[IC] Shadow Smiles

[Viatos]

The well-dressed man was nodding, gesturing. "She's trained," he said, as his companion approached. She was shaking, Cecilly knew, trembling like a leaf in high winds until she took a breath, and then another breath, and then - startling the man - slapped herself full across the face. Her body calmed and steadied, and it was with what was almost practiced ease that she approached Lee with the needle. Growing clarity brought the woman into sharper relief. Short hair, dyed with something - the unnatural texture was a giveaway - features too drawn and twisted with fear to be pretty. Well-muscled, not just a gym body. Sweater and slacks. Sneakers, incongruous with the outfit. She was in her early thirties; the man was older but not by a lot. Businesslike now. Efficient. Had they done this before?

"Here," said the woman, jogging, almost running to the door to retrieve a duffle bag and bring it to the bed. Clothing - shirts, jeans, socks and sneakers, underthings, the works - a first aid kit, various items. A flashlight, ironically.

And another gun. Heavy, again, a serious caliber. The woman was laying out clothes across the bed; she placed the gun without comment, an offering. It was loaded.

"It might help with trust," the man said. "I'm Caleb, by the way. It's our h-" The hesitation was brief but unmistakable. "Our pleasure to make your acquaintance. My associate is-"

"Jane," she said suddenly, seeming to startle herself with her own voice. Lee could feel her cheeks color as she leaned past to arrange more clothing. Jane smiled, then, a small and private thing.

Vanishing at noises from the direction of the elevator. The tension flooded back into the pair. Jane took her gun out of her purse, checked it, and flicked the safety off. "I'm sorry, ma'am. You're probably still a little woozy, but you're going to have to hurry."

[shylarah]

They'd come prepared, it seemed. How had their employer known about this? Or whoever sent them, because something was definitely very fishy. But they're my ticket out of here, and there's clearly something going on. If the power's out I can probably ditch them somewhere here. The noise of the lights had faded, though she still heard the chorus of other machinery and monitors. A hospital wouldn't have all their power on the same grid, and they'd have a generator backup for essential systems. That wouldn't include all the lights. Might be worth a shot.

It was reassuring that the clothing was not precisely her size. Only close enough. Lee disregarded modesty beyond turning away to quickly pull them on. She ignored the flashlight, but the gun made her hesitate. It sounded like she could really use some sort of weapon.

No, bad idea.

The first rule of any weapon was know how to use it, and she'd no training with firearms. She knew, in a vague sort of way, some of the basic rules, but even ignoring personal safety with it Lee wasn't sure how to go about aiming one. "From the sound of it I'm already in trouble. The last thing I need is to commit an actual crime. Oh, and I'm Lee."

She could hear noise in the hall, people speaking with concern, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. There was still fuzz along the edges of her senses, but she had her balance and her coordination. And really, did she even know what she was looking for to be after them? "Ready as I'm going to be, I guess." Shoving a hand into her purse, she grabbed her swiss army knife and flipped out the largest of the blades by feel. It wasn't exactly a good weapon, but it was what she had, and she knew how to use it. Lee didn't pull it out into sight, but just having it open and ready where she could easily grab it was an advantage.

She prayed she wouldn't need to use it.

[SilverPaw]

The elevator reached the ground floor without disturbance, few people going in and out, some of them giving a brief nod or a hello to Jacqueline, which she returned. She thought she was successful in appearing unruffled and normal. As if the people here would notice anything, even if it smacked them right in the face. Fucking idiots. Jacqueline safely made it outside of the apartment complex and no one gave her a second glance. Thank God for stupidity, she thought derisively; not honestly believing things would continue going so well. Jacqueline shouldered her backpack more securely and took off.

She headed to a nearby park. Sat on a bench. And thought. I could go to my brother but that would be an obvious move. I have to go to some district I have no connections to and then get the hell out of this city. My parents, she snorted If they knew they’d just hand me over. Skittishly, Jacqueline looked around. She thought she had been in her district for too long already. What if her flat was already being investigated? What if she was already reported being missing? Would they think she was a victim? Or would they know…She rubbed at her eyes and headed to an underground station. She wasn’t exactly a fan of those, but desperate times and all that.

After the stressful trip, during which Jacqueline kept alternating between bouts of paranoia, outrage, brief hopeful relaxation and false confidence, she finally arrived at a district she may have visited once in her lifetime, if that. The important thing was, that as far as she knew, it was a good place to leave the city from it and go somewhere else. Anywhere else. She was about to leave the underground station she arrived at, kind of in a daze, when she suddenly stopped and remembered her “plan” to “disguise” herself. What was I even thinking? If anyone’s searching for me, they will find me, ponytail and hat or not. If they find me…If they don’t…If I get out of here…What does any of it matter? My life is ruined. My career…

So, ‘Jacky’ what happened to not giving up control to this BS? She sneered at herself derisively.

The grumbles of the people around her as they had to force their way past her went unheard by Jacqueline and she could sense a simmering hysteria trying to claw its way up to the surface. She felt herself smile, it was probably not one of her best ones, possibly somewhat unstable. She had to muffle what might otherwise have been maniacal laughter into her sleeve. Without bothering to alter her appearance in any of the meagre ways she could have, she slowly made her way through the crowd, outside, trying not to choke on her wheezing laughs all the while, distantly and vaguely hoping people assumed she was coughing. Without knowing how, she stumbled into a narrow alleyway, abandoned at the moment though there were signs of people occasionally staying there. Joining the tramps now, hmm? A wry smile tugged at her lips.

Jacqueline followed the littered path to a dead-end and stopped, staring at the wall. She tried to make sense of her racing thoughts, to decide on some form of a plan other than to get out get out getout getOUT! A sudden sound startled her and before she knew it, the female jumped at its source, a doggy growl turned whimper ringing as she incapacitated the beast, bound its legs with spider silk, spat an acid all over it, bit into the soft tissue of its neck, chomped down on the oh so good, fucking hell, divine, no, stop it, FOOD tenderized meat, swallowed it in chunks, devouring until nothing was left, no meat, no skin, no blood, no bones.

With a satisfying belch after the meal, Jacqueline felt her jaw shifting back, had not even realized she had slipped into her other form at all. She licked the leftover fluids from her face and hands. She glanced to the floor and realized she had been wrong – there was something left, and it was a mess, a big splat of dark-red leftovers. Jacqueline shivered but she couldn’t help feeling smug, it just radiated from her core, warming her all over. Suddenly and unexpectedly resigned, she sat against one of the walls, ignoring the surrounding filth and turned her head to watch the sliver of sky visible from the alley. Definitely not human anymore, she thought, shifting her hand between forms with a simple flex. Got over that then, Galloway?