Empty. Lori locked the front door to keep strangers from interrupting and then peeked into a couple vases and took general stock of the state of the store. She toyed with the idea of checking the cash register but... was that gun fire?

This was getting a little bit ridiculous.

She dashed out the back. With a blind alley, the bullets could have been fired just about anywhere. Lori would have been lost if she hadn't heard Mr. Helpful, who helpfully addressed himself in third person as Rook, talk to himself.

The blonde took off in that direction. Seriously. What had this Rook gotten himself into now? Lori stepped on something squishy. In horror, she realized it was a finger. Mr. Shin's finger. Not her favorite way to discover a body. She took the next corner on a whim and... nothing. The noise seemed a bit further away now.

Sirens sounded, signaling potential police involvement. The police would likely have a hard time finding the party. Lori, sure as heck was.

She took another turn hoping to find the source of all that noise and then another and... et voilà! The backside of a man holding a vase in one hand and a gun in the other. Accidental flanking.

"Are you desperate or just stupid?" She held out her hand for the gun and pulled with her power. He could let go and the gun would go flying with enough force to put a ding into a brink wall, or he could hold on and get dragged toward Lori. Either choice was fine so long as the idiot stopped shooting.

Also, she wanted that vase.

As bullets zinged passed Alex's cover and impacted themselves into the brick wall, the malachite manipulating mutant frowned and tried to figure out how he could himself out of this mess. He could simply run and get out of there in one piece... but he would never be able to forgive himself for letting a murder get away. Another choice would be to head back to the fire escape, get onto the roof, and pounce the guy from above with a quick strike to the head with the Defiance in the shape of a club. Alex was about to resort to that when he realized why the shooter knew that Alex was still hiding around the corner and thus was still firing every now and then... there was a small mirror on the ground and Alex could see the reflection of the killer in the mirror... which meant the killer could see Alex in the reflection. The shooter would know exactly when Alex left that spot, so the shooter could run for it then. There would be no way for Alex to find that guy on the rooftops then.

A mirror... wait a tic! A crazy idea had entered Alex's head at that moment. He didn't need to move or go around the corner to get to that criminal when his malachite dagger Defiance could get around the corner with no problem! All he would have to do was grow the malachite till it hit the shooter in the head to knock him out. It was hard to tell, but the guy looked like he was only 20 feet away from the reflection in the mirror, and Alex could stretch the Defiance at least 36 feet with ease. Drawing his malachite weapon, he readied himself when he heard the sound of sirens. The killer surely heard them too, so Alex had a very small window to do this.

It was now or never. Alex aimed the sharp end of Defiance at the corner and focused. The dagger quickly grew around the corner and shot towards the shooter like a harpoon, but it was veering of to the left, and Alex could see this in the mirror. Without thinking much about it, he made the malachite grow slightly to the right as it continued to extend towards the shooter, but it looked like the dagger was going even farther off course. That was when Alex realized that he was trying to understand where the malachite was going from the reflection of the mirror, and mirrors always showed stuff in the reverse of what they really were. In reality the dagger hadn't been curving to the left, but to the right of the shooter, and Alex had just made it go even farther right. Idiot... Alex thought as he curved the extending weapon back to the left, and managed to line up the extending tip with the shooter's forehead.

However, before the rapidly extending weapon could reach the target, the shooter had fired at the malachite blade that was heading towards him, and got lucky. In order for Alex to get the Defiance to grow that far, he had to make the blade wire thin. While the blade would be extremely sharp, it was also rather weak, and couldn't withstand the force of a bullet. The round struck the malachite, causing it to break into six pieces... and Alex almost could've swore that he felt the malachite break when it did. He quickly recalled what was left of the Defiance, and found that he was holding only half of the weapon. He could only extend it roughly 18 feet now, which wasn't enough to hit the shooter. "Well, ain't that just peachy..." Alex muttered under his breath. Alex glanced in the mirror again, annoyed. He could hear all six pieces of malachite chiming, begging him to collect them before someone else did, while what was left of the Defiance in his hand seemed to be chiming in a softer tone, as if it was crying for being broken, and also seemed to be begging Alex to fix it. As long as the shooter was there though, Alex couldn't pick up the pieces to repair his weapon.

When Bob saw the look of defeat in Alex's eyes in the mirror, he knew that this mutant wasn't going to try that trick again. He checked his weapon's clip, and realized that the weapon was empty. The last bullet of his illegal 20 round clip had been spent stopping the mutant's attack. After checking the vase to see if it was still in one piece, the shooter turned the vase upside down and three spent rounds fell out of it. Well, how about that? Nice catch. He ejected the spent clip from his gun, but as he reached for another clip, an invisible force yanked the gun over his shoulder and towards something behind him, causing him to fall backwards onto his rear. Not knowing what was happening, all Bob could think of was holding onto the gun with one hand and the vase with the other as if his life depended on both. The invisible force kept pulling the gun backwards, and in turned dragging Bob across the ground towards the source of the invisible force. When he stopped, he looked up and saw Lori. Not sure of what to do now, all he could do was smile nervously with a dumb expression on his face, unsure of what Lori wanted to do. "Uh... hi..." He said, then glanced back down the alley and saw Alex coming out from behind his brick cover, having seen all of this happen from the mirror.

"Well, that puts what I can do to shame. Looks like I owe you a favor now, don't I?" Alex stated as he reached down and picked up the first two pieces of his broken malachite dagger.

The man let himself be dragged back toward Lori. She put her foot on his shoulder to stop him from sliding any further and let her power drop. While he had been tugged by his gun, it had extended and pulled at his arm. Now, suddenly let go, the arm and weapon flopped to the ground. Lori moved her foot from the man's shoulder to his gun-holding wrist.

> "Uh... hi..."

Of the options that Lori had offered him before, his response put him clearly in Lori's "stupid" category. The Order Leader was not in the best of moods. She felt inescapably warm and her arm hurt. Her patience was running thin.

She knelt so that she could speak in a low and dangerous tone to the man. Lori touched a single finger to the man's forehead. "Give me a good reason not to kill you."

The sound of footsteps was the only thing that made her break a very unfriendly soul gaze at the man underneath her. Here came Rook with that super helpful look in his eyes. That was not exactly the kind of business that Lori liked for others to experience.

>"Well, that puts what I can do to shame. Looks like I owe you a favor now, don't I?"

She rocked back on her heels and took her hand off of the man in order to wipe her brow. If Rook wanted to owe her a favor so be it. Lori put her hand back on the bad man's forehead and concentrated on finding the verbal center of his brain.

"Why don't you start by telling us about the vase?"

As Alex walked towards the woman and the shooter, he changed direction every now and then to pick up a small shard of malachite that belonged to his dagger. With each piece he picked up, he placed the broken piece of malachite back onto the dagger Defiance where it belonged, and ran a finger over the crack where the shard met the remains of the dagger. As his finger passed over the cracks, the crack glowed green for a second, then the glow faded revealing that the crack was gone and the shard was now a whole piece connected to the dagger. Alex had collected five of the six pieces of malachite that had broken off of the dagger and looked in the direction of the final piece, and shook his head when it saw it. It was on the ground between the gunner's boots... apparently it had flown passed the gunner's ear when he used his gun to break the malachite weapon.

As Alex walked towards the final shard, Bob eyes were crossed so he could focus on the finger that was currently resting on his forehead. When asked the question if he had a good reason for Lori to not kill him, Bob's eyes darted back and forth trying to think of a good explanation or a good excuse. However, all he could come up with was "Because I'm cute?" in quiet tone.

As Alex knelt down to pick up the final malachite shard, Bob started to shudder when Lori ordered him to tell them all about the vase, and glanced over at Alex and meekly asked "Help?" In response, Alex only gave Bob a glance that said 'are you kidding?' and took a few steps away from Bob and Lori so she could have her way with him. The sound of sirens were getting closer, but they were still a long way off and were moving rather slowly.

Seeing that Alex refused to help him, Bob found himself unable to resist Lori's will. "That vase is actually a fake. A large shipment of M-drugs were swiped right off the assembly line by a snitch worker and were delivered to Mr. Shin as a drop off point so the police could come and get the drugs. What Mr. Shin didn't know was that I had expected the snitch to go to Mr. Shin's store because the snitch had done it before, so I had hidden a camera with a microphone within Mr. Shin's shop. In order to hide the shipment until the police arrived, Mr. Shin placed every single pill onto the still wet vase he was making, then coated the vase with more clay and sculpted it so it looked like a master piece." Bob stated as he spilled the beans. Hearing this, Alex shook his head. "That means the customer that Mr. Shin had already sold the vase to was actually an undercover cop that hadn't arrived yet. No wonder he refused to give that vase to Susana even after all of that threatening." Alex commented, then shook his head. "That cop is bound to show up anytime now and find the remains of Susana's blood whip on the floor of the shop and he'll open a crime scene investigation. Leave this guy near Mr. Shin unconscious with the vase and they'll conclude that this nut case simply tripped and fell when he tried to make his getaway. The police will have their confiscated drugs, their murderer, and that camera in that shop will show us trying to save Mr. Shin from Susana which will show them that we're not guilty of this crime." Alex suggested.

As he talked, the electrical patterns in his brain became more clear. That was it. His verbal center was lighting up like Christmas. Also, what he had to say was not making Lori's bad day any better.

"Crap."

A camera had her on record assaulting a woman. In the face. The drugs, Lori assumed were beyond recovery at this point. The snitch she needed more information about and he or she too would have to go. But most of all...

Tell me everything you know about the snitch. She copied her verbal patterns over his own, interrupting any pitiful thought he might be having and overriding it with her voice. Her voice inside his head. It always had more effect on people. Think it, don't say it. Also, where is that camera?

Bob's eyes widened and his mouth flopped open and then shut again. After the normal thoughts of disbelief and fright and personal freedoms being invaded, he thought about what he knew.

About the snitch, there wasn't much. Only that there had been a pattern of busts too regular for chance and all related to one specific arm of the distribution. It was a starting point, not a name. Life was never simple or easy enough to have Bob to know the identity of a snitch.

As for the camera, that was wedged in a clever little spot. Lori wouldn't have found it if he hadn't thought about its placement specifically.

Since thoughts were so much quicker and honest, Lori had the information she wanted in mere moments.

"Thanks." She tried to never say that if she actually meant it. The finger she had on his forehead slid back into his hairline before jolting him with enough electricity to stiffen his muscles and leave Bob as conscious as a sack of potatoes. She wiped her finger free of his hair grease and then stood. If she had shocked him in the middle of his forehead, she would have left a little burn mark. Now the point of contact was hidden in that thick disgusting hair. He really could have tripped and fallen.

"We have to go back for the camera." Lori took a step and felt sick to her stomach. Ugh. Things worth doing were never easy. "She's famous and sue happy and that's evidence that I kicked my own mother in the face. No matter how much Susanna deserved it, that's assault and battery." The tabloids would have a field day about the unknown (also not real) daughter and that would reflect poorly on Lori's company.

She, like Susanna, had a reputation to maintain.

So Lori went back the way she came and was glad she locked the front door. Even if the police were ready to knock on the front door, that gave her time to fry the little piece of equipment before they could actually break in. If they were lucky, they could get in and out before anyone ever even got to the front door.

Lori wiped her forehead again. She was sweating too much for how cold it was, especially since she had ditched her jacket. How bad was this poison, exactly?

As Alex watched the young woman place a finger on Bob's forehead, he couldn't help but wonder why she was doing that, unless it was a form or interrogation that he had never heard of. However, after he heard her reaction to Bob's confession, Alex wasn't to sure what do think. They had the killer and the vase he stole, the drugs that were meant to go to the police, and there was a recording of them trying to defend the victim from Susana while Mr. Shin was being killed so they had proof that they were innocent. What could possibly be making this woman worried about that? She was clearly worried enough that his suggestion about how to leave the criminal and the vase had gone in one ear and out the other. What ever was bothering her though, he would have to ask about it when she was done with the criminal.

However, she just seemed to be kneeling there with her finger on Bob's forehead, and Bob seemed to be reacting to something that wasn't there. What the heck was going on? Didn't they have all the information they needed to be safe? With the sound of the sirens were getting closer now, Alex was starting to get antsy.

Finally, after what seemed to be another five minutes, the young woman shifted her finger's position till it was in Bob's hair, and Bob's entire body went limp before the young woman stood up. Seeing this made Alex do a double take on Bob's body, then glanced up at the young woman a little nervously. Clearly she had more then one mutation since she was capable of pulling a metallic object towards her as well as immobilize someone simply by touching them on the side of the head. That could also mean that when she was touching Bob's forehead, she could've been reading his mind for all Alex knew. "Remind me not to get on your bad side..." Alex mumbled as the young woman stood up.

As she explained to Alex that they needed to get that camera because it recorded her kicking Susana in the face, Alex slapped himself in the forehead, feeling stupid for not having realized that. That meant it recorded him nailing Susana in the gut with his extending malachite club. Just great. "Right. I'll see if I can get rid of any of our fingerprints off of the back door." Alex said and followed Lori back to the shop. As they walked, Alex noticed that Lori was sweating, even though she didn't have on a coat and then remembered that her arm had been lathered with Susana's poison, and wondered if there was a way for him to help her get over it if it was affecting her.

Little did either of them know that the poison was actually only capable of raising a person's body temperature in order to wear down a person's stamina. All someone had to do was rinse the poison off of them, in this case Lori's arm, and drink a lot of cold water to dilute the poison that had entered their system. What's more was that the poison was already starting to break down, meaning that even if she didn't wash it off or drink a lot of water, she would still start feeling better in about three hours.

When they arrived at the back door to the shop, Alex grabbed his malachite dagger and, with his cyan eyes glowing green again, he turned it into a sort of grasping claw so he wouldn't leave fingerprints on the door knob when he turned it. However, when he tried it, the knob wouldn't turn. "Locked. Give me a sec..." Alex stated, then removed the golf ball sized pommel from the malachite dagger and held it up to the door lock. While it didn't seem like anything was happening, the pommel had actually grown a small piece of malachite into the lock and that small piece was shifting it's shape into a key. A second or two later, Alex smiled and turned the pommel, which in turn unlocked the door, and using the malachite grasping claw, Alex opened the back door and relocked it so when they left, they wouldn't have to worry about it. He pulled out the pommel, revealing the key shape growth on the pommel, and gave Lori a shrug with a slightly smug smile. "After you."

> "Remind me not to get on your bad side..."

If Rook ever got close to her bad side, she would. Even if he hadn't asked. Lori was just that benevolent a person and it was just that easy to threaten people for her.

They made it back to the shop and Rook tried to be helpful again. Fingerprints. Lori wasn't worried about fingerprints in a public shop in a public market. She was worried that the back door wouldn't open. She didn't lock the back door. Did it automatically lock behind her? Or was there someone inside?

> "After you."

She looked at Rook for half a second. Right. He didn't know what she had or had not locked. He was probably just being a helpful gentleman as seemed to be his nature.

"Hello?" Lori stepped over the threshold and looked around the little shop. It seemed just as empty as before. Rather than waste any time, she went straight to the camera's hiding place and it off the shelf from between two oddly shaped vases. A few wires trailed out after it and then a box that was connected to a wall plug. Lori yanked the entire thing free and returned to the back door as quickly as she could.

"Let's go. Quick." Because there was no telling how much time they had.

There was no spark, no puff of smoke to mark the moment when the thing became inoperative, but Lori knew no electrical equipment could last long in her hands. The blonde stuffed the camera into her purse and indicated to Rook that they should rejoin the throng of shoppers in the market place. "C'mon. It's easier to get singled out running down a deserted alleyway. If we go through the crowd like normal shoppers, we shouldn't get picked up."

Alex stood by as the young woman walked passed the threshold of the back door into the pottery shop and glanced around the shop, as if she was surprised that the back door had been locked. After she had called into the shop to see if there was anyone there, she had quickly headed towards a specific spot in the shop, as if she knew exactly where to look for the camera. Now Alex was convinced that this woman had some telepathic abilities of some kind. The crook didn't say a word about where the camera was, but she clearly knew where it was, so either she had seen it earlier and guessed that it was the criminal's camera, or she had taken that knowledge from him. Either way, the woman had what she came back for.

As the young woman headed towards the camera though, Alex checked the door knob so their fingerprints wouldn't be there, and it turned out that the knob for the back door was caked in clay dust. It would be impossible for the police to pick fingerprints off of a coating of dust. Also as Alex looked at the door knob, he noticed why the door was locked. It used an old fashioned Mortise-T lock, a type of door locked that automatically locked when ever it was shut. No wonder the door was locked when they had arrived, and Alex wouldn't need to re-lock it.

The moment that the woman was out the door, Alex shut it back up with his dagger and heard the door lock click into the locked position, then placed it back into it's scabbard, and his eyes stopped glowing as a result. At the mention of rejoining the crowd like normal shoppers, Alex nodded in agreement and started to make his way through the crowd along with the young woman. As they moved through the crowed, Alex picked up a whiff of his favorite fruit at a nearby fruit stand, and it smelled really fresh. He hadn't had it in so long that his mouth started to water on the spot. "We might as well buy a few things while we're at it. Might help with the cover." Alex muttered before breaking off and heading towards the street side fruit stall. Once he arrived, he was glad to see that his nose hadn't fooled him. There, on display in the center of the stall, were five ripe dragon fruit that were on sale for three dollars and 50 cents a piece... a steal! Alex quickly handed the stall keeper ten dollars and picked up two of the freshest dragon fruits and put them in a plastic bag that the stall owner gave Alex for free, then offered Alex three dollars in change. "Nah. Keep the change." Alex stated with a smile, and rejoined the young woman as he tied a knot in the plastic bag to keep the exotic fruit within the baggie, and then glanced around to see if there was anything else that struck him as interesting. If Alex was trying to play the part of a tourist, he was succeeding.

Lori slipped her arm into Rook's even though he hadn't offered it to her. She liked him well enough to hang onto him and their cover as a couple was complete with just some casual touching. Who would think they were a couple of mutants fresh from a crime scene?

Certainly not Rook. He went from self-preservation mode right on into tourist mode without a single hitch. He practically ran to a stall of exotic fruits and picked up a couple of hot pink and green things that looked like a mix between a mango and a cactus. And then that mango-cactus had gotten a dye job from a cheerful tween.

"You're going to be poor if you just hand off money to people for no good reason." Keep the change. Seriously? Was he showing off? Also, what were those things? The money sign and numbers she understood. The asian markings that had identified what it was? Not so much.

"Anything else you're looking for?" She'd come mostly to people-watch. Well, that and to scope out the leather goods, but that was less than important at this point. She had a lot on her mind and a little bit of a lingering fever to keep her from enjoying any shopping.

The moment that the young woman had slipped her arm into Rooks, the malachite manipulator quickly shut up and his cheeks gained a slight shade of pink. If there was one thing Alex had never experienced, it was having a woman grab him that way. Heck, he had never even flirted with a female before, mainly because he never had the guts. And yet here, out in the open, a very beautiful woman that was way out of his league had slipped her arm into his own. Sure, he had guessed it was to help with their cover... but... still... he was arm 'n arm with someone of the female persuasion! Alex knew for a fact if he uttered a single word his voice would be a high pitched squeak instead of his normal deep and calm tone.

Trying to calm down, Alex glanced down at the woman's arm holding his own, then glanced back at her face, avoiding direct eye contact at the same time by looking at her hair line instead. When she had stated that he was gonna be poor if he kept giving away money, he wasn't quite sure how to reply to that, since he had only done that so they could keep moving, besides it was only three dollars. Knowing he couldn't speak clearly yet, all he responded with was a slight shrug, and continued on with the young woman still holding onto his arm. All thoughts of the cops catching them had started to leave Alex's mind and all he could think about how awkward he felt with having a woman holding onto his arm, and how he didn't have a clue as to what to do about it. Sure, it was just to help with their cover... but still...

As Alex attempted to stay calm, he took a deep breath and slowly let it out in an attempt to get rid of the stress, but feeling the young woman's arm on his own was still more then enough to get him stressed out again, and glancing back down at the young woman's arm around his own was enough to make him blush a tiny bit more. It was enough of a distraction that Alex was having trouble focusing on his tourist act. However when the young woman asked if there was anything else that he wanted, that had helped, a little. To answer the question, Alex slowly shook his head and continued to walk on.

Beads of sweat were starting to form on his forehead as he glanced down at the young woman's arm that was still holding his, and was trying to ignore it, but was doing a rather poor job at it since it made him think about it even more, and he started to bite his lower lip nervously as the thought what do I do? kept running through his head as if it was on a record player that was stuck on the same part of the record. Why the heck did she grab onto him like that? He didn't even know her name for goodness sakes! You don't just grab onto a person's arm unless you were feeling affectionate towards them! Was she enjoying the fact that she was making him a nervous wreck or was he actually hiding it so that she didn't notice it? Sure, she only did it to help with there cover but come on! What did she want from...

The sound of police sirens shattered Alex's nervousness and quickly got him focused again. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw three police cars and at least one squad car pull up to the clay pot shop and quickly break down the door and rush in with weapons drawn. Despite seeing this, Alex's pace didn't speed up or slow down. He just kept walking at the same speed in the same direction, which was away from the clay pot store... unless the woman changed directions, then he would follow her.

Sounds of the shop door being bettered down echoed down across the shopping area. Lori stopped and looked back just like every other member of the crowd.

"What's going on?" An over-friendly woman next to Lori asked anyone within hearing range.

"No sales permit." The fruit vendor joked and the tension in the immediate area lessened.

"Come on." Lori smiled up at Rook who looked like he was about to start sweating bullets. She didn't notice his nerves until after he had bought the fruit. Did the police scare him that much? She led him a little further away from the noise and maybe that eased the tension in his shoulders enough or him to get his act together.

Lori hugged Rook's arm close as they kept walking away from the pot shop and... and he was back to his nervous glances.

She pulled them both into a little shop of antique curio. Lori just couldn't help herself. She chuckled. "Rook. Are you afraid of me?" She picked up a little enamel box and looked at it, though she wasn't really interested. She assumed that asking him if he was afraid of her and staring him down at the same time might be too much for his little rabbit heart so she took mercy on him and browsed the antiques while he formulated his answer.

As they continued to walk away from the police that were currently filing into the pottery shop, Alex had regained his focus and was acting like a tourist again... wide eyed, constantly glancing around at all of the interesting display stands, all while fishing through his pockets for his camera, however, he didn't actually have a camera on him, he was just pretending to look for it. He was actually doing a good job in looking for the non-existent item too, since when they passed by a street vendor selling pendents, he called out to Alex saying "I sell pendents that help you find missing or stolen items sir! Come buy one!" the man called out, but Alex ignored him.

However, Alex ignoring the salesman hadn't been on purpose... mainly because it had been at that moment that the woman that was holding onto his arm had tightened her grip while holding his arm closer to her. Now he was his nervous insecure self again, and this time his eyes were glancing around frantically because he didn't have a clue as to what to do with this beautiful young woman holding onto his arm like that. Alex now found himself wishing that he had stayed in bed today... not because of him having a close encounter with a bunch cops, or having bullets fired at him... no, it was the fact that a woman was holding onto his arm, and he was completely clueless, and that thought made him blush a shade of pink.

Glancing back down at her arm holding onto his once again, he was almost glad that she had chosen to go inside since there would be fewer people to see her holding onto his arm like that while they were indoors... however her question if he was afraid of her really sent him through a loop, and he almost started to hyperventilate. "Me? Afraid? Of you? Gee, what gave you that idea?" Alex asked in a slightly high pitched tone, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He then let out a large sigh and let his head hang down till his chin was touching his chest. "Oi... put me up against an army or a giant sentinel and I won't feel a bit of fear... but pair me up with any woman and watch me turn into a basket case and blush brighter then a ripe tomato..." Alex muttered under his breath. He had said it quietly to himself, but with him being this close to the young woman, there was a good chance that she had heard him, and from that anyone of the female persuasion could easily guess that Alex had no experience with women and didn't have a clue on how to react to flirting.

> "Me? Afraid? Of you? Gee, what gave you that idea?"

The squeak in his voice was just the cherry on top. Yeeeeup. He was afraid of her. But not because she could invade his personal thoughts or electrocute him into unconsciousness. He was afraid of her because she was a woman.

Now this was fun.

Lori set the ornamental box down that she had been feigning interest in and turned to look at Rook.

"I like tomatoes." In fact. She advanced a step.

"I like them raw." She stepped closer, the distance between Rook and the wall behind him was miniscule now.

"And juicy." Lori leaned closer just to intimidate him into running into the wall.

Fever or no fever, she just couldn't pass up the opportunity for a good chuckle. Yeah, feeling a bit overheated and weak took a little bit of the fun out of it, but she would laugh all the same.

The moment after Alex had muttered to himself about how badly he blushes when ever he's with a woman, he glanced over at the young woman and realized just how close she was and realized that she could've easily heard his comment, and that made him blush into a deeper shade of pink. This day was just getting worse and worse. First, he had to fight against an insane woman that could produce blood whips from her hands that secreted poison. Second, he had bullets zipping passed his ear. Third, he had was trying to avoid the cops so he wouldn't be charged for assault. And now, he had mistakenly told a very lovely young woman that he turns into a blush machine around woman. Could this day possibly get any stranger? Alex thought in annoyance.

He was about to find out, for the woman had put down the ornamental box and turned to look in his direction. The next think he knew, she had taken a step towards him while mentioning that she liked tomatoes. Hearing that quickly made Alex's face turn a bright shade of pink and he quickly took a step backwards away from the woman, unsure of what to do.

She took another step towards him, while mentioning that she liked them raw... and that was enough to turn the blush on Alex's cheeks from their bright pink to a bright red. Alex took another step backwards, trying to keep his distance from the young woman that clearly had him in her sights. His eyes were darting back and forth, trying to look for someone that would either bale him out or tell him what he should do. No one. Not even a store manager, whom had clearly gone into their back room in order to have another cup of coffee.

As the woman leaned in and mentioned that she liked her tomatoes juicy as well, Alex tried to take another step back while leaning backwards in a futile attempt to stay away from the woman, and all he managed to do was bump into the wall behind him. Now with his body starting to tremble, Alex's head quickly whipped to the right to see the wall behind him... and there, sitting on a shelf that was level with Alex's shoulder, was a small cupid statue with his arrow pointed at Alex's shoulder. "Are you kidding me?!" Alex whined quietly with another squeak in his voice, this time even higher pitched, as he slowly turned his head to look back at the woman again.

A bead of sweat slowly made its way down the side of Alex's brow and started to go down his cheek as he blushed so bright red that his face was actually as red as a ripe tomato, and he was trembling so much that some of the stuff that was on display on the shelf behind him were starting to shake slightly. Only six little words were going through Alex's panicked mind. What do I do?! Someone help!

He tried to look around for help but only found the cupid statue! And then he was shaking like a leaf and... oh! It was just too funny!

Lori leaned in the last few centimeters to plonk her forehead against Rook's chest as she collapsed into a giggle fit. Ehehehe! "You... you really need to get out more." She had to talk between giggles because she was finally calming down. "I'm not going to bite." Unless he was into that kind of thing. Considering the fact that he was too sheepish to hold onto a girl without getting all nervous, she doubted that he had ever gotten that far. Yet.

The shop keep came back out to see what the ruckus was and Lori grabbed Rook's arm again and pulled him from the shop and back out onto the street. "So did you grow up in a monastery or something?" It was by no means Lori's job to corrupt him and yet the idea was very, very tempting. He was in serious need of it.