Geez. No wonder he’d grown up to be a Detective. Once Ashton had stopped freaking out and running, it hadn’t taken him more than a few moments to figure out that something strange was going on. Well…stranger than he’d already thought anyway.

Following his line of sight, Quin winced a little. Yeah. That. What was with people in New York and their stupid cars anyway? The thing had probably cost more than her yearly salary, and it still looked like ass.

”An overcompensating status symbol?” Quin said, ”But not mine. It’s down the street.”

And then a Segway rolled by...

Ashton's finger went up.

"That." He said. He jabbed again for emphasis. "The hell is that." (What?) "The hell is that?!" (Who?) And finally, "The hell is that?!" (Who the hell wears white makeup on their face other than crazy bands?) All of these were very good questions. And all of these were relevant to the juggalo on the segway drifting by. Something told him he was not in Kansas anymore. Something that honked.

Of course the Juggalo picked now as an excellent time to ride past a playground on his Segway. If the staring mothers suddenly interested in nothing more than protecting their children from the harmless clown weren’t enough, the kid version of Quin’s partner had figured out that things weren’t exactly as they’d originally seemed.

Yeah. What the hell was any of this?

”That is a Juggalo on a Segway.” she said with infinite patience.

”And yeah, I’ve got some explaining to do. I’ll try to tell you everything I know in the car.” she said gently, knowing that this was already a lot, and trying to figure out exactly what all she was going to explain.

”Please?” she said again, hoping the pleading technique would work a second time. ”I promise I can at least explain some of this.”

The rest…hopefully someone at the station would know what was going on, otherwise they were screwed.

What the HELL was a Juggalo? He turned to glare at the redhead.

He was confused. He was mad that he was confused. And he was upset she was not being totally forthcoming with all relevant information. ... But dammit, she'd said please. His shoulders slackened their tension. If their was one thing that was his weakness, it was that. Damn her.

The kid took a calming breath and nodded his head.

"Fine," He said. "Take me..." And no, that wasn't an innuendo. Not now, at least. Stuff was serious.

Finally, they made it to the car.

Once inside, Quin waited for Ashton to get situation and put the thing in gear.

’No jumping out of the car when I try to make this all make sense, and stick with me through the story. It’ll make sense when I get to the end.”

Not even waiting for his assent, she continued.

”I have this partner. He’s a bit of a hard-ass, but he’s a damn good cop. He’s been MIA all morning, and nobody can get ahold of him.”

She paused. This was going to sound crazy to the kid, no matter what he’d already put together for himself. Stopping at a stop light, Quin glanced in his direction.

”I think you’re him. Same name, same attitude (God help her), same power, and if I look real close I can see it too.”

Another slight pause. ”You don’t remember anything from last night? What you did….who you were with?”

>>’No jumping out of the car when I try to make this all make sense, and stick with me through the story. It’ll make sense when I get to the end.”

... Why did he feel like maybe now would be a perfect time to panic?

He let her continue.

Blah blah blah, partner. Blah blah blah, hard-ass. What did this have to do with--

Good lord, she was insane. This was just further confirmation on the insanity.

Ashton closed up. His hands tightened on his knees as he sat in his seat, buckled up, facing straight forward. His jaw set itself into a rigid square.

"Take me to the station now..." He said tersely. Then as an afterthought, he added. "Please."

And just like a teenage idiot male…he closed down on her.

Figured. Just like him to pull something like this, then refuse help from the person most qualified to give it to him. Oh well. When they sorted all of this out, she was never letting him live it down. Not ever. If he remembered the whole ‘Buttercup’ thing, that was his prerogative, but she was never forgetting this.

”That’s what I’m doing.” she said.

And thankfully it wasn’t too far. The car had suddenly gotten very tense, and Quin hadn’t known what to say. That was fine though, Quin had a lot to think about. Like how she was even going to convince the guys at the station that this was Ashton. He obviously wasn’t going to be any help. Man, now she was going to lose her job on top of everything.

Pulling into the lot at the Precinct, Quin shut off the car and looked over at her passenger. ”Here we go. You wanna walk in on your own, or do you want me to go with you?” she said, giving him the control in the situation to try and show that she wasn’t completely off her rocker.

What the hell. Was she playing at? What game? Him, a cop. A hard-ass. Her partner. Him. He wasn't even slightly interested in law enforcement as a future profession. Sure, it was impressive in the movies. And he knew plenty of nice ones. But the old man was always adamant. Always ready to seal the deal. Send him to the same school he went to, and to have him follow in his footsteps. Being a cop wasn't even an option. So why the hell would he have even ever considered something, even if he was her partner, which he wasn't, because that was insane. He was him, and he... wasn't quite sure what the hell the whole appearing somewhere else thing had been about. Or what anything that day had been.

Did he want her to go in with him, or did he want to walk in on his own? What the hell kind of question was that. Ashton shot her a dirty look.

"Gee, Buttercup. Aren'tcha worried I'll talk bad about you and tell them all some insane lady thinks I'm her partner in crime-fighting?" He wanted to say. But that was terribly rude. What he actually said was more like a mumbled "Yeah. You, I guess." He. Guessed.

Yeah. Whatever. Buttercup needed to thank her blessed stars he was a man.

”Suit yourself.”

The car door opened, and Quin climbed out, making her way around the other side of the car and waiting for him to join her. Had he been more open to the idea that he was himself, she would have been trying to help him come up with things to talk about in the station that would have made sense. If he’d have asked her any of the questions he’d been mulling over in his head while they drove, she’d have been trying to explain and make things better…but he was being stubborn.

Of course he was being stubborn. He was Ashton. Pretty much the only way she was going to get through to him was to shove the evidence in his face until he had to admit she was right.

”Just tell them everything you told me. Who you are, where you found yourself, how you got to the park.” she said so the interview process wouldn’t shut him down.

"Why don't you just do it for me." He rolled his eyes. "Didn't you say my parents were worried about me. Or was that just a lie?"

Oh. Whoops. He guessed he'd slipped on a banana peel of rudeness and fallen on his ass.

Eh. He'd live.

Was that a lie? Now he was implying that she was lying to him?

Quin’s frustration boiled over and her hand shot out to slap the kid lightly in the back of the head. It wasn’t a hard slap, but it was enough to get his attention.

”Now just you wait a second.” she said, plopping her hands on her hips and shaking a finger in his general direction.

”I haven’t lied to you a single time. I told you that people were worried about you. People. And even if you don’t want to, or can’t remember them, they’re in that station. If they don’t believe you when you tell them who you are, they’re going to bring social services in and you’re going to be in a world of hurt. Your parents might be worried about you, but I don’t know…you don’t really talk about them. I do know that they think you’re a grown-ass man and won’t have a clue what you’re talking about if someone calls.”

Quin paused for a second. That had been harsh, but she’d already started something, and needed to finish.

”That leaves us two options. First, we go in there, get this sorted out, and get you back to normal. Two, you’re stuck.”

The redhead crossed her arms. Yeah, she’d just been harsh…but this was Ashton, he could take it…right?

Hey, what the-- He saw it coming, but couldn't stop it, and OW! Ashton nursed the slapped cranium (and his bruised pride) as the lady went off on him like a rocket. Firecracker was more like it... damn.

Temper.

Was kind of hot. Shame he failed to notice anything but the spray of incendiary words.

Blah.

Blah...

Blahblahblah...

Jeez. Did she ever shut up?

Oh, thank God. A pause.

That left them two options. What. And What.

"Are you done yet...?" He grimaced. The back of his head stung, still, even some twenty seconds after she'd started ranting. Rubbing it didn't seem to be helping it ease. "What I'm getting from all of this is that this isn't where I grew up. And it seems way too Future to be the same time. And I think I saw someone on a Hover Board earlier, but I may be speaking out of my ass. So you're saying I'm some bloke who works with you all day, and might happen to have some sorts of powers then? Because I've no idea how I did that thing earlier... and..." He looked up at her seriously, dead in the eyes. "Hope it's okay to say I feel sympathy for your partner..."

”It was a Segway.” Quin muttered. ”It had wheels. Hover boards don’t.” there. Let him believe hover boards were real. Was it petty? Yes. Did it make her feel better? Definitely.

”And that’s what I was trying to explain in the car, but you went all emo teenager on me and clammed up. This isn’t where you grew up. You are my partner, and you do have special powers. Just like me. It’s what we do. I think something happened to you last night, probably because you’re an idiot and made some other mutant chick angry. We have to find her, and fix you.”

”And don’t feel sorry for him. Trust me.”

What was a Segway? He'd actually seen a kid on a flying skateboard. What? Was that too much, even for her? Apparently if people had powers like someone somewhere had decided to give him, then... yeah, it could happen. And the only way anything she had said could possibly have been true involved either super powers or super technology. And they didn't seem to be having any flying car traffic congestion, so...

He latched on the one thing that actually mattered in any of that large expulsion of breath. "What the hell is 'emo'?"

”You Ashton. You, are emo.” Quin said, palm meeting forehead for a moment as they stood outside the police station.

”It was a phrase. Emotional, closed off. Look. I know you are going through a lot right now, but you have got to trust me here if you don’t want everyone to think you’ve simply gone off the deep end.”

Quin took a breath and tried to get a handle on her frustration.

”Will you at least promise to try and help instead of acting hostile and hurting our cause?”