(( OOC: Starring Lori, Lenna, The Ranger, and Kaitlyn. ))

Most municipalities frown upon private citizens setting off fireworks and firing guns. How unfortunate, as those, plus beer, were the way Michael tended to enjoy spending his birthdays (and his fourth of Julys).

Lenna had never celebrated a Fourth of July. She'd never known about one until Michael had made her aware. So, she'd googled it for things they could do in or around New York not involving guns, booze, and fireworks. Why? Because she'd invited her boss. And her boss had invited her 'daughter', because they had already had plans. So, Lenna redirected everything to a place where everyone could somewhat be happy with the holy day.

It was unfortunate, but these things had to be done, To celebrate the Fourth the way Lenna had wanted, and to have everyone around who she'd wanted to talk to, she had to do without, and force others to do without, guns, booze, and explosions. Coney Island would have to do. Michael could stuff it. He could complain all he wanted, but she needed to talk. With everyone. For reasons unknown to him.

The Fourth of July came. Lenna got Michael to pile all the girls into the Fordasaurus, Kaitlyn, Lori, and her. Then, she forced him to drive them to Coney Island. Because she'd kissed her boss, and become boss of a medical company responsible for the surreptitious control of several countries, and lives. And it was the Fourth. They had to celebrate such things. And talk. With a young girl along for the ride.

A Fourth of July with no fireworks or firearms wasn't much of a Fourth, but Lenna had insisted. This time they wouldn't be celebrating with just the two of them, Lori and a child were coming along. Of course he would still have his Sig with him, but it would only be fired in anger should the need arise, not at a fixed target or into the air.

They were going to Coney Island and so the Ranger was to drive them in the Fordasaurus. At least there was that fun to be had, better to drive a mammoth of a truck converted into a mobile, tactical staging area than some car or other, lesser vehicle. It was a Ford F650 that had been heavily modified. Three rows of seating with a camper shell over the bed, diesel tanks running along the length of the truck on either side between the wheels, serving as steps up into the cab, a black diamond plate bumper and black grill guard armored the front of the truck, and the driver and passenger side doors were scissor doors while the back four were gull doors. The Truck was black below the windows and white for the upper half. It's interior was leather with aluminum diamond plate boxes filling the back, each affixed with a heavy padlock due to the child coming with them, and with a tactical radio suite in the front. It could pick up police, air traffic, trucker, and traditional radio.

He had pulled it up for the ladies to all climb in, and climb they would have to due to its great height. Though if needed the Ranger was willing to assist them in entering and exiting the cab as well as having a kiddie stool in the row behind the driver seat that he could set down for them to use to get in. Having literally been in Lori's shoes he knew she'd need it to get in were she not willing to take his assistance.

He would have preferred to have spent the holiday with just Lenna, or at least without Lori and a child tag along. Yet, as with the issue of no fireworks or guns Lenna had insisted and so he went with it.

Coney Island!

The mere name of the place stirred up happy memories for the youngest Orderling. For a moment, she was a five-year-old (but about to turn six, as she would often like to remind people), savoring the distinct taste and texture of cotton candy from her perch at the very top of a ferris wheel. Soon afterward, she was a terror behind the wheel of a bumper car, causing cascades of catastrophic collisions wherever she went, much to her own delight. She'd made it a point to single out her older cousin in the bumper car arena that day; after all, he wasn't that much older than her, and it wasn't fair that he was tall enough to ride the roller coasters when she wasn't.

On the way back home, to ease Kaitlyn's complaining, her uncle promised that he would take her to Coney Island again next year, and by then she would be tall enough to ride one. But he never followed up on that promise, and she never saw him, or Coney Island again after that day. Father said that her uncle didn't care about her, and that he'd moved away.

Now, Kaitlyn was 10 (but about to turn 11, as she would often like to remind people), she had a new family, and her new mother was taking her to Coney Island with Lenna and someone named "Michael" for Independence day. The very air around the little girl seemed to vibrate with her excitement as Michael helped her climb into the enormous Fordasaurus, which she couldn't even manage to get into herself with the kiddie stool.

"This is a big car!" she exclaimed in awe once she was safely in her seat, looking down at the adults that usually towered above her. As she scooted over to make room for the next person getting in, she noticed the metal boxes in the back.

"What's in those?" Kaitlyn pointed at the boxes.

Lori had never been to Cony island. And she wasn't about to go now with her power like it was. Poor Kaitlyn had the same issues more or less that Lori did so when Lenna called she maaaaay have fudged the truth in order to get both of them on a trip to an amusement park together with an Adapted. Oops.

The Order leader waited for her favorite Orderling to get in before accepting a little help from Michael to get herself in the truck too. She whistled in appreciation of the sheer size of it and the whistle bounced around the interior. The cab was so big it had a freaking echo in it. Had Lori not already been in Michael's shoes, she would have accused him of compensating for something. As it was, they had little ears listening.

"What a lucky man you are, Michael. You've got three lovely ladies at your beck and call."

Lori put a hand on Lenna's shoulder to get her attention. She did not miss the fact that she had to lean and stretch to do so. "Don't go too far, Lenna. Otherwise Cony island might not stay standing." She shrugged. Lenna knew just as well as anyone else how destructive the two girls in the back seat could be. It was up to the adapted to keep them all safe.

>>"What's in those?" Kaitlyn pointed.

Casual as humanly possible, Lenna said from the passenger-side front seat. "Guns."

Someone changed the subject, with a hand on her shoulder. Lenna glanced over her shoulder, face slipping into the slightest smirk. "Don't worry. I won't wander off without you."

"Hey Kaityln." She shouted, towards the back. "There's a hot dog-eating contest today. Hungry?" She hoped so. The girl was Lenna's secret weapon. The hot dog contest was also a distraction.

First the Ranger helped Kaitlyn up into the truck and then Lori. Both of them in he stepped up on the diesel tank step, took hold of the gull-wing door, and shut it. He then climbed into the driver's seat, shut the scissor door, and then turned his head to better hear Lori.

"Yup."

Other conversation in the truck included Kaitlyn asking what was in the boxes in the back. Lenna, announced they had guns in them. It was a little more open than the Ranger would have liked, considering they were technically illegal and generally speaking trusting a child not to say something where the wrong person might hear it was a bad move. After the Ranger turned the key in the ignition, bringing the loud monster of a truck to life. Then he put the Fordasaurus in gear and set out for Coney island. Lori spoke with Lenna about her remaining nearby to keep the island in existence and Lenna informed Kaitlyn there was a hot dog eating contest.

New York City traffic, as always, was a pain and a half. Though a traffic constant was that the guy with the fast or large, intimidating car will get their way. The Ranger had learned this in Texas and found it more so true in New York where large cars are less common. And with the Fordasaurus he could bully his way anywhere he wanted.

Kaitlyn glanced at Lenna, then stared at the boxes full of guns. "Woah..."

The truck started moving, and Kaitlyn made no indication that she was going to sit in her seat like a normal person and put on her seat belt; instead, she kept her knees in her seat, and she faced the back of the truck so she could continue to contemplate how much firepower Michael kept lying around. What was his deal, anyway? Was he some kind of arms dealer? Drug dealer? Bank robber? Mercenary? He had to have some kind of cool reason to keep so many guns around. She was going to ask, but the conversation moved elsewhere.

>>"Don't go too far, Lenna. Otherwise Cony island might not stay standing."

The smallest Orderling assumed this was on account of her. "Hey," she chimed in, "I've gone almost three weeks without an accident. And it wasn't that bad." After all, the doctors said that Charlie would be able to walk without crutches by the sixth, which was only two days from now. And Lisa said the wall wouldn't be too expensive to fix. It basically wasn't that big of a deal.

>>"Hey Kaityln. There's a hot dog-eating contest today. Hungry?"

Kaitlyn grinned and nodded. Another cool thing about Coney Island was the food.

With the way Michael muscled his way through traffic, Lori reached over to at least pull the seatbelt around Kaitlyn. She could sit however she wanted so long as she didn't go flying out the front window when this monster truck inevitably started crunching other cars for lunch.

"You're doing better than me then. Another one of the library computer screens went all rainbow." She had just been trying to read something on the screen without her glasses. Really. She hadn't been getting angry or anything. Just focusing. It just wasn't fair. The internet made research so much faster than books.

Good thing the Sanctuary somehow still qualified as a non-profit. They got old computer donations from schools once the kids had ravaged their machines. So long as they had some working computers for free the natives never got too restless. Well, excluding Bane.

And Lenna was trying to ditch Kaitlyn at a hotdog eating contest? What did she have up her sleeve for today that wasn't child appropriate? Lori tried to keep the options from showing on her face.

Kaitlyn agreed. She could eat. That was excellent. Everything appeared to be in order. All they needed to do was get to their destination. Thankfully, Michael had that covered.

"Keep buckled up, Kaitlyn." Lenna stated. Then turned back to the front of the vehicle. She turned on the radio and let conversation get droned out by Red Hot Chili Peppers music. The CD player even worked with Lori in the car. The people were all the luckier. They could hear good music.

Onwards, the Fordasaurus went.

After what seemed like too long, they finally arrived at Coney Island.

The area was tricked out to the rims for the Fourth. Decorations were everywhere. People, were everywhere. Fun and excitement was everywhere. And there weren't many parking spots in sight.

"Shame this isn't a Monster truck rally, eh Michael?" Lenna commented, eying the crowded lot.

Undoubtedly due to the Ranger's driving, Lori buckled in Kaitlyn which was good lest he be temped to teach her to buckle up. Back home they were all taught to buckle up the hard way, brake checks. Of course they are done at low speeds but when you suddenly fall forward into a chair you get the idea. And most likely neither Lenna nor Lori would appreciate it either.

Lenna made use of the truck's CD player, something which the Ranger himself had never used. It was a dated piece of technology which due the advent of .mp3 players and TRS input to stereos was no longer worth using. The CD of choice, some Red Hot Chili Peppers, not something the Ranger would have chosen but it wasn't intolerable.

Arriving at Coney Island the challenge arrived, parking. Lenna commented it was a shame it wasn't a monster truck rally. "That'd make it harder t' park." He drove around, the height of the vehicle giving him a bird's eye view of the lot. Were the situation different he may have just used the truck to push a pair of cars out of their spots, but this was not the place for such aggressive parking tactics. And unneeded, thanks to the height of the truck he could see a car backing out of a spot a lane over. He brought the truck around and saw another car headed the opposite direction, most likely headed for the spot. Not wanting to have to keep driving he accelerated and drove at the spot, sticking the front of the truck into the spot right as the car was turning in.

The other driver honked and gave him a one fingered salute, the Ranger just looked at him and waited for him to move along. His truck though was blocking the whole road so after a moment the car backed to leave. A quick reverse, drive past the spot, and the Ranger was ready to back into spot. He put his hand on the back of Lenna's chair and turned to look out the back as he put the the truck in reverse. He spun the wheel as he backed up and the truck pivoted like a dream sliding into the spot, though due to the size of it the front of the truck hung way out. He put it in park, they had arrived. "We're here."

Suddenly, Kaitlyn felt something restraining her. A nylon belt with each end attached to the seat and a buckle affixed to the center, which clicked as Lori put it into that weird plastic doohickey that sat between them. Seatbelt. Kaitlyn's experiences sitting in an actual car were so irregular that she had almost forgotten what the device was even called. Everyone else seemed to be wearing one, though. She wriggled around in her new restraints and began to sit down in her seat like a normal person.

>>"You're doing better than me then. Another one of the library computer screens went all rainbow."

Somehow, it made Kaitlyn feel a little bit better to know that even Lori, who had enough mastery to un-dent and flip around a huge car by waving her hand at it, had just as much trouble with her mutation.

Kaitlyn really took to Lenna's music. By the time they reached Coney island, she found herself singing along to parts of it. While the adults handled the logistics of parking, Kaitlyn kept herself preoccupied by ogling at all of the amusement park rides, eagerly awaiting the opportunity to ride them.

"I'm gonna ride that one!" She pointed to a large roller coaster with numerous loops and corkscrews.

Loops and corkscrews, she could handle. The disrespect, she could not. Lori waved with a smile and a laugh to the frustrated car, she opened the door to descend from the height and paused just long enough to return the salute in kind where Kaitlyn wouldn't see it.

"I hope they have funnel cake." Getting out proved to be a lot easier than getting in. Lori held her arms up for Kaitlyn to use if she wanted the help down. What she wanted to do was scoop Kaitlyn up and spin her around. She might still do that if Kaitlyn would let her. This was a day for fun and bonding and... probably some awkwardness with Michael and Lenna. They had made for an awkward trio ever since they had met and Lori did wonder why they had all been invited here. Together. All at the same time.

The group went through through the ticket counter and the little metal rotating bars that counted how many people passed through the gates without further incident. Then, the whole park was their playground. Lori wanted to keep hold of Kaitlyn's hand... for safety and because she had always wished that her mother would have taken her to the park and held her hand.

"The big one?" Lori pointed to the behemoth with twists and turns enough to make anyone want to upchuck. "Or we can start small and work our way up." Lori pointed to the Log Run, a ride that couldn't defy gravity too bad since it's main form of transporting the fake logs people rode in was by water. It promised some splashing. Lori could totally go on that with Lenna here.

As usual, Michael was right. If they'd piled up the cars, it wouldn't have been so easy to force his way into the spot and intimidate the other driver. He'd have been rolling over cars like a rolling pin on dough.

Why Lenna knew anything about monster trucks was a rather interesting story. At one point in time, she'd had a hit on a man who liked to drive monster trucks. She'd caught him at a Demo Derby. With a bullet from a very precise rifle. The resulting wreck had been impressive to each and every fan. With dangerous work like that, nobody had been the wiser.

Lenna didn't usually share life stories. They were usually far too fun.

The rides looked to be fun. For Kaitlyn. They'd have to send her off soon, so the adults could talk. There'd be plenty of fun later.

Out of the vehicle, and into the park the crew went.

Lori was suggesting rides to a very excited Kaitlyn. "How about we start you off on the hot dog-eating contest?" She suggested, directing their attention to the stage, and all its fat old men and huge wieners. "We can watch!" From the crowd. Relatively close, because 10 feet was not very long at all. It was a good thing they wouldn't have any trouble avoiding being overheard in the shouting, cheering crowd.

Everyone made their way out of the truck, the Ranger lagged behind to wait for the engine to idle a bit, it is never good to just suddenly shut off a diesel after a drive. Possibly with some planning he could get his gun in past security, but he had no such plan of action at the moment. As such he stashed it in the console. Were something to happen, he would just have to use his fists or if a gunman were to cause a panic, disarm him. Not what he would like, but it would have to do.

He killed the engine finally and caught up with the ladies near the entrance. They made it through and once inside Lori was suggesting rides, but a counter suggestion was made by Lenna. The hot dog eating contest for Kaitlyn while they all watched.

Watching people stuff their face was not his idea of fun, but Lenna was pushing for that so he'd back her. And not just because her insistence made it seem like she was using it as a cover. "Yeah, hot dog eatin' contest sounds like it'll be fun." Though, Kaitlyn competing in an eating contest before going on rides could be disastrous.

Kaitlyn kept a firm grip on Lori's hand as their group swam through a sea of amusement park-goers. Most of the other parkgoers were much taller than the tiny Orderling. When Lori tried to point out the log ride, Kaitlyn leaned back and forth in an attempt to see the ride from behind all of those tall people. It took a while for her to succeed. The log run looked pretty fun, and Lori probably had a point about starting slow with the rides. The girl wanted to start off there.

Or they could do the hot-dog eating contest.

Stuffing her face while other people watched was not her idea of fun, but Lenna and Michael seemed to be urging her in that direction. "...Okay," she agreed, if somewhat reluctantly. She guessed the rides could wait until after this. Besides, lunch time was approaching rapidly, and Kaitlyn was already getting hungry.

Peeking through the crowd at the stage, she sized up some of her potential competition. Most of these guys were fat! They could probably eat her without much trouble! Though there was one man, obviously a mutant, who looked truly unusual. He was very short, with almost stubby arms and legs, and he didn't even seem to have a neck or shoulders. His head resembled a dome above where his shoulders should be, and he had a very round frame, making him look kind of like a ball with limbs. On top of this, he had an unusually large mouth, and unusually pinkish skin.