The alarm clock went off and the Father reached over to turn it off. He knew he had been dreaming again but he could only remember that he was standing in a field in France and he could feel the hot sun beating down on his face. He felt the amulet warm against his chest and he grasped it lovingly. He got out of bed. Today was the day that he made his rounds of Oradour and of some of the neighboring villages. But first he had a very special stop to make.
It did not take him long to get ready. He paused to take a look in the full length mirror. He was dressed in his distinctive black pants, shirt, and suit jacket. He adjusted his tie ever so slightly. He then walked over to his dresser and took a closer look at the mirror. He combed his gray hair, and then his beard. He noticed a stray hair from his mustache and trimmed that as well. He took one final look in the mirror to make sure that he was impeccably groomed. He wore no adornments on the outside. He did not need to. Everyone knew who he was. He felt the heat from the amulet. Soon. I will do it soon.
He put on his long outside coat and then walked back to his mirror again to make sure that he was groomed. He then walked down the hallway, silently counting his steps from his private chambers. The light was soft and warm. He nodded to the occasional guard and went outside.
The first rays of sunlight from the twin suns began to awaken Oradour. It was one of the larger towns for this region. It was a very clean town with tree-lined streets. All of the storefronts and houses were painted without a single blemish. There was no garbage and even the alleyways were clean. He waved to the other early-risers and the smell of fresh baking bread began to drift in the air. He walked down the main street alone. It was not unusual for him to do this. There was no need for bodyguards because quite simply there was no crime. Protectors roamed the streets and kept the peace. But no one noticed that he left no footprints in the freshly fallen snow.
Off in the distance he heard the clattering of horses' hooves on the cobblestone street. Around the corner came a small contingency of the Queen's army. He was not alarmed. They knew each other well. In fact, most of the officers married in to his extended Family.
The officer's pulled up their horses in front of him.
"Good morning Father!" said Major Ireland.
"Good day to you sir" warmly replied the Father. He immediately recognized Major Ireland. Major Ireland was the Queen's representative for this region of the O.Z. He oversaw the various outposts for the army. He was middle-aged and the Father knew that he had two sons who would soon be following in the Major's footsteps.
"I am just taking the usual tour so that I can make my monthly report to the Queen. As always, everything is in order. Are there any special issues that you would like to discuss?"
"No, no, Major. As you said, everything is in order. I was just off to have a light breakfast and then start my day," replied the Father.
"Of course, do not let me keep you. We can make arrangements to meet later. Have a good day Father." With that Major Ireland signaled to his officers that he was ready to continue and the group started off. Their horses' hooves echoed down the street.
The Father continued down the street until he reached a small nondescript house. The curtains still were closed over the front windows. He stood on the stoop and rang the doorbell. There was a short pause. The door opened and there stood Mrs. Derr.
"Oh! Good morning, Father. I wasn't expecting to see you so early this morning," she said.
"Forgive me for the early visit Mrs. Derr. Today will be a very busy day for me and I wanted to make sure that I was able to talk to you and Mr. Derr. May I come in?"
"But of course."
By now Mr. Derr appeared in the small foyer and he stood alongside and slightly behind his wife. "Good morning Father," he said in a low soft voice. The Father noticed that they both looked very tired and whether she realized it or not Mrs. Derr wringed her hands together. Mr. Derr placed one of his hands on her shoulder.
"I wanted to come by to tell you that today is the day that your daughter Rebecca will be redeemed." He looked at them lovingly. "I know that the past few months have been difficult but it will all come to fruition soon."
Mrs. Derr let out a small gasp and her eyes started to mist. She reached into her small apron pocket, pulled out a tissue and dabbed her eyes. Mr. Derr put his other hand on his wife's shoulder, and then pulled her in close to him. "Thank you Father."
The Father continued to look warmly at them. "Once Rebecca has been redeemed we will have the ceremony at the Church. I will have one of my aides come by later to help you prepare."
Mrs. Derr continued to weep but there was happiness in her eyes. Mr. Derr let her go and opened the door for the Father. Mr. Derr wished him well again and softly closed the door.
The Father stood on the stoop for a moment and inhaled deeply. Then he continued on down the street. It was going to be a perfect day.
Jill heard movement but it was still very dark and very early. She guessed that the sounds she heard meant that it was Jeb leaving for work. She made the mistake of letting her eyes close again. The next time she opened them there were rays of sunlight coming through the cracks of the curtain.
"Shit." The alarm clock on the nightstand showed 8:30. She didn't want to get up before dawn but she didn't want to wake up that long after sunrise either.
She grabbed her glasses and tried to smooth down her hair. She went to the bedroom door and listened. She didn't hear anything. She opened the door and went downstairs.
The smell of bacon and coffee met her at the kitchen. Cain stood over the stove, watching the bacon crackle, "Hey there sleepyhead."
"Morning. I'm sorry I slept in for so long." She saw empty mugs on the counter, picked one up and went over to the stove to get some coffee.
"It's okay. You've had a big couple of days." He didn't say anything about what happened last night. He poured her some coffee. Then he pulled out another skillet from a cupboard and started to warm it up. "How do you like your eggs?"
"Cooked hard on both sides."
His look said it all.
"Here, just let me fix them rather than try to explain it to you." She put her coffee back down on the counter and then proceeded to grab the flipper from Cain. He moved out of her way and leaned up against the counter. She took a spoon and put some of the bacon grease in the skillet. Then she cracked open two eggs. They sizzled as they hit the skillet. She smiled to herself. It took Craig two years to figure out how she liked her eggs, how was Cain going to figure it out in four days. Then her smiled disappeared. If you could only see what I got myself in to now.
"What's wrong?" Cain noticed the smile that disappeared from her face.
"Oh. Nothing." She forced a smile and changed the subject. "I don't like them runny, or even just dippy. They have to be a little harder than just dippy." She stopped herself. She just realized that she was rambling on about the various states of dippiness.
Cain rolled his eyes, "I never met anyone who was so particular about their eggs."
They finished breakfast and Jill went upstairs to get dressed.
Jill went downstairs and found Cain looking at a newspaper. "So what's on the agenda today?"
He put it down and looked at her. She had on the shirt and pants he bought her yesterday. They fit a little loose but she wore them well. It was the first time he saw her hair styled too. He never saw a woman with that short of hair but he found himself liking it. It suited her. Snap out of it. He willed himself to concentrate on what he had to tell her next. He didn't think that she was going to like it.
"We have to go to the 9th Street Precinct."
"Okay, I'm ready to go whenever you are. Are you going to follow up on the report that you made last night?" She went to the closet to get her boots.
"Not exactly Jill, it's not that simple."
She pulled out her boots and sat down in one of the chairs. "What do you mean it's not that simple?" Her eyebrows furled in now typical fashion.
"I was talking with Jeb after you went to bed. While I was away the Queen passed a law ordering all outworlders to register with the government. I didn't hear about, being so far away." He paused, "Look, if I had known about it earlier I would've told you."
Jill looked down at her boots and opened up the laces. Cain wasn't sure how she was taking the news.
"And if I don't?" the edge in her voice came back.
"If you're caught they'll throw you in jail." She continued to put her boots on.
"And they'll throw me in jail for aiding an unregistered outworlder."
That made Jill's head snap to attention. She threw herself back into the chair. Damn it.
"Does anyone else have to register?"
"No. It's just outworlders."
Jill ran her hand through her hair and held it there for a moment. She always had a certain amount of mistrust about people. It went back to her childhood and it had always been tough to get away from. She had managed to suppress that nagging voice so far. She didn't have much of a choice when she first woke up in this world. But now that nagging voice roared back to life with a vengeance. You really don't know this Cain or his son. He's taken care of you and you've even started to fall a little for those blue eyes of his. But he's left you alone, twice. Both times people have attempted to break in. Now you get to "register". She dropped her hand to the arm of the chair and stared at him.
Cain felt the heat from those brown eyes burning in to him. Her face was hard and he knew that she was doubting him. He started to sense it last night after he came home, after the prowler.
He leaned forward in his chair and let his eyes meet hers. "Jill. I know that it's hard but you have to trust me."
His words struck her. It was the first time that anyone in a long time said them.
"Last night you told me that if anyone came from the Precinct to look around I was to go upstairs. What happened to 'I don't want to advertise that you're here?'"
Cain continued. "I know what I told you last night. But I have to uphold the law." It's my duty, Jill; you've got to understand that. "And that means that I need to get you registered. After that we'll go to the palace. There are people that may be able to explain what's going on," he paused, "If nothing else, you'll be safer there."
The only thing that Jill said was her usual, "Okay," but her look said it all, for now.
Given that it was mid-morning Central City was fully awake. It was as chaotic as it was when they first arrived. As they walked down the street they came upon the tavern where Cain bought their supper from the night before. Jill looked up at the sign and stopped in her tracks.
"That's where I bought our supper." Cain paused, "You do have taverns don't you?"
Jill continued to look at the sign. She cocked her head. Where have I seen that before?
"Oh, yeah. We have taverns but we just call them bars. There's something about that sign that strikes me funny."
It was a black wooden sign that Jill was staring at. It was ornately carved with golden lettering and hung from two wrought iron chains. The symbol that she was staring at looked like the letter Z on its side, with a small vertical line in the middle of it. Beneath the symbol was the word "Wolfsangel".
"That's the name of the tavern, Wolfsangel." Cain was growing concerned that they might be starting to draw attention just standing there in the middle of the sidewalk. "Jill, what is it?"
"I can't remember something and it's starting to piss me off. I swear I've seen that symbol somewhere before." She took one last look. "Let's get going. Maybe it'll come to me later when I'm not thinking about it." She started on ahead. Cain looked at the sign and did his best to memorize it. He always frequented that tavern and nothing about it ever gave him any concern; until now. Seeing Jill standing there, staring at the sign made him feel uneasy. He took one last parting glance and walked fast to catch up to her.
The 9th Street Precinct was an imposing building and was located slightly back from the street. It was built of stone, steel, and glass and was six stories tall. Cain told Jill that it was one of the newer buildings, built just before the Witch's reign. The building that had been there before had to be razed due to a fire. The owner decided not to rebuild and the city purchased the land, built the new precinct and consolidated two other ones. They went up one set of stone steps from the street. The steps led up to a flat area where there were a few trees, benches, and two flanking fountains. The parquet walkway went between the two fountains and led them to the twin steel and glass doors of the Precinct. A mixture of civilians, Tin Men, and other city workers busily went in and out of the building.
Cain opened the door for her and they went inside. It was a large lobby and the sunlight coming through the large front windows warmed it nicely. The floor was of dark gray stone and it complimented the golden wood columns and brass fixtures. Towards the other end there were office doors and elevators. Guards stood nearby watching all who entered and left. Jill saw that they wore their guns out in the open. There was a large four sided reception desk in the middle of the lobby and Cain headed towards it. There was an older woman busily answering the phone, directing visitors, and shuffling papers.
Cain took off his hat, "Good morning Linda." Linda looked up from her typewriter and saw Cain standing in front of her desk. Obviously she did not recognize Jill and she raised an eyebrow when she took note of her. "Why, good morning Major Cain. It's been a long time."
"Yeah, it has been Linda. Do you know if Sergeant Costello is in?"
"I did see him come in this morning. Wait a moment and I'll ring Denise to make sure that he's around." Linda turned away from them and proceeded to dial a number on the telephone.
Cain turned to Jill and said, "Sergeant Costello is a good man. He'll be able to tell us if there's anything odd going on in or around the city." Jill just nodded and kept looking around. She grew hot in her jacket and took it off. She turned back around when she heard Linda speak.
"Major Cain, Denise tells me that Sergeant Costello is in. She already told him that it was you who was looking for him. His department is on the fourth floor, to your left after you get off the elevator. Oh, and she has to sign the logbook." Linda reached up on the counter and shoved the visitor's register and pen at Jill. Jill scowled at her, signed her name and then shoved the book back at her.
Cain ignored the whole little episode. "Thanks Linda, and take care of yourself" he told her. "You too," she answered as she picked up the telephone which just rang again. Out of the corner of her eye Jill saw that Linda was looking at her warily.
They didn't have to wait long for an elevator and they had no problems finding Sergeant Costello's office.
In fact, Sergeant Costello did not wait for Cain and Jill to get to his office. As soon as he saw them walk in to the department he practically ran up to them. "Cain! How you've been!" and proceeded to give him a bear hug. Cain returned the hug and smiled warmly at him. Sergeant Costello was a very large, well-built man. He had a dark complexion with short, black, curly hair, and dark deep set eyes. Other than a few gray hairs on his temples you would never know how much older he was. He too carried an open gun.
"What brings you here to the Precinct, Cain?" and just after he said it he saw Jill. She had been standing behind Cain during the entire hug-fest. Those dark eyes looked at her in the same way that Cain's blue eyes took her in for the first time. For a moment his eyes fixated on her pink jacket and then took in the rest of her. "You're not from around here are you?" he gruffly said to her.
I might as well hang a fucking neon sign over my head that says "I'm Not From Here" she thought and then it would be over with. She was getting a little tired of all the eyebrow raising and the once-overs. At least the Sergeant had enough balls to come out and say it though.
Before he had a chance to say anything else, Jill marched up to him, held out her right hand again and said, "No sir, I am not from around here, but it's a pleasure to meet you anyway. My name is Jill Wilkins." She didn't care if she sounded sarcastic or not.
As Sergeant Costello shook her hand, he said, "I'm sorry Miss Wilkins, I didn't mean to insult you if I did. I'm Sergeant Costello." Jill didn't say anything but she did upturn her mouth a little and forced a smile. It was as close to as an "apology accepted" as he was going to get.
It was noisy in the department and they walked in between rows of desks to get to the Sergeant's office. Jill thought that it looked like a typical police department from any generic cops and robbers movie. Cain turned to Sergeant Costello and asked, "Is there somewhere Jill could go while we talk?" The Sergeant thought for a moment and said, "I'll have Petey look after her. You don't know him since he came on to the force after you left town. So, he's a rookie but she'll be fine as long as they stay in here. Besides he's fascinated with outerworld stuff so he'll be like a kid in a candy shop. I'll go get him." He patted Cain on the shoulder as he walked out the door.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Jill glared at Cain and hissed loudly, "What do you mean, 'While we talk'? Is it that top secret that I can't be in here too?"
Cain knew that she'd be angry. "Jill, Sergeant Costello might be more willing to speak freely if you weren't around. It didn't take him long to figure out that you were an outworlder did it?" Jill stopped her glaring. "If I'm going to be asking him questions about that outworlder law, what happened back at the cabin, and the prowler, do you think he's going to be that open in front of you?"
Jill crossed her arms and sighed with resignation. "Fine." She rolled her eyes, "I'll be sure to keep Petey amused."
"Petey" Staggart was a very young, red-headed, and very freckled Tin Man. Once Sergeant Costello introduced Jill to him and let him know that she was an outworlder, Petey practically started to drag her back to his desk out of excitement. As she was dragged off she made it a point to give Cain one last parting glare.
An hour had passed by the time that Cain and Sergeant Costello came back to Petey's desk. Jill was slouched back in his visitor's chair, one hand holding up her head. Petey was twirling around and around in his chair, arms raised in the air, totally oblivious to the world. He had discovered the thrill of listening to rock music from an I-Pod.
"PETEY! WHAT IN THE GODS' NAME ARE YOU DOING?!" bellowed Sergeant Costello.
Petey stopped so abruptly he nearly fell out of his chair. He fumbled the I-Pod and he managed to pull the earplugs out of his ears. The group, Disturbed, played loudly.
"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO PLAY WITH EVIDENCE?!" Sergeant Costello bellowed again. Everyone in the department paused and went silent for a moment, then they went back to their work. It was obvious that Petey got yelled at on a frequent basis.
"Sorry Sarge." He fumbled the I-Pod again, and Jill reached over and just took it from him. She turned it off and placed it back down on his desk.
Cain noticed that Petey's desk was a mess of gadgets from the outerworld. He must have driven Jill nuts he thought to himself.
Sergeant Costello calmed down about one notch. "Petey, make yourself useful and take Cain and Jill down to the Registration Office." He turned to Cain and gave him one last handshake, "Take care of yourself and stay out of trouble." He looked concerned and Cain noticed it all too easily, "I will old friend." Sergeant Costello then turned to Jill and told her, "It was nice to meet you Miss Wilkins. You take care of yourself as well."
Jill looked at him, and saw that same look of concern that he gave to Cain. "Thanks. You too." She wondered what Cain found out but realized she was going to have to wait a little while yet.
"You guys ready?" Petey asked both of them. Cain nodded and they followed him out of the department. Sergeant Costello looked at all the stuff that Petey had on his desk and sighed. But then a small black object caught his eye and he picked it up. He rotated it around a couple of times but didn't recognize the symbol. It was the letter Z on its side with a vertical line down the middle of it. He put it back down, went back to his office, and shut the door. He looked out the window for a long time.
Cain and Jill had to wait in the Registration Office's reception area for over half-an-hour before someone saw them. Unfortunately there was no one else in the there except for Petey. He took Sergeant Costello's order to take them to the Registration Office to also mean "keep them company." He talked incessantly and constantly pulled outworlder items, mostly trinkets, from his vest pockets and asked Jill about them. Cain could tell that Jill was about ready to strangle him and he was relieved when they were finally ushered in to a back office.
The actual application process took another half-an-hour or so. She was asked the typical questions like name, age, birth date, place of birth, etc. Place of birth? That was a joke she thought to herself but she answered it anyway. The registrar wrote it down without questioning it though. Cain also had to give his information since he had been keeping her and he grudgingly did so. At one point Jill was taken to another room and when she came back she was wiping black ink off of her fingers.
The registrar finished looking over her application and typed out some information on a small card. It was about the size of an index card. She was told to keep it and not to lose it. It was her temporary registration until her actual registration was sent to Cain's house.
They got up to leave and Jill finally couldn't stand it anymore. She looked at the name plate on the desk. "Mr. Garrett." He was still fiddling with some papers and seemed to ignore her. "Excuse me, Mr. Garrett," she said a little louder. He looked up at her. "So how many quote-en-quote true outworlders have you registered since the law went into effect?" He took off his glasses and replied, "Just one." She stared at him incredulously. "Do you mean just one as in one other person besides me, or just one, as in, I'm the only one?" In a very matter-of-factly voice he replied, "Just you, you're the first one. The ones I previously registered had already been here before the date of the order. But you're the first true one to register since then."
Jill wanted to rip in to Mr. Garrett even though it wasn't his fault. "Thank you Mr. Garrett," she said sternly. Cain was half blocking the doorway and she angrily shoved past him.
Cain followed after her. She was in an angry state of silence for the entire elevator ride. She marched outside and finally Cain grabbed her arm, "Jill, would you wait up?" Her face twisted in anger and his eyes met hers. He didn't back down. She felt people starting to stare so she violently shook her arm free of Cain's grip and went over to sit on one of the benches. Cain sat down next to her. The suns were high and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Jill looked up at them.
"I'm sorry Cain. I'm just pissed off that in this whole f'ing city I'm the only one who's actually had to register and I'm sick and tired of getting the look-overs."
Cain looked over at her and wished he could say something to make her feel better but nothing came out. He felt like he had let her down. He told her that they would find answers here and so far the only thing he had accomplished was to raise more questions and leave her in danger, twice.
"Why don't we get something to eat and I can tell you what Sergeant Costello and I talked about."
She looked over at him. His eyes had softened again. It was hard for her to stay angry for any period of time let alone when someone was giving her the look like he was giving her.
"Alright, let's go. You get first pick on where we eat," she said. They started to walk downtown.
Meanwhile Petey was back at the Registration Office. Some were leaving for lunch and he offered to pick up the intercompany mail on the way out. He looked over his shoulder, saw no one and ducked into Mr. Garrett's office. He quickly looked through some papers and found Jill's application. He tucked it in between some of the intercompany mail. He then left the Registration Office and headed upstairs.
In one hand DG held her wool scarf and she used the other to knock on Azkadellia's wooden door, "Hey Az! It's me, DG!"
She was dressed in a simple, but long short hair fur coat. It was incredibly warm and DG regretted putting it on. She felt a small bead of sweat roll down alongside her hairline. But she couldn't bring herself to ask Jeb to hold it for her. He had been assigned as their protection detail for their little shopping excursion this afternoon. He didn't look happy but she thought that he was sucking it up rather well.
It seemed like forever but they heard movement and Az opened the door. She was dressed in a similar simple long coat and scarf. "Ready?," asked DG. Az simply nodded and then took notice of Jeb who was standing of to the back side of DG.
"Hello Jeb. I heard that your dad was back in town. How's he doing?" she asked him.
DG's head snapped around and she looked at Azkadellia. "Where did you hear that?"
"Dr. Addison told me. I thought that you already knew." She answered simply.
"No, no I didn't." DG knew that Cain took some time off but thought that he wasn't due back for a while yet. She looked quizzically over at Jeb, "Jeb didn't say anything to me on our way here."
Jeb shrugged his shoulders in defeat. He knew that he was going to be damned whether he told DG or not that his dad was back in town. He thought more to himself, wait until she hears he's hanging out with another outworlder.
In order to change the subject he asked, "Are you two ready to go?" They both nodded and went off to go downtown.