. "But someone out there wants me dead because I won't overlook evidence...You know Batman, right? Justice makes Gotham look like nothing. There's so much corruption and...Caesar's my best chance at making it to see another sunrise."

She let out a deep breath, stopping her pacing. She wiped at her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "Be careful, okay? If you can get out of Justice...Do it. Please."

---

---

---

---

Iris hesitated, before nodding. "₁Vous êtes traductrice seulement?" Iris asked, having her suspicions raised a bit with each moment that passed. By her profession, she attempted to help people through understanding them. Risa appeared to have experience with these sort of matters. "₂Est-ce que c'était un être cher?" It was the most reasonable explanation Iris could come up with, for Risa to have this patience and understanding with Jaina. She must have dealt with someone like this before.

"₃A Bazhooli? Vy tsirk? Pochemu ty tak ne skazal?!" Jaina asked, her eyes wide. She then attempted to get into a cross legged position, but her leg was more than sore. Instead, she decided to stretch both legs out in front of her and attempt to get a nice stretch in. She chuckled a bit, looking at Risa, Shadow of the Night. For a brief moment, Jaina considered just giving Risa the information that she asked for already. If Risa was Circus, then she was part of Jaina's only true family. Of course, she had left the Circus but to her, she was forever part of it.

"₄Ty zdes', chtoby pomoch' s moim pobegom?" Jaina added. She was clasping her toes at this point, enjoying the bit of her stretching routine. Risa was keeping her thoroughly and utterly entertained. "₅No snachala davayte igrat'. U vas yest' nozh, kotoryy my mozhem ispol'zovat'?"

---

---

Riley smiled to herself and shook her head slightly. "Nah consider we are even now your the one who lost an eye due to my fucking psycho classmate." Riley said as she turned her attention back over towards the conference room for a moment, before her attention went back to the phone call with Felix. She shook her head slightly she didn't have any contacts really just Marc but Riley never disturbed him that much these days. "I just have Marc my old high school buddy." Riley said.

Riley had a feeling that Felix might be getting tired now. "I'm sure you are getting pretty tired, and hooked up to some strong ass drugs. You should get some rest, i'll try and get to your place whenever I can just not sure when I will be able to." Riley said over the phone. "Just call anytime i'll pick up the moment I can as well."

---

---

Priya listened as her partner talked. Especially when he talked about not trusting anyone. She'd been in that position more times than she cared to admit. Being a woman, being Indian, being some authority over others (especially when there were men in positions beneath you), it was not often you found people to confide in. "I know only too well."

Still, she listened as he spilled his thoughts on the girl in the other room. It did seem a bit too convenient. In fact, it looked like the girl should be a person of interest. Is that why she was here? So he could keep an eye on her? If she was a suspect, it may not be the best option to leave her alone in a police station. "Ok, so that all seems coincidental, and coincidence is never good in our line of work. So is she a suspect? Are the others?" She only just got this case, and it was already seeming to be more than what was given.

the video was definitely important. "Ok, so is there a secure place to watch this then? I'd like to see it ASAP. But, what do we do about her?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling a lot more limber now," She replied to Genny, touching her hands together behind her back as a demonstration of her statement. Flexibility was something she needed to work on more. She wasn't a plank of wood, but the level of bulk she carried these days was definitely to impede her mobility at times, and it would only get worse if she didn't keep the limberness of her body in mind.

"Hopefully I won't screw it up too soon." Ah, a facial. That was the aspect of the whole spa treatment she had the least experience with. Nothing else so far had been very out of her expectations (Wayne aside), so she wasn't too stressed out about this aspect of the experience. Was she going to be given a green facial mask and cucumbers over the eyes (how was that even supposed to help anything)? She half hoped half not. She would look absolutely ridiculous.

Speaking of absolutely ridiculous, it sounded like Zoie was being put through the ringer. It was bad enough for her accent to completely slip in public. What if Helga was just as bad as she had built her up to be in her head, but she was just built to take the punishment she could deal out? Out of all the ways to learn one was stronger than they thought, this was one of the least probable.

And then they got to Shela herself. Mali had a hard time believing she was an actual human being. Taken bit by bit everything checked out, but taken as a whole, she was too... otherworldly. Hell, Mali had a good foot and a half on her in height at least, and she wouldn't be surprised if they were less than a Stone apart in weight. Mali cautiously took her handshake, still not really sure how she was supposed to react to the dwarf.

"Feeling a bit overwhelmed by a bunch of things, but better than I could be."

"So are you Elizabeth or Shela?"

---

---

---

---

A moderately sized recreational vehicle in dire need of fresh paint and body work stops in the middle of the street. No traffic exists to serve as witness the rolling shitbox come to a sputtering stop, likewise no traffic exists to be held up by the vehicular roadblock. From inside, an argument rages in muffled, indistinct voices. The RV rocks back and forth a few times and an interior light clicks on simultaneously with the mechanical whirring of a small exhaust fan, the light visible only from a single, small window near the rear of the vehicle. The first clear words can be heard from outside, and though barely heard, the intonation is clear.

"Well. Gawd. DAMNIT!"

The words were shout-slurred in a quagmire of a southern drawl, half annoyance and half alarm. All at once, the door to the recreational vehicle exploded open, slamming on the side of the RV and rebounding back to smack the man in egress, a hairy, beer-gutted individual sporting a pair of boxer shorts and flip-flops, tank tee and camouflage trucker's hat. Everything about this man seemed to scream, "Pass Me Another Beer". From the manner in which he descends the short two steps from his mobile fortress, it can be assumed that someone already had, and some several times. Wobbling a bit as he walked, the foul-seeming person made his way to the side of the RV and began pulling out a length of wide, compressible tubing.

The odious man extended the tubing to the side of the road, wherein a storm drain access point cleft the ground underneath the sidewalk. It seemed the perfect spot to unload his unloadables, thanks to a functional automatic pump and a lack of understanding concerning dumping laws. The pump whirred and sputtered to life, and soon, a torrent of chunky brown semi-liquids began oozing underneath the streets of Justice, California.

A similar accent, though with more feminine notes, sounded from the open doorway, "Now, what in Sam Hill're you doin' out there, Sugarnuts? Y'all know that there's eee-legal, riiiiiight?" She was every bit the stereotype; big hair defiled by a poor peroxide job, smoking unfiltered cigarettes and either five months pregnant or just very comfortable with herself in sweatpants and a pink, midriff shirt.

He spoke. Check that, he bellowed back, "You shut yer hole, Boobalicious! Get back in th' ARRR VEE 'fore someone sees yer fat ass!"

"But, Randy..."

"I sed plug yer whore mouth and shut th' fuckin' door!"

"But, Randy?"

"SHITTER'S FULL! Okay, hon? Th' SHITTER IS FULL! Now EVERYBODY knows! The Shitter's full an' I gotta blast a dook, like NOW. You give me m'space, woman!"

"Well, goddamnit..."

The door to the RV shut, Sugarnuts on the outside, finishing up the dumping of some of his best handiwork, Boobalicious (Slavic name, maybe?) considering spiking his whiskey with drain cleaner. Beneath the street, perilous vapors started to accumulate...



The sushi didn't quite set right with Bartholomew. Something had to have been off, considering the steadily growing cramps in his abdomen and the sudden feeling that things may begin to vacate, one direction or the other. Yeah, definitely the sushi. Perhaps the proprietor shouldn't have used his family's ancient and secretive recipe for Aged Mayonnaise in the dipping sauces. Perhaps he shouldn't have covered up the flavor of obviously suspect Yellowtail with lemon juice and diluted window cleaner. Maybe it shouldn't have been hot-held in the same rotary oven he kept his leftover haggis from the last time the Renaissance Faire blew through town, or maybe he should have washed it at some time over the course of the last three years rather than splattering the inside with ranch dressing and letting the neighborhood dogs lick it shiny-ish. It could have been any number of things. But suffice it to say, he suddenly didn't feel very well.

The cat sure as hell didn't. Since ingesting the scrap of tuna, kitty had been feeling none-too-well, himself. Point of fact, Lucky's faster metabolism allowed him to experience every color of the foodbourne illness spectrum, and he was giving serious consideration to arfgarbling right on the spot. He paused to do precisely that, neck reflexively bobbing up and down in preparation of the epic ralphsplatter to come. Bart - not doing much better.

Meanwhile...

Just up the road, there was a particularly uninteresting fellow by the name of Mr. Perkins, an average, non-descript motorist. Mr. Perkins, as his description suggested, was indeed particularly uninteresting, but his circumstances in that moment were not. Much as a single moose has no idea what role it plays in the ecosystem of the Canadian Rockies, he was fully unaware of what would transpire as he carefully drove his vehicle closer to our plucky protagonist, Bartholomew, his distressed and vomiting cat, Lucky, and multiple gallons of obscured human waste in a storm sewer.

Another vehicle was passing by the scene, also oblivious to the Rube Goldberg situation developing, was just finishing off a smooth, refreshing Llama cigarette, and thought to flick the glowing, orange-red butt out into the street. He had just engaged his power window, one button access to a more ventilated car, and aimed solidly for the nearby sewer grate as he passed by. In hindsight, he probably should have just used an empty energy drink can.

The flash of blue and yellow flame could be seen easily by all parties nearby, halting business, stopping pedestrians in the middle of the crosswalks, and even causing a veteran meter maid to pause her ticket-writing and let out a lingering, "Daaaaaaaayum". Manhole covers from all around took to a spinning coin style liftoff, initiating with a series of hollow popping sounds and roaring columns of fecal fire. But it didn't stop there. The first metallic clang sounded like a funeral bell as a manhole cover slammed earthward, showering the area with sparks and tiny bits of blacktop. Poor Mr. Perkins tried like mad to pilot his airport-rented vehicle away from the series of falling steel disks of unimaginable discomfort, jerking the wheel this way and that, to-ing and fro-ing, weaving up onto the sidewalk to avoid getting lobotomized and/or crushed by the physical aftereffects of the impromptu shitfire (or as the Germans call it, "scheißfeuer"). His last wild attempt pointed him squarely in the direction of Bart.

But dear readers, do not be alarmed! For you see, Mr. Perkins was not a poor, non-descript motorist. No, he was an average, non-descript motorist! Deftly, he used his Average Motoring Powers to divert the path of his vehicle yet again, narrowly missing the intestinally compromised Bartholomew, and instead clipping a nearby fire hydrant. Chaos all around him, but Bart remained solid, still standing hard against the very appearance of cataclysmic uncertainty. True, the hydrant was now precariously bent to the side, its moorings strained and poking from underneath the concrete of the sidewalk that had already been damaged by an explosion and the pounding of manhole covers, the water pressure building in that one spot to such a degree that the steel jacketed piping began to swell like a party balloon. But those things were built to last.

It wasn't until the undeniable sound of metal fatigue began to whine and shudder throughout the area that anyone thought anything else might be wrong, but by then it was far too late. Weakened support combined with intense water pressure caused the heavy hydrant up above ground to list heavily to one side, and with a crashing sound not unlike a washing machine hitting the pavement from twelve floors up, the device of city infrastructure ripped free of its metal safeguards and spun, as if knuckleballed by an angry giant, catching Bartholomew full-on in the face and torso. The resulting force blew him and the hydrant into the brick wall behind him, splitting his skull fully open from the face going back, and bisecting his sternum the way one might perform a vivisection with a stray steel girder. People stood horrified, too shocked to move, speak, or breathe, as Bart's body refused to believe that it was dead, even as it was mostly a tangle of bone and syrup wrapped around a hunk of metal that read "Justice, CA Dept. of Water & Sanitation". Hands and arms reflexively tried to grasp forward even as legs shook, unable to execute a flight response no matter how much they desperately wanted to.

The last image burned into the retina of his one, barely functional eyeball as it hung limply there from its optic nerve, swaying lightly in the wind, was Lucky the Cat. He had walked up to the stain that used to be its master and provider, curious to the extreme. Bartholomew was not among the living long enough to witness gravity reassert control on the hydrant, pulling it away from his body with a wet sucking sound, and drop unceremoniously to the sidewalk, nor the apathy with which Lucky began to lick his paws at the whole ordeal.

Across the street, a dental hygienist from Poughkeepsie, NY dropped to his knees and emptied the contents of his stomach upon the ground. He was joined by many others.

---

---

Yeah, that wasn't expected at all. He informs that he didn't want to be followed, so naturally, Maria decided that following him must be the proper and wisest course of action in that moment. Her question merely echoed Caesar's statement, or rather the reciprocal of it. She wants to prolong the inevitable? Fine. Caesar would answer, even though it took precious seconds away from his mission.

Caesar stopped in his tracks. He turned around to see Maria looking at him in a manner that seemed both indignant and authoritative, her eyes bright with passionate intensity. He remembered why he married her in the first place, all those years ago. Maria was as strong willed as himself, with considerably better looks. Forcing himself not to smile, the venerable Mexican leaned in closely to her, cleared his throat, and answered, "I am going to apologize. If you follow behind me like you're making me do it, it's not going to happen. ¿Esta bien contigo?"

---

---

---

A car whizzed by Bart, swiping his side and throwing him for a complete loop as he stumbled around, trying to get his bearings. He shook his head as he heard an ear splitting crash, wincing at the noise. A look of relief started to spread across his face, before collapsing and melting away as he saw a fire hydrant ripping through the air, moving far to fast for him to possibly react, other than a brief, muffled scream as he only started to open his mouth before the hydrant collided with him, sending him flying back.

The initial damage of the force was mitigated by the fact that he was now speeding towards the wall behind him, and hadn't actually hit anything yet. He face was cut up and bruised as he hurtled to the wall, but nothing too bad. He had little over a second to think, think of anything that could let him escape, but it was to no avail. He just didn't have the reaction speed or time or strength or anything to get him out of slamming into what would surely be his final destination. His arms flailed wildly, struggling, as humans are to do, against the impossibility before him, trying for anything, but nothing would come, except for horrible, ungodly amounts of pain.

His skull splattered against the side of the wall, and for all he wanted to just black out, and let it all go away, he couldn't fucking do it. His body writhed and twitched, surprisingly not feeling much pain after the initial collision. His body was washed briefly in fiery pain, but as soon as his spine was crushed into a gritty paste, that all just melted away, replaced with a kind of complete numbness. Blood thickly poured out of every portion of his upper body, dripping onto the concrete as the last of his vision swung like a pendulum from what was left of his skull, as he saw Lucky looking at was was left at him.

Two thoughts ran through his head before the end, one of relief, and one of dread. On the upside, his cat made it out, and would live on without him. In a way, he would live on through him, some creature that was happier because of his existence. That was comforting, but overall, he felt like everything was wasted. He never made a difference, and as his mind succumbed to the warm darkness of death itself, he felt almost cheated. He was meant for more than this, meant to be more than paste splattered into a brick wall.

Felix nodded to himself, still alone in the room as he glanced around, his eye still shifty and suspicious of anything going on around him that he could no longer see due to his more restricted peripheral vision. He couldn't help but crack a smile on his face as he thought about the fact he wasn't indebt for once. It was nice to not have caused the chaos and even though he had, it was him who had taken a toll for it. Riley and Marc had had history with the girl, it could've ended worse for them than it did for Felix.

"Sure let's call it even" He joked with a light chuckle before wincing in pain and resuming the conversation. "I'll drop you a call if anything comes up, sure i'll be fine for now though, while i'm staying here I'm supposed to be safe" He went silent on that for a second, feeling like he was lying to himself. "I'll catch you later Riley, Ciao"

He pressed end call and laid back on the bed, dropping the phone to his side. Everything was fine, he'd messed up but he'd get over that and make up for the mess he'd made.

---

---

---

---

---

Diamond District: Giving Mali a firm hand shake Elizabeth chuckled. "Which ever you prefer. Shela, Elizabeth, Liz, Dr. Johnson: I answer to all of them. Just don't answer to Beth, and anything along the lines of shrimp, shortly, or doll though and well. You will get an answer you just won't like," she said as she released Malis hand and then smiled. "Don't think I have to worry about that from you though," she added as she turned and walked back over to the high stool next to the chair. She climbed up it, looking almost like a young child trying to get into a chair that was too high for them but she did it easy and in heels.

Plopping down Shela got comfortable and crossed her legs before patting the long dentist style chair. "Alright, come have a seat so I can take a look at you," she said as she picked up a device that looked like a headband with a light attached to it and some odd looking scope to look through. "And tell me what you are wanting and doing soon. Wayne started to but I can't stand listening to his over the top rambles. Rather get it from my patient."

Police Department: Station 54: Roy nodded a bit. "She isn't a direct suspect, in fact I don't think she had anything to do with any of it. I think she runs into a lot of wrong place wrong time type of thing. I know she wasn't around when Lawson was killed, or any of the others here in Justice. The ones she was around it was always during some circumstance where it couldn't have been her. Started with the Danica Graves case, which was connected to the Peyton Glencross case - turned out those two were actually half sisters and no one knew but they died months apart across the street from each other, both murdered but by different people"

Sighing he ruffled his hair a bit he leaned back in his seat. "Yeah, I have a place off the grid that is secure. We can be there in fifteen minutes," he said before glancing over towards Riley. "As far as she goes, I want to keep her close. I am sure she didn't do anything and isn't involved at all but I think she is a magnet for this shit and will help lead us to where we need to be."

La Hacienda: Natasha looked over at Cecily and huffed. "Okay, so first time you got shot at was in the office and it had nothing to do with you? Whole could have been anyone stumbling across the person. Yeah, that doesn't fucking count. If that counted, then people would have tried to kill me...." she said as she looked up and started counting off in the air to herself before finally responding. "Six times. Emergency work brings in a lot of idiots, drunks, meth heads. Oh and this," she said motioning towards her shoulder.

"Now think about that shit. Was that someone trying to kill you? Think on it, you never filled me in on what went down. You came out out of a fucking sewer with someone that could be the poster boy for never do Meth, not even once, by the way his skin looks. What was a temporary corner doing climbing out of sewer with a man that has a private fucking jet with what looks like a fucking compound in Mexico. Now, was it them trying to kill you because of who you are or was it ANOTHER wrong place wrong time type of thing?" she asked flatly before sighing and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"And what do you know about this guy? How much have you checked him out? Shit, how much as HE checked you out? Because apparently he is already digging into my persona life and getting information on me he shouldn't have. Not like I hide shit but damn, blindsides my ass after flying us here questioning every thing about my life and why I am here and who I associate with, without giving anything on himself? Yeah I would rather take my chances on the streets of South Side than trust a fucker that pulls that shit. Stay here he might just be the reason you end up dead because it is fucking obvious he doesn't give a damn about what he is doing to anyone else as long as he gets what he fucking wants."

It was obvious that Natasha wasn't happy about the situation. She felt violated. Recovering from cancer, taking on a new job to make thing in her life simpler, and now she was south of the border being investigated, for lack of a better term. She was getting the hell out of there and fast. If she couldn't get a flight out today she'd rent a car, drive it to the border, and have Lincoln pick her up at border line. Tasha wasn't a person to put up with anyones bullshit, no matter how sick she felt.

Maria held her hands up in defeat, or was it triumph? Hard to tell. Either way she was backing off and letting Caesar do what he said he was going to do. She just hoped he wouldn't make the situation worse, he had a tendency to do that. She figured it was best to just walk off and let it go. For now. She wasn't done with him yet. Over at the front gate there was a messenger delivering a package. "Si, Benicio Gonzalez, Church of La Madrina Inmaculada," the delivery man said holding an 8x10 padded manilla envelop.

Justice Asylum: Risas brow arched deeply as Iris started questioning her. The look on her face was one of being utterly dumb stuck. Maybe the doctor had been hit in the head a lot more than she first thought. Risa had just pulled a Jaina off her to keep her from getting killed and she was going to sit there and try to act as if they were on a couch and she was shelling out two hundred an hour to talk about her daddy complex? "Est-ce vraiment le moment de me psychanalyser?," she said in a sarcastic voice before turning her attention back to Jaina.

The girl seemed to like the fact that she had once dated a Bazhooli. That was working in her favor. Time to keep things moving. "Не волнуйся, у меня есть все, что нужно, чтобы убраться отсюда. Дело в том, что я должен что-то сказать дицу, поэтому вы даете мне некоторые ответы, которые она хочет, чтобы мы могли двигаться. У меня много веселья, запланированных для нас," Risa said with a grin as she sat down and spread her legs until she was in a center split. Resting her chin down on her palms, her elbows on the ground, she kept her eyes on Jaina. "Вы знаете девушку, о которой она спрашивала?"