Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[Hotfoot]

"So you fucked with his head to make him want you, because he was going to kill you otherwise, and then he fucked with your head to make you want him?" Collin blinked, trying to piece the things together. "I gotta say, that doesn't sound like a healthy relationship by any stretch. It sounds more like you guys were both brainwashed, but that's better than dead, right?" He sighed, shaking his head.

"Look though, the whole thing with Saibot, that's in the past, and from what you're telling me, it's not like you had much of a choice in the matter. What matters now is that you learn from the past and move on. This isn't going to be a repeat, okay? Nobody thinks that, besides, Elias has that defense thing he was talking about, right?"

[LadyTevar]

Now she looked up, tears threatening. "Do you?"

[Hotfoot]

"Do I what? Think that this will be a repeat? No, come on now. You might not be able to read Elias, but you can read me, right? Look at me. Do I think you're trying to set yourself down the same road again? Now come on, the whole thing with Saibot is over now, you have to put that behind you. You can't think that every time some guy shows an interest in you, it's because of your powers. The fact is, well, you know..." The emotions behind that comment were clear, though he did his best to try and keep them from becoming the absolute point of what he was saying. He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Look, Li Na, bottom line, the thing with Saibot was a mistake. It's something that shouldn't have happened, but it did, and at the end of the day, we need to learn from our mistakes, and you have, but you also need to not let it cripple you."

[LadyTevar]

She read his emotions all too clearly. "That is what I asked, Collin," she said sadly. "Do -you- have protections against me..."

And with that she faded into shadow, reappearing a few feet away, out of his grasp. "How much of it is natural? How much of it is me?" were the quiet questions. "I know I'm not influencing Tach ... Elias. But you ... how much of your feelings are yours, and how much is me needing a friend?"

[Hotfoot]

Collin shrugged. "I think it's pretty clear that I'm not lashed under your control, Li Na. If I was, would I really be able to tease you like I do?" He smirks, mischevious thoughts already going through his mind. "Besides, I might not have a big shield on my brain, but I can usually tell when you're sending something or if it's me. I mean, I might not be able to do anything about it sometimes, but somewhere in here," He taps his head, "I have a pretty good idea."

"Besides, you were nice to me before you even formed the link. In fact, you were the only person who seemed to be honest with me. Those are big bonuses in my book. I can imagine it's rough, not knowing what's real and what's faked, but you didn't want me around last night. I didn't exactly do what you wanted then, did I?"

[LadyTevar]

She dropped her eyes, turning her head aside as he tore her fears apart, and yet again tried to tease a smile out of her. Had she ever been this trusting, or this willing to give trust before? She couldn't remember.

"You're right....." she said quietly. "Maybe you're the one influencing me." She took a deep breath, and then another. Deep, cleansing breaths, and then her hands laced, palms down, in front of her as she exhaled, pushing out everything but what mattered now.

She looked back up at him, and gave him a small smile. "Let's see if the team's ready for pizza."

[Hotfoot]

"Or maybe it's more normal than you think, and we're both influencing each other, but yeah, let's go." With that, he opened the door and headed back outside to rejoin the rest of the group.

[Cynical Cat]

"You can continue flirting over pizza," said Blackheart. "After this I have to make a couple of solo stops. One is checking in with a source, the other is retrieving more cash and some IDs."

[Cynical Cat]

It wasn't hard to find a decent pizzeria. Blackheart lead the group inside and ordered a small host of pizzas to feed his ravenous horde.

[SirNitram]

'Mike' swallowed down a slice of Hawaiian with anchovies. There are some tastes that cannot be explained. "The question is simply where we head next." He mused. "I mean, New York was great, but I can't see us getting far here. The West Coast, maybe?"

[Cynical Cat]

"This is just a pit stop. The way I see it we have four big targets: Raising Caine, Ultima infiltrators, Ultima assholes upstairs, and the building exploders. We should see if RCE is still open at that location and doing business."

[Charon]

Legacies took a slice of Pepperoni and Sausage pizza and took a large bite. "RCE is on the West Coast isn't it? If we move West we'll be able to scout better. Get us closer to Tarot, farther away from Ultima HQ."

[Cynical Cat]

"We have two teleporters," said Blackheart. "Location doesn't matter that much."

[Marcao]

From his perspective, he had taken the best choice available to him at the time. Legacies comments aside, he did have a particular interest in Argent and since his interest seemed to be relatively transparent it might as well be let out. It was not the way he envisioned it but he had learned over the years that the ideal did not always happen. There were times when people simply had to improvise. He had expected some sort of reaction from Li Na, but he was not at all expecting to awaken some hidden volcano. Her words as she looked to Blackheart were very confusing to him. She didn’t do what? She wasn’t influencing him? For a moment, he was lost. He was not aware of the finer details that had revolved around her previous relationship and as such was taken completely aback by her reaction. Maybe if he had known he could have tried something different.

He blinked, his eyes flickering from Li Na to Blackheart and back as if trying to see something that he was missing. A millisecond later, Collin was getting involved his words much along the same lines of what he was feeling. He would have liked to have said something, but words failed him. More importantly, it had been his words that had placed her in such an apparently distressing position. Who was to say that more words from him would not make matters worse? He watched as Hotf…Collin half walked and half dragged Li Na out of the room. Once she was out the room he released the breath he had been holding in a sigh. What exactly was he getting into?

His right hand moved, fingers sliding over his head for a moment before he took a step back and then another. He did not glance towards Legacies; the super had gone down a few notches on his book for his role in having led to this particular series of events. It would take some time for the super to work his way back to his good graces. Upon Collin’s and Li Na’s return, he made an effort not to make things any more difficult than they had to be. It was not so much that he was ignoring Li Na, it was very difficult for him to do that but he was definitely aware of the apparent discomfort his words had caused. As such, he was a bit more hesitant to go out of his way to put Argent on the spot.

Finding the pizzeria was not an obstacle and he quickly found himself following a usual rhythm. The truth was that he was rather hungry and between bites he made an effort to stay on top of the conversation happening around him. The words exchanged danced around his mind, some being easily understood while others not so much.

[SirNitram]

"We also have some rather nice equipment stashed away. I'd like to see to that before the folks that blew up the building get to it." Mike pointed out. "But that can wait until after pizza."

[LadyTevar]

Li Na, for her part, had been making a good dent into a pepperoni and mushroom pizza, absently catching the trailing strings of mozerelli by twirling them around her fingers and nibbling it off. She did keep glancing towards Elias at the opposite end of the table, grateful that he'd toned down the flirting.

When discussion of moving to the West Coast came up, she paused, setting her slice of pizza down and taking a drink as she judged emotions around the table. She had a safe house there. It was big enough for all of them. But did she *really* want them there?

Shit.

"... Several years ago... I bought a retirement home in SanFran," Li Na admitted to the team, her eyes down. "... it's definately large enough for all of us, if a couple of you don't mind sharing rooms. It only has five bedrooms."

[Cynical Cat]

"Who knows you have it?" Blackheart asked.

[LadyTevar]

"Myself and Ember." Li Na answered, proving the 'two-can-keep-a-secret-if-one-is-dead' adage. "It was the first thing we ever bought, so we could look down on the streets of SanFran and flip them off." Again, like with the rant on Salvation Army, was a hint that Li Na had risen out of the gutter and meant never to go back.

David's paranoia was catching, however. "There is a maid service that comes every two weeks. They and the utilities are paid out of the interest on a bank account Ember and I set up in Geneva." Li Na frowned a little. "I've tried to keep it as hidden as possible. This is my -retirement- home." Her eyes meet David's wryly. "Of course, you've made a habit of pointing out my mistakes, so I'll simply say that it's as securely hidden as I've been able to make it."

Now she wondered if paying the taxes on the property had been a good idea after all. Tax evasion had caught many mobsters, so her younger, inexperienced mind decided it was better to pay up than stand out. Whether Blackheart wanted to hear it was on the tax rolls was another thing. Damn him and his paranoia.

[Cynical Cat]

"Good," said Blackheart. "We can, however, avoid that. I have some very clean identities and money I can rent houses with. We don't have to endanger your retirement home."

[LadyTevar]

Li Na sometimes really couldn't believe the man.

"David... what's my chances of retiring right now?" she asked retorically. "It's there. No one's lived in it for about 6 months," she found herself arguing. "It's got 5 bedrooms, and several rooms that can be turned into extra bedrooms. It's on the end of a private street, no close neighbors, and it's even got a pool." And a basement dungeon, but she was going to let them find that one out.

"If nothing else, its' a place to wait while you try to find a large enough house in SanFran to hold us all." If she was taking bets, that would be a loooong wait.

[Cynical Cat]

"Your odds of making it to retirement? I would say better than 50-50," said Blackheart. He flexed his new hand and picked up a slice of spicy meat. "It's your place, your call. I'm just saying we have good alternatives."

[LadyTevar]

"Then, by all means, crash for a few days," Li Na answered with a shrug, picking up her own slice of pizza again. "If that's settled, we can head there after we eat."

[Hotfoot]

Collin listed to the conversation as he chowed down on several different pizza slices. Given that he couldn't eat at super-speed without giving everyone away, that meant he spent more time eating and less time talking. Still, between shoveling food in his mouth, he managed to find time to breath, and sometimes say a few things. "Well, we can move around, that wouldn't hurt, right? Oh, and what about that guy that killed an Ultima Agent back at Millenium?"

[SirNitram]

"Cascade? If the killer was a random thug or bad guy, they'll handle it well, I expect." Mike commented. "If it's, as I fear, part of the institutional rot, we need to find out how deep it goes and confront the source."

[LadyTevar]

"Ghost is back there," Li Na reminded everyone. "He could keep tabs on that, if we want to talk to him."