The numbers Lisa had given Garth turned out to be very useful. He had spoken to one of the girls in person. The other number went straight to voice-mail. Garth wasn't sure if she had be taken to a mutant camp or her battery was just dead.

With both of them, Garth had told them to meet him at the Insomniacs Anonymous, the coffee shop that was becoming a nice gathering place for unregistered mutants.

Garth was in the last booth of the store. He sat with a can of soda on the table; he was rather displeased with the taste of coffee. His hood up as usually, Garth's face remained unseen by the others in the store.

Man, at the rate we're going we might as well just turn this place into a Resistance hideout!, thinks Sonya as she walks through the doors of Insomniac's Anonymous. She hasn't been here since her last meeting with Syn and Ash, but it's beginning to feel fairly familiar.

She looks around carefully, trying to spot the guy who arranged the meeting, or conversely to spot the undercover cops if this turns out to be a trap. She's pretty sure it's not a trap, though, since Syn had confirmed that this Garth fellow was legitimately one of hers. (Granted, she wouldn't put it past Syn to throw her to the cops if there was a reason to do it, but she can't think of any reason.)

She'd also given Sonya an assignment -- to obtain the list of registered mutants and their powers -- which left Sonya with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was nice to feel useful... on the other hand, she was nervous. Sure, she had these powers and everything, but really she didn't know the first thing about espionage and stuff. What if she screwed it up?

But this really wasn't the time to worry about that. She orders a cup of coffee and a slice of lemon meringue pie, and looked around the room casually, wishing she'd arranged some kind of recognition code. Still, there were only about half a dozen customers... how hard can it be to play Spot The Mutant? Damned hard, I hope... otherwise we don't stand a chance of hiding.

Still, her attention is irresistably drawn to one customer in a back booth, who had his -- or her? -- face hidden by a hoodie, the way Sara did at Sanctuary. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, she thinks to herself, and walks over to the booth.

"Hi... my name's Teresa. Are you Gary?" She hopes he's quick enough to realize she's deliberately not using his real name, in case it's not him.

The hood of the person moved so that the blackness was aiming at the new arrival. The light was that the mouth was visible. A evil grin spread across it as Sonya introduced herself.

"If you mean Garth, then yes." He slid his hood off, something he ratherly did in puiblic. The shaggy blond hair suddenly became visible as the darkness was replaced with light.

> "If you mean Garth, then yes."

Sonya nods and sits across from Garth with her coffee and pie. "Yup, that's what I mean... just making sure you're the right guy." She considers offering a handshake, but something about this guy seems to discourage sociability... and it's not like she really needs to confirm he's a mutant.

When he slides his hood down, she's briefly startled: she'd expected him to be concealing some sort of obvious mutation, but instead he's a fairly typical-looking guy, not someone she'd give a second glance at if she met him on the street. If anything, the hood draws more attention than his face does. She doesn't say anything about it, though, just sits and sips her coffee.

"So... the boss said something about maybe hooking up with a couple of others for this little shindig, but she's not much on details. You know if anybody else is joining us?"

"I called a girl named Ash but I was only able to leave a voicemail. She might have been captured and sent to the camps. So we are proceeding without her until we get more information." Garth took a swig of the soda then leaned back, placing his hands behind his head.

"So you know what we have to do right?"

> "So you know what we have to do right?"

Sonya covers her initial uncertainty with another sip of coffee, then looks around to make sure nobody is listening and tries to sound confident. "What I hear is, the boss wants access to the registration logs -- who got registered and what their powers are."

"I've asked around some: turns out all of that stuff is maintained in a central database, don't know where the server is, but all the remote processing facilities have access to it. I figure we can target one of the smaller ones and infiltrate... get in and get out before they even know we're there. I'm pretty good at that sort of thing, actually -- I figure if we can get me inside without tripping any alarms, and then set off some kind of distraction at the right time outside, I can get the information."

"The tricky part is, getting me inside with those Stalker things guarding the perimeter. Any thoughts?"

"Well I could be the distraction while you infiltrate the base. Those Stalkers will have to go for quite a hunt to find me." Garth said laughing lightly.

"You get the information. The place will probably be going crazy if I do a good job. You shouldn't have too much trouble. After you have hacked the information, give me a call and I'll be there to pick you up."

That easy, huh? Sonya takes another long sip of her coffee while she contemplates the situation she's found herself in.

Garth seems so confident... actually, practically all the mutants she'd ever met were like that, like they could handle anything. Naveed was exceptional in that regard, but they all seemed to have it to some degree or another. Like they weren't afraid of getting hurt, or of dying.

Well, except for Calley. He's a dozen different kinds of weird, but one thing you definitely can't claim is that he lacks a sense of self-preservation. Even so, though... what kind of person invites a complete stranger to live in his apartment like that, just because she's a fellow mutant? Granted that he didn't have much there to be stolen, but still... it's not something Sonya or anyone she'd ever met before coming to Manhattan would have done.

On the other hand, it's not like sitting peacefully in their rooms was going to keep them safe, either. The raid on Sanctuary had proven that. I guess it's easier to be brave when running away isn't going to help. Not to mention that this is her job now... it's not like she has much of a choice.

"OK... I'll let you worry about that part, then." Privately, she's not entirely convinced Garth can get all the Stalkers following him... but then again, she has no idea what he's capable of. "Are you sure you'll be OK, though? Those things are pretty tough."

As Grath eyed 'Teresa', he noticed she seemed to be thinking about something...However, she snappped out of it. Her response caught Garth rather off guard. She was concerned for him? That was a first. He however kind-of liked the idea of at least somone thinking about him if something happened to him.

"Don't worry about me. It isn't like I have to fight them, just run fom them. But how are you going to convince the guards to let you in?

> "But how are you going to convince the guards to let you in?"

"Yeah, that's the problem. I think I can manage it, though... it'll just take a little bit of planning." She could show up as Officer Schumacher, and they'd probably let her in... but as soon as they figured out what had happened, Doug would be under suspicion.

Alternatively, she could try to recruit Naveed... his power would be ideal for dealing with the guards. On the other hand, she really can't count on him to use anything remotely resembling stealth... he'd probably have all the guards shoot each other, or something.

No, what she needs is another identity, preferably one of the guards at the Registration center. Fortunately, this isn't as much of a problem as it would have been a month earlier... she knows now that she can reestablish her Teresa identity afterwards, and probably Doug as well. Makes this whole shapeshifting thing a lot more useful... just have to be careful not to lose track.

"I'm going to need a day or so... maybe two, at most... to find a 'convincable' guard. I'll keep in touch. Once I do, the rest should be pretty easy... nice thing about simple plans, fewer places where they go wrong."

She takes a bite of pie and savors it slowly. "This place makes good pie, you should try some," she mumbles before taking a second bite and washing it down with more coffee. "So, are you, like, super-fast or something? Those things aren't easy to dodge."

>"This place makes good pie, you should try some."

Garth mumbled something about not likely pie rather indifferently. As the bells above the doors rang, two police officers entered the coffee shop. Garth's eyes followed them as they took a seat near the door and gave their order to the waitress. Grimsing slightly, Garth turned back to 'Teresa'.

>"So, are you, like, super-fast or something? Those things aren't easy to dodge."

"Well, you can hit what you can't see. Plus, I can 'jump' away anytime I want to."

> "Well, you can hit what you can't see. Plus, I can 'jump' away anytime I want to."

So... invisibility and teleportation? Or something like that. Sonya doesn't push for details, not feeling like having to answer detailed questions herself, and busies herself with pie for a moment before noticing Garth's attention being displaced over her shoulder. She gulps down the rest of her coffee then, and turns around to signal the girl behind the counter for another cup... in the meantime giving the two police officers a casual-looking glance.

They don't seem to be looking for anyone in particular, though... at least not as far as she can tell from a casual glance. No reason to panic, she reminds herself, and looks back at Garth. "That sounds useful." She decides not to say anything more specific while the police are in the restaurant, though.

"You, uh... want to go for a walk, or something?" She indicates the officers with a shift of her eyes once her back is turned to them.

"Yeah, sounds like a good idea."

Garth drained the rest of the soda can before he stood up. Tossing a couple of dollars on the table, he waited until 'Teresa' was done then walked towards the door. As the door opened and the winter air blew into the store, Garth pulled his hood back up and his eyes disappeared beneath the blackness again. Once outside, the now-hooded figure turned to his acquatance.

"Shall we take a stroll through the park? It is just across the street."

(( ooc: continuing here so Cameron can join us. Sorry I've been so long not posting; I plead real-life and writer's block. ))