Cassandra was perched on the edge of the building.  Her hair flapped and fluttered in the wind.  Her eyes narrowed as she watched the city below.  There were honking horns and people shouting, swearing at each other.  Cassandra had no desire for confrontation.  She was squatting.  Her knees were bent, and her arms dangled over them.  Her shoulders were hunched forward in great study of the scene below.  Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a business card.  It had an address on it.  Nothing more.  She stared at it a long moment.  Turning it over absentmindedly in her hand she saw the blood stain on the back.  That had been her fault.  She did not feel sorry for it.  

3942 Wistain ave  Brooklyn, NY.  Cassandra had been all over this city.  She knew the ins and outs of the five boroughs.  Almost as well as the back of her hand.  She had never been here though.  She watched the building carefully.  The comings and goings of it all.  Who entered who exited.  For the most part the people who went inside were suspicious at best.  Most of them were bundled up.  That made sense it was cold.  But a lot of them seemed to be intent on hiding their faces.  Why?  She had gotten the business card off a guy in the alley.  An unsavory type who had meant to put the hurting on her in a bad way.  Mugger, killer whatever his intentions had been it wasn't how it turned out.  A broken wrist, four broken fingers, two shattered ribs and a chunk of flesh bitten out of his shoulder; that's how it had turned out.  

Cassandra didn't kill him.  Though she left him unconscious and wondering what had happened.  She moved fast, and in a dark alley she felt like she had, had an advantage.  After all she was aware that he was following him.  She didn't think he had known that.  Going through his pockets produced this business card.  The one she was staring at now.  As she had turned it over that night, a drop of blood dripped from her lip staining the back.  She smeared it with a thoughtless thumb.  That was three days ago.  She didn't like the idea that the guy had been there with a purpose.  Not just for a random crime against a lady in the night, but for her specifically.  She couldn't get that idea out of her head.  

Above her the stars twinkled and shined.  New York was a beautiful place if you could stand smog rudeness, and indifference.  Cassandra stood up and ran along the edge of the ledge.  She was walking a tight rope, balanced high above the world.  Nothing below her but night and madness.  She got to the corner of the ledge, where the ledge formed a right angle on the roof.  Cassandra kept running.  She jumped over the edge.  Turning her head down like a dive bomb.  Her wings spread out beneath her faded, wrinkled shirt.  It was black and read 'The Ramones.'  Across the front.  Beneathe all that black clothing was pale skin, the color of cream.  Cassandra's eyes were focused, her wings flapped to slow her descent as she got closer to the ground.  A few powerful flaps just before impact caused her to hover.  Dust and alleyway trash skittered away from where she hovered in the alley.  

Cassandra was cautious, but she was also curious.  The building she had been staking out was non-descript.  It could have been a government agency.  It could have been an apartment building.  She just did not know.  Cassandra's wings folded back and sunk into a few slits in the back of her t-shirt.  Not perfect concealment, but good enough once you threw a jacket over it.  She would have to get a jacket.  She supposed.  It was still early in the night.  She just had to add it to the old to do list.  Cassandra stepped out of the alley, her tail swished side to side in nervous anticipation.  She didn't even bother trying to conceal her tail.  Cassandra crossed the street with confidence.  Up the steps and grabbed the handle.

Zek took another lick of his chocolate ice cream cone. The vanilla was was already half gone. Sure, he could've gotten two swirly cones, but he like being able to alternate flavors as the mood struck him. So he had one in each hand as he sat on the edge of the roof of a non-descript building that could've been a government agency, or it could've been an apartment building. He didn't know either. Nor did he care. What he liked about it was that it had a good view of the street and was perfect for people watching.

Like the winged and tailed woman who had been perching on a building across the street before flying down. Zek watched with an pleasantly amused smile as she crossed the street. Finally, some action. The night was starting to get boring. He'd been on the roof all evening long, ever since he'd witnessed a viral marriage proposal on the street, hoping something else would happen. He'd noticed the woman but kept forgetting about her because she didn't do anything interesting for a long time, but now she seemed to be on the move.

As she got to the front door of the building, Zek leaned forward to better track her. In doing so, he accidentally tipped his chocolate cone too far forward and the whole top scoop slide up and started plummeting right toward the part of the steps in front of the door.

"Oops!" Zek yelled. "Look out below!"

Cassandra had her hand on the handle of the front door.  But why didn't she go inside?  She honestly didn't know.  It wasn't like her to allow nerves to stop her.  She stood there a moment debating what to do.  What if this place had bad ju-ju all over it.  She could feel that.  She didn't know why though.  As Cassandra quietly deliberated she felt herself growing tense, anxious.  While she was making up her mind weather or not to go in someone could be watching her.  She felt someone watching her.  Someone's eyes all over her, she didn't like it.  Cassandra looked left, then right.  People went about their business they didn't seem to mind her.  She turned fully towards the street.  Her eyes narrowed.  Her tail swished around impatiently.  "You're jumping at shadows now."  She scolded herself.  That's when she heard someone yelling from above her.  

Cassandra looked up instinctively.  She looked up just in time to get a big scoop of ice cream plopping right in the center of her face.  It was slightly melty and it dribbled down her chin to her neck.  For a moment, a really long moment Cassandra didn't react.  She stood there, arms at her sides just trying to comprehend what had happened.  She reached up and wiped the ice cream away.  Looking at her palm she saw that it was icecream.  Looking back up she saw a guy.  Who the heck was that?  She had been expecting trained assasins.  A bunch of thugs maybe.  Not, ice cream attacks.  She looked around again.  There were only a few people on the street.  None of them were looking her way.  Her wings unfolded.  Cassandra bent her knees, ready to spring up.  With a few hard flaps she soared up to the roof.  

She landed with one foot after the other touching down.  Each foot making a separate clicking sound as her boots made contact with the roof.  She was behind him.  "Think that was funny do you?"  Cassandra had never been known as a people person.  She was bossy, short tempered and had little patience for foolishness.  Though outwardly, she seemed rather mad; inwardly she was sort of relieved.  This bozo had given her an excuse not to go inside.  She could still feel her heart hammering in her chest.  She welcomed the distraction.  "What do you know about this place?  Are you one of them?"  Cassandra's line of questioning might have seemed rather out of the blue.  The anger in her ribcage had already subsided.  Her tone was inquisitive, but not threatening.  She took a step towards him.  "Tell me what you know."  Cassandra was hoping for answers, but not sure she would get them.  She didn't really want to go inside.  The moment she had touched the door handle her insides had gone cold.  It was like an omen.

Now he only had to half-cones, instead of one and a half. It was almost enough to make a man cry. But Zek wouldn't cry. No. Because he still had two half cones and he wouldn't cry in front of them.

He was mid-lick on the vanilla cone, showing off his very blue tongue, when Bat Lady flew up. She didn't have much ice cream on her anymore. Hmm, she probably licked it off. That's what Zek would've done. Ice cream on face was still free game, unlike ice cream on ground.

Zek blinked at the woman. "I never laugh about fallen ice cream," he said deadly seriously. "Thank you for intercepting it. It would've hated its last moment to be that of concrete frosting." He licked his cone again without breaking eye contact.

But there were more questions. "I know this building is not that tall," he said after a moment's thought. "And it probably has at least one bathroom. But I'm definitely not one of them. I'm firmly an us." When it came down to us vs. them, us was always the better option, right? At least that's how it seemed to Zek.

Then came the clincher. She wanted to know what he knew. He started grinning and his smile stretched from cheek to cheek, far wider than a regular smile. "Well, if you really wanna know," he began. "Albert Einstein was born in...."

And he began listing off everything he knew about inventors and Germans. Even so, he was preparing topics around food, classical music, interpretive dance, automobile repair, and world series statistics. And the whole time, he stared at her with unblinking eyes.

Cassandra just stood there.  She allowed the guy to go on and on about random facts.  After a few moments she had to blink.  She had been staring at him unblinkingly for at least two minutes.  As the time had ticked away her head had slowly cocked to the side.  Like a dog who had heard a far off noise and was trying to figure out what it was.  She only realized this after some time.  "You're pulling my leg right?"  She genuinely could not tell if he was being serious or sarcastic.  She didn't get a dangerous vibe off of him though.  Cassandra had spent most of her life alone.  She had rust laden people skills at best.  At worst she was violent and aggresive.  Right now she was somewhere in the middle.  

She could feel a mounting headache pulsing just behind her eyeballs.  She actually reached up and started stroking the bridge of her nose.  It did little for the headache but it was comforting.  What had begun as a possibly dangerous trek into the unknown had turned into a random encounter with.... What exactly.?  She wasn't sure.  "So then what were you doing here?  I tracked a killer down to this very building. You're telling me you just happened to be hanging out here?"  She could feel the minutes falling away.  She was always aware of how much time she had left.  The inside of the building had been a red herring the whole time.  She wasn't sure what she actually expected to find inside it.  More than likely nothing.  More than likely she was just looking for trouble.  Cassandra had a tendency to go looking for trouble.  She had a, want to fight mentality.  This guy might be a little strange, but she didn't feel the urge to attack him.  She was all but positive he wasn't wrapped up in some secret government plot.  Maybe it was for the best. 

She relaxed a little.  She could feel the tension rolling out of her shoulders.  Her mouth was a tight thin line across her face.  Everything thing about her body language said she was uncomfortable with 'being nice' but she held out her hand.  It was covered in a black leather glove with the finger tips cut off.  She was usually embarrassed by her claws when interacting with normies, but she was usually embarrassed about all of her physical mutations.  "Well.... No harm done I guess.  I'm Cassandra Kruger.  But you can call me Demon."  She couldn't remember the last time she had put herself out there and tried to make an honest to goodness friend.  As far as friends went, this guy seemed harmless to her. 

Finally, the woman interrupted Zek. He just kept grinning his Cheshire grin and licked up his cones where the ice cream had started dripping. He was impressed and maybe a little worried about the woman - most people figured out what was going on within fifteen seconds or so and got fed up. She had taken a bit longer than that and it was all he could do to not break character and devolve into chortling during the whole thing.

He pointedly looked at her legs, which were not in his hands, and then returned to staring into her eyes. "I am definitely not pulling your leg," Zek said, licking his ice cream again while still keeping that eye contact. He licked it again but way slower.

Zek twisted around so he could swing his legs back over the side of the building and dangle them in mid-air. His head remained in the same position though, so he could still keep that eye contact. He wasn't blinking either, like at all. "I'm just having ice cream and enjoying the show," Zek said with a shrug. "Haven't seen a killer yet though. Unless you're one. I'm not judging you if you are - some of my best friends are killers."

He glanced at the outstretched hand and did nothing else with it. His own hands, also clad in his customary fingerless gloves, were full of drippy ice cream cones. No way was he gonna drop them just to touch someone. "Howdy doody, Dee," Zek said with a cheerful nod of his backwards head. "My name's Zek, but you can call me Your Majesty. Don't let me get in the way of your hunt though - I could use some entertainment. This street was starting to get boring."

Lick. Lick. Liiiiiiick. And the eye contact was still there.

"Howdy doody dee?"  For a moment she was actually convinced this was a dream.  She was still inside a freaking rock cocoon and this was a bizarre dream.  There was no way, and the way his head twisted.... Yeah we wont talk about that part.  She looked at him fixedly.  She wanted to throw her hands up in the air in frustration and yell "Blink damn it!"  But she didn't do that.  She just stared at him with a mixture of mild amusement and desperate annoyance.  "I...."  Cassandra closed her mouth.  What had she intended to say?  This guy had either been licking ice cream tainted with lead paint, or he was a few french fries short of a happy meal.  "Fine. I won't!"  She huffed when he insisted that he not stop her hunt.  But was it a hunt?

Cassandra cracked her neck with her hands turning it first to the right, and then to the left.  She was glad that she was done wasting time.  Suddenly the blood pumping in her veins demanded action.  Chit chatting with rooftop weirdos was fine and dandy, but it didn't answer questions.  Why had she staked out this place for over and hour if she wasn't going to get answers.  Cassandra checked her watch.  It was midnight.  She had a good 5 hours of darkness to play with.  Even if the hourglass sands were slipping through her fingers by the fistful.  "Try not to drip that crap on me again."  She grunted as she ran.  Taking off full speed towards the rooftop ledge she vaulted over it.  As she sailed past the strange guy she cast him one last look.  That eye contact was unnerving.  Even on her way down.

Cassandra dug her claws into the brick with one hand.  It sunk into the brick with ease.  She repelled down the wall with only her claws slowing her descent.  She left four lines from the roof to the steps.  All the way down.  Landing on her feet she looked up to see the guy who never even introduced himself.  Rude.  She saw him up there on his perch.  Presumably 'enjoying the show'  It wouldn't be much of a show from up there she thought.  Cassandra peeled her eyes away from him and looked at the handle of the door.  She was about to reach for it when it opened before her.  Standing in front of her was a high class suit.  Three buttoned, pinstripe with Armani labels undoubtedly hiding somewhere inside.  Cassandra raised an eyebrow.  She had enough time to think 'who the hell wears sunglasses at night?  What a douche.' Before she tumbled back down the steps.  

Her feet went over her head and she did a backwards flip landing hard on her shoulder on something firm and unforgiving.  The edge of the step perhaps?  She had enough sense to register that her nose was bleeding.  Crimson surprise touched the lily white skin above her pink lips.  That asshole had punched her.  Looking up in a daze she saw him adjusting his suit.  As if assault had wrinkled it.  He walked casually down the steps, one step at a time.  He reached inside his suit and pulled a gun.  He pointed it at Cassandra's head.  'Some of my best friends are killers.'  She heard the words echo in her mind and for some reason she looked back up to see if the guy was watching this from his throne above the world.  No time.  Cassandra's tail whipped.  It wrapped around his wrist and the gun went off.  The bullet Richotte'd off of a street light post and whizzed past Zek's head on the roof.  

Cassandra used her tail to pull herself towards the man.  She jumped as she did this and threw herself onto his shoulders. One leg wrapping around his neck.  The other dangled frantically around his left shoulder.  Her tail still held his wrist.  He was surprisingly fast.  Cassandra's hair fell in her face.  Bright blue eyes beneath blue silky threads, flashed with manic fury.  She barred her teeth and sunk them into his hand.  Using her tail to bring the hand up to her face.  The gun was dropped and skipped down the last step.  How about this for a show? She thought crazily as she hung on for dear life.

Zek just grinned. Well, it looked like the night was starting to look up. "Maybe you should be better at dodging falling food," he said sagely. Not that he had any intention of dropping more food. He gave the vanilla cone a very long swipe with his tongue as he twisted it around, to get any drops of melty ice cream.

He watched as Devil Girl went through many of the classic stages of people who dealt with him. Annoyance, frustration, anger, physical assault on local scenery, before finally making up her mind. And acceding to his ask. When she leaped over the edge of the building, Zek spun his head around and leaned forward again, watching her crawl down like a mishapen beetle. A few drops of ice cream feel past her but it was okay as long as he didn't lose anymore scoops.

But then Zek realized he had a really bad viewpoint for what was happening below him. He ddin't even see Senor Suit come out until a bullet was flying toward his face!

"Eep!" he squeaked before jerking backward. Okay, this wasn't a great perch anymore. He glanced across the street at the building Dragon Woman had previously perched on and nodded. He transferred a cone to the other handing, freeing his left hand to drop a white ball that turned into a portal behind him and he tumbled backwards into Zekworld. He handed off one of his ice cream cones to a holographic Zek (who could eat the ice cream, to the Prime Zek's relief) and hopped into a golf cart that a second holo-Zek was driving. They drove above a street's width across the baseball field on Zekworld and Zek threw another ball, opening a portal back to Dullworld. Stepping through, he appeared on the building across the street from Demon.

And now she was getting a piggy-back ride from the guy. That just wouldn't do. He re-opened the portal to Zekworld and pulled a folding chair and a megaphone out of the coach's office. He plopped down into the chair and dismissed the portal. "Oi!" he shouted through the megaphone. "Quit playing around! I wanna see some action!"

There was a guttural growl rising in Cassandra's ribcage.  She was becoming the Demon.  Slowly the white of her eyes swirled with darkness.  Black filling the eye until it was souless, and blank and as dead as shark's eyes.  Blood trickled down the man's hand as he waved around.  Her teeth were sunk deeply, stubbornly into his flesh and she would not let go.  The man stumbled backwards.  He drove her body into the wall.  That caused her jaw to loosen.  Blood stained the corners of her mouth, and just above her lips.  Her nose was still bleeding, but with those black voids for eyes; she looked possessed.  She was enraged.  

For a moment her gaze turned upward.  Sudden movement on the building rooftop across the street.  A sniper?  No.  That guy!  The growl deepened.  Demon bent her knees and flexed her clawed fingers.  She'd carve the meat from his bones.  A straight kick to her chest sent her flying through the door.  The door she was hesitant to open.  Demon did not just open the door she broke through the wood, splintering it and sending chips of wood everywhere.  It was like an explosion.  Landing on her back Demon slid across dirty tiled floor.  The man was walking back up the last of the steps and stepping inside.  He had to be 7 foot tall.  Bald and arrogant.  He wore a neatly trimmed goatee and a rolex watch.  Mr. Somebody Important.  Mr. Beats on women.  Mr. In for a rude awakening.  

As Demon shook her head violently to get the daze to wear off she noticed he was once again holding his gun.  Demon wrapped her tail around the banister of the stairs to her right and yanked herself to her feet.  Her ribs were crying out in protest.  Her heart was pumping acid into her lungs.  Every breath hurt.  She might have had a broken rib.  He fired.  Once, twice, four more times.  Demon's wings came out and wrapped around her like a protective shield. The bullets went wild.  The first couple anyways.  The forceful wind of her flapping wings was enough to alter trajectory.  Though when she wrapped herself the last two bullets pierced her wings.  "Arghhhhhh!"  She screamed.  Her tail unraveled from the banister and Demon charged at a door to her left.  Her shoulder lowered at the lock and her thick wings adding to the force.  The lock folded like a lawn chair.

Demon went crashing into a small office.  There were filing cabinets and papers scattered everywhere.  She unfolded her wings and allowed them to spread.  They took up the majority of the room.  Expensive suit guy was in the doorway now.  Staring at her.  Demon jumped backwards and landed on the desk in a crouch.  This could all be seen from exterior windows.  She grabbed a folder off the desk that read "Confidential"  And stuffed it into her jacket.  This was an absent minded task.  Instinctual.  She had very good instincts.  Every breath was an effort.  Her shoulder's heaved with the strain of trying to stay in a fight she was outmatched in.  "Why are you fighting little girl.  Just lay down and die."  He said coldly.  "Who the hell are you?!?!?"  His answer was 45. calibur.  Demon could see his finger starting to curl around the trigger.  I have to time this perfect.  She thought.  Whipping her tail stealthily behind her.  She wrapped it around a filing cabinet drawer handle.  She was about his height when standing on the freaking desk!  As his smile spread across his face, she knew it was her moment.  Yanking the drawer she launced it at his stupid bald head.

The drawer connected with a satisfying crunch.  The impact broke his designer sunglasses and they fell in two pieces on the floor.  He was a big guy, but he just took a rocket to the face filled with expense reports and redacted tragedy.  He let out an "Umph"  And then went down like the giant from Jack and the beanstalk.  He wasn't moving, and Demon didn't wait to see if he'd stir.  She flapped her aching wings and jumped backwards.  The flapping wings propelled her backwards through the window.  A shower of glass on the street followed by a thud.  A white and blue, black rolling blur of anger and desperation spilled out into the street.  It stood up and brushed itself off.  Demon looked up at Zek.  She wanted to throttle him, but she didn't know.  "Don't lend a hand or anything clown shoes!"  She shouted across the street.  Demon dropped to one knee.  Her ribs weren't doing so hot. She felt inside her jacket and realized she still had the folder.  That was good.  Maybe it had answers that made all this craziness worth it.  

Demon's eyes slowly faded back to normal.  The white's of her eyes were just the white's of her eyes again.  Swimming in them was cool electric blue; almost the same color as her hair.  She took one weak shuffling step.  Then another, after regaining her standing position.  Then another.  Oh man if walking hurt she couldn't imagine trying to fly.  Running was a flat out joke.  She'd take two steps and collapse.  Cassandra looked back up to Zek.  There was something less than anger now.  There was need in her eye, in her voice.  "Please.  You got to save me.  You don't owe me shit. But you got to help me.  You're like me aren't you?"  Cassandra pleaded.  She didn't know if she meant that he was a mutant or if she meant he was a loner like her.  All she knew was her vision was blurring.  The streetlights seemed to be happily cartwheeling around her.  Daring her to blink, close your eyes for a second and watch the world slip out of your fingertips.  They seemed to imply.  Cassandra used the last of her strength to flap her wings.  Hard.  She got of the ground, wobbly and unbalanced.  She flew into a street lamp and busted the plastic casing that kept the bulb safe.  She hadn't meant to make the street darker.  It wasn't a strategic move. 

Cassandra flapped her wings a few more times until she was gaining altitude.  She flew in the direction of Zek.  She had just enough strength to make it to Zek's rooftop.  She felt like a stone from the sky.  Landing on her bad shoulder again.  A puff of roof dirt puffed up beneath her crash landing.  Spit connected her lip to the ground.  It drooled out of her lower lip in thick strings.  She was breathing heavy.  Every breath sent more dust skittering away.  "Please.  Don't let me die like this...."  She said as she started to black out.  She didn't know if he had heard her or if he even cared.  She only knew that when the gunshots started popping off the streets cleared pretty quickly.  Zek was the only one who could do anything to help her.  Cassand blacked out a few feet away from Zek.  Who's name she still did not know.

A lot of stuff happened. So many things. Well, potentially. Very quickly, Demon was hurled into the building and the guy went in after her. Then things got boring. He couldn't see anything, couldn't even really hear anything. There was a lot of things he could've done about that though. He could've left. He could've trekked through portals until he was in the building and watching the chaos. He could've moved back to the other building. There was certainly time for him to do that while the woman got busted up or whatever, but it just felt like there really wasn't a chance for him to do anything at all.

Eh.

She yelled up at him and Zek shrugged and shouted indignantly through his megaphone, "My clown shoes are still in their locker, thank you very much!" The nerve! "And maybe I would help if you, you know, asked for it or even gave me a chance!"

And then...she did ask for his help. Without any context whatsoever. Then she flew like a lead duck, bumping into everything she could until crash landing at his feet. For once, Zek didn't really have a ready reply. "What the dead gods...?" he said, his eyes losing their lights and returning to a normal, confused brown.

Then he smiled as he figured out what was going on. Paranoia? Check. She'd practically assaulted him after dripping ice cream and wanted to know who he worked for. Lack of balance? Check check. Violent mood swings? Triple check. Erratic breathing? Looked like it, but Zek wasn't getting close enough to find out. Eyes dilated or freaky? Yup, although that maybe didn't mean anything special. Drool? Disgustingly checked. Blackouts? You betcha.

He blinked down at the woman a few more times, glanced around the empty streets, and then sighed. Well, there went his entertainment for the night. His shoulders slumped and he dropped the megaphone through a portal to Zekworld. Another two portals later, he was in front of a payphone right beside the building he'd been sitting on, where Demon now lay. "Hi, 911? I'd like to report an overdose...."

Cassandra pushed herself up to her hands and knees.  Everything hurt.  Her body was shaking.  She could not tell if it was the fear or the pain that was driving it.  She sat up.  The streets were quiet.  She could hear someone calling for 911 but she didn't register the voice at first.  Then she realized no one was chasing her.  The man in the suit, remained the man on the floor.  She hoped it hurt.  Pushing herself to her feet Cassandra stumbled.  She crashed against the side of the building with her shoulder.  It was supporting her weight, keeping her on her feet.  She looked at Zek.  Overdose?  Is this guy cracked?  "Really wish you hadn't done that.  Me and police don't exactly see eye to eye."  Cassandra dusted herself off.

Reaching into her jacket pocket with the one arm that wasn't throbbing she pulled out a cigarette.  She placed it between her ruby lips.  Her eyes cleared from black and the curious blue returned.  She narrowed her gaze at Zek.  The cigarette bounced on her lips as she spoke.  "Look.  I don't know you, not even sure if I trust you, but I need to get out of here.  And I need help.  You're coming with me.  This mess is partially your fault anyways."   Cassandra brought a flame to the tip of the cigarette and breathed in hot fire.  The toxic smoke filled her lungs and her exhale was filled with relief and wonderful bliss.  "I need to get out here, before that guy wakes up.  Definitely before the cops show up.  And you're going to help me.  I can't fly, hell I can barely stand.  Do you know some place we can lie low?  Help me out and I'll call us even for the ice cream assault."   A ghost of a smile kissed her lips.  It was a hell of a thing to be smiling after the night she had, had.  Not to mention the fact that she didn't want to be sitting in a jail cell on trumped up charges when the sun came out.  If the light hit her skin she would turn to stone and she needed to be somewhere she absolutely felt safe.

County lock up wasn't that place.  It wasn't even close to that place.  "I'll buy you another ice cream."    She said just to sweeten the deal.  If he just decided to take off on her,  Cassandra would be left trying to limp her way down the street.  She wasn't outrunning Armani suit wearing psychos or the cops in her present condition.  At least if this guy had an apartment she could crash in she would feel somewhat safe.  She looked around looking for a set of wheels.  She didn't think this guy had any.  Limping across the street she whipped her tail at a car window.  The glass shattered when the spike on the end of it pierced the glass.  She opened the door and sat on a seat full of sprinkled glass.  She grabbed the steering colum and ripped it off with a violent yank.  God her arm was killing her.  After only a few moments she had wired the car to start.  Twisting a few wires together and leaving them dangling.  She pulled herself into the car and reached across her body to pull the door closed.  "Well?  You coming or not?  Only so many hours of night left friend."  Though she asked him if he was coming, her tone subtly suggested that it wasn't a request.  It was more like a demand.

Zek finished the call after giving the address and the symptoms he'd seen and then hung up the pay phone. Working pay phones were so rare these days, but still so dang useful! Zek made a mental note of where this one was and then turned around to maybe go back and tell Devil Chick that an ambulance was on its way.

Then he screamed. "Aiiii!"

She was banging into buildings and walking like a zombie! She looked truly awful, even worse than she had when Zek first started watching her! Like seriously, ruby lips were so last year and they totally clashed with her black-then-blue eyes.

Then she got weird. Was that...was that flirting? "Look, lady," he began, spreading his hands out. For most people it was a pacifying gesture - for Zek, it just left him ready to start throwing energy orbs. "I don't know what your deal is, but you look like ten kinds of trouble and none of the fun kinds."

"You just went from 'I'm dying' to 'I need your help' to 'You are GOING to help me' to 'are you even coming because clearly I can move around and leave on my own because I'm obviously able to rip up a car' in like, five seconds," he said. "I don't really know what you're on, and normally I wouldn't care, but you're kinda messed up in the head. How about you just hangout here and let the nice men with the straight white jackets come and help you out, okay?"

Cassandra sat behind the sterring wheel.  Her eyes were eyes blue orbs of mystery.  Her lips gave away nothing, no painted red smile on pale skin hinted at her motives.  Her thoughts were a whirlwind of bad ideas and worse impulses.  Stealing a car was nothing to her.  She stole cars all the time and left them at random places all over the city.  It wasn't ideal, but  flying around with the bright shining moon as a backdrop wasn't the most inconspicuous.  A girl had to get around in stealth mode sometimes.  Cassandra's eyes leveled on his.  For a moment, and it was a very long moment indeed she thought about putting her foot to the floor; shifting the car into drive and seeing how tall of a speed bump this guy would make.  That did bring a painted red smile to her lips finally.  The thought passed though, when the car sputtered.  What? No, no, no, no.  She looked down to see a red blinking light turn solid.  It was a gas light.  

Who the hell doesn't gas up their car in New York?  You're bound to be sitting in traffic at some point or another.  Did he hope to make it to the gas station in rush hour traffic?!?  Cassandra growled.  She dug her fingernails into the steering wheel.  Bubbling frustration came rushing to the suface of her skin.  Causing her skin to hot and pink rosey spots to blossom on her cheeks.  Her pale skin, could actually blush.  Not something you would expect if you knew her at all.  Cassandra was stuck here.  She could already hear the sirens wailing.  She went to get out of the car.  It didn't open from the inside.  The handle was busted.  It was an old, ill taken care of piece of crap.  She shouldered it once or twice, but retreated when the throb in her shoulder started to scream in protest.  

She slumped in her see.  Her head was swimming.  Situation was bad, then worse.  She watched the guy in the Armani suit emerge from the building.  He turned his head in the direction of the sirens.  He was still wearing sunglasses the prick.  He raised a finger to his lips as if to say this can be our little secret.  Cassandra had the feeling that she would be seeing him again, or his buddies.  In the last two weeks she had, had 3 near death experiences, each one involving a guy in a suit just like that.  It was like she was being hunted.   The man in the suit took off down the street.  Starting at a job and breaking out into an all out run.  Funny, she was the one sitting in a 'stolen', and i use that word very loosely, car.... But he was the one running.  Why?  

Cassandra's head lulled back.  It was getting heavy.  The throbbing behind her temples was a constant baseline.  She couldn't even see Zek anymore.  He was a blurry outline as her vision doubled.  She noticed too, that the sirens were muffled.  They seemed to be under water or a thousand miles away.  Oh great, I'm passing out.  She thought.  Maybe this guy can send me a post card from prison.  The last thing she saw was the obnoxious shine of red and blue lights pulling at her peripheral vision.  She tried to turn her head to look, but it was too much effort.  She just sank into the head rest and closed her eyes.  This night was only getting more annoying.  Should have stayed on the rooftop.  She thought and was taken by a veil of darkness that pulled her into the land of unconsciousness.  

The lady was quickly boring Zek. She seemed content to just lock herself in a car and...was she trying to bash her way out of it? Now Zek couldn't look away if he tried. It was like watching a car crash, accept she was already crashing and the car wasn't going anywhere.

He tilted his head. It tilted way farther than most human people heads could. Maybe this chick didn't need a straightjacket after all - she seemed bound and determined to lock herself up.

But then actually interesting stuff happened. A man in a suit and sunglasses appeared from the busted door of the building and started running off. Zek's head began swiveling around to track the man's movements and golden lights of interest formed in his irises. Now this was interesting! Mystery! Excitement! Not some brain-addled person who locked themselves in a car and passed out. This was Sunglasses at Night exciting.

Zek glanced at the demon lady once again and shrugged. The ambulance sounded and looked like it was almost there, so as it's red and white lights began bouncing off walls, Zek pressed a white ball of light into the air, where it turned into a white portal edged in blue light. He stepped through it and vanished from the scene of whatever all this was.

A zipline through Zekworld later, and Zek stepped out on top of a building further down the street, just overhead of where the bald due was running. Zek watched him for another minute or so as he ran by before opening another portal and another, until he was a couple more buildings down the street, following the man.