Monkey Business

[Lovely]

March 3, 2009
6:30 p.m.

This window wasn't meant for a view. It faced the alley and was only meant for light which it had seen little of in the past few years, sprayed with dirt and soot from the street below. It was also an entry and exit he opened carefully, crawling out to the fire escape beside it. In the shadow of the neighboring building that dwarfed this one, hardly anyone noticed and few were left as tennants within who cared what happened on the empty floors. The sweeping lights from the checkpoint strobbed over the street at the end of the alley, like weak replies to the electrical storm that flashed enough to brighten the sky but was too far for the thunder to be heard over the groaning generators that operated the checkpoint's lights and monitoring equipment. He would be the last to say that this was a busy location, but it was busy and profitable enough to keep him here even with the long waits in between customers. His large form was lit dimly and briefly as the strobing sweeps turned toward his alley then moved away, just enough light to show the wide shoulders and low profile that was not quite shaped like the tall man most saw during the day. Larson was knealt down, peering from the fire escape, watching for travelers who might try to find a way around the checkpoint through his alley. There was a way, but without his help they wouldn't find it before the policers would find them. Once in a while, there were more like him. Those were the travelers he wanted most to help and tonight he had a twitch, an inkling, perhaps a little help from their pre-cog, to be watching - sometime soon, he'd said. Times of events were rough estimates, but the events themselves never lied.. sometime soon there would be someone he had to help, he was told, and here he was again the third night in a row, watching the alley below.

The woman who was walking with the man toward an alley, was called Delaney. She had no last name, no other name than the one given to her by the first one who found her after the transport was ambushed. She remembered that and that she'd had 'sisters', several of them but she had been told that none of the others had survived. The man who found her first was older with grey streaking through his once dark hair, he'd kept her and though he was not pleasant she stayed with him there until the night she went to sleep and didn't wake up.. He'd put her in stasis and died sometime in the past three years, the one she was with now had found her by chance, stumbling over the hideout where her 'pod' was. She was still weak and disoriented the lack food since he'd found her did not help. Nor did the fact that she'd been pumped full of some sort of drug and while it would kill most she was stronger, but still it took time to recover. The bulky sweatshirt hid her true shape and was zipped all the way up in the front, the hood pulled over her head to hide her face and hair. The one with her now called himself her boyfriend and looked at her with lust in his eyes, any time he could find and excuse to touch her, he did so. He had talked about his plans for her and she knew his intent was to keep her as his girlfriend though she didn't know what that meant in any more than a clinical sense. He told her to keep her hood up and her head down and her hands in her pockets.. she had no reason to object so she did it and followed him into the alley. He was looking for a way around this check point, because she didn't have the proper ID she would need, though he did. He wanted to keep what he thought of as the perfect discovery so badly that he'd risk sneaking her across.

His head lifted and he stopped chewing on his thick thumbnail as a pair came into view, turning his corner between the sweeps of light. Hoping they hadn't already been seen, Larson crawled over the railing and slithered down, grabbing the metal with one hand and jumping quietly to the next platform down, bared feet grasping the rail, and then bouncing down once more to the dark, pitted and puddled ground below. He looked up - the ladder was still in reach and unnoticed in its unlatched and lowered position - ready for them. He approached them and his form changed only a little. Drawing the attention of the man first, he waved them over and pointed upward - yelling wasn't necessary, but trust was. If the man was smart enough to realize it, Larson was there to get them out of view quickly without a fuss. His appearance, standing there in his oversized baseball jacket meant for someone almost twice his size, might have made them think he was a thief or an addict, but his smile was kind beneath a thick growth of whiskers and a clear, bright gaze that focused on them both as he came up closer, hands showing only sign language spelling out 'help' and 'hurry', but no weapons.

[Lovely]

The man was normal and didn't know sign lauguage so he simply stared at the man in front of them, not knowing what he wanted. Del carefully lifted her gaze enough to see the hands, which revealed a bit of her face before she lowered her head again. She stepped behind the man, her voice quiet as she spoke to him. "He's offering help and says to hurry. We're not safe here." She added the last for her companion's benefit, she was aware that there would be trouble if patrol found them here. There were some things she knew very well and others which she knew so little about.

His shoulders slumped a little when the man's expression remained blank and the other stepped behind him as if hiding from him. Maybe they just didn't understand, although he'd heard a hint of a whisper, maybe just not trusting him. He couldn't tell over the droning generators what was said. "Look, we gotta go. C'mon," he insisted quietly. They could talk about the fee for safe passage to the next sector when they were off the street. He took a step back, hoping they'd follow him, but he was on his way back, using the ladder this time to climb.

"He's not wearing shoes. I can't trust a guy that's not wearing shoes," her companion grit out, not following the man up the ladder. He was looking for other windows or a way over the fence at the end of the alley.

Her head tipped to the side and her eyebrow arched up at her companion's comments about the stranger's feet. "I didn't realize shoes were required for trust, only to enter public facilities. Do you have another suggestion?" She asked, her voice remained quiet as she looked around the alley at the buildings. "We need to get out of the street before the patrol discovers us."

"Shut up, I know we do," he spat out, not wanting the man on the ladder to hear her and know she was a girl. He looked up where the man waited. "He'll probably turn us in anyway. We just have to climb that fence back there. How hard can that be?"

She said nothing for a few moments after he told her to shut up. It was possible that he was right about the man going up the ladder but his assesment of going over the fence was quite off from what she could recall of the sector patrol at the moment. This would be much simplier if he'd waited a few more days to attempt this, until she was in better shape to accomplish what he wanted.

Larson grasped the metal of the ladder tighter and looked at the lights. His arm reached out and he waved them up behind him, more urgently. He hoped these might be the ones the pre-cog told him about and he also hoped that maybe one of them was a telepath who could hear him screaming at them in his mind to get moving or they'd be dogmeat for sure.

Del flinched slightly as if she had a sharp pain in her head, her hand lifting to her temple and her gaze rising to the man on the ladder above them. It was a little murky but she heard it and the urgency of the thought as well. Her companion was not a mutant but she was and though not up to her full ability at the moment, some things did work. "No.. not the fence. We should follow him." The hood had slipped back some with her head tilted to look up at the man on the ladder, and if he looked down he'd clearly see she was a girl. Delaney started for the ladder to climb up behind him.

"What? Where are you going? You can't follow him. You don't even know who he is. He might have a gun," he said sharply, reaching for her shoulder to pull her back from the ladder and the unknown man.

"Damnit." Larson sighed under his breath and fire-railed back down the ladder, gliding down past the rungs, both hands and feet gripping around the sides. He'd carry them up if he had to, or at least carry the girl and the guy would probably follow him, then. "Look, I really hate to do this, but..." He turned to the man and let out an unforeseen and hammering punch to the man's jaw and reached for the girl. "Go on up, I'll deal with him, but you -have- to get off the street. Now."

"I don't really know you either." She replied to her companion but had little chance to say more as the man they were debating came back down the ladder. He punched her companion hard and she winced for him, sure it was painful to recieve, she regarded the other man a moment and gave a single nod before starting up the ladder. She tried to move at her normal quick speed but it made her dizzy and had to pause to let the wave pass before begining to climb again.

Unexpectedly struck and now expectedly irate, he scrambled now to pull her off the ladder and keep her from the man who'd hit him. "You can't go up there? He hit me! What do you think he'll do to you?!"

Larson chuckled and held the man back before he reached the ladder, letting her get closer to the window. He spoke over the man's shoulder. "Should be worried what else I'll do to you if you don't take the advice and get your ass up there, too. Actually, you should ask what the patrol is going to do when they find you without a pass, huh?" He pushed the man back at the ladder now and hovered behind him, making sure he took the advice, following up the ladder a rung behind him.

[Lovely]

She was aware that her companion had been struck but showed little emotion over that fact, she climbed through the window into the darkened building. She didn't go far into the room, waiting for her companion and the other while she took the moment to try to regain the energy and strength that had been diminished. It wasn't working well and she knew there was little she could do until she had a chance to eat, rest, and let the drugs and effects of stasis to finish wearing off. She did not like being in such a weakened state.

He paused at the window, frozen, unable to crawl from the rail up the foot and over to the window to climb in. With the pain in his face, when he'd looked down at the far away ground and the lights he'd become dizzy and suddenly very afraid. More than he'd been in days.

Larson pushed his shoulder. "Keep going, you're almost there."

"I.. I'm afraid of heights," he squeaked out, flinching back from Larson but not climbing over the rail yet.

"I said keep going," Larson threatened now, the whiskers on his face thicker, and his brow wrinkling into a heavy leather scowl that was much darker and fiercer than before. His shoulders seemed to lift and fill out his jacket completely now, almost too tightly and his breath was hot at the man's shoulder again. "Or I'll have to hit you again."

The man squealed, but couldn't run, only lift himself over the rail and into the window to get away or fall the two floors to the ground below. He scrambled now, breathing hard and nearly hyperventilating as the guy came in behind him.

Delaney immediately saw that her companion was distressed, she'd heard at least his half of the exchange on the ladder and she pulled herself up to move over to him. Her concern was genuine but also limited, he was the only person she knew but she had only known him a couple of days. Her hand brushed over his arm and she stepped closer to try to comfort him with her embrace or touch as she'd been taught by the first one.

Larson came in the window and closed it, shutting out the strobes and shutting in their voices and the light from the hand-fashioned lamp he lit. The fuel was some type of grain alcohol and a streamer of black soot danced off the end of the small flame as he picked it up and moved over to the 'couple'. "Oh please. He was going to let you turn yourself in before you were done down there. You want to get across to sector 4 or don't you?"

Delaney turned her gaze to Larson, her mouth in an unhappy pout. She didn't say anything at first, just looked him over, her expression curious but not shocked at his face. "I'm with him.. he wants us to get.. across.." She turned slightly to her companion. "Is it sector 4 you wish to get to?"

He was shaking but his breathing was better as long as the ape stayed away from him. The light moved and the ape came closer. He took a step back, curling more into Delaney's comforting embrace, hoping she didn't believe the man... ape.. that he'd turn her in or leave her behind. "I wasn't going to turn you in. He's... he's lying. We need to go. We can get there ourselves," he pleaded quietly.

"No... you can't. Trust me." He looked at Delaney and shook his head. "He's not getting anywhere like that, anyway. Sit tight, get cozy. You're not leaving here either."

[Lovely]

Her hands ran gently over her companion's arms as she stared at the ape man, listening to his spoken words and trying to listen to his thoughts but she was weak and tired and not even at half her normal levels. Her eyebrow arched as he told them they weren't leaving or more specifically that she wasn't. "Why should I trust you over him?" She asked Larson as she started to move in front of her companion in a more defensive stance.

"Why would you trust either one of us? Hm? I wouldn't tell you to shut up, for one thing, especially if I was about to do something stupid and knew it." He let them huddle together. If they went back out the window, that was their choice. Her friend's fear of heights made him believe they were likely to stay. "Look, I can get you into sector 4. Sector 6 if you're on the long route home, but he's gotta put the act on hold and believe me or you're not going anywhere but back in the alley with the patrol."

"I'm not stupid. That's it. Let's go," he said, uprooting himself from the embrace and heading back to the window, reaching after her without more discussion to tug her back out with him.

"Thank you." She remembered the first making her thank him for things so she used her manners on Larson as her companion reached for her and tugged her toward the exit.

"Thank you? No.. no no no... you don't get it, do you?" Yeah, the guy was pretty stupid in his book. "Something's way not right here and maybe you better stay put until I figure it out." He changed his mind about letting them back out the window, putting himself in the way.

"We're leaving! I don't need your help, neither does she. You're just... some caveman freak. I should turn you in so they find out what's 'way not right' with you, buddy. C'mon." He tugged again then tried to push the ape out of his way.

"Freak?" He'd been nice until then. Some words just didn't set well despite how well it might fit his appearance and the general unacceptance by most. He didn't budge, folding his thick arms now and snarling at the man. "I'm not a freak. I'm what's getting you around the checkpoint, like it or not."

Delaney stepped in front of her companion, swiping the zipper down on her sweatshirt, as it slid off her pleasant form was revealed as was the strength of it. She was weak but probably stronger than her companion and willing to face off with Larson at the moment. "He wishes you to move." She explained as she shifted toward Larson to try to move him.

"I wish him not to touch me again," he said, already tired of the pushing, shoving and ordering routine, especially now that it had been turned on him. He was solid enough not to move as she tried pushing as well though he grinned a bit as she pushed him more easily than the man had. Someone he needed to help... he wondered, then wondered more if that meant he had to help both or just the one. He took a step forward, toward the man, shoving back. "You order her around a lot like that? Huh? Push her when you want? Drag her around where you'll both get arrested? What kinda potatohead walks right up to a checkpoint, huh? Huh?!"

[Lovely]

The insults were small and hardly scathing but when his character was questionned he reached again for Delaney, to pull her beside him, proving the point, he thought, then let go, backing away from the ape and trying to put on a brave face. "Why not? She's my girl. I found her by herself, helped her get out.. she likes me," he said, trying to convince himself beneath the fear that she really did.

Delaney was about to shove the ape back again as he pushed against her and headed toward her companion, but she was pulled instead. She looked to her companion and then to Larson as a seeming tug of war began between them.

Larson turned briefly to see the arm out, reaching after the girl again. He grabbed at the man's hand to make sure he'd let go and didn't grab hold again. "Leave her alone," he warned one more time as his form seemed to thicken and hunch more angrily than before. He had the advantage, knowing the floor they were on and were the holes and debris were. Now it wasn't about helping them get out of the sector, it was about the way this guy took control over a capable woman. He charged more, swinging now at the man's arms and chest to keep him away from the girl.

"She's with me! I won't leave her alone. I need to get her h-home," he said trying to defend himself and finding himself struck in the chest, then the arm - hard enough to recoil more and move away. His foot caught something and he tripped backwards, landing on the floor where he began to crawl back away from the ape.

Delaney lunged forward as Larson attacked her companion, as he was knocked to the ground and she stepped in front of him to fight Larson. She didn't know or understand why the ape man was attacking the one she was with, her footing was unsteady but she was going to fight Larson. She took a swing, meaning to punch the side of his face.

KC finally stopped being spineless and grabbed a piece of debries, throwing it at the ape as he scrambled to his feet, although shaky on them. "What the f*ck is wrong with you? You f*cking stupid freak, you stay the hell away from her. She's mine, Ape! Don't f*cking touch her."

Larson moved now with the punch from her and backed off from the man on the floor. He stepped out of her reach, too, and brushed his lip, feeling it had to be bloody. A lick against the cut and he could taste the blood, then the man on the floor threw a chunk of broken flooring that bounced heavily off his sleeved arm to the floor. "Freak..." The word was like a low wheeze of a sleeping dragon waking up and it turned his green gaze another shade darker as he lunged after the man on the floor. He reached down to grab them man's coat and lift him over the hole in the floor, threatening to drop him through it. "What's the matter with you that you can't leave us alone?!"

"No!" Del's voice rose only a little as her eyes widened, she stepped back and then moved forward in an effort to tackle Larson and knock KC away from the hole he was being hung over. It wasn't that she was overly attached to KC but he was the only one she knew and she sided with him for the moment.

KC yelled as Larson grabbed him up, he reached as best as he could to claw into the freak and tried to get in a few weaker punches but the way Larson held him his attempts most likely made the ape mad. "I didn't do anything to you, you freak! Why don't you leave us alone?"

[Lovely]

"Not me... what you did to her. She's not yours," he hissed, the sparkling white monkey smile leering as he loosened his grip enough to make the man feel he was going to fall. He slipped only a little before Larson jerked him back from the hole to throw back onto the floor. She didn't want him to drop the man down the hole so he didn't. "I'll leave you alone... when I'm ready," he warned again, coming after him and throwing off the girl.

Del kept the sound of pain quiet enough that only Larson might hear it as he threw her off and she went skittering across the floor and hit a support beam. It kept her away from the fight for a couple moments as she caught her breath.

"She is mine!" KC protested as he hit the floor hard enough to send pain shooting though him, he wasn't as quiet as Delaney. "Ah f*ck! Damn it! I didn't do nothing to her! I found her and rescued her.. she was locked in some pod thing! Whoever left her there to rot, I was helping her.. and so she's mine now. I found her, I get to keep her. You can't have her! She doesn't want a freak like you!"

"Keep her?" Larson laughed as he tried to lift the man off the floor again, though his thoughts were working on the words... pod thing? "She's not a f*cking carnival teddy bear, you dumbshit. Where did you find her? Were there others? Tell me!"

"I ain't telling you shit!" KC barked back at first and then got himself a bright idea, he laughed a little and nodded. "Yeah.. yeah there were others.. I'll tell you where once you get us across.. then you can go get your own." He glanced toward Del who was back on her feet again.

"Others?" Her voice was soft and she took a careful step toward the two men. "My sisters?" She whispered that part but Larson might hear, her eyes were narrowed and her lip curled up in a snarl.

"Doesn't work that way and you know it. You gonna stop being stupid? How many others? Did you find her or break in? Huh?! Did you turn them all in? Was she your last one?!" Larson's version of the story was taking an interesting turn as he heard her utter something about sisters who obviously weren't with them.

"I didn't break in and I didn't turn anyone in.." He was nervous and licked his lips, he was telling the truth about that but not about his involvement in things. He hadn't found the girl, he knew right where she was and had gone back to get her after his partner cheated him out of money. "I'm not telling you anything else."

Delaney came closer, looking at KC and nearly standing beside Larson. "None of them were with me. There was another man before him.. the one who first found me. But then I went to sleep and when I woke up.. he was there instead."

He didn't need to know how many. Between the two of them he had information enough that others were hurt, lost or taken, perhaps some combination. He'd heard the story before from others and now he knew so much more about her. "Of course you're not going to tell me. You're going to tell her why she's here without her sisters because you -know- the answer. I think you better think about telling her pretty quick... buddy." Larson's eyes narrowed on the nervous gesture and he nodded. The man knew much more than he was saying and Larson dove after him again to get him talking quick.

[Lovely]

"Screw you!" KC spat at the freak and tried to crawl away as the thing lunged at him. "I don't know shit! Leave me alone! Are you f*cking crazy?" He kept his eyes on Larson, they were wide with fear.

Delaney didn't understand why this man they'd met was so angry with KC or what he thought KC had done but he kept going after him. She wasn't sure it was wise to keep trying to fight Larson off, he was stronger than she was at the moment but she felt the need to defend KC, since he'd found her and she had been given no solid reason of why he should be attacked.

"He just happened to be there at the right time? C'mon! You know!" Larson spat back, the back of his hand sailing toward the man's face. "The lab - what did they promise to pay you? Give you? Hah? What were you after? Did you just give them parts? Hah? Make you a pretty little toy out of innocent girls? Turning them into freaks like me? Did you get what you f*cking paid for?" He wasn't making sense much outside of his own mind now as he went after the man with pieces of information and an instinct that honed in on the man's nervousness, the fear making his own eyes burn and his fingers clench tighter.

The hand connected with the side of KC's face and his head snapped back, blood splattering out of his mouth. "What are you talking about?" Even KC was confused now and Larson's attack didn't seem to be letting up. "What lab.. what parts?" He tried to somehow cover himself and block the onslaught but he was dazed already from that blow to his face.

"Stop!" Delaney lunged forward and tried to knock Larson away from KC, or at least get ahold of his arms and try to keep him from hitting him again.

He was about to swing again, not satisfied with the man's hiding and lies. He turned as Del grabbed at his wrist and he seemed not to be entirely in the room with them, anger - complete rage - shining in his eyes. He didn't even seem to focus on Del as he stared at her for that moment. He pulled his hand free and did not strike the man, but grabbed him again to hold above the hole again. "Where are the others!?! What did you do to them? Sell them to the highest bidder? Kill them yourself?" His voice rumbled and rose and fell with apeish grunts. He then smiled with pure chaos.

"You f*cking crazy freak.." KC was sure this thing was going to kill him and he was nearly crying with pain and fear as he was dangled over the hole again. "We sold them.. we sold them.." He tried to reach out to grab onto something to keep him from falling when the freak let him go, which he was sure it would do. "The ones that are left are back where I got her.. in another room. They are still in stasis.. My partner intended to keep her.. that's why I took her.. I swear I didn't kill anyone.."

Del stared back at Larson for that moment before he turned back to grab KC, it was like nothing was there behind his eyes, like he looked through her. She tried again as he grabbed KC and dangled him over the hole, reaching to put her hand on Larson's arm. She was going to try to reason with him but then heard KC's confession of sorts and her gaze turned to him instead, she stared at KC not sure how to react to what he'd revealed. The shock showed on her face, she had not known anything about what he told Larson, other than the fact that the other man had intended to keep her - that much she had understood.

[Lovely]

"Sold them," he repeated under his breath, almost hissing. He loosened his fingerhold just enough for KC to slip, but not be dropped just yet. He could just let go, but he wouldn't get the rest of his answers, would he? "To who? When?! Who's the freak here, huh? They're people and you -sold- them?" He sneered, huffing his disgust in a heated breath close to KC's face as he stared him down. "Her sisters, every one of them, is going to be found, let go and erased from every list you have."

KC screamed and flailed as Larson let him slip. "Please! I don't know.. he set up it all up, found the buyers.. I wasn't the one in charge." He tried to convince Larson that he wasn't the ring leader and not worth killing over this. "I don't have a list.. please.. it's not like they're people off the street.. They were made in some lab... if we hadn't found them they'd be dead or locked in stasis until the batteries ran out.."

Delaney's hand slid off Larson's arm and she took a step back, then another.. and another until she was by the window again. As KC was questioned, she quietly left to head back to where she'd been found.

"It's not like someone's going to miss you either until they come looking for you to find her. I can make that part easier on you. You'd like that, huh? Tell me who they are and I'll get the list myself and get her sisters out. You don't know? I drop you and the story's the same. You know and don't tell me? I still drop you. You know and tell me who's neck I gotta snap in six places instead of yours, you get to shut up and buy your way across with her around the fence, just like you planned. Except not like you planned. She's going to stay with me."

KC shook his head weakly, he was more convinced that he was about to die, this freak was nuts. "Please don't kill me.. my partner is dead. Everything you want to know.. went with him. He owed me money.. he cheated me out of.. that's why I went to get her.. I figured we'd be even if I took her for myself."

Larson hauled the sorry excuse for human male up from the hole. Nose to nose with the heap in his grip he growled, the steam rolling off the scared man's cheeks, "She's human, not property." His forehead pounded heavily against the man's skull, hoping to knock him out long enough to secure and go after the woman who'd slipped back out the window.

The pain from the pounding to his head was thankfully short lived as KC was knocked unconscious and became even more limp in Larson's grip.

Delaney was more worn out and in pain from fighting with Larson in defence of KC though now she'd learned that the man she'd tried to defend was not worth her efforts. She was now making her way down the street back the way she'd come with KC, her intention was to find what was left of her sisters and free them. Where they would or could go after that, she didn't know.

Larson made quick work of tying the man in place. If he woke up before Larson returned, he'd certainly think twice about how he tried to untangle himself from where he was suspended from crossbeams above the hole he feared falling through. The hammock that ensnared him was primative, but effective and comfortable enough not to cut anything or injure him worse as long as he didn't move around overly much and tighten the knot around the crane hook and pulley that was left behind during the attempts at remodeling this old structure. Larson left him there with a fair amount of duct tape sealed over his mouth to hold him until he got back. The girl was like himself and Larson had to find her quickly before the patrols did. He scaled back down the wall as silently as before and touched the ground in a low, hunched jog, almost tumbling his way along the trail of scent he followed.

[Lovely]

One arm stayed wrapped around her middle as she walked down the street, getting thrown off of Larson was what had hurt her the most. She needed rest to heal, if she was at full strength she would be fine by now but the effects of being in stasis, lack of food, and drugs still working their way through and out of her system were wearing her down. She wiped her other hand over her forehead and pushed her hair back, turning down a long alley and then into the side door of another run down building.

He lumbered along, watching for patrols and keeping close to the shadows. He hated having to work so hard for something that seemed so simple. Help them across... safe passage... no questions asked. He considered from here on forward, he'd start with the duct tape the minute the plan went south and maybe no one would get hurt at all. The scent became stronger on the cool night wind. She wasn't running away? He froze. Was she still moving? Maybe she was captured by a patrol. The wind changed and the scent was the smallest bit lighter, still moving away. She was moving, but slowly, probably only walking and maybe lost. Larson checked the area and moved toward her, coming around a corner and seeing the movement ahead of a single figure. His nose tested the air. The gorilla part of him nearly wanted to be beat a fist over his chest in that relief and small victory, but he kept moving quietly instead until he was nearly on her heels. He suspected she knew he'd come after her and kept a slight distance, not knowing if she'd found anything to use to fend him off if he got too close without an explanation first.

As she moved through the doorway she paused and looked back down the alley, she stood there waiting to see if he would come closer. She was weakened but her senses were still better than a normal human's would be, she knew he was there. Maybe now he'd know she knew, she went through the door, she wanted to be ready since she wasn't sure of why he'd followed her.

The scent stopped and he stopped at the door a moment later, looking around, hoping that the man he'd strung up had been honest about the one part about his partner being dead, not that he wished such things on anyone, least of all himself. His eyes narrowed on the door handle and he took a deep breath, trying it to head inside if it hadn't been locked.

The door wasn't locked, it hadn't been when they had left and Delaney didn't bother with it as she returned. If Larson wished to get in, he could easily break it down which would only call attention to their pressence. He'd find her inside a place that looked like it hadn't been lived in in years, broken and dusty furniture scattered about. She was leaning against the wall facing the door.. simply watching him as he came inside.

Larson stopped as he looked up to see her watching back. Standing in place, he looked for the signs of snares and pressure plates. Finding none he was familiar with, he looked at her quizzically then started to look around the room. It had been someone's home. "Is this where he found you?" The question seemed sad as he asked it out loud.

Delaney stared at him for a long moment before she slowly nodded her head. "Yes.. this is where he found me. In there..." She pointed toward a room with a door that was hanging off one hinge but from the looks of it the damage was old, KC hadn't done it when he'd come to get her.

His demeanor softened. His quarrel wasn't with her, afterall, but to help her. He didn't catch any scents that were recent other than hers and her new-found friend. The others were stale and mixed, muddied by time and pollution that seeped in around the cracks and vents. He picked up a random item and looked it over, smelling at it a little before setting it back down. "I believe him, that he doesn't know where the others are now. He knows who the buyers were and why they wanted you, though. You want to find them, but you're going to need help."

[Lovely]

Delaney looked down at her hands which slowly rubbed over each other as she considered what he said to her. She did want to find the others but she hadn't planned on seeking them out beyond those that were left here. Perhaps she would have after freeing the ones that were said to still be here. "There is no one to help me." She spoke softly, glancing up at him and then back down to the almost methodical motions of her hand.

He laughed and looked at the door he'd come through, then back to her. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said, shrinking back into his boyish features huddled into a too-big jacket. "We've got a lot in common with the too-trusting and not-trusting... maybe a few more things than that? Look, you can't stay here. I mean, you could, but you'll freeze and probably starve. The patrols might come poking around here, too. Strange how it's really kinda safer being right under their noses, you know?"

Her gaze returned to him and her head tilted to the side a little, her expression curious and questioning. "The vote of confidence?" The meaning of the remark was lost on her, though she listened to what else he had said and thought perhaps he meant to help her himself. "He said the others.. what was left, were here.. if they are, they won't be ready for travel right away."

He shrugged and looked around. "No power from the looks of it, so they might be... You know what? Let's go look. Your buddy's not going to be barging in here to stop you, so you have whatever time you need. Not like any lab I've ever heard about...," he muttered, poking around the furniture and finding it strange that she'd been found at all.

"This is not a lab.. this is where I was kept after he found me.. the first one.. the one who was here before KC woke me. Before that the other was always here when I woke up. He told me that he found me on the side of the road.. the transport crashed and he took my pod.. he said the others were damaged."

His heart sank. Damaged how badly and if they escaped, were they able to keep alive and ahead of those who were looking for them? Maybe it was going to take more than just a list of buyers to find the others now. Larson shook his head. "How many others, do you know?"

She thought about it for a moment and then answered him. "Fifteen." She told him the number of others like her there had been when the transport left the lab to take them to another facility.

His eyes darted in that same darkness that he'd looked through and past her before, not seeing her as he did his calculations and probabilities. "And how many pods... people... your sisters.. How many of you came with him or were undamaged?"

"I was the only one that I knew of.. I was put into stasis and put on the transport. I woke up here." She looked up at him again, she had not moved from where she'd been when he first walked in.

"Alright, so fourteen others have gone somewhere. That's a pretty big family to just... lose," he said, distant again and pained though he tried to keep his thoughts buried. "If the others weren't put in stasis... How long was it? Before you were woken up?" He hoped to have some good news for her but she seemed educated enough to know she might have been the sole survivor. His head shook again. He wasn't going to allow that to be the answer. The guy he'd hung up knew too much and was afraid of too much for the others to be gone. "Where did he find you? Show me."

"The others should have been put in stasis for the transport, that was standard procedure." She replied quietly, picking up very slight and faint hints of thoughts but nothing clear or strong from him. She pointed again toward the room with it's broken door, this time she pushed off the wall and slowly walked in that direction. The room appeared to be a man's bedroom, it was in slightly better condition than the rest of the place though still covered with a layer of dust from not being used in awhile. The dust was disturbed in places from KC coming to get her earlier but remained coated over everything else. Delaney went to the closet and pulled open the door to reveal her empty pod where the other had kept it hidden.