AN: Thank you for the reviews! due to my terrible cold this chapter is a little short
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The fog was dense as it came out from the vast sea and settled on the city of Paradigm , Roger huddled in his trench coat the dew collecting in his slicked back hair and on his shoulders. Balefully he glanced at his watch it was ten past twelve, she was late...
Just then there was a flicker of a shadow moving near the fence
"Roger" came a softly flirtatious voice, Roger slid out from his position near the Griffin and saw the dimly illuminated figure of Angel her form blurred by the fog that permeated everything. Quickly he crossed the street and was beside her
"You're late" he growled
She giggled "I am sorry. A lady has her routines she cannot break"
"A fine time to put them into play" he retorted, Angel laughed her voice ringing in the desolate area.
"True but then I so enjoy the way the vein in your neck ticks when you are angry" she replied.
Without another word she began to climb, Roger following behind abandoning the now frivolous trench-coat. They landed on the fine gravel and Roger felt the hair on his arms and neck stand.
"Angel are you positively sure this place is not live?" he asked referring to the electricity
"Yes it was abandoned some time after your negotiations with Electric City" she said as they jogged into the outer building. It was empty save for the rats and birds that had made homes in it. In the gloom Roger turned on his flashlight casting a feeble ray on the dirt laden floor. Angel was at the far end of the room near some abandoned machinery, knocking gently on the wall. A moment later she pushed against a spot and it depressed, there was a loud noise as a part of the cement floor gave way revealing a set of stairs that led into the darkness.
"Ha, there" she said with a grin.
Roger couldn't help but smile "Lets go then"
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Dorothy paused in her piano playing, she did not know what had made her stop. Quickly she turned her red hair fanning and to her shock Alan Gabriel sat at the couch one leg thrown over the other. Examining a figurine on the table with feigned interest
"Alan?" she whispered
He stood with a smile "Hello again my nightingale" slowly he removed his hat, the white blonde of his hair showing in the lights. Before he came to sit next to her
"How did you get in here? Where is Norman?" she asked stiffly
"Who? The old butler is fine, as for getting in here it was quite easy. The defenses are so weak."
Dorothy's hands tightened in her lap as the warmth of his body touched hers as he sat down beside her. His nimble fingers playing over the keys in a song that she had never heard before.
"Do you like it?" he asked in a faintly teasing manner
"I have never heard it before" she replied
Alan grinned "I believe no one has heard it for 40 years, but my Memories tell me that this was once famous."
His fingers began to play faster and faster building the beat, the tempo in her circuits.
"Did you like the ring my dear?"
Dorothy pressed her lips together and did not reply
"So it did cause the trouble I wanted it too.... Did Roger kiss you as I did, or was it hotter sweeter then anything you ever felt?"
She turned to him sharply "Stop"
Alan laughed "Why? Does what I say bother you?"
"You are crude Alan" Dorothy snapped.
"I am nothing like your precious Negotiator am I?" he retorted clearly enjoying her reaction.
"He is not anything to me. He is simply my employer, and my bodyguard..." she answered blandly her hands tightening in her lap. She could feel the touch of his lips once again against her fingertips, her mouth.
Alan was grinning widely his blood red mouth glistening in the lights "I did not know you were capable of deluding yourself"
Irritation ticked at her like a stripped wire "I do not know of what you speak. Delusion is not in my programming."
"Oh?" with a lightning movement he pulled her into his arms and kissed her not the soft delicate kiss of the previous time but....
Dorothy pushed him away with force, "What are you doing?" she cried, something like repulsion filled her. She had only recently learned what this was, having seen it so few times.
Alan giggled "You are doing well, even now there is warmth in your lips."
She stood stiffly and slammed the cover to the piano shut. "I suggest you leave now before I do something drastic" Dorothy said calmly, even though her circuits fired wildly. What kind of kiss was that? It was...
He stood fixing his narrow tie and slid from the piano chair, where he bowed mockingly
"As you wish" calmly he walked from the room and was gone.
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"Norman? Norman?" Dorothy called as she went up the stairs, knocking on his door she waited. When there was no reply she opened it, there lying on the bed was Norman unconscious, she went to him quickly and felt for a pulse. It beat steady and strong, with her keen eyes she noticed the small needle mark on his neck and concluded that Alan had used a sedative to render him harmless. But... Why had he gone through the trouble to bring him all the way up here?
What was Alan Gabriel up to?
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