Settling In: Chapter 7

I nodded, satisfied at the position of the hands on my watch. That should be enough time for them to be asleep. Putting it away, I quietly made my way down the building. Once on the street, I pulled a key I copied weeks ago just for doing something like this and unlocked Jess's jeep. Moments later, I was driving through what Danny had called the 'rough' part of the Docks.

Seeing these locations on a map was fine, but being here allowed me to put some pieces together that a map couldn't give me. Directions of travel, which fences were knocked down, and most importantly, a better sense of why they were moving in those ways. It was a simple process to triangulate a likely location for the Undersider's lair, but more than that, I was able to get a strong sense of the area.

At night, this place could have given a ghost town a run for creepy. It was, sadly, a familiar feeling, reminding me of huge sections of the Lower Ninth Ward; my old stomping ground. Except that instead of a natural disaster leaving behind its mark, it was a decade's worth of abandonment.

Grass and weeds grew between slats in the sidewalks. In some areas weeds had crawled most of the way up the poles, where they withered and died. Now each of the poles had a mess of dead brown plants hanging off of them. In contrast, there were long sections where there were no wires going from one pole to the next, just empty space. Illegal salvage, or maybe a flyer got distracted and ran into them? I couldn't tell, and honestly it could have gone either way, but whatever happened was some time ago by the look of things.

The roads had their own issues like potholes big enough to hide a small dog, which made driving interesting. Especially with the abandoned cars sitting on blocks that someone had stripped to the frame at one point or another. Driving around by moonlight in this area was definitely not for novices. Hopefully Jess's suspension was up to the task. I was definitely testing it tonight.

Even the buildings I passed proclaimed the hardships of time. Most were all faded, consisting of peeling paint, cracked mortar and rusty metal. The desaturated colors of the buildings were contrasted by splashes of vividly colored graffiti. Not the usual gang signs I expected, just normal graffiti. Which meant this area was a border area, or there wasn't a significant presence of any of the main players. That, or the Undersiders did in fact run protection around here, despite the fact that Danny didn't think they did. While it didn't look like anyone lived around here, I knew better. I bet that there were dozens of people taking refuge for lack of better in these skeletons of what was once a proud industrial section of this city.

After an hour of driving around and mentally checking my math, I found them in a red brick factory with a massive sliding metal door locked shut by a coil of chain. Parking a block away, I approached the building, keeping an eye out for guards or traps.

Both the chain and door had rusted so much that I expected that neither offered any use except to sell that 'abandoned and no one lives here, no sir' image. The size of the door and the broadness of the driveway made me think that large trucks or small boats would have been backed up through the entryway back in the factory's heyday. The building itself was large, stretching nearly half the block, two or three stories tall. The background of the sign at the top of the building had faded from red to a pale orange-pink, but I could make out the bold white letters that read 'Redmond Welding'. Overall there was visibly nothing that screamed 'Evil Lair'. Feeling confident in my math and Danny's intelligence on Bitch's movements, I slipped through a break in the fence and approached.

Walking around I found a small door on the side of the building that looked slightly odd. Getting closer showed the dirt had been swept aside, obviously by the door opening. Pressing my ear to the door, I couldn't hear the sounds of generators or anything really. Checking the door knob revealed it was locked, but that didn't take long to change.

I hated working blind. Taking a deep breath, I slowly eased the door open expecting anything from an explosion to alarms. What I got was a door opening silently on well oiled hinges.

Well, alright then.

The interior was dark. I bet that during the day it would still be dark even if there were rows of windows near the ceiling. In the pitch blackness, I thought I could just make out silhouettes of machines here and there from the moonlight that managed to get through. Close by, I could just make out the shape of something under a huge dusty tarp. First impressions was that nobody had been active in here for a long time. Yet someone had worked on the door, so there had to be something here.

Taking my time, I explored the ground floor, wondering if I was completely off in my thoughts. It wasn't until I found a spiral staircase in one corner that I looked up and realized just how good the spot they had found was.

Above me was more of that red brick most of the building was made from, but instead of a walkway as I would have expected, there was a huge loft-like area overhead. From what I could see in the heavily shadowed interior, that section appeared to have more floor space than the ground floor of Danny's house.

Okay, this was actually clever. Everything from the building to this was absolutely perfectly camouflaged to appear to be anything but what it was. Well done, Undersiders.

A test of the stairs proved they were very stable, more so than they should have been considering the condition of everything else around me. Still wary of traps, I made my way painstakingly slow, checking each step and making sure my movements didn't make noise to alert anyone to my presence.

My growing impression further ratcheted up another notch when I reached the top. Keeping myself low, I let my eyes adjust to the light before poking my head up and looking around.

The lights came from a couple of tall lamps set up around the large living room like area. A pair of couches set at right angles to each other with a coffee table between them sat facing one of the largest flatscreen TV's I had ever seen suspended by the entertainment center. Some electronics sat on shelves below where the TV was hanging but the only things I recognized were a couple of the game systems. The whole thing was framed in with two monstrous speakers on either side.

Further in, past a kitchen area, was a hallway with several closed doors. Bedrooms? Likely. Storage maybe as there were six doors and only four Undersiders. Interesting, looked like they had ambitions to grow. Six capes? That was the making of a strong gang. Hell, four was a strong team.

More telling was the mess. Pizza boxes were piled on one of the tables, two dirty plates sat on the coffee table in front of the couch, and some clothes were draped over the back of one of the couches. I saw soda cans – or maybe beer cans – stacked in a pyramid on the table on the far side. It wasn't so messy that I thought it was offensive, though. It was mess that made a statement… like, 'No adult supervision here'.

That was probably the most interesting thing so far. First impressions from the meet shifted as I added this bit of information to my thoughts. Not enough to change my plans though. Tattletale had tried to play a head game with me and Bitch had tried to attack Circus. No matter their issues or how much this place reminded me of hangouts when I was getting started, I had to send a message back. I had a rep to maintain just as much as they did.

And I knew just what I was going to take to do that.

XxXGambitXxX

Sighing in satisfaction, I closed the back door of Danny's house. Looking at the coffee pot, I decided against staying up and headed toward the stairs. Wondering if Clockblocker would actually show warring with the facts that I knew it wasn't going to happen came to a screeching halt once I entered the living room and noticed the purse sitting on our couch.

It wasn't one of mine.

Fatigue momentarily dispelled I looked up to where Danny's door was then back to the strange handbag. In the end my curiosity won out, and I went through it.

The contents weren't similar to what Penny called her 'working purse'. No condoms, morning after pill case, and what makeup there was seemed random. Penny always carried specifically what she needed that night. Also extra earrings and a handful of other necessities along a similar vein.

Nor was it what I would expect from a looser working girl. Generally similar stuff, though just in lesser quality and more variety to suit the randomness of their customer base.

Instead the contents were perfectly normal. Some makeup, loose change, odds and ends, wallet, couple of tampons, keys, that kind of thing, which could only mean one thing.

Danny had a girlfriend.

One that apparently didn't password protect their phone. A fun fact I found when I picked it up. A quick look at the history revealed that they'd been in regular contact for some time. I didn't bother scrolling through them, just looking at the last few.

He called her from the house about a half hour after I left and talked for a few minutes. It didn't take Creole Bennie to figure out he either invited her over, or she talked him into letting her. Knowing Danny and how we left things, I would bet on the latter. And obviously that turned into staying the night.

Putting her phone and purse back exactly as I found them, I smiled happily. Danny was a good guy and it was nice to know he had someone to be with. Strange that he hadn't mentioned her yet or brought her over for dinner or something. Maybe he felt uncomfortable with it for some reason?

Ah, Annette, I thought as my eyes fell on her picture on the shelf. Yeah, I bet that would be awkward. Talking to me about my biological mother - and incidentally his deceased wife - around his new lady would definitely be at the top of the awkward list. But I didn't remember Annette, so it shouldn't have been too weird. Then again, Danny might see things differently. Did mystery woman know about Annette? Or me? I would think so but maybe she didn't, or more likely, hadn't realized the dynamic had changed.

Internally debating for a few moments I decided on doing nothing for now. Whatever his reasons, Danny hadn't felt up to talking to me about this. Then again, he might have planned to do it tonight before I left to help Jess. Which killed some of my accomplishment over the evening.

I'd talk to him about it in a few hours. I didn't see a strange car outside so it was a pretty safe bet she'd be here in the morning.

Decided, I quietly walked up the stairs to my room. A change of clothes and within moments I was asleep, comfortably snug in my cocoon of blankets. It seemed like I barely closed my eyes when the incessant beeping of my alarm woke me. The digital alarm clock informed me that it was almost ten am. Well, I wasn't likely to be up late tonight, so I guess that would be alright. Turning off the evil contraption, I picked up my phone, seeing I had a single text from Jess.

'It's beautiful. Not even mad you stole my car again last night.'

My groggy chuckle preceded me sending a quick 'You're welcome' back then forcing myself to attended to morning ablutions.

Sweetpants and t-shirt clad, I descended the stairs heading for the kitchen where I found Danny reading the Sunday paper.

"Morning, kiddo," he greeted me, looking over the top of his newspaper. "Long night?"

"Productive," I absently corrected, ignoring the searching manner of his eyes as they obviously looked me over for damage while I poured myself a cup of coffee.

From what I could see of Danny not covered by his paper, I could tell he wasn't as casually dressed as I was. Looking from his shoes to the living room, and the noticeable lack of strange purse, confirmed that he must have taken his girlfriend home this morning at some point while I was sleeping.

"But not as productive as yours, hmm?" I muttered from behind my cup of caffeine goodness.

"I don't know about that," Danny replied in a way that fooled neither of us. "I stayed in all night."

"Yes you did," I said knowingly. Not getting any reaction, I rolled my eyes, sitting across from him. "Soooo…."

"So?"

Fine, if he wanted to play it like that, I'd let it go. For now. Besides, there was more than one way to fleece a player.

"I was thinking we could do something today," I said, watching his reaction over the top of my coffee cup.

"What did you have in mind?" he asked, looking far too relieved for the topic direction.

"Several things," I answered vaguely, reeling him in. "I was looking around the house and noticed that we could use some repairs."

Frowning, Danny nodded. "Yeah, I've let some things go too long. But repairmen are expensive, Renée."

Which was Danny's way of saying he couldn't afford major repairs himself, and didn't want me going out and getting the money myself.

"Sure, but we could do some of it ourselves," I said. "Things like cleaning out the gutters and maybe a deep clean inside the house. I was also hoping we could also go grocery shopping. You might like living on cereal, microwave meals, and take out, but I don't. It would be nice to cook with a proper range of ingredients."

Seeing him wince at my comment, I continued. "We could go together, pick up things we both like. Make an afternoon of it. If there's time we could stop by a hardware store and look at paints. Figure out what we would like to use to repaint the inside of the house. It would save money if we did that together and it would be fun."

"We could stand to pick up a few things," Danny tentatively agreed with me. "You said if there was time. Did you have something going on this evening?"

"Nothing like that," I answered, smirking at his tone knowing full well he was talking about me hanging out with Jess. Pausing long enough for him to smile and pick up his own cup of coffee, I added, "I have a date."

Danny spitting out his drink all over his paper was completely worth it.

"You...how, date...what?" At least that was what I thought he said through his chokes, sputters, and coughs.

"Nu-huh," I said, smirking. "You get no more than that until you tell me about your friend."

"My friend?" Danny asked weakly.

"Hmm, yes. The one who stayed here last night," I clarified.

"I don't…"

"Found a purse on the couch when I got home."

"Well that could be…"

"Wasn't mine. One, I don't own a leather purse. Two, I don't use the same brand of tampons mystery woman does."

"Renée," Danny whined, face completely hidden in his hands at my comments.

"So?" I asked leadingly while relishing my victory and Danny's discomfort. "Who were you knocking boots with?"

After several long moments of embarrassment, Danny finally looked up. "It's not what you think."

"I'm kind of hoping it is, actually. I've already ruled out Call and Working Girl as you're not really the type," I said, enjoying the shifting shades of red on Danny's face. "I assumed she was either a girlfriend, or a booty call. Leaning toward girlfriend from the call history on her phone. Unless you're exceptionally gifted, and she likes it like that, no one's going to keep coming back as much as she has judging by the number of times you've called each other."

"Seriously, Renée?"

"I roomed with Penny for over a year," I reminded Danny. "And then there's Jess. Are you really surprised?"

"Not surprised," Danny sighed. "A little disturbed that you know so much about...this kind of thing."

"Call it what it is, Danny. Sex," I said watching him wince, blush, and I was pretty sure he tried swallowing his tongue, judging by his coughing fit. "And yes, between Jess and Penny, I was well educated on the topic, whether I wanted to be or not."

"So, tell me about your girlfriend and I'll tell you about my date later," I said playfully, adding wiggling eyebrows to further frustrate him.

Danny sighed seeming strangely reluctant, but he eventually caved in. "Her name is Lillian. She works at the city library downtown, and as you've guessed, we've kind of been seeing each other for a few months."

"Librarian, huh?" I asked, purposely leaving off 'naughty' in my question. I didn't think Danny's blood pressure could take it, though it was a near thing. I had definitely been hanging out with Jess too much recently. "Why so reluctant to tell me about her?"

Sighing again, Danny looked anywhere but at me. "I just…things have been rather rushed. You found me and then we went to New Orleans. We've only been back for a little while and things are still going fairly quickly. I just didn't want you to get the wrong idea."

"Danny," I started to say before pausing. "Danny, I don't expect you to be alone for the rest of your life. I doubt Annette would either."

Seeing his wince, complete with shoulders hunching told me I hit the nail on the head. "It's been some time, yes? Since Annette passed?"

Not saying anything, Danny nodded.

"I know losing her must have been hard," I said as sympathetically as I could, considering I had no memories of her. Only the things Danny's told me, and of those, I had enough from his own reactions to know how much she meant to him. "But everything you've told me about her tells me she was a special person. I doubt she would want you to pine for her, forever."

"I didn't want you to think I was trying to replace her," Danny whispered. "No one could ever replace Annette. Not as your mother or in any other way."

Getting up and moving around the table, I pulled Danny into a hug, the first I ever initiated. "I don't think that, and I don't think she would either. I think she would want you to be happy. If it makes you feel any better, I'm happy for you."

"That," Danny said, choking on his own words for a moment before he continued. "That actually means a lot. Sorry I didn't tell you about her."

"It's okay," I said, letting him go. "I understand and we're new to this open sharing thing, no?"

Laughing a bit at my not quite inaccurate joke, Danny nodded. "So, you left last night to help your cape friend, and ended up with a date? Should I be worried?"

"Probably," I chuckled, taking my seat after refilling our cups. "But probably not. My gentleman caller isn't a villain, just so you know. Just the opposite actually. Clockblocker asked me out."

"Okay, back up," Danny said, shaking his head. "How did you go from meeting with the Undersiders, to a Ward asking you out?"

Chuckling at his confusion, I told him about the meeting with the Undersiders, how badly it went and Circus suggesting we get a late breakfast at the Hard Luck. How Clockblocker and Gallant walked in and then Clockblocker's obvious - and cheesy - awkward flirting.

"Why can't you date a nice, normal boy that I can threaten properly?" Danny playfully whined. "Am I going to be doomed to never be able to play the overprotective father card? To get to threaten a young man interested in my daughter?"

"You can still threaten him," I pointed out, playing along. "I don't mind. I never had anyone do something like that for me. It sounds very dramatic. Just so you know, Clockblocker's power freezes things he touches in time. He's not physically immune to buckshot so I'm fairly sure you can still make something work."

"I'm so unprepared for these kinds of things," Danny continued to faux mope. "I don't even have a shotgun."

"If you really want one, I could probably get one for you fairly cheap. I know a guy who most likely knows someone local to get you one."

"Which wouldn't do me any good anyway," Danny sighed. "Since my daughter is, apparently, a well connected leg breaker."

"Stop it," I laughed, picking up a slice of uneaten toast from the table and throwing it at Danny. "I'm just a thief, mon cher. Get it right."

Dodging my projectile, Danny laughed with me. "The more I think about it, the more I actually feel sorry for the young man. He has no idea what he's getting into."

Rolling my eyes at his dramatics, I said, "He's probably not even going to show up, so I don't think there is anything for you or him to worry about. I'm sure there will be other opportunities to threaten potential suitors for my hand."

"Why wouldn't he show after he asked you out?" Danny asked, frowning.

"Because he's a hero," I answered flatly. Shrugging at his continued frown, I added, "I ran with a gang, Danny. It might have only been with them for a few months, but the PRT knows about it. Even after I left the Street Rats and tried going straight, the PRT still treated me with open suspicion. Even threatened me a few times. That was at least half the reason why I formed the Guild in the first place. If they were going to treat me like a criminal, then I was going to be one, and laugh while they tried to prove it."

"I'm a thief," I admitted uncaringly as I continued. "I robbed a few places and people. I did it making sure they couldn't conclusively prove that I was involved. I also gave a lot back to the community. A lot of people on both sides of the line benefited from what I was doing. Three lefts don't make a right, I get that, but you won't see me lose any sleep over it. However, the PRT sees things very differently. Very black and white with little care for those lacking in means to see the world in the same way."

Looking very conflicted, Danny nodded reluctantly to my points. "If you don't think he'll show, why…"

"Make a deal about it?" I finished.

At his nod, I sighed. Smiling guiltily, I gushed, "He said my eyes were gorgeous."

Danny's surprise quickly changed to a knowing smirk as he stared at me.

"Okay, yeah, it's cheesy and stupid," I admitted, feeling my cheeks heat up. "He was probably told to say something like that anyways, but he still got points for doing it convincingly. No one's ever said something like that to me before. Took me by surprise."

Danny's chuckles wasn't as bad as his smirk, but I bore through the embarrassment I earned. Never let it be said I couldn't take as well as I could give it.

Shaking his head, Danny said, "So you intend on waiting for him, just in case he wasn't put up to it, and manages to evade his supervisors to meet with you?"

"He earned his shot," I agreed.

"In that case," Danny said leadingly. "I guess we should get our day started before you need to get ready."

XxXGambitXxX

The rest of the day seemingly passed in a blink. We went grocery shopping where both of us playfully tried to impress our culinary preferences on the other. We didn't get a chance to look at paints, but we did spend quite a bit of time talking about the colors we wanted. It was nice, and highlighted our different desires and tastes. No decisions reached, but I thought we both walked away having enjoyed the easy conversation for what it was.

Getting back consisted of unloading our purchases, stocking the pantry and refrigerator. After that, setting up all the cleaning supplies we added to the household arsenal. Then, starting on a good pre clean. Conversation was light, which I appreciated, and had nothing to do with anything too heavy. After several hours, I called my part done, and head upstairs to take a shower.

It wasn't until I was halfway done that I allowed myself to consider that Clockblocker just might actually show up. That realization rode on the back of the question, what was I going to do if he did?

I mean, sure, I could play it off as nothing. But, what if it wasn't? He did seem kinda happy that I accepted and he even said he'd be there while Gallant was dragging him away.

Which just made this whole thing awkward. Surely the PRT wasn't going to let him hang out, much less actually date, a rogue with a shady past. Right? But then again, Clockblocker was kind of known for not taking the whole hero thing seriously according to the PHO boards.

Frowning, and more than a touched worried now, I finished. Toweling down I realized that I forgot my makeup. Sighing at the distraction, I wrapped my towel tightly around myself to protect my modesty and headed to my bedroom where I found surprisingly found Danny.

"Uh, hi?" I asked awkwardly.

"Renée," he greeted me looking a bit flushed and thankfully looking anywhere but at me. "I thought I would have more time."

"Time for what?" I asked cautiously.

Instead of answering, Danny moved aside revealing a beautiful old style vanity set against the wall. Sporting a dark oak looking finish, several drawers with intricate white handles, and crowned with a large circular mirror, it was probably one of the most beautiful pieces of furniture I'd even seen that wasn't in some rich person's house. Definitely far more than anything I'd ever owned. While it didn't look roughed up - just the opposite, it looked well cared for - it definitely had that 'used' feel to it. Not in a bad way, but in a way that said 'this wasn't a showpiece, but something someone loves'.

"This belonged to your mother, Annette," Danny said, looking uncomfortable, and yet happy.

Looking from the vanity to Danny and back, I didn't know exactly what to say or do, settling for raising an eyebrow hoping he understood.

Thankfully, he did as he explained. "Annette said that she had this in every bedroom she ever lived in since she was eight years old. Until she passed away, it was in our bedroom and she used it every day."

"Why?" I couldn't help but ask. "Why give this to me?"

"Annette would want you have it," Danny said, smiling sadly. "To use it like she did. I think she planned on giving it to you for your fourteenth birthday, but…"

Right. She died before I turned fourteen, and then I vanished.

"I had it set aside in the basement, but with your...work, and now boys, I thought it was long past time I brought this up for you," Danny finished lamely.

I smiled at his mention of 'boys'. He clearly hated the idea of me dating. How much of that was him being a father, and how much was his worry that what little time we had, would get shorter?

Walking closer, I ran my hand over the wood just appreciating what having this meant. I didn't remember Annette, but this right here was something that had once been hers. She sat in the little chair that actually matched the vanity. She did that every day, putting on her makeup since she was a kid.

"Is it strange that even though I can't remember her, I actually feel closer to her with this?" I asked softly.

"I don't think it's strange at all, Renée," Danny assured me, a soft smile forming on his lips.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'll just let you finish doing your thing."

Once Danny left, I pulled out the chair and sat before the large mirror. For several moments, I just let myself feel. I could almost see Annette sitting exactly where I was, doing her makeup. Next to her, a small version of me, asking questions and watching with an innocence and childlike wonder I'd never personally known. Seeing Annette's reflection softly smile at mini-me, just appreciating the mother daughter moment for what it was.

I never hated my amnesia as much as I did at this moment.

Swallowing thickly, I pulled my bag from where I laid it beside the bed, toward me. Taking out my tarot cards, I started shuffling them.

It was moments like this, that I seriously questioned what I was doing here. Before Danny found me, or rather, before Jess found Danny, I was happy. Not great happy, but okay happy. I had the Guild, Sam, and Penny. I had exciting work and all of New Orleans was my playground. I didn't care about my past, it wasn't constantly being thrown in my face. I didn't miss those memories. They didn't matter.

But here, in Brockton Bay, I didn't have the luxury of ignorance. I couldn't ignore my past. It was everywhere. In the air I breathed, the people I interacted with, just...everywhere. Things like this vanity, what it meant, hurt. It hurt because they were constant reminders of what I was missing. What was taken from me.

It was moments like this, I didn't know which was worse. Staying and working to recapture as much of my loss as I could, or leaving, and never looking back.

Done shuffling, I started laying down cards one by one. While the future was not fixed there was a flow to it. A...purpose to things. Sometimes the cards would let me glimpse it, and I needed to know before...before I let myself...

Shaking off those thoughts, I laid the first card down; far left, to represent me. Second position; next to the first, to answer why it was worth staying. Third position; next to the second, why it was worth leaving. Fourth position; continuing left to right beside third, my happiness if I stayed. Last in line, fifth position, my happiness if I left. Finally, the sixth and last card set below third position, what I should do.

I let my fingers trail along the cards. Feeling what there was to feel, letting it guide me through my questions. By that alone I could sense the flow, the purpose of things and how everything was leaning. Like threads in the tapestry, it was all tightly bound together. Each strand woven into another yet moving in the same direction. That was, until the last card.

"Well," I whispered almost inaudibly, fingers caressing the image in disbelief at how it related to the whole spread. How...contradictory. "Isn't that interesting."

Looking away from the card, but keeping my fingers on it, I turned to the mirror. My reflection stared back looking just as baffled as I felt. My pitch black sclera and blood red irises never more vivid to me than they were right now.

He said he liked my eyes. Thought they were pretty. But was that enough? Was one person's opinion enough to really throw the whole flow of events into question? It was like banking on an inside straight, when all you had to work with was a pair.

Then again, I reasoned, Sometimes, you don't get the cards you wanted or think you need, but that doesn't mean you can't win with the ones you did get. And, I'm a gambler. Sometimes, you just have to throw your dice, and hope for the best no matter what the odds say.

Snorting at my own logic, I leaned away. The same question rattling around in my head and no closer to an answer than I was before the reading.

It all came down to that simple question, didn't it? Should I stay, or should I go?

I didn't know the answer, but maybe, I wasn't supposed to. Maybe, this was one of those things where the answer didn't come from within, but from without.

Only one way to know for sure.

XxXGambitXxX

This was stupid. Here I was, standing on a sidewalk beside the street, waiting. I put a lot of effort into my appearance, which I just knew was going to be wasted. Nails, both finger and toes which no one but me would see, were freshly painted. My hair was nice, held back by a dragonfly hairclip on my right side. I wasn't even in my armor. Instead, I was dressed in my best - and most flattering - jeans and a nice top. I was even wearing low heels that went with my jeans, for fuck's sake. The only visible concession to my normal cape look, was my trenchcoat.

And here I was, all alone, on this deserted street, waiting for a hero I barely knew to arrive. Like that was going to happen. As if I was living in some kind of stupid story posted on the PHO or something.

Opening my pocket watch, I stared at the second hand as it happily ticked along, unceasing and uncaring, in its journey.

It was now officially six o'clock and the only sounds on the street around me were the wind as it completed it's own journey and the ticking of my watch.

Well, I guess that answered that. Taking a deep breath, I nodded to myself. Was there really any other way this was going to go? Of course not. I knew that. I knew what people thought of me. Heroes - and especially Wards - were no different here, than they were in Louisiana. I never should have gotten my hopes up. I knew better. Tarot reading was stupid anyways. No matter how right it's been for me in the past.

Giving the neighborhood around me one final look, I could tell there wasn't anyone watching except for the cab waiting down the street. Turning on my heel, I started my walk of shame toward it. Ignoring the look on the driver's face, I grabbed the door handle.

"Wait!"

Turning to the voice, I watched someone running toward me. For a moment, I didn't think he was shouting at me, until I noticed the mask he was wearing. It was identical to Clockblocker's, but left his mouth and jaw exposed. The rest of him was dressed in a pair of dark slacks and a nice shirt done in a similar theme to Clocks.

Watching him race toward me, I felt myself smile despite my thoughts just moments ago.

"Well spank my ass and fuck me cross eyed," Jess mumbled from the driver's seat of the cab. "He fucking showed up after all."