Pathline (8 page)

"I ordered up a burger with your fries, might as well make it a proper lunch, give us more time to catch up" he told he
r
as he sat. 

Rune turned in her chair so that she was facing him
.
"
W
ell actually, the main reason I'm here is to find Rook, has he been around recently?" 

Bran gave her an appraising look
.
"
Y
eah, he came around a couple of
nights
ago for a game, probably be back in tomorrow night, unless you needed to get hold of him earlier than that?" 

Rune gave him a strained smile.
"
A
ctually I do.  Any way to find him before then?" 

Bran leaned over to look around her at the man r
eading the newspaper behind her.
"Briggs, where do you suppose this lady would be most likely to catch Rook this time of day?" 

The man put down the newsp
aper and turned to look at them.
"Rook?  Probably down at t
he di
ner flirting with the waitresses trying to get a free lunch, why?" 

Bran gestured to Rune in response. 

"I'm an old friend of his, I need to speak to him on an urgent matter" Rune replied. 

"Rune right?" Briggs asked. 

She nodded.

"He's mentioned you
.  I've worked a
few
jobs with him, and join in the card games every once in a while.  Not as much of a gambler as he is though" he said
,
with a smile. 
"I can help you find him, after you finish your lunch that is, I'm sure Bran would be disappointed to loose your company so quickly.
" 

Bran
muttered
, "D
amn right"
, as
Rune thanked
Briggs
and turned
back
to
him
. 

The burger was even better than she remembered it,
there just
is
no matching the burgers here
,
she thought.  She had a nice time catching up with Bran, learning about some of the more interesting stories that had taken place in the bar since she'd been there, reminiscing about old times, and giving him the abridged version of her life since she'd left. 
Briggs had even joined in the storytelling about hal
fway through.
A
pparently he was a mercenary work
R
unner who had failed out of military training for "disciplinary reasons" which was in fact
how
he had earned his super name. 
She could easily understand how he and Rook would get along. 

She was careful not to mention
the
fact that she was there on government business, or let on that that was
why
she was looking for Rook.  As friendly as they might be, they'd probably hesitate to help her if they knew she was here for official reasons. 
When she'd finished her lunch she hugged Bran and promised to stop by again before
she left town
and took Briggs up on his offer to help track down Rook. 
They tried the diner a couple of blocks away first, but the waitresses said that Rook hadn't been in yet. 
Briggs took that as a sign that Rook must have slept in late, so they headed towards his apartment which Briggs had been to
several
times. 

The apartment building was in the downtown area of the
city
, not that the area was much of an improvement from the bar neighborhood.  Rook did always like his
slums;
he used to say that they kept him grounded. 
Rune smiled as she looked up at the building, it had been
several
years since she'd
last
seen him. 
There
'd
been
a time in her life when Rook had been the person she trusted most, the one she
'd felt most comfortable around, b
ut the years had
changed that
and the last time they'd seen each other had ended in a fight.  He would have never approved of her decision to go 'mainstream', to join the government. 
Well
, she though,
looks like he might have been right
.  But she didn't regret her years of
service;
she'd done a lot of good in that time, even if it wasn't appreciated. 
Rook's apartment was on the fifth floor, at the end of the hall
next to the fire escape. 

Briggs walked up to the door and knocked a couple of times yelling, "Rook!  It's the middle of the day, get your ass up, you have a visitor". 

Rune laughed, they were definitely
good
friends alright. 
She heard movement inside the apartment and found that she was suddenly nervous to see him. 

"Briggs?  There'd better be a damn good reason why you're beating down my door" came from inside the apartment.  A moment later the door was unlo
cked with a loud clunk, and
swung open. 

They both stood frozen, staring at each other, with Briggs standing off to the side. 

Rook t
urned towards Briggs and said
,
"O
kay then.  Good reason." 

Briggs
looked between the two of them
and
said
,
"
W
ell I've done my job.  I'll let the two of you get caught up, Rook knows how to get in contact with me if you need anything else Rune.  It was great meeting you."  And with that he smiled at her and turned around
heading
back down the hall. 

Rune watched him walk away,
and then
slowly turned to face Rook again.  "I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time" she said
,
as a means of greeting. 

Rook shook his head
.
"
N
o, I was just catching up on some reading, come in
.
"
  H
e stepped aside to let her in. 

The apartment was moderately well kept, with just a few pieces of clothes tossed on a chair and some dishes in the sink. 
It was a t
ypical bachelor pad, with few personal touches or embellishments. 
The messiest part of the apartment seemed to
be the bookshelf in the corner
which
was
crammed with books of all types and sizes, some of which appeared to be on the verge of falling. 
Rook had always been an avid
reader;
he'd said countless times that he believed reading to be the best escape from the turmoil of the world. 
Rune could remember several occasions in which she'd passed the evening with Rook reading aloud to her from his favorite books. 
Those were some of her favorite memories of him. 

He'd relocked
the door after she'd stepped in
and was now standing by the kitchen counter watching her as she looked around. 

She turned to face him, a sad smile on her face
.
"It's good to see you again Rook
.
" 

He stood still for a moment, watching her, but then moved across the room in quick steps and wrapped his arms around her. 
She laid her head on his shoulder, returning the embrace.
 
Rook pulled away slowly
, and motioned towards the sofa.
"
S
it
. 
So..." he started, hesitantly, "
W
hat brings you back to my neck of the woods?" 

Rune
sighed
,
trying to organize her thoughts.
"I wish this was a personal visit, but I'm actually here on official business.  You know I work for the NSDA right?"  She watched his face for signs of disapproval. 

"Yes, I'm aware" he replied, "I've kept up with your career, kept an eye out for press stories that mentioned you.  You've done very well in that world it seems."
 
There seemed to be a tone of sadness as he said this. 
"So what happened?" 

Rune shifted around in her seat
.
"
T
here's been a
C
harger attack, a public one, aimed at a
military
facility.  The agency has been a
ble to keep it out of the press
but they want the
C
harger caught, they've created a special team just for that purpose made up of the best mainstream supers the agency has on staff. 
Needless to say, this is a bad time to be an outside
r
super. 
The team was briefed on the existence of
the four anomalous classes, but they don't really know what they're getting into.  We need you Rook...
I
need your help."
She watched him waiting for his reaction, but he remained calm. 

"The team was briefed on
all
anomalous classes?" he asked
,
with a raised brow. 

Rune smiled.
"
W
ell basic descriptions, needless to say they're missing the whole picture
.
"

He smiled in return.
"I thought as much, undoubtedly they have some fool researcher who's barely scratched the surface and calls it a discovery
.
" 

Rune hesitated a moment.
"
A
ctually,
they have Eri leading the
anomalous division
.
"

He looked at h
er, disbelief all over his face.
"
Eri?!
  She's working for the agency now?  Since when?" 

Rune shrugged.
"I don't know, I only just found out about it yesterday, but she seems to have been there long enough to have gotten comfortable.  You know Eri, she'll go anyw
here she can take advantage of." 

Rook got
up and started pacing the room.
"
S
o what does that mean for us?" he asked.

"
We should be fine" Rune replied.
"
Y
ou and I know better than anyone that Eri's number one concern is her own welfare, she wouldn't allow any potentially harmful information to reach the agencies
intelligence
.  It was inevitable that the agency would eventually find out about the anomalous classes, at least this way we have one of our own keeping tabs on it." 

Rook turned and looke
d at her, thinking for a moment;
then he sat back down on the sofa next to her.  "So you want me to join your team and help bring down this hostile
C
harger?  Is that what you're getting at?" 

Rune looked down at her hands as she answered, "He can't be working alone Rook, not on an attack this big.  Something else is going on as we
ll".  She looked up at his face.
"I need someone I can trust with this on the team, not to mention that fighting a high-level
C
harger without a
C
harger of our ow
n would be an uphill struggle
.
" 

Rook
nodded slowly.
"
Y
ou're right about that. 
And you wouldn't have asked me unless it was serious.  I can help on my side, look into the issue,
and find
out if he was working for someone.  But I'm not joining the agency." He looked right into her eyes as he said it. 

"I'm not asking you to Rook, I wouldn't dream of it.  This would be a
one-time
scenario;
I would make sure of it.  They want this handled quickly, they'll be willing to overlook a few regulations to get it over with.  You wouldn't even have to register, I would promise you that.
  You'd be coming in as an independent
contractor;
they would only get
your super name
,
nothing else." 

He studied her face, doubtful, but he didn't seem t
o
o combative. 
"If he is working for someone else, getting him won't be the end of it Rune, you know that." 

She nodded.
"I know.  That's where your other influences would come in handy.  The agency needs this attack swept under the rug, but outsider supers need this investigation to end with the guilty
C
harger.  If it
's
found
out that he was a
cting as a
mercenary
then that would lead to further
investigations, which
would put the
entire
outsider
community at risk. 
Officially you'd come on board to help us take care of the attacker, but unofficially..." she raised he
r
eyebrows at him.