Stephanie March's Story

Stephanie was a walking mask; a contradiction of sorts. Everything about her from the physical to the emotional existed in painstakingly crafted layers and the outermost thickest shell was purely artificial in design, the deeper more complex parts of her personality hinted at and never seen. Standing tall at almost 6 feet in her high heeled pumps, her posture was straight as a Marine's, every line and curve of her lithe, willowy form was severe and with an edge to it. The business suits and pants she wore helped disguise her graceful figure bringing a more masculine grace to her feminine physique, broadening her shoulders and dulling her curves. But the clothing did not hide the athletic body underneath them, her every step graceful and measured with violent threat.

Her skin and hair melded together with light golden color, her shoulder-length, straight blonde hair tied back in a conservative ponytail at the nape of her neck, and pulled tight to keep stray hairs out of her sharply angled face. Although her skin was fair and her makeup kept light, there was something dark and morbid about her appearance, splashed with a bronze shadow that mimicked the sun's rays and made her disappear from sight most of the time. And emotion did not exist on her deathly beautiful features in any degree, despite the anger that boiled deep within her now.

Walking up the stairs of the apartment building, she idly touched the walls, her skeletal fingers and long nails lightly scratching at the stucco. She knew this place like the back of her hand but had never been here. Finally entering was like walking into a dream. The mood was only dampened by the fact that her reason for being here, for even knowing this place so well, was no longer here and would not likely be coming back. That firey intensity pulsed through her veins and made her internally grit her teeth to think of what she'd lost, but there wasn't a flicker of change on her serene face, her eyes clear and her dark colored lips set in an expression that hinted at a smile but was more neutral than anything. It was a severely practiced expression and the tight reign she kept on her emotions had one purpose. Gwendolyn Stewart. Stephanie's case.

For years she'd been following the woman but they'd never met or seen each other face to face. Even so, Stephanie felt like she knew the woman almost as well as she knew herself and even though they were inactive, she knew about Gwen's powers. In that time she'd prepared herself vigorously for an occasion such as this although she'd never believed it would happen and despite the slight thrill attached to the chase, she was more than disappointed that things hadn't gone as planned. Someone had fucked up and it had been the man on her team. It should have been an easy assignment to grab someone so powerless still and return her to base for the transfer; it was almost laughable at how pathetic this failure was. Needless to say, Stephanie was not laughing and wouldn't be even if the time and mood were right.

Arriving at the right floor, she breathed in deeply, the sound of air filling her lungs almost as imperceptible as the movement of her chest rising and falling to perform the action. This was her floor. There was her room. But what caught her attention first was the man standing outside the neighboring apartment, waiting. Someone much like herself. Recognition was a quick flicker in her dark green eyes and nothing more as she walked placidly forward, surveying her surroundings methodically and without error. Everything was exactly as she expected it to be...except for the missing woman of course.

Arriving to stand in front of the other, she regarded him coldly, with the same examination of a robot scanning him over. "Where is he?" she asked in a bland monotone. Even her voice was devoid of any emotion almost as if she were bored or uninterested in the response. Despite this, there was an undercurrent in it that hinted at the rage filling her and the violence brimming beneath the surface. The absolute absence of any emotion on her own face was not mirrored in his and the procerus and levator muscles in his face twitched towards the door behind him, telling her all she needed to know.

Striding past him without another word she entered the room with a stolid grace, an aura of death clinging to her every movement. Coming upon Jason in his chair, still bound tightly, her green eyes grew grey as she looked him over. "I'm very upset," she said in the exact same tone that she'd used with the giant man at the door. Still, there was no doubt at all that it was true. Stephanie controlled emotion like it could be cataloged and stored. She had studied everything about her own face and postures, manipulating them in such a way as to present a plastic and pristine mask that revealed nothing. And it was the same with everything she did, dealing with those under her with a cold apathy that was merciless and calculated. Like a robot, she'd lost a great measure of her humanity. When she said she was angry, it was for the benefit of those who could not discern how she was feeling as a warning to precede action.

"I want you to explain to me why I shouldn't kill you," she intoned dully, her green eyes regarding Jason without even a minuscule hint of what she was thinking. "That means details and the truth. I want to hear it from you. This mission was simple and there were very few ways for you to screw it up. And yet you happened to find one and we are left in a shit hole without a shovel." She stood, statuesque and calm, both rigid and at ease, filling the room with golden light from her soft yellow suit jacket. Turning her head towards the other in the room, she blinked plainly and said, "I'll be with you a moment. We need to share notes if what I've heard is correct." The boogieman case, she thought as she looked him over briefly before turning back to her colleague.

The fear that rippled through her colleague's features was both satisfying to see and disgusting to her. Of course, she felt that way about all emotion, considering it an inner beast that humanity had no control of. Which was why she made a job of controlling it for them. The tension of Jason's eyebrows and the worry in his eyes momentarily changed and she could tell as he began speaking that she was getting the lightened version of his report. And as he spoke, she couldn't help the fire raging within her innermost layer at the excuses that came spilling from his mouth.

Faulty intel? It made sense but her disdain was focused in on Jason for the moment and she had to agree with Benoit. Failure was failure and he was in the middle of it; the blame laid upon him. Although he did make a good point about not being prepared for the other - she'd known about the other case living in this apartment, but she had not been given much information about who it was; she'd assumed the other could be side-stepped cleanly and efficiently without disturbance - it was still inexcusable for him to end up like this. Gwen was gone and they'd lost track of her and it was all his fault.

As he further explained the information he had now, Stephanie felt a new burst of rage fill her. Things couldn't go any more haywire. Not only was the target missing but in addition to that, she was with another target, one renowned for eluding capture. Gwen was naturally perceptive due to her slumbering abilities. If she sensed the power in the other it was very likely her own powers would be awakened as a result and thus make it harder for her to capture. The lack of emotion those on her team were trained to perfect, including herself, would help to block Gwen's ability to read their thoughts, but then they would stick out like sore thumbs among the crowd. Not only did Jason's failure make it difficult to find her now, it would make it almost impossible to catch up with her without detection. More than ever, her whole body screamed for his blood and she had to struggle internally with the desire not to rend him open with her bare hands. As always, none of the emotion showed on her features as she continued to look down upon him placidly.

At Benoit's interruption, she was further able to stay the sanguine urges and breathed in deeply before finally speaking in her level, unwavering monotone. "You have no idea what you have cost me," she said, her voice almost soft at first. "Instead of giving me any good reasons not to kill you, everything you've said has compounded upon the facts I already know that have made it necessary to spill your blood here and now." She paused for a moment, in her mind imagining crushing his skull between her skeletal hands and feeling a pulse of delight run through her at the imagery before she continued.

"But I'm going to give you another chance to redeem yourself and fix this mess. Sometimes people make mistakes and sometimes it is not always completely their fault. This opportunity will allow us to determine if you are even worthy of your position and your life." Stepping forward, she reached out with a slender knife that appeared from out of nowhere, the blade shining black in the light from the windows, and cut the rope that bound him. Surreptitiously as the ropes fell away and Jason's posture relaxed from their hold, she gathered up a length of it and swiftly wrapped it around his neck, pulling both ends tight in a scissored pose in one fluid motion.

It was tight enough to cut off his carotid artery and to stop blood flow to his brain momentarily as she leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "You will not fail me again. I do not believe I need to further illustrate why, but just in case it's not clear, because I want no misunderstandings between us: the next mistake you make will be made a moment's breath before I tear the life from you. There is no more room for explanation and excuses now."

Finally, her death grip on the rope loosened and she released him, stepping back as well. "From this point forward, we will proceed under the assumption that her powers have been awakened. Traveling with another with abilities will have the effect of triggering her own eventually as she will be able to sense everything about him. Because of this, we will need to proceed with more caution than before and hide in plain sight. Anything abnormal will be detected within a mile's breadth. Even if it turns out they haven't awakened at all, it will still be better to operate with caution. For now, you will stay with me and we will work on this together. I'll not have you running in there and alerting her of our presence. She will need to feel safe with this other for what I have planned to work."

Turning towards Benoit she said in bored tones, "I would like to inspect her room for any clues to her current state of mind before I give you an updated profile. A lot has changed since she came into contact with your target. I need to figure out why she would go with him in the first place. She is not the adventuring type."

The continued moping of her associate in light of her mercy was not lost on Stephanie even as she pretended to ignore him for the moment. Looking around the apartment, the possible reasons for Gwen going with the other target, the practically legendary Alexander, littered the floor in a crumbling pile of broken furniture. That explained a meeting of sorts because the noise of such a wreck being created would drive Gwen nuts if she'd been home to hear it. But she could not understand why Gwen would go anywhere with him, especially not in such a short amount of time. Not that the woman wasn't looking for men to date, but technically she wasn't. Not since that scare a year ago with that fanatic who decided to follow her around and thought they'd been in some sort of relationship despite her repeated protests. She wasn't traumatized or anything, but Stephanie knew she'd decided to lay off of the romance except in her books where she controlled the outcome and the pressure.

The mutual animosity between the two men in the room with her was palpable and she groaned inwardly at the unnecessary tension. At Jason's offer, she turned to him and dully said, "Fine, you do that. You will report to me if you find anything worth noting, even the smallest clue about why she'd leave with Alexander and where they might have gone. We will confer about our next move after you're done." Stepping forward, her slender, angular curves swayed beneath the suit she wore as she came to stand in front of him, her hand coming up to touch his cheek. There was nothing in her eyes but a deep emptiness but her inch-long fingernails lightly tapped on his flesh threateningly. "I trust you'll be thorough," she said in her affectless voice.

And then she turned to Benoit, having dismissed Jason from her presence and mind for the time being, expecting nothing but the best. She knew she didn't need to threaten him a second time, but she was still upset about his first failure. "I need you to tell me everything you can about your target," she said addressing the other leader. "All I'm looking for is a biography of his character that will help me further illuminate my revised profile. The more information you give me, the more I will be able to interpret her actions and thus the more information I will be able to give you. After that, I do not see us needing to join forces for either of their capture, although I'd ask that you keep me in the loop in regard to your movements so we don't end up ruining operations for each other."

Looking around the apartment again she said, "I know if he made a lot of noise or threw a lot of fits it would annoy her greatly." She indicated the debris with a minuscule movement. "That is probably how they met. She'd be able to sense his powers while he's using them, but it has been my understanding that they are of a more...lethal nature, correct? So, it's not something he uses constantly, I'm assuming. Could it be the stolen property he possesses that could have attracted her attention? Or would the man himself garner interest?" Her deadpan tone revealed nothing but her eyes observed him with rapt attention as if she were studying a strange animal of some kind.

The response to her questions came as a surprise - although no one would be able to tell outwardly the difference between surprise or any other emotion she felt - especially the almost threatening tone he took with her. It wasn't as if Stephanie were an idiot; she'd already looked him over and assessed his arrogance in the way he spoke and carried himself. However the way she chose to see their current situation, especially in light of Benoit's continued failure to capture his own target, was that it was an opportunity to help each other. From the little she knew about Alexander's case, he seemed to be a loner and it was the same with Gwen. But for some reason the two had met and were now off somewhere together and it was unforeseen as of yet if they would part company. That meant some kind of connection had been made and for people in Gwen and Alexander's positions, emotion was a weakness that the Agency could manipulate to their advantage. Why wouldn't Benoit want to take this chance staring him in the face to help each other out?

Even as his refusal to share information suggested that she would somehow compromise his mission by possessing such knowledge, she did not get offended. There was the shock at first and then the disgust at his possessive paranoia, but she did not consider it an insult. It was true, she could do this just as easily without him, but in the end it was he who would suffer, not Stephanie. There was no doubt in her mind now that she was working in the field, she would find and capture Gwen efficiently. Stephanie had been willing to part with a bit of information herself, but as she watched Benoit crush his cigarette on the carpet and utter his last words, she surmised to give him just as little information about Gwen as possible. Afterall, what did he need her for anyway? It wasn't like they were "working together" or anything special like that. She inwardly smirked at the thought as she watched him go, placidly.

After Benoit left, for a moment she felt a bit of comradeship stir within her at Jason's words, but quickly shook it away for the cold ruthlessness that she preferred. "That'll be all, thank you," she said blandly, cutting off anymore conversation about a superior Agent. As much as she'd love to sit here and badmouth the scum-bag, she didn't have time for that. Every second that ticked by Gwen was traveling farther out of her reach.

Thankfully, the prompt was unneeded and Jason instantly brought out his equipment and got to work. Stephanie stood by watching him and listening to everything he said adjusting her view of the man who was more than a man as she analyzed possible reasons why Gwen would join him in flight. "Alexander is the stolen property?" she asked in tones that did not reflect her shock. Her eyes grew distant as she listened, the closest thing she displayed that could pass for a thoughtful expression but her vision cleared and she looked at him levelly at the nickname he'd given to the French Agent even though inwardly she agreed with the sentiment. The nickname suggested a disdain for the man and that the obnoxious accent was in some way fake. But it really wasn't her place to judge the masks other people wore. Everyone hid themselves in different ways.

He continued his report however and she grew more and more pleased with the information he shared, especially the last bit about there being two people in the same body. "No, I did not know that," she said almost absently. "Very interesting." Her voice suggested the exact opposite. "That is probably the key. If it were just Alexander, I cannot see her being interested and possibly even put off by him. But if there's another inside, she would be able to sense the inner dynamic. Good work, Jason." The approval was in the words themselves even though it was a genuine emotion it could not be heard. "As for more research on his powers, since we're not going to be getting any help from our friend, then I think it's best we find out as much as we can on our own. As soon as we're done here, I'd like you to look into that."

During his report, Stephanie noticed him pale and his facial muscles tense with an inner fatigue. Approaching him near the door, she reached into her pocket and pulled out of her suit jacket pocket an energy bar in a foil plastic wrapper, Agency issue fruit flavored granola with protein and pumped full of vitamins. She'd been saving it for herself for later when she'd need a boost so she wouldn't have to stop for lunch. But she figured he needed it more than she did at the moment and she handed it to him with as much empathy as one might have while pumping a machine full of gasoline to keep it working properly. She did not say anything as she offered it to him not wanting to draw attention to it but went on as if nothing had occurred.

"If you're done here, then I'd like to move on to Gwen's apartment," she said. "She must have left something behind." Despite the hollow lifelessness of her voice, there was a certain energy about her, what could be described as eagerness. Gwen's apartment. Stephanie had photos of it, floorplans and had even arranged her own private rooms to mimic Gwen's decor and the actual apartment was right next door free to be explored. It was something she'd waited a long time to see and had hoped to be seeing it from Gwen's eyes when she'd eventually be implanted into her body. But still, the opportunity to see it in the flesh now was one she did not want to miss.

Stephanie watched as the suspicion flickered over his features a moment before he took the offered food and she grinned inwardly at it. Her only motivation in giving the energy bar to him had been so that the fool wouldn't pass out on her. Although it would be nice to consider that another failure and to take advantage of the opportunity, she needed him to be awake and professional right now. And she did not feel the need to explain herself to him at all, preferring that he be somewhat unsettled by what might be considered a kind gesture in the midst of her still tender rage.

Nodding patiently at the brief detail of his plan, she stepped back and allowed him to proceed ahead of her, waiting as he unlocked the door to the apartment next door with a hum of excitement coursing through her and trembling behind the mask she wore. As soon as the door was opened, she smoothly took a deep breath, her green eyes growing brighter was the only sign that anything had changed in her demeanor. Following behind Jason, stepping past the threshold was like walking through a mirror into her own private rooms back at the Agency headquarters. Except the space was surreal in the fact that someone else lived here and she could feel it. Gwen.

As Jason was busy looking over everything, her own eyes were wandering, marveling inwardly as if she were sight-seeing at a celebrity's house. The natural wood colors paired with the dark reds that accented the place was perfect for Gwen's humble and introverted personality, nothing too bright or loud to overwhelm the space but enough color to bring life to the room. The placement of the furniture suggested efficiency and comfort, leaving optimal space for movement and yet keeping everything close and intimate. And the neatness was typical of Gwen as well, her environment controlled to a degree that suggested obsessiveness but was a bit more relaxed than that, Stephanie knew. The young woman just preferred to live in a tidy space; it helped clear her mind of clutter.

The Agent Leader's attention was drawn back to Jason as he gave the all-clear and for a moment she felt an irrational burst of anger that he was even here, forgetting momentarily his purpose for being with her. Stifling the jealousy at having to share this moment of discovery with someone else she closed the door and spoke in monotone, "Right. I want to retrace her steps from the last 36 hours if we can. Anything she might have been working on recently, possibly something she's eaten, and anything else she might have done in here before she left. And if there is any way for you to tell if Alexander has been here, that would be a huge help. If I can determine what her state of mind was before she left, then I will be able to predict with better accuracy what she will do next and most importantly, where she is going."

Turning to her right, the area closest to her, she walked into the kitchen which was a tight, yet cozy space. The linoleum tile floor and the old weathered countertops, electric stove and faded metal sink all hinted at the general state of the apartment building itself. But everything was wiped spotless, there was barely any clutter and the refrigerator in the corner was newer than the rest of the appliances. Opening it she looked inside and smiled inwardly at the food on the shelves. The top most shelf had three large plastic containers of various sizes and shapes - one for milk, skim, one with a fat bottle-neck that was half filled with orange juice, and a fatter, more cylindrical jug that was filled with cranberry juice. There was a shelf for lunch meats, a shelf for leftovers, other assorted items for things Gwen liked to cook, and two crisper drawers in the bottom with fruits and vegetables.

But what caught Stephanie's attention at the moment was the leftovers. Picking up the Tupperware container, she opened it and sniffed it gingerly. The fried rice was made recently, probably last night if she had to guess. Then the plastic Ziploc bag caught her eye and after putting the rice away she pulled the bagged pizza from the fridge. "Pineapple," she said blandly. "This is not hers. It's not something she would order for herself normally. Possibly a neighborly gift?" Closing the fridge she walked out of the kitchen area and into the main living room straight towards the desk where Gwen's laptop sat.

Flipping it open, the screen flashed but remained gray and lifeless when she tried to turn it on. "Her laptop," she said. "What's wrong with it? See if you can get it to turn on. If you can't fix it here, we'll take it with us." Turning away she looked into the living room, her eyes searching for something. She had to turn the other direction before she finally found it - the beige loveseat. It sat with it's back against the wall and mildly she said, "That's not where that usually goes. Why would she move it there?" In her mind a picture of events was forming, like puzzle pieces slowly coming together to illuminate the passage of events that was not yet completely clear.

Walking over to the chair, her eyes instantly latched onto a corner of white half-seen underneath the furniture. Bending over, she pulled it out with a long nailed hand and looked it over. A notepad. There was a page torn out but also a couple were folded over the back. Flipping them over she began to read, skimming quickly a light coming on in her head. It was a lot darker than was the usual for Gwen but she also knew about the young writer's desire to leave behind the dramatic adventure and romance of her last successful book series. Stephanie had the whole set on a shelf back at headquarters and had read them all several times to the point where she not only knew the story printed upon the pages but also the thought processes that had birthed every word of it.

After she finished reading it became very clear to her who this was about, despite the slightly fanciful twist with the mad occult doctor. "She was writing a book about Alexander," her voice intoned despite the awakened sense within her that allowed her to understand Gwen's every move. "That's why she followed him. She was studying him for her story."

Tossing the notepad to Jason as she passed she walked without a word to him down the narrow hallway to the left of the door. Opening the door at the end, she sighed silently. Her bedroom. The queen sized bed dominated the space and split the room in half. Moving past it, she went to Gwen's closet and inspected the state it was in. Still, the hangers were pushed to the sides to isolate a certain section of clothes and Stephanie pulled out an outfit or two from that section to look them over. A flirty but nice shirt and skirt. Some clean cargo pants and a v-neck blouse. It was a classy yet casual section for a date that wasn't a date.

Smirking inwardly, she left the room, her slender fingers brushing the bedspread as she passed it on her way out. Back in the main room, she glanced at Jason briefly before letting her eyes once again wander over the space. "The target left here in clothes that would suggest a flirtatious outing," she said. "Possibly the pretext which she went with him on."

After re-entering the room, she took a breather to allow Jason to do the work she'd set before him rather than continuing to do it for him - honestly, she couldn't help how jealously she hogged this case; it came with the territory. Still, she continued to look around herself, entering the bathroom to inspect Gwen's things. The shower and bathtub were still slightly damp from her shower this morning and the smell of Gwen's herbal shampoo floated in the air like a vague memory. On the counter by the sink was her makeup kit, powders and creams kept clean of their buildup and all crammed together in a clear zippered bag - possibly the only unorganized thing in this apartment. Idly she touched a container of clear lip gloss that had been left on the sink and thought of how Gwen must have looked putting it on. Looking stonily up at her reflection and her own barely there makeup style - all except for her darkened lips - she imagined briefly what Gwen must have been thinking when she'd put on her makeup this morning for her "date".

She'd been trying to seduce him. Knowing Gwen it would have been a formal and calculated process. Ever since the stalker last year, she'd stopped going out as much and definitely cast a cold shoulder to anyone who might have expressed interest. But despite this she knew that Gwen longed to have love and connection in her life even as much as the thought of so many unknowns scared her. So she might have started this "date" with the distance of one trying to manipulate someone for information, but if she'd gotten Alexander to break down at all and respond to her, she knew Gwen would not be able to hold true to the original secret agenda. She would be forced to remember what it was like to play and flirt with a man and to build a relationship from the first conversations onwards.

Not that Gwen would throw herself at him and fall head over heels, but if he allowed her to, Gwen would follow him, especially when her powers were awakened. She would be able to put it together that her abilities had been somehow triggered by him and her pursuit of knowledge about what was happening to her would blend with the need to be with someone. It had been a long time since Gwen had been close to anyone or had any friends and her weekly call with her mother and then her editor wasn't fulfilling that need.

Stepping from the bathroom, she continued to browse in the living room, thinking to herself and piecing together Gwen's next moves as Jason spoke and hooked up his suit to the computer. His terminology got a look but she said nothing about it. "Yes, I would like to see what's on it as soon as possible," she said, nodding coldly for him to do what he needed to do. She was eager to get moving from here but it would not be prudent to rush; the more information she gathered when she could, the better equipped she would be to progress from this point.

Stephanie was pleased with Jason. She was still mad as hell that her target was missing because of him and she was blaming Gwen's newly awakened abilities on him as well - why the hell not? - and she hated how every emotion was plainly written on his face like a teleprompter detailing his thoughts to her. But she was content with the effort he put into the projection that scrolled through the documents on Gwen's laptop for her viewing. Then she hated his stupid ass again when the flow was interrupted. Staring down at him, she gave him a hollowed eyed look as he set up the projector again and left her to go deal with whatever. She didn't care - just go the fuck away now and let me look over these documents!

And she turned away from him coldly, her eyes scanning the words that scrolled upon the wall as quick as they appeared. There was a new document that was unfinished, six pages scrolling by her eyes mechanically - a new story it seemed and a totally different one than the idea written on the notepad. Gwen's voice clearly shined through with each paragraph and it had a more modern setting than the one presented in Nightshade, her last series. It was last edited at 2:30 PM yesterday. Then there was an email from Gwen's editor, the tone chipper and pressuring her lightly for some recent work. Gwen had not sent a response yet and the email had been sent the day before yesterday. A few more documents passed by her eyes, notes Gwen had taken possibly for that other project she'd been working on before the Alexander-esque plot, but her inspection was cut short as the voice of the French Agent came to her ears.

Turning to look at him, she felt the urge to punch him with his abrupt entry and self-important tone. But as always, she regarded him with a lack of interest that could be considered an insult if those around her were unaware of her tendency to block everything off. At his words however, she slipped just the tiniest bit, her eyebrow raising microscopically at his words. Alexander was coming here? Gwen was coming here. She knew instantly that whether or not Alexander was present, she would be able to swoop Gwen up with little to no trouble. However, it became apparent that Benoit had his own plans of how things were going to be run.

She was willing to bet everything she owned that Benoit's attempt to recapture Alexander this time would be nothing but a repeat of his previous attempts, fully exasperated by Gwen's awakened abilities. And no doubt, the pair would flee again as a result. But this time, Stephanie would be here and she and Jason would be right on their tail while Benoit continued to run around with his own between his legs. Besides, it would be easier to capture Gwen when they could distract Alexander in some way. She didn't need Benoit's help; if his track record was to be believed, he'd be nothing but an idle plaything Alexander could juggle with his eyes closed.

"Shut up, Jason," she ordered dully. "Fine." she said addressing Benoit. "Do whatever you think is necessary. We will be watching and waiting, ready to pick up the pieces of what's left. Good luck." Even with a lack of emotion, the way she phrased the last bit made it clear she knew they would need it. "As far as her powers go, there isn't much to it that you don't already know. Everything else is unnecessary." Feeling smug, she waltzed past him rigidly, her version of skipping and humming delightedly to herself.

"Let's go," she said to Jason, leaving no further room for arguments as she passed him and left the room.

Stephanie sighed inwardly as Jason began to tear down the other lead Agent again once they were alone in the hallway - although that probably wasn't a factor in his decision, since he had little to no trouble voicing his concerns and objections while the French man was present. "Jason, don't make me-" and then she was interrupted by his abrupt stop and the glorious news that came from his lips. Apparently luck had not been on Benoit's side after all since he'd only had enough time to tell them the targets were headed in this direction before they were already breathing down their necks. Gwen.

Turning to Jason, she exhaled a breathe and said, "Alright, it's an opportunity. We'll take it. And maybe we can depend on our friends afterall. When Benoit engages his target, we'll snatch up Gwen. Hopefully the combination of our efforts will get Alexander to slip his defenses while we get away with Gwen. Everybody wins." Although still in deadpan her voice came out quickly in a lower tone and her eyes scanned the hallway for someplace to hide while still watching for Gwen and the other to show up. Inside, her heart hammered in her chest but outwardly, she was as calm as ever in the face of this unpredictable situation.



Mrs. Lambriola on the first floor apartment 2A, was sitting in her recliner with her curlers in while watching the Price is Right, glaring at the man who'd taken Bob Barker's place. 'Poser' she thought to herself and sneered at her television set even as she said aloud what the prices of things should be, totally involved in the game show as much as she hated the host. Nicole Payne has a broken radiator on the second floor and was busy giving Mr. Crags a blowjob in exchange for him fixing it. On an outer level, she hated the man and how disgusting he was, but on an inner deeper level that she wouldn't even admit to herself, the experience thrilled her; that was why pretending to enjoy it was easy for her. Mr. Crags licked his lips lasciviously as he watched her nubile form kneeling down before him, pert breasts peeking up at him from her cleavage. It wasn't against his moral code to make her do something like this for him to do his job and he hoped to eventually push her further at some point when something else would go wrong. In the apartment next door to them, David Rhodes was hunting, his clothes wilted on his body as he drenched them in sweat, his eyes wide and alert as he stalked in his apartment slowly. A fly swatter was held aloft in his hand and he inched his way quietly towards the window where all of his prey congregated, high pitched buzzings making him twitch, his mind reduced to focusing on this one task...

Gwen swayed on her feet as they entered the building, feeling wave after wave of thought and emotion fill her own body simultaneously as if they were her own. A heavy exhalation left her as she suddenly felt suffocated and tried to drown everyone out except the person she wanted to hear and feel. The alley had acted as a natural funnel, the tall brick walls blocking everything out except what drifted through the openings at either end. She'd been able to focus then. But following Alex out onto the street, it was like someone had turned up the volume in her head and it only got worse when they'd entered the apartment building.

As a result, she had trouble keeping up with him, having to stop occasionally to close her eyes and breathe. She'd almost completely forgotten about Alex and Xander even though she could feel them amidst the wave of others, arguing internally and she knew before she caught up with them that they were waiting for her. "I'm sorry," she said a little breathlessly, trying to smile at him weakly but her eyes glazing as another person's thought filled her mind. "It's...very loud in here." Audibly she was aware that there was barely any noise around them, most of the sounds that could be heard at all, muffled slightly through the walls.

She offered him another smile that was meant to be reassuring but abruptly turned away from him to hunch over the railing, a harsh gag rippling through her as Joy Hahn on the first floor, ate some crackers with bad cottage cheese on them, her own reflex triggered by the woman who was actually eating the stuff. For several moments, Gwen sat hunched over the railing, finally wiping the bit of drool that had drizzled down her lips when she'd thought she was going to throw up, before turning back to Alex. "I'm okay," she said slightly panting, her face flushed heatedly and nodding her head to try to convince him. "I'll be fine."

There was an argument in the apartment right beside the stairs, Amy Goodman and her husband Henry raging at each other through their living room. He was being accused and rightly so, Amy's voice shrill and attacking him viciously, hurling every insult she could think of when suddenly she was shut up by a smack to the face. Gwen could feel it, Henry's hand flying through the air like a wrecking ball, slamming into flesh and bone with destructive force and sending his wife careening across the room to fall upon a coffee table, breaking it instantly. Gwen on the other hand, as much as she could feel the blow blazing through her face, merely trembled against the stair railing, her nose bleeding again from the other nostril this time. Holding her fingers to her face, she gasped at Alex with a silent plea in her baby blue eyes. She could feel herself slipping with the current of thought and emotion, the rush of sensations threatening to pull her under and it terrified her.

The silence that wasn't silence deepened between them as Alex continued to stand there looking at her with obvious shock mixed with pleasure on his face. Gwen pressed her lips together in an embarrassed smile and adjusted her shirt sleeves briefly before finally smirking at him. "Oh, don't look so surprised, Mr. Charm--" her voice cut off as his hand drifted out and caught her neck, his fingers cradling the back of her throat gently as he pulled her close again. Looking up at him, her face was instantly serious and her body filled with warmth as she saw the familiar look of Xander gazing down at her. The one she'd been looking for. The one she'd addressed the kiss for. She realized she hadn't waited for him to resurface before she'd gone through with it and had kissed Alex instead.

Her heart pounded a rapid drum solo in her chest and her breathing came deeply as her eyes searched his, knowing they were both in there. Ever since he'd exploded in rage at her on the sidewalk this morning, Gwen had been a bit scared of Xander. He was a wild card with a darker sense of humor, darker demeanor and overall more dangerous personality than Alex. Mixed with that was a juvenile unpredictability that had a bit of charm as much as it possessed the unknown factor that set her heart to thumping as it was right now. Being held by him like this seemed a contradiction to his nature but she did not struggle or pull away as his lips softly pressed against hers. Needless to say, it was not what she expected.

If she'd had to imagine a scene such as this between her character and the one she'd made up to represent Xander in her story - "Mordeth" the demon - she would have made it a brutal, violently passionate moment. The female character would have never experienced such animal lust as she felt from his lips and would have hated him for taking the moment to violate her, raping her mouth with his own. And all the while she would be fighting against the weakness in her knees and the desire to be consumed by the beast that he was, melting in his arms.

As it actually played out however, Gwen was left with only the pleasanter emotions that his warm lips provided, moving against hers with an expert grace, leaving her slightly gasping with a swoon as they broke apart. And he remained close to whisper against her pulsating skin, her eyes closed and listening even as a blush filled her cheeks a ruby red. Her only response was a dazed, "Mm..." her gaze fluttering open to fixate on him as he turned and left her to jog up the stairs.

Left by herself in the hallway she mused silently, only spending half the time berating herself for her wild emotions running away with her. The rest of the time she spent tonguing her sensitive lips and trying to decide which kiss she liked better. She came to the conclusion that she'd have to give Alex a chance to redeem himself at some point and then sighed in irritation, blushing again at the fact that she'd even make up such a silly contest.


There was very little time left for discussion and luckily it was not necessary to urge Jason to get to work as he left her side to hide by the door to the stairwell. Internally, Stephanie marked another point for him to weigh against the billions of points that represented her anger and dislike for him at the moment. Striding forth, she hid in the alcove next to the elevator as she saw the light above it rising to this floor, her back pressed against the wall, hiding her from view of anyone who was inside the car. She noted however that it stopped at the floor beneath theirs and stayed there for several minutes before rising again and opening on their floor. Shock did not register on her features, even on the inside, as the doors opened to emit no one.

Looking at Jason in a blank manner, she watched as his form faded and the door to the stairs opened. Quickly, she ducked into the elevator car just before the doors were closing again, causing them to stay open. Hiding against the inner wall, she was able to stay hidden from sight, whereas before she would have been plainly seen from the stairwell. Stephanie's eyes narrowed as she watched a man she'd never seen before enter the hallway and walk down towards his room. Even just seeing him from behind, she knew it was Alexander returned home.

If he turned he would be able to plainly see her, so she relaxed in the elevator as if she were actually using it, ignoring him like a normal person would. It didn't matter because the doors closed before he could look in her direction. Smoothly, she moved forward to push the button for the next floor below where the elevator had stopped. Gwen was not with him, but she knew the target was in the building. Which meant he'd dropped her off somewhere. In all honesty, she felt nothing towards Benoit's target or Benoit himself for that matter. All she cared about was Gwen. As the elevator began to lower, she patted her pocket lightly to feel the outline of the electronic pen she possessed. One of it's many features was to act as a tazer and one shock from it would render a person helpless. This was it. She could feel victory coursing through her veins already. Screw Benoit and his precious Alexander. She wouldn't wait for Jason to catch up to her.

As Alex disappeared up the stairs, Gwen could still hear Xander's inner voice babbling on, the blushing smirk only leaving her face when he mentioned Agents upstairs. Was that the terrible feeling that she got from the upper floor? Did all Agents produce that black hole emptiness? Were they waiting for Alex in his apartment? Had they been in hers? "Please, be careful..." she murmured to herself as she felt him enter their hallway. But as he made his way to his room, it was like he held a lantern aloft in a darkened tunnel, illuminating the space and clearing it of that deep emptiness that had filled it a moment before. Except unlike a shadow/light relationship, as he and Xander passed through the hallway, the emptiness fled and stayed gone, dissipating like mist before him.

In it's place, she could feel the man in the apartment next to Alex's, sitting at his table and obsessively putting together a collage of words and letters he'd cut out of his magazines. Gerald Tomas was a paranoid schizophrenic and was busily looking for government implanted messages in the words he'd cut out of the latest Vanity Fair paired together with snippets from a Guns and Ammo ad. What was the Smoking man trying to tell him? As before, the thoughts and emotions of those who were in the building right now crowded in on her, but still she struggled to hang on to Alex and Xander, listening to their conversation. She would have sensed the other men in the room with him if she'd been given a moment or two longer, but just then the doors to the elevator opened...



Immediately, Stephanie's eyes latched onto the young woman standing alone in the hallway, her head whipping to look at the elevator as the doors opened to reveal the Agent standing inside. Her heart flipped delightedly to see those familiar features, the face she had a million pictures of and had studied extensively. The face she wanted to own. A bit of satisfaction filled her to see the way Gwen was dressed, the gaping open white blouse and black skirt instantly proving her theories correct. You little minx. Thought you could get some information if you dazzled him with a smile and some flesh, eh? Bet you got more than you bargained for.

All of this registered in a split second before the elevator doors had fully opened. Once they were in place, Stephanie's mask began to shift and change dramatically. "Ugh! Unbelievable!" standing tensely in the elevator, she groaned aloud in frustration, actual emotion filling her voice for once. With a sigh of exasperation, she stalked from the car into the hallway, starting to pull a ring of keys from her pocket, not seeming to pay too much attention to Gwen as she approached. When she came up to the other woman, her eyes came up as well and she stopped right before her.

"Hey, do you know the guy in 1F?" she asked, her voice holding a hint of annoyance but mostly filled with camaraderie as she addressed Gwen. She waited for the other woman to shake her head "No" before rolling her eyes and shaking her head with a sigh. "What a creep! For some reason, the mailman keeps switching the stuff in our boxes. Well, he did it again and I go up there to trade mail with that guy and he gives me this bit about 'Are you one of them? Why did you put those packages in my box if they weren't for me?' And the whole time he does nothing but stare at my chest."

Again she let out a harsh groan of frustration, knowing that if Gwen's powers had awakened she would be able to at least partly confirm her story. In addition to having researched Gwen extensively, Stephanie had files on everyone else in the building. She knew very well about Gerald Tomas's condition. "At least he didn't take anything except a few magazines and possibly junk mail. Hope he enjoys those sexy girly mags, the little perv." She ended with a small amused laugh and a shrug, finally regaining some good spirit it seemed.

There was something wrong here. Gwen could feel it. As soon as the woman stepped from the elevator, she'd expected to hear something from her internally, especially after the dramatic display she'd made. But it was like there was a cloud of static around her. Not emptiness like the Agent she'd encountered before, but a buzzing blankness that gave her a headache to focus on. At first it put Gwen on alert, as the internal emotions of her fellow tenants filled her head, but as the woman drew near, the static seemed to obliterate everything else. It was almost as if when she stopped to talk to Gwen, the cloud that surrounded her enveloped Gwen as well. It would have been soothing if the white noise itself did not feel like a Brillo pad being raked across the inside of her skull.

Listening to the woman who was beautiful and stately, she tried to stretch out her senses to see if her story held up, suspicion filling her with Alex gone. But there was nothing beyond the static except more static. Blinking a little harshly, Gwen stepped back from her to try and assuage the effect, but concern instantly registered on the woman's features and she stepped forward to offer her assistance. "Are you alright?" she asked, her hand lightly touching Gwen's elbow causing her to jerk at the contact. "I'm sorry..." She seemed a bit hurt and unsure of how to help her.

"No, you're fine," Gwen said, trying to smile at her reassuringly. "I'm just feeling a little light-headed...and queasy."

Like magic, the static seemed to subside somewhat and Gwen could hear a bit of the woman's thoughts. All she heard however was an echo as the woman spoke. Do you live on this floor? "Do you live on this floor?" she asked, glancing down the hallway. I could help you to your apartment. "I could help you to your apartment."

"No, I live up a floor," Gwen said with a shake of her head, looking at the woman with a narrowed eye. This wasn't right. People didn't think like that. And the emotion coming off her was the same; if her face looked concerned, Gwen felt a sympathetic worry from her; if her face took a thoughtful expression, her inner emotions translated a systematic concentration. But it all felt very shallow, every emotion and thought like a script she was reading from and only went about face deep. Just beyond these thoughts Gwen could hear the low hum of that awful static. What is that?

Well, my apartment is just over there, you can come inside for a moment and gather yourself. "Well," Stephanie said glancing back at Gwen from her perusal of the hallway and the closed doors that faced them. "My apartment is just over there, you can come inside for a moment and gather yourself."

God, this is really annoying, she thought as she rubbed her hand on her forehead trying to stay the echo. While Gwen was distracted doing that, Stephanie made a a small, surreptitious gesture towards where she knew Jason could see, signaling for him to wait. I've got this, she thought to herself with an internal smirk and Gwen was none the wiser for the static that kept her from seeing or hearing anything Stephanie really thought and felt.

With the static mostly gone right now, Gwen took the moment to see if she could reach Gerald's mind again. Reaching out mentally, her mind was filled with the man's rambling thoughts - Must find the secret code. Stupid woman! Stupid woman! Thinks she owns the messages in my head! Nice try! You cannot have them! Where is it? Aha! "75 Sexy Tips-On How To Clean Your Weapon" That means something!!! - and she retracted as much as she could after she'd gotten the gist of his thoughts.

The woman he referred to was real, she sensed, not someone in the magazines he was reading, but wading through the irrational flow of thought, she could not determine who exactly he was talking about. She assumed he meant the woman standing before her and instantly relaxed her guard, despite that puzzling white noise and the annoying echo of thought. What she didn't know however, was that Gerald Tomas had gotten a phone call from his mother this morning to remind him to take his meds. Not having taken them the day before, he'd hung up on her prematurely, thinking that she was a spy.

"No, thank you, but I think I'll be alright," Gwen said, giving the woman another polite smile, now assuming she was just a friendly person offering assistance. Reaching out mentally she tried to see if Alex was coming back yet and heard Xander's familiar voice talking both inside and out...to someone with a foreign accent in his room. Trembling, she felt a chill run through her as she heard the men's conversation and felt the emotion coming off of the smoking man's body.

"Look at you, you're shaking like a leaf," Stephanie said in a crooning voice, touching Gwen's arm again and pleased when the young woman did not flinch away this time. She knew Gwen would have trouble being convinced, so she was just waiting for an opportunity now that she was close enough to do something. Reaching into her pocket where the pen was, she jangled the keys lightly to make it seem like that was what she was reaching for.

"I can't," Gwen said, shaking her head, and trying to smile politely again. Something had happened upstairs; Had Xander hurt someone? She did not feel the familiar rush of power, so she assumed he'd done something more physical. With the static buzzing lightly in her ear and the woman parroting everything she was thinking in her own head, it was a bit difficult to concentrate on anything else. "I'm waiting for someone." She turned to look at the stairwell, an urgency in her bones, hoping he'd arrive soon, if nothing else but to assure her he was alright. She could not shake this unsettling feeling. He needs me-Now!

From behind her, a sliver of thought drifted in her mind, an image of something small, slender and metal surging through the air towards her, a split second before the thing actually came, Gwen's hand flying up as she turned to knock it from the golden woman's fingers. "What the hell?" Gwen asked as the pen clattered to the floor by the wall. Now that she was facing her again, Gwen was met with the emotionless mask and the deep and all-consuming void in the woman's head. Her eyes opened wide and she felt her insides turn to ice. "You're..." She could not find the voice to complete the thought suddenly, but she knew what that emptiness meant. An Agent!

Stephanie internally smiled as the realization bloomed on Gwen's features, pleased to see the tension rippling back into place through every muscle of her body. Her charade had been effective. But now it was over and the time for games was passed. Her arm, like a lightning flash, whipped out with deadly force towards Gwen's stomach aiming for under her rib cage, the move intended to hit her and stun her.

Stephanie's echo was still on though and Gwen felt the woman's fist moving through the air a few seconds before it actually reached her, causing her to jump back reflexively, the blow hitting her stomach with less force than was intended. With the air that left Gwen's lungs in a quick burst anyways, that was saying a lot. Shock rippled through the lead Agent's internal layers and quickly she corrected her error, the control she had over her emotions slipping firmly into place.

Gwen stumbled back hunched over and coughing, trying to get away without turning her back on the woman who steadily approached her, that faceless mask making her look like a robot as she descended upon her again with violent force. Remembering her self-defense classes, Gwen tried her best to block the attacks, but the woman was quick, faster than should be possible for a human body. And the blows glided past her defenses knocking her back until she was up against the wall in the corner by the stairs. As much as her hands flew out to counter the attacks that the Agent rained down upon her, it didn't seem to have an effect. The woman wasn't even breaking a sweat it seemed. So, in desperation, Gwen tried something desperate, her left fist flying out low to catch Stephanie in the gut. The Agent saw it however and reacted, her arm slicing down to chop against Gwen's, leaving herself vulnerable to the other fist that came flying up to her face.

Gwen's right hook smashed against Stephanie's cheek causing her to stumble backwards, shaking her head as her face filled with a burning numbness and her head swam a little. Taking the opportunity, Gwen dived forward to ram her knee into the other woman's stomach, her hands going around her to press her body into the blow. Stephanie recovered quickly however and the blow missed it's target as she side-stepped. Reaching out, she grabbed a fistful of Gwen's hair and yanked it harshly, and aimed her fingers, straight out and together like a knife, for Gwen's throat. She definitely was breathing harder now.

Stephanie was idly aware of the other fight going on in the hallway with them but did not break her focus as her arm drew back and started moving swiftly through the air, aiming for Gwen's neck. She was too busy relishing this moment of assured victory, enough force in the blow to stun the target, so she did not notice Xander until he was already there sandwiched between them. The Agent had only a moment for her eyes to widen before she felt the searing pulse fill her skull from the fixated stare he gave her. Rooted in place, she stared dazed as if left standing in a coma.

Gwen was almost certain she was going to die before Xander appeared and a gasp of relief left her. The familiar warmth of his power rippled through her own mind as he looked into the woman's eyes and she felt the Agent's mind fade like a phone's busy signal. His arm wrapped around her then and he was pulling her away but not before the wretched woman's fingers tugged violently on her scalp with the motion. A sharp yelp escaped her throat before finally her hair pulled free of the Agent's claw-like grasp and Xander was running while practically carrying her towards the stairs. Listening to their conversation, she didn't realize anything was different about him at first until she heard Alex's voice inside like she would have Xander's.

Despite the beating she'd received, she struggled out of his hold and ran on her own as they entered the stairwell, adrenaline pumping through her and the promise of escape giving her feet wings. "What the hell happened?" she couldn't help asking as they fled down the stairs 3 steps at a time. "What happens in 10 minutes?" her voice came out breathlessly and she couldn't help casting a quick glance behind them to see if anyone was following. The stairs appeared empty.

It had been hard during her fight with Stephanie - at the appearance of Xander, some of the woman's defenses had fallen and she now knew the Agent's name - to sense anything other than what was happening right in front of her, so she didn't understand why Xander was so exhausted now or if it was something that normally happened when he took over for too long. Knowing his plan, she felt a little more at ease, flying down the stairs and shadowing him closely. The internal voices of those who were in the building right now swam through her mind but did not crowd her like before, her heart thundering in her ears and drowning them all out.

Within minutes they'd reached the lobby and her face brightened considerably to see the front doors, afternoon light shining through the windows like a beacon of salvation. No sounds of pursuit came from the stairs behind them. They were going to get away!

Despite their escape from threat, fear gripped Gwen's heart in a vice as Xander responded to her questions, with a little prodding from Alex on the inside. It was so strange to hear Alex speaking internally and she worried that she might not see him again with the way their discussion was going. One consolation was that she could still feel his emotions even though he'd essentially switched seats with Xander. But other than emotions, she could not detect any of Xander's thoughts and she supposed it had something to do with them sharing a head, although she wasn't sure why that would be.

Fatigue came off of Xander in waves and it only made Gwen feel more on edge knowing that it meant they had a time limit, her eyes searching for a taxi as soon as they left the building. Looking around however, she noticed the empty street and a shiver ran through her. Distantly, she was aware of the commotion still going on further down in front of the coffee shop and knew that several people had gathered on the edge of a police barricade to gawk at the dead bodies. A news crew had arrived as well as several police cars and Roasters had been shut down temporarily as the police dealt with the crises right on it's doorstep. They did not know yet what had happened, despite eyewitnesses and she let out a breath of relief.

Turning back to Xander, she caught up quickly on their conversation and continued to follow them silently as they approached the taxi together. Escape was almost assured now, if only she understood what was going to happen. Would it be like before when Xander would take over whenever he felt like? Could Alex do that? Now that Xander was the main one, and he got tired so easily, what did that mean for Alex? Would she be left alone while he was asleep or whatever? Thinking of that only brought up more fears if in the future at some point she encountered Agents while Xander was recharging or whatever the hell he did. If they were anything like Ms. Black Hole, Gwen would get them all killed trying to protect him.

Xander's discussion of going into a coma did not inspire any confidence in her, but she felt a small burst of warmth at the protective tone of his voice as he promised to watch over her. As the taxi stopped and their conversation continued, Gwen was made aware of not only how her relationship to them had changed but how internally they'd changed as well. The dynamic had been fully switched it seemed, and whereas Gwen felt doubt and then acceptance flowing through Alex as he reasoned things out, Xander said nothing about it. A second later he made it clear why he hadn't, although at first, Gwen had thought that it was the exhaustion making him not care enough to comment on everything like he had before.

When they were at the cab, Xander opened the door for her and pressed a bunch of bills into her hand, giving her instructions on what to do with the money. Looking into his eyes, that fear she felt gripped her again at the prospect of having to leave him behind if Agents came upon them again. She didn't know if she'd be able to do that, but nodded her head in stalwart agreement. At his last comments, she regained a bit of her good spirits and said, "Watching you humiliate a coffee shop employee repeatedly until there's nothing even resembling human dignity left, then having you perform lobotomies in the middle of an intersection while I'm suddenly transported inside everybody's heads and almost getting killed by a walking black hole; I'm having the time of my life. You definitely know how to show a girl a good time. Can't wait for the second date."

Entering the cab she immediately encountered the thoughts of Salvatore Robinson, who was a stocky man of Italian ethnicity, with a head of curly black hair, wiry ringlets sticking out from under his cap, and grizzly mutton chops on his round cheeks. He was having a pretty decent day compared to most, encountering only a little traffic so far this morning and afternoon, and the fares he'd been transporting had gone far distances and paid him lots of money. He'd watched as the bills had passed between their hands through the car's windows and he was already crossing his fingers that he'd be able to make a large percentage of that wad his.

Gwen smiled a little bit until a new thought entered her mind, the expression frozen on her face and her whole body growing tense. Even from outside the building, she could feel that emptiness inside Stephanie stir, and when it started to move, her eyes went wide and a gasp was ripped from her throat. She was still sitting in the first seat of the cab when she turned to Xander standing in the doorway, waiting for her to move over, and she grabbed a fistful of his shirt tugging on him frantically. "Get in! Get in!" she urged in a panicked tone, her bottom scooting over to occupy the other seat in the back of the taxi as Xander followed her in and closed the door.

Turning to the cab driver, she reached through the little window between the front and back seats, her hand grabbing onto Salvatore's shoulder and jerking him forward and backward, practically hopping in her seat. "Drive, Sal! Drive!" Shock and confusion filled the man but he did as he was told with minimal sputtered protest, peeling away from the curb with a small screech of tires.



Blinking several times and breathing in deeply, Stephanie became aware of her surroundings again, the mask she wore instantly moved back into place as she regarded the empty hallway. A little ways away she noticed Jason still lying upon the ground passed out and anger filled her to realize Gwen had gotten away again. Running over to the window at the end of the hallway, she peered out onto the street just in time to see the taxi disappear around the corner and out of sight.

That stupid Frenchman! Of course he failed to capture his target again and not only that, he'd failed to occupy Alexander's attention long enough for her and Jason to capture their own target. Red filled her vision, the immovable blank features of her face remaining stoic as she stared down at Jason's body. This had been exactly what she'd predicted would happen! But no! The son of a bitch had insisted they take the opportunity to try and capture Gwen now! The idiot!

Placidly, she walked over to where Gwen had knocked her electric pen by the wall of the hallway and bent to pick it up. An electric buzzing started up as she turned it on and the tip danced with blue bolts of energy, like wiry strands of hair, branching out and disappearing in a constant ripple. Walking over to Jason's body, she turned him over onto his back and brought the pen near. She would hurt him with it! She would hurt him so bad, whatever Alexander did to him would seem like fucking Christmas morning! Her chest rose and fell and internally she grit her teeth before the rage exploded inside of her and she clicked another button on the pen, switching out the taser for a knife. It would be much more merciful if she just made sure the imbecile did not EVER wake up again.

She had the blade against his throat and was about to apply pressure when she stopped herself. No. This was as much her failure as it was his. She'd taken the opportunity because she'd wanted to and although it had been his idea - it would feel so good right now to plunge this into his flesh and watch the blood gush out - she could not blame him solely. SHE was the one in charge and in the end, she'd been the one to make the decision. And she'd been wrong.

Clicking the buttons on the pen, the knife retracted and it was a regular pen again. Tucking it away into her pocket, she slapped him full force across the face. "Get up," she said without anger or inflection. "We need to go have a talk with Benoit and I'm not going to wait for your lazy ass to wake up."

The tension did not leave her as they sped away from that hollow woman and Gwen stayed perched on the edge of her seat until they'd gone for a mile and she could no longer sense their apartment building. With a small sigh, she slowly sat back in her seat, the cushion underneath her and behind her back feeling odd after running and being so tense for the last hour or so. Being stationary had become an alien feeling. At Xander's words, she turned to smile at him, resting her head back against the headrest and said, "Beaches anywhere will do. I know you just want to see me in my bikini." She looked away when the thought of him without a shirt on flashed in her mind.

With the urgency he'd been made to leave the street he'd picked them up on, Sal felt a little like he was in an action movie or something. It was an exhilarating feeling. If black cars started chasing them and people started shooting at them however, he would not hesitate to stop the taxi and run as fast as he could away from these fares. Sal was about to ask where he was suppose to be taking them, but listening to their conversation, he blanched a little when Xander said "10 cities away". He could do that, but it would take him way out of the way. He was heading south right now and so far, neither the man nor the woman had said anything, so he kept heading in this direction, letting the meter run.

"Just keep heading south," Gwen said, sitting forward in her seat to speak through the window. "I'll tell you when we wish to stop."

She knew she'd startled him by suddenly addressing him with what he'd been thinking, but he smiled and nodded his head. "Will do, Miss." As long as they were willing to pay the full amount once they arrived, it was not a problem.

By the time Gwen had sat back in her seat and turned to Xander again, he had his eyes closed and she could feel him sleeping. In slumber, his face relaxed and his eye shut, giving him such a peaceful and almost vulnerable appearance. It stirred a bit of sympathy within her to realize, today had been one of the scariest, most exciting day of her life. Both he and Alex dealt with this stuff on a regular basis and rolled with the punches as they came and she knew it was hard on them. But now they had her and she wasn't sure if it was a good thing to share the burden with someone or if she'd become a burden for them herself.

Looking him over, her hand drifted out to lightly caress the side of his face, feeling his warm skin beneath her fingertips and then the stubble of his cheek and chin as her hand moved lower to his jawline. When Alex's voice sounded in her head, she lowered her arm and blinked at him before turning back to the front of the cab and closing the little window between the seats.

Turning back to him, she softly said, "I can hear you. You're not alone." Trying to comfort him in some way she took the sleeping Xander's hand in her own and interlaced their fingers. She wasn't sure if he could feel it, but just in case he couldn't, she'd keep her touches to a minimum, lest she wake Xander up.

Still, she couldn't help drawing closer to him as the taxi rumbled around them, eating stretches of road in gulps until they'd made it out of town and onto the highway. "You know, it's funny when I think of how all of this started," she said with a small, amused quirk of her lips. "I was fine before I met you. Just a normal person, like everybody else. Nothing special about me." Biting her lip around an ironic smile and blush she said, "I was planning on writing a book about you. You and Xander. I thought you had a split personality or something - it's strange. Even then I could somewhat sense when he was talking to you. In just a few hours, my attempt to study you has not only been made to seem foolish but completely irrelevant when faced with reality."

For a moment she paused as she felt Sal cock an eyebrow at her in the rearview mirror. Who was she talking to? The guy was asleep wasn't he? But she ignored him, not embarrassed in the least that he thought she was talking to herself. "That's all over now, isn't it?" she asked finally. "My writing. I can't go back to that now. I mean, I'm like you, right? I won't be able to ever stop running will I?" She looked at him then, giving him a sad smile even though he probably couldn't see it right now.



Of course, the first thing on her colleague's mind was his precious suit. Not that their target was missing. No, it would be too much to ask for him to consider that worthy of worrying about. His tone of voice made her reconsider stabbing him in the throat. He redeemed himself quickly, however, when he mentioned the goggles would be traceable. They hadn't lost her this time. As long as she stayed with Alexander - and she would; she depended too much upon him for survival - they would be able to find her again.

At the sound of Benoit's voice, she turned to regard him blankly. At first, she felt the urge to explode on him for ruining her plan, but stopped herself when she realized that was her fault too. Not only had she not gone the smarter way and waited to track the pair when they'd make their escape from Benoit, but she'd changed the plan without telling him. There hadn't been enough time, but what she'd done had been completely reckless and uncoordinated. Like a child eager for a treat, she'd been too excited about the prospect of getting what she wanted without properly thinking everything through. And her incompetence in the face of this other lead Agent stung harshly. Especially with his mocking words.

"I take full responsibility for this failure to capture my target," she said resolutely, her back straight as a rod of iron. "I admit, I became too eager to get my hands on her when I learned that she'd entered the building." She paused, casting a glance at Jason before addressing the French Agents. "I will not make the same mistake again."

Alex's internal words echoing in her head made her relax even more, soothing the worry she'd felt. "Maybe I could help you with that," she said with a smile. "I think I'll be able to recognize the female Agent's signature if she comes after us. Maybe even the one in your apartment, although I didn't hear too much from him at the time. I was distracted. I may still be able to sense them coming before they reach us and it could help us get away without even encountering them again."

Sal strained to hear the conversation in the back of the cab as he continued to propel them further away from those who sought them, but Gwen did not worry too much about it. The plastic pane of the window between them muffled everything to such a degree, he wasn't able to make sense of any of it. For now, she allowed him to be curious as long as it did not affect them.

At Alex's question, Gwen sat up a little, her blue eyes looking Xander's body - Alex's actually - up and down. With the car continuously moving, the thoughts of those outside its metal frame came in short bursts, one immediately after the other, like someone taking a piece from a dozen different puzzles and tossing them at her. Needless to say, she did not feel overwhelmed at the moment.

Gingerly, she concentrated on him with all of her will, slowing her breathing and shoving the thoughts of the nosy cab driver out of her mind. She could feel her hand touching his from his own senses, her fingers cool and soft in his stronger hold. His arms, limp for now, were filled with threatening energy, and lightly muscled, blood flowing through his veins warmly. She could feel the small slivers of glass still embedded in the side of his hand - what happened? - and the broken toe and she wondered how he'd gotten them. The wounds themselves did not tell her anything about what had occurred but she could sense, even though he was asleep, that it was painful - although, admittedly, it was more like an annoyance to Xander. His chest rose and fell slowly, lungs expanding with new air, her chest rising and falling with his, as if they were her lungs. His heart was the same, it's beat slow and steady now, pulsating through her body like a large bell ringing. Even though she confirmed he was breathing and well, she took the moment to explore further, her senses moving deeper into his mind.

His thoughts were hidden from her but she could feel his emotions rising up to meet her like waves against a beach. There was the exhaustion of course, eased by the sleep that was light - even in repose unwilling or unable to let his guard down. There was a slight concern for her and a bit of worry about his current condition, but they were not strong emotions. She couldn't tell if it was because he was asleep right now or if he really did not consider these things all that important. Or maybe she was missing pieces? Pushing even further, a smile touched her lips as she felt Alex's presence deep inside the recesses of his mind. He was definitely worried about her and his new position placed on the inside looking out and he was waiting for her answer still.

With a sigh, she sat back and said, "He's breathing fine and he's still there, rarin' to go at a moments notice. I still can't hear his thoughts though. I can feel some of his emotions since the change, but I can't make out anything like I do with other people." She got a mischievous look on her face as she smirked at him. "You on the other hand, are transparent as ever. I saw what came to mind when I made that bikini comment. Slow-motion running? Really?" She giggled happily and shook her head in an amused fashion causing Sal to look into the mirror again at the sound. When the hilarity passed, she said, "But I think we need to do something about your toe. Maybe we could stop by a hospital before we settle for the night. Or maybe I could just play nurse for you."



The professional understanding in Benoit's voice helped her relax a bit more, although outwardly there was no change. He also seemed to extend a bit of that same businesslike sympathy towards Jason, and she did not look at him again when his trouble with the suit was mentioned. She admitted that she was only partially aware of what his equipment was capable of, and she'd been completely unaware of it's effects on her colleague. Now she understood his first concern being the goggles, but it didn't make her feel anything but slightly less annoyed.

What Benoit said next really shocked her and she schooled her features viciously to not let any of her surprise show or the sudden paranoia that came with it. He was definitely extending the olive branch farther than she would have expected, and although she'd been going to ask him again if they could join forces, the fact that he brought it up first made her narrow her gaze at him. Stephanie had expected to need to fight him about it but here he was, willing to team up. His offering up information made her even more suspicious and it only grew when he asked about Gwen's profile again, even after he assured her he was not trying to double cross her.

This failure only reinforced her original desire to join forces with him, knowing that if they did not at least coordinate their efforts, it would allow Gwen and Alexander to slip through their fingers again and again. But she wasn't sure she altogether trusted him yet, not after the way he'd treated them before. This sharing and offering of help and even the sympathy seemed out of character and she feared it was an act and he'd take what he wanted and dump her and Jason to fend for themselves again. As it stood, she and Jason would get nowhere if they continued to walk blindly into Alexander over and over, so she needed to trust him just enough to get what she wanted and assure that he kept his bargain.

'Alright," she finally said in her usual monotone. "I accept your offer, only on the basis that we have a better chance of success by coordinating our efforts. I hope you're not offended if I ask for information on Alexander before I give you a clearer idea on my target's abilities. It's purely personal. I hope you understand. In return, I will give you most, if not everything I have on her. And the equipment necessary to guard against his powers is a must and brings me to my first question: What is it he can do? Whatever he did to both my Agent and I, it was temporary. I'm assuming it was not full power, yes? I would also like to know more about the stolen property he possesses or rather IS. He was an Agency project?"

The empty expression on her face did not shift or change as he spoke and she took the information in. It was always interesting to hear about the abilities of different cases when they offered that information at all. Two cases that she'd worked on before being assigned to Gwen had been with a boy who could teleport and a young woman who could control fire. So, Alexander "fried people's minds"? It was intriguing to say the least but her interest only went far enough to realize that protective eyewear would be absolutely necessary if they were going to encounter him again.

At the mention of the rest of her team, she realized immediately to whom he was referring. All of them had been working undercover and were her main source of information on Gwen, and they'd been ordered to await Jason's command to move in and assist him in bringing the target in. When he'd been disabled the night before, they must have known something was wrong and taken action. She already knew most of them were dead now and that Alexander was the cause.

Listening to the story he told, it illuminated things even further for her about the nature of the man Gwen was keeping company with. The split mind thing she kind of already knew about from reading Gwen's story and talking with Jason, but Benoit's history lesson offered her more background on how it had happened and the degree of what they were dealing with. Jason's input was also interesting and she looked at him for a second to hear the slight worried tone in his voice - he hid it well, but she caught it anyway and she wondered if she'd need to kill him if he screwed up again. The torture of waiting for something inevitable to happen and watching the ticking clock might be better punishment. Ignoring the juvenile squabbling between the two men, she looked Benoit over with new eyes.

Again, she had fully expected to meet resistance to her inquiries, as he'd reacted towards them before, but he was being surprisingly cooperative. He still might not be sincere about this whole teamwork thing, but he was making a good show of it at least. Her dull green eyes traveled over his features, searching for those telltale weaknesses that would confirm her suspicions. His long angular face was lightly aged and he had a large nose, but it fit his face well as did his ears, which were a bit big on each side of his head. The cigarette he held dipped between his full and smoothly curved lips that always held a haughty smirk under the surface and now blew out a thin cloud of cancer with a small pucker of the plush flesh. The eyes were the most telling feature of the face and his were no different, small but expressive, topped by slender eyebrows that curved and moved with sophisticated emotion. But the expression he held was not telling her anything, that he was lying or genuine, so she took the ambiguity of his features for what it was and did not let her guard down. Even so, having finished her inspection in the span of 2-3 seconds, she decided he was a man she could possibly grow to like if they ended up benefiting from this together. Maybe.

"Thank you, Benoit" she said with a hinted nod of her head. "This information will help us be more prepared when we encounter them again. I do not have any other questions about him at this time other than about the necessary equipment, of course. But other than that, I think we're brought up to speed. As for Gwen, there's not much to tell about her. She can hear and sense everything you think and feel as if they were her own thoughts and emotions. She may eventually be able to manipulate people's thoughts and even their memories, but as of right now, I do not think it's something we'll need to worry about. Everything is still pretty new and from my encounter with her, it is clear that she has very little control over the flow."

She paused then, her eyes growing a bit distant as she thought back over their fight and felt an electric thrill course through her internal layers. It had been such a rush to perform for her target, to see her in the flesh and talk with her face to face. Many nights she'd stayed up late imagining what it would be like to meet her and the reality had been everything she'd dreamed of and more. She was so innocent, so raw and unpolished. Stephanie's blocking ability should have been an even match for Gwen with her abilities at full power, but as it was, she'd been shoved around like a rag-doll and manipulated by the Agent. Still, there were several times she'd broken through Stephanie's defenses and it filled her with a sense of pride and euphoria to see the young woman get the upper hand occasionally. If Alexander had not interfered, she would have had her and it would not have felt that it had been too easy. That in itself was satisfying, but she could not wait for the rematch. Next time, Gwen would not be so lucky.

Her eyes refocused on Benoit and she picked up where she left off in her profile, barely missing a beat. "After many tried methods, the most successful way I've found to counter her abilities is the Emotion Desensitization Training that the Agents on her case go through. It deals with separating the emotions and dividing consciousness by building layers within the mind and putting up internal walls to block her sight." She sighed boredly before asking, "Anything else you'd like to know, or are we done trading information now?" There was a barely detectable energy about her, an eagerness for the Round two she so dearly deserved.


Laughter bubbled up inside of Gwen at the nervous denials Alex put forth, the image of herself, body lightly tanned and stomach exposed to the sun, running across sand, a tiny, tropical floral print triangle of cloth tied over each slowly bouncing breast. She squirmed in her seat beside him as the laughter grew so deep she was gasping silently, when the image turned into a sexy nurse outfit set in the same scene. A lot of her joy came from how flattering his thoughts of her were - even though they were a bit pervy, she didn't mind - but also from how flustered he got when she mentioned she knew about it. Even locked inside as he was, he was the same as he'd been before, and it delighted her to tease him this way.

"Um, Ma'am?" Sal asked a bit nervously, his voice barely coming through the window. "Are you alright?" This whole thing seemed interesting and exciting at first, but as soon as the guy had gone to sleep, things just kept getting weirder. He was starting to doubt the woman was right in the head.

"Yes, I'm fine," Gwen said, still slightly gasping and giggling, but catching her breath. "Just ignore me. I'm okay." Letting out a loud sigh finally regaining her composure, she turned back to Xander as Alex brought up going to a hospital. No, she supposed it wouldn't be a safe time to go to somewhere so public. Reaching out mentally, she touched his foot again and realized it wasn't too bad, but any more running on it would probably not be a good idea. At his mention of the bag, she reached over and set it on the other side of her before lifting up Xander's leg onto her lap. They would have at least an hour before they got far enough away to feel safe, so she thought she might as well check it out now.

When he inquired about her condition, she smiled warmly in his direction, faced with Xander's closed eyes still. Due to her defense classes, Gwen had been able to counter at least some of Stephanie's attacks, but a few blows had hit their mark. Her stomach and sides were littered with bruises and her arms were sore from where the female Agent had been blocked, but she didn't think anything was broken. Touching the top of her head gingerly, she hissed a little as her scalp throbbed with the contact. Her hand came away without any blood, but it felt like the woman had torn a piece of her skull off.

"I'll live," she said with a shrug, starting to maneuver his shoe off the offending foot. "A few scrapes and bruises, but nothing to cry about. The bitch really did a number on my hair follicles though. And there is the slight headache from having my head filled with several hundred people today." She had his shoe off and had removed his sock before the guilt filling him even registered to her, but by that time, she was too distracted by the sight that met her to concern herself with that right now.

"Holy shit!" she said in shock, her eyes wide with concern as she gazed down at the darkly purple and blue toe on his left foot. The toe itself was swollen and crookedly arched and she hissed a little under her breath as she began to search the bag for the gauze he'd spoken of. In her search, she found the picture of his parents and paused to look at it for a moment, a warm feeling filling her to see such a sentimental item in his possession. Tucking it back into the bag, she finally pulled out the roll of loosely woven fabric and set about wrapping his foot as best she could, while Sal continued to watch with nosy interest from his rearview mirror.

Well, things were going well. He might be sincere about this afterall, but really only time would tell. Her facial expression stayed frozen as she accepted the eyewear Benoit's Agent gave her and she opened them to look them over with almost perceptible interest. She only looked up again when Benoit began explaining how they worked against his target, her eyes meeting his again with a dull stare. The continued animosity shared between the larger man and Jason was purposefully ignored by her but it did not go unnoticed and she was starting to lose patience with her colleague.

His offering for her to do research on whatever screw-up Alexander did to test out the specialized equipment against himself did not interest her in the least. "I do not find things funny," she said in a monotone voice that left no doubt that what she said was true. She folded up the sunglasses and tucked them away inside her golden yellow suit jacket, revealing a modest and plain white, silk shirt underneath it. At his suggestion for getting lunch before pursuing the pair, irritation filled her but did not show. Now she was beginning to understand why Alexander had slipped from his grasp so many times all these years. She did admit she was hungry, the afternoon growing long and her energy bar having been eaten. But with the way Benoit spoke, she doubted they'd be stopping somewhere quick on the road while chasing after the targets.

The internal clock ticked at her urgently and she could feel Gwen getting further and further away with every passing second. Not that she doubted the other Agent's word on how the lenses worked, she was just incredibly impatient. Upon realizing this, she stopped and took in a deep breath letting it out slowly through her nose. This eagerness had been what had let Gwen get away in the first place. She needed to calm down and take a lesson from the more experienced Agent. Of course, the man did not like losing his target over and over again. He would have learned by now the most efficient way to pursue Alexander and would not willfully attempt to sabotage himself, because if he was anything like her, he was a perfectionist and obsessed with his case and he would seek to improve himself at every opportunity.

Going slower like this and taking the time to plan was no doubt a better solution than rashly barreling ahead and coming up with a plan on the spot. She needed to be patient. After seeing Gwen and being able to touch her, it was difficult to accept that answer. She'd been right within reach and if they moved now she would be within Stephanie's grasp again. Her training kicked in to stifle the urge to leave Benoit and his Agent and pursue Gwen by herself, but still it rumbled deep within her in a cloud of malcontent. "That sounds wonderful," she finally responded with as much excitement as the average person would have about the prospect of watching paint dry to pass the time. Glancing at Jason for probably only the third or fourth time since this conversation began, she noticed the pallor of his cheeks and the weary look on his face. Stephanie assumed it had something to do with the goggles he'd lost - if what Benoit said about the suit was true - but she felt little to no sympathy. He was her partner on this case but her feelings were divided about his performance and she still felt the urge to blame him for nearly everything that had happened so far.



"Welllll..." Gwen said with a sigh as she started to straighten the toe out and tape it with the small roll of medical tape that came with the gauze. "There's no bones protruding from the skin or anything. And I can probably set it with something when we get to the hotel - this tape and gauze wrapping isn't gonna do the trick. But if I do that, I'm not sure if your shoe will fit again afterward. And it looks really ugly too." She shook her head with a small breathy laugh at that, and tapped the top of his foot lightly after she'd finished taping it up, satisfied with the result. As a temporary solution, it would do.

Her hands unrolling the gauze around his foot slowed and stopped when he mentioned her old job and sending in her two weeks notice. For the past few months, she'd been living off of her savings compiled from the money she'd made with the success of her book series. Since she hardly went anywhere and ate cheaply made home cooked meals, the modest mass of money had barely chipped away. She hadn't really thought too much about money yet, not having the time to worry about it and being constantly distracted, but it was a shame that she wouldn't be able to access the amount she still had saved up.

With a sigh of resignation, she finished taping up Xander's foot, the gauze wrapped tightly around his toes and the arch of his foot and held in place with tape, turning to him with a snort at the man's hotel preference. "Oh, please," she said in an amused tone. "What a spoiled brat. He's on the run from people who want to kill him and he stops to demand luxury?" She paused and thought for a moment, gently setting his foot back down on the floor of the cab. "Well...there is the Starbucks fixation." She should have expected it.

After about an hour and thirty minutes of driving, Gwen was starting to get tired of sitting in the only position offered her in the small seat in the back of the taxi. Looking at the meter she saw that they'd traveled over 60 miles and she thought that should be good enough distance for now, especially since they were entering a city. Opening the small window between the seats she said to the driver, "I think I'd like to stop soon." His thoughts had flittered through her mind during the drive and she knew that the place they were at now was a city called Vestal. From the look of things outside the windows, it was a pretty big city with lots of large businesses and shops and a sprawling residential area. "Could you find us a nice hotel to stay in?"

"Sure thing, Ma'am," Sal said with a nod. Internally, he had a sketchy map of the city in his head since he'd been here before a few times and knew the basic layout of where everything was. Gwen was pleased by the way the details of his mental map grew clearer as they drove down the streets, even before they reached the next ones in the direction he was taking them. She leaned over Xander's sleeping form to peer out the window as the taxi came to a stop in front of a tall and grandly built hotel. A gold and royal blue engraved stone slab sat out front in a flower bed, proclaiming in flowing letters that this was the Vestal Suites.

"Sal, I'm gonna need your help," she said, looking at the shining glass doors of the hotel. When she felt him grow expectant and confused - and a bit trepidatious; What did the psycho lady want now? - she continued on in a reassuring tone. "I need you to help me carry him inside. I'll pay you extra!" The last was added when she felt him start to decline and the effect was instant.

"Well...what's wrong with him?" he asked, turning his large girth in his seat to look over at the sleeping man. "Does he need like... a hospital or something? I saw you patchin' up his leg..."

"No, he's fine," she said nodding her head. "He got drunk and sprained his foot by acting retarded. He just needs to sleep it off." Still, Sal hesitated, turning over her excuse in his head. It didn't feel right; when he picked them up the guy hadn't seemed drunk... "Please, Sal," she begged. "I can't do it without you."

There were a few moments more that he continued to flip-flop on the decision, but finally he agreed. "Yeah, alright," and he started to open his door before her voice stopped him.

"No, not yet," she said, putting the money Xander had given her into her purse and adjusting the strap on her shoulder. "I need to get a room first." Taking a hair tie out of her bag, she tied her hair back into a neat bun and started to adjust and straighten her clothes. She was about to turn to Alex and ask for his opinion - she didn't want to look like she'd just been in a catfight or running for her life when she went into this wealthy place - but she remembered that Xander's eyes were closed. So, instead, she turned to Sal.

"How do I look?" she asked and waited for him to turn around again to look her over. His eyes instantly went to her cleavage and stayed there for the longest time, but eventually his gaze wandered over the rest of her and what he could see through the plastic barrier.

"Hot," he said with a small approving nod. Rolling her eyes, she began to button up her shirt. "No, don't. Leave it. You look fine." She could tell from the waves coming off of him that his response was genuine and that despite her distracting bust, he thought she looked like a lady. She looks like she belongs in a place like this, he thought. A smile and a blush appeared on her face and for a moment she wanted to kiss him on the cheek, even though he was once again busy admiring her bosom.

Turning to Xander's sleeping form lounging in the right hand corner of the cab, she said softly into his ear, hoping to not be heard by the driver but by Alex alone, "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."

Leaving the cab through the door on her side, she walked up onto the sidewalk before stopping to look back. Through the cab window she could see Xander leaning against the door, totally lost to the world and defenseless. It did not sit well with her leaving him like this, but she really didn't have a choice. I'll only be gone a few minutes, she thought to herself before turning and entering the large swinging doors.

Getting a room was pretty easy once she was inside, although she did struggle a bit to separate the things people thought and what was actually said with how many people occupied the lobby, but she managed it. The only problem she faced was getting two rooms or at least a room with two beds. Before she'd put the money away in her purse, she'd counted it out and subtracted how much she'd have to pay Salvatore and set it aside. The rest was enough to pay for one room with a king sized bed, but there wasn't enough left over after that to pay for the extra bed. So, she took what she could get and briskly walked out with the pair of room keycards.

Her breath came out in a relieved rush when she exited the doors and still saw Xander in the backseat, unmoved and unchanged. Sal stood outside the car, leaning with an arm over the roof on the driver's side and was smoking a cigarette. As he thought to wonder What room? as he saw her approach, she said, "We're over on that side," and pointed in the direction he'd have to drive them before getting back in on her side of the car. She did not duck her head inside without casting a wary glance around at the darkening lot first. The front entry way and paved roadway around the sides of the hotel were surrounded by luxurious lamps that illuminated most of the spaces where anyone would be hiding, and helped her see clearly that no one was approaching them. Reaching out mentally, she felt the vibrations of people passing by on the street beside the hotel, but the emptiness that signaled Agents nearby, was not there.

Tossing the smoke away to land with a few small sparks on the pavement, Sal got back into the car and drove around the building to the right wing entrance. Driving in this direction took them to the parking garage underneath the building and after they parked, they both got out, Gwen carrying her purse and Alex's bag and Sal carrying Xander tossed over his shoulder. She checked the area as they headed to the elevators, but the place was empty right now, eerily quiet, the cars of other guests watching them pass with silent menace. And then she checked on Sal to make sure he was doing alright with his burden. Despite his initial reluctance, his wide frame did not have too much trouble toting the passed out man like a sack of potatoes, but he was feeling even more cautious than she was. He really didn't know what was going on and he still wasn't sure if he believed her story about Xander being drunk, and he really didn't want to get in trouble. She felt a small burst of sympathy for him, realizing that her behavior did seem rather odd this whole time, but she eased the guilt knowing that his involvement would be over soon.

The elevators took them up to the fourth floor and she led him down a lushly decorated hallway to the room she'd ordered. The little light on the lock blinked green and beeped in approval as she pushed in the keycard and the double doors opened up into a small entryway. Her eyes widened almost as big as Sal's did as she went through the rooms looking for the bedroom, turning on the lights as she went, Sal trailing behind with an unconscious Xander. "Whoa..." was his only comment as his eyes traveled over the furnishings of first the living room and then the bedroom feeling slightly out of place in this overly comfortable hotel room.

Gwen indicated the bed and set her things down in a chair in the corner. "Just lay him on the bed," she said, rubbing her forehead lightly, feeling exhaustion start to set into her bones and limbs. Sal obediently set Xander down with his head on the pillow on the right side of the bed and stood back with a sigh, his eyes once again wandering over the room. Stepping forward, Gwen reached for his hand, startling him a little bit before he felt the familiar touch of money placed within his palm. It was the full amount and a little extra, just like she'd promised.

"Thanks," he said with a nod. "I almost wish I had enough to stay in this place with you guys." He laughed a little and she smiled.

"Yeah, it is pretty ritzy," she cast a glance around at the space herself, noticing down a little hallway there were two doors opening into darkness but from the looks of it, both bathrooms. "Thank you for your help. I would have never gotten him up here by myself and I would have hated to try and explain his condition to the hotel employees."

"Hey, no problem," he said with a relaxed shrug. "You coulda just told 'em he's drunk and that he banged his toe up from being retarded. I'm sure they woulda bought it." She laughed and for a moment he relaxed, thinking that maybe she wasn't crazy afterall. And he took a moment to admire her cleavage one last time. "Well, I'll see myself out. You take care and good luck with...whatever." She nodded gratefully and watched him go, waiting to hear the door close and going to see that it was before she turned back to the sleeping man.

"We're here, finally," she said, with a sigh, speaking loud enough for Alex to hear her.

She hadn't expected him to take them from her, but she offered no complaints when he came over and slipped them off of her head, instantly putting them on himself. Watching worriedly, she listened to him try and order them breakfast, while attempting to still see the conversation he was having with the anonymous texter by probing his eyes. Meanwhile, locked with his senses as she was, she could hear the person he was speaking to on the phone. Standing there, barely a foot apart from him, she didn't even really see or sense anything in front of her own face anymore due to the amount of multitasking he was putting her senses through.

Even feeling a little dispirited about the lack of pancakes - she should have thought to order something last night for them! - she was mostly focused on the conversation he was now typing out to the other Agent through the goggles, which continued to fascinate her. This gadget was like something out of a spy movie and it seemed too cool to be real, but here it was in front of her, being used. The language used by the other person, this "Gary", was not something she'd expect from an Agent, but rather a boy much the same age as their friend Nathan over there, and she felt her preconceptions about the people running this show alter quite a bit.

And apparently they were old pals. Her reaction to Xander's knowing the guy was much the same as Alex's and she couldn't help feeling a little unsettled by his familiar tone while discussing this "Gary" person. Gwen wanted to trust him but it was moments like these that made it hard for her to do so and she understood Alex's paranoia. Maybe it was seeing how easily he could turn his moods around this morning, suddenly hating her over one little thing - which would be understandable to just about anyone else who wasn't a conceited baby - that made her realize his loyalties could be just as flimsy. But then again, he'd forgiven her pretty quickly as well, and that meant something didn't it?

Even though she felt it was being smarter than she had been before to be more wary of him and his motives, she couldn't help also feeling like she was jumping over simple shadows and making a bigger deal out of things than they really were. In her current situation it was a double edged sword: if he was going to turn on them, she was still very attached to the guy, a bit like Alex, as if she didn't have a choice between walking away and getting captured. But if he wasn't, then she was being suspicious for nothing and he really was betraying those he'd worked with this whole time and had been sticking his neck out for her when he really would have been better off throwing her under the bus to get away himself. It was a hard situation and all she could do was stay with him and watch and wait for now. If she eventually collected enough knowledge she might be able to leave him and try to hide from Agents on her own...

When the man on the phone told Xander he'd need to come down to the restaurant in order to get breakfast, she of course was willing to be reasonable. But predictably, Xander wasn't. Folding her arms, she disengaged from him long enough to give him a disapproving look at his sob story about a "son" who'd just gotten out of the hospital and was terminally ill. For pancakes. It wasn't the fact that he was lying to a stranger - no, she understood that it was necessary for their survival to break the truth when talking to people they didn't know - but this hardly fit into that category. The man was an unbelievably spoiled brat, always demanding his own way over the smallest things and making up a story that was excessively dramatic.

When he hung up, she merely shook her head and reconnected with him as he finished up the second conversation he'd been having with the less than impressive Agent. She didn't really understand what he was talking about when he said 'resetting the system', but her eyes widened a bit when he mentioned Stephanie. Relaxing when he explained it, she looked at the goggles in his hands with a bit more soberness than when he'd first handed them to her. In the midst of her excitement, she'd forgotten why he'd given them to her in the first place. Now she felt a bit foolish for playing with them as she had.

And just when she thought the situation wasn't already filled with tension, he decided to inform her about the side-effects of the goggles. As they were placed upon her head, she gave him a level look and said, "Thanks. Fun toy."

Although, Gwen had to admit, she didn't feel any different than before she'd put them on. The pain he described sounded awful and she kept expecting something to start hurting but nothing happened and she'd actually been wearing them even while he'd had them on. She considered telling him she was alright, but then she thought of Alex and what he'd have to go through when the headache finally hit him, and decided to let him search for aspirin for her. Maybe when he found some, she could convince him to take some for Alex too. With his complaint about the man's whining, she knew exactly what she was going to say to convince him.

Turning back to the goggles that still sat upon the crown of her head, and now realizing what he'd meant about them being "reset", she slipped them down over her eyes with more determination than she had before. Enough playing, time to get serious. Well...at least until she'd found out the necessary information. Taking a deep breath she waited for a link to Stephanie to appear and opened it.

Apparently, the woman was wearing goggles or something just like she was and she could see through them. Technically, it wasn't through her eyes but it basically was the same thing. She was sitting in the backseat of a car, and instead of orange, everything had a slight oily green tinge to it. Not overly so, like the goggles, but a bit like looking through a tinted glass. Sunglasses?

The car was nice and roomy, with smooth shiny leather seats and in the driver's seat was a very large man she did not recognize. But she instantly froze when she saw the Frenchman from Alex's memory sitting in the front passenger seat. They were together! The woman who was after her was with the man pursuing Alex and Xander! Of course, they'd found each other and were working together! She was more disheartened by the fact than surprised, as she'd been secretly hoping - based on what Xander had told her about the Agency - that it was some complex bureaucracy where nobody talked to each other and fumbled to complete assignments. Her hope that they'd each be left chasing their tails before picking up her and Xander's trail was completely crushed. Now it was only a matter of time.

Stretches of highway passed by windows that were also tinted but there didn't appear to be any cars with them, almost as if they were on a special, secluded road of some kind. The signs that they passed however were the same and Gwen was able to identify where they were. They'd just passed Afton so they were about 20 minutes out of the city where she and Alex had lived. That gave them an hour and 45 minutes - probably less if there wasn't a speed limit and other cars on the road. She was about to break off the link when she saw the woman turn to the other occupant of the back seat, bringing him into view for the first time. A young man, in his early 20s sat huddled uncomfortably in the seat next to her. His skin was gray and glistening with a sheen of sweat, his hair matted down by it and his eyes were glazed with a terrible haunted look. He looked like he was in pain and extremely ill.

Had they...captured someone? It only took her a minute to realize that he was one of them by the suit he was wearing - there was an identifiable pattern on his left shoulder that mimicked the one on the side of the goggles - and she further assumed that he was the previous owner of the pair she was wearing. Remembering how Xander had stolen them off of a guy in the hallway where she'd fought Stephanie, she swallowed thickly to compare the image of her memory to the sickly thing she saw now. Curious, she started to reach forward through the goggles and see if she couldn't hear some of what was going on.

Sitting slowly on the edge of the bed, her lips curled up in a small smile as she connected with the woman who had been able to block her before. It was an exciting feeling, not only because she'd broken through somehow, but also because she fancied herself sneaky at not being detected. She blamed this on the distance between them and even that was an amazing feat to have accomplished.

Voices came through and now she was no longer looking through the goggles but actually seeing through Stephanie's eyes and glasses which she saw now were of the same kind of technology as the goggles. The woman had turned to the young man sitting next to her and spoke in a completely deadpan voice that came in a hollow and echoed way to Gwen's ears. "We couldn't have taken an Agency aircraft?" she asked, no emotion entering her voice whatsoever. Deeper inside, Gwen could feel a glimmer of annoyance from the woman however and she felt a wave of triumph run through her own mind that there was absolutely no static at all. She got the sense that Stephanie was blaming her partner for something but the connection was so faint, she couldn't detect what it was.

The woman turned away from him in disgust of his current condition and watched the road that passed outside her window. Then the Agent began to think about Gwen, a sense of victory filling her even as impatience battled within. All of a sudden, Gwen was taken aback by the surge of emotion coming from the woman and all directed at her. There was an obsessive quality to it, an eagerness bordering on hysteria, and something akin to...hunger in her thoughts of Gwen. Sitting on the bed in the hotel room, Gwen felt her heart drop through her feet and her whole body grow cold, swallowing thickly at the woman's insane desire to consume her. It had the same texture as someone might feel towards idolizing a celebrity and wanting to be them and live like they did, but taken to such an extreme level, she couldn't help but feel deeply disturbed by it all.

And towering over all these thoughts was an overbearing confidence of reaching her intended goal. There was not a sliver of doubt in Stephanie's mind whether she would eventually own Gwen's mind and body. Following the train of thought, she realized it came from the information she possessed; they'd already pinpointed the direction they needed to go. There had been reports of an unexplained incident in a woman's clothing store in the city of Vestal. The type of incident that was Alexander's trademark. And they were heading in a beeline straight for them.

Gwen glared at nothing in particular as she realized that it was all Xander's fault. Instead of just helping her pay for the clothes she'd gotten, he'd zapped the woman in Sally's Boutique for no reason. If he wasn't secretly working for the Agency, then he was doing a piss poor job of proving otherwise by constantly leaving behind a trail! He would most definitely get a stern talking to after she was done here.

As thoughts of Gwen faded from Stephanie's mind, she caught her thinking of her idiot partner and even worrying about him a little bit. There was a general and deeply hidden, amount of dislike for the man working with her, but underneath it, even deeper, she sensed there was a bit of fondness as well. Probing just a bit further as Stephanie thought about how she could help the man without seeming to help him, Gwen came upon a few thoughts that hinted at a crush on her partner. Uncontrollably, a smile appeared on her face again and she said aloud in a sing-song voice, "♫ Somebody's got a boyfriend! ♪" That was just the kind of thing Stephanie needed! A healthy distraction and a normal relationship to get her mind off of this twisted obsession.

Gwen gripped the bed for balance as her vision changed a little bit with Stephanie jerking upright in her seat and looking wildly around the car. "Something's wrong..." the woman murmured in a monotone that Gwen was beginning to find annoying.

For a few minutes, Gwen sat tense upon the edge of the bed, not moving or making a sound, waiting for the woman to calm down. Finally Stephanie sat back in her seat waving off the look from the Frenchman - whom she now knew was named Benoit, thanks to Stephanie's thoughts of him - her body still rigid and on alert, her mind racing and trying to figure out what had just happened. She'd...felt something. No! She'd heard something inside her head.

Without thinking, Gwen mumbled in an amazed tone, "She heard me...?" wondering what the implications of that were. Could she make herself be heard in other people's heads? Or did the goggles allow this to happen for some reason?

The reaction in Stephanie was immediate, having already been on alert when Gwen had spoken the first time. With a clawed hand, she grabbed at the glasses on her face and tossed them up towards the front seats of the car, letting them hit the front windshield with a small "Tonk!" sound. Anger of an unbelievable degree filled the woman and Gwen recoiled physically with her mouth gaping open in horror at the amount of rage that was spilling forth from the woman's body.

She'd at first thought it had been the glasses that was the cause and now knew that whatever had invaded her consciousness was still inside her independent of the gadget. And it pissed her off. With a growl of frustration totally out of character for her, she screamed "What the fuck!??" her body trembling with rage. Gwen started to tremble too, but for different reasons, rooted in place and struggling to disengage herself but unsure of how to do so at this distance. And she could feel parts of Stephanie's mind closing down with heavy reverberating slams that grew louder as they neared where she was in the woman's consciousness.

Reaching with a clawed hand, her face contorted with rage, she grabbed a fistful of Jean's shirt and stared with insane eyes. "STOP THE FUCKING CAR!!!"

Only when he complied - after looking to the Frenchman for an uneasy nod of approval first - did she let go of him, her breathing coming in labored gasps as she jerked the car door open and stepped out onto the empty stretch of road. Gwen was locked in this one part of consciousness in Stephanie's mind, unable to move from it or hide anywhere else and she was starting to emit panicked gasps, her hands clutching the sheets of the bed underneath her. Pacing on the asphalt in her black highheels, the static returned and Gwen felt her nose start to gush blood as it filled her head with a higher pitch than she'd ever experienced before.

Panting and coming to a stop, Stephanie grabbed her own head in her hands and began to scream as loud as she could. Back in the hotel, Gwen's own scream of pain came in unison as she was shoved violently out of the woman's head.

Stephanie stood for a few moments, her shoulders shaking as she slowly let go of her head and began to laugh loudly. Not having laughed at all in years, it was an alien sound to her ears, but it bubbled up from her throat as naturally as if she'd done it yesterday. When it died down, she turned to the three men, who were all waiting and watching her, and with a breathless smile proudly said, "She's reached the next stage in her development, gentlemen. And they now know, we're on our way." Placidly, she smoothed the mask back into place and re-entered the car.


As soon as she was let go, Gwen fell off of the bed and began to curl up in a fetal position on the floor, her whole body shuddering uncontrollably. A headache blasted through her skull, like an echo of the static, pulsing behind her eyelids and ringing in her ears and she rolled from side to side on the ground in an attempt to get away from it, to assuage it somehow. In the process, she pushed the goggles up off of her face and sat up enough to gag and drool and bleed on the carpet, her eyes tearing from the dry heave that had wracked her body as the sound in her head made her feel sick. With a soft moan, she lay like that for a while, her face pressed into the floor and trying to collect the pieces of her brain that had been splattered across the wall.

She drifted in darkness, suspended. Neither warm nor cold, content and comfortable in the lack of sensory input and aware of a vague sense of pain somewhere behind her. Like lying nestled in front of a fireplace, she could feel the heat and light of it on her back but she felt no desire to return to it. A low buzzing could be heard from that direction and she shivered and curled more into herself to erase thoughts of the menacing sound, letting the soothing emptiness fill her and turn her into nothing.

Gwen lay there for what felt like hours and days unconnected from her body in one of the deeper recesses of her mind, time seeming to stretch around her and yet speeding by with every half-breath. After what seemed like forever, she began to wonder idly to herself where she was, a feeling of discontent seeping into her consciousness. As nice as it was to be so separated and cocooned, she knew that this was not where she belonged. How did I get here? Like a fire roaring to life suddenly, the pain she'd noticed earlier flared against her back at the question and she snuggled away from it, letting her mind slip once again into the void.

Eventually, her thoughts were wandering again and the questions came more forcefully than before and she did not shudder away from the buzzing and the pain that seemed to grow the more she thought of these things. Something had happened. She'd been hurt. Alex. All other thoughts had left her wandering lost, slowly edging towards the light and blazing heat, but this one memory of the man she knew brought her surging up into consciousness. Along with it came flooding back the memory of their situation: he was running from someone. Her? No. They'd been running together. They'd left their apartment behind where they'd lived as neighbors. The taxi. The hotel. The goggles. Stephanie.

Blinking rapidly at the light filling her vision, she squinted as a loud and piercing hum consumed her head, throbbing painfully through her skull. Distantly, as if through a fog, she heard a voice and it was saying her name, asking her something. Turning her face a little bit she looked up and immediately recognized Alex, a feeling of indescribable joy filling her to see him. He'd regained control of his body! Finally, he was no longer trapped! But then as the voice became clearer and her vision as well, she realized it wasn't him but the man he shared a mind and body with. Xander. That's right... Xander was in the body right now, because of whatever had happened in the apartment.

Xander! That's right! The goggles! Remembering what had happened while she'd had them on, she realized she needed to tell him about it. They didn't have much time. The static that had filled Stephanie's mind and severed her from their connection was all she could feel inside her own head right now and for some reason, as consciousness and awareness flooded back to her, control of her body came slower, the waves of static making it difficult to communicate with her limbs.

For several more minutes, she attempted to speak, moving her lips in a parody of speech with no noise coming forth, making her feel frustrated and helpless. The discordant noise subsided a few notches before she was finally able to form words and even then it felt like a tremendous effort and expense.

"They're coming..." he needed to know, he had to understand what she'd seen. "They know..." Her voice dwindled down to a breathless gasp and she winced painfully, an urgency coursing through her and yet pain keeping her immobile.

Weakly she reached out a hand to touch him, to hold onto him and raise herself up, but the first pass it made against him, her fingers slid uselessly over his shirt, not even having the power to grab on. She waited for several more minutes, feeling every second tick by, pounded into her skull by the static that just didn't seem to want to fade, before trying again with more confidence. Grasping his arm and shoulder, she sat up on the floor only letting go of him when she was sure she could support her own weight.

"We need to go now... They're on their way here and they know where we are... Benoit...the French guy Alex told me about was with her and they're working together..." Speech returned to her fluidly, leaving her just barely gasping between sentences. The static had been reduced to a low hum in her head that caused her discomfort but was somewhat tolerable. "I...don't know what happened... I got stuck inside her head and she did something... She pushed me out but it was more... Now there's nothing but white-noise everywhere and it hurts like a son of a bitch."

Gwen lightly touched a hand to her forehead when she realized she couldn't hear Alex. Trying to reach out to him, the buzzing grew in volume and lanced through her head with a vicious pain, causing her to retreat immediately. She wasn't sure if that was a result of something Stephanie had done or if she did it to herself by connecting with the woman long distance. Either way, she decided not to try to force it right now, lest she be left a mindless, pain-filled mess.

Struggling to rise, she had a bit of difficulty and held her hand out to Xander for some assistance. "We need to get out of here now." A bitterness filled her tongue and her stomach growled fitfully as she realized once again that if the pancakes weren't here yet, then they'd need to grab something else while getting away. They couldn't abandon meals forever - if the Agents didn't catch up to them by catching them off guard, they eventually would when the both of them collapsed from lack of nutrients. At the moment, despite knowing why the Agents knew where they were, she decided not to bring it up. Now was not the time to argue about who's fault it was; they just needed to get away.

The incessant murmuring of their new companion caught her attention as well and she glanced in his direction, slightly worried about what they were going to do with him. Nathan still struggled against his bounds, spouting nonsense as he did before and she made even less sense of it all now without the benefit of knowing what he was thinking.

"Running-running-time to run again-stuck in a corner-always catch up-need to keep running-pancakes-" Needless to say, it was not the most comforting train of conversation.



Slipping back into the her seat again, Stephanie let out a bored sigh, her mask once more firmly in place. What a fantastic experience that had been! Even as angry as it had made her to be violated in such a manner, what she learned from it was absolutely priceless and filled her with even more pride for her target. So much so, she felt excited to share the new information with her companions.

"Oh, I doubt he'll leave her behind. I don't know much about Alexander as far as character goes, but if he's keeping her around mainly for the usefulness of her powers, then he most definitely will stay with her now," as usual, her voice had returned to the placid monotone, her face staring blankly ahead out the front windshield. "Before today, her newly awakened powers gave her the ability to hear the thoughts of others and to feel their emotions as if they were her own. She connected with me somehow - through those glasses, I know, possibly using a form of similar technology... such as the goggles they stole from my partner..."

She glanced at Jason apathetically, wondering what that news would mean to him, not having much information on his connection with the suit in the first place, but understanding it's absence was having a detrimental effect upon him. She only hoped that his own skills and strengths would not decline as time went on, because she did not want to have to part with him. He was the most informed on their current project and although not trained to resist Gwen's abilities, he was her biggest asset and...she enjoyed working with him. Thinking of that made her remember Gwen's comment drifting through her head and she internally smirked at the teasing tone the other woman had used. No, it was not meant to be. Ever. Not in their line of work and it was definitely pointless to engage in such frivolous relations when after capturing Gwen, a relationship wouldn't even be possible. It didn't mean she stopped caring about the man's health and sanity, as much as she seemed to show otherwise. It was best not to encourage the appearance of feelings towards him.

"She can span a wider range through long distance connections now," she continued, turning back to the front seats of the car without another glance at Jason. "Telephones, and direct links like live television feeds and possibly even computers. That means she's already passed the second step which is access to memory. The next and final stage is the ability to manipulate not only thought, memory and emotion, but even action." A hint of her fervor entered into her dull tone, but she corrected herself as she went on.

"Not to worry though. At this point, her abilities are still so new, she's like a toddler trying to fly a jet plane. She's pushing buttons and making things happen, but her control is weak and she has no real understanding of what she's doing or how. We...were hooked together for a while. Even after she realized I was aware of her presence, she did not let go and I think it was because she didn't know how. Even a full connection over the distance between us should be a breeze to break away from on her own and yet she struggled until I forcibly severed the link. As a result, she should be sore for a while and unable to use her powers, but it's a temporary stun and she'll recover them quickly."

Pausing then, Stephanie glanced around the car and out the windows for a moment and spoke again. "I'm sorry to say that I wasn't paying too close attention and I do not know how long we were connected before I became aware of it," even in an apology she did not let emotion enter her voice. "I was looking out the windows for a while, so she's probably seen where we are by the road signs and maybe even has a bit of information...that I'd rather she not have, but it's not important. And now that I know where she is in her development, I will not let my guard down again..." Alright, that was enough, she was done apologizing now. "We might be able to make it there with her still disabled and catch them while they're on their way out. No doubt, they will try to escape now that they know we're nearing their destination."

There was a slight prod in her words, hoping to spur Benoit into action. Earlier, back at the apartment, she'd decided to wait, watch and learn from him, but so far it had been torture. The eagerness for capture had not left her and had festered like a spoiled wound in the past 14 hours. She'd tried to remain civil and tried to stay firm in keeping patient, knowing that it was necessary to think things through in order to succeed, but she could not help getting the feeling there were plans that were not being shared. So a lot of the time they were left lounging around as if they had all the time in the world. With how fast Gwen was developing, she knew that was not the case and it frustrated her beyond belief.

So, this was why they had been going so slow. Understanding blossomed within the deeper layers of her mind, as the two Agents in the front seat explained Alexander's habitual movements and how they caught up with him. With comprehension of their plan came a calmness that settled in and eased her impatience but not by much. They still had a limited time before Gwen would become too powerful to deal with face-to-face, and although she still had a lot of control to develop, the clock was ticking. She was confident in her ability to deal with Gwen, even at full power, but with her powers at full maturity it would make things unnecessarily difficult. If only they'd gotten her the night before last, they wouldn't even be dealing with all these problems now.

Stephanie was jolted from her thoughts by the sudden attention drawn to Jason and his explosion at the man driving made her cringe inside, as did the resulting jerk of the vehicle to a stop in the road. Sighing hollowly as the two men argued and stared each other down, she internally twisted and turned, giving Jason the blackest look she could muster through her mask. She'd started this case full of arrogance and obsession and had learned to get along with others calling the shots and even sharing information that she'd never given anyone before. Things that were almost like a diary for her, secret things she'd become more invested in than her own personal intimacies and guarded as if her life depended on it.

And yet her partner seemed to be reacting in the opposite way. She had no idea what set the two men at odds - in their current situation as professional adults, it hardly seemed necessary for them to both act this way - but she was growing tired of it. Jason, as a part of her team, represented her and her goals and he insisted on making her look bad by squabbling with the other Agent like a child. When Benoit or anyone looked at Jason they would automatically see her as well and judge their team accordingly; afterall, she did the same thing when she turned to look at the man driving needing to be reprimanded in front of her. She felt it reflected poorly on Benoit even as she worried about how Jason's behavior looked to the other two men. She felt like a rookie when working with them. There was no need to assure them of that fact by her colleague acting like an idiot.

But then he surprised her with the offer of an apology, explaining his behavior as a result of his having lost the goggles that went with his suit and she suddenly felt guilty since she'd been the one to tell him Gwen had been using them to spy on her. Stephanie had been more than aware of his current condition - a lot like a junkie going through withdrawal - and still she'd callously offered up information that could prove even more disastrous to him. His current irritability was partly her fault. However, she did not let the sympathy or the guilt show, preferring to ignore him completely as if his predicament and even his return to civility in the midst of it were of no consequence to her. While inwardly she worried about what she could possibly do to help him. What would happen if the goggles were not eventually retrieved? Was this something he could recover from?

Her internal musings were brought to a halt as Benoit addressed her again, smooth as ever moving onto a new topic of discussion while graciously accepting Jason's apology. She thought for several moments, estimating quickly in her head how fast the young woman's abilities would reach their final conclusion. This part was key, for it decided their exact time-line and how much of it they had left before Gwen became more of a problem.

"There are limits to what she'll eventually be able to accomplish and it is all related to her core empathic abilities. She experiences everything as if other people's emotions, thoughts and their lives were her own and were happening to and being thought by her. When she reaches the final stage she really will, in a broad sense, own all these experiences and thoughts as if they were hers in origin. Since they are not and she stands apart from it all, outside looking in, it gives her the power to change them, manipulating them with suggestion. So, intrinsically, it is basically an intensifying of already existing powers and circumstances."

"As for how long," she sighed through her nose before continuing. "She has possessed her abilities and been working with them actively for less than 24 hours and has already reached the third stage of development. This goes way beyond the charts and predictions I've made based on my study of her life and I think it has accelerated due to being around Alexander when his own powers are released. Her ability to sense both ends of such intense exchanges probably has the effect of stretching and exercising her abilities, like 10 days of practice capitalized within a few seconds."

"However, the final stages - extending her range over longer distances, controlling her psychic presence, and mastering manipulation to a degree where it will become harmful to us - will definitely take time and effort. She cannot just learn these things overnight, not to the point where she can wield them as they were meant to be. So, taking into account Alexander's usage of his mind 'overload' powers and the regular effort it would take her to master the last stages, I estimate that we have about a week. Maybe a few days more if Alexander restricts himself to using his powers only once a day."

Throughout her analysis, Stephanie had maintained a hollow and guarded tone and when she ended, she blinked levelly at her companions, hoping that the information she'd provided would be sufficient for their purposes. She very rarely got the chance to talk about Gwen in all her years of being on the woman's case and was finding despite the paranoia that Benoit would somehow steal the glory of her case and double cross her, she rather enjoyed talking about her. Gwen afterall, was her favorite subject.



It was nice to see him almost completely unaffected by what she'd told him. Actually, no it wasn't. They were still going to wait for pancakes? Was he crazy? She was starting to feel anxious as he once again decided - despite Alex's protests which she still couldn't hear but were obvious from the one sided conversation - that they were going to take their time as if nothing had changed. Hanging onto him weakly as he lifted her and placed her on the bed, she wanted to try and convince him, but couldn't get a word in edge-wise as he left her side to go use the phone. Gwen was pleased at least that he was planning ahead, although she would have preferred they leave now to get the greatest head start they could achieve.

Just about to put in her own two cents about the necessity of such a plan, her mouth instantly shut when Xander started addressing his other half in an angered tone. It made her apprehensive about trying to get him to change plans, since whatever Alex was saying was getting him to dig in his heels about his current goals even to the point where they were arguing about who had them into and out of more trouble in the past. Of course, Xander would win out for both sides, but still despite his assertion that he did everything for a reason, she couldn't help feeling that familiar paranoia that he wasn't completely sincere.

Sitting upon the bed now, her mind numb and buzzing, she sighed in frustration being forced to wait, especially since encountering Stephanie again made her extremely anxious about a rematch face-to-face and knowing the woman was on her way. Her worried musings about how the next fight would go if use of her powers didn't return by that point were interrupted as Xander spoke to her again. There was something in his manner that made her blush briefly, a sense of concern that she very rarely got from him and she took the bottle of aspirin he'd tossed to her, not really sure what to say.

"Thank you," was all she managed before he was leaving her side to enter the unused bathroom and shutting the door. Immediately, she reached out to sense what the conversation was about but the static flared like a bunch of fireworks exploding in her brain and made her lie back on the bed with a moan of pain. Gasping lightly, she tried to shake the headache off while uncapping the bottle in her hands but it did not fade until several minutes after she'd popped two pills into her mouth.

By this time, control of her limbs and body had completely returned and when she sat up again, she scooted to the edge of the bed and let her feet rest on the ground. Looking down at the carpet, she saw a few red droplets marring the clean beige next to the abandoned goggles which had completely slipped off her head while Xander had been with her. Touching her face for a moment, she did remember getting the nose bleed and assumed that Xander had helped it stop. It made her feel foolish for her suspicions. No, he was trying to help her and he was right, just as he'd told Alex; so far he hadn't gotten them caught and had plenty of opportunities since she'd been with him to turn the both of them in. It was okay. Everything was going to be okay. She just needed to trust him.

Standing up from the bed, she reached down and picked up the goggles, looking down at them as she turned them over in her hands and was about to put them back on, when Nathan caught her attention. He was pulling on the curtain ropes that she'd tied around his hands and almost had one of his wrists free. "Hey! Stop that!" she said in as authoritative a voice as she could muster as she approached him.

"You may be the one they want - YOU may be - but not me - they won't take me back - !" his tongue flapped quick as ever and just as insane as before and he jerked his arm violently against his binding, almost easing it out from between the ropes by the time she came to stand before him. "Finishing it - they still need me - but they want you - I can get away - I can get away-!"

Gwen wasn't sure what to do exactly. At first, she'd set the goggles aside and started to fight him to pull his ropes tighter, but then stopped. What was the point? Were they even keeping him for anything? For several minutes, she contemplated letting him go and whatever happened would happen, but then shook her head. Xander might get upset with her if he still had plans for this kid - although she still wasn't sure how they were going to check out of the hotel and run with the teenager tied to the chair. It seemed like a plan that would more than likely hinder them.

So then she worried about how to convince Nate to stay. Before, they'd used the promise of food but if she untied him there was nothing stopping him from teleporting away from the room and leaving their sights probably forever. And suddenly he was grimacing at her, almost seeming to bite towards her arm as she pulled the ropes tighter and more firmly around his wrists. Needless to say, such action totally erased any thoughts she might have had of releasing him.

"They do still want you," she said as she finished with the ropes, tugging the knots so he'd have more difficulty loosening them again. "Just think about it, Nathan. If we stick together we can protect each other. Don't you see? We can stay ahead of them and stay away from them a lot easier with more people watching our backs." It was still uncertain whether they could trust him or even depend on him and he didn't seem convinced by her reasoning. She knew he still had to be hungry so she sighed and said, "What about pancakes? You still have time to eat. If you leave now, you can't come back and I'll eat your stack so you don't get any."

He glanced at her as if she were retarded, his face taking on a skeptical and even condescending cast. But when she folded her arms and raised her eyebrows a little in a gesture articulating a firm stance, the smile faded from his lips and he began to look worried again but for a different reason this time. Satisfied, Gwen left his side to go sit on the couch next to his chair and slipped the goggles on over her head, letting them rest on her neck for the moment, just enjoying the feel of them on her skin for right now. And she didn't bother testing whether she could hear his thoughts or not, the static still ever-present in her mind and making her feel empty and alone. She hoped her powers would return soon, because as it was, she was walking around blindly without them.

Roused from her idle reverie when there came a knock at the door, she rose from her seat just as Xander emerged from the bathroom. Immediately upon the announcement of the voice beyond the door, Nathan had started to sway eagerly in his chair, bobbing his head like a parrot, his voice insisting upon what the room service clerk offered. "Pancakes-pancakes-pancakes-gotta get out of here-eat and run-eat and run-pancakes-"

Seeing Xander fresh from the shower with dark, uneven hair, wetly spiked on one side and wearing clean clothes, she felt that familiar flutter in her gut that she occasionally got when looking at him. And it only intensified when as he passed through the living room into the entry hall, he gave her a grin that melted her insides. God, why did he always do that? she thought with a slight irritation, even as a voice deep inside hoped that he never stopped. Before Xander had reached the door, Nathan was starting to grow more incessant with his yammering and she stood beside him and gave him a swift, light smack on the back of the head. It wasn't a hard blow by any means but he immediately shut up and glared at her, much to her amusement.