Reports were being filed, and the streets in front of Montag Industries, Munich Division, was beginning to clear of sight-seers. A few ambulances sat parked in front of the main drive...
"Ich bin fein..." she dismissed, pushing the hand away.
"Nr., sie haben a brusied stellringknochen, belastete ligamente in Ihrem untereren ansatz, und eine geringfügige erschütterung..." the paramedic said, re-applying the white gauze to the back of her head. "Und das ist, was sie für das tragen nicht Ihres sturzhelms erhalten."
Nadia grimaced as he applied the peroxide to the small cut in her skull. She was sitting in the back opening of one of the ambulances, the medic attending in front of her. Standing just behind the paramedic, a lone Interpol agent stood watching.
"And you couldn't I.D. any of them?" the agent asked in English, calmly surveying their resident tracker.
She glanced at the paramedic, and back again. "Are you sure he can't understand?"
The agent looked down at the back of the paramedic's skull. "Hey you...I want to gang-fuck your wife until she screams your son's name..."
The man didn't flinch, steadily going on with the business of tending to his patient.
"Satisfied?" the agent said.
Nadia stared at the agent.
"....you know, I could put a bullet in his skull right now, dump him here in the ambulance, and no one would know..."
And the medic's hand....paused...
"I...Ich denke, daß ich hier... getan werde..." he said nervously, packing his gauze and bandages, hurrying on to the next ambulance.
The agent watched him with suspicious eyes, Nadia grinning. He turned back to Nadia with a sneer.
"Could you identify any of the rest?" he sighed impatiently.
"No." she shook her head. "There was one in a white suit that struck me as familiar. But, I didn't get a good enough look at him."
The agent nodded.
"You should go over the FBI intelligence list we compiled of these freaks....see if you can find him there..."
"No..." she stated firmly, coming to a stand, and throwing her jacket back on. "...he's still out there."
"Li, he's gone." the agent sighed. "They could be anywhere by now."
She pulled her collar tight, cutting her eyes up at the man...
"...I'll find him..." she replied with a low tone, sliding a thin pair of sunglasses over her eyes.
She held her hand out with an open palm...
"Keys?"
He stared at her for a moment. Then, relented, digging out the keys to his car...
Over in the next ambulance...
"....and you tell Harcourt I want that bleedin' analysis in my hands in three hours! I don't care if he has to swim the fuckin' channel naked to get here--THREE hours!" Grissom Montag barked into a cell, swatting another paramedic hand away.
"Listen, bugger off!" he snapped, clutching the phone to his chest. "I said I was fine! Go! And carry your medevil torture tactics with you!"
The medics shrugged, some scowling, as they backed off....leaving only a single Interpol agent standing staring.
"That goes double for you, twat!" he hissed at the suited agent. "I've given you my fuckin' report."
"Forgive me, Mr. Montag....but, you don't seem very shaken for someone who's been kidnapped at gunpoint, flown a few thousand miles, and used as a possible shield for weapons fire..."
"It was by knife-point, actually..." he corrected with sharp tones. "....and maybe I 'appened to be born with a sizable pair, unlike you poofy 'erberts..."
The agent wrinkled his lips in irritation.
"Now....P-i-s-s O-f-f." Montag finished, immediately returning to the phone. "Teagan?! Of course I'm still here you miserable cow!"
The agent just turned and walked away, Grissom seemingly finding something on the other end of the line to give his tantrum pause...
"....och'...okay, okay..." he sighed, his temper seeming to even off. "....yes...yes, I know you've been trying to lose weight Teagan...yes, dear...I do apologize...I can be an insensitive curr, at times.......oh don't be like that Teagan...you know I can't run things without you..."
Montag shuffled his feet a bit....
"...yes, I know...I should think before I speak. I know. You say that all the time. I know I should listen to you more. Yes, I promise I will never call you that again....yes, I promise. Now, put your things back in your desk. You know I cannot do this without my superhuman girl."
He sighed, rolling his eyes a bit.
"Okay...yes, now listen, I need you to do something. Something very, very important..." he began. "...get the manor security footage from Bob and---...yes, right, Alex. Just get the footage, and then contact that specialist we use sometimes....what was his name? Yes, right, that's the one. McGregor..."
*******************************************************
Approximately seven miles away...six Vanguardians were riding a service lift with one Richard Merrick...
"Okay...we're here..." Ozzy stated. "...now, does someone want to tell me what that was all about back there?"
"...does it looked chipped to you?" Grimm muttered to Phil, who was staring up into his top row of teeth.
"She said her name was Nadia...." Lykopis sighed. "...a bounty hunter, it seems..."
"Well, what the hell was she bounty-ing?" Ozzy asked. "Don't tell me that was about Montag...cause, if so, fuck! He can make people drop out of the sky, if she was that quick to get on the scene..."
Lykopis looked over at Baxter.
"She was after you, Ozzy."
Baxter paused, staring at her.
"...me?" he asked with furrowed brow. "Why the hell would she be---.........oh shit, wait..."
He snapped his fingers a few times.
"The Yakuza." he exclaimed. "Has to be. If there was never any Vanguard...then, Miss X never paid my debts...and Paragon never paid her....and........wait a sec...if that's it, then why aren't I still hanging in that fucking sewer?"
"It's pointless to speculate, Ozzy." she answered. "Maybe you escaped somehow? Maybe it's something else. Maybe it's not even the Yakuza."
He nodded, still trying to work everything out in his head.
"Besides..." Lyly continued. "...we have more pressing concerns....such as...what do we do now?"
Everyone kind of went quiet, unsure of the answer.
"Merrick, right?" Phil turned to the man. "You said this was your apartment loft?"
"That's right..." the doctor nodded.
"Okay, so, if you're wanted by the authorities...as you said you were...wouldn't they think to look for you here?"
"They've already been here....the place was ransacked..." he explained.
"Then, they're probably still watching the place, wouldn't you think?" Icarus added.
"No one is watching." Victor interjected.
"Oh, come on!" Icarus said with an exasperated tone. "How the hell do you know? I hate to point this out again, Vic, but....you're blind--"
Icarus's words were immediately choked off, what with Victor's thumb and forefinger forcibly grasping his esophagus, and all.
"Reilley!" Lykopis snapped. After a brief pause, Victor released Icky.
He coughed a little, rubbing his strained throat...
"...*cough*...you KNOW man..." he rasped, suddenly coming into a face-to-face confrontation with the somber teammate. "...you may scare everyone else with this 'Terminator'-thing you got going....but, one of these FUCKING days, I'm going to get tired of your act and---"
"And what?" Victor interrupted, suddenly taking a single step foward, to where he and Icky were almost meeting noses.
Icarus paused, the black bandana hiding Victor's sightless gaze from him.
"...and start IGNORING you COMPLETELY!" he finished rather unimpressively. "Ha! *cough* Yeah, motherfucker! SEE where you'll be, then, huh?"
Victor said nothing, and made no change in expression. But, he immediately took a step back from the man.
"...mess with me again..." Icky added under his breath, doing a quick fake-lunge at the man. "...bitch..."
The two said nothing else to each other, Merrick glancing over at Lykopis as she turned back ahead.
"...nice group..." he commented to her.
She tilted her head with a subtle nod and shrug.
The lift doors opened to a hallway, the group following Merrick down to his door. They entered a wide, spacious loft, with large bay windows lining the far wall.
"Make yourself at home..." he stated pleasantly. "...bathroom is over there....beer's in the fridge. I'm going to change clothes..."
Lykopis looked over at Phil.
"Is Victor right?" she asked. "Is anyone watching the building?"
Phil shook his head with worried eyes.
"I....I don't know..." he finally said. "...my telepathy has been acting....wonky. Ever since Prometheus dropped me off into this world, I haven't been able to maintain a direct or indirect telepathic link. And passive scans always come back blank."
"Weird." she commented.
"Yeah...." he nodded.
"What about in the alley? With Nadia and the gun?"
"That was all TK..." he explained. "...I couldn't see into her mind anymore than I can see into yours."
Lykopis furrowed her brow a bit with worry.
"This world is going to take some getting used to...."
