((OOC, this is a continuation from the Thread Well, Now What)

Linely smiled at Rachel's acceptance of his offer and left her with Helen hoping that she was able to get on with it . "She's yours to assign tasks to for as long as you need, have any problems, tell her to come to my desk".  Needless to say, there was a lot of work to be done. Coming to his desk, it looked as if things were not going to get any easier. There were a few individuals that would need interrogating, particularly in relation to why they were causing peaceful protests to erupt in violence...no rest for the wicked.

At least he wasn't assigned to any protests or patrols this time, just interrogation. Normally describing the type of mutation he had was enough to make most talk.Nobody liked to be reminded of a childhood accident that they had long since forgotten.  Other times it was simply taking witness statements, which was fine as well. 

This was , fortunately, a day where he would be able to spend more time with Rachael, training her in a bit of self defense, and having one of the Vanilla humans go through the merits of guns with her. Goodness knows he couldn't shoot.

His first interrogation suspect was involved in a robbery, a guy named Billy Rine,  his rap-sheet showed all. Multiple convictions for various assaults and muggings, this would be simply a case of asking for a confession. Apparently he had an X-Gene as well....though the officer processing it had  not bothered to tell him what...boy this was going to be fun. 

"Interrogation room 1" read the bronze plaque next to the room he was to enter in order to speak to Rine. Linely made sure to keep his batton handy. If this guy decided to do what some mutants did, he might need it. The last thing they needed was a rogue mutant going on rampage here. He tenatively opened the door..Mr Rine's poorly kept black goatee pointed towards him.
"You know the score here Billy, sign the confession, and this will all be over"
"Not on your..." Rine spoke in a manner that made Linely glad that he hadn't brought Rachel in with him.
Linely quietly shut the door behind him. He smiled quite widely at the suspect. Pretending to be some kind of psycho with a mutation was fun (otherwise known as "Bad Cop") , though unless the guy actually attacked him, he wouldn't be reminding him of it any time soon.
"Let's get down to business then...shall we?"

Rachael watched the detective walk away for a moment before she turned her attention back to the mountain of paperwork upon Helen's desk, the woman looked up at her with a warm smile. "Pull up a seat Rachael," She told Rachael. "Pleasure to meet you, as you may have heard my name is Helen." She introduced as Rachael fumbled with her chair. "As you can see I regularly deal with large quantities of paper work, mainly completed case files." She pulled two large boxes out from under her desk and placed them in front of Rachael. "These files get handed to me in bundles and I have to separate them into mutant and non-mutant related activities. I can take over from there, you just sort the files into those two categories."

With a nod Rachael got stuck into the task provided to her, fortunately many of the officer reported whether or not the suspect was a mutant or not rather early. She couldn't deny a desire to simply find an comfortable place to read through each of these files in greater detail, however the constant glances from Helen reminded her she was only to skim the report for the classification. One thing she noticed was a quite a few reports written by detective Linely, he'd been a rather busy man. Speaking of which, Rachael craned her head around, where was he? He said if she caused trouble to go to his desk but if he wasn't there how would she know which is his. 

 

Linely opened the door of the interrogation room, a piece of paper in hand with the signature of the felon, he was very satisfied with the outcome of that interrogation. He didn't even have to use his pain powers once. He returned to his desk quietly and began writing up the report-another one for Helen and Rachael to eventually start sorting. It would soon be time for lunch.

While Rachael was not in need of any food quickly, Linely knew, he was sure that she would appreciate a break to buy some better clothing and maybe spar with him. The quicker you get started, the quicker you will become able to defend yourself. That was always his philosophy anyhow.

He walked to Helen's desk, finding Rachael sorting the documents between mutant and non-mutant related crimes. "I see Helen's keeping you busy there Rachael, I do realise that I haven't actually told you where my desk is-it's the one with the poetry book, Prufrock and Other Observations, no-one ever wants to read T.S.Eliot other than me so mine is always easy to find. Anyway, I thought I'd tell you that it's time for lunch. Opportune time for buying clothes or sparring with me." His smile was friendly, glad that Rachael was seemingly settling down so well.

With a quiet sigh Rachael placed a hand upon the seismic pile of paperwork she had still yet to sort, Helen's pleasant demeanour a surprise to the green skinned girl. Rachael knew that Helen had to have done this on a regular basis, but to just sit there and maintain that little smile while she submitted herself to hours of this tedious and repetitive work was something else. A skill that Rachael simply could not, and had no interest in acquiring.

With her focus almost entirely upon her task Rachael jumped a little in her chair when the detective spoke, her strong grip on the papers barely enough to keep them from being scattered across the room. "Don't scare me like that," Rachael quickly responded, her tone almost scolding. The green skinned mutant had never heard of the book nor the author that the detective had mentioned, poetry never really being a topic that she had much interest in. However it was good to know where he'd eventually be if she ever needed to find him.

At detective Linely's suggestion to use their lunch break for shopping, and to a lesser extent sparring, Rachael couldn't help but grin. She'd be wearing the same clothes for... well for a long time. She longed for the feeling of fresh attire against her skin, quickly she got to her feet. "Sounds like a plan." Rachael stated excitedly as she got to her feet. "How long do we have for a lunch break anyway?"

He hadn't meant to make her jump, still...he had that effect on people sometimes. A few people had compared him to a ghost at times, not through any special mutation, but just being rather quiet when he walked up to them. He found it moderately amusing in honesty , but didn't give any hint of this to Rachael. "Sorry, that happens a lot, should have given you a bit more forewarning."

The look of vague befuddlement upon Rachael's face when he was referring to T.S.Eliot was hardly surprising, but it was mildly disappointing. What were they teaching kids these days in Australia? To hate mutants of course... "I would not thought death had undone so many" the quote from the Wasteland sounded in his head. Still, it would be worth giving her some of the poetry to read, it was angsty enough for teenagers to enjoy.

She was grinning at the thought of shopping, now THERE was something that all teenage girls had in common. Particularly for a girl who looked like she hadn't had a fresh outfit in a while. Her excitement was honestly palpable.

>>"How long do we have for a lunch break anyway?"

"About three quarters of an hour-I'll be keeping my pager on just in case I'm needed back at base quickly" Linely stated, peering at his watch. Hopefully there wasn't going to be an actual attack on the precinct while they were gone, he'd rather not have to come back to that. Being attacked by thugs was more than enough excitement for one day. "Shall we be off then? Should take us about 5 mins to get to the commercial district, I'll buy myself a hot dog or something, so you have more time" 

"Hold on a sec," Rachael replied as she picked up her chair. She'd borrowed it from a nearby desk and while it was lucky that no-one had seemed to need it she doubted that would be the case while she was gone. Once she was sure the owner of the desk wouldn't notice the borrowing of the chair she returned to Helen's desk and slid the sorted paperwork over to her. "Enjoy yourself," The older woman said with a smile to which Rachael merely nodded. "Okay, ready to go." 

The walk back out of the station was a quiet one, despite being invited here and having just done intern work Rachael was still somewhat nervous about being inside the precinct. All it took was one curious officer, one quick search in what Rachael assumed was some massive database of some kind and she was in a whole world of trouble. Not only her but likely the detective as well, though given that she hadn't specified the nature of her arrival he may be able to deny any knowledge of her status. Could he use ignorance as an excuse in this case?

Though it may have been the worst possible outcome Rachael appeared nervous almost the entire time she followed Spasm out of the precinct. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she stepped out into of the beaming sunlight, though much of her body was covered the feeling of the light on her hands and face were enough to bring a smile to her face. "So which way?" She asked the detective and she looked up and down the street, she'd never been in this area before, the commercial district could be in any direction. 

"Great" Linely led Rachael quietly out of the office after she sorted out putting a seat back where she found it. She seemed a little nervous in her demenour, unsurprising given the circumstances. Not that he was that concerned. Applying for asylum in the USA from Australia as a mutant wouldn't be too difficult for her, especially as she was an unaccompanied minor. Still, he needed to get her to the embassy at some point to make sure that was sorted out.

Then came a sigh of relief from her, the sun likely making her feel better as a plant-based mutant. She asked the way to the commercial district. To which Linely let out a minor chuckle at his own ignorance. Of course she wouldn't know the way quite yet.

"Simply a left here, then the shops start coming thick and fast." Linely spoke calmly and reassuringly. He hoped.

The people walking along the street became almost a crowd of busy shoppers or commuters on their way to work. Advertisements everywhere, a few beggars on the street-likely without permit. Linely chose not to bother with it-he had better things to do than fight the minor crime at this point in the day. It wasn't long before the smell of boiling sausage in water began to fill his nostrils...the stand was close.

Red and white canvass over a small trolly, with a simple sign in black writing. "Luigi's" was a family business from an Italian immigrant. Originally more of a pizza and pasta type eatery, but he and his son had branched out into American cuisine. He remembered the first time he came...sadly not a good time in their lives, it was to do with Luigi's mother. Bad news, though someone had to tell them.

"So what'll it be this time Joe?" Antonio (Luigi's son) greeted him, he'd lost weight since he'd seen him last. The diet Angelica had him on seemed to be working.
"A hot dog, with extra ketchup" Linely smiled widely,particularly at the thought of his first good hot dog in ages.
"Coming right up , anything for your young friend"? Antonio looked at Rachael, smiling in a classic shopkeeper's friendly fashion.

An increase in street-side advertisements and fellow pedestrians with shopping bags told Rachael that they were on the right path, she actually couldn't remember the last time she was this excited. Shopping centres and districts from her arrival until now had been somewhat of a no-go, too many patrons and too much security. If she ever truly needed anything corner shops were always the easiest places to go, usually only one staff member on at a time, so as long as they were distracted anything was fair game.


Once they got to the small trolley and the detective ordered a hot dog Rachael couldn't help but be slightly puzzled, they didn't use a barbeque? It was obvious that there was more than one way to cook sausage but in her experience most outdoor hotdog vendors used barbeques, at least that was the case in Perth. "Ah, no thanks." Rachael quickly replied to the vendor. "I'll go on ahead then, enjoy your food." She added before she slipped into the crowd of eager shoppers.


From this distance even without the Detective Rachael was sure she could navigate her way to the district, the increasingly steady stream of animated and excited individuals a contrast to the gloomy shuffle of people on their morning commute to work. Already Rachael could see smaller bookstores and music outlets replacing the larger office buildings, stores and restaurants continued on as far as the eye could see.


‘Sixty dollars,’ she reminded herself as she happened passed by a sports store. A decent pair of trainers would be nice to replace her older worn out pair, however shoes could be quite costly and Rachael was trying to be cost efficient here. ‘Essentials first,’ she thought to herself as she entered into one of the nearby department stores. Specialty stores while generally having a greater spread of merchandise were often more expensive, as such despite the alluring call of those respected retailers she found herself pushing through kids toys in a discount department store to find the clothing aisles.


Even in this store Rachael had to admit it was difficult finding something to buy, she wasn’t overly picky mind you but with only sixty dollars whatever she picked up had to be twelve dollars or less and still somewhat decent. As such as she slid the racks along things became increasingly dire, there were some sweat pants for eleven dollars but they only came in this icky beige colour. So therefore she had to spend a little extra on decent jeans, thus having less to spend on a top or underwear. Surprise, surprise, Rachael ended up in simple t-shirt and jeans combination. Considerably more presentable Rachael sat by a large tree and waited for the detective to come by. She’d gotten what she came here for, however, she couldn’t deny her desire to look around some more. She’d just need to make sure they still had enough time to do so.

"Thank you Rachael" Linely greedily devoured the hot-dog he just purchased. The street was now full of shoppers, perfect for your average pick-pocket or purse-snatcher to strike... fortunately his lunch break was not about to be interrupted by some low-life causing trouble. He had to tell a few people to pick up their litter though.

It was a simple job of waiting for Rachael and hoping that no further incidents were going to happen. He had long since lost sight of her , as she had moved from shop to shop. He did hope her raggedy dress didn't make anyone suspicious of how a teenager got that much money...

He continued pacing, waiting for her to appear. She finally emerged and sat herself down by a tree, and no-one was chasing after her...that was a plus. Linely smiled, and walked towards her calmly. She was looking far more presentable, and rather refreshed from having a better set of clothing. All good stuff.

"Are you ready to go Rachael, we have to be back to the station very soon" he said to the sitting green teenager, who was positively thriving in the glorious sunshine. Linely could tell that she was in her environment around trees too. It was somehow... fitting for her.

From under the tree Rachael watched as another pair of girls walked past, clearly snickering to each other in between what they likely assumed were subtle glances in her direction. Rachael noticed, she always noticed. With a sigh she rested her head against the tree and looked up through it's leaves to the sky above, she'd enjoyed her little shopping trip thus far she shouldn't let this get her down again. 

The sound of the Detectives voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she acknowledged him with a smile, "Well I wouldn't mind looking around some more but I can do that later." Slowly Rachael pulled herself to her feet, a hand extended indicating for him to lead the way. "I'm sure I've said this numerous times already but thank you. You didn't need to do this much for me, you could have just dropped me off at some homeless shelter but you didn't. I'll find a way to repay you for this someday, it may take sometime obviously." She stated with a short laugh. "I'll find a way though"

Linely noted a pair of teenage girls walking past the two of them, they looked at the green girl and giggled cruelly. Girls could be cruel. Teenagers would pick on anyone different, they normally weren't even anti-mutant from what Linely had observed after coming into one school in one of their ultra-PC "X-Gene awareness weeks", it was just to those kids, Rachael was different. Different was bad.

"Don't let those girls bother you. Put it this way, at least you don't have to worry about eating too much or too little." He smiled and patted his stomach-he was reasonable fit, but occasionally the startings of a pot-belly could be seen if he'd eaten too much junk food in the past few weeks. This was one of those times.

"And there's no need to thank me, those sorts of shelters often don't have the resources to look after young adults, let alone those who are mutants. Remember I kinda used my abilities on you as well..." It only worked if there was some kind of trauma there beforehand though, and Linely couldn't help but wonder what caused that pain.  What or who could have caused such lasting pain to a teenage girl? Linely wanted to know, but at the same time... didn't.

"Anyway, we ought to get going" Linely turned , and with Rachael in tow, began the short walk to the police station.

Somehow Rachael knew that the detective would say that, her parents had made the same joke once they realised she could no longer hold down food. While it was a small consolation Rachael missed being able to enjoy cakes, ice-creams, and muffins. She didn't have an overly large sweet-tooth but I think everyone can attest to the occasional craving of something sugary, but she could no longer tend to that craving. Or more accurately she could, however the violent sickness that followed any meal simply wasn't worth it. "I suppose that's something I have going for me." She admitted aloud, though without much conviction.


Behind the detective Rachael shuddered as she remembered the pain that Linely's power put her through. "You know I don't think you actually told me what your mutation is. Some kind of control over a persons nervous system? What you did to me really hurt."

She didn't seem so convinced by that joke. Teenagers never were, they saw their issues as the only thing that mattered quite often. Angst, angst, and more angst was the motto of all teens , mutant and non-mutant alike. "Believe you me Rachael, those girls will be jealous of you, they're busy wondering whether they look too fat in that dress, or whether the others will judge them based on their make-up or clothing choices, so they simply laugh at you because they're insecure..." Linely then groaned slightly. "I'm sounding like a secondary school teacher giving a lecture, but it's true I promise you."

She shuddered at the mention of his powers..well it was going to come up sooner or later. "I manipulate physical pain, if you have suffered physical trauma, I can make your body go through the same shock that the nervous system went through at that time. I don't know what caused that much pain to you, but I know how it felt, and where it was, and how long ago. If I'm caused pain, I can also make people feel the same pain." ... "I do wonder what could have caused such crippling pain, I felt some of it... I feel an echo of what I cause you to feel, that's how the power works" It was a long winded explanation, but hopefully it would make sense to her. "They don't call sign me "Spasm" for nothing."

Rachael gave the Detective a quizzical look for a moment, a small smile visible on her face. "Sounds to me like you've been watching too many drama movies and TV shows," She replied with a short chuckle. Despite the humour quip she made it was obvious that Linely's words had not had the desired effect, "I appreciate what you are trying to do, I do. However you're wrong. If those girls think they are fat they can exercise. If they don't know what to wear or how to do their make-up for any given occasion there is a variety of websites and magazines to help them. In my case there is nothing I can do about the fact I'm visibly different, I'm... green." 

It was obvious this wasn't a topic she wanted to talk about but the revelation that the pain she experienced in the park was her own was almost as unpleasant. That experience had been debilitating however for the life of her Rachael couldn't remember ever being overwhelmed like that before. Which could only mean one thing, it was a recollection of the pain she went through when she fell from the cliff. "That's a rather morbid mutation, no offence. Making people re-experience pain can bring back a lot of horrible memories, things they may want to forget. Are you sure there isn't something positive your mutation can do? Relax someone, take away the pain?

Linely laughed at the quip-genuinely, Rachael seemed to have a very good wit"Well remember you did wake me up after I fell asleep during the TV, I was a teen once as well..." Now he was sounding like an old man. However, her lack of experience was showing. Her assumption that he was wrong, another typical teen thought was amusing to Linely, but he was polite enough not to show it . It was time to give her a full explaination

"There was nothing I could do about the fact that I hospitalised and nearly killed a fellow competitor during a fencing tournament. That's how my power was discovered see. After that people were utterly terrified of me, I was the "guy who could knock you out with a look", but it did mean people stopped trying to beat me up. " He paused and then continued.

"There was nothing I could do when I caused a man's heart to give out when he tried to mug me. Yes, I killed a man completely by accident, I was trying to get away, but it happened nevertheless. I realised that I could let what I was define me and treat myself like some kind of freak or special snowflake , or I could embrace who I was and use it when I needed to. I use my gifts to contribute to society, and against those who would abuse their gifts. There was nothing I could do save accept myself."

It was clear discussing what it was that caused the pain was uncomfortable for her, and she wasn't the first to find his power disturbing, he remembered how Officer Schwartz looked when he had told him for the first time. "It's no more morbid in my mind than throwing a fireball at someone, or freezing them solid as some of the X Men can do, I'm told. There may be other ways my powers could work, I do constantly practice with them on willing subjects, or not so willing criminals. It may even be helpful to those who can't remember what happened, sometimes you have to confront the trauma. Looking at new angles on powers takes a lot of practice" Linely smiled again , this time more calmly than before. "I'll stop lecturing you now, we're nearly back at the station"

Linely couldn't help but wonder what Rachael had forgotten that had caused her so much pain, it wasn't from that long a time ago, and she was avoiding his question. How could a 15 year old girl be put through that much pain? There was clearly more to her than met the eye.