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-"Nice wheels. You ready for this?"

Max looked over and saw Quin approaching. The fact that he wouldn't have recognized her if she hadn't made herself known spoke volumes to her ability to blend. Her hat kept the signature red locks hidden and she was carrying two bags that made Max think that even with his planning she had him beat in the pre planning department.

"Thanks, it's a rental. I'm as ready as I'm gonna be." He replied with a shrug.

He hit the button on his keys to open the back.

"Go ahead and stash your ge-" He began.

Music began pouring out of Max's fanny pack. Rock music and drums ringing out as Fall Out Boy pumped through the air.

"One night and one more time
Thanks for the memories even though they weren't so great
He tastes like you, only sweeter"

That was Noel's ringtone. Why was she calling him now? He unzipped the pack and pulled out his cell phone.

"One sec Q." He said answering.

He began to speak a greeting when Noel's voice came through the cell in a rush.

-"I would have liked to have known there was a policewoman coming."

She sounded annoyed and Max gave a quizzical look around. He couldn't spot her but she was obviously able to see him.
.
-"Are we still okay to do this? Is she... awesome?"

Max let out a little sigh.

"Totally. Sure the first time we met she tried to arrest me, but she's been nothing but helpful since. We aren't doing anything illegal on the trip and she's offered to help. It's all good." He said reassuringly, "Sorry I didn't mention it before, slipped my mind in all the planning. Where are you?"

He looked back over at Quin and tilted the phone slightly away from him, the speaker near his ear but the reciever turned away.

"Our third." He explained," She's had some bad experience with some bad cops in the past. Bit skittish, so just try to be..." He searched for the right word, "Nice" He said with a shrug.

Max's initial thought when the mound of robes talked was that it was a girl. She returned his apology and stated that she needed her robes. For a moment Max thought of bad Vampire movies. Black eyes and fangs and a need to stay out of the sun. He pushed his mind out of horror movie mode and instead made the much simpler speculation that the girl was a mutant.

"Oh. Got ya." He said giving a thumbs up.

He looked up into the sky for a moment. The sun was sleepily rising but it was deceptive. Once the first rays broke the horizon it wasn't long until full daylight. The Spring had been a hot one so far and Max figured today would be another similar day.

"Where you heading? If you need to avoid Ole man sunshine I can call you a cab." He offered politely.

Max parked the car outside of Haven headquarters and exited, swinging the door shut behind him. It was a little after noon and the sun was high in the sky, promising a bright and warm Spring day that didn't reflect Max's mood. He had picked up the rental a bit before lunch, stopped and grabbed enough food amd drinks to feed his makeshift team and made it through the infuriating city traffic in modest time.

His duffle was already in the trunk of the black modest SUV and he leaned against it patiently awaiting his two friends. He had contacted Quin and told her to meet him there and was waiting for Noel to come down so they could leave.

The GPS in the car said it was a six hour drive to Richmond Virginia so if they left soon they would get there before sundown and have time to check into a motel grab some rest and dinner and go to work.

"I'm visiting my own grave, just in time for Memorial Day." He mumbled to himself.

He was tense and nervous. It wasn't in the performing way he was accustomed to. This was the tension of medical tests, a slow constant worry about something he couldn't change. He hadn't slept the night before and he knew he had dark circles under his eyes.

He was dressed non descript, a plain white tee-shirt and jeans and a baseball cap rested on his head. His fanny pack was crammed to the breaking point with anything he could think of that he might have needed. It was his one stop emergency shop and he let out a sigh as the tension in him rose up again.

He couldn't wait to get this over with.

Janelle talked about her finals and Max found himself thinking that all the courses sounded incredibly un fun. Biology and chemistry? It sounded like torture to Max and he had to stop himself from reaching out and giving the beautiful red head a pat of condolence on the shoulder.

Sculpture though? That sounded like a good time. Max dabbled in just about any form of art, hell his father still used the little deer paperweight Max had made him back in high school. The antlers had taken hours, but it was good work.

"What's your final in sculpture? I could probably help you out, sometimes getting the clay to form up right takes a bit of working, especially if it's too damp." He offered, "I'm a bit of an art nut."

She asked about his work and he leaned back slightly in the seat of the cab.

"I kinda have two jobs. I live at a place called Haven, well at the headquarters near central park. They are a community enrichment and volunteer company. I ran into the founder when I lived at the mansion and he offered me a place to stay and a job." He explained.

And some therapy, but no need to get into that on a first date.

"There is a members only club, Inferno, on the first floor. So most days I work on volunteer projects and then at night I go and wait tables. You should come check out the club someday. I'm allowed a guest and I don't work every night." He said with a smile.

"So when finals are over do you just hang out at the mansion, or do you go visit your parents between terms?" He asked.

Ugh. So much ugh.

The sun was only just starting to rise, dawn barely sleepily winking it's way into existance, and Max was still awake. He basically dragged himself along the sidewalk by force of will alone as he made his way to the twenty four hour Quick Mart.

He'd worked all night, and been forced to pull double duty on clean up crew since one of the staff had not shown up at the club last night. He had dragged himself upstairs content to take a shower and go to sleep, but he didn't have any shampoo left. He probably could have called the front desk about it, but it seemed like such a prissy thing to do. So instead he had hauled himself back downstairs and out the door. He still wore his black servers shirt and smock.

He was so groggy that as he rounded a corner he almost collided with what he first assumed was a rather tall pile of laundry. He tried to halt himself but just ended up sidestepping his way into the things path. It was then that he realized it was a person, someone wearing robes. He looked at the slit in the robe and saw cold black dead eyes and repressed a shiver.

"Sorry. I'm not quite awake yet," He apologized, "How do you not burn up in those robes, it's Spring?" He blurted out stupidly.

Devon walked in with a warm greeting, he was decked out in his customary suit. Max by contrast was wearing his Haven tee-shirt and jeans. It might have seemed a bit under dressed given the situation but he had done it intentionally. Michael was a soldier, a practical guy. Devon could rep the business professional look all day long, Max was going to cover casual. If things went south he could at least pull a hail mary.

"How goes it boss?" He said with a playful smile.

Devon was a nice guy, he had been kind to Max and given him opportunities he couldn't have dreamed of. Since joining Haven he had made it a point to poke at Devon with the nickname "Boss." Devon wasn't a bossy man, hell he was as laid back as Max. But it was all in good fun.

"All the papers are in files on the table ready to go." He added.

The door opened a moment later and Michael appeared. Max took a long swish of coke and rose as Michael offered his hand. Max stayed back letting Devon take the lead. This was their deal after all.