"Four," said Jennifer, "The working copy ready to put in the timed delays."
"One."
"Three more. Total run time of thirteen, forty-two, and forty-nine seconds. All the copies have fifty-seven data points."
The door opened. Young Mike put a hand on her shoulder. "Lend me a cane."
"What?"
"You stay here and watch. Call out if you see something behind me. I know how to call up a file list and check run times. I can run back here fast if anything happens."
"I'm not giving you my password!"
Young Mike almost managed to not show hurt in his facial expression. "I'll get the laptop. We'll take it to the van."
"Okay."
Two minutes later they were in the van. Young Mike took his time walking around the van to lock the loading dock door. When he got back, Jennifer told him the news. "The extra copy is a minute nine seconds."
Young Mike frowned. "Can you tell what time those files were made?"
"Why?"
"Because I think they happened while we were at the window."
It took some doing, but they figured out he was right. Jennifer finished subtracting between time indexes, looked up to announce he was right, and frowned. "Where are you taking me?"
"The last bus probably leaves in what, one minute? We're all the way across the square. Besides, Shelly told me I should drive you home."
"We haven't returned the laptop."
"We can lock it in the van overnight. I can bring it up tomorrow morning. I have to be in at seven-fifteen."
"Seven-fifteen?! Why so early?"
"Old Mike is borrowing an engine lift to handle Cam One. I have to return it to the mechanic that owns it."
"Mmm."
"Would you like to go to dinner with me?"

**Editor's note: YAY! Chapter nine is FINALLY complete!

Jennifer and Young Mike stood at the window, she just staring, him recording, as the peculiar hexagons of smoke mixed with the air and were no more. Young Mike panned the camera around, zoomed at a couple of windows, turned it off. "So what are you working on?"
"What? Oh. I think I'm done, finally." She reached up and shut the window. They both jumped as they heard a loud smacking sound. #*(!@#$!? Young Mike looked up from the cord he was coiling. "What the--" He froze.
"What?" said Jennifer. Young Mike reached around her, picked up the cardboard box, and showed her the 35mm camera without a word. Her eyes bulged. They both as one looked up at the ceiling to see--nothing. Their eyes met.
"We should be going, then." His face was wooden, eyes darting around, "Slowly." Jennifer caught her breath. She began trying to cane quietly past her computer. She glanced at the screen, frowned, and powered it down. Young Mike left everything but the 35mm camera right where it was and walked right beside her. He walked her to the freight elevator, pushed the button, and was silent until they got inside and the door closed. "What was that, Jennifer?"
She gaped at him. "What do you mean? How would I know?"
"You frowned at your computer. You usually have no expression when you're powering down."
SOMEbody's been watching. "That? That was nothing. I must have saved all the final copies without remembering. I only remember saving the one working copy, but the file list said they were all saved."
Young Mike nodded. "You've been helped. Just like I was just now. With the camera."
"WHAT?!"
"Think about it," he said, "Think hard. DID you save just once? Or did you save how ever many that was?"
As the freight elevator door opened, Jennifer jabbed her finger on the 'close door' button and pushed '2.' "There were FIVE copies. I need to look at them."
Young Mike pushed '1,' waited for the doors to open, and held the 'open door' button. "Are you sure you want to go back there right now?"
Jennifer cringed. "No. But I have to. How can I be sure she HELPED me? What if she erased all my work and saved five BLANK copies? I won't have time to do this again tomorrow. I promised it would be DONE. I HAVE to check. There doesn't even need to be five! Why the extra?"
Young Mike frowned deeper. He pulled his finger off the button. "Well--" he said as the door closed, "How many copies do you need?"

The warm water ran down her body as she turned the heat up and pulled out the chemical that would wash out her hair and skin colouring. It was reliving to wash out all the chemicals off her body for the first time in a long time.As water rained down onto her body she noticed some of the wounds the nano machines must have missed. She sighed as she realised that she was still no closer to finding Samantha's killer and clearing her own name. Any lesser woman would curl up in a ball and cry to herself until she would decide to seek help from some help from the authorities. She was not like any other woman though. Her body went from a snow white to a pale peach colour and her hair went from silver to raven black all within the thirty minutes she had spent in the shower. She stepped out of the shower and rubbed the steam covered mirror with her hand. Ice's face had disappeared and the face that remained was that of Mary Crane. Mary sighed and looked at herself for a moment. This had been a good talk with her sister and she was now going to have to leave as soon as she washed in the new chemicals. The chemicals however could not be
put one for at least an hour or two after they had been washed out. She was tired and could use a day off. She wrapped a towel around her body and stepped out of the bathroom. As she approached the stairs she heard something from downstairs.
"Miss we are looking for our associate Ice" The deep voice recognisable voice said.
"I am not sure what you are talking about." Alice said as she became nervous.
"Miss we are in no mood for lying as we know that is her bike outside and we dont want to have to get violent" The other voice said.
"Dont worry miss..he wont hurt you." The first voice said.
"Who the hell are you guys?" Alice said as Mary listened in.
"Sorry Mam. I am Omega and this 'gentlemen' is Capsule" Omega said as Ice gave a sigh of relief.
"And I would rather not wait any..." Cap said before he was interrupted by Mary.
"The hell are you Idiots doing here?!" Mary shouted from the second floor.
"We came to tell you that Tech wants to talk to you" Omega shouted.
"Yeah! Get your ass down here!" Cap shouted following Omega's words.
"I am naked Asshole!" Mary shouted.
"Even better" Cap said laughing at the joke he just made.
"I am gonna count to three. If you guys dont leave and let me get dressed Im gonna freeze you both to the ground and then shatter your legs into pieces!" Ice shouted as she waited for them to leave.
"1"She started.
"2"she continued.
"3"she ended and waited.

After hours of Training Mr. Satan and Lucy set out in the night to the Subway Station in the slums. They moved between the alleyways and rooftops so as not to be seen by anyone who would report them. That was all Mr. Satan needed, someone getting a picture of him and selling it to the papers. Lucy had to stop now and then to catch her breath. They had to move quickly and quietly, two things that Lucy was not yet used to. They sat on a rooftop that was not too far from the stairway that led to the station and their destination. Lucy watched as Mr. Satan stood close to the edge looking down at the people below. There were drug dealers, pimps, whores and bums all living their lives, going about their daily routine that was ruining their lives. Of course Mr. Satan could go down there. He could beat up that pimp on the street corner about to beat his "girl" for cutting him short on payment, or he could stop that drug dealer from selling to that addict depriving him of another life ruining hit of his addiction. But what would that accomplish? He takes down the pimp and another pimp comes along, takes his girl and treats her just as bad if not worse. Same goes for the drug dealer. If he stopped the dealer the client would find a new dealer and keep up his habit. It was an endless cycle of pain and sin that had dug its nails in so deep it was here to stay. This was something Mr. Satan explained to Lucy on that rooftop that night. Evil and pain could never be stopped entirely. It wasn't something that could be stopped by one being, be it supernatural or mortal.Evil was eternal. However, certain evil can be contained or stopped in order to keep the human race from being entirely engulfed by its own evil. It was cliched ,but there could not be good without evil and evil without good. Lucy looked at the man she cared deeply for and thought about what he had just said. They stepped out onto the streets as they approached the stairway, the thought of what he had said echoing in her mind when suddenly he stopped.
"We have some company..." Mr. Satan said as a gang of thugs stepped out of the alleyway.
"Three of them. You better be ready." Mr. Satan said as his tone changed from calm and intelligent to aggressive and judgmental.
The men circled the masked couple smiling and mocking the two of them. Mr. Satan just stood and took it as they mocked him and Lucy.
"Hey baby. Why don't ya dump the freak and come have some fun with some real men." One goon said.
"Well when some show up maybe I'll consider it." Lucy said as she moved closer to Mr.Satan.
"Funny girl. Let's see if your boyfriend can protect ya with a bunch of holes in his body." the large one said as he lunged at Mr. Satan with a knife.
With a quick movement Mr.Satan grabbed the attackers wrist and swept his leg causing the large man to fall to the ground. As one of the other men advanced on Mr.Satan, Lucy took out her baton and smacked him the face with it. The third attacker ran towards Lucy, but was unfortunate enough to get in the line of fire of Lucy's taser. Shouting from the pain and wiggling on the ground, he was out of the fight for the time being. Lucy wanted to think of something clever to say now, but was interrupted by the goon who got a face full of baton just a moment ago.Unlike Lucy, Mr.Satan was having no trouble with his opponent. As the large man slashed at the masked man, Mr.Satan started to talk as he fought back. Mr. Satan punched him in the face and knocked him back a little.
"You just gonna stand there and bleed or are you actually gonna hit me?" Mr.Satan asked mocking his attacker.
"Stay still you son of a Bitch!" The attacker shouted as he rushed towards Mr.Satan.
"Wow..Either all your past fights have been with idiots.." Mr.Satan said as he punched the attacker in the stomach.
"...Who didn't know how to dodge or you really suck at this" Mr.Satan said as he spun his body around lowering his torso and lifting his leg connected with the kick.
Seeing his friends beaten to a pulp by these two and after having been attacked by a baton he decided it was time to run away. As he ran away, Lucy looked at her boss who was standing over a huge unconscious man. She felt something that she had not felt since her old days in the gang. Beating the crap out of men and watching them run from her was both exciting and satisfying. She walked over to her tag team partner and smiled down at the man that Mr.Satan had beaten senseless.
"Let's go catch our train." Mr. Satan said as he walked towards the stairs.

The vigilante and his assistant stood on the dimly lit station platform in complete silence. Lucy watched Mr.Satan as they stood in almost complete darkness. Mr.Satan stood there as if he was waiting for something to happen. The atmosphere was getting uncomfortable as neither of them had spoken since they arrived downstairs,Mr.Satan just stared blankly at the poster across the tracks. Lucy opened her mouth but was interrupted by Mr.Satan shushing her like she was a child. Suddenly the sound of an approaching train came thundering down the empty tunnel, echoing around the two of them as the old steel train stopped in front of them. The doors opened to reveal two women half naked laying on the old chairs.
"Let's go" Mr.Satan said as he stepped into the train Lucy slowly following him.
Mr. Satan had been here one too many times when he needed Damus' help. Nostradamus is someone who you didn't have to like to be friends with and you most certainly did not have to like his lifestyle to associate with him. He was a lot of things that made him unpleasant, but he was well connected with the underworld and loyal to his friends. These qualities were good to have in an ally and Mr. Satan understood this.
The train was filthy and filled with members of Nostradamus' inner circle. Smoke filled the air and people were in the middle of drug fueled passions with each other. At the end of the hallway sat a man in his early fourthy's, who dressed as if he was in his early twenty's and had his hair done by a movie crew. His shirt was opened revealing a toned stomach with a tattoo quoting that of Plato. He wore sunglasses and looked directly at the two masked individuals.
"Well well well, look who has graced me with his presence." He smiled as he looked at Mr. Satan and then at Lucy.
"And it looks like you brought me a present." He said as he knew Mr. Satan wouldnt like this.
"Nostradamus...Meet my new partner." Mr.Satan said as he looked at Nostradamus.
"Lady Lylett...'Nice' to meet ya" Lucy said sarcastically.
"Well Lady me an you got something in common besides Big red here." Nostradamus said.
"I got nothing in common with you dirtbag." Lucy said looking at the silent Mr.Satan.
"Oh yes ya do girly...This is the first time I ever heard that 'Big Red' had other friends than just me. See me and you, ..." he stalled to remove his glasses to reveal his scared eye that ruined his handsome face.
"We dont know when to get off the ride" He said smiling at the two heros.

Jennifer caned over to the cabinet halfway between them and opened it. Batteries all dead, most likely. She pulled out a camcorder with one of Po's adaptors wired to it and looped an extension cord over her shoulder. Gauging the distance, she plugged in the camcorder, dropped an empty box on the floor, laid the camcorder in, wound up, and shoved the box with her right cane while heaving the coiled extension cord right at Young Mike. "Heads up!"
He turned without stopping shooting stills. Jennifer almost dropped her cane seeing his surprised face turn into a smile as he snatched the cord with his left hand. He left the camera on the sill, continuing his turn, stopped the box gently with a foot, went down on the other knee to grab the camcorder, whipped the plug around into his hand and plugged it in as he began to stand up. And knocked the perfectly good 35mm camera out the window with his elbow.
"Aaugh!" she yelled out. Young Mike didn't look away until he had the camcorder focused.
"Oops."
"OOPS? We're almost three stories up!"
"It only fell to the ledge. Maybe a cracked lens. The pictures might still be good." Jennifer blinked and continued caning toward him. "Here," he said, "Hold this." He angled the camera into her hands, moving it slowly. He changed the view to wide-angle. Jennifer gasped. The afternoon haze and something that might have been car exhaust was layered over the courtyard in an interlocking pattern of hexagons. "What on EARTH is THAT?"
"No idea." Young Mike had trotted back to another cabinet and brought back a piece of bent conduit and a pair of pliers. He bent the end into a hook and looked out the window. "Aaugh!"
"What?!" Jennifer looked down. The camera was nowhere to be seen. "Oh my--" That's trouble. Those things are REALLY expensive. If only he'd dropped it in the box. SLAP! Feel the palm burn from a good catch. Gentle pressure of cardboard. Scent of paper, dry rot, dust . . . AM I GOING NUTS, FANTASIZING ABOUT WHAT DIDN'T HAPPEN?
Young Mike grabbed the end of the camcorder, as she'd let it droop and repositioned it. "I didn't hear it fall, did you? Here, I'll take that. If I've lost a camera, I'll need the best footage I can get to make up for it." He began slowly panning the cam around with surprising precision. "Good thing you thought of the cord, though. This battery's dead."
"Um--no. I didn't hear it fall." She bent and looked. "I don't guess a magpie would be strong enough to carry that off, huh?"
Young Mike had a smile in his voice. "No. I don't think so."
As she straightened she saw him look away. Hey, Tarzan, I saw that! What would you bother about ME for?

Ice pulled up to Alices home and slowly got off her bike. The door swang open and an angry Alice stepped out of the house with a very 'what the hell are you doing' look on her face. Ice walked towards Alice and was waiting for anything Alice had to give to her. In the past when Mary had gotten into trouble Alice would respond in two way. The first being her caring sister approach. She would run over and hug Mary and tell her everything was going to be ok. After that she would make her some tea and they would talk about it and come to a solution together. Then there was the reaction that she was about to get. The angry nun approach. Alice stormed over to Mary and slapped her so hard that it would put a bus to shame. Mary hit the ground and looked up at her sister.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" Alice said looking at Mary.
"Really? The judgmental bitch approach is the way you wanna do this?" Mary asked as she rubbed the side of her face.
"I am not apologizing to you for acting like a complete idiot and almost getting yourself killed" Alice barked looking at Mary.
"Nice to see you too." Mary said as she got to her feet.
"Get your ass inside before I give it a well deserved beating.

David called Tia and kibitzed a bit, then taped her explanation. He requested two copies of the map slide show, one for forty-two seconds and one for forty-nine. Jennifer programmed the time delays in first. She called up the map and generated a master digital copy for alteration and began plotting and saving. This really IS a lot of points. She looked up to see Mr. Crowe starting to leave and checked her watch. Early. Not even four-thirty. He waved. She returned it. At four-forty-five she leaned back in her chair and rubbed her neck. Half done? This is taking FOREVER. Someone ought to lay out Davy-boy and smash Tia's perfect little nose in. It's a SPIRAL. What's so impressive that she moves in a spiral around the neighborhood? She turned on the terminal next to her as Stuart left. Here I am, the last worker bee! She plotted the last point as she heard running footsteps coming up the stairs. She frowned and hit 'Save' as Young Mike came bursting in. He was running flat out, holding a 35mm camera, twisting off a telephoto lens. He tossed it on an office chair and went right for the courtyard window. He held the camera at an angle to the window and rapidly took at least a dozen pictures. Then he fumbled open the window and continued shooting. Jennifer listened carefully for screams or sirens. What on EARTH is so amazing? She got up and began caning toward him.
"Oh! You're still here!" Young Mike blurted out without turning, "Can you bring me a camcorder?"

"It occurred to me that this phenomenon must have a pattern. I consulted with several colleagues, and one of them realized that locations had been ignored. Charting them on a map with her, I saw her realize something. Our very own weathergirl, Tia, realized that if you chart the locations and put them in order, you have a diagram of a storm." He clicked off.
TIA figured this out? "Huh!"
He handed her the recorder. "How long is that?"
Jennifer didn't even rewind it. "Ten to fifteen seconds."
His eyebrows went up. "You're not going to check it?"
"I can." Jennifer turned her watch toward him, rewound it, and pressed 'play.' She clicked off on the beat after 'storm' with perfect timing. His eyebrows went up again. "Thirteen and a half? Fourteen?" she said.
"Yeah." Gee, Davy-boy, don't look so disappointed. You're supposed to LIKE your employees doing well.
"So, you want the map--don't have to photograph it, we already have it digitally. Add the points in order so it takes fifteen seconds to form the whole. One of the weather arrows to connect the dots? That's easy enough."
"I want it to take closer to thirty seconds. That's a lot of points to put in."
"Oh. Well, have Tia say more about the shape of the storm. What it might mean. People like her voice. I can slow it down all at once if I do it equally. Just tell me how much time." I find her voice irritating, but that's just me.

Jennifer checked the batteries in the digital camera. "David?"
David looked startled. "Yes?"
She held up the camera. "Is that map glossy?"
He blinked. He looked down. "Yes."
"You're not going to need me to get a picture of it, are you?"
He blinked again. "That's what I'm preparing it for. Why?"
Oh, you forgot. "Camera one is the only one we have that can allow for the sheen. Unless you got another digital or bought some of that plastic I asked for."
He gritted his teeth. He looked down at the map, turning slightly red.
"Of course, if you explain what you're doing, I could make it on PowerPoint. Today's post-production is done."
He blinked again. "Like a slide show?"
"I could make it a slide show. In stages, even. Like that piece on economists last month?"
He smiled faintly. Yeah, I know you loved making Ph. D.'s sound stupid.
"Okay," he said, "That would be a nice touch for this." He fished a wad of paper out of his pocket. "Unbunch that for me. I should double-check it anyway." He handed it to her.
Eee-ew. Sweaty. What IS this? Is that Tia's writing? She unfolded and flattened it beside her laptop.
David pulled a mini-cassette recorder out of it's case, checked the tape, set it down, turned it on, and began speaking in his anchor voice.

Dudley woke up the next morning to the sound of 80's pop music being played over his radio. His body was still in pieces over the combination of a bullet wound and the beating his brother Richard gave him last night. Slowly Dudley got out of bed and put on his clothe's. He knew what would be waiting for him the second he left the room. He was going to walk downstairs and be greeted with angry parents who wanted to know what had gotten into him and how they could help. The first time in month's they would actually give him the time of day would be now,after he had made a mess of Richard's face and stood up for himself. The thought of being questioned about his behavior and why he did what he did made his blood boil. Why did Dudley hit the man that was insulting him? Oh because he felt like it. Dudley was the Black sheep not because of his actions but because he didnt make the family look as good as his siblings did, and this was something he knew all his life. Letting out a sigh Dudley closed his eyes and walked out of his room towards what he could assume was going to be a long ass day.

Lucy sat down across the table from Sharky as they enjoyed their coffee and discussed old time's. The coffee was bitter and the atmosphere was full of idiots talking like they had experienced the world's glory at least three time's. Lucky for Lucy she was with one of the craziest women she had ever met in her life. Sharky had been arrested more times than most other people had in a lifetime and had gotten away with it because her brother was some kind of Judge and father was a cop.
"So Loose Lucy is a now Nurse Mayberry. Who would have guessed you, of all people would be a nurse?" Sharky said with a smile taking a drag of her lit cigarette.
"Says the kindergarten teacher." Lucy said with a smile across her face.
"Touche. Ever miss the old days?" Sharky said finishing off her cigarette.
"What do you mean?" Lucy said looking confused
"The Wild bunch" Sharky said as she looked across the cafe.
"Sometimes. What are you looking at?" Lucy asked looking at Sharky.
"Is that Dudley Bradshaw over there?"Sharky asked as Lucy turned around in the direction Sharky was staring.
She was right. Across the small cafe was the infamous Dudley Bradshaw drinking a coffee. The question why he was in this side of town alone was what interested Lucy at this moment, but Sharky was wondering if she was capable of getting inside his pants. Lucy never saw the appeal in Dudley Bradshaw to women. He was trouble and obviously had some issues that needed to be resolved. Was there some kind of switch in the minds of women that make them go after bad guys? Then again she had no right to judge. She was in love with a vigilante who called himself Mr. Satan. When did her life become a comic book?
"Lets go over and talk to him" Sharky said finishing her coffee.
"What makes you think he wants to talk to us?" Lucy said starting to get sick of this topic.
"For one he has been looking over here since he sat down." Sharky said to Lucy with a smirk on her face.
Hearing this Lucy looked behind her and saw that Dudley Bradshaw was indeed looking at them.

Dudley began to get nervous as the woman he had woken up next to not twenty four hours prior to this moment was now walking towards him with a woman who looked like she would be more at home around leather and chains. His stomach grew tight as his mind tormented him with the reasons she could be coming over for. This happened because he wanted to cut out of his usual routine and for some reason come to this side of this damn town. Sweat was pumping out of him from his armpits as they got closer and closer to his table. It was too late to run away now. If he got up and left now they would know he was up to something, after all he just spent the last ten minutes staring at them. His breathing quickened and suddenly his path of thought was broken by one of them speaking.
"Hey your Dudley Bradshaw right?" The strange one said as the familiar one stood behind her looking annoyed.
"Yes I am..And you two are?" Dudley asked faking a smile as he looked at the two women.
"Oh I'm Sally,friends call me Sharky..." She said with a wink and pause as if giving Dudley the opportunity to absorb her name and face before finishing her sentence.
"AndthisisLucy" Sharky said rather quickly.
"Would you two like to join me?" Dudley said not expecting them to actually stay in his company.
"Oh we would love to! Wouldn't we Lucy?" Sharky said giving Lucy no chance to object.
The both sat down and so began what Dudley believed was to be the most awkward coffee he had ever had in his life.

Mr. Satan suddenly gained control of Dudley. Why, he didn't know. What he did know was he was wearing something incredibly uncomfortable and was having what he assumed was lunch with Lucy and a stranger. This wasnt good. Mr. Satan would have to act as if he was Dudley.
"So The Devil man?..What do you guys think of think of him?" The stranger said.
"Sharky I don't know if that the kind of topic Mr. Bradshaw wants to discuss." Lucy said revealing the strangers name to be Sharky.
"I don't know about that Lucy" Mr. Satan said hoping her name was already mentioned.
"What?"Lucy said in a scoff.
"You have an opinion about the vigilante?" Lucy said in a tone that challenged Mr.Satan's statement.
"Yes I do.And I would appreciate you keeping your opinion of me to yourself Lucy." Mr.Satan said smiling taking great pleasure in being a stronger more confident Dudley
This statement brought silence to the table. While Sharky felt herself become more attracted to Dudley, Lucy was feeling like she was just insulted by someone she had very little respect for.
"Okay Mr. Tough Guy what do you think of the Devil man? Let me guess. He's a criminal or no better than that of the men he takes down?" Lucy said with a wicked smile across her face.
"Actually I think the polar opposite." Mr. Satan said looking at Lucy.
"Really? I'm actually surprised at that Mr. Bradshaw." Sharky said as she smiled at the confident rich man.
"So what do you think of him ?" Lucy asked still not convinced of Mr. Satan's words.
"I think he has the right Idea. God knows this city has gone to hell and I think it was rather clever of someone seeing this and coming up with a Devil persona. Of course he has to be some kind of Madman with a hell of a death wish to do it." Mr.Satan said as he began to fake laughing.
With that said Lucy got up from her chair and stormed off out of the cafe. Sharky looking concerned followed her and left Mr. Satan alone in the cafe to his own thoughts and questions.

Seventeen new pages proofed, eight images cropped and logo added, teleprompter fed, and final pages sent to printer--Eight minutes to two. Yah. This IS closer than I like. David practically ran to the printer as it stopped. He separated it by heading, handed Tia and Shelley their stacks, and darted over to Old Mike, who was muscling Camera One an inch or so to the left at a time and checking the view. Their quick conversation was lost in the noise of Nathan and Stuart doing sound check and Jennifer's wrist canes clicking as she headed to the bathroom. Looks like panic, and he isn't bothering me. I may have to push the envelope more often. Jennifer caned up to the sink. She smiled at the trashed counter with it's splotches of makeup and powder. An eyebrow pencil and a lipstick, forgotten, lay under some sodden, crumpled paper towels. The bathroom sink of a pretty woman. It's like that book, 'The Portrait of Dorian Gray.' A wreck made to preserve beauty.
A loud crashing noise echoed through the building. Shouts, curses, and the scrambling of men followed. Speaking of wrecks . . .
The bathroom door swung open, revealing a worried-looking Tia. Tia flounced in, followed by Shelley. Jennifer gave them a questioning glance.
"They broke Cam One again!" blurted out Tia. Ohhhh.
Shelley grinned. "Two minute wait. Three extra commercial spots. They'll have Cams Two and Three moved by then."
"Can Po have the adaptors swapped by then too?"
Shelley and Tia froze. "Go!" said Shelley. Tia ran out. Shelley turned to Jennifer. "Thank you."
Jennifer shrugged. "I just figure it'll keep the wrong people from getting in trouble. Like you and your boyfriend helped me earlier."
Shelley had bent toward the mirror, looking for faults in her makeup. "Who?"
"Young Mike."
Shelley gave Jennifer a funny look. "I wouldn't do that to him."
"What?"
Shelley smiled, "If I wanted him, I'd have to get him another job first. David wants the world thinking Tia and I are dating HIM. If I dated someone here at work, David would fire them for me messing up the image." Shelley looked Jennifer up and down. "Besides," she whispered, "I'm not into men."
Um! Um! Oops. Jennifer felt her cheeks warming up quickly. "I didn't know."
The bathroom door burst open. Tia came in, anxiously looking at the mirror. "Know what?"
"I'm forty," said Shelley, winking at Jennifer.
"You are NOT!" Tia blurted out. "You don't even look THIRTY!"
Shelley smiled warmly, "Why, THANK you, Tia! Of course I won't look this good for much longer."
Tia blinked at Shelley while she pulled out a foundation bottle and applied a speck to her already perfect base coat. "Why's that?"
"I started using foundation a few years ago."
Tia froze, staring at the bottle of foundation in her hand. "What?!" she squeaked.
Shelley and Jennifer started laughing. Tia snatched up a paper towel and threw it at them, easily deflected by Shelley. Tia froze again. "I forgot."
"What?"
"How do you say that word mezz- mezz- ?"
Jennifer frowned, "You mean mezzanine?"
"Yes! Thank you."
Jennifer shook her head. Tia left the bathroom at a full run.
Shelley looked up at Jennifer in the mirror. "He's not into me either."
"What? Who?"
"Young Mike. He does like working with me, and I think I've caught him checking me out. He's not into me though."
Jennifer blinked. "Why not?"
Shelley laughed. "Men looking doesn't mean anything. Do you think men fall in love with magazines? Or commercials? David used to look at me before he got me in the situation I'm in. Young Mike says he doesn't like makeup much."
Uhh? "Situation?"
Shelley smiled. "Nothing like that. David knew not to touch me. He hired me straight from a little station in West Virginia. Not a studio like this one, either. A whole station. But he hired me based on a piece I did on sexual harassment. He's never going to act up in front of me."
"What situation, then?"
Shelley grimaced. "He lied to people, saying I got the job BECAUSE I was sleeping with him. He wound up bragging to the wrong people about it and driving a little business away from us. You know that station in Delaware that stopped ordering our feeds?"
"Yeah."
"Well it's owned by a woman. She got wind of that and called me, said she was trashing my application to work for her. She said she'd heard the 'rumors,' but I know who started them."
"#%^&*"
"Yeah, well; he'll get his someday." Shelley walked out.
Even considering the wreck of Camera One and the late start, the filming went well. Post-production went surprisingly smoothly, Jennifer finishing up a few minutes before four o'clock. She toyed with her simplified logo transparency as the feeds were bought and sent, Nathan and Stuart being their usually goofy, over-eager selves. Really, guys. It's good product. You probably push down what they're willing to pay us. She was beginning to close the file when David trotted out of the office with a map, all smiles. He pushed 'page.' "Young Mike, please report to the editing desks."
By the time Young Mike arrived, David had borrowed a large straightedge and started drawing lines on the map. He looked up. "So, how did your field day with Shelley and Jennifer go?"
Young Mike looked at him oddly. "Shelley seemed to think we got some good leads and some good footage."
"And your bit on Zephyr?"
"Not so much about Zephyr. Our leads wound up being in other directions."
"You want to make it here as an assistant tech, or a cameraman? Maybe go full-time? Wait for tomorrow. Tia and I are going to get this story moving. We're going to try to interview the thing. And I'M going to do the camera work. You'll see how I want it done. I need you to stop at the hardware store before six and get the list Po is making."
"On it." Young Mike left.
So, Davy-boy CAN be led around by the nose by a guy, as long as he thinks he's impressing him. He's NEVER slept with Shelley. Probably never with Tia either if he's that cagey about harassment issues. Shelley's into women, and I may be the only one here who knows. Young Mike is like a closet stud or something, pretty clever, and may be naive enough to not know David would probably like him to take my job. Tia can actually run without messing up her hair . . . how? I can't even cane at HALF-SPEED without messing up mine! --Wait. David is acting like he's some kind of investigative reporter. Interview Zephyr? What's he doing with that map?

Ice walked towards the command room as she noticed a new face. He was not wearing a mask and had an abnormal amount of satchels and pockets. She approached him catously unsure if he was freind or foe. Suddenly she felt something on her shoulder.
"Capsule this is who I was talking about...Ice meet Capsule" Raven said his hand on Ice's shoulder.
Capsule turned around and looked Ice up and down. He smiled perversly as if trying to picture her naked.
"I'll let you two get to know one another..." Raven said smiling as he left them alone.
For some odd reason Ice would have prefered the company of Omega to this guy who had not stopped staring at her breasts since Raven introduced them.
"Well Hello there " Capsule said as if saying that to her would make her want to jump into his arms.
"Whats your story? What can you do?" Ice said trying to hide her already grave dislike of him.
"Well they call me capsule because any substance i take can give me a random power based on the combination. Thats what all these satchels are for. All of them contain different capsules and give me different powers. Impressed?" He said winking at her.
"So can you remember any of the combinations?" Ice asked as his hand started to reach around her.
"I can remember the combination that allows me to heal or grow back any part of my body, excluding my head of course."He laughed and looked at her.
" Really? Got that combination with you?" She felt her blood boil as he ran his hand across her breast.
"Yup." He said smiling and leaning in to kiss her.
"Good!" Ice said and grabbed his groin.
His smile suddenly turned to shock as Ice started to use her ability. His groin begin to freeze and pain covered his face.
"SWEET JESUS!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" he screamed as she let go.
"You better take those pills out now dickhead!" she said as suddenly with all her might she kicked him in the groin.
Ice was not sure if she broke his whole manhood or just his jewels, but what she did know is that it hurt. He fell to the floor almost out of breath and swallowed two of his capsules. Smiling she walked away from him feeling like she won.
"Don't touch me again!"
"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" She surprisingly heard as she turned to face the now enraged Capsule.
He punched her in the face and she hit the ground hard. He had obviously taken some capsule to increase his strength. He continued to hit her before someone else stopped his assault.
"STOP!"Omega said as he punched Capsule across the room.
Capsule hit the wall and got up slowly and screamed towards his attacker.
"Do you know what she did!" Capsule screamed in anger as Ice walked towards her room.
"I don't care! Your better now! Leave her alone!" Omega said as Ice walked into her room.
Closing the door,she fell to the floor in pain and satisfaction. She wasn't proud of what she did to Capsule,but it put him in his place. That was a lie. Of course she was proud of it. The one thing that plagued her mind was Why did Omega help her?

(Sorry to cut it short but I am busy doing four things at once for the moment so more will be added later on this weekend.)