Pathline (9 page)

"Unofficially I'd have my own team looking into this from the other side, our own people handling the tr
ue issue."  He chuckled at this.
"
Y
ou're still thinking like an outsider Rune, still protecting the community
.
"  He smiled
at her, one of his old
roguish
smiles. 

Rune ran her hands
through
her hair.
"I'll always think like an outsider Rook, and I'll always protect the community.  You know that
.
" 
She leaned back into the sofa.
"
S
o, is that a yes?  Will you help?" 

He moved towards her
and stroked a strand of hair behind her ear
.
"I would always help you Rune.  So what's the next step here, you call your people up and tell them I'm coming?" 

Rune took a breath.
"
W
ell actually, the next step is meeting up with Eri at Bran's bar tonight.  She got the agency to put us u
p at a hotel in the city
for the night
, and to fly us back
.
"

Rook let out a
cynical
laugh and moved a
foot away from her on the sofa.
"
Y
ou were that sure I'd say yes?  Am I really that predictable Laura?" 

She frowned at
him;
he rarely called her by her civilian name. 
"Just hopeful
David
.  And even if you had said no, I would have been
happy
to at least see you." 

He relaxed int
o the sofa again.
"
O
kay, point made.  Our civilian names don't really suit us anyway, they're not who we really are.  If we're going to be taking off
soon
then I need to start getting a team together.  How much time do we have before you're expected back?" 

She smiled at him again.
"Eri and I were given 48
hours, which
would mean we'd fly back tomorrow night.  Think that's enough time?" 

Rook gave her another one of his
playful smiles
.
"
F
or someone
else
or for me?" 

She laughed. 

Rook spent the rest of the day contacting friends and allies with Rune's help.  By the time evening came they had gotten a few positive responses, enough for a suitable team. 
Rune was happy to count Briggs amongst them, as well as an
E
raser she'd
know
n
from her youth named Dex. 
Besid
e them, Rook had also gotten a D
efender known as Krit that he'd worked with several times before, a
Sky Walker named Stone, and a C
harmer who went by Silas. 
Rook still wanted to have a
W
anderer on the team, but hadn't been able to get a hold of one from his regular contacts.  They decided to leave it up in the air for the rest of the team to deal with, and headed out to make their way to Bran's bar to meet with Eri. 

"So what's Eri's role in all of this" Rook asked
,
as they walked along the streets. 

"She's head of API division, or Anomalous Percentile Investigations
.
T
he
agency
director actually put her in charge of the assignment up until the actual tactical laun
ch which will be headed by the D
efenders Serk and Malik" she answered, pulling her jacket tighter around her in the cool
autumn
breeze. 

Rook gave her a sidelong glance
.
"
A
h yes, Malik, your media boyfriend, poster child of the populace
.
" 

Rune felt her
self blush in the evening light.
"
Y
ou heard about that did you?" 

He shrugged.
"I've kept up with all your media coverage remember, and this has been covered by pretty much every news outlet in the nation
.
" 

Rune cringed. 
Why did Malik have to be so damn popular
, she thought to herself. 

Rook stopped, turning to face her
.
"I hope he appreciates what he
has;
I don't suppose I'll get to work with him on this assignment?" 

She chuckled.
"
N
ot directly, no, and boy am I glad about that.  Both of us were actually assigned to Serk's tactical team, not that he was happy about it.  But Malik is part of the whole assignment
unit
, so he'll definitely be around.  I expect you to play nice, and not just with him, the
unit
is comprised of the best supers the agency has, pissing them off would not be a good idea."  

Rook raised his eyebrows in a lo
ok of innocence.
"What could
I
possibly do to piss off the
media
supers?" 

Rune rolled her eyes and started walking again.

The bar was half full by the time they got there, but Eri didn't appear to have arrived yet.
 
They sat at an empty table near the back to wait.  Briggs was there again and he smiled and walked over
to join them.
  Br
an also came over to greet them
but couldn't stay s
ince he was needed to bartend. 
A bit later a young woman walk
ed into the bar and Briggs waved
her over. 

"Rune, this is Krit.  Krit, you've heard of Rune
.
" 

Rune smiled and held out her hand, which the young woman happily shook. 

"The famous Rune huh?  We've been hearing stories about you from Rook for years, don't worry, I only believe about half of them" she said with a laugh, taking a seat at the table. 

Rune
chuckled
.
"
A
ctually, about 75 percent of what Rook says isn't true
.
" 

Rook
laughed
.
"
T
hat may be so, but the fun part is f
iguring out which 25 percent
is
." 

T
hey all laughed at that. 
They chatted for about a half hour when the door to the bar opened again and Eri walked in. 
She looked around the bar, spotted them sitting in the back, and headed straight for them.

Eri grabbed an empty chair from a nearby table and pulled it up to theirs.  "So, looks like we've gotten all chummy here." 

Rook introduced her to Briggs and Krit who both smiled and nodded at her in welcome. 

"You're a
C
harmer right?" Krit asked.
"Rook's told a couple of stories about you as well
.
"

Eri raised her eyebrows in Rook's direction, but it was Rune who answered, "I was telling Krit and Briggs here that only
25
percent of what Rook says is true". 

Eri smiled.
"
T
hat sounds about right
.
" 

K
rit turned to address Eri again.
"
I
s it true that you once charmed a man into paying for an all expense trip abroad?" 

Eri shook her head an
d laughed.
"
I
t was only a cruise, and he enjoyed it as much as I did
.
"

They all laughed. 

Eri waved down a waitress and ordered
a round of drinks for the table.
"
T
his trip is all expense paid, might as well make the most of it" she said
,
with a wink. 

They laughed again. 

After their drinks were served Eri turned to address Briggs and Krit
,
"
W
ould you two mind terribly if we had some time to ourselves?" she said indicating Rook, Rune and herself. 

Both Briggs and Krit willingly agreed and took their drinks with them over to the bar to chat with Bran. 

After they had left Eri turned to Rook
.
"I presume Rune has already
filled you in on our li
ttle situation?" 

Rook nodded
.
"
Y
es she has.  And I've agreed to join your little crew, as long as nothing more than my class or super
name is
disclosed to your people." 

Eri waved him off.
"
O
f course, I know how to protect outsider information Rook, I am one of you after all" she said
,
with a smile. 
She turned to Rune next.
"
T
hat was quite the exit you made, you even left without your travel bag.  I brought it along, it's been
dropped off in your hotel room;
we're staying at the Harbor Bay by the way." 
She pulled out three hotel keys from her bag, and handed one each to Rook and Rune. 
"Our rooms are on the same floor, just a few doors down from each other, the numbers are on the back of the keys." 

Rook looked at the hotel key in his ha
nd,
and then
turned to look at Rune.
"
Y
ou made an exit?" he asked. 

Eri la
ughed.
"
Y
ou didn't tell him?  Well I guess it didn't pertain to the job at hand did it?"  She turned to Rook
.
"Rune pretty much quit the agency before coming here,
in front of the whole team too;
then followed it up by storming out of the room and wandering away
.
"
S
he chuckled at the memory.  "You should have seen their faces Rune, I'll never forget it.  The
Head of G
overnment stormed off
all in a huff to speak to the D
irector, and everyone else seemed too stunned to
move
. 
Malik was the first to regain his composure, I'll hand it to your man he knows how to keep himself focused, he had the teams working on
tactics
and man
euvers within fifteen minutes." 

Rook frowned at Rune.
"
Y
ou quit the agency?" 

Rune nodded.
"
R
esigned.  Effective at the end of this assignment.  I just don't belong there anymore." 

Rook let out a
breath and shook his head.
"
W
ow.
S
o what are you planning on doing afterwards?  Are you moving over to private companies or are you considering coming back to mercenary work?" 

Eri glanced between the two of them, sipping her drink. 

"I don't know yet, this wasn't exactly planned.  For now I just want to take some time off, away from it all, before I make any further decisions" Rune answered. 

Eri finished her drink
.
"
W
ell my alcohol's gone.  As much as I love dank alley bars, how about we move this little party over to the lounge bar at the Harbor Bay?  I've got a rental parked outside."  She stood up and waved at Briggs and Krit at the bar as she walked out the door. 

Rook and Rune turned to look at each other
.
"
W
hy are we
trusting her again?" Rook asked.
"
I
f I remember correctly she pretty much left her last team to die in order to save herself
.
"

Rune got up.
"
W
e're not trusting her, we just happen to be working towards the same goal for t
he moment" she answered. 
They both went over to say their farewells to Briggs, Krit and Bran, then headed out after Eri. 

Eri was waiting for them outside, standing next to a luxury sedan.  Rune shook her head,
the agency accounting department
won't
know what hit them
, she thought
. 
They drove by Rooks apartment first so that he could pick up his travel bag, then they headed straight into Harbor city.  The Harbor Bay hotel really was a five
star;
it
was
one
of the nicer hotels in the area and had a
full view of the bay. 
Their rooms were on the seven
th
floor, and after turning down an invite to the lounge by Eri, Rook and Rune headed to the elevators. 
Their rooms were pretty identical and only one door apart from each other. 
Rook dropped off his bag in his room,
and then
went to join Rune in hers.