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The world slowly swam back into focus.
>"Hello, Richard? They must have you on the good stuff."
"But you were glowing and everything, you looked beautiful..." Richard trailed off as he brain slowly spun up to speed and cogniscence returned to him. Realizing what he had just said he gratefully accepted the proffered water as a distraction to the colour that rose in his cheeks. It was a delight to his parched throat. In the corner a TV was showing new reports. There was footage of Ghost.. Maya and the other elementals fighting and then the X-men coming on scene. He turned to her. "Thank you for saving my life. I.." his words were interrupted as the camera showed some of the Bird Hunters being dragged away. One was asked why he stabbed an innocent scientist.

"Innocent? He was helping a mutant under government investigation, Government Investigation, he, they were all helping criminals, whats to say they aren't all in it together. Let this be a message if anyone body helps mutants, criminal mutants" He spat the word out. "They are fair game, they all deserve to die" he yelled as he was dragged away. The camera switched to a photo of Richard and talking about him. Richard switched it off. There was an awkward silence. Richard racked his brain for something to say, something to hopefully distract Ghost from the fact that a Bird Hunter had just said in essence that Richard had been stabbed for simply helping Maya.

"Umm, oh I never got to tell you that we have a full suite ready for you to try on. We can do that tomorrow. With today wasted there is only tomorrow and the next day before you all have to go. There is still so much to do before then." Richard sounded a little sad, he was, he had immensely enjoyed working with the elementals. Despite his protestations he was also getting a little famous at the Tech Convention, so much so that with the agreement with Firebird Industries he was due to split his time between work at Firebird and at the convention center helping startups and managing projects. But back to the present. From the look on Maya's face she needed more distracting. "Is that your son?" Richard said waving and smiling at the young dark skinned child.

>"What, boyfriend? No. I don't have a boyfriend, thank you very much. Friends, but not that I actually hang out with more than a couple times a week or so. Or that don't know my tendencies to disappear at will."

"I see." Said Richard not quite sure how to respond. Wait, was Margo....blushing? Hmm that would bear more investigation, but they could do that in the car on the way to wherever Margo decided to go. Then she would be a captive audience. Besides a) Richard was insatiably curious and b) weren't big brothers supposed to know about these things, how else could they protect their little sisters and apply beatings and threats to the appropriate parties? Margo continues to be suddenly engrossed in her food. Hmmmm definitely interesting.

>"So. What do you say to occupational tourism?"

Richard mock narrowed his eyes in exadurated suspicion. "Hmmm, any what exactly do you mean by that young lady?" He broke into a smile he could not keep from smiling for long when looking at Margo.

Richard laughed at the antics of his new found sister while they both...well..stuffed themselves with the ingredients for a heart attack, or at least loudly protesting arteries and high cholesterol levels.

>"Nope?"

"Nope?" Richard was happy but he was curious, they had gotten to know each other a little of time, he knew her taste in books and a little about her powers. She did not know about his love for guitar though she did know a little about his powers. "Margo I must ask, won't your friends, boyfriend wonder where you have gone? I am curious"

>"Something amazing, somewhere amazing. What do you think?"

Richard laughed, oh but Margo seemed to be full of energy today, truth be told Richard was also excited. "Hmm, and what, my dear little sister" Said Richard with a full smile and a twinkle in his eye. He still loved saying that. "Do you consider suitably amazing hum? Do tell!"

{OCC hope you don't mind the time jump, let me know if you want to edit}

The conversation to the hotel room was a blur to Richard. He wondered if Maya had used her
powers to get him to the room, he vaguely recalled feeling cushions of air or things that felt like he was leaning on way too many shoulders. Richard woke refreshed and returned to work having learnt the lesson that perhaps, just perhaps he should rest a little more. It was surprising the amount of fresh inspiration one could get when one slept a little more. He was starting to get to know Ghost over the days, he enjoyed hearing about her son upon which she clearly dotted and looked forward to meeting him one day.

It was almost a week and a half into the two week challenge and things were looking up. Firstly they had a prototype suit up and running. Not just body parts but a whole suite. True, it was currently a bit stiff so the movements were a little jerky but it was amazing progress. It was also true that all the suits looked like faceless rubber zombies that would not have looked out of place in a zombie horror film but then again this was science and in this case form followed function. If they got the material properties right individual companies could spend as long as they wanted to in perfecting just the right look. Another thing that had stemmed off the success of Richards group, as it had become known, despite Richard's vehement protests, was that other groups wanted to attempt similar things, it was like the two week Tech convention had suddenly become a nursery for startups. Much to the delight of many the Technology Convention had now turned into a year long experiment called "Technology Startup Joint Initiative" or TSJI for short. Not all things were rosy however. Since it was Richard and his group who essentially started this, they got a lot of attention. It wasn't that publicity was bad it was just that Richard did not necessarily want much publicity, it was a necessary evil to obtain funding but other than that he found it a bit overwhelming. he just wasted to help people and invent things. Now it seemed like he had temporarily become some soft of celebrity and he disliked it. It tended to distract from work and waste time. Of course one could never say such things on camera.

Today was three days from the two week deadline and three days from when the air manipulators would fly back to return to their jobs. There was a new batch of suits that should be ready for them. As Richard entered the convention center, he thought he detected a different vibe in the air. There seemed to b e a large number of people wondering around with a different attitude than the usual. Richard considered that inconsequential. There was *groan* another press meeting today and even though one scheduled things, the media always seemed to want to corner him for "exclusives" or to ask about things. As Richard made his way towards the research area a number of reporters and cameramen rushed forward to be met firmly and politely by the security. Richard nodded a thanks and kept moving towards his safe haven, his work area. Suddenly there was a commotion, Richard turned in time to see a baseball bat rapidly descending towards his face. Instinctively he raised his left hand to ward off the blow. It was successful but he heard a "Crack" sound a lance of pain erupted from his left arm. He gasped and stumbled back only to be pushed from behind towards someone that Richard could only describe as "punk". In the background he could hear shouts of what sounded like "Bird watchers attack!" and "Beat the Mutie Lovers!".

Richard was in shock, as such his mind detachedly noticed details, like the stench of the punk's breath, the scar over one eye when he blinked. "What are you lookin at, Mutie lover?" the punk growled. Richard, his mind blank just said what was on his mind. "Your breath...it stinks." The punk moved and Richard felt a fiery burst of pain in his chest. He had just been stabbed. He fell back the dagger still embedded in his chest below the heart. He suddenly began to find it harder and harder to breathe as his left lung began to collapse and fill with blood. As he was falling back it felt as though he was gently caught by invisible arms mid fall. Around him the background sounds changed. he idly noted the ring of camera-phones that had sprouted from the onlookers. He also idly wondered if he would get to see what happened when air manipulators got mad. "Do't kill them... please." he whispered as his world turned grey.

>"I guess you can call me Tses if you want."

"Well Tses, it is nice to meet you." Richard said smiling.

>"Life is a street kid is like... I don't know. Lawless. And like, privileges. Society doesn't give you anything, but it doesn't expect anything. So it works both ways."

Tses seemed to like shrugging a lot. It appeared to Richard that at some point in her past Tses had been hurt and hence had closed up herself, made herself distanced and aloof from anything that might hurt her again. Then again living on the streets and having to fight for a living probably would not help. She did not want pity nor would Richard offer any. He respected her too much for that. He suspected that she would not easily accept any offers of help, who knew she may even be too stubborn to ask for it. Then again she hardly knew him and probably did not trust nor was she likely to trust many people. Richard wondered what she would think of his house.

They got off at his stop. "Welcome to my humble home." Said Richard as he unlocked the door to his house. "Feel free to make yourself at home, if you are hungry feel free to raid the fridge. I have plenty of food there. My workshop is this way." He said leading the way down to the basement where there was a well equipped electronics shop, organized in a neat and tidy fashion. Well the tools were neatly put away, the cork boards and whiteboards on the walls were filled with equations and designs and short snippets of code and what not.

In all his interactions with Maya/Ghost, Richard had to admit that drama and sudden events were never far behind. Still a lady in need is a lady in need. He hurried to catch her as her knees buckled. she urmered something about not sleeping.

"Goodness me, lets get you to where you can rest. Mark can you take over for a bit, I am going to to take Maya to one of the Hotel rooms to rest. If you need me you have my cell number. You have the list of things and I will text you any further ideas we have. I really think that we should go the non jointed route. Or at least put say 80% of effort in that direction."

Mark yelled back a "Yes yes...Will do!"

Was he imagining things or did Mark wink as Ghost? And what were those looks that some of the research team were giving each other and Maya? Regardless Maya needed rest and away from the press. He also had a sneaking suspicion that Mark was using some of his hacking knowledge to filter calls to his cell as his cell had been suspiciously quiet ever since they started the challenge. Speaking of which much progress was being made. Now that the team had the regular input of the air manipulators or whatever they choose to call themselves they were refining ideas. Most of them preferred a mainly hollowed structure, something liken to the internal structure of avian skeletons. They had also helped settle the dispute on which route to take. One train of thought was to create something like a suite of armor all joints, another train of thought was to create something like a latex suit glued together in places or printed in one piece, by altering the composition of the plastic in different areas they could achieve the same functionality. The air manipulators had gone for the second idea. So now with the direction decided the team were scrambling to get checklist items completed.

If Richard were to be honest to with himself his next statement was a little hypocritical but it needed to be said. "Maya you should rest more and take care of yourself. I heard you have a son, how is he doing?" They reached the hotel room in question. There were two double beds. Richard helped Maya into one and said "I might grab a quick nap as well." He had barely finished the sentence when he fell fast asleep.