_Essex_

Nena led the way to the entrance to the sewers, perhaps a little too cheerfully. On the way, she laughed and joked with Pariku, who seemed dry and otherwise occupied with a small glowing globe that he would speak into at intervals.

As she walked, those behind her could see the massive greatsword, nearly as large as she was, strapped firmly to her back. It glowed with a white energy, and the illegible words etched into it pulsed with power.

"Ah, here we are." Pariku finally piped up as they approached the large pipeline.

Essex hovered over Ian with a concerned frown. At his question, she shook her head.

"The door was open when I got up here." she said. "I looked in and you weren't there, but I didn't go in - I heard you training in here."

Tilting her head to the side quizzically, she blinked.

"Didn't....you leave your door open?" she asked, unsurely.

Penny's mind raced as Ernesto and then the mercenaries descended on the van.

She knew that this could degenerate into violence very quickly, and she held Milly protectively. Penny had taken some women's self defense, and she knew that if you ran from a gunman in an erratic fashion they only had a 4% chance of hitting you. But these guys were paramilitary.

Not to mention, now they were cornered. With Vasquez' mercenaries from behind and Ernesto in the front, they just might do something crazy.

Penny glanced at Milly to make sure she was all right, and had to do a double take. The younger girl had a strange, golden glow in her eyes for a split second...but then it was gone.

"....[censored], this day's gotta be getting to me or something." she muttered, her eyes on the conflict warily.

"Got it!!"

Penny paused a moment to take her shoes off. She would NOT fall down the stairs twice in one day. She grabbed Milly's hand and raced down the stairs after Ernesto.

"Oh my God. Oh my God." she kept murmuring under her breath.

Finally bursting through the emergency door at the bottom that led to the parking garage, the alarm beginning to blare at the impact, she gestured for them to get out.

"Come on!" she called. "Everyone to my car, and we'll get out of here!!"

Okay...This one is a little weird.

XP I always wanted Rosalind to have a band in Final Fight. This band is the one who made me think of that. The main singer has a voice EXACTLY like how I would imagine Rosie's singing voice.

That having been said...

The lyrics of this song remind me so strongly of Essex and Hallucinogen.

So, here's the situation I've sort of put with it.

Rosie really doesn't like Essex, but she's more annoyed with her than anything. She doesn't really hate her. At the end of Final Fight, after everyone's back home, Rosalind writes a song about Essex and Hal.

Here with Me - by Plumb.

Enjoy. :P

Penny stayed in the stairwell with Milly, shielding the younger girl as best as she could. She grit her teeth.

This was absolutely ridiculous! Ernesto was out there...


No. She had to stay here and protect Milly. The girl looked absolutely petrified. Penny growled to herself in annoyance. There had to be something she could -

-...She looked at her hand absently, and had to rub her eyes. For a brief moment, it seemed like she could...see right through it. And Milly, too. As if the both of them had been translucent for only a brief moment.

Ridiculous. Penny thought, dismissing the strange occurence.

"Ah...it's just me." Essex repeated, pushing the door open a little more. Her eyes were full of concern, and she skimmed in a little, grabbing a towel from a nearby rack and bringing it over to him.

"...I just wanted to come up here to see you. I know it's stupid to ask you if you're all right, but..."

She looked down. "...I know if it had been Dr. West, I would quite decidedly need a hug."

Essex didn't move to hug Ian, as she knew he didn't usually need comforting...but she didn't go anywhere, either.

"...So I just wanted to say...if there's anything you need that I can do. Absolutely anything. Please don't hesitate to ask."

"Don't argue." Nena said with a smile.

It was a command.

Walking forward, the young woman put a hand on Xander's shoulder and a hand on Ryuji's shoulder.

"We're all friends, let's all play nice together!" she proclaimed. "So let's go to the sewers! It'll be fun!"

"The sewers. Rapture."

"SHUT IT, squishy."

"Um...Actually, let's go to the sewers!" Nena chimed in. "There are lotsa Lost down there!"

"...Right." Pariku nodded, adjusting his glasses and turning to the others. "Wherever we decide to go, let us go there soon. I fear there's much to be done."

The psychic presence I am picking up from that boy is astounding. I must ask him about it in the near future. the young professor thought to himself. I have never observed a Kheldian firsthand...this will be amazing for my research!

"Incidentally..." he continued aloud, "Does anyone know anything about the cult the Lost are always mumbling about? I have tried to gain information on it for my next thesis, and sadly most of the knowledge I've gleaned from them has been...garbled, at best."

Rosalind shook her head disdainfully.

"I ain't a werewolf!" she snarled. "I'm a were-human! It's different 'cause I'm really a dog. Wanna see my real form?"

In a poof of smoke, she was a border collie puppy. "Yip!"

"Oh dear..." Essex said, hurrying to the trunk and carefully opening it from behind.

"Devin, are you all right?" she asked in concern, releasing a wave of nanites around herself just in case. "You're bleeding again."

"Only wimps bleed!" Rosalind said with a laugh, picking up a detective's hat and an oversized magnifying glass.

"I'ma be an IFESTICATOR." she announced proudly.

Walking along with her eye neatly glued to the magnifying glass, she came upon the feet of another little girl.

Sniff.

Her gaze went up.

Sniff sniff.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, her tail beginning to wag furiously. "You're kinda like me!!" she squealed to Julie.

Nessie, in the meantime, had found an oversized labcoat and was working in a corner with her back to the rest of the children, silent.

"Peligroso- Oh, right!"

Penny grabbed Milly's hand, slinging the fire extinguisher over her shoulder and pulling the younger girl into the stairwell.

"Crap, how are we gonna get out of here now!? With these explosions the police are gonna be thick on this place. We'll never freakin' get home."

"What the [censored]!?"

Penny's eyes widened suddenly as an explosion rocked the building.

"What the hell is going on!?" she snarled, reaching back for a fire extinguisher hurriedly.

((Ack, so many threaaaaads....

And I so have an angstover from last night. >_&lt)

"C'mere, Milly." Penny said, gesturing towards the mail-girl. "Isn't Ernesto's little girl sweet? Her dress is really cute in this picture."

Showing it to her fellow worker, she nonetheless looked up at Jack's greeting.

"Oh hey Jack." she said with a light wave. "Milly and I were about to head for home."

She scrawled something on a post-it note, and stuck it on Ernesto's tray.

"Listen..." she said. "I'm not going to see my family either this Christmas. ...Gimme a call. This is my cell number. Maybe I can make you dinner or something. I'm not a bad cook."

Zoria soon found himself faced with a glowing holy blade, words written in dark script curving around it in a decorative spiral as the paladin regarded him with green, critical eyes.

"Explain yourself." Nena said simply.

Pariku's hands had ignited, but he held ready, observing the magus critically behind his spectacles. "Indeed. Your appearance here provokes questions that require immediate answers."

Essex sighed. She thought she knew what Ian was doing.

Training.

Training to get his mind off things. It seemed a very...Ian thing to do.

Turning to the room across the hall, she carefully tapped on it.

"...Ian?"

Essex went into the closet in the front room, and began pulling at a huge trunk, slowly pulling it into the living room.

"All right, kids..." she said, moving around behind it and beginning to undo the locks.

"Oh, all right!" Rosalind suddenly squealed in glee. "The costume trunk!"

"That's right." Essex said, opening it to reveal a myriad of different costume elements - hats, cowls, toy accessories (none of them dangerous, of course) jackets, etc, etc.

"...So, kids. Here's the activity of the day. I want to know what you all want to be when you grow up. Try to find a costume that will fit, and then tell everyone." she said with a smile.

"And remember to share! I only have so many costumes." She added with a chuckle.

"Oh, well, that's a shame...Oranbega's a HOLY HELL UNDEAD!" Nena suddenly screamed, whipping her sword off her back as it blazed. Her left hand glowed as she began to chant a prayer, the holy symbol on the chestplate of her armor beginning to pulse.

"Nena!" Pariku suddenly yelled, running to her and smacking the back of her head. "No turning allies!"

"But undead!" she whimpered, her ears laying back against her hair in a pout.

"DOWN. STAY." he snapped. Shaking his head, he turned his attention to Reginald, Xander, Ryuji, and After-Image.

"We do seek to end this violence. And it seems Madam Azuria has a list of tasks for us." Pariku said, lifting the list of stolen magical goods.

"Are any of them swords?" Nena asked miserably.

"Not the ones we're going after." Pariku answered, eyeing her warningly.

((Oh, the murder took place in the Banquet hall... 9_9 I should have paid more attention. *facepalms* I was like, "Wait, but.... D:"

And don't WORRY, Ian!! XP My lawd, you're as bad as I am. Relaaaaax. Relaaaax. *Surrounds with fluffy animals*))

"You're right." Essex said quickly, "We won't find anything here."

Turning back to Hal, she frowned a bit. "...I want to go and talk to Ian after all. But...alone. You can turn invisible, right? I would suggest going to the lab and seeing what you can find...without being seen."

She began to skim away, but paused, half turning back to face him. "...Come and get me when you're done. I don't...want to be alone here. And I don't want to bother Sir Curtis all the time....so maybe I'll bother you." The last sentence was accompanied by something of a mischevous smile as she hurriedly skimmed out of the room.

Back to the house she went, quietly skirting around and trying to be unobtrusive as she hurried up towards Ian's room.

"...Ian?" she called out quietly outside his door. "It's me, S-6. ...May I come in?"

LoL.

How do you think I feel about Essex?

*six years old* ....";_;"

((Pariku: "D: That was uncalled for!" *harrumph harrumph*

Nena: "=D I think he likes you!"

Pariku: "<_< Nena. You're. Not. Helping."))

"REGGIE!" Nena squealed, trotting over to Reginald with a bright smile. "How are you? How's Ruthie? Whatcha doing?"

Pariku, on the other hand, was analyzing the list. "Hrm....Quite a number of thefts, madame Azuria. If you will allow us, we can -"

He sighed, at the sight of Nena not paying attention, but lifted his head at the sight of Reginald. "Ah, Reginald. Good to see you."

The next moment, though, he was staring at Xander...

"Hey again Milly." Penny said with a wave to the mail-girl.

...Wait a minute. Didn't she usually take the bus?

"...Dude, you're not walking home tonight, are you?" Penny asked, folding her arms crossly. "Winter advisory. You'll break your neck walkin', and that'll make two of us running around looking like social work cases tomorrow."

Turning back to Ernesto, she paused. "...Hey, are you gonna get to go home for Christmas?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. "Let me know. And Milly!" she shouted. "Wait up for me; I'll give you a ride home."

"Ah, que precioso!" Penny cooed at the picture of Anita. Her Spanish was clumsy at best - she'd abandoned it after the three years in highschool, and even now it was tempered by that damn summer of Italian study - but she still tried. And Ernesto's little girl really was cute.

"How old is she now?" she mused, looking at the picture a little longer. "She's so cute. You should be proud."

At his concern, she laughed unsurely. "Oh...Don't worry. I fell down three flights of stairs, but I'm okay. Nothing hurt but my pride."

Penny looked a little sheepish behind her cracked glasses. Gawd, she was embarassed. At work she liked to play the tough girl just a little, and looking like she'd been smacked around was kind of humiliating.

Penny sighed as she packed up her belongings in the office. The others had gone home long ago, and it was really late. She hated the commute home - especially in the wintertime.

Her birthday was coming up; the day after New Year's, and that would be a nice change of pace. Maybe she'd get to see her family, but likely not. They lived across the country now. Paul was in engineering school, and her parents - well, she never heard from them.

A soft clack heralded the arrival of the night janitor, and Penny turned as she finished packing her files away. Ernesto was a good guy, and he got altogether too little credit from the other whitecollars, who often messied the office on purpose and then joked about him having to clean it up.

Penny hated cleaning; she couldn't imagine doing it for a living.

"Hola Ernesto." she said with a little smile. "How's it going tonight? Is it that time already?"

The bruises on her arms and face seemed to be ripening to prepare to come into full glory tomorrow, and she crossed her legs a little self-consciously to lamely hide the long tear in her stockings.