Meet and Greet

"Clever boy," Lillian whispered to herself. She hadn't expected him to find the tracker. Unfortunately he overplayed his hand avoiding suspicion. She never mentioned the small detail of telepathy, she knew they were going to a bank. She pulled out the map Al gave her and checked Jatne's last known location against it.

It was a risk, but she was willing to bet they were heading to the one no more than a minute from their location. She stuck to the rooftops as much as possible with telekineticly aided leaps. Arriving at the back she assumed they would have brought transportation and checked the sparse parked vehicles for anything identifying... like the black armor plates neatly stacked in the back seat of one. She planted another tracker behind one of the back tires under the car and reclined on the hood.

Jatne came out first, repelling silently down from the roof. Another man she didn't recognize came from around front. To her amazement he seemed to get significantly taller, more muscular, and his hair grew down past his shoulders. In the same second as the rest his skin got darker, those tacky silver tattoos appeared, and the distinctive fluffy tail and cat ears appeared as well.
"You better plan to clear out of Al's.
I said I didn't want anyone bringing trouble back to my new home." The look in her eyes said she was very serious.
"No trouble here," Jatne grinned clutching a few small bags over his shoulder. "Ro'ika and I were just looking for some fine young ladies to celebrate our newfound brotherhood.
Playing wingman for each other, you know," I'm sure Mereel or Jaing would have said something like that.  His mental voice betrayed a devastation he hid too well.
"Speak for yourself, I'm not picky, a fine young gentleman would do just as well."
"Stuff your lies. I mean it, I'll give you a few days, but I expect you gone." She got up and casually walked away. She may not have stopped them, but she had leverage now, she could keep them in line.

Before leaving the car Jatne handed Roxil a small slip of paper. Roxil got it, put the paper in his pocket and retrieved a small leather pouch. He pulled from it a tiny bit of fine powder on the end of a finger and inhaled it deeply. With a renewed sense of energy he went straight up to the front doors and let himself in. Thanks to Jatne's reconnaissance he had seen which key the manager used plenty of times. He had seen the way the manager spoke to the guards, how he moved, and where he went.
"Hanging in there, boys?"
It was about this time Jatne probably had his gear on and was climbing to the roof. The outer security cameras would be on a loop.
"In position, waiting for the signal."
"Take a break, grab some coffee. I'm just going to run through the usual checks." Roxil went down the hall. He instinctively checked that his hair wasn't in the way of the tiny camera clipped over his ear before recalling that it wasn't his hair.

Before Unlocking the door to the saferoom he called back to the guards. "Back at posts in 10."
Inside he heard the faint shuffle of someone in the vents, he clicked his comm off and back on. The vent popped open and Roxil was ready to catch it silently. Jatne lowered himself on a rope that looked to thin to support his weight. Lucky for them, the boxes had electronic locks. Jatne stopped at each and prodded them with a metal cylinder no larger than his pinky finger, and they slid open. The two quickly loaded any cash out of the boxes with the largest supplies ignoring the boxes with sparse contents.
Each time a small bag was filled Jatne sent it back into the vent.
"Two minutes remaining." He said silently using the subvocal signal. Roxil continued filling a final bag while his partner climbed back up into the vent.
"One minute," Be pulled the last bag up and Roxil lifted the cover to put it back into place.

As he locked the door behind himself, the guard was coming back down the hall.
"You guys run a tight shop, everything looks good as usual."

Everything had gone perfectly. By the time Roxil got around back Jatne should have retrieved his remotes and loaded the haul into their car. That was where things went dowhill. He saw Lilly sitting on the hood of the vehicle looking rather upset.

Jatne heard the subtle click of Roxil's comm activating.
"I'm in the manager's house now, he's getting ready for bed. The poor di'kut is spoiled with wealth, didn't even consider closing up the windows."
"All the better for us. You found the stash? Asleep or not I'd feel better hitting him with the sharp, don't want the alarm waking him for an early shift."  
"I'm ready on this end, just don't be surprised if you see him walking out in a minute. He left his office keys on a hook right out in the open. I could walk right in the front door and the guards wouldn't think anything of it."
"You can do that? Be him, I mean?"
"For an hour without leaving evidence.
But there's no such thing as a bottle of 'essence of bank manager' or anything like that. I'll be on the clock as soon as I take his shape."
Good thing everything was in place then. Jatne was waiting in the car wearing just his body suit, his armored plates were stacked neatly in the back in case of emergency. He only planned on needing the helmet, gauntlets, and belt.
"Ready when you are," He said. He pulled his helmet up front and noted - for the second time - the tiny device that had been placed inside the back of it. He likely never would have noticed if he didn't thoroughly inspect his kit regularly. Someone was tracking him. He'd let them, for now. No use raising any alarms before the real fun started.
Moments later the manager calmly exited his house and got into the passenger seat of the car. He jingled a set of keys. "Drop me off in front and I'll be your eyes." He strapped a small headset onto his ear, a small external camera Jatne left in the stash for him. When they were about a minute away from the bank he reached into his helmet and crushed the tracking device between his fingers.

"What are you doing?" Kaytee ask Lillian, but she push the girl away from the door without waiting for a answer. When she go inside Roxil and Jatne look suspicious. It did not matter, she had important work to do. Al refuse to continue making list of people that come through rift.

Kaytee believe in the important of documenting these people. The inhumans were coming often enough now that it would be impossible to hide them all. She believe that rather than keep trying to cover it, they should instead make a registry. Even if Al did not agree, it was obvious someone in government did. If not, that black hair girl would not keep coming to collect information.

Kaytee close herself in room and begin writing, remembering every inhuman she meet in last few years. Every name she could give government was a step toward contact every inhuman and make them register.

"Don't worry vod, I've done this plenty of times." Well, I read the installation manual and watched the surgical vid.
They were definitely up to something. Lilly had her ear pressed against the apartment door though she didn't know why, she was more concerned with stray thoughts than anything they were willing to risk saying out loud.
Aquire transportation, check. Recce the bank, check. Distribute kit, check. Stash emergency supplies, check. I just need to get a camera on this guy so I can access his POV. That was a surprising amount, Jatne usually seemed practiced at guarding his thoughts.
This is exciting, even if I'm not running the theft. I haven't been in the game for hundreds of years. Theft? Thank you, Roxil. That settled it, she had an eye for trouble and the look of it was all over those two.
"I'd like enough of the haul, if there's enough at all, for a little building" That time it seemed more like Roxil was actually thinking to someone.
"What you think you're going to start another temple here? If that's what you want I guess."
"Imagine this comm thing, how it sounds like you're in my head. Now imagine you naturally had that sense of communication but with the prayers of over a thousand people. Even with a friend I'm drowning in loneliness here. Anything that feels more like home would be welcome."
"I understand actually. I haven't been out of possible contact with my brothers since we came out of the vats."
A temple? Right, the cat said he was a god. Lilly still didn't believe it, but if he heard prayers... no he was probably just insane. Whatever these two were planning at a bank, she had to stop them. She didn't want any risk of them bringing trouble back here. Lilly liked it here, she saw a chance at peace, at a normal life. She wasn't about to let them ruin it.

Roxil went back to the bar for an afternoon drink. He had been relatively undisturbed until Jatne called him back up to the apartment for what he called minor surgery.

"Don't worry vod, I've done this plenty of times." Well, I read the installation manual and watched the surgical vid. He said as though that made Roxil less concerned. Though he noticed Jatne was already sterilizing a fine tipped knife. He directed Roxil to tie up his hair and lift his chin up and to the right so he had easy access to the soft tissue just below the left ear. Roxil couldn't help the smirk when the man tried to inject him with something, but the needle simply bent against his skin.
"Oh, did I never tell you in a little tougher than the average person? Perks of being a god."
"Nothing to numb the area then. So I imagine you won't cut to well either?"  
Roxil simply laughed in response and took the knife himself. Once a small line was drawn indicating where to make the incision Roxil positioned himself in front of a mirror. He winced almost unnoticeably, it had been over 200 years since anything had broken his skin. Then Jatne inserted what he called a 'subvocal comm reciever' directly under the skin. A simple bandaid was placed over the incision at Roxil's insistence that it would take hours at most to fully heal.

Now Roxil just had to learn to talk without actually speaking and he'd be able to communicate directly with Jatne. He practiced the specific jaw movements required to switch channels several times until he was confident. Then he practiced the speaking technique watching for the thumbs-up prompt when audio went through to Jatne's own receiver. He drew the line when Jatne also wanted to install a near microscopic camera in his eye. Maybe some other time.

The rest of the setup was up to him. Jatne stashed a few supplies near the bank manager's house, a small Blaster, a single use syringe of sedative, a spare vibroblade, and a few remote cameras in case Roxil couldn't get away with hanging around. To Jatne's surprise Roxil shifted to a housecat, hanging around likely wouldn't be a problem.

Jatne was almost done preparing. He had to reprogram his helmet systems to cooperate with Earth satellites first, easy enough. He was now tied to the internet rather than the HoloNet though the two functioned similarly. If anyone tried to trace him out would ping somewhere in a country called Greece. If that person discovered it was a cover and merit searching the trail would lead to Brazil, then Germany, then Japan.

Next he located a nearby bank with on-site safe deposit boxes. There was one that looked promising enough about 45 minutes away. He purchased a vehicle using the identity of a fictional 60 year old man,picking it up at the location under the guise of a delivery service employee. Then he prepped Roxil for what he called a recce, standard reconnaissance op. Roxil used his impressive shapeshifting ability to transform into a beautiful young woman, stunning and distracting.

They spent no more than 30 minutes at the bank. Roxil spent most of that time speaking with the manager, deciding if his nonexistent wealth would be safe enough there. Jatne slipped into the bathroom and silently worked the cover of a vent to release 3 remotes. He hid in one of the stalls and pulled a datapad from his pocket to maneuver them into good positions one by one.

The first he left over the managers office where he and Roxil were talking. The cat it seemed, was very comfortable openly flirting with strange men. The second remote hovered over the saferoom. The third round a good sight line of both the hall to the saferoom and the main area.

He met up again with Roxil as he left the office and gave Jatne a convincingly affectionate kiss on the cheek.
"My boyfriend and I are going to check out another bank. We'll be back if this one is better!"
He said in a charming female voice. They returned to the car where Roxil told him the manager frequently came in a night to check on security.
"We'll have to make sure he skips a night then, I have his home address. A little tranq will solve that problem."

Kaytee tried hard to listen to Roxil and Jatne and read their lips if she could. She could not, they sat in the back corner both facing a wall. Every time Roxil got excited about something and turned Jatne steered him back with a hand on his shoulder. What big secret could they have?

She served many drink to customer until the bar slow down. Then she invite herself to sit at table with them. They were silent now.
"You two are very friendly today." she smiled like she trust them completely.
"We came to an understanding." Jatne say the same thing she heard him tell Lillian earlier.
"Mhi vode jii," Roxil say and grin easy like he knew that language all his life but she do not know what it mean. She not sure, but Jatne look sad when Roxil say the word vode. Then he smack Roxil, hard on the shoulder, and laugh loud.
"You learn fast, ner vod. And you've got mandokar!"

Kaytee think it good they do not fight anymore at least. Friendly people are easy to control more.

Lilly woke in the middle of the night when she heard one of the doors open. Roxil and Jatne were going somewhere... together. She watched them head out to the main hall connected with 3 other apartment units and down the stairs. She assumed they would turn right and go outside. Instead they faced left, toward the locked door of Al's bar. They argued in hushed tones for a moment until Jatne huffed and Roxil picked the lock.

Whatever the two of them were up to was a complete change of pace from their fight earlier. She also assumed it was probably nothing good. She contemplated finding Al's unit and waking him, but even playing the good girl drew more attention to herself than she wanted. She simply went back to sleep.

The following morning the men sat in the kitchen as though nothing happened. Jatne seemed to be teaching Roxil a song in some foreign language. Roxil was drinking beer, the only thing she had seem him drink since her arrival, and Jatne had coffee that appeared to be mostly creamer along with a sickeningly sweet looking pastry.

"When did you two get to be such good friends?"
"We came to an understanding." And a mutual need for resources.
"We don't want to upset our gracious host with any more fights now do we?" We are going to have so much fun together.

The two men grinned at each other like a couple of school boys. Frankly, Lilly found it disturbing. She might have to keep an eye on them, even inform Al or Kaytee if she heard anything more troubling from them. What did Jatne mean by a mutual need for resources that Roxil thought would be fun? For the moment at least, Lilly was sure she didn't want to know.

"Alternative Procurement," Roxil repeated with a boyish grin. "I can certainly guess what that means." My youth may have more hardships than what seems fair, but I did learn so many valuable skills. "But go back, you said you're only 14? You don't look like a child by any means."  
"And you don't look a day over 30. Anyway, our genes were modified during the cloning  process so we would age twice as fast. No one wants to wait 20 years for an army to grow."
"For what it's worth, I frequently napped for a few decades to turn back the years. Didn't want to lose my youthful figure after all."

Roxil waited until the moon was high to wake Jatne. He had a plan. If they were going to make a life here, they would need resources. They helped themselves into the bar so as not to disturb the others in the small apartment. The primitive manual lock wasn't near enough to stop either of the two with their skillset.
"Would you be interested in a little alternative procurement to get us started?" He asked with a smirk pouring himself a mug of beer before fishing the bottle of orange juice from the fridge for his new friend. Jatne found himself a clean glass and they started forming a plan.

Jatne decided that for now it would be best to stick to a short need-to-know brief on himself. "I am 14 years old," He looked like an extremely fit man barely over 30. "Trained as an Advanced Recon Commando from the age of 2. Myself and my brothers, and millions of others like us were all cloned from a renowned mando'ad Jango Fett. I was one of the first batch of clones, of  12 only 9 lived through incubation. We would have been reconditioned," Murdered. "Had I not killed the Tipoca Rep,
the man that trained us also saved my brothers from the consequences of my actions. Though we had been ranked Null - off the charts - we were seen as uncontrollable. Not a good trait for a slave army." An image flashed through Jatne's mind, his brother Ordo had taken the Blaster off a man attempting to shield them from Orun Wa. He couldn't get a clear shot, but Jatne could. He held the Blaster perfectly steady in his tiny hands, he clearly remembered the smell after firing a real weapon for the first time. He also clearly remembered Skirata, Kal'buir, protecting them from a livid Jango. After the adrenaline cooled both Kal and Jango shared a good laugh.

"Kandosii! At least we know these kids have gett'se!" Jango had said before leaving them in Kal's care. He would have his hands full when the Alpha batch of ARCs was ready. He recalled Skirata teaching them about his heritage, and theirs while feeding them cake. Jatne had been surprised by the evident shock in Kal's face when they recited the mando'a words back to him without fault after he had gone through them just once, one perk of perfect recall.

When Jatne realized how long he had been silent he listed through his training. Aggressive Infiltration, Alternative Procurement, Radical Restructuring, there was a whole list of euphemisms representing all the ways they learned to kill, destroy, and steal whatever they needed for the mission. Everyone but Lilly and Roxil seemed to have a look of mild horror most of the time he spent  reciting his story.

Kaytee listen to the newcomers with interest and let Kieran take over when Roxil talk. Kieran was very interest in hear about Creation. More interest in Roxil try to explain the Wyld. She wait to hear about Jatne, Yazish and Emiylea were very curious.

"We are Kaytee, unlike all you we carry our brothers and sisters with us. We are 6, but also 7. Kataleina, Kieran, Amalaya, Yazish, Tiore, Emiylea, and Ezekeal. Kataleina is not active and has not been for nearly 1300 years." "We know Lilly hear thought,
we should not say what happen to Kataleina.
"The problem we want to really about,
you met Corsenna. She work for government. They want people from Rift to register."

"Uh, well, my name is Woneyii Roxil,
or just Roxil, or Catman. I'm a 426 year old God and Steward for Luna... I, uh, I'm a shapeshifter..." I probably shouldn't tell them about the Ritual Hunt, or the heart's blood part of that...

He told them about his thousands of believers and the cities he founded that had once only been small villages. How he helped them to build the villages from nothing so they could live in peace away from the injustices of the Dragon Blooded Exalts though he didn't really go into detail about Exalts. Roxil described regular celebrations with feasting, dancing, and drinking. And all the sex during full moons was great too. He even listed the names of his 32 children and as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren he knew of.

Lastly he tried to explain his self inflicted exile in the Wyld, but no one seemed to be able to follow his explanation of the Bordermarches which didn't bode well for a description of the Middlemarches. Fortunately even he wasn't dumb enough to visit into the Chaos beyond the Middlemarches. What they seemed to have more difficulty following was that his world wasn't a globe.

Apparently it didn't make sense to come from a land that was a giant rectangle in the middle of abstract concepts whose cardinal directions were tied to the elements. Roxil thought it didn't make sense to come from a land that was round. Do people live in the bottom? No I guess not, they'd just fail off...

"If we're stuck together for the time being we may as well at least pretend to get along. I'll say right now, I'm not planning on getting into trouble, if any of you are, I don't want any of it." Lilly simply explained that she did everything in her power to get far away from where she was, a whole new universe seemed plenty distant to her. She wanted to have the closest thing to a normal life as she could manage. Truth be told, the only trouble she'd start now was with anyone that got between her and her normal life.

She briefly described herself; considered a technological prodigy, extensive weapons training, athletic, but she left out some pretty major details. One of the details she did share was the fact she was cloned, the 5th copy of the original Lillian. All in all, very little had been modified from the original other than her psionic implants of course.

"That's my show of trust. So else wants to tell a story?" Lilly was fishing. She didn't tell them about her telepathy, if she could get them talking she could also get them thinking.

"I don't recognize you three. I assume Aloysius has you listed?" The woman said, clearly indicating Jatne, Roxil, and Lilly. "If not, I'll have your names now, your homes, everything."
"And who are you, ma'am? I've not made a habit of spilling myself to aruetiise. A man like me, identity is all I have." I'm never going home? My vode will never know where I've gone? Verborir ni gal sol'yc,  there's a time to learn about a man and you're not there." He put his helmet back on, intending to leave. The woman didn't take kindly to Jatne's gentle refusal. She opened her arm, but there was no blood. It was all metal, like the durasteel prosthetics he had seen on more than a few troopers. She pulled a small rod, no larger than his smallest finger, on which she pressed a smaller button.

Jatne's vision went black, his armor systems didn't respond. "Fierfek,"  Something collided with him before there was a rather loud commotion. Jatne had his bucket back off again in only seconds. His eyes widened on shock, the woman was on the ground pinned by something much larger than himself that seemed both man and cat. The woman freed herself, without ease.

"I'll deal with you. You'll see." She left, no other words were said. And that beast, the cat creature became a man once again and that man was Roxil.

"It is our turn to give very dull lecture."   Kaytee look around and see that most human left by now. No need to go to back, she just speak quiet. "Humans here make mistake, the mistake break universe, and all other universe. We do not know where you come from, but you were pull through a Rift. Rift only go one way, you can not go home."
The armored man look scared, very scared. The woman look excited. Amalaya, while you were control Kieran analyze new people. Girl read minds, probably hear now. Man is not magic at all, but Yazish and Emiylea agree, very dangerous." " Al has place for newcomer above bar, but space is limit so you all must share mine. Sorry, only 2 room. Roxil can share with new man,"
"Jatne," He seem distracted. Did not even argue about stay with Roxil.
"Girl can stay with me," The woman say her name is Lilly.
Kaytee find herself very curious about Jatne, at least he is human, should fit in fine. Lilly look human, so did Roxil but his silver tattoo stand out. She need to watch them, learn about them, that why she keep them all in her home. Kaytee hope they do not cause trouble. She worry about Roxil and Jatne, they already fight one time. What concern her more, is number of new people appear. The Rift were sure to bring attention from very bad people.

As thought occur to Kaytee, the door swing open. In it is familiar woman, bad woman with emerald eyes and black and red hair.

"You know drill, sweetheart. Al has list for me?" Girl smile sweet, but it was lie.

"So," Roxil said, pointedly ignoring the guy in armor. "I assume these guys are also...?"
"No doubt,"
"Flash of light or darkness followed quickly by being somewhere around here? Or more specifically not where you were?" He said to the woman, all ignoring the guy. It's a shame you're so pretty,
I could have a lot of fun with a guy like you.

The woman made a face at him then nodded. So you're stuck here for the rest of your life as well, at least you're probably stuck for substantially less time.
"Well, you two are in for a very dull 'welcome to Earth, don't cause any trouble' lecture."  Al explained the Rifts to him. If he was stuck here he would at least make the most of it. Roxil whispered something in Kaytee's ear earning himself another free glass of beer. Yeah, I knew you'd be curious about a god.

Lillian approached the bar, carefully weighing her options. Potential target one; a very attractive man with tacky silver tattoos visible on his neck, face, arms, and hands. He was wearing a shirt that was obviously too tight, and pants that looked unwashed secured around his waist with a tattered leather cord. He was also wearing a ridiculously fluffy tail and cat ears, though Lily couldn't see how they were attached. Conclusion; this guy was incredibly weird, and probably didn't have any money.

Potential target two; a reasonably attractive man. He was wearing a full set of beautifully crafted mock armor fit perfectly to him that looked so real she was almost convinced he could actually take a bullet in it. Even his weapons were frighteningly believable. Conclusion; either this guy had some real good friends, or better yet, a lot of money.

She placed a device on his armor, feigning like she accidentally bumped him, and hoping he had his wallet hidden somewhere in there. Female humans, they can never resist me, she could hear him think, that was strange. The armor even felt real to touch. The craftsmenship was remarkable.

"I'd like a vodka, straight. Please and thank you." Good luck with that, He thought again. That drink was a beautiful thing after what must have been one hell of a night. She ran her card through the the machine. "Declined?
What the fu-"  

"Subtlty isn't your strength is it?" The armored man was grinning at her like a child. He held his hand out palm up, in it was her chip irreparably crushed. He hasn't given any indication that he had noticed it, and she hadn't even seen him remove it.

"Can't blame a girl for trying. Be happy you'll never know how awful it feels to be the best at your job, but never get paid for it. Be happier you'll never know what it feels like to not even be the original you." He actually laughed at her comment. It would have been insulting had she not heard his thoughts once more. Oddly enough, I know exactly what that feels like.

Relax, you won't even know you've been chilled! Jatne had raised his DC-17 Blaster Pistol before he was even fully aware he had reacted, flash training and endless drilling at work. He was only vaguely aware of Roxil muttering something along the lines of not playing nice if Jatne called him a dog again.
"You'll die before you ever get me in a freezer. Tracyn bal kyr'am, there will be nothing left of you!"
"Whoa there," Al took a risk, a major risk, and quickly reached out to place a hand on Jatne's face, the only exposed skin. He could feel some of the tension drain from the ARC almost instantly. "I hate the taste of rage and I resent you making me do that. Now be calm. No one said anything about putting you in a freezer. Now you raise a weapon in my bar again, you'll never be welcome back."  As his adrenaline dropped Jatne become acutely aware of tangible fear in the room.
"Of course, I apologize." He was not embarrassed, you could train reaction into a soldier, but you couldn't train it out again. Still, a true Mandalorian knew when to apologize."This isn't Kamino?" He knew it wasn't, Al's nod was an unnecessary confirmation.

"Al, you must be curse. Why are they always drop by your bar? Boys, do not make mess, we will be the one to clean. We give you both beer on house?
Then you play nice?"  Roxil happily accept Kaytee offer. The man in armor take one sip from glass and his face contort.

"That's disgusting."
"You never have alcohol? No wonder you so high string." Kaytee never have alcohol either, but Kaytee was not human. Al sy it has 2 common effect on men. Alcohol either make them relax, or make them very stupid. True that she did not really know either, but she think it might make Roxil stupid, she hope not. This other man she could not read. She replace his glass anyway with orange juice which he seem to like much more.
"If this di'kut touches me again, things will get very messy in here. I suggest you control the dog."
"Please Relax," Al say. "You both need to chill."

Roxil finally ventured from the back room, he was uncomfortable in the too-tight shirt and stiff shoes Al had lent him. He paused in the doorway. At the bar was a rather attractive, if not too serious looking, man. What really stood out about him, was his peculiar armor, even more peculiar that he was wearing armor. Sure the Solars practically lived in theirs, but this was a very different world it seemed.

He stood side-by-side with the only slightly shorter man and casually put an arm around his shoulders, intending to ask Al if he could finally have that mead. He was not expecting the guy to turn lightning fast grabbing Roxil's arm by the shoulder and wrist with a fluid motion, forcing him rather painfully to the ground. Unfortunately, Roxil was a little sturdier than the stranger was expecting and instinctively rolled his was out of the strong grip, a feat that was surprisingly difficult when fully clothed.

"Didn't your father ever tell you not to touch strangers?" the man asked.
"My father hasn't told me a thing since he dumped me on the side of a road. But uh, you can touch me if you'd like, I don't bite. Well, I don't always bite. You're fun, I'm Roxil, now that we're not strangers want to play?"

The club was packed tonight, good. It didn't take any focus at all to cause some bottles to fall from the shelf as Lillian approached the bar. When the man turned to clean up the the mess she discreetly placed a small chip in the computer. With her eyes closed she waited for the link and began scanning the accounts in her mind. If she siphoned just a few credits from each of them she could easily amass enough wealth to leave America for good.

"Can I help you?" The man asked? Lillian was embarrassed, she hadn't noticed him return to his post.
"Just water, please." She only needed a little more time,but she wouldn't get it without hanging around suspiciously. A couple hundred thousand would have to do. "Nevermind, I think I might just turn in for the night." The man shrugged and turned to dump the glass he had just filled for her creating an opportunity for Lily to retrieve her device.

Outside the air was still and cool, too peaceful. In fact, it seemed far too peaceful. The only traffic was from others leaving the club. Lillian focused trying to weed the extra voices out of get mind. There she is. The signal, she's been spotted. She won't get away from us this time. I think we've actually got her surrounded.

"Crap," She took a sudden left turn and took off running bouncing herself between the alley walls, upward and upward until she reached a fire escape. She jumped over the dead end with a completely unnecessary flip.

She really fell for it, the trap worked! That wasn't good, Lily found herself face to face with a dozen armed men, all pointing their guns straight at her. Time to come him Zero Five, She heard a familiar voice.
"No, I'll die first director." That won't be necessary, I've armed my men with tranqs. We wouldn't want any harm to come of our favorite little girl, would we? Lily was seconds away from a full panic, she never wanted to go back. She heard the weapons fire, and her vision blurred.

Her head was pounding when she woke, but she wasn't in the lab. She was sitting in a dirty alley, leaning against an unfamiliar brick wall. To her right she could see a burst street. To Lily's surprise it seemed to be filled with antique cars, she couldn't recall seeing a vehicle on tires in her whole life.

She stumbled to her feet and rounded the corner entering the first public building she saw, Al's. That girl is a mess. How hung over is she? It smells like someone slept in the alley.

"Will you all just shut up!" Great, now everyone actually was looking at her.

Though he was never given the right to be considered 'one of them' Jatne still considered all the clones vode, his brothers. He tapped into the infantry comm channel, the commandos, the ARCs, every channel was the same. Those who weren't in critical conditional or dead chanted together as the Larty convoy took them away from Geonisis.

Kote! Kandosii sa ka'rta, Vode an. Coruscanta a'den mhi,
Vode an. Bal kote, darasuum kote, Jorso'ran kando a tome. Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad, Vode an. He sang along with them, his one voice blending with so many thousands just like it.

So many had died while Jatne sat, helpless, in Skirata's apartment. The inaction killed him, but his Null brothers were able to fight this day because of him. That had to count for something. He may not have been on Geonisis, but he was not dar'manda, his battles were yet to come. The storm outside raged on as he waited as patiently as possible for the transport that would take him to his father.

Four years passed, now the Oyu'baat in Keldabe was place of relative comfort but nothing could erase Kamino or the events of the war from his memory. Jatne never had much of a taste for alcohol but he would drink today. He was wearing his beskar'gam into town to pick up a few bottles of tihaar and ne'tra gal. His old Republic issued armor and body suit were in his pack. It also contained his Republic issued weapons and share spare gear. He was planning to submerge them in the river. Jatne got to the alley where he could sink the bag under the powerful current. It was right around the corner from the Oyu'baat so he was preparing to stow the bags of alcohol before stashing his old kit. Before he could get rid of anything a bright flash of light caught him off guard.

Jatne took a defensive stance in the blink of an eye but the light had dazed him, he couldn't tell where the attacker was... or who, he found himself on a busy street, not like any he had ever seen before though. Even the slums on Coruscant looked more advanced than this, after the war. He surveyed his surroundings but saw nothing of note other than a single building behind him with neon signs in the windows. 'Al's Bar', if he had learned anything from Kal'buir it was that bars contained a wealth of information, or at the very least plenty of loose lips to gather information from. As he entered however, all eyes were on him, or more specifically his full matte black beskar'gam armor with its black kama and gold lit 't' shaped visor and large conspicuous duffle.
He ignored the stares walking straight up to the man at the bar. Standing at his full height Jatne removed his helmet and looked Al dead in the eyes with a grim expression. "Juice, please."

“Be kind, Al. He looks like a man out of his time, we remember what that is like. May we offer you a beer?” Kaytee asked the strange tattooed man. She had seen many strange thing since she came to Earth, but a man with a tail was new. He nodded and accepted the drink happily. Al brought the man to the back and left Kaytee to watch the bar. Very carefully she used the toe of her boot to stop the door closing all the way. She wanted to hear what was said.

“You aren’t human?” Al asked very quiet. “You were pulled through a rift? My bar is a safe place, but you must be careful. You said you’re a god? There are no gods here, no spirits, no monsters, nothing but regular humans. You’ll need a place to stay, I have several apartments for people like yourself that don’t belong here. It’s only temporary if you don’t plan on working for it.”

The man with a tail was very confused. The things he said made Al very confused. Though they reached an agreement to understand each other. Kaytee remembered making the same agreement. The day she gave Al memories she thought she didn’t need. True that he understood her enough to help, but many thing changed for her. She hoped the man, she heard his name – Roxil, would not regret this like she did. Her father went with the memories she gave to Al. He said she did not like him, and that her father did not like her, but not remembering still hurt. She turned her attention from the talk when the bar’s door opened and a person she did not recognize came in.

Spoiler:

There was no way Izumi was going to die here.

The Evas of the other pilots were down, their flesh cut open and burned, their armor laying in pieces in buildings around them. Elizabeth was out and probably dead, the broken neck of her Eva likely having pierced her entry plug. Sam's blood-curdling screams refused to stop, yelling about her arms being on fire. Karsis was being lifted in the air by its neck by the humanoid angel, before being discarded as trash. Only Izumi was left standing, and she didn't care.

The orders of Marsha in her ear to retreat came through, over and over. She didn't care. She only knew that this angel had to die. It was somehow smarter than others they had fought; it seemed to be almost mocking them, playing with them. She didn't care.

She rushed forward, screaming, locking hands with it in grapple. As she shoved it back, a small halo appeared above the head over her Eva. She didn't care. She smashed through the A.T. Field of the angel, plunging a mailed fist straight in to its core.

At that moment, everything went black, and she heard a small voice in her head:

Spoiler:

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. "..."

---

The next thing she knew, she was laying in a dirty alleyway, drenched, coughing up the LCL. Confused and a bit angry, she stood up, and started looking for a place she could get a shower, and call NERV to figure out what happened. She walked by a bar, refusing to go in; bars were places adults went to die, and she was looking to live.