Acumen

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

The assigned team gets ready for the mission and makes plans before heading into Boston

Marie nervously pushed her hair behind an ear, the bracelets on her arm jangling softly. She'd begun to wonder if she'd done the right thing calling in Scott and the X-Men - after all, the situation between her and Irene was personal. Of course, when she'd tried to personally handle it the last time around, things hadn't gone so well. She knew that Irene had probably held back information from her when telling her about the threat, but she hadn't felt able to ignore the woman's warnings and Scott had seemed to support the idea of checking things out. With a sigh, Marie stopped her hand in mid air as it moved to push a phantom strand of hair out of her face, instead clasping both hands together behind her back. It didn't help that she felt like she was going on this mission exposed, the usual leathers replaced by a tight red top and short black skirt.

"I honestly think we should get the normal mission gear changed to this permenantly. I mean, I know those shoes would be a bitch to fit it, but the potential for defusing combat situations more than makes up for it, eh?" Garrison's voice was pitched low enough that only the two of them could hear what he was saying. "Seriously, it's a kind of Versace things; says that we can fight evil but can also look fabulous while doing it."

Behind the pair the figure seated in the overstuffed armchair fought to keep from sighing in impatience. Jennie was much more comfortable in her short black skirt and grey top than Marie was in her own club gear, as this was what Jennie wore practically every weekend. The girl hoped that some day soon she would actually get to wear a uniform on a mission, as this would be her second without one.

But then again, they were letting her go on this one, for which she was grateful. Having nothing to add to the conversation, Jennie was content to sit back and observe.

Lorna wandered in, muttering to herself and trying to untangle her hair from her earring. Her club clothes were more form fitting than revealing, black leather pants riding low on her hips and asymmetrical electric blue top covering her from right wrist to collar bone. A thick gold spiral bracelet wound around her upper left arm, trembling like a live thing as she grumbled. The point, of course, was to cover the scars and it nearly managed. It was only when she finally freed the earring, flinging it on the ground in the process, and had to pick it up that her shirt rode up enough to expose the ugly mottled flesh on her back. "You know, most people don't require missions to get their friends to a club. This is a sign that we're all severely under socialized. Except for Jennie."

"Hey now!" Clarice protested from where she was attempting to lace up her knee-high black boots. "I'm just happy that I get to wear clothing at this club." She had on a short pleated plaid schoolgirl skirt with bondage straps on the back and a black sparkley top. Black leather cuffs on each wrist helped complete the image. Clarice wasn't usually so punk anyomre, but she wanted to wear real shoes. Just in case.

"I think it is just you, Lorna." Marie-Ange added. "I have not been to this club, but it is not as if I have not been out before.." In brown suede pants, a replacement pair for the ones she'd had before, and a cream colored silk tanktop, like Lorna, her club clothes were less about skin then shape. That and ensuring that if anything untoward happened, that nothing covered the tattoo circling her upper arm.

"Clubs aren't about socializing. Clubbing is mating as rendered by interpretive dance." Garrison observed. Unlike the ladies, he was able to get by on jeans, a plain black shirt and some hair gel. Frankly, guys had a much lower bar to get into clubs, and a physique like his was welcome everywhere. Still, it's not like he didn't appreciate the challenges the women faced, especially in their outfits. The ladies were hot, no question about that, and surprisingly, each in their own way.

He ran his knuckle down Marie's spine, the contact through the fabric to try and reassure her. Wearing that kind of outfit was a major step from Marie, and the issues had more to do with safety than any lack of self-confidence. "Speaking of, you got a plan for this little caper, or is it just an excuse to drop a couple of hundred at the mall and claim the clothes as a 'business expense' to Xavier?"

Marie smiled at Kane, letting out a breath and trying to release the tenseness in her body. "Unfortunately, we don't know a whole lot going in. Our source directed us at this club, but we don't know for sure that we've found the right one - we are pretty sure though," Marie said with a nod at MA. "So the next step is to go in as unobtrusively as we can and check things out - supposedly there's information in a safe about a program that will be dangerous for all mutants. If we find something guarded, it's a good bet that we've found what we're looking for."

Lorna leaned against Jennie's chair, fingers drumming on the back. "Oh happy day, guards. Do we know what sort of form the information takes? I'm hoping for a nice easy to wipe Flash drive myself. Technology makes everything more fun."

"And if all else fails, you can take the safe." Jennie said, shoving her hands into the sides of the chair cushion to keep for brushing at her hair for the eleven-thousandth time. Nerves. Definitely nerves. It had taken her entirely too long to get ready. Checking and re-checking her makeup. Changing her outfit several times until it felt "right." Last time it had been this bad was before she robbed a casino. Jennie was starting to become amazed at how much her brief foray into supervilliany mirrored her first few missions with the X-Men.

"Safes are heavy," Clarice replied, doubting she could actually teleport it. "Our best bet is to crack it open there if we can. Subtle," which would also be her job if push came to shove. Thank goodness there was basically no way a nightclub safe would be as secure as the casino vault. She had enough of those, thank you very much.

"I would really prefer if we didn't have to steal a safe. Not to nitpick, but I'm pretty sure that getting nailed for theft will cost me my benefit package, and it's not like we can say we picked it up by accident." Kane pointed out. His ultimate backup plan if things completely went wrong was to pull the FBI identification and become very public very quickly. However, that would raise an awful lot of questions, and if it hadn't been Marie asking, he would have been much slower in agreeing to get involved.

Lorna gave Garrison an odd look, like she wasn't quite sure he was on the same playbook as the rest of them "Whereas we can claim the files just fell into our hands like mana from heaven? We're kinda always doing something illegal." Sometimes she wasn't certain that he aware that for the majority of them, the right side of the law was basically just a passing acquaintance. "Clarice can crack it, failing that I'll take it apart. Marie, were you thinking the rest of you can keep an eye out for us? As Garrison says, it's probably better if we don't have the foreign cop breaking into back rooms."

Brown eyes flickered over to Marie-Ange before meeting Lorna's gaze. "Ah was thinking more along the lines of creating a bit of a...distraction. A lover's quarrel on the dance floor, unless someone has a better idea." Or an objection. She leaned gently into Garrison's arm, where it was still resting on her back.

"I think that can be arranged." Marie-Ange answered. "I should change shirts. I like this one, and I brought another just in case. Very little attracts attention like a cat fight except a cat fight where one of the girls almost loses her top." She laughed quietly, and looked at Marie. "So, do you think that I should be the jilted ex-girlfriend, or should Garrison just look at the wrong woman?"


The mission goes according to plan...well...mostly...

Jennie sighed to herself. This was the second mission she'd been allowed to come on. Unfortunately, perhaps because of karmic retribution due to her hissy fit on the last one, she was given the thrilling task of ..."waiting in the car until we call you."

She wasn't sure what she pictured when she signed up for the team. All of the thrilling heroics she'd ever really witnessed were when her ass needed saving. And she wasn't even conscious for both of them. But waiting in the car was definitely not one of them.

Still.

She caught sight of her reflection in the review mirror. The kohl smudged around her eyes made her blue eyes brighter. Blue, and not yellow. The hand that drummed on the steering wheel was tipped with slightly chewed pink nails, and not razor-sharp claws.

Jennie would wait in a car a thousand times if it meant that no one else ended up strapped to a table, terrified and alone. Even if it meant boredom. She checked the time on her cellphone fior the tenth time in so many minutes and frowned.

"Anytime now, guys."

-----

"Ok, let's get this going," Marie muttered to Garrison. The two had moved to a position in the center of the dance floor, hoping it would help them grab enough attention to buy Lorna and Clarice a few minutes to slip unnoticed into the back. Irene better have given them good information after all the trouble they'd gone through. The brunette took another deep breath then shoved Garrison into the person standing behind him as Marie-Ange walked by. "Did you just look at her ass?" Marie screeched out.

"No, baby. You know I got no time for sluts." Clubbing arguments all went the same way, in pretty much every accent and language in every place Garrison had been. Dragging both attention and the bouncers, without getting the cops involved, was going to take something particularly loutish. He'd ordered a shot earlier, and had splashed the rum on his face, stinging his eyes but giving himself a ripe, alcoholic reek for later.

"Slut!?" On cue, Marie-Ange spun on her heel and gave Garrison a cold stare. "At least I am -dressed-." She looked at Marie in that assessing up-and-down dismissive look that women had perfected for years, and snorted. "And I do not have -ridiculous-hair."

"Are you gonna let her talk to me like that?" Marie spun to face Marie-Ange and tossed her drink in the redhead's face. "Bitch. At least Ah have a man. Maybe if you dressed better, you'd have your own and stop trying to steal mine."

"Oh, we have to do this shit again." Garrison fake groaned, taking a moment to look at the crowd. People were noticing; a hot redhead about to throw down on a tight bodied dyejob was high entertainment for this crowd, but no bouncers had taken notice yet.

Had this been a real fight, with anyone but Marie, a slap would have been the next step after having a drink thrown in her face. But that was a terrible idea, and so Marie-Ange went to the next most stereotypical thing she could think of. She swung her purse at Marie's face. "How stupid can you be?" She sniped. "I do not want your stupid boyfriend!"

Marie took a moment to look properly stupefied and then tottered purposefully on her heels. "Oh that's clever," Marie said, reaching out to grab a hold of Marie-Ange's shirt. "Surely you can come up with something better than calling us stupid, you cow." Taking a step back, there was a loud ripping sound and several more people started paying attention to what was happening between the girls.

That was starting to get the attention. Not enough though. One of the bouncers was starting to move through the crowd as the two girls squared off. Garrison positioned himself just off to the side, ready to intercept him once he reached the circle where Marie-Ange and Marie were ready to square off.

If she had been in a real fight, Marie-Ange wouldn't have said anything back, just started punching. Instead, she looked down at her shirt, now ripped down the front and one sleeve, and reached up to grab Marie by the hair, and yank her forward. "Watch my right arm.." she muttered, and followed it with an immediate "BITCH!" to cover the instructions.

Marie twisted carefully to avoid skin contact, making a loud cry of pain that was mostly feigned as she moved closer to Marie-Ange. "You're going down!" she yelled, aiming her elbow at the side of the redhead's stomach that was still covered in material. The girls fight seemed to have finally escalated to the point where they warranted an intervention and the bouncers that had started moving slowly towards them picked up the pace.

One of the bouncers reached out to grab Marie by the arm, and Garrison shoved him back, roughly. He didn't want any of them hurt by her powers, or her stuck with a club kid in her head by accident. Two girls fighting merited a couple of bouncers, but a broadshouldered guy stepping into the mix escalated things, as more detached from the door and made a beeline for Kane and the girls.

"As much of a wet dream as this is, clear out soon before you guys get grabbed. I'll make sure lots of them are on hand to throw me out." Kane muttered as he faked struggled with them.

Marie nodded, then twisted her face into her best impression of an angry drunk. "You get him sugah, show him how a real man takes care of his girl." As Garrison continued to struggle, she took a step back, taking advantage of the eyes shifting from her to him.

Internally, Marie-Ange was fighting the urge to laugh. But giggling would wreck the little show they'd put on, and so instead she followed Marie's lead, doing her best to melt into the crowd and make her way to somewhere she could disappear for a few minutes - the women's bathroom. There, too, she could slip out of the high heels she'd worn, and change shirts, and take down her hair, and effectively walk out looking as different as possible.

Garrison, on the other hand, had drawn all eyes to him by pushing one of the bouncers back again.

"Fuck you, man. Get your hands off me."

"It's time to leave now." The bouncer growled.

"This is fucking bullshit. Some drunk bitch attacks my girl and you're fuckin' throwing me out? Bullshit!" Garrison pushed him away and to the mounting entertainment of the crowd, shoved to the bar and vaulted on top of it. "Oh, big fucking man, right! Come and get me, you fuck! Look, everybody! Look at the bad guy, right here!" He scooped a drink up from beside his foot. "Everyone say hi to the bad guy!"

The bouncers were swarming, only a single one at the door not coming to get Kane. Garrison ran several paces along the bar as they tried to grab him, kicking over the glasses. At the end, he slipped, sliding off the bar and was immediately tackled by three of the bouncers. He mock struggled, not bringing his mutant strength into play, even as the blows rained on him. Fortunately, these were not trained fighters, and most of the set-to involved them getting in each others way or not noticing him rolling with the punches.

Still, pain happened.

A few minutes later, five bouncers carried the slumped Kane past the doors, and with a heave, threw him on to the sidewalk.

"Stay the fuck out of here, motherfucker!" One of them hissed at the prone form, and was answered only with a groan. A man waiting in line, looking horrified, knelt down beside Garrison.

"What the fuck did you do, man?"

Garrison wiped the blood from his mouth and looked at him. "No ticket."

-----

It seemed that Clarice was doomed to hang in the assend of clubs and not in the limelight. Alas and woe, except that safe cracking made it worth it. Unfortunately, she and Lorna still had to get to the aforementioned safe. Damned goons. "I totally cannot find my lipstick," she babbled as they pretended to stumble past a couple of goons in the dimly lit hallway, "I bet that bitch stole it."

Lorna rolled her eyes exaggeratedly and weaved unsteadily, like she'd been enjoying each and every one of the drinks sent her way so far this evening. "You always say that and, like, every time, you find it again and bitch about how it always gets lost." She leaned herself artfully against a door, hand on the knob and let a quick pulse of magnetic energy unlock it, knocking out the security system. "Like...where the hell are we? You got us lost again!"

"How can I get us lost?" Clarice demanded, grabbing the door frame as she tripped over her own feet, "I never get lost! I am the queen of not being lost!" She blinked owlishly around the office, "Where are we?"

"Lost! I told you! Gawd, why do I even hang around you and....hi!" Lorna's impassioned ramble broke off and she plastered an unsteady if brilliant smile on her face for the large man who'd suddenly appeared. She was fairly sure his bicep was the side of her head. She tottered over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Can you tell us where the...what's that place?" She looked over her shoulder at Clarice and her expression was very clearly 'I've got this, go.' even as she babbled on, "with the water and the mirrors and the...you know!"

"You girls aren't supposed to be here," the bouncer said, one hand removing Lorna's arms from around his neck. Great. He was stuck dealing with two drunk sorority girls who were probably two seconds away from puking while his partner had gone to help with some disturbance on the main dancefloor. "Bathroom is back out that door and to the right." Next time, he'd make Joe stay behind. They had the most boring job in the club, escorting the few drunk people who managed to somehow get where they weren't supposed to. He didn't even know why they were needed in the back.

While Lorna distracted the guard, Clarice draped her arms over the back of the guards shoulders. "I don' wanna go to the bathroom now," she half purred, half whined in a drunken slur. "Unless, you wanna go with me?" she suggested in his ear. Let him deal with that! Carefully, she motioned to her partner that tripping him up would be better. He had already commented that there had been two of them, no sense in drawing unnecessary attention with her disappearing.

The guard twisted, lifting Clarice's arms off him. The last time he'd hooked up with a drunk girl at the club, it hadn't ended well for him, so he'd sworn off doing so ever since. "Ladies, this is the last time I'm going to ask nicely. I'd hate to have to escort you out of the club."

Lorna pouted, swayed, looked distracted then beamed up at the guard again. "You don't have to do that! We'll find it!" She giggled and headed off again, bouncing from wall to wall, further down the hallway and away from the way out, hoping that he'd follow if only to keep her out of even more trouble. "It's this way, right? Is it in here?" The next office down--also locked prior to her jiggling the hand--proved empty and dark. She glanced down at the bouncer then tripped her way in. "Helloooo?"

Clarice hung back until the guard had crossed the threshold after Lorna, he was such an amateur, but really, who expected teenage mutant safe crackers in a nightclub? Stifling a giggle, Clarice blinked herself into the room on the other side of that office, the one with the safe. This way, when (or if) the guard with Lorna turned around, she'd be gone and the only other door would still be locked to him. Not to Lorna. Oh mutant powers could be so much fun in times like these!

"Bolted to the floor," she muttered to herself, sitting on the floor indian style and unstrapping her instruments from around her thighs and under her shirt. She'd been forced to get creative to hide them, but that was okay. Humming I'm Afraid of Americans, she got to work.

Meanwhile, in the room next door, the guard had reached to grab Lorna's arms, a long suffering look on his face as he watched the green haired girl stumble around. "Alright, I think someone's had a bit too good of a time out in the club tonight. Best get you in a cab and home before something you regret ends up happening."

"If I had a nickel for every time someone said that to me," Lorna sighed. He expected her to be slow and clumsy and well, harmless. Which is why he ended up on his back and his head knocked against the floor hard. She zip-stripped him mostly as an afterthought. He wasn't going to wake up in time to keep them from their objective. For the barest moment, she considered what to do about the fact that he'd almost certainly recognize her and Clarice and set her hand on his head... then stood and walked out of the office, pulling the door shut behind her and fusing the lock. Not worth it.

Back with the safe, Clarice worked quickly, muttering to herself. She was more out of practice than she thought. At last, the safe gave a little click and opened easily. "And bingo was his name-o," she sang, slipping on gloves and grabbing everything in it except money before wiping the safe with her skirt.

Putting eveyrthing back together as if she had never been there, she teleported to the ladies room before stumbling out into the hallway as if she were drunk. Catching Lorna's eye, she headed out. X 1, bad people, 0.

Lorna giggled her way to the restroom and deliberately bumped into Clarice, grabbing onto the smaller girl and leaning in to speak into her ear. "You should probably head outside before all hell breaks loose." She grinned brightly and pulled away, taking the file that Clarice carried with her. "I'm gonna find our favorite girl," she added tilting her head back to the rest of the club. Without waiting for a response, she turned away to find Marie.

-----

Marie looked around the club one final time. Garrison had been kicked out and called Jennie to the bring the car up front. Lorna and Clarice seemed to have finished there part of the mission with minimal difficulty, as evidenced by the black leather portfolio she now held under her arm. In fact, this had the potential to be the simplest mission Marie had ever been on - which meant it was far from over. And that's when she saw her, standing in a corner. The same as she'd looked a year ago - white hair, styled short and neat, hands resting comfortably on the top of her cane and large sunglasses perched on her nose. The smart thing would've been to duck out of the club without looking back...she had what they'd come for and it was time to leave...but she still had questions. And as much as she hated it, Irene was the one with the answers. Marie-Ange and Clarice had already headed out front to meet the car. Lorna was standing next to her and had just begun walking towards the exit and she was supposed to be going with her to meet them, but instead she began slowly walking towards the older woman.

Irene's smile was faint, somehow knowing, as Marie approached. "Hello, child. Very competently done - I can tell, you know. The ripples from tonight do not involve local law enforcement."

Marie paused, eyes glancing down at the file in her hand, then back up almost defiantly. "If you were coming, why didn't you just get the file yourself? Do you enjoy torturing me? Ah thought you'd already done enough of that."

"Youth is so prone to overdramatics." Irene shook her head very slightly. "I am here because I needed to be here. We needed to speak, Marie. In person." She paused, her expression tightening very slightly. It was almost an awkward look. "Will you spare me a few minutes?"

"Will Ah...what?" Marie blinked at Irene, cocking her head. "Since when do you ask me? You usually just do or arrange." She didn't answer Irene's question, but she didn't walk away either.

Lorna had started for the door then noticed that Marie had drifted off. She hesitated for a moment then headed over to Marie, just to be sure that everything was all right. Now was the time for leaving, not for adding complications. The crowd was still heavy enough that she was just one anonymous girl among many but eventually someone was going to look in the safe and raise alarm. Lorna sort of hoped to be gone before then.

"There are some times that choices need to be made," Irene said, almost absently. Her head moved back and forth, as if she was tracking something in the air in front of her, despite her blindness. "You've made one, tonight. Despite your... reservations about me."

"Choices are always made," Marie replied. "And my decision tonight had nothing to do with you. It had to do with my friends and the kids Ah do my best to keep from having the same experiences Ah did."

Lorna didn't want to interrupt whatever this meeting was but they really did need to get out. She hung back a bit, nervously scanning the room for her friend the bouncer, half her attention on Marie and the white haired woman. There was some sort of commotion going on toward the back and Lorna stepped closer to Marie, touching her lightly on the back of her shirt. "Hon? We need to get going."

Irene's head turned towards Lorna, then away again. "Are you certain?" she asked Marie, taking a step towards her. "Are you sure that you didn't see something that-" The end of the sentence was lost, as she took another step - and tripped, hard enough to send her toppling.

Without hesitation Marie stepped forward to catch Irene, her arm slipping under the older woman's to support her. She felt Lorna's soft pat on the back, but ignored her friend, wanting to know what Irene was about to say. Brown eyes locked onto the dark glasses blocking Irene's eyes, trying to pierce through and understand the game she was playing. And then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a group of bouncers headed towards them. "Crap." She still seemed to hesitate, eyes going back to Irene.

Lorna's expletive was less mild and she pulled Marie away from the older woman, not really much caring if it set her off balance again. "No time. Come on!" She really didn't want to go to jail again. There was nothing fun about that.

"This isn't over," Marie said as she was pulled away from Irene, but this time she didn't resist Lorna's urging and the two girls fled from the club.

-----

As Marie high tailed it out of the club, she was relieved to see a familiar Canadian standing on the corner nearest the club. Clarice and Marie-Ange were already waiting with him and the Southern girl could only hope Jennie was already on her way with the car. It wasn't that she was worried the little group of X-Men wouldn't be able to deal with the handful of bouncers chasing them...it was that she preferred this mission stay low key and having an all out brawl with the bouncers in the street was not the way to do that.

Garrison sighed. Apparently he wasn't going to get a chance to finish his hotdog now. Tossing the bun into the garbage can, he strolled up from the corner, trying to maintain a casual image with the two girls beside him. He'd seen the roiling at the door following Marie's sudden emergence, figuring that the bouncers couldn't be far along. "So, anyone remember where we left the car?"

As soon as the sentence left his mouth the a silver car screeched to a halt not five paces in front of them. The doors opened with Jennie looking at them expectantly. "Well?"

"In, in," Marie told her teammates, pushing the two closest forward. "If we want to keep this lowkey, we want to get as much distance between us and > here as fast as possible. Irene said local law enforcement isn't involved and Ah'd like to keep it that way."

"Yes. I would like very much not to have to have Doug erase criminal records this week. It makes him cross." Marie-Ange said, sliding across the seat all the way to the far door. "Perhaps Lorna should take the shotgun seat, in case we need to do anything, ah, interesting with cars?"

"Not necessary but I'm never going to turn down the best seat," Lorna checked nervously over her shoulder and dashed around the car to the passenger side then twisted around to make sure that everyone was present and accounted for.

Clarice was the last to jump in, "Woohoo, there's something to be said about a good old-fashioned getaway!" She looked at the back of Jennie's head expectantly, relaxing into her seat as if she jumped into cars to flee from bouncers everyday. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

The younger girl didn't need any more prompting. She floored it. "How fast do you want our gettaway to be, boss lady?" Jennie said over the squeal of tires as they peeled away from the curb.

"Just don't kill us," Marie said. "So fast as you possibly can. Just don't push your luck too far..." Marie then quickly closed her eyes so she wouldn't become the worst backseat driver in the world. "We can probably, you know, slow down outside the city." Which they would exit in about five minutes at the rate they were going.

Garrison ignored them as he pulled his phone, sending the text message that he'd composed while waiting. After only a couple of minutes, the phone trilled and Kane slipped it away. "Club hasn't called the cops. No immediate reports of the break-in on the wire. Looks like the only danger left is commuter traffic."

The commuter traffic was turning out not to be much of a problem, as Jennie weaved in and out of traffic, sometimes just inches from the other cars, but somehow avoiding causing any collisions. They somehow never stopped at a red light either.

Lorna twisted around in her seat, blithely unconcerned by the death-defying acts of their luck-plagued driver. "So Marie, what's in the file? I'd like to know if I'm going to be answering questions to local police or the NSA or something." She hadn't as yet explained to anyone just precisely what condition she'd left her buddy the bouncer in. She was hoping that she wouldn't have to.

"It'll be in the report," Marie replied almost automatically. The pale color of her face wasn't related to Jennie's driving, but instead to the fact that she had come away from another experience with Irene with more questions than answers. "Let's just get back first, ok?" Marie lapsed into silence again, letting her thoughts take over. Why had the woman bothered to have them come if she was going to be there herself? What had she been about to tell Marie? And did any of it really matter?

After the team returns, Marie finally looks in the file. Maybe she should've done that when Lorna asked...

"No, you couldn't. Besides, if she sees the future, she already knew what you'd say." Garrison slipped an arm around her. "You can't get angry at yourself for being you, babe, and you certainly can't let the old lady get to you. Maybe this is leading somewhere important. After all, she choose you for a reason, and I haven't seen you run away from a responsibility yet."

"Ah ran away once. It didn't work out so well for me." She closed her eyes, taking a minute to enjoy the quiet moment with Garrison. Those moments had been few and far in between lately. She wished she could take longer, but there was still business to be done. "So should we take a look at what we spent all that time and energy stealing? All she told me was that it was related to the Sentinel program which has supposedly been out of commission for a while now...wonder who might be trying to start it again."

"I say we go and get you a shower, and then after I spend a good amount of time watching you bathe, get dressed into something nice and I'll take you into town for dinner." Kane shook his head. "If there's anything in that portfolio that is a danger in the next twelve hours, I'm sure Adler would have let you know. Otherwise, it's a lot more important that you don't end up breaking down than it is to delve into the crazy lady's Box O' Madness at the first chance."

Marie smiled at him. "Tempting, very tempting...but Ah won't be able to put this behind me until my mission report is in and that means summarizing the file info. Then we can start with your plan." Leaning over him, she picked up the portfolio, slowly unwrapping the leather cord around it. Flipping the cover open, Marie began scanning the paper inside. Her face grew pale as she flipped through page after page after page.

"What, does it have Harry Potter spoilers or something in there?"

"It's not a file. It's another damn diary." Marie threw the book to the floor, staring at it angrily. "Why'd she have us steal..." Marie trailed off, as she suddenly replayed events from the club in her mind.

Irene stumbled, a sharp contrast to her sure-footedness in the forest the previous year. As Marie caught her, steadying her, the precog grasped at her almost desperately, as if the world had just reoriented itself around her, leaving her dizzied. It was barely noticeable through the dark glasses, but she was blinking rapidly, as if to clear the vision she no longer had.

As Marie looked away, swore at the sight of the bouncers, Irene grasped once more at her supporting hands - and then straightened, seemingly regaining her balance. As Lorna pulled Marie away, she watched, a faint, wistful smile playing on her lips.

"That sneaky little...she tricked me. Ah should've known she didn't trip after her little escape in the forest last year." Marie sighed. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...she won this round. Next time...next time it'll be different."

Garrison picked the diary up carefully, and replaced it on the seat. "If she wanted you to have this, it's likely important, Marie." Kane said, oddly serious for the moment. "Take a look through it tonight, eh?"

"Yeah," Marie said. "Fate of the world in my hands, all that jazz, right?" She reached out, laying a gloved hand gently on his arm. She knew she needed to look at it. She just wasn't ready quite yet. "Maybe we could start with your plan though. A bit of fun before getting back to business."