How Can I Do It Alone?

The blue orb hovered, it's cyan glow filtering across the groaning cops. One of them recovered enough presence of mind to hit his emergency response button on his radio. There was a hissing crackle from the radio.

"All units, all units. Emergency in progress Ricks Bar on East 86th Street. Officer has used his rapid response button." The operator intoned over the radio, calling all of the cops to that location. The bar patrons had either fled through the back or were cowering under the tables.

"What would Cass do? What would Jay do?..." Jade cast her gaze about, it landed on the hovering orb, the fallen gun and the cops radio. "Keeping an eye on the local authorities can't be a bad thing." She grabbed the radio, unclipping it from the cops shoulder. and shoving it into her bag, then paused. "They would take it." She eyed up the gun. "Fine! I'm stealing from cops now. I'm so screwed." She grimaced and tucked the gun into her waist band. In the very distance sirens were blaring closer. She grabbed the hovering blue orb and pelted out of the door and down the street.

She was a few streets away when the first of the police cars screamed past her. She let out a small sigh of relief. In basic training, we were taught that if we were caught behind enemy lines that it was best to kill yourself rather than let them get to you. I guess they weren't thinking about this sort of situation though. Jade grimaced, thinking about what to do, where to go, if any of her training could help.

She was lost, and alone.

Kind of.

The blue orb thrummed in her palm.

Her jaw began to ache something fierce as the adrenaline began to wear off. Another grimace as she walked down the street. Her free hand went up to feel the damage, a big ugly bruise was developing and the swelling was already there, growing into a nice ugly lump. It was tender, and she probed at her teeth, a few loose ones but not in danger of falling out. Eating anything beyond soup might prove interesting for a few days.

I've had worse

The blue orb thrummed harder as she turned the corner at an intersection. It seemed to be almost, very faintly, pulling her in another direction.

Did I just imagine that

[Active scan running. Directional indicators engaged.] The voice said again. Kenneth must have got the scan running before he powered down. His systems kept the process running after a reboot.

"Cass is going to want to take you apart." She mused, looking down at the strange, hologram, computer thingy. The orb pulsed as she looked at it through her fingers and it tugged again. Jade shrugged, "Eh, what have I got to lose?"

*****

Several long moments later and after a lot of walking, Jade was in another part of the city. She passed the same shop front for the third time.

[Signal trace error. Please re-initiate scan upon Kenneth re-boot.]

"Great." Jade muttered. She looked around as she circled the block again for something, anything, that could help her work out where any of the other Dwarfers were. The cyan from within her palm softly glowing.

"Stop where you are." Came a dark voice from an alley. Jade froze to the spot. "Back off the street, down here." It was a woman's voice. Jade's mind leapt to several conclusions at once.

"I don't have any money... Please..." She said, walking backwards, her face still away from the assailant.

"Jade?" The voice softened, more shock then threat now. The voice filtered through her brain finally and she wheeled around.

"Cass?!" She blinked, lowering the hood on the hoodie.

"What...?" Cass tried to ask, but was interrupted from a huge hug from the doctor as Jade threw her arms around Cass.

"I thought I was alone. I didn't know if anyone else was. They said you'd been captured! That I was a terrorist!" Cass stood awkwardly as Jade hugged her. She choked back a frightened relieved sob, Cass felt more uncomfortable and shuffled her weight onto a different foot. Jade picked up on it and let Cass go smiling an apology.

"Shit, Jade? You ok?" Cass remarked as she caught a look at the darkening blotchy bruise in the dim ally light. Jade flinched away instinctively.

"Yeah, fine, I walked..." She gave a wry smile, old habits died hard it seemed. Cass simply shifted her weight again and put her hands on her hips as if to say 'Really?' "I was punched by a cop. They tried to arrest me for terrorism, said that you had given up all our names..."

"Damn..." Cass peered at the darkening bruise and Jade noted that she was pulling her cute thinking face.

"Oh, and I picked up some stuff I figured you might need." Jade proffered out the gun and radio, not wanting to hold onto them now that someone else was there who might be able to do something with them. Cass took them, noting the relief on Jade's face as she no longer carried the gun.

"Now can we address that?" Cass pointed at Jade's palm. The strange signature that had caused Cass to haul Jade into the darkened alley in the first place.

"Huh?... Oh!" Jade let the orb go and it floated up to about chest height. Cass jabbed at her scanner as Jade carried on talking. "His name is Kenneth. He was shot when the cops tried to kill me... I think he's... Urm... A hologram or something, but he didn't have an 'H'."

<Tag!>

OOC - And after writing all of that post. I realised I missed out on the line: "Oh my God! they killed Kenny!"