Fay - T (Open)

Despite blocking most of the thugs' attacks, they managed to get a few hard kicks in Nail's ribs. One more from the left opened up an opportunity for the one on the right to punch him hard at the throat.

"That's enough!" the leader commanded as Nail started coughing and gasping for air. The two boys backed off as the green haired leader stepped in and bent over a little bit. "Now listen punk. I don't know who you think you are, and I don't care. These are my streets. Where do you get off thinkin' you can be some kinda hero or somethin' an' try ruining my good reputation?"

Nail struggled to get up to his knees. "I don't..." the teen paused to let out a few last coughs and looked up at the gang leader. "...know what you're talking about!" he stated, his eyes glaring fiercely. "Oh?" Well maybe this will jog your memory!" The thug cried as he pulled back is arm and aimed a fistful of brass towards his battered victim's face.

Clang! As Nail instinctively put his hand up to block the strike, his Natural activated and his fleshy skin transformed into thick diamond that spread throughout his entire body like an armor. "What the--aah!" the thug cried out as the diamond hand clamped down on his fist with a crushing grip. Nail then pulled his assailant down towards him, springing up towards him and delivered a powerful diamond fisted uppercut, shattering the boy's jaw and knocking him unconscious.

Horrified by his transformation, the fat kid quivered and peed his pants, why the other one grabbed a nearby trashcan lid and with a yell of fear smashed it into Nail's head. Unfazed, the enarmored giant just stared straight into his eyes, and with one step towards them, the two would-be-muggers turned around and ran for their lives.

Aire looked at Vince and then at the Sergent. She took a deep breath. She had a bad feeling about this, but she didn't want to give up so easily.

"We aren't lying Sir. You're being rude."

The Sergeant looked at Aire, then gave a deep sigh, "Alright...that's the way you want it...get out of my station." he said, turning his head and and grabbing the radio at his shoulder, "James, come to my office, I need you to escort some children from the premises."

A crackle issued from the radio, "Yes, Sir. I'll be there right away."

"I don't expect you kids to understand; you can take me doing my job as rude as it pleases you, but I have enough problems on my hands. Good day."

"No wait," Aire called out. They couldn't leave without Tadi. They couldn't! "We're....looking for someone. His name is Tadi."

The Sergeant paused, reaching for his radio, "Belay that last order a moment," he said, "Alright, look I'm not sure who you mean...could you describe your friend? What does he look like, when was he last here...maybe even, does he have any specific magical ability that would make him stand out?"

Or more importantly...was she referring to the cat that was brought in? He had a hunch that that was what these kids were after, but, then again...

Vince bit his lip as he fought to keep his face clean of disappointment. His first real mission, and he was blowing it. But he also hadn't been expecting it to be this hard, not just to get inside this dang place.

"Umm..." What was he going to say? Think. Think. Think. "Tadi's a tabby cat--my tabby cat. I saw him get taken into one of your cars. I don't mean to bother you about such a small thing, but he means a lot to me."

(I'll post with Farah and Tory tomorrow, Velox. Sorry for taking so long, but I haven't had a ton of Internet time and I'm ready to fall over right now. But I'll be pretty much home alone tomorrow, so I should have plenty of time then.)

And there it was..."A tabby, you say? Your tabby, and you lost it around here?" asked the Sergeant, though the girl had given him all he needed, "Yeah, I saw 'your cat,' as I sent him to the LoP Station. See, we don't have much room in the animal shelters down here, and life on the Orbital stations can get pretty claustrophobic, so there was a program started a while back to help improve quality of living by transferring non-diseased lost animals to the station. I didn't know it was yours though." he said, drawing this out.

The Captain wanted the cat, these kids may have been connected to the cat and if that were the case...he could have them walk into LoP hands without a problem! Then they would be the Captain's problem and not his...beside he could do much planet-side anyways...

"So he's not here?" Vince asked, clear disappointment in his voice. So this had all been for nothing? No, not all for nothing. Tadi was in even bigger trouble than he had imagined. But what could he and Aire do about it? "I really need him back."

---------

Farah slammed on her brakes as the two teenagers rushed into the street, laying on her horn as she did so. Both her and Tory were thrown slightly forward, kept in their seats only by their seat belts. One of the goons hit the front of the car just before it had reached a full stop and he was thrown forward a few feet.

Instantly Farah was out of the car, rushing towards the fallen teen and his stunned friend.

Tory, however, was staring out to the alley to the right. She had sensed it, only moments before the car had come to an abrupt halt. Somebody was in trouble, for that kind of Natural to have gone off. It was defensive. The teen gave one glance at her busy mother before sliding out of the car and rushing into the alley.

"Well son, I don't know what to tell you...I realize that it must be difficult hearing this...look, why don't I schedule the two of you for a flight out? That way, you can get your cat personally. I trust you two have some form of proof that Tadi is indeed your cat." Said the Sergeant, as he prepared to call it in on his radio.

Aire turned to Vince. Did they have proof? There had to be something. The girl was not going to just walk away empty handed. They had to find Tadi. They just had to.

"What do you mean? What kind of proof?"

He looked at the girl, he clearly had them, but he went along, "Well, sweetheart, if he's your cat, you'd have papers; any kind of papers, but the ones you'd need are at least a paper that denotes his shot record, or if you bought him from a kennel or pet shop, a proof of ownership, such as a collar with his tags."

Leaning back in his chair, "of course, any such records would have to be scanned and verified as being original and legitimate and with photo-shopping, we can't accept photos, digital or otherwise, we can barely accept papers, but I'm letting it slide...I had a cat myself, so I know that it can be hard, but I need to know that you're Tadi's owner before I can release him, or even let you go and retrieve him."

"But he's..." Vince stopped, becoming more and more unsure of this whole thing as the Sergeant somehow managed to block everything he tried. Maybe he and Aire should pull out, rethink this whole thing? If this last attempt didn't work, then they would have to.

"He was a stray, when I found him. I don't have any ownership papers or anything. But... but why does it even matter, sir? If you guys took him in, thinking he was a stray, then he needs a home, doesn't he? Why can't I be his home?"

The Sergent smiled, "Alright kid, you've said enough. Unfortunately, as things stand, I can't directly release him into your custody; current circumstances prevent doing so. However, I can arrange a transport vessel to deliver you to the orbital station...is that alright?" He knew he had the kid backed into a corner, and the kid did good at thinking on his feet, but obviously he didn't expect to be railroaded like he was.

He didn't make Sergeant for nothing, but the kid missed his "cat" and if it meant that much, maybe some of the officers aboard the station would like to speak with them.

"Uh..." Great, just great. If he and Aire went up to the orbital station, then they would be in the same situation as Tadi. Well, not the exact same... If Tadi was stuck in his cat form, and they thought that he was just a stray to be adopted out... This wasn't good.

"I'm... We're not leaving without my cat," Vince said, fighting hard to keep his panic out of his voice. "You have no right to keep him. He's a free..." Crap. "He's mine, and by keeping him, you're stealing."

"Well, technically, since he's a stray, he doesn't belong to you...now does he? So then it's not stealing if you can't prove that he's yours, or if in fact, he isn't yours. Now, I like to think I'm a reasonable guy, so if you aren't going to work with me to get your cat back...then the door is right behind you. Refusal to leave will result in you being forcibly removed." said the Sergeant simply as he turned back to his papers.

New Character time!

Name: Shawn Spencer
Gender: Male
Age: 25
Natural: He's a fake psychic, his attention to detail enables him to solve even the toughest crimes.

Personality: Hyper active with a bit of an attention deficiency, Shawn knows exactly how to manipulate Gus, and often frustrates his friend with his antics. He has a love of Kit-Kat bars and has an innate attention to detail instilled upon him by his father. He also has a pension for obscure 80's references, often hybridizing movie quotes and mispronouncing or misquoting those phrases.

Appearance:

History: Shawn was a breech baby, born in February, 1977 and comes from a family of police officers. His parents separated in 1992, and later divorced; his mother, Madeleine (a psychologist), eventually returned and explained that she left to pursue a job opportunity. His father, Henry Spencer, schooled Shawn in detective work from as early as age 7, aiding the development of his extraordinary powers of observation and deduction. At the age of 15, he achieved a perfect score of 100 on the detective's exam.

Shawn's relationship with his father is complicated and at times highly strained. Though often it may seem that Henry is intentionally aggravating or imposing his will on his grown son, it is usually revealed that his motives are genuine. For example, tipping off the meter maid to ticket Shawn's motorcycle which is parked too close to a hydrant outside his apartment. The impounding as a result was Henry's ultimate goal, as Shawn had gotten into an accident some time ago.

Despite his obvious talent, Shawn has no interest in entering the police force, and after graduating from Leland Bosseigh High School in Santa Barbara, California, in 1995, takes up a string of random jobs selected strictly for his own enjoyment. Detective Lucinda Barry noted that had he applied himself in his youth he could've been running IBM. He is also shown to be a crack shot, hitting all of Detective Barry's bullet holes in a target with little experience. In his spare time, he entertains himself by calling in tips to the police hotline based on observations he has made on crime scenes shown in television news footage. After one such tip, the Santa Barbara police become suspicious of Shawn, whose information is so good that they believe it could only have come from an inside source. Desperate to avoid jail time, Shawn lies, explaining that he obtained the information in a psychic vision. Although initially skeptical, the department is impressed when he uses his "psychic" abilities to deduce that McNab was getting married, the secretary was "haunted" by her dead grandmother, Lassiter was in a relationship with his partner, and solve a vandalism case. So they hire Shawn as a consultant. Burton Guster, Shawn's best friend, hesitantly allows Shawn to recruit him, and they open their own psychic detective agency, "Psych".

His skills earned him the attention of the Resistance after Shawn left Earth in pursuit of adventure with his stalwart firend, Burton Guster aka "Gus." Managing to fool the recruiters, he was made an agent with the active task of infiltrating and observing the Eta...which he managed to do in less than a year, to the surprise of the Resistance. So far, he has been with the Eta for six weeks.

Occupation/Side: Undercover Eta agent/Undercover Resistance Agent/Psychic Detective

Other: Shawn dislikes sharp object and can't set his phone to vibrate.

(Accepted, and I don't have time to make a profile for Gus... So he'll be an unofficial character of sorts.)

Vince bit down on his lip and shot a look at Aire. What were they going to do? This so was not good. Maybe... Maybe it was best if he just went along with all of this, if he let himself be taken to Tadi. But what about Aire? Should he tell her just to leave? No, it was her choice. She was just as involved in all of this as he was.

Clearing his throat, Vince finally broke the silence. "Alright. I go, I get my cat, and then I come right back."

Shawn Spencer

"I'm telling you Gus, I'm got a good feeling about this! My Psychic juices are flowing, I can feel it." Said fake-psychic extraordinaire, Shawn Spencer as he approached the planet-side LoP station on foot, "Though, I can't believe the Psych-Scooter broke down, and after I got it paid off too! I'm telling you Gus, I know customs had something to do with it...."

---------------------------
The Sergeant looked at the boy, "Alright, will your mother be going with you?" he asked the boy, turning to his radio as he prepared to order the flight.

He didn't get the chance to get a response when his door suddenly opened and in walked two gentlemen, "Sir I don't believe that will be necessary, they can go with us," he said, quickly flashing his plastic Scruff McGruff badge, "I am officer Shawn Spencer, and this is my partner John Jacob Jingly Smith. We were heading up to the station ourselves and would love to escort them; My partner is especially good with children...." he said, motioning for the two to follow them.

"Now wait one damn minut-" started the Sergeant, "Sir, I do believe you are in the presence of sensitive ears, the kids especially!" Shawn said, covering Gus' ears, "Don't worry about a ride, we can catch the next flight out. You have an awesome day!" he said, backing out of the room.

Aire turned to Vince. This was not going well at all.

"What are we going to do," she asked him in a low voice. She was tempted to try and knock out the Sergeant and then look for Tadi, but she didn't think she could. Aire bit her lower lip. If they couldn't find Tadi, then she might start crying.

Vince bit his lip as he glanced towards the newcomers. Follow them? When he had no idea who they were?

"Aire, do you want to come to the orbital station with me? Or stay and be ready to act if I don't come back?" Yes, there was always that possibility, but he would take the risk, for Tadi, for anyone in Occult. That was just the kind of friend he was.

He glanced back at Shawn and John, instinctively trusting them more so than the Sergeant. But his chance with them was fading fast.

Aire took one of Vince's hand and squeezed it, half in a reassuring manner, half out of uncertainity. She didn't want to be alone, but she thought it would be a good idea just incase something happened.

Aire then shook her head at Vince.

"No. I want to go with you," she decided.

Shawn was checking his watch, keeping his eye on the kids, watching closely, "Hey Gus...I don't think these kids are missing their pet cat..." he said, waiting for them to finish up so they could catch a ride out, hopefully before the Sergeant wanted a closer look at his badge.

((Were going to play Gus, or is he for anyone to use?))

(Too tired to post right now, but, to answer your question... I was going to play him, but right now... Anybody can go ahead and use him. If it wasn't for the fact that people depend on me to post with certain characters, I would probably be taking a small break from RPing. Maybe it's a good thing that I'm not, though. It keeps me from falling into a deep depression (I feel pathetic, saying that). Anyways, I'd prefer if somebody else could handle Gus for now, please.)

Vince gave a nod of his head and smiled at her, glad that he wasn't going this alone. "Let's go, then," he said and then started for the door. He glanced back long enough to make sure that Aire was following after and to wave a goodbye at the Sergeant. Then he was out of the room, heading towards the two strangers. Hopefully he wasn't making some stupid decision that would get him and Aire in trouble. Hopefully.

(I'll play him.)

"Please, don't do that psychic crap while we're alone. Bad enough you do it in public," Gus grunted as he walked beside his friend. He honestly didn't get why his friend didn't become a regular detective with his observation skills. It'd pay less but it was a lot less annoying than seeing people gawk at Shawn's supposed "powers".