_Essex_

((Hehehe. XD Believe me, take away the angst and most of the extraneous worry, and Essex is all patience.))

"Oh, sweetheart, don't worry." she said, crouching in front of him and producing a small comb, handing it to him rather than combing his hair for him. "Everyone has things they like and don't like."

Rosalind pouted as Naga left her to wrestle, and gave Julie a couple more rounds of tumbling, until...

...her eyes fell on Jake's spiders.

The puppy let out three sharp barks in rapid succession. Feliks had taught her how to transmit "SOS" in Morse Code, and this was the signal for "S"...

A Code S.

Spiders.

Those who had been in the house for long enough knew what this meant. There was one thing that could make Miss Essex lose her composure...and it was a spider. And when Miss Essex lost her composure...it wasn't pretty.

Hurriedly she shifted back to humanoid form, her eyes widening. Looking around distractedly, she suddenly turned and ran full tilt into an end table with a loud bang.

"Miss Essex!!" she wailed as her nose began to bleed. "I hurt myself!"

Suddenly distracted with Rosalind, Essex stood, picking up the puppy girl. "Rosie, you should know better than to tear around the house like that!" she scolded gently. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

Rosalind eyed Ghoul, Toy and Feliks as Essex took her out of the room as if to say "Get rid of them!! Now, while I've got her attention!"

Essex sighed under Solid's head-pats.

"You know I'm not a good liar." she fretted. "And what if I accidentally slip something to one of the others? AJ is one thing, I know she'll keep a secret...but Burner's so dutiful, and Seawing is such a straight-and-narrow kinda guy. Ginstar, Genki, and Cody can't keep their mouths shut. Deep Tide....I guess he'd be able to keep a secret, but that's only because he never talks."

Looking up at Solid, she tilted her head.

"Plus Dr. West is on a business trip to Aeon City tomorrow. What if it's delayed because of me? I'll be in so much trouble."

Penny's even breathing was all that answered Ernesto.

She was dreaming of the mystery man...

((In the interest of wrapping up the night...

...Oh, and an OOC note. This morning on the way to work I almost got run off the road. Maybe the world's trying to tell me something? ))

Having rushed Jack into the emergency room, Penny collapsed on one of the waiting chairs.

Her heart was pounding in her ears. The adrenalin of the night had built up from the meeting on, and now it crashed down around her. Penny was utterly exhausted.

Her head tipped back against the wall, her eyes flittering to a close behind her cracked glasses. It was an odd sight, the little twenty-something leaned back, asleep, in the chair, in her dusty suit, torn stockings, and black eye with no shoes on. The tie of her hair had broken, and the long chestnut waves curled down over her shoulders messily.

It looked like she would be spending the night in the hospital...

Essex quickly shook her head.

"Oh, no no no." she answered. "Please, it's no problem at all. I was glad for the opportunity to see you and I was really excited that I was invited." Glancing down, the android looked sorrowful.

"I'm just sorry it had to turn out like this." she mused sadly. "Um...but...If you want me to stay, I don't have any plans tonight or tomorrow morning. I'd be more than happy to, if you'd like."

Looking up at Ian, she eyed him somewhat...critically. Not in a negative way, but as if she were analyzing him. A bit of admiration entered her expression.

"...You're very strong." she murmured. "...Even though you weren't too close with your father, I can't imagine what you're going through. I would break down in your position. ...I will do whatever I can to assist you, Ian."

((DV,

To quote a certain someone...

I'm sure he's shaking in his boots. Not.

))

"No offense, but I kinda prefer a guy with all his blood inside his body." Penny quipped. "Once you've got that down, we'll see." Still though, her cheeks were tinged with the exhilaration of everything.

Hey, someone actually thinks I'm cute! He must not be able to see Milly from there.

"I'm kinda surprised the fuzz hasn't hopped up on our [censored] yet." she muttered, looking in her rear-view mirror. "Oh well. Like anyone cares how fast you go on the highway."

Pulling onto the offramp, she slowed. She wouldn't risk going TOO fast in business and residential zones, but time was still of the essence.

Soon, the group had pulled into the hospital, Penny screeching into the Emergency Room bay.

"Ernesto, get him outta my car!" she said with a nod. "I'll be in in a moment to get the paperwork for 'im. I mean, I do it all day, why the hell not do it at night too?"

((*L* Explosion detritus what? ))

Essex sighed, looking down at the table.

"It's not that." she said, resting her chin on her folded hands. "I'm afraid of having to explain myself to Dr. West. I mean, I just know he's going to absolutely interrogate me about everything. Dark Astoria, about Hal, about ...just...everything."

Essex sighed again, sounding miserable.

"I know you say I shouldn't worry so much, sir, but...the Doctor is very protective of me. I've got a lot of his expiremental tech in me that the others don't have."

Nena looked on in awe as Ryuji deftly froze a good large area - herself included. She barely had time to scramble up onto a sewer catwalk to avoid the rapidly expanding wave of ice.

"Brrrrr!!" she complained. "It's colder than home, here!" Even her armor was chilled quite well.

The paladin paused and glanced back and forth.

She stuck her tongue out.

"Waaaaaaaaaah!" she cried out, mere moments later, her tongue stuck to her sword hilt. "Mah hung fo sick hoo sode! Hawafuuuu!!! Wake en kan oth!"

Pariku glowered at the girl and shook his head, beginning to make his way over.

"It's inconceivable how stupid you are." he grumbled under his breath, his left hand hot with flame. He snapped a small ice spike off Ryuji as he walked by.

"Pardon, but I must borrow this momentarily. I apologize for the inconvenience."

Holding it over Nena's tongue, his hand erupted in flame, melting the water and sending it over the point of stickage, freeing her.

"Yay!" she squealed.

Pariku growled and began marching back to where he had been, pausing to look back and glare at her. "Now don't do it again."

"Uh-" her tongue stopped three inches from the hilt, her eyes wide, caught.

Essex examined it, committing the cards to memory.

"I see." she said, nodding. "Good work, sir! Congratulations!"

She froze as her cell began to beep. Doctor West was trying to get into contact with her. Doubtless he was trying to track which Council base they were 'imprisoned' in.

"Ah..." she said, looking nervously down at it, her hand twitching.

The android frowned a little. Since the Rikti War, and it didn't look like this place had been cleaned once...

...Bachelors. Shees.

Essex pondered her cards, and then laid them out.

"Is this good?" she asked, displaying a Full House.

"Weeeeeee-haaah!" Nena sang out as the greatsword neatly cleaved through Xander's 'pitch.' Sure, it got Hydra goosh all over her, but that's what life was all about!

Advancing forward surely, she swung the sword at a wide arc, slicing through three of them in her path, and then whirled to thrust at a fourth. She was enjoying herself immensely.

Suddenly they began accellerating forward a lot quickly. Xander and Reginald, since they were deeper into the sewers than the others, could see a wall of magical flame near the back line of the Hydra. The fire cages were swiftly melting the gelatinous creatures even as Pariku chanted and prayed.

"I only have three of a kind." Essex said, putting down her cards. "Three sevens, a three, and a ten."

Allowing herself another glance around, she looked back up at Solid.

"How long have you been living here, sir? You seem to have it set up in a very...interesting way."

((BAH! And I checked, too! I'm so dumb. ))

"Okay." Essex sighed, her eyes skimming the cards calculatingly as she got her new hand.

She was twitchy. What was Dr. West doing right now? He could have sent people out to look for them. Though he didn't fear the Council, and the Council had nowhere near as much information on her technology as Crey did, the Doctor seemed to be a lot more....driven, when she was in danger.

Essex sighed. If he ever found out about this she'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble.

Essex showed her hand to Solid.

"I have a pair as well." she said. "So what does that mean? We tie? Or is yours better because the cards have a higher value?"

The little android looked around the room uneasily. The machinery made her feel a little more at home, but it was awfully claustrophobic.

"I panicked." Essex said cryptically, not offering any other explanation.

She looked at her hand - queen of hearts, five of hearts, two of diamonds, two of clubs, and an ace of diamonds.

"....What do I do?" she asked, showing it to Solid with a blank stare.

"Oh my." Essex said, looking at the dress Magda had spirited on her. "Hahaha. You're very creative." Looking to Experiment, she apologetically shook her head. "I'm sorry Experiment. I forgot. I promise I won't mess up your hair any longer, okay?"

Rosalind continued barking furiously, tumbling in a rough-and-tumble game with Julie and Naga. She was getting excited, though, and suddenly Naga felt sharp puppy teeth clamped onto her arm.

Vanessa, had, in the meantime, found an oversized pearl necklace. She put it on silently, and found an oversized toy gun, sticking it in a large dress-up purse.

She stared at the Maltan boys without a word.

"But I always worry." Essex said worriedly.

Watching Solid shuffle the cards dimly, she shook her head. "No...All I know how to play is Go Fish. Burner tried to teach me Canasta once, but it didn't go so well. And Ginstar prefers dice."

Tapping her fingertips on the table, she sighed. "But I guess I can try."

((LAWL. You realize we're both in way, way too many threads. I mean look at poor AH101. I'm so lost in there I don't know where to begin.

But I'll bite, dammit, because I'm a threadaholic. ))

Essex whimpered as she slowly hovered back down.

"I can't believe you told Dr. West that." she fretted. "He's probably worried sick. I mean, he's already angry with me for staying out late as it is. What if he finds out about this? He'll never let me leave the lab again!!"

Sighing, she plopped her small frame into one of the chairs, her pink-booted feet dangling off the end and swinging absently.

"You're all under arrest!" Nena cheerfully exclaimed to the fleeing Hellions. At the oncoming 'glorble', she blinked.

"Oh, hey!" she said with a smile. "Time to play some booger-ball!" With Ryuji and After-Image freezing on either side and Reginald fading from existance a little ways away, she grinned at Xander. "Come on! You can be on my team!"

With that, she charged forward with a confident smirk, meeting the wave of Hydra head-on with a broad sweep of her greatsword.

Pariku's hands erupted into flame and his eyes narrowed behind his glasses. He didn't want to disrupt the others' ice, but rather sought to compromise the structural integrity of the Hydra.

"The light of the Sun will expose all iniquities..." he chanted.

((And now you see how I drive. ))

"Hold on to your [censored]' shoes!" Penny muttered with a crazed grin.

Peeling out of the parking space in with a sharp whine as the tires skidded on the pavement in reverse, Penny threw the car into drive and blasted forward.

"Seatbelts please." she said calmly. There was a little light in each of her eyes, as if she had always wanted to do this.

Her torn-stockinged foot slammed down on the accelerator.

VREEEEEEE!!

The car absolutely flew forward, towards the attackers, who were now being attacked by mercenaries AND a giant mecha. They were forced to scatter out of the way of the 2-ton suddenly 40 mph death machine that was a nice wine-colored Alero.

Peeling out onto the street, Penny thanked her lucky stars that it wasn't an icy night and skidded onto the nearby highway on-ramp.

"We're going to the hospital." she announced to the car. "Hang on tight, and I'll see if I can't get us a police escort."

She grinned crazily as the speedometer swiftly approached 100...

Penny suddenly straightened, facepalming.

"That's my [censored] car, [censored]!" she yelled, forgetting herself in anger at the moment.

"Ooooooooooh...." Nena said, clapping her hands, impressed at Xander's form. "Do it again!"

Pariku was too distracted to reprimand her, just goggle-eyed at the Kheldian's form. "F..f...Fascinating!!" he suddenly exploded. "I must apologize for my curiosity, young sir, but you see, I am a religious scholar, doctor, biologist, technology enthusiast and something of an anthropologist on the side, and I have never seen such a thing as a true Kheldian - though, I have seen their effects in the world I live in, as they are mentioned in many obscure ancient cults that have been mostly lost in time. I never thought I would truly get an opportunity to observe one in the flesh, or ectoplasm, or whatever substance makes up your physical being --"

"Gawd, stop being a nerd." Nena complained. "We're here to beat up some homeless, not go to school."

"You are utterly exasperating, woman." Pariku paused in his tirade to direct at Nena.

"Awh! Everyone says that..." she said modestly with a blush, clearly not understanding. "Come on Reggie, Xannie, Ryuji...ie!"

"Now, now, now." Essex said in a warning tone. "There will be no sucking up of the fairies."

She patted Experiment on the head with a little smile. "But look at you! Did you make that vacuum yourself? That's very good. Perhaps you'll be an inventor when you grow up."

As the children began to float into the air at Moonscribe's whim, they soon found that they couldn't rise more than an inch or two off the ground. Archlich's ability-dampening spells were very, very strong in the house and the yard...

Rosie in the meantime was absolutely loving the attention, her tail wagging furiously as she was petted and tackled and glomped. As Naga tackled her out of Julie's arms, she tumbled with the little girl, barking happily.

Nena just laughed heartily.

"I'm so glad everyone's getting along!" she chirped.

"Ugh." Pariku facepalmed. The psychic clash between the members of this party was giving him a migrane.