After falling through a glass roof, AJ should have taken things easy for a while. The problem was that Statue of Liberty crown tickets sold out weeks in advance. He'd already paid. If he could get a refund, he would have because his bruises were barely healed. Instead, he rested up as best he could and popped NSAIDs. He was going to the Statue, tweaked ankle or not. And he wasn't going to leave until he'd explored every nook and cranny, whether he was allowed or not.

AJ shuffled along at the perimeter of the tour group in the base of the statue. What he really wanted to do was skip the line and climb the outside of the structure, but he'd realized the folly in that before he tried. Someone else had tried the same and they'd been spotted before they got very far at all. There were way too many cameras on every inch of this thing.

And, really, that only made what he wanted to do that much more exciting.

"Any questions before we start climbing?"

AJ raised his hand and waited to be called on. No point in showing what a bad rules follower he was yet. "How many steps to the crown?"

"One hundred and fifty four from pedestal to head." The tour guide chirruped. And then, AND THEN, he had the audacity to smile. "Alright everybody! Time to head up!"

Desire knew that this was probably the most cliché thing he could do while in New York but he wanted to see it just the same. There was history here that couldn't be ignored. This country was built on the backs of immigrants and as the son of one himself he wanted to get in touch with this part of his country's history. Even if it was freezing cold outside with flurries of snow. He wanted to go curl up in some nice warm soft place, maybe in the sun, and rest awhile, but that would mean not using the tickets he bought weeks ago. Nope Des was going to tough it out. The man had been to Siberia this was truly nothing compared to that, even if given the chance he'd complain about it.

Ears twitching in just minor annoyance at the overly perky guide the tall man stood at the edge of the crowd waiting for the bulk of the group to pass him. No point in being in the middle when he planned on skipping out and exploring the place at his leisure. He just needed to get near the security control room and he could wreck havoc as much as his dark little heart desired.

It was a very good thing that Desire didn't have ulterior motives other than to explore the statue. If he had a whole lot of trouble could have been created and a symbol of America would forever be in rubble. No, the world was better off that Des was generally a good guy and not a villain.

Hovering back Des tilted his head in the direction of security. There weren't many witnesses now. He could do it. Maybe. There was another man there also looking as if he was waiting for an opportunity.

AJ hung back. Some other guy hung back too.

Not just some guy. Some guy with hair unique enough to stand out a mile in fog. Some guy who was tall enough to rise above the fog, too. Basically a lighthouse of a man. A cat god of some kind given life. Meanwhile AJ was a petit brick house. Sometimes life was just a little unfair.

AJ tried not to stare, honestly. He got enough stares as a human man, he just couldn't imagine being 6 foot huge with a tail and everything else too. So he resumed trying to be nonchalant.

The other guy seemed to be doing nothing in particular too, and now things were getting real awkward as the last of the super-sized tourists had made their lumbering way up from the bottom step. AJ hesitated. Was it possible this guy was also up to no good? Should he... stop him? Or care?

AJ drummed his fingers against his thigh. He could still get away with his own risky business so long as his fellow ne'er-do-well wasn't the "burn it down" sort of troublemaker. How was he supposed to ask that? The more he thought about asking somehow, the worse his ideas were getting: do the eyeball point thing? Tell him to F*$# around and find out? He shot every idea down until it was entirely too late. With one last questioning look, AJ took to the stairs.

If this statue got destroyed before he got to sneak around, he would be very put out.

Des knew trouble when he saw it and the handsome brick house of a man was trouble. Not a bad kind in his estimation, didn't seem to have weapons on him and he didn't have the air of murder that most combatants had. No, this man was looking for the kind of trouble Des thrived in. The fun kind. The kind that made friends from strangers if his experience with Remy had anything to do with it.

" 'scuse me a second sir." Des asked abruptly, quite willing to take a chance. What sort of life could he have if he didn't take chances? He wouldn't get out of bed in the morning if he was that chicken. "Willin' ta watch my back while I hit security? Cameras are such a pain when ya wanna really look at shit. Promise I won't do anythin' ta permenantly damage tha statue but c'mon wanna have fun instead o' listen ta Perky McPerkison throw up facts we learned in highschool?" Des knew he sounded sketchy and he looked it too, with his multicolored hair, stripes, cat attributes, and scars. He figured the tanned skin wouldn't matter to a fellow person of color and wouldn't set off alarm bells like it did with white people.

Ugh. White people. Des might be half hillbilly but he wasn't fond of middle class white Americans. They were the worst when it came to bullying and staring and just being wholly unpleasant to deal with. He'd lost count of how many people he'd punched for calling him a terrorist or muslim. Thank you but he was Presbyterian, one of God's frozen chosen. He even attended church on a semi regular basis.

"Whaddya say?" Des asked knowing he sounded like some sort of troublemaking prostitute. Not that he'd mind a quickie with the handsome stranger near him but that wasn't the point of today's exercise.

He was only one step up when the man addressed him... as sir. Hot damn, that made him want to carry a riding crop or something. AJ shook off the wild hair and glanced around while the thrill of the situation caught up with him. Of all days, he'd arrived when there was supernatural help in getting away with his BS.

"I don't know you if you get caught," He started slowly, gaging the other guy's reaction as he spoke. "but I can run interference. Just the human kind, unfortunately." It was the best he could offer, but he was offering. AJ rolled his neck and checked on the tour group. They were pulling ahead, but the stairs were in the hundreds and it was slow, slow going. If they could knock out cameras, there'd be plenty of time to catch up.

Under normal circumstances, that was. AJ cursed his dang ankle. He was going anyway. He'd do it, regardless of if it was a good idea or not.

AJ stepped back down into the lobby and assessed the situation. There was one major obstacle that he could see so tipped an imaginary hat to his fellow sneak and went to engage the security personnel.

"Excuse me, do you happen to have a First Aid kit on the premises?" Maybe he didn't have to curse his ankle after all? The guard went digging through a much neglected medical case for an individually wrapped ibuprofen. He was no longer alert.

Years of military service and living in the south had taught Des some semblance of manners. That and it didn't feel right to ask a stranger to help and call them hot stuff. That would make him sound even more like a troublemaking prostitute and Des didn't want the rather attractive man to think he was being hit up for a quickie for cash. Nope this was pure solicitation of tomfoolery.

"Sir ya don't even know me now." He teased perfectly fine with the arrangement. He was used to taking all the blame for shenangins usually because all shenangins were instigated by him. What could he say? He was the embodiment of the Chinese curse 'may you live in interesting times'. "But I'm grateful fer tha help."

When AJ began to run his interference Desire got to work. It was amazing to watch a six foot two cat man who looked like a fever dream disappear into thin air. Nothing was left of his presence, not even a wayward flick of hair. He didn't waste time in watching what AJ did to keep the guard occupied, he just had to trust that AJ did his job while Des did his. Reappearing on the other side of the door to the security office Des was grateful to find it empty, it kept the damage he would have to do to their overall systems to a minimum. Locking the door and putting one of the convenient chairs behind it Des set to work. Finding switches and flipping them he began to manually shut down the entire system, motion detectors, cameras, the works. He'd feel terrible if today was a day that a terrorist group decided to blow up the statute but he'd rather have some fun then live life only following the rules laid out for him.

When he was done Des nodded to himself in satisfaction. It'd take awhile before the cameras were turned back on now and he didn't cause thousands of dollars worth of damage. Good job him. He ghosted again immediately seeking out his partner in crime sitting off to the side and reappeared at his side. "Cameras are down now, now we can have all tha naughty times we want without Uncle Sam recordin'."

He didn't even know him now... And yet here they were running a trust building exercise. AJ ran interference and Stripey promised not to do permanent damage so long as AJ kept Mr. Security occupied. Thankfully it didn't seem like they got too much action in these parts and the Security guard was fully engrossed in helping AJ administer first aid to himself. The man had just popped into the staff lounge to grab AJ some ice when his not-friend who he didn't know popped up by AJ's elbow and scared the fire of damnation into him.

Once his heart had calmed down out of his throat, AJ wondered if he should maybe be a bit more aware of his surroundings when he was being sneaky.

"You got plans?" He was up, out of his chair, and dashing for the stairs before there would be time for regrets and hopefully before security came back with his ice. "I just want to go everywhere. Sit on top of the crown maybe. Or climb the ice cream cone." He'd heard that even the interior of the torch was closed these days. He wanted in there, yeah, but he also wanted all up ons the outside.

Oops Desire hadn't meant to scare the piss out of his new partner in crime but it had happened anyway. He sometimes forgot people didn't expect him to just appear from nowhere. A little voice in his head that sounded a lot like his old CO said he should apologize but he couldn't find the words to come out. Instead he looked sheepish for a moment before focusing back on the mission at hand.

"I aim ta misbehave." Desire said cheekily with a grin on his face. Okay he was a huge nerd but it just made life more fun that way. Keeping pace with his new friend Desire felt his heart thumping in excitement, he liked climbing and the more difficult the better. "Torch then crown? Are we doin' this inside or outside tha statue by tha way? I'm game fer either."

Aiming to misbehave was great and all, but a plan was better.

"If we can get into the inside of the torch, then we can get to the outside of the torch unseen since the torch has been closed to visitors for... I dunno. A while?" He hadn't really been paying attention. Probably a pamphlet that he'd declined said, but it didn't really matter. It was closed to visitors because it swayed, but that likely wouldn't stop the two of them. "I think from there we can sit on top of the crown." He hung back from the huffing and puffing visitor ahead so she wouldn't feel obligated to snitch on them.

"Just. Caution. There's any number of cameras pointed at this thing between tourists and traffic helicopters shooting B roll and stuff." Even with whatever Mr. Hair had done, there were other ways they could get spotted.