Forsaken

As the Greyhound bus approached the depot, Lydia's amber colored eyes blinked several times after the squeak of the brakes brought her back to reality. Even in the rapidly moving coffin that was the musty bus she judged it unwise to try to catch a bit of sleep, no matter how much her aching body protested that it was a fantastic idea. It was a simple matter for an assassin to board the bus behind her and simply wait her out until she was at her most vulnerable and cleanly complete his task before slipping off into the night. Besides, even in the best case scenario the escape paths were deemed by her suspicious eyes to be lackluster at best. So here she was, she thought with a small sigh, at the tail end of another 12 hour sleepless journey. She didn't know who was after her, only that there were certainly people trailing her. She knew vaguely what they wanted while doing her best not to think about some of the specifics. When failure wasn't an option and there was no one you could trust your home tended to become buses and trains.

Snatching up her messenger bag Lydia slid into the line inching towards the doorway. Her 5'6" kept her below the eye level of most people in the crowd luckily, together with her nondescript blue jeans and purple hoodie meant that she could blend pretty much unnoticed into a pack. The werewolves can keep their strength, she thought with a smirk, sometimes the best way to win a fight is for there never to be one.

The moment her sneaker hit the pavement she sidestepped cleanly to the left and around the front of the bus. Taking a pause to get her bearings, her eyes scanned the crowds milling about the bus depot for the misplaced glance that would let herself know that someone recognized her. And in New York City there was a dreadful lack of pleasurable reasons for anyone to catch the slightest bit of her true identity. Just a random girl on a random bus heading towards a random destination. Nothing to see here and definitely no reason to look any closer. It was her mantra, on repeat inside her head for most of the trip here and the countless journeys before it. It was along the lines of 'Repeat a lie enough times and it becomes truth.', but hey, silver linings needed to be grabbed whenever they became available. If anything it didn't hurt and gave her the idea that she was actively helping herself along in her travels. Much like those silver linings, hope was a thing best grabbed where Lydia could find it.

But something else grabbed her immediately, not a Warlock or a creature of the night this time, but an equally dangerous and inescapable New York hot dog cart. Throwing caution to the wind in the wake of the rumblings from her belly she was across the parking lot in a hurry with her dollar already in hand before she could rethink what havoc a chili cheese dog would wreak on her empty stomach.

The first gooey bite elicited a small moan of pleasure as her chipped black painted fingernails collected a stray bit of processed cheese from the corner of her lips. Lydia was midway towards tearing into her next bite when the familiar tingle at the back of her mind caused her to freeze rock solid. With a loud exhale she forced herself to relax, and after a moment to collect herself she took a casual glance at the mid-morning crowds moving around her. Letting her intution guide her, her amber eyes settled on a figure across the street, an otherwise non suspect looking man who rather suspiciously looked away immediately when he realized he was being watched.

"Crap crap crap" she muttered to herself, taking a last bite before slipping the uneaten half in the nearest trash can. Someone tailed her halfway across the country, probably another passenger on the bus. "Gods, it sucks being right all the time" she mumbled to herself as she caught the pace of the people walking down the sidewalk and attempted to blend in. She had seen one, but how many more did she miss?

David Jason was tired, he had been looking for any one of the ten wanted beings on his most wanted list, and shoe leather was wearing thinin the process. His eyes perked up as she stepped off the bus. He had been watching this young girl for the agency, since her picture had appeared on a security bulletin 2 months ago. She was stealthy and difficult to track. he had sat on so many dead ends he had lost count, but finally he had eyes on her. Now all he had to do was keep the woman in his sights.

As he watched her, a moving van pulled between them, and he lost sight of her. Cursing he quickly ran to one side trying to regain sight of her. As the truck pulled away he realized, that she had evaded him. He ran over to the spot where she was , and looked for any sign that might let him know where she had gone, but found nothing. He looked all around, even in the sub way stairs, but she was no where to be seen. He was amazed she had given her the slip so easily.

"Hey" Lydia mumbled, glancing at the middle aged guy she had slid up besides a little too closely. Hoping and praying he wouldn't freak out and cause a scene she wrapped her arm around his elbow, giving the impression that they were a couple, or more realistically father and daughter taking a simple stroll. For someone looking for a solitary figure it was as much stealth as she was going to get"Oh my god, it's been forever since I've seen you! How are you?" She lied, trying to buy time as she glanced over her shoulder. Her pursuer looked to have lost her as he scanned the crowds around them. Whew, she thought with a sharp exhale. She just might make it out of this.

"Excuse me, You must be mistaken. I don't know you." Her partner huffed, rather rudely shoving her smaller body away. She bumped into another couple as she stumbled back, who in the typical New York fashion loudly remarked on her walking skills. "I'm......I'm sorry. Please, it was an accident" she blurted as a small circle formed around them. She was going to stick out like a sore thumb, she realized. "I've got to go, sorry!"

Pushing through the pack she broke into an open run down the street. This was going all the way bad very quickly.

The commotion caught his eye, and suddenly there she was running! He dashed through the Rush Hour traffic. He was almost hit three times as he hurriedly negotiated six lanes of moving traffic as she put more distance between them. In a moment of good luck, an NYPD blockade for a passing dignitaries motorcade stalled her progress momentarily and he started to make up ground. Reaching the blockade, a quick flash of identification got him through quickly, and she was just steps ahead as he cleared the obstacle. She was about to literally feel the long arm of the law.

The pair dashed another block dodging pedestrians as they went, leashed dogs barking and pulling on their owners arms. Finally, seeing she was wearing a belt, he grabbed it and pulled her to a stop and forced her to the ground. a knee went in her back and as he panted hard he completed the arrest with a pair of nickle plated handcuffs. He snapped a chain to the cuffs and anchored it to his wrist with a buckled leather strap. Picking her up he turned her to him. "So finally we meet Lydia" I've waited a while for this day. You can't keep making waves, and not expect me to show up sooner or later. "

Lydia spotted a promising alleyway up ahead that likely connected two main streets. If she could just make it there and ditch her in retrospect way too bright hoodie she would probably be home free. It was with a flash of confusion that she found herself suddenly on the ground and struggling to breath. Finally getting one ragged breath in and out she waited for the last flash of pain from a knife at her neck, or the warmness of a bullet wound in her back to finally end her journey just like how she had suspected that it always would end up. She just didn't think it would be like this.

But the last fatal glow never arrived. Instead of the feel of cold steel at her neck, the end arrived with a clank around her wrists. "Wait.......You're not going to..............." She sputtered, her face still smushed against the sidewalk as she caught the breath that was knocked out of her. "Oh god, please. You don't know what you're doing. They are going to kill me if you bring me in. I swear whatever you think you know about me is a lie, please just let me go!" she cried as panic overtook her. From free as a bird to having her life resting in another human's hands in a matter of moments.

"Waves? I didn't DO anything! Why can't you have just left me alone!" Huffing in frustration, she gave a defiant yank on her restraints before taking a look around at the growing crowd around them. With a start she froze as a familiar face looked back from the circle around them. He was around 6'2" with shaggy blond hair, but there was something in his eyes. Something cold. Cold and dead.

"Officer Jason. Fantastic job on apprehending this terrorist! Now if you don't mind I would like to take her into custody. Official Homeland security business, if you don't mind." He said bluntly, flashing his badge in David's direction before resuming his hard stare in Lydia's direction. "I'll see that you get a promotion out of this, have no fear"

"Yeah I do mind, and not a chance" he said. "You know the rules. This is my primary jurisdiction, and if you want her, you will have to file an official request and get it approved. In the meantime, she is my prisoner, so get out of my way!" He pushed past the officer, pushing his prisoner ahead of him. He took her across the street and put her in his car, and chined her to a "D ring attached to the frame of the car. He got in and took off. "What did you do to get Homeland Security interested?" he asked. "You are hotter than I thought!"

He decided to take her home for the time being. Untill she was officially booked she would not be available for extradition, and before that happened, he wanted to know as much as possible about her. When they got to the house he pulled in his garage and closed the door. Then he took her out and led her in the house. He set her in a kitchen chair and attached her chain to the plumbing under the sink. He sat down in another chair. "Alright, unless you want the goon from Homeland Security to get you, you best tell me exactly what it is they want with you, and right now."

"Oh, the paperwork. Of course, rules are rules after all. Rest assured that I will be back after all the necessary steps are completed. We can have a long chat about my jurisdiction then, I'm sure it will provide some interesting.....information." The agent said, taking a step back and simply watching as the kicking and squirming Lydia was shoved into the back seat. After the pain had pulled off he looked to the side of the street and simply nodded. Climbing into the back of the black Escalade that pulled up moments later they followed at a careful distance.

Lydia was more than a little surprised when rather than go farther downtown to the station they made their way into the suburbs. His house didn't let out of the ordinary both inside and out, just another blue collar tract house in a blue collar neighborhood. Maybe, just maybe, she hoped that something she said got through his thick skull. "He's not Homeland security you Doof." she said, manuevering her body around so she could get her shackled hands up high enough to brush her hair out of her eyes. "Well, he kinda is yeah.......but he's working for someone else. What do you care though? You're with the Agency, I'm just another freak to you guys. Shouldn't you be out dragging vampires into the sunlight or something? Forcefeeding baby werewolves silver? I'm not keeping you, am I?"

"Save it Lydia, I have you and that's all that mattersat the moment. So if he's not homeland security, then who is he, and why does he want you? I have all day." While he waited, he went to the stove and started a pot of coffee. "Were going to sit right here until tell me what's going on.
David poured himself a cup of coffee, and sat back in his chair looking t the strange you woman and waiting for an answer.

"Well......you know how the Agency handles supernatural stuff? Vampires, mages, werewolves, creepy crawly things? I'm........I'm different than that. When I was born, my parents left everything they knew to give me that little shot to have a nice life. But hey, I get to be here chained to a sink" she said, her voice dropping slightly in volume as the memories came rushing back. "They want me because I'm different in a way that might be....uuummm........weaponized. That's the word. Yeah, so he's with them. I don't even really know who "Them" are, only that I have to move around a lot or they start showing up. Something you rudely interrupted."

Her head jerked to the side as a crash followed by the sound of splintering wood echoed through the house from the front door. "We don't have all day! LET ME LOOSE!"

David unhooked the chain and clipped it to his belt. Follow me! he said as they ran to the Garage. The hopped in his car and he backed out through the garage door splintering it and out onto the street then took off quickly. David mad several quick turns down side streets and alleys and then in to a garage and lowered the door. He shut off the car and lowered the door with a remote he had in his car. "Be quiet" he said. "thats the third garage door I have wrecked this month this month!" he said.

"NO KIDDING! Gods, I can't even drive and I'm pretty sure I could do better than....whatever.....that was. Seriously. Do you treat your garage doors and people the same? Knock them to the ground and figure out what to do later? You would last like three days on the run." she huffed, poking him in the side for emphasis. "Let me loose, you're a rookie at this. I've been doing this since I was freaking ten. You need all the help you can get! Besides it's not going to be easy getting out of the car with my handcuffs cuffed to your junk"


Lydia held her wrists up in front of her, the skin beneath the cold metal already beginning to turn red in protest at the tightness. "Pleeeeeasseeee? Do I LOOK dangerous to you? You have like, a hundred fifty pounds on me or something."

David gave her the keys to the cuffs and kept on driving. "Don't make me regret doing that" he said. " I want to know more about what you meant by weaponized. If I'm going to trust you, your going to have to trust me too. " David kept driving, he wanted som distance bet ween them and the guys who were after her, homeland security or what ever they were. they drove out of town and down the highway.

The soft jangle of the keys was the only thing breaking the dead silence inside the car. This was beginning to get absolutely surreal, she decided. This morning she thought her day would consist of stuffing herself with chili dogs untill she forgot what the rumble in her tummy was like, but here she was flying down the highway with a man she didn't know asking for her life story.

"I can't really explain it like that. It's just something I've just been able to........just do I guess. I just make it happen." she said, rubbing the raw spots on her wrists where the cuffs had been chafing. Her hands finally free, she gripped the base of her hood and pulled the purple hoodie over her head to cool off after all the excitement. Smoothing the plan red tshirt out over her torso she regretting take the hoodie off in the first place as the bra cradeling her perky B cup bosom showed it's lines clearly to her new companion. With a sigh she realized that this was going to be awkward no matter what happened.

"It would be better just to show you....." Lydia mumbled as she met his eyes. After a moments time her image seemed to shift in front of him, morphing into an exact copy of Dave looking back at him. "It's not real. But........it has it's uses. Can you imagine the CIA learning how to use this?"

Dave was looked over at her with surprise. "So is the person Ive been looking at the real you or some other image?" He asked as he thought of another question.. Do you actually change shape or just how you appear?" He wished she would change shape to something else, looking at himself just wigged him out.

He kept driving and didn't stop. If she were caught, he could see her being the subject of all sorts of experiments at the prompting of the government. "You mind making your self something else, I think you will agree that one of me is more than enough.

"This is the real me" she said as she once again shimmered, revealing the petite skittish blonde girl beneath the illusion once again. "It takes a lot of effort and concentration to do it, even on one person. I don't actually change at all, just how you perceive me. If I had known you were following me soon when we got off the bus, or if I wasn't panicking as much before you freaking tackled me I probably would have gotten away. But........I was scared."

With a giggle, his view of her shifted into a carbon copy of Marilyn Monroe. "It's not all a curse. You won't BELIEVE how many free dinners guys have brought me" she laughed for the first time in a very long time.

"Well much as I like that illusion, "he said, " I'd suggest something a bit less conspicuous at least until we are a good way out of town, but some one other than yourself. Female would be best since your voice doesn't change." It felt odd to him, ordering an appearance almost as you would food in a restaurant. A few miles out of town he pulled in to a small car lot. Wait here please. In a few minutes he was back, but was wearing jeans and a tee shirt. "Come on, he said , we're changing cars." He lead her over to 4 year old Chevy HHR. They got in and drove off leaving his other car for the car lot to tend to.

As Lydia slid into the passenger seat and settled in to the much nicer HHR she watched Dave clear up the last bit of paperwork through the windshield. It was.....different being on the run with someone else. When it was just you your destiny was in your own hands and your own hands only, and it felt supremely vulnerable to watch him slide into the driver's seat and pull out of the lot.

"It's hard keeping up illusions all the time, especially with more than one or two people. But I'll try to do little things if that helps" She said, her hair shimmering and molding itself into a scarlett red ponytail before his eyes. "So..........why are you helping me? I don't really owe you anything."

"Well" he said. "Thats kind of changed a bit. Initially I was just doing my job. But then Homeland Security stuck their nose in it, and I hate those arrogant bastards, and then when I found out more about you, well this whole thing just doesnt seem right, we shouldn't be chasing you at all. I can see that they think you are a person of interest because of you ability, but harrassing you like we are, its just wrong. So lets just say, I see a higher calling here. Besides you seem like a nice person."

"We need to find a place to be for a few days where we can just blend in. What do you like to do? How about Niagra Falls? It far enough away, and there ar lots of couples there from out of town. We could blend in pretty easily."