Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[Cynical Cat]

"My armour isn't the most conspicous kind of armour, but it still isn't street clothes. It will attract attention and it will get splashed over the meta spotting sites on the net." He opened a pocket and pulled out roll of bills. "For our shoppers. We don't need Italian custom fits, but we afford nice."

[LadyTevar]

"My my...," Argent said, stepping forward to take the roll of bills from him. "Are you sure you don't want to save this for when we might need cash?" she asked, unrolling the bills fro a quick estimate of how much was there before rolling it back up again.

When she looked back up at Blackheart, her eyes were steady and honest. "I can pick this one up, Blackheart. I owe you ... all of you, so why not let me handle this?" She offered the roll of bills back to him, because she *did* owe them, for the Bobs, for the Freak Legion mission she screwed up. For giving her another chance with the team.

[Cynical Cat]

"If you've got enough cash on hand to handle it, good enough," said Blackheart.

[LadyTevar]

"I took care of things before I left the house this morning," Argent replied, leaving the wad of cash in Blackheart's hand. "There are five more offices in this suite, as well as a break room. The water should still be running in it," she said as she elongated into dragon-form.

"Just don't go outside the double doors; security can see you there," she warned. "Unfortunately... the toilets are out there." The dragon was smirking, no doubt about it. She was enjoying having the upperhand for once. "Hope you went before we left...."

And with that last thought, the Dragon wrapped herself around Legacies and Hotfoot before vanishing between.


Two heartbeats later, she re-appeared in a fairly clean alleyway, setting Collin and Legacies down carefully. "We're behind the Center for Performing Arts, one block from Water Tower Place, where Macy's is," Lei explained to Legacies more than Hotfoot. "Sears Tower is about eight blocks diagonal from us, on the riverside. I can keep Empathic track of you, but you'll have to tell me what emotion means you want a pickup."

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot blinked, making sure his mask was safely in a pocket before looking around the alleyway. "Okay, cool, clothes shopping. Not how I usually kick back and relax, but whatever. I guess a good code for pickup is..um, fear, anger, something like that. Anyway, lead the way, Lei."

[LadyTevar]

Lei nodded to Legacies and took Collin's arm as she started walking out of the alley into the afternoon bustle of Chicago's downtown. "Just stay with me, Collin," she said softly, just loud enough for him to hear as they walked, her shorter legs making it more of a casual stroll.

"Since what we'll be doing will attract the notice of salespeople, it will help to have a reason for why it's all men's clothing, in sizes that won't all fit you." Lei was definately starting to enjoy this idea, grinning widely as she set the scene.

"You and your brothers Dave, Bill, and Tach just had your house catch fire, and I am saving you silly men from shopping at Salvation Army for new clothing," she said as she led him down Randolph Street towards Wabash. "Because I'm either a good friend, or a future sister-in-law... your choice," she finished with a chuckle as the idea amused her.

[B4UTRUST]

Reason walked calmly into the building, gym bag in hand. He made his way into the locker room and then to a specific locker. He popped it open and stuffed the gym bag into it before closing it again. He slid a combination lock into the hole on the locker handle and locked it.

Inside the gym bag was everything the team would need, theoretically. A couple of grand in non-sequential small denomination bills, a secure field laptop with a satalite connection to the government vaporstream server, and most importantly a nice collection of cards and documents.

The documents and cards were their brand new identities. Driver's liscences, social security cards, debit cards and credit cards linked to small accounts ran for these ops. Everything would pass most inspections they would be put against.

Reason left the gym through a side door, walking away without looking back.

[Hotfoot]

Collin blinked as Lei took his arm, but he quickly settled in to the pace, even though it was a little slow. "Um, okay. I was just going to say we were buying clothes for costumes for a play or student film we're working on, but I guess that works too." He shrugged, looking around the city like any good tourist, taking in the skyscrapers, even though he got a slight bit of vertigo from imagining how high they were. "So, if you were a sister in law, who would be the husband to be, hm?" He playfully nudged her, grinning in his usual way, even though there was a spot in the back of his brain having other thoughts, it was quickly covered by other thoughts.

[LadyTevar]

She was touching him, so the gist of his thoughts came across. "Sorry, Collin... you're still too young for me." Lei answered softly, her empathy allowing her emotions to cross to him, taking all the sting out of the words. A friend, a partner, but nothing sexual.

"As for the fiance," she chuckled, crossing Randolph St to follow Wabash Avenue. At the end of the block could be seen signs for Macy's, though they were passing smaller stores as they walked. "Dave and I would fight constantly. Bill is only a year older than you, which makes him too young. Tach... " She trailed off, and her empathy gave away some of the confusion she felt. "I can't read him. I think he's flirting with me... but I can't read him at all."

[Hotfoot]

Collin blushed slightly as Argent responded to his emotions. "Yeah, yeah. Just a frosh, heard it before. At least it frees the field. After all, nobody here knows about the infamous Collin Jones, Casanova of the twenty-first century." He ran his free hand through his hair and smirked, winking at Lei. "Anyway, yeah, Tach seems to be laying it on pretty thick. I mean, I can tell, and I can't feel emotions like you." He paused for a moment, a sudden moment of realization hitting him. "You don't know what to do when you can't read someone, do you?" He chuckled, nudging her again. "This is the beginning of a hilarious romantic comedy, you know"

[LadyTevar]

The problem with touching an empath? They can't hide their emotions. So Lei's embarrassment and feeling of 'oh shit, he figured it out' was as readable as the blush rising on her face.

"I was right .. you are a little brother, Yòu dì," she muttered, tugging him into the large double doors frosted with Macy's emblem, and then into the inner double doors. "Tell -anyone- and I will make sure your clothing vanishes next 'port."

[Hotfoot]

Collin laughed as Lei pulled him through the doors, shaking his head. "Oh no, no, you don't get it. You can see what I can't, and I can see what you can't. It's perfect, y'see? We'll get a little walkie talkie or something, and I can hide in some bushes while you two are at dinner, telling you how to respond. I've seen it in, like, a thousand TV shows. Trust me, there's no way it can go wrong. Plus it lets me head over to Radio Shack to pick up all kinds of cool gadgets. After we get the clothes, we can begin Operation: Cupid! It'll be great, you'll see. Oh yeah, and we'll pick up like a Nerf bow or something I can shoot at Tach. Perfect!"

[LadyTevar]

As if she couldn't blush any harder, here he was making up silly scenarios to get her and Tachyon together on a date. The only good thing? It gave them something to talk about around sales-people, if he could remember NOT to mention her empathy.

"I am not going on a date with Tachy," Lei answered, dropping Collin's arm to check which floor Men's Clothing would be on. "On the off chance I did... you're not invited."

[Hotfoot]

Collin chuckled, stroking his chin comically. "Not that he would know....yes, I can see it all now. Besides, what could go wrong? Worst case scenario, he's married with three children and is looking for a second mistress, right? That way, if I'm there, I can kick him in the 'nads so fast the pain will go back in time and paradox him out of existance." He paused for a moment, relishing the embarassment. "You know, I heard something about a killer pizza place from a friend I had before I, uh, transferred. That would be a killer place for a date. Or just to eat at later. They always say the deep dish here is fantastic, you know."

[LadyTevar]

The look Lei gave him could freeze a volcano. He'd already forgotten that Tachy was supposed to be his brother. "No Date." she repeated. "Although the pizza is tempting."

She walked away, leading him towards the elevators. "But first, we get you and your brothers some decent clothing, remember?"

[Hotfoot]

"Okay, okay, I get it. Still, it wouldn't hurt to get to know him. You never know, huh? At the very least, if you were interested, you might want to show a little interest somehow. You know, if you're interested." He winked, still smiling. "But yeah, clothes shopping." He sighed. If this was anything like clothes shopping when he was a kid, he was going to be out of his mind in three minutes flat.

[Charon]

Legacies had followed the two of them part of the way to Macy's keeping himself out of sight of the two and then kept to the shadows outside Macy's when the two went inside, keeping an eye out and getting ready to assist them should something go wrong.

[LadyTevar]

4th Floor: Men's Clothing.
The first thing Lei did was politely accept a salesperson's offer of help. Why? Because they'd need someone to carry it all.

Underwear Section:
Lei holds up a pack of bikini-thong underwear, grinning evilly. "Think Dave would wear these?"
"Um....maybe if lots of beer was involved."
"Good point." Lei puts them back, getting several packages of boxer-briefs.
"You know, I tried those once, they were kinda weird."

Shirt Section:
Button-ups, button-downs, pullovers, and just for Collin and Bill a few concert-style tees.
"You know, I heard they're having a concert here next month. Might be worth checking out. Oh, and this shirt is awesome." Funny, looks like Collin was enjoying shopping. "And maybe this one for, Bl-illie boy..."
"AC/DC?" Lei's eyebrow raised. "A little old-fashioned, aren't they?"
"Old-Awesome and classic-fashioned you mean. I mean, come on. Highway to Hell? It rocks! Besides, it fits."

Pants:
Khakis, dress slacks, docker shorts, and of course, blue jeans.
"Do you think you can run in them?" Lei asked, trying to push away images of Tach or Dave in button-fly, tight-fitting jeans.
"Fancypants? Nah, they tear too easily." Collin answered. "Shorts, sure, and jeans if they're the right fit. How about these?" He pulls over some workout pants, the kind that had quick remove snaps.
"A little too casual, but throw them in anyway."

The pile of clothing grew higher, and higher, and higher. Total for 4 guys?
Enough casual dress clothing to give them all nearly two weeks worth without doing laundry or wearing the same thing twice. (Four weeks if they are typical guys and recycle once or twice before laundering.)
"Whoa..." Collin whistles. "That's a wardrobe and a half!"

Total Price?
"Well, there goes that account..." Lei muttered as the pre-paid credit card was swiped. Of course, if Lei Kè of Rego Park Queens, NY was going to vanish, it made sense that her credit card would empty as well. "You guys will have to get their own toiletries, it seems."

There were so many bags that Lei and Collin were both weighed down, but accepting the offer of a cab or delivery service was a little out of the question. So, they were forced to walk outside with all the bags and baggage in arms, as Lei looked for a safe place to go dragon and teleport.

[Charon]

Legacies was dressed in casual clothing as he stepped out onto the street behind Argent and Hotfoot.

"Well that took about as long as we thought it would take you." The scarred up man walked behind them, picking up a lot of the bags that Hotfoot was carrying.

[Hotfoot]

"Well, not the worst shopping trip I've ever been on, though it ranks a distant fifth...well, maybe sixth." His mind almost started down the path of remembering the "Good ones", but he stopped himself short, knowing that Argent would get something over the link. "Still, should be good. Of course, all that shopping makes me hungry. We'll have to go and get a pizza soon." He smirked, knowing that Argent would get what was ever so covertly implied.

[LadyTevar]

Yes, Lei caught the comment, and it earned Collin a glare. "We'll see if the others want pizza first," she replied, turning to Legacies. "The parking building across Randolph street is where we're going. We can get home from there." It was an easy way of saying that she'd rather be somewhere inconspicuous to teleport. "We should hurry, I told them one hour."

[Hotfoot]

"Okay, okay. Just a suggestion." He stuck his tongue out at her and smirked. "Okay. Remember where we parked?"

[Charon]

Legacies carried the bags, though not enough that it would look exceedingly unnatural. "I don't believe that the group has had a chance to eat in a long time." Legacies kept watch around them. "Pizza would likely be a good idea."

[LadyTevar]

"Well, if you're all hungry, we'll let David buy after everyone changes clothes," Lei said, leading them across the street and into the parking building. "It's rather hard to order delivery to a suite that's supposed to be empty."

The thing about parking buildings is that they're all dark, dim, and shadowy. That makes it very easy to shield what you're doing from any security camera.

Especially if a lovely Chinese woman is turning into an oriental dragon and teleporting away with two men and a large number of shopping bags.



The bags made a very large, neat pile on the floor. "Honey, we're home?" Lei announced teasingly. It'd been one hour and 5 minutes.

[SirNitram]

Gravitas in his new guise looked up. "Welcome back. Well, we've got clothes, money to be going on with, and we're out of Millenium. I think so far, so good."