It was the 'Emasculate Aurum Power Hour', and he was the star of the show. The three women hosts helping him were very good at their job.

A stripper. Seriously? Seriuosly.

Aurum arched an eyebrow.

These women were eying him now like a predator eyes its prey. He should have been praying it'd all stop, that he'd be able to escape and go home for a fresh pair of pants.

Of course, Aurum wasn't the 'run away' type, and these women didn't scare him one bit. He stayed. He laughed in Riley's face.

"Haha, a stripper? Are you sure you're only drinking ginger ale? You must be out of it." He turned towards the other ladies, leaving Riley all on her lonesome for the moment. He didn't have to, but he felt he ought to defend his name. "I'm not a stripper, ladies. And inadequacies? I don't have a clue what you're talking about. You're right though. No reason to bring up Lonnie. He did what he did, and should answer for it to miss Riley on his own. Me? I don't have a thing to apologize for." He shook his head confidently. "As for the rum?" He eyed the short-haired blonde at the counter. "If real men drink it, what does that make you?"

He shoots, he scores. Not really. It might not have been the beer making him act like an idiot, but something sure was. Maybe it was that thing called 'ego'? Well, whatever force had a grip on it, he really needed to tell it...

Leggo my ego.

Aurum shifted his attention back to Riley with a sarcastic smile. "Who are the crows?" He jabbed a thumb at the other two.

Riley smiled, the first genuine one Aurum had been graced to see. Too bad it was at his expense. The stripper comment had accomplished what a lap full of ginger ale and her cold, unfriendly demeanor had failed to do. Well, Riley allowed, maybe Lori and Lenna had played a bit of a part in the whole thing.

Someone had a bit of an ego. That ego was bruised.

Aurum asked if she was only drinking ginger ale, and Riley continued to smile brightly at him, raising her glass in a small, silent toast. It also appeared that he couldn’t ignore her comrades in arms any longer.

The comments were said to Lori and Lenna, but Riley had a feeling they were still directed at her. Aurum felt like he was apologizing even though he had nothing to apologize for. Her smile faded into a mask of emotion free stillness as Lori gave Aurum advice on leaving work at work.

The hell he didn’t have something to apologize for.

There were principals. Aurum had sat in that courtroom and watched Lonnie work his magic for Gerry. Riley hadn’t minced words, her record was anything but spotless, but she was honest. She had principles. Letting someone like Gerry walk the streets where he could and would use the same tricks over and over again was more than enough to apologize for.

She didn’t say it though. It wouldn’t change anything. Riley had learned that lesson over and over in the hardest ways possible.

Lori asked something about Russians, Lenna answered, and Riley decided that she was not important to this part of the conversation. Aurum got her full attention again.

She tuned back in just in time to hear him insult Lenna’s choice of drink. Riley didn’t know the other woman, but she had a feeling that had been a misstep by the pre-lawyer.

Aurum turned back to her and was favored with the same neutral face she’d had for the past several moments. Wow, had he really just said that?

”They’re my dates. We’ve been planning a girl’s only night for ages. Later we’re going to curl each other’s hair and paint nails.”

A broad smirk replaced the flat smile from before, ”Maybe you can join us and give some tips on waxing. I’m sure someone in your line of work knows all about ripping hair out by its roots in the most painful way imaginable.”

Suspicion was suspicion. Aurum didn't have to be attempting any seduction. The simple happenstance of him here and obnoxious was enough.

Lori took a drink of— hey. Her glass was empty. She set it on the bar with a clack loud enough to let the bar tender that seeing the bottom of her glass was not okay.

By the time she looked up? That which was said could not be unsaid. He'd really done it now. Aurum would likely not walk out unmarred if he continued this conversational course of action.

It was sweet of Riley to claim some attachment to them, but Aurum the cling-on was making a potentially relaxing idea into a quickly mounting scene of potential violence.

The bar keep refilled her and instantly Lori felt better armed for the unmanning of Aurum Goldboy, stripper extraordinaire. She let her distaste for Aurum simmer in her eyes and a smile show that her dislike would manifest cruelly at best.

He said what?

Lenna stared. She stared some more. She stared hoping daggers would shoot from her eyes. This guy had a death wish, and... it was making her neck hurt.

Dammit. Her chip.

Lenna turned to Lori. "We need to get out of here. This guy... is making me want to start tearing things out. Maybe not stopping with hair."

Lenna rose, polishing off her drink in one go. She stood next to Lori impatiently, then started walking. She needed air. Her neck pulsed. That freaking chip. Every time she got mad.

Aurum arched an eyebrow. "Right, because every time I talk--" People wanted to tear their hair out. He got her. Cute. "I'm more the master of making people want to tear out my tongue, though, wouldn't you agree? Think waxing can cover that?" He doubted it.

One of her friends got up to leave. He noticed, but he didn't do anything to stop her. Little Miss Manly could go if she wanted. It was a free bar (he wished). "Looks like the plan's hit a snag? He didn't look away from her. "Guess you're stuck here with me."

They were leaving. Lori and…Lenna were picking up their drinks and they were leaving. Aurum had been too much with his rude comments and hanging-on. The fact that they’d all made rude comments too had no bearing on the conversation, he was the uninvited party. Riley watched the retreating backs of the other two women, apparently she was too.

If Riley had been someone else, she would have followed, apologizing profusely and insisting that the attention was unwanted. But she wasn’t someone else, and she stayed in her seat at the bar. It was simply another job opportunity that Aurum had ruined. Riley hadn’t ever considered the fact that the two might actually be friendly towards her.

For a moment Riley wished that her strange talent worked on Aurum, that her mere proximity impeded his ability to breathe, simply so she could sit at the bar and watch him turn blue while she sipped the Ginger Ale he’d bought her. The mental picture was all that kept her from slapping the smug look off his face.

She took another sip of her Ginger Ale before she spoke, then she shrugged her shoulders. Her voice was measured and calm, but inside Riley was still raging. How dare he.

”So now it’s not enough that you practically ruined my career in court.” she said.

Another sip.

”Now you’re going to follow me around and ruin every attempt I make to fix the mess? Did Lonnie ask you to do it? Have you graduated from making coffee runs? Is it a personal favor for Gerry? I’ll bet they’re just best pals, is this what you have to do to get in the club?”

Riley took another drink, then set her glass on the bar to hide the way her hands were shaking with rage. He was trying to provoke her, he wanted an emotional response.

”And I could care less what people usually want to do with your tongue. “

Lenna was leaving. Jerk-face-Magee not only sullied another adapted rendezvous, he made her current partial null agitated enough to leave in a huff. She glared at least one more dagger his way just incase looks could kill before she dove into the crowd after Lenna.

Lori was careful. Always careful to keep her power stuffed deep down inside herself. Being around an adapted was the only possible time she could let that tight fist inside her chest relax. Being around two with a little sip of alcohol just might have weakened her resolve to keep herself in check.

The lights, already dim, flickered with the wring of Lori's emotion. She just had to grab Lenna. Had to pull her aside and let her know that they could get him back. Key his car or something. If he lost her both adapteds... she didn't want to think of it.

So when she was within range, she lunged. Despite the cocktail in her hand. Despite the crowd. Despite everything. She grabbed for Lenna's hand. But she was bumped and accidentally let go of her power.

The jostle forward had put Lori's hand squarely on Lenna's trapezius and her other arm, sticky with soda. Lori's eyes had time to widen before the bulb directly overhead brightened beyond capacity and burst. That just from a tendril of stray electricity. Most of it had traveled through her arm... into Lenna's shoulder.

The bar went suddenly, horribly quiet.

Lacy webbed white hot fingers of pain. Lenna felt... bad. Getting shocked with electricity was not good. Compounded with the headache of all the ciruits in the chip in her neck popping, every sensory detail related to the moment of contact with the Order leader was... lost.

Overwhelmed completely, her body couldn't handle it. As the lights in the bar flickered and dimmed, so too did Lenna's mind.

Suddenly, horribly quiet was a good description for Lenna's limp form on the floor, covered in soda pop and hard liquor. She was out.

The only consolation prize was the headache had stopped.

>> ”So now it’s not enough that you practically ruined my career in court.”

"I what?" Aurum laughed. Had it been that bad? He couldn't believe that. A woman like her? Wouldn't she be able to find lots of work?

She had the entirely wrong idea about what he was up to here.

What was he up to here?

Ah right. Drinking and bugging a pretty mean woman. She was pretty mean.

Aurum shook his bowed head and had to chuckle at her. "You've got it all wrong, lady. I--" Pause, note tongue comment, shrug it off. "'m not trying to ruin anything for you. I'm trying to have a drink, and I was trying to apologize for Lonnie being a completely ruthless lawyer. That's pretty much it. Look..."

Bzzzt. A light went out. Something fell. There were several sounds, of shock, of broken glass, a thump. Then, silence. Horrible, deathly silence. Aurum turned, beer in-hand. He eyed the bar behind him. "What was that?" His eyes fell on the fallen blond. He spun back towards Riley. "Call 911."

The beer clinked down on the counter. Aurum rose from his stool, moving to the the two women. He dropped into a crouch by their sides. "What happened? Is she going to be alright?!" There was worry in his voice. It was okay to be a jerk to them earlier, but when one of them was out like she looked to be, when anyone's health was in danger... being an asshat was not cool. He was serious. The woman needed help. Both of them did.

Bothering Riley could wait.

Riley just looked at him while he chuckled, wondering how hard he’d be laughing if she wiped the smirk off his face with the back of her hand. The violence of her reaction startled her slightly, and she covered up her grimace with another sip of the drink he’d bought her.

”Yeah. I’m glad you‘re amused.” she said a little miserably, and tried to do what she could to ignore him. Aurum, however, had other ideas. He tried to explain again, and Riley looked at him with eyes that were slightly widened in disbelief that he continued to persist.

He was so sincere. Riley frowned, wondering if she was just embarrassing herself by being so self-centered. Still, she didn’t like the man and he was definitely being a jerk by continuing to make unsolicited comments, and drink offers.

”So why don’t you just do us both a favor then and…”

The lights flickered, and one burned out. Glass shattered, and a few idiotic women squealed as a body hit the floor. Riley’s head swung around, and her eyes landed on the blond who’d been with Lori. From blond to blond she looked, then back up at the light. Hadn’t Lori said a while back that her powers had something to do with electricity?

Aurum ordered her to call 911. Riley rolled her eyes and looked over her shoulder to the bartender who was already on the phone.

Riley was sure everything would be fine, but she stood up and made her way to Lori. Man…Aurum was really hamming it up. What a golden boy.

The dark haired woman looked to Lori and spoke in a hushed voice, ”I thought you said she was like me…what happened?”

Lenna. Lori's hand was still outstretched. She'd just tried to catch hold of her and now she was on the floor.

"Oh shi-" Her whisper echoed weirdly between people. The Order leader had long since dropped her cup but now she was falling to her knees next to the woman she trusted. The woman she called a friend.

>"What happened? Is she going to be alright?!" Nosy McSnark-a-lot pushed his way through the now whispering crowd and Lori had the distinct urge to help his face make contact with the floor.

"I just... I just touched her." And Lori was afraid to touch her again. She started toward the other woman's pulse but ended up hovering. What if... What if she hurt her again? Lori grabbed Aurum's hands and put them at Lenna's neck. The other woman probably would not approve, but someone had to make sure that Lenna was alive.

"Put those stripper muscles to use and lift her. We're getting out of here." Lori stood and turned... right into Riley.

>”I thought you said she was like me…what happened?” Lori should have noticed the relaxing calm that came with Riley before she showed up, but she was distracted by how very limp Lenna was.

"Not entirely... Could you..." Did she have the right to ask Riley to accompany them? Lori seemed a bit lost. One thing was for sure. She wasn't letting Lenna get taken to some crummy state hospital.

Aurum eyed the blond. If a touch from her could do that... then, obviously the first thing she'd do would be touch him... Great. His hand touched neck. Aurum gave the woman holding his hand a hard look as he checked Lenna's pulse. She was assuming a lot of things. That he knew how to check pulses (1), that he was okay with her touching him (number 2), that he was actually a stripper (Whopping 3), and... that he'd help her take the woman somewhere, after they'd just called for an ambulance (4 and 5).

He didn't correct her on any of these assumptions. She seemed like she wouldn't listen to him, or any of his protests.

The woman stood and left him. She said something to Riley.

Like her. He didn't understand what that meant. The blond didn't sound so sure about it either.

Aurum turned to the both of them, desperation in his voice. "She's alive, in case the both of you were wondering. What exactly do you want of me? We just called for an ambulance. Where are you planning on taking her, if you don't want to deal with that?"

Riley watched thing progress from a step back with a slowly increasing sense of horror. People were gathering around now, worried about what had happened and wondering what they should do. It always shocked Riley, how ready people were to jump in and try to make a difference once things had been taken care of. It had been “Ahh!” and “Gasp!” and “Run!” when the lights were flickering and the sparks were dancing. Now that the woman was down on the floor…everyone wanted to help.

Except maybe Aurum. He looked slightly put off by the fact that Lori had put his hands on the other woman. Riley couldn’t blame him, it drew a lot of attention in their direction. Too much attention. Prospective bosses were in that audience and Riley didn’t want to be associated with any more drama than was absolutely necessary. She was about to turn and leave when Lori responded to her inquiry.

Riley nodded. It was possible to be ‘not exactly’ like her. The dark haired woman didn’t miss the fact that lawyer-boy was paying attention to the conversation. So what? Let him know she was a freak, maybe then he’d actually leave her alone.

All of a sudden, everyone was looking at her…or looking at her and Lori. Riley swallowed, she was in the middle of it now, and her eyebrows drew together as Aurum made what could only be considered a reasonable suggestion. It looked bad to stand in a bar looking at an unconscious woman. To leave the building with the still-unconscious woman looked worse.

”He’s right…” she said, wondering if it was possible for words to burn a person’s tongue. ”Shouldn’t she see a doctor? Where else would we go?”

Being assertive was always easier with a full tank of charge. Standing next to a full null after a discharge, it took strength of will and a far too limp friend. Lori shook her head until her ponytail went swinging side to side. "As if I'd wait for an ambulance. I know a unicorn." Lori kept hold of stripper boy's elbow and steered him bodily toward the door. For such a little thing, she had quite a bit of strength and she was willing to shove if necessary.

Stripper Aurum was insurance. If she stepped out of Riley's field, Lori wanted insulation between herself and Lenna. Just in case. He served that purpose nicely.

Everyone stood sort of dumbfounded. Now that the main show had ended there wasn't a whole lot left to see. Whispers built up and spilled over in their wake, but for the most part the general public went back to the bar to freshen their drinks and start the merry making all over again. By the time they hit the outer doors, the music had started up again.

"He's got a clinic south of Central Park." She was serious about the unicorn. She was also serious about going. Lori went to flag down a taxi.

>>"As if I'd wait for an ambulance. I know a unicorn."

"Ah, so you know Sebastian." Aurum commented sarcastically. Suddenly, everyone was connected. It was a small world. Well, Sebastian could probably help. He had his clinic. Aurum scooped the blond up into his arms with a bit of effort... not because she was heavy, mind you, because women are weightless and everyone knows that. No. Because he was lifting with his lower back, not his knees.

Lori grabbed his elbow and started directing him. Aurum cast one final look towards the confused patrons of the bar and followed her lead.