The entire room turns to face the new guy in various states of shock. Ryder, however, doesn't flinch, even when Kitty scowls at him, saying, "You were a bodyguard. Are you sure you don't want a weapon?"

Ryder glowers right back at her. "I told you that in confidentiality."

Kitty has the grace to look abashed. "I'm sorry. I didn't think that you would mind. It's not a degrading line of work in your time, is it?"

Jake's not sure whether the red in Ryder's face is from embarrassment or fury. Hastily, he shifts his body so that he's facing the new guy. "Hey, in our time, bodyguards are pretty kickass. Just sayin'."

The red in Ryder's face slowly washes away. "Can't I try a pacifist worldview for once?" he asks plaintively.

Kitty nods, folding her arms across her chest stubbornly. "And here I'd thought we'd gained a great asset," she snipes. "Instead, we have a liability on its way to becoming an NPC."

"Don't take it personally," Jake whispers immediately. "She's just upset."

"I'd still like to visit the Guild," Ryder interjects a bit loudly.

Kitty just nods before addressing Joe again. "We also need an entire replacement of the medical bay. Three more medical beds would be great, with all their accompanying technologies—heart monitors and such, you know the drill. Is 24 hours enough time for you to compile it all?"

Joe gives her another salute. "Should be fine."

Kitty faces the rest of the room again. "Anybody have any specific requests?"

"Sticks and stones may break my bones," Brittany chirrups, "But whips and chains excite me."

Joe smiles good-naturedly. "That's not quite my expertise; you're going to have to ask Nick and Jeff about that."

There's a dissenting "Hey!" from off-screen.

Sam pipes up, "I could use another semiautomatic pistol. Glock 17s should be fine." And not subtly at all, he glances at Ryder for approval. Ryder doesn't notice, too busy staring at the ground.

"My sewing machine isn't running as efficiently as it could," Unique adds as an afterthought. "Could you guys just have Jeff fix me up a new one?"

Joe flashes her a thumbs-up. "Alright, we good to go?"

Kitty glances over the room, then salutes Joe. "Good to go, Joe. See you tomorrow." As the line terminates, she turns back to the Afterlife Battlefront. "Any last questions before we adjourn today's meeting? Jake, be sure to answer any of the noob's questions afterwards." After a moment's silence, she slaps the piano top. "Meeting adjourned. I will see you all tomorrow on the auditorium stage. Don't be late."

-o-o-o-o-

Ryder leaves fairly quickly, and it's not until an hour later that Jake finds him in the cafeteria. "Wait up, man!" he calls. "You have questions and I have answers."

Ryder whirls around; Jake's taken aback by the stormy expression on his face. "Oh I have questions," he grits out. "You sure you're willing to answer them all?"

Jake holds up his hands in a placating manner. "As much as I can, man. I swear."

Ryder shoves his hands in his pockets—at least, he tries to, except it's almost as if his left arm has directional trouble. After two more frustrated misses, Ryder finally manages to shove his left hand into his pant pocket. "That Kitty girl," he growls. "What is up with her?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Why else would I be asking?"

Jacob casually slings an arm around the new guy's shoulder and draws him into a quieter corner of the cafeteria. There's always the possibility that Tina might be hanging around in the shadows, but hopefully the dull roar of a thousand other conversations going on at the same time should be enough to drown out anything too incriminating. "I can answer that," he responds, "But listen: this is a breach in Kitty's confidentiality. That tidbit about the bodyguard is nothing compared to what I'm about to tell you, okay? So don't let this slip, otherwise she'll have my head."

Ryder still looks fairly upset, but he folds his arms stubbornly over his chest and nods once.

"Kitty… has trouble with guys. Has she told you that she was raped?"

Ryder nods stiffly.

"Twice?"

Ryder freezes.

Jake nods. "By the same asshole. The first time at a party. She called the cops afterwards and a lot of her classmates got arrested; that's why her first high school alienated her. She told her father too—her mother had died years ago, so he was her only family. Only he didn't believe her either, because the asshole that raped her, he was like the poster child for their tiny town, and Kitty? She was nothing." Jake pauses to catch his breath before continuing. "The second time was a couple months later. She confronted him after cheerleading practice in the gym. There were students around, dammit. They heard her begging him to stop. But they shut up when he threatened them later, and they kept treating her like shit. Especially the football team."

Jake has to stop there. The guilt that washes over him is overwhelming. He has to hold his head in his hands to keep himself together for a while.

Ryder ventures, "Did you know her? I mean, back then."

"We had a couple dance classes together," Jake says vaguely. "We paired up a lot, and one day, she just started calling me… and I just talked to her. I didn't get the full story until she transferred to my school. Their football team came over for a game and they… they just tore her to shreds."

"So… she has people issues," Ryder spells out slowly.

Jake hesitates. "Maybe. Not so much anymore." He laughs mirthlessly. "She has her own way of dealing. In her eyes, Sam's a small child. Brody's a watch dog. Artie's a walking encyclopedia. Blaine's gay."

"He isn't?"

"I don't know. That's a skeleton in his closet that we're respectfully not prying into until he opens it up himself. You know, Kitty's just like us," say Jake solemnly. "She's still struggling with her own skeletons, and for the most part, they're still in the closet. But we all know that every one of us is still fighting, and we respect him or her for it. Got it?"

Again, Ryder nods, glancing down at his left arm. Then, "About that… Lemme tell you a secret of my own."

For two years, her life was a living hell. She had no way out. Nobody stood up for her; she was the only one fighting for herself. In the end, she stood tall and proud and very, very alone."

Ryder seems hesitant to ask a question, so Jake gives him a wordless go-ahead. "Did she…" Ryder starts. "Did she commit suicide?"

"Nah, man," he chuckles humorlessly. "Everyone at the Afterlife Battlefront has gone through the worst that life has to offer; but every time we were knocked down, we got right back up. We weren't the ones to end our lives; they were ended by the same damn universe that abused us in the first place, yeah?" He punches Ryder on the shoulder for confirmation.

After a moment, Ryder nods slowly.