>>"I'm defiantly interested, but in the meantime let's take care a the body-swap mess."

"Sure."

He was interested. That was good. Now that that was out of the way... "You were saying something about a hotel?" Lenna asked. "Where would that be?" It was a lead. "The nearest hotel from the crash site's the most likely... hmm..." It was too bad she didn't have a phone book or a map to look that up.

"I doubt that while running from the police they'd back track toward the crash. We're lookin' for probably a four or five star hotel." The Ranger thought for a moment."In New York there's the Palace, Four Seasons, Jumeirah Essex, an' Velafont to name a few. I think the Velafont is the closest to here." The Ranger looked around at the street signs to make sure s/he was where s/he though s/he was.

"It is still several blocks over an' down a few. Hopefully they made a big enough impact there that people know they were there an' possibly which way they went if they left."

>>"I doubt that while running from the police they'd back track toward the crash. We're lookin' for probably a four or five star hotel."

Lenna put a hand to her chin, and looked away. Hrm... that was also likely. And knowing the type of personality Lori seemed to have, it only made sense it'd be a grand hotel, not one built in squalor.

Michael listed a variety of choices. The Palace, Four Seasons, Jumeirah Essex, Velafont... Lenna took note. According to him, Velafont was the closest.

Lenna nodded at his statement.

"Alright, then. Let's go."

"Alright, then. Let's go."

The Ranger nodded and turned to head down the street. As s/he walked s/he reached for his/her phone, which of course was not there. When traveling somewhere the Ranger preferred to view a map to make sure he went the right was, even if he was sure. Yet, the phone was not there as it normally would be and so the Ranger had to work of only memory of the city.

S/He reached the end of the street, took a left then straight at the next intersection, then right and continued that way a few streets. At which point the Ranger stopped to get his/her bearings. Then, it was down the street, and the next then a left and there was the hotel right down the street.

"I guess we jus' ask around an' hope they went t' this one." And then as an afterthought, "An' we had probably ask nicely." The Ranger figured a violent interrogation would not go over so well in a upper class hotel.

>> "I guess we jus' ask around an' hope they went t' this one."

Guess so.

His after-thought made her lips curve. "Aww, really? Well, okay." It sounded to her like he'd had his heart set on it. "Guess we'll just ask the first guy we meet as nicely as we can~"

She slipped through the front door, and walked up to the main desk with a smile plastered to her face. The man behind the counter was dressed nicely in black, with a nose like a hawk's beak, and a problem with looked down it at customers.

"Excuse me," She began, looking around innocuously as she spoke. "I'm wondering if one of my friends was here yesterday. Could you please check to see if they spent any time here? I think they were planning on joining some sort of 'swim club', or something." A joint this swanky would likely require membership for one of those 'pools', she rationalized. Would Lori have gone through the hoops the swank place had set? The place was still standing, wasn't it?

The man eyed her. "Customer information really isn't available to people off the street."

"Pretty please?" Her eyes locked on him. "One of them sounded like he was from Texas. The other was really big, and red?"

The man behind the counter paused. "... Ahem."

"Sorry?" She tilted her head at him. It seemed like something she'd said had triggered a memory. Imagine that.

The Ranger and Lenna entered through the front doors to the hotel and made their way to the front desk. Manning the desk was a fellow with a nose like a beak, which called fourth memories of an old friend from high school. Stephen, had a similar shaped nose and due to it was dubbed, Avenger. The Ranger fought back a stupid smile.

Lenna inquired whether Lori and Mars' brother had been here by asking about people trying to join a 'swim club.' Coded enough to have deniability lest Lori have created a huge mess but not to coded that Avenger at the desk wouldn't be able to figure out who they were after, assuming Lori had been here.

The Ranger assumed Avenger's response was just him hiding behind a policy of not giving out information so Lenna gave the man a little more information. This provoked a different response.

"...Ahem."

"Sorry?"

"So you are friends with the pair who came and after nearly voiding the pool of water proceeded to spray hotel employees with water?"

"So the answer's yes?" The Ranger fired back, they were on a woman in a man's body hunt, yes or no answers were expected not added questions.

"I...uh." The quick and authoritative reply took the man by surprise. After a moment he tried again at a reply. "Yes...Is there going to be a problem here?"

Yup, she'd definitely triggered something. He seemed to remember all-too-well the pair that had... wait, what was that again? Emptied the pool of water? Lenna glanced to the blond. Lori had sure been busy making trouble for Michael in his body. Poor thing.

She swung her attention back to monsieur snoot as he stumbled.

Was there going to be a problem?

Lenna smiled. Only if he didn't answer them truthfully. "Where did those two go? Did they book a room here, or...?"

He dabbed sweat off his brow with a handkerchief, and shook his head. "They left. We had to insist."

Damn. "Any clue where?"

"No," he regained his honor with an annoyed tone. "Now, if you'll excuse me." The man turned away from them, and started to leave.

Lori was causing trouble in the Ranger's body and now Avenger was saying that he has no idea where Lori and the red behemoth went after they were ejected. And now, Avenger was leaving. The Ranger looked around, if this guy was not going to be of any use then alternative means of gaining intel would be required. Security tapes for the outside cameras.

A janitor might have a key or keycard that will open the security room, but only a guard is certain to have one. As Avenger left earshot the Ranger turned to Lenna and in a hushed voice suggested a course of action, "The outdoor cameras might be able t' point us in the next direction. How is your pick pocketin'? These hands have a few maneuverability issues."

>>"The outdoor cameras might be able t' point us in the next direction. How is your pick pocketin'? These hands have a few maneuverability issues."

Oh, he was good.

Too bad she wasn't. Pickpocketing never had been something she'd done. Card tricks, however... she could be quick with the misdirection. It was worth a shot.

"Who's the target?" She asked.

"Who's the target?"

"A security guard, it idn't a guarantee that a janitor would have a keycard to security. The Ranger scanned the area, metal things were everywhere and people were about. "I can make a distraction t' keep 'em focused on somethin'."

"An' if ever'one flocks to it, bumpin' into the guard wouldn't seem suspicious." The Ranger located his target. "No one can resist a good train wreck."

The chandelier shook above the space between the two staircases at the far side of the lobby, the metal it was bolted to was shaking, violently. Before long it broke and fell. Shards of glass rolled across the floor, and one man who had been nearby had turned to move away only to have a metal chair that he didn't remember being there stop one of his legs. As he fell it slid the other direction, the man's foot caught on it. His ankle breaking.

The Ranger wasn't sure the chandelier would attract enough attention so one man's ankle was sacrificed as a means to an end.

A guard. The ranger wanted her to pickpocket a guard? For a second, Lenna wanted to ask if the blond could snag the key with her magnetic personality... but no. If it was a keycard, the strong magnetism would likely erase key data. They'd get nothing good from that. It wouldn't even get pulled.

Michael was planning a distraction. Lenna nodded. "Works for me." She could work with anything. What was the distraction, though? It didn't take long for her to find out.

The chandelier's restraints gave way... as did the strength of one man's ankle. It all happened quickly, so Lenna moved fast. As people arrived to check on the disturbance, she moved towards the rabble. Her eyes locked on a security guard as he made his way to the scene of the crime. Lenna acted dumb, making noise, calls of 'what happened!?' 'Guard?!' She tripped over something invisible as she rushed towards him, sending them both toppling to the floor. A hand was braced against his chest as they fell. The other darted to his pocket for the card. Her body pressed up against his was more than enough distraction for him to miss the theft.

"I'm sorry," She apologized. Lenna wore a look of shock, embarrassment, worry, as she helped him back to his feet. The card slipped stealthily into her back pocket as they moved. "Are you okay?"

He gruffly pushed her away. His focus was on the chandelier and the man with the problem. A hand went to the radio at his side. "I'm going to need an ambulance here. Injured man, mid-thirties, from the way he's holding himself, looks like a broken leg..."

He was wrong. That didn't matter. Lenna made like a ninja, and vanished into the crowd. She found the Ranger a few minutes later, wearing a small smile on her face. "Got it. I trust you know where we're headed?" She hoped he knew where the security station was. That was their next stop.

As Lenna was dealing with the crowd and securing a guards keycard the Ranger was observing the other guards in the lobby. So far number of guards remained the same, the Ranger assumed that there would be two or three guards in the security room and after a disturbance like this at least one of them would come running.

Before long a guard came running out from a door off to the left of the main desk. The door was unmarked and had a keycard lock. The guard who came running had a coffee spill on his shirt, most likely from bolting up with coffee in hand when the chandelier came down. The Ranger moved to get a look inside, but the door shut too fast and the Ranger only caught a glimpse. There was at least one guard still inside, probably calling the security company or the hotel owner.

Looking back to the scene around the chandelier the Ranger noticed Lenna on her way, and with a smile on her face. "Got it. I trust you know where we're headed?"

"Yeah, that door there." The Ranger indicated the door which was painted to look like a continuation of the wall. "There is a guard inside. The door opens out an' is hinged on the left. You stand in front of it an' after unlockin' it swing it open fast, I'll get the guy inside and you head in right on my heels."

The Ranger moved to stand beside the door so s/he could wheel around and charge in when the door opened, s/he also licked the tips of his/her index and middle fingers. Electricity then sparked upon them, the Ranger was planning to vent electricity from the fingers into the guard thus incapacitating him.

Another good plan, Lenna noted. Michael was on a roll.

The door was the same color as the wall, but looking now, it was obvious it was the security room. It'd make sense the room would be on the ground floor. They'd want to be close to the entrances, so they could respond fast.

Lenna moved into place, slid the card, and opened the door. When it opened, the Ranger moved. She came in after her, and turned her attention to the computer. Lenna slipped into the computer chair, and moved the mouse. They'd have to move quickly. She checked the security logs from the entrance, and the cameras facing the street outside, starting from the time when the crash had been reported, onwards. She fast-forwarded through footage. Eventually, she came to something. Big Red and Michael's body, exiting the building. She watched which way they went.

Her eyes swung to the blond, checking to see she'd caught the same information. "Got it?" She asked. "After we're done with this, we may as well fry the computer and erase all the footage of the last few days..."

Lenna moved into position and opened the door. As soon as the door was open wide enough to fit the Ranger's now smaller frame s/he wheeled around and and shot through the door way into the room. The room was decently wide and about ten feet in length. the terminal for accessing cameras was closer to the door and the phone and safes were on the far end where a lone guard was just looking up, while on the phone, to the disturbance at the door.

The Ranger trusted Lenna would be behind him/her, and that she would head for the terminal leaving the Ranger just outside of her aura. S/he bolted across the room, the licked fingertips sparking. The guard rose to his feet, the phone now held by his neck so the people on the other end would not be able to make out anything he said, was he too have actually had the chance. The Ranger was upon him before any words left his mouth, the two fingers planted against his neck behind his left ear. S/he then forced some of his/her charge through those fingers into the guards neck incapacitating him.

The guard taken care of s/he moved back to where Lenna sat down in front of the computer. A moment later Lori and what Mars' twin walked into view on the screen. Lenna looked back at the Ranger, "Got it?"

"Yeah, are there any other cameras? Some places have cameras on the sides of the building showin' the walk way out front. If there's one it could show how long they hung out on this street, if they got a cab in the nearby area, or what have you."

The Ranger made sure to stand back from the computer, even in Lenna's aura the magnetic field might still have some adverse affects.

"After we're done with this, we may as well fry the computer and erase all the footage of the last few days..."

"Alright, when we do that I'll handle it you take overwatch. Whoever rent-a-cop there was talkin' to migh' come lookin' int' 'is sudden silence."

>> "Yeah, are there any other cameras? Some places have cameras on the sides of the building showin' the walk way out front. If there's one it could show how long they hung out on this street, if they got a cab in the nearby area, or what have you."

"Way ahead of you," Lenna said, bringing up the footage in question. On screen, Abyss and ManLori moved. They lingered, dripping, one in trunks, one in street clothes. And then, a strange brown-haired woman appeared in front of the two. Words were exchanged. Eyes... did something freaky. More words, then the woman with the brown hair started leading. They followed. Why they followed was unclear. There was a general direction, though. They could use that.

Lenna looked to Michael. "Know the brunette?" She lingered by the computer a bit longer, trying to figure things out.