((open for one!))

Peering through the window, Noel couldn't believe what she was seeing. The glass was tinted, yeah, but… she didn't see anything. The agent took a step back and scratched her chin. She hadn't checked in as often as she was supposed to but… this had to be a joke. Noel jiggled the door again. Locked. She was feeling around the edges when a man poked his head out of the office next door.

"Noel? I thought that was you, come on in."

She hesitated because she had no memory of this man. That didn't mean anything, though… The brunette stepped inside and let the door close behind her. If nothing else it was a nice shot of air conditioning after the boiling city streets.

"Something wrong with your teeth?"

"My teeth?" She glanced from the piles of magazines to the illustrations of dancing molars on the walls. "Oh. Oh! My teeth!" This was a dentist's office. She put her hand up to her jaw. No. Nothing felt horribly out of place, though she did have a slight headache. "No, I uh, I just lost something and I thought I might have left it here?"

"Hmm. Nooo? I don't think we found anything since yesterday. What are you looking for keys? Sunglasses?" He glanced his question at the girl behind the check-in counter. She shrugged back at him.

Noel was in here yesterday? She touched her forehead as if that would help her remember. If she was here yesterday, didn't that mean that what had been next door had been there yesterday? The brunette shook her head. "What about next door? I could have sworn there was something there. Maybe I lost it outside?"

"Oh, I can't remember when they moved out. Pretty recently, but that space is for rent now. Whoa. Hey, are you okay?"

Her headache magnified tenfold. That was exactly what she did not want to hear. Her… her job had required her to go next door. She knew that, but for some reason now it was shut down or moved out.

Instinctively she reached for her comforts. Wallet? She felt a lump in her back pocket. Check. Phone… phone? She scrabbled at her pockets. "It's just a smart phone, but… you know. It's got my whole life on there." She was ashamed that her eyes were getting misty. That wasn't what she had been looking for initially, but that phone might be more important than her lost memories.

"I know the feeling. Don't worry. You'll find it." He clapped her on the shoulder and she looked him in the eye. "Sorry we couldn't help…" He trailed off and Noel felt like her eyes were trying to squirm out of her face. What was going on?

"I'm sorry, can I help you?"

Noel shook her head and wandered out of a dentist's office in a complete daze. She had no office. No phone. She felt for something else and found that she was wearing an empty gun holster.

"What the heck?"

It was like… like she didn't have a job anymore. Hand on head, Noel was so deep in thought that she didn't bother to wait for the crosswalk, she just wandered out into traffic.

Lucas leaned his back against the brick corner at the intersection as he rested on the sidewalk. He enjoyed the feeling of the sun warming his face as it reminded him of happier times back in Florida. A dirty coffee cup sat on the pavement in front of him, a few spare coins inside. He had fished it from a trash bin a block away as he made his way to the corner for his new morning ritual. He used to enjoy a premium coffee every morning but that was in another life. Now, the price of hot java was just too high.

Once or twice an hour, someone would drop some change into the cup and smile at him compassionately, but for the most part it served to keep the people of New York at bay. He never thought he would resort to panhandling but the twisting hunger in his stomach had taught him the true value of pride. He was embarrassed at first and tried to hide his face but after a little while, he started to notice how the majority of people made every effort not to walk near him or even look in his direction. Hiding seemed pretty pointless now so he just sat and enjoyed the sun. Once in a while, someone would try to engage him in a short conversation or offer him a bite to eat. For the most part, he was a ghost, invisible to almost all that passed by.

A female voice to his left managed to cut through the sounds of the morning traffic and found its way to Lucas’ ears.

"What the heck?"

Lazily, the homeless mutant turned his head to find the voice and appease his curiosity. A young woman, only a couple of years older than him he imagined, had just exited the building he was leaning on. She had distinctive curves and silky brown hair which caught Lucas’ eyes and kept his attention past the initial glance. She wore a look of confusion on her face as she discovered something she did not expect on her hip. Lucas couldn’t see what it was from his vantage point as it was on her opposite side from him. The woman seemed to forget the object as quickly as she found it and moved her hand up to her head. . She seemed lost to Lucas. He understood that feeling all too well.

With her hand still on her head, the beautiful woman began to walk forward, seemingly oblivious to where she was going. He watched the woman as she made her way towards the curb and then stepped off into the busy street. A bright yellow Cab with a Broadway show marquee strapped to its roof sped along the lane towards her. It was going too fast. Lucas knew it wouldn’t be able to stop in time. From what he had seen of New York cab drivers, it might not even try.

The restful daze cleared near instantly as adrenaline ignited Lucas’ muscles into action. He rolled forward onto his hands and sprung into a full sprint, knocking his cup over and spilling his earnings into the street as he darted away. A tall businessman in a grey suit walked along between him and his destination, oblivious to anything that wasn’t happening in his blue tooth conversation. Lucas didn’t break stride. He put his shoulder into the man and sent him flying to the ground as he flew towards the woman on the street. He looked up to see the Cab driver’s shocked expression when he realized he was going to hit the woman who had just stepped in front of him. The shock turned to fear as he pounded his foot on the break. A squealing sound roared out from the tires as the cab left a trail of black rubber on the asphalt behind it. Too little, too late. The cab couldn’t possibly stop in time.

Pushing himself to his limit, Lucas stretched out his arms and dove off the curb towards the confused woman’s back.

The brunette's head ached. Maybe she was dehydrated. Every sound was just so loud. That was the problem with cities. Lots and lots of noise. Like that honking. Always honking, but this one was incessant and seemed a little close for comfort. When the sound of screeching rubber was added to the din, she just had to look.

Noel felt like she was moving through Jello as she turned her head toward the car. Why was there a car here? She was on the sidewalk. No... Wait. That wasn't right.

It felt like she had forever to watch it sliding closer. The tires were locked in place by the brakes, but the rubber was too worn to catch the asphalt. Noel was definitely not on the sidewalk.

For some odd reason nothing about this situation phased her. She was far more worried about the strange turn her life had taken. Her next step should be to go to headquarters. But if HQ was shut down like her office was, then she would be stranded on an island that smelled of garbage and no guarantee that the barges would run as often. She had time to briefly consider if she still had an ankle pouch before something hit her hard. Though, not from the direction she was expecting.

The taxi bore down on the young woman despite the cab driver’s attempts to stop. The brunette raised her eyes as if in a dream and watched the car as it careened towards her. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Lucas flew towards the woman from the curb. His mind knew it was already too late and that he couldn’t get out of the way in time. He stretched his arms out to grab her in a desperate hope that there was still a chance.

Lucas drove into the woman’s side with his right shoulder and wrapped her up with his arms like a linebacker sacking a quarterback. He let his momentum pull the tinier woman in close to his body and hugged her limp body as tightly as he could. Dropping his left leg down to the ground as he connected, he pushed off the cement, spinning them both so he could turn his back to the oncoming car. He held onto the woman like a drowning man in a hurricane clutching a life preserver for survival. The young man shut his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth, awaiting the inevitable impact.

Time snapped back to normal and brought chaos with it. The impact from the cab threw the pair up and over the hood, directly into the windshield, where they left a spider web of broken glass as they passed. The yellow taxi continued to skid by and bounced the couple higher, over the Broadway marquee on the roof and past the driver’s door. Lucas gripped the lady with all his strength as the world spun around them. His back already throbbed and his left shoulder screamed to him to release his cargo but he stubbornly refused.

Opening his eyes, he found the world spinning out of control and no point of reference to focus on. It was like a child’s water painting where all the colors had blurred together. The sky and ground spun an intricate, swirling dance before the painted lines of the asphalt rushed up to embrace them both.

Both bodies landed hard on their sides between the two lanes of traffic and slid a few feet as the cab skidded clear. A rusted blue corolla in the second lane swerved wildly to avoid the couple and narrowly avoided running them over. Other sounds of screeching, honking and crashing vehicles began to mix together and branch out from the initial scene as the ripple effect of the accidents flowed outwards.

Lucas came to a stop with the young woman underneath him. He tried to rise up on his arms but his left shoulder buckled and he fell to his side. He ended up lying beside her between the two lanes. The taxi had been rear ended by a white minivan that had come to an abrupt stop beside them in the first lane. The driver, a young Indian woman, seemed dazed by the blow she had received from her air bag. She stared at the blood in her hands in disbelief, not realizing it was coming from her nose. The older gentleman in the silver Taurus opposite the minivan had more luck. He had clipped the blue corolla’s bumper in the second lane but other than shock, had escaped the incident unscathed.

Pain throbbed in Lucas’s shoulder and back as he sat up and looked down at the woman he had just saved. Her long brown hair was dishevelled and splashed across her face. He gently brushed it out of her eyes with his right hand and smiled down at her as she lay on the ground beside him.

”You sure know how to get a guy’s attention.” he chuckled. ”Are you ok?”

They went through the rinse cycle together. The first impact of their roll was the worst and Noel didn't even take the brunt of it. She fell squarely against… against whatever had hit her the first time. The word that came to mind here was squish.

But their energy wasn't spent yet. She hit glass and felt it crack under her elbow, the back of her head slapped against the metal roof of a car, but most of her was held securely against someone warm. The word that came to mind here was safe.

This was in not nearly as bad as that time she had accidentally pulled two people out of the back of a moving 18 wheeler. She had been the bottom of that pile.

Noel had to lay still to catch her breath because she'd lost it some tumbles ago. She coughed and that hurt in places she didn't even want to think about. "Nick?" She wasn't sure where the name had come from, but it felt right. She remembered a foil hat… he brushed the hair out of her eyes. That was too intimate a gesture for a stranger.

"Nick!" She used ab muscles that ached like after a good workout to pull herself up in a hurry so she could wrap her arms around his shoulders and hug him tight. He was real. She wasn't loosing her mind!

"God, I thought I was going crazy." She pulled back to look him in the eyes and to look over his face. She touched his eyebrow to brush away something black that had managed to smudge there. None of the blood and cuts mattered, but the grime did.

Noel didn't recognize a single feature of his face, but if anyone had come to save her it would have been her partner, right? She was good at pretending to remember people when they knew her. "Come on, let's get out of here. I know you like your cuts and bruises, but I'd rather not get flattened." That's right. Nick was fueled by cuts and scrapes like these. He could probably run all the way up the stairs of the empire state building with how he looked.

Pulling her savior to his feet, the agent kept his hand in hers so that they wouldn't get separated again. She had found a RUPERT agent. That meant RUPERT was real and he could help her find out how she had lost track of them.

She dashed in front of a blue compact that was only getting more compact with each impact. She had to step on the front bumper to hop over, but it wasn't a big jump. The brunette pulled him past a bus shelter and kept going. He always managed to move around just fine despite the pain and she was only just starting to get used to putting her body through that kind of strain.

They had to run… she wasn't sure why, but they were always running from what she could remember. "Where did RUPERT go?" She wheezed the question over her shoulder as she lead him along. Even she didn't know where they were going.

The young woman lay with her back on the pavement and her eyes closed. Her breath was heavy but she did not stir or answer Lucas’ question about her being alright. He leaned over her, thinking if he called out louder there might be a reaction and opened his mouth to speak. Before he could, the woman startled him by coughing in his face. He sat back as the brunette’s face twisted into a wince while the air escaped her lips. The smile left Lucas’ face as his brow furrowed with concern.

"Nick?" , she rasped groggily.

She thought someone else had saved her. Someone she knew. At least the woman could speak. This was good news.

Without warning, the woman lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Lucas’ shoulders and buried her head in his chest. Lightning shot through his injured shoulder as she squeezed him. He closed his eyes and fought against the tears.

"Nick!" , she exclaimed. She sounded excited and relieved. The brunette released the pressure on Lucas’ throbbing shoulder and sat back and continued to speak "God, I thought I was going crazy."

Lucas waited for the look of shock and embarrassment that was sure to come when she realized her mistake. Her eyelids fluttered open and their eyes met but the look never came. The woman gently raised her hand and wiped some dirt from above his brow as if she had known him all her life. She examined his face for a moment but Lucas couldn’t rip his gaze from those hazel eyes. The look in their brown and green depths was vacant and distant. He had seen that look a thousand times before from his grandmother when the dementia took hold. The young woman was lost in some past memory and Lucas was playing the part of someone else. With grandma, he would try to get her back to her room at the nursing home. This woman was a stranger and in much better shape than an 80 year old. In his current condition, he doubted he could force her to do anything and didn’t know where to take her if he could.

The brunette stopped examining his face and spoke to him again. "Come on, let's get out of here. I know you like your cuts and bruises, but I'd rather not get flattened." She grabbed Lucas by the hand and pulled him to his feet and then proceeded to lead him around the front of the blue Corolla. They both hurdled the car’s mangled bumper with ease and sped towards a nearby alley. The Cabby jumped out of his car and began yelling obscenities in a foreign language as the pair disappeared from the scene of the accident.

Graffiti stained walls and rusted trash cans decorated the sides of the alley as they fled through to the next street. The young woman moved with a level of grace and confidence which surprised and impressed Lucas. She had just been levelled by a cab but instead of waiting for an ambulance, her instincts had taken charge. Whatever memory had a hold of this woman; it fuelled her and filled her with some kind of purpose. If only he knew what that purpose was.

He tried to see if he could spot any injuries on her as they ran. Her elbow was scrapped and bleeding but it did not seem to be bothering her. A little further down the arm, his gaze fell on her forearm tattoo. A name and address. Noel.

His heart sank. The poor woman’s name was Noel. Lucas’ original suspicions were confirmed. The woman suffered from some form of memory loss and the tattoo was meant to help her find her way home. A wave of pity flooded over him as he remembered watching the last few years he had spent with his dying grandmother.

"Where did RUPERT go?", she wheezed breathlessly over her shoulder as they ran, shaking Lucas from his thoughts and back to the alley which was speeding past. Noel was becoming winded and the couple would not be able run much longer. They burst out of the alley onto another sidewalk. A subway station entrance a few meters away offered shelter from anyone who might be trying to follow. Lucas took control and pulled Noel towards the stairs which would lead down to the platform.

”I don’t know where Rupert is”, he told her as he lead her by the hand. ”We might have some luck if we go to the address on your arm.”

New York was still pretty much a mystery to Lucas. He didn’t have a clue where the address could be. That didn’t really matter though. The most important thing was to find this woman some kind of help. If he could find a way to discover the location of the address it would be great. If not, a hospital would do just as well.

They descended the steps into the cold cement tunnels leading to the subway station. Lucas slowed his pace so Noel could walk beside him but he continued to hold her hand, hoping it would bring her some feeling of comfort and security. He turned and looked at her as they walked. Was there a chance she remembered something of her life that could help Lucas get her home? He had to try as there were few other options he could think of.

“Hey Noel, I got pretty turned around back there. You have any clue which way it is to get back to your place?” , he asked her hopefully.

Nick yanked her toward the subway. That was a good idea. They could get further away from whatever they were running from. He did not know where RUPERT was. She would have tasted it if it were untrue. That was a bad sign, but not unexpected. If she had brought Nick into the company, when they cut her out they would cut him out too.

"I'm so sorry I got you into this." Noel's hand went to her hurt elbow. Her head was throbbing in the front and in the back now, but her elbow had the sharpest pain. So long as Nick kept quite about his hurts, she would too. She had set women's lib back enough already with the car thing.

"They won't be at my apartment and you're not getting in either. It's a wreck right now." It was a mess always and she never let visitors in if she could help it. Her neighbors deserved better than the danger she might bring home from the job.

Oh! Her ankle pouch! Noel stopped short and shook her hand free of Nick's. That sent spidering stabs of pain up from her elbow and so she stopped that too before bending down in the middle of the platform to check for her ankle pouch. She didn't keep weapons in there, they would have had no reason to take it!

"Sweet. They missed it." Noel unzipped a little black pouch and a map spilled out from it's confinement. That thing never liked to be folded up so tightly. The map, Noel handed up to Nick. It was marked with several different locations. RUPERT check points, favorite restaurants or coffee shops and notes about where an Adapted lived, where the Sanctuary was and even the X-Mansion. Everything was labeled in tiny, but neat all caps lettering. Noel felt around in her pouch for the other things she often kept there. She had two hermetically sealed subdermal tracking devices and the injector still. This was a serious oversight.

"Oh crap." Maybe it was the blood rushing to her head or maybe it was the realization that she still had a tracking device in her body, but suddenly Noel really needed to sit down. Rather than dirty her suit (as if it mattered since the elbow was bloodied) she knelt where she was. Putting her head above her torso helped the throbbing immensely. Pushing the palms of her hands against her eyes helped too.

Was she running from RUPERT? Or running to them? Did they mean to cut her out or had some slip of her memory made her forget that they had moved the base for security reasons?

She sniffled from behind her hands. If she pressed hard enough against her eyes, nothing would leak out."You're right, I might have notes at home. Just... when we get there, stay out in the hall, okay?" She sniffed again and wiped at her nose with her knuckle before tucking the small bit of medical equipment back into her ankle pouch. The subdermal trackers only looked like small square medical packages with a tiny bead vacuum sealed in the middle, but the fact that she had them proved more than anything that she hadn't just dreamed RUPERT up in her head.

Noel's apartment was nestled in a cluster of notes near the Sanctuary, but the number was clearly marked even if it hadn't been tattooed on the inside of her arm.

Lucas focused on the details of the map he had been handed by the beautiful woman beside him. His eyes devoured the page as he searched for any hint to the mysterious brunette’s identify. The first thing he found was her apartment. It was clearly marked beside a place called “Sanctuary”. It was probably a place that Noel felt safe like a park or coffee shop. It was a good bet that someone would recognize her there if no one was at her apartment. Both locations were in the south end of Brooklyn. About half a dozen stops along the orange F line would bring them within walking distance. It wouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to get there if the trains were running on time. He started to fold up the map when the name “Rupert” in capitals caught his eye. He stopped and studied the entry more carefully. “RUPERT checkpoint”. Scanning further he saw many more entries around the city with the same heading. Something wasn’t adding up.

When Noel had asked about Rupert, she wasn’t talking about a person. She was talking about something different. Rupert seemed to be some kind of underground network that operated out of every day businesses throughout the city. Lucas struggled to make sense of this new discovery before the possibility dawned on him. When it came to him, it seemed obvious. Noel didn’t just have some form of memory problem, she was schizophrenic. It all made sense. The confusion, the detailed fantasy, the arm tattoo and the erratic behaviour all pointed to the same conclusion. Lucas finished folding the map and stuffed it into the back pocket of his jeans and turned around to face the woman he had saved in the street only moments ago.

Noel’s face had turned pale and her eyes fluttered slightly. “Oh crap.” She said and fell to her knees. She raised her hands to her eyes and held them there, supporting her head. Lucas saw the problem. Blood had begun to matt in the hair at the back of her skull. She had suffered a blow to the head when the cab had hit them. During their flight through the alley, her long brown hair had been bouncing with each step and hidden the injury from Lucas’ searching. Now that she kneeled before him, he could see it clearly.

More conflicting thoughts assaulted Lucas’ mind. Noel could have a concussion too. Nothing made sense any more. Was she brain damaged, schizophrenic or concussed? Maybe it was a combination of the three? This was all beyond the young man’s abilities. He was in over his head and he knew it.

Lucas had fallen through the cracks when he came to New York and lost his way. Fate had forced him back on the path he chose but was punishing him for straying too far from his promise to his grandmother. All Lucas knew was he had to help this woman somehow. Only one thing he could do would help for sure. He would take some of her pain away.

"You're right; I might have notes at home. Just... when we get there, stay out in the hall, okay?" Noel whimpered as she wiped her nose with her knuckle. The woman fumbled with something in her ankle purse while Lucas knelt down in front of her. He gently reached out and took the brunette's hand in his. Looking into Noel's face, he tried his best to sound calming and supportive.

“Noel, I am going to take away some of your pain now”, he said, pausing to give her a chance to understand every word. “This won’t hurt at all. The truth is.....it....well, it is going to feel really, really great.”

Closing his eyes, Lucas focused on the energy flow of Noel’s life. He could feel its vibrant stream coursing through her veins. He reached deeper, trying to find that spark which he could draw from and pull the pain away. It shone in his mind like a beacon and he wrapped himself around it and began to draw it’s warmth into himself.

Agony stabbed at him from the inside. He felt the skin peal from his elbow. The back of his skull exploded as vessels ruptured and the blood began to pump through his newly formed wounds to dribble down his neck and arm. The mutant clenched his jaw to fight off the new sensations of his devastated body and a groan escaped his lips. Noel was strong. Stronger then he thought. She was much more hurt then he realized yet she had hidden it from him during their escape from the accident.

Lucas opened his eyes and looked into Noel’s face to see the blissful ecstasy his gift had bestowed upon her.

Take some of her pain? Noel's face clouded. Nick did not take pain away. He used pain to fuel his power. She felt guilty that she had helped jump start that power... But that was the only hurt he ever took from her. Would she have forgotten about a growth in power like that?

Yeah. She wouldn't put it past herself.

He took her hand and she watched him as he got serious. At first nothing happened, but she saw a cringing around his eyes and a tightening of his lips. It felt like an egg had been cracked on her head. There was egg on her head and the gooey insides of that egg were dribbling down at a thick pace leaving no gunky trail behind. A chill ran up her spine and goosebumps marched down her arms.

Everything that gooey center touched sent tingles through her flesh. The back of her head felt like fireflies danced through her hair. Some of it must have dripped onto the back of her arm and a hundred other small places that all felt strangely good.

Noel licked her corners of her lip, tongue touching old scar tissue on one side and smooth skin on the other. She took a careful moment to think and another to refocus her eyes on the face in front of her. Nick couldn't do that. She would have remembered it.

"How did we meet?" Her voice was breathy. She cleared her throat and repeated the question with more authority. There. That was better. If this was Nick, he would know. He would know and she would know that it was true. If it wasn't Nick...

"How did we meet?" she breathed.

Those beautiful hazel eyes fluttered open and bore into Lucas’ sole. He felt like a 6 year old sitting in front of the principal. Without the pain to cloud her thoughts, Noel had found focus. She seemed clearer, more aware, but something was still missing. Her memory was still fractured. Using his mutant powers allowed Lucas to help the injured woman’s physical suffering but by doing so, he had given her the clue she needed to figure out he was not her trusted friend. The veil was partially lifted and the man behind the curtain was nothing more than a stranger.

A harsh, authoritative tone had entered the young brunette’s voice as she repeated the question. "How did we meet?" Her stare was unflinching while she waited for Lucas to respond.

The newly acquired throbbing in Lucas’ skull obscured his thoughts. He looked to the cold cement floor between them and then closed his eyes as he tried to collect his words from the fog of pain that assaulted him. His left arm hung limply at his side, nearly useless now that the adrenaline was wearing off. The only feeling that remained was a dull ache, deep within the joint. A slow trickle of blood had run down his right forearm from the large gash that had opened up on his elbow and began to drip off his index finger, forming a small crimson puddle on the ground. A hundred other scrapes, aches and bruises competed for his attention. None of it mattered to him anymore. His body had been pushed to its limit and teetered on the brink, but he had to keep his promise. He had to help Noel if he could. A deep sigh escaped his lips as Lucas opened his eyes and looked back up to face the mysterious woman. She continued to stare, unblinking, while she waited for him to answer.

“You walked in front of a taxi and I tried to push you out of the way.” Lucas said without taking his eyes from hers. It took him a moment to find the right words before he continued. “You seemed.....confused. You need help. All I want to do is help you. Please let me do that. Let me make sure you get somewhere safe.” He reached out his bloody right arm and tried to take Noel’s hand again. She pulled back from his touch, never taking her eyes from him. Lucas felt helpless as he knew the next words from his mouth would be the most damning. He needed to tell her the truth now that she was asking even though it would confirm her suspicions. To try and continue to play along with the fantasy could only make things worse, if that was even possible. Lucas took a breath and gave Noel the answer she was searching for.

“I'm not Nick. My name is Lucas. The first time I ever laid eyes on you was just before you stepped off the curb in front of the cab.”

He looked ashamed. That wasn't a good sign.

Noel clenched a fist as she stood to face him. He was taking advantage of her memory problem. He... he was talking. And he was being honest. With a big sigh she stuffed all that anger back down inside of herself. Count to ten. She closed her eyes and made herself loosen her fist. He was helping her and she could not take her frustrations out on him just because he made for a convenient target.

Ten. She re-opened her eyes and snatched her map back from him. "Thank you." She folded it nimbly into it's former squareish shape. "For being honest."

She bent down again to put the map away and noticed a small drip that lead back up to this Lucas' arm. Noel blinked and then looked at her own arm. The suit coat sleeve was damp, but... She shrugged it off and wipped at her arm to see... nothing. It was normal.

It was too hot to put the coat back on and it was trash now anyway. Noel balled it up under her arm and heaved a sigh. "You took my wounds didn't you?" She didn't sound entirely pleased. "I don't need your help." She jabbed a stiff finger into his chest. "I shouldn't. I mean, this isn't exactly a normal day."

Noel heaved an even bigger sigh.

"I know a healer." The least she could do was to get him healed up before dumping him off somewhere. Kurt was in no way associated with RUPERT except through her. He would be happy to hear that they were gone.

That was not the reaction Lucas had expected. Whenever his grandmother would become lost in the past, telling her the truth would shatter her like a glass statue thrown off an overpass. Noel didn’t crack at all. Far from it. Instead of collapsing or crying, anger had boiled over and taken hold. At first it was directed at him and he thought she would pummel him into the dust but then the young woman had seemed to force it inward. She used it as fuel to power her. He was learning more about this mysterious brunette every moment they spent together and he was beginning to like what he was seeing.

Lucas had pitied her. He had considered her frail and damaged. This was not because of her but because of his own past. The memory loss had painted a picture he had seen before and the young man wanted to wrap his arms around this woman and protect her without knowing more. But she didn’t need protecting. Noel went much deeper then what his first glance had shown him. Now Lucas realized she actually knew her mind was cracked and gained strength from it. Instead of slinking away to hide and let others take care of her, Noel had fearlessly faced her flaws and overcome them. The tattoo on her arm, the map, the hard exterior and the unwillingness to accept help when it was offered were a testament of how she had adapted and made a difficult situation liveable. Things had gone full circle. Lucas was unable to protect himself in his current state. He needed Noel’s help now more then she needed his. Maybe that was the case since they got up off the street.

A smile crept across his face despite the pain as he slowly got back off his knees. His body wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and it took every ounce of strength to push it into a standing position once again. His back felt weak but held as he took a moment to get his balance. He shifted slightly from foot to foot, checking to make sure he would be able to walk. Lucas noticed his left arm had started to take on a bluish tinge as the circulation was impeded by his shoulder. The tribal tattoos that laced the surface of his arm seemed slightly dulled to him with the new contrast his skin’s color provided. A healer didn’t sound like a bad idea at all.

When he looked at the woman again, he could see a fire had burned away the clouds of confusion and simmered within their light brown depths. The brunette’s long silky hair fell around her shoulders effortlessly perfect, despite the ordeal they had just shared. The scar on Noel’s left cheek was a stark contrast to her soft, smooth skin and only helped accentuate the determination in the woman. Others would have tried to hide that scar under long bangs or excessive make-up, but that wouldn’t fit the person Lucas was beginning to see. Everyone had baggage, some visible and some hidden deep inside. Noel left her scars in plain sight for the world to stare at, daring them to judge her. Lucas had made this mistake and it took this long for him to comprehend how wrong he was. Pity had been the greatest insult possible.

“This healer of yours, does he have cats?” Lucas’ smile grew into a devilish grin. “I’m a bit allergic and I would hate to get a runny nose. That could ruin my normal day.” He waited, hoping to catch a glimpse of a smile if it managed to crack her defensive mask.

"He doesn't have cats. Not that I remember." Noel had a very specific image in her head of who they needed to go see, but she would have to consult her map to make sure they could get there. In the mean time...

She stuck her fingers in through the hole in the elbow of her old suit coat and stripped the forearm right off. The fabric was old enough that it didn't put up too much resistance and the suit jacket was wool. Absorbent, except for the bit that had her blood on it.

The brunette handed the sleeve to Lucas so he could do with it what he wanted. She wasn't his mother and she sure as heck didn't want to ask him where it hurt. "You're bleeding." Her tone all but said that he should stop it. Like Lucas had a choice whether to bleed or not.

The map came out again and she traced her finger around until she saw small letters that read HEALER. That wasn't too far from her apartment. They could get there on the way so long as nobody passed out first and the two of them were already in the subway. That was half the battle, right there.

She took them toward the orange line and paid for their tickets in cash. Funny how a bleeding man only attracted a few glances. Most New Yorkers seemed to be almost obsessed with minding their own business. Noel kept herself glued to Lucas' arm. She wasn't hovering, she wasn't even touching him. She was guarding his body. If he fell down, it would do neither of them any favors.

Noel offered help as needed to get Lucas out of the subway and up the stairs. She led him around until she was sure that she only recognized one building. This was all trickier when she didn't know exactly what she was looking for. Once at the building, the agent ran her finger down the grimy panel and stopped when she saw the name "J. Smith" with NO SOLICITING scribbled in red marker next to it. The button had been white once upon a time, but it was more yellows and browns painted with the patina of time and use. Noel jabbed the button as hard as she'd jabbed Nick —No, this was Lucas— in the chest. They waited. And waited... And wait-

"What?"

"I... there's a..." Noel was having a hard time figuring out what to say. Finally she settled on: "He's bleeding."

There was a long silence. So long that she almost pushed the button again.

"I told you to stop bringing people here." The buzzer sounded and the door lock retracted.

She looked at Lucas and shrugged. This was as new to her as it was to him. Noel was sure to hold the door for her ward. The poor guy was starting to look really pale. One flight of stairs later and they were knocking on a plain, un-numbered door half way down the hallway.

Noel had been here before. Many times, in fact, if she could catch snippets of remembering despite a good mind wipe.

There was a grumble that sounded something like 'took you long enough' and the sound of an abnormal number of locks being disengaged. Noel's apartment door was much the same. She felt an instant kinship with whoever was behind the solid oak.

The door opened just a crack to reveal a glimpse of a man in a avocado green velour bathrobe who may not have bathed or shaved in the last four days. Black socks pulled up almost to his knees, boxers and nothing above that excepting a pair of sunglasses, the robe and a shiny aluminum foil hat.

Noel put her hand between the door and its frame. She wasn't sure why, but she thought he might slam it shut in their faces.

"Get out of here."

"You've gotten good business from me in the past." She sounded a bit unsure of that, but surely he had if she had been here many times.

"No, I get funny business from you." He was looking around for something to dislodge her hand.

"I won't do anything. I can keep my eyes shut or stare at the corner the whole time if it makes you feel better."

He huffed and there was something in the way that he stepped away from the door that said some of this they had played out before. The door swung toward Noel's fingers, but stopped just short. The sound of a chain jangled and then the door opened all the way. A cat tried to dodge out from under a pile of trash to sweet, sweet freedom, but John caught it just before it crossed the threshold. The place was a complete dump excepting a curiously clean hospital gurney wedged in a kitchen nook. The bed was suspicious as the only clean thing there.

"You gonna stand in the door?

Noel motioned Lucas toward that gurney and then put her hands over her eyes like a kid playing hide-and-seek. "Lucas is hurt. I have cash." Those seemed like the most important things to get out of the way.

John huffed at Lucas and closed the door after him. "No one followed you?"

"I think RUPERT got dissolved." She wasn't sure why she told him, but he grunted out something that sounded like an 'I told you so' and got down to business.

Paranoid business, but still business.

John's way of healing felt something like having a blow dryer trained on the skin. From his hands came a warm rush of hot air that almost felt like it could bake away wounds. Noel found a chinese food stained magazine to peruse while she faced the wall like a good little girl.

"He doesn't have cats. Not that I remember." Noel said with a matter-of-fact tone in her voice and proceeded to tear a strip of cloth from her ruined suit coat. She handed it to Lucas and he took it with his one good hand. "You're bleeding." the young woman informed him as if he was not aware. Lucas’ left arm was all but dead weight now and the blood on his right elbow was unreachable to him without it so he stuffed the makeshift tourniquet into his pocket when she turned away. She had missed his joke completely and her smile continued to elude him. Asking her for help to staunch his bleeding elbow seemed inappropriate now for some reason.

After handing him the homemade bandage, Noel bent over to fetch her map from her ankle pouch. Her smooth dress shirt pulled tight against the arch of her back and revealed the angel wing tattoos through the sheer fabric.

“Interesting” Lucas mused. Noel seemed to have a bit of a wild side hidden just below the surface. He let his eyes wander for a moment before the dizziness took hold. Colors faded from view until everything seemed like an old silent movie from the 20s. The center of his vision blurred further and the world stretched back to the opposite end of a dark tunnel. Lucas stumbled back a step and found the wall, which he used to support himself as Noel continued to search for their destination. By the time she had finished plotting their course, only luck had kept the young man on his feet.

The next few minutes didn’t register as Lucas experienced the trip like a zombie in some film about the undead apocalypse. Noel guided the young man through the maze of New York’s streets to the healer’s apartment, nothing registering for the man except the effort of putting one foot in front of the other. He knew he had to keep walking but was having difficulty remembering why.

When things began to clear again, Lucas felt warm and secure. It was like he was lying on the grass beside his grandmother’s grave, the warm air from the gulf blowing in across his body. The pain had been lifted away by the summer breeze and a soothing comfort remained where agony had been. He hadn’t felt this good in a long time.

His eyes opened lazily and he gazed up at the greasy looking man in the green bathrobe and tin foil hat hovering over him.

“Jesus!” Lucas exclaimed, startled. He rolled to his side instinctively and fell the two feet from the gurney to the trash strewn floor of the apartment. The place was a disaster. Pizza boxes and other assorted fast food receptacles littered every corner of the home. A cat box sat in the corner, obviously neglected for some time based on the amount of clumps resting in it. A large orange tabby sat on top a mountain of old newspaper, licking its paw to groom itself. It looked down at Lucas on the floor the way only cat’s can as if to say, “Shut up. You’ve been here 5 minutes, I got to live here.”

Standing up, Lucas stretched his muscles to test them for any signs of his previous injuries. He was a bit stiff and his shoulder was still a little sore but there was no sign of any lasting damage. It was as if he had slept wrong the night before and it had been an otherwise normal day. Noel sat near the door, her back to him while she idly flipped through a magazine. His eyes lingered for a second before he turned to the strange little man that healed him.

“I don’t know if she told you but I don’t have insurance.” Lucas kidded. The man just rolled his eyes and ignored the comment as if Lucas wasn’t even there.

“He is wearing a tinfoil hat and thinks I am weird.” Lucas mussed to himself. “I need to work on my material.”

Turning back around he walked towards the door with the peephole on it, assuming it was the exit of the apartment. He called out to Noel cheerfully as he crossed the floor.

“I’m good to go when you’re ready. I think I’ll head downstairs and wait for you there if that’s ok? Give you guys a chance to chat, catch up or ….” Or what? How did she even know this guy? The healer obviously didn’t get out much and ordered all of his food from the dingiest places known to man so it wasn’t like they could have run into each other at the grocery store. This was a mystery Lucas didn’t care to give any more thought to. He let the sentence drop as his hand connected with the door knob and he casually stepped out of the apartment, closing the door behind him.

Lucas didn’t just feel healed, he felt reborn. He was almost skipping as he went down the steps, taking two at a time and jumping the last few feet to each landing. He started to whistle to himself about half way down and even wished an elderly woman a pleasant day as he past her between the 2nd and 3rd floor. When he stepped out onto the building’s stoop, the rushing sound of traffic and urban crowding that rushed to meet him seemed a bit less harsh and a bit more comforting somehow.

The small baskets of colorful flowers adorning the front of the nearby bodega caught Lucas’ eye and he strolled over to admire them. The mingling aroma of the myriad of blooms tickled his nostrils and threatened to overpower his senses. A small bouquet of yellow lilies caught the sun light and stood out, pleading to be purchased. He reached into his pocket and fished out some of his change and was delighted to see he had enough. Barely, but enough. A young portly man with a cheerful grin and a dark blue apron stepped out of the store to offer assistance and the transaction was complete in seconds.

Armed with a fresh bouquet and a smile, Lucas turned back to the apartment doors to meet Noel as she came back out to the street. Things were looking up.

> "Jesus"

"No, but you may address me as 'Master.'" John chuckled and then just couldn't contain himself after his own joke. He guffawed until Lucas made a quip of his own. The tinfoil hatted man wiped an imaginary tear from his eye and looked Lucas over. He obviously didn't know how this worked if he thought John would be stupid enough to deal with large corporations or government agencies.

John gave him the blandest look until maybe the kid felt some heat and went down to the street for air.

Noel fished in her wallet for cash. There were several envelopes in the back and for this she pulled out a pink one labeled "healing." Every bill was of the same denomination. Apparently healing did not come cheap. She held up two of the bills over her shoulder and John must have snapped them away because they disappeared almost immediately.

"You collecting boys now?"

"When was I last here, John?"

He sighed and Noel heard him adjusting his foil hat. Or maybe he was taking off his sunglasses?

"Lookit me."

She hesitated, but when he repeated himself she did turn around. And gasped. John's sunglasses her gone. She caught a brief flash of gray eyes before she focused intently on his nose.

"You haven't been here in a long time. Months. And the last time you came in was with a new recruit. You're not recruiting again are you?"

"I think they're gone. Nobody to recruit for." A shrug seemed appropriate here.

He sighed as if satisfied without he answer she gave. "They're never gone, girlie, but at least you know not to play for their team anymore. You wanna write that down?"

Noel opened her mouth for, no doubt, a witty repartee but there was a loud crunching sound that echoed outside the building. Their eyes met and Noel felt a headache swelling up again.

The guy shoved her out with no less than a roar. She stumbled on the landing and the door slammed in her face. Well! She didn't want to be in that cruddy apartment any longer than she had to… not that she was entirely sure why she had been here in the first place.

There was a sound outside of a severe car crash nearby and, after she took a moment to roll her sleeves up, Noel was trotting down the staircase to check out the noise. It was her job, after all, to tag troublesome mutants and where there was noise there was sure to be a mutant flinging fireballs or something.

She was wrong.

At the bottom of the stairs there was a man waiting with flowers (waiting for some girl, no doubt). She didn't see a mutant, not immediately, but she did see an incredibly crashed car about a block down the street. She puffed out a breath. "Is that all?" She thought it was something actually dangerous going on.

Noel jogged down the stoop and touched her holster, wondering where her jacket might have run off to. Her holster was empty.

"What the heck?" Something tickled at the back of her mind like this was familiar and Noel looked both ways for a car, not sure why she even bothered since the wreck down the street was already stopping up traffic.

She was starting over again.

A car came sailing through the air, through the air and slammed into a building some blocks south of where she stood. That building looked… it looked like… "My apartment!" She broke into a sprint, running toward the slow rain of cars. She needed to know what was going on, but most of all, she had to make sure her apartment hadn't gone up in flames. Another car smashed into a building somewhere to her west. The agent tried to figure out where they were coming from. There wasn't a cloud in the sky...