The Clinic truck eased up to the familiar curb. Garrett sat there for a moment, eying the golden doors and all they contained. His mind flashed back to the first time he saw them. A day of portent it was, where a free sandwich and a pamphlet had taken him across town and toward a new destiny. This time he was here for a different purpose. His eyes scanned the items he had brought with him for the operation.

Stepping from the truck and opening its rear doors, Garrett removed a large moving blanket, which he folded a couple times and tossed over his shoulder. Next was a dolly, the two wheeled champion of physics that moved large objects. Finally, a disassembled file folder box, ready to be constructed into a trash bin. With items in hand, he made his way through the doors, opening them to their maximum width for later.

The sun blared into the usually dark and dank foyer like some kind of vampire movie. Garrett imagined the furniture screaming and writhing as they burned. It brought a smile to his lips. Lisa, who was on the phone, stood with a look of shock on her face."No need for that, Lisa. Just picking up a few things. Have a seat." If she wanted to call the cavalry that bad, go ahead. It wasn't going to stop Garrett from getting what he came for. She certainly was not going to be a distraction, either. He moved on down the hallway toward his former office.

The lettering was still there. Garrett imagined someone would have at least smashed the glass or something similar by now. He opened the door and,to his surprise, not a thing had been moved. He could see that someone had been there before, as a few things on the desk had been moved. Otherwise, it was a tomb. Easy enough. The door remained open as he put the file folder box together.

She needed a cigarette in the worst way. Lori had been thinking about it for approximately two hours. The smell of the paper when you first light up, that first curl of smoke and that very first smoldering inhalation. Gawd. Why had she ever given that up?

Lori peeled away the stupid human proofing static wicks she had to wear when making calls and wearing the monkey suit. The imagery of bondage was not lost on her. She was slaving to the humans. For one year she would make nice. And then she would turn their children into monsters just like her.

The intercom at her door buzzed crackled whined and popped before spitting out a message. "Lori. Garrett is in his office."

Eyebrows went up. Lisa didn't sound all that confident. In fact... she sounded sort of... lost. With one last glance at the pyramids of metal, Lori made for the door. She'd only half made it into her regular clothes. She was wearing pressed jeans with bare feet and a black dress shirt with her garnet red suit jacket still.

And there he was with a dolly and everything. He was only missing the painted up pants and dirty sweat rag tucked into his back pocket. "I meant to have a medal ready for when you returned. Would you rather a hand instead?"

She would have to go run and put some shoes on and probably loose the jacket, but getting Garrett 100% out of the Order's business was something she'd be willing to move furniture for.

The moving blankets were already on the floor. The drawers of his former desk were open and being emptied in a fashion lacking caution. Handfuls of supplies and papers went into the file folder box with varied crashing sounds. One end of the dolly was beneath the side of the desk as Garrett was losing no time in his motions to get what he came for and to be done with this place. Lo and behold, the new heiress to the throne stepped into the doorway, apparently disheveled and caught unawares.

"Hands are fine. We pretending to be friends now? The one and only time I recall making your acquaintance was in the Infirmary with Miss Quinn. You were pretty unfriendly. Helping me move this crap is a fine step in the right direction. Might want some shoes though." He just shook his head and chuckled. This girl really had nerve, at least as much as he did. In another life, they could probably have passed for friends. Not count on me anytime friends, but friends nonetheless.

Soon Garrett found that the drawers could be completely removed with the manipulation of a latch on the inside of the desk. This brought on the complete upturn of drawer into box. However violent the emptying may have seemed, he took care to put the spare drawers on the hardwood floor. Nop reason to damage the rug, as it was going too. Silly Lori Faust.

"Pretending to be friends? God no. You're still an unstable asshole pretender, but then again I'm a lying bitch. We can skip the pleasantries for now. Let me grab socks." She disappeared from the doorway and back down the hall. Lisa stood again and looked back at Lori's retreat as she passed the opening to the foyer. Lori waved a hand down to the loyal guard dog and fetched her steel toed boots and socks.

He seemed in a hurry and that was fine by her. By the time she'd come back with clothed feet, the drawers were out of the desk and most everything cleared away. Lori shrugged out of her jacket and left it outside the door. She didn't have to hide the zebra stripes of tan and pale on her arms now that the human business was done for the day.

Lori helped move the desk off of the rug. Apparently that was his too. She had good lifting power for her build. Petite, but solid just about summed her up. "I can't deny that you could have royally f*cked this up for me. You practically gift wrapped the Order then left it." That was practically a thank you coming from Lori. Besides what was a few lost paychecks now that she was starting to milk the human populace?

She tried to follow his lead on what was staying and what was going. There was no use fighting him over any of the crap left in here. It was all expendable. The useful information had mostly been stripped away already.

"Pretending to be friends? God no. You're still an unstable asshole pretender, but then again I'm a lying bitch. We can skip the pleasantries for now. Let me grab socks." And out the door she went, along with the semblance of diplomacy that Garrett had hastily slapped together with good intentions. He had the desk ready to move by the time she came back in. She made haste with the moving as they moved it off the rug to the side of the room. nerves sizzled with their own electricity once she opened her mouth again."I can't deny that you could have royally f*cked this up for me. You practically gift wrapped the Order then left it."

Garrett looked at her with eyes of disbelief which melted and refroze into something vile. He stepped past her and closed the door of the office, locking it. he took a seat on what would be his new leather sofa and patted the cushion next to him. " Are you on drugs or do you just operate from a skewed version of reality? One unstable person to another, you are at least as much of a head case as I am. And why use the word pretender when you appear to like the word traitor much better?"

Something akin to a chuckle came from Garrett's innards. " Assuming Syn was actually dead, which we both know she isn't, what makes your unofficial claim to power any less of an act of treason? I didn't shoot Syn to help you. I asked her for the Haywire sample and she wouldn't hand it over. So I shot her until she did so involuntarily. Throwing this traitor business around when you have all the Order knowledge of any other copycat is a bit dangerous and a lot stupid. Do you even have an angle? Fortunately most of these power lemmings are too dense to question your intentions. One pretty face replaces another."

He patted the cushion again, a shit eating grin plastered on his face.

"And why use the word pretender when you appear to like the word traitor much better?"[/color]

"Aw shucks. You caught that huh?" A locked door was only as disconcerting as its meaning. He wanted privacy. Just the fact that he wanted the door closed made Lori want to blow it off its hinges... again. And they just had that replaced. What a shame.

A strangled snicker brought Lori's cerulean eyes back to the problem at hand. There was a Garrett in her Sanctuary. And he just locked the door. "What did I hurt your feelings?" Skepticism painted her features. She didn't buy it. She also didn't have to take any of his crappy criticism. She was here. She was trying. He had moved on to grander ventures.

"How was laying bloody in a ditch by the way? Educational?" That had to be fun. Especially with the metallic evidence of needing help to heal. Her fingers wriggled with delight. She didn't want to tug the pieces out. She just wanted to puppet him around. That would be so much more fun.

"And you know I've got to shovel something to keep them in line. Doesn't mean I'm obligated to share." Didn't mean she believed any of it either. In fact, she didn't even entirely buy the mutant superiority bit. Shh. Don't tell. It was just the angle that came with the gig and kept the fishies on the line. Besides. Mars had a fantastic song and dance on that line of thinking.

She ignored his cushion patting and his grin. "You know the couch is gonna to be harder to move with your fat ass on top of it." But it could still be done.

Snark. Snark. More snark. Lori was definitely getting used to wearing her new crown. Though, it was possible that she was just that ornery and pretentious before she ascended to her recent position of power. It was just chicken gobble until she decided to mention the beating at the hands of Abyss. On this subject, she would have to be corrected. the fact that her eyes were alight with delight and staring at his leg added an extra bit of cautionary diplomacy to his response. Garrett had to remember to keep his temper. Everything was a delicate balance with him, where wild swings could result in carnage.

" I suppose the beating was educational in ways. It showed how fragile the Order is. I am sure you intend to make it into something else and I wish you well in your endeavors. However, let me make a few things painfully clear to you, Lori. I allowed Abyss to do what he did. He and I had our own little bonding moment some time ago. Not like yours, of course." He stifled a chuckle, his eyes telling the tale. Word always got around the office, be it an insurance company or a criminal organization of mutants.

" I think most of you underestimate me a great deal. Just because I don't go around using my gifts on people at the slightest slight hardly means that I am impotent. I can tell by the way you are looking at my leg that you might want to play with the metal inside. I'll defend myself. Just like I will if Abyss believes that there should be a round two. I didn't fight back last time out of respect for his loss. Though, of course it wasn't a loss.It still made sense to me to act with honor in that regard." He stood from the sofa, relieving it of his apparent fat ass.

Now that the desk was out of the way, He moved to the far side of the room and began to roll the large Persian rug up. He got down on his knees and carefully lined it up, rolling it tight without being rough about it. It was too exquisite to damage needlessly. He did not want to have a fight with Lori. It was stupid to sink to her level and argue. Every time someone or something pushed him toward his darker days, he imagined the grand frozen domes of the Colony. It was a dream worth holding on to.

No one had ever accused Seizure of being tight lipped. His lips flapped with nothing of real consequence coming out. Lori didn't care that everyone knew she'd bagged a clone. She didn't care if Abyss had actually gotten Garrett or if Garrett had laid down in the ditch and asked for it. The point was that he had gotten his and Lori had gotten hers. And hers was far better.

"Maybe they do underestimate you. Do you think I do?" It was about the same as accusing her of idiocy. At the very least, she'd stayed far across the room since she trusted him about as much as she wanted to f*ck him. As for his threats of taking out Abyss, it was just more lip flapping. Not that she didn't think he could do it, but he might just come up with a reason to bend over and take it again.

Lori unlocked and opened the door. All the hot air coming out of Seizure's face was starting to make the office a bit stuffy. And she'd won anyway. They were back to moving furniture now instead of cozying up on the couch flinging insults. Sometimes it was the small victories in life.

Also... it was interesting to note that if Syn wasn't really dead (and most Order members had their suspicions since no body had yet been found) that she hadn't returned. That meant she was being held against her will or she had lost interest in the little rag-tag group of mutants. Lori hoped it was the second so that the woman would have no moral high ground left to attempt to regain the throne when (or if she ever decided to) return.

Despite the fact that she was hell bent on getting this fool out of her organization, Lori chose to move what she could on her own first. She would leave the working together bit until last and only when it was absolutely necessary.

Not fighting. Not fighting. The tone in Lori's voice was one of triumph. Garrett needed her to believe in herself fully. She probably did as well, considering the tall order she had on her plate. She just pissed him off so badly and he couldn't really decide why. Maybe her electrical current did something to his own bio-current, throwing it off. He had an itch to throttle her. Keeping his hands busy and getting done seemed like the best distractions.

The door was unlocked and reopened, allowing fresh cool air into the room. He then made his way through the foyer and opened the grand golden doors and the back doors of the Clinic truck. When he returned to the office, he looked at the desk. Originally he hadn't planned on taking it, but now he thought, why not? With their gold reserves, they could do whatever they needed to do as far as redecoration. " The desk is metal, why don't you just maneuver it out to the street with your powers. Or better yet, you could put it in the back of the truck for me. It will only speed up the process and get me out of your hair sooner." Soon enough for the both of them.

He lugged the rolled up rug on his shoulder and began to hike it out to the street, being careful not to knock anything over on the way through. He assumed Lori would do the same. He hoped she would be gentle with the truck as well, especially should she find out who Garrett's clinical partner was.

It was probably his tone. That smarmy 'I'm a good person now' undertone (despite where he was and what he had done) to every movement of hand and foot and lip. It just made her want to rake very pointy fingernails through his flesh. It wasn't even personal. She just plain wanted to hurt him. Some people were just like that. Irksome. Ornery. Obnoxious. He wanted the fight and at the same time he didn't want it here or now. He wasn't that stupid.

His stiffness dictated that he was barely tolerating her as well.

"The desk is metal, why don't you just maneuver it out to the street with your powers. Or better yet, you could put it in the back of the truck for me. It will only speed up the process and get me out of your hair sooner."[/color]

"It might warp the desk... or the car." But she obviously didn't mind. He could take a rubber mallet to the desk. The time it was saving her would keep her from taking a non-rubber mallet to Seizure's face.

He left first with his dirty rug. She would be glad to get the stink of him out of there.

With a slow raise of her hands, she created two strong and steady magnetic fields near the ends of the desk. She kept her hands out to direct the lifting and maneuvering. Getting that behemoth through the door without taking off the frame was a good exercise in finesse. One she sorely needed. It took her some time to do it properly.

Finally she was marching the desk toward the doors. Lisa's computer screen flickered into rainbow colors as she passed. It was good that precious metals weren't all that prone to magnetism. It was also good that Seizure had taken the time to prop the famous golden doors open.

The desk settled with a slight clunk next to the open vehicle's back doors. While Seizure got things ready for the metal giant, Lori took a gander at the paint job at the side of the vehicle. Iris Clinic. It had a familiar ring to it. She would have to ask Lisa about it later.

When prompted, she would lift and navigate the desk inside the car. And she would actually try not to collapse the car roof in or pull the back doors off. Who said Lori wasn't capable of kindness?