Dogtown

Police Headquarters was a huge complex a few blocks from Central Station. Which was the official name for Station. Ghetto was a massive area but for all that it was mainly uninhabited the desolate husks of buildings had somehow replaced trees and hills and grass; although trees and grass still grew in the city on lawns and sometimes on the desolate husks of buildings. That’s how you knew most of them were unoccupied, they either had stuff growing on them or they had huge chunks missing, sometimes both.

The Great War had almost completely obliterated the city that used to be here. The few survivors had simply lived in the husks and scrounged up what food they could. Then the Guardians had come. They brought people with them who had food and money. People who were trained in construction and repair who semi-built a new city. Then Central Station had opened and shopkeepers and other trades people came to “the ghetto” as they called it because of its state of disrepair. Officially it was called Central City, although the buildings didn’t end for days and eventually joined up with Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern Cities. Those cities were newer and had simply sprung up on the edges of the old while it was being rebuilt. Northern City was where the General lived. He was in charge of the Guardians and was the ruler of the city of Phoenix so named because it had risen from the ashes of the old city. Really though, it was more of a small country and had all of its own laws.

Laws that many citizens, or rather, non-citizens wanted changed. Mused Caliston as he crouched beneath a ventilation shaft next to HQ. The twins had climbed up back-to-back and would drop a rope for Caliston when they reached the top of the shaft. Cal was becoming too bulky for this, in the future he would get Sam to take a laptop to HQ and then he could search the database from a secure location. If it weren’t for his hacking abilities, Calistion doubted that Damien would have sent him this time. Caliston was nearly six and a half feet tall and had enough muscle mass that he didn’t look like a stick as many overly tall persons tended to. Sam wasn’t bad at hacking, she just needed more experience, and she could crawl up ventilation much easier than he could. Mo, on the other hand, had ADD and was too easily distracted which made him the ideal lookout, alert for any sound. With Cal directing her from a secure place, Sam could easily come to HQ for routine data purges.

A rope thunked down on Caliston’s head and he winced before grabbing it and pulling himself up the shaft. At the top of the shaft he crouched in the narrow passageway and pulled out his flashlight. The twins smiled up at him in the sudden light. Sam’s green eyes glinted mischievously as she tossed the bit of red hair that had come loose away from her eyes and Mo’s identical grin widened as Cal glared at them. As different as the twins’ personalities were they looked nearly identical. He reached back and pulled up the rope rolling it up for easy portability.

Crawling along the shaft until they reached the centralized computer room, the three hackers dropped into the room silently and began hacking into the system.

“Damian wants us to find out what’s going on at Station doesn’t he?” asked Sam as Caliston methodically went through the list of wanted people, deleting those who were allies.

“If we can.” He replied.

Sam’s eyes widened as she suddenly came across something interesting, “Well, I have Captain Theo’s email system open right now and there’s some pretty interesting communications here. Looks like he’s been talking to the General himself.”

Mo looked up from where he was going through some files, “Yeah I’ve got some dispatch here from Northern, apparently there’s some scientist guy that wants to conduct some research here. The Guardians are just here to round up some test subjects I’m guessing.”

“Well, we haven’t had a purge in awhile, so they’re killing two birds with one stone.” Caliston agreed as he reached over to examine the files. “We just need to take a few extra precautions for awhile and hopefully this’ll blow over. How long is this guy going to be doing research?”

Sam was typing furiously pulling up email after email her gaze flicking across the screen as she read. “Doesn’t say but there’s some discussion about how long the guardians will be staying and there doesn’t seem to be any agreement yet. The General wants them to have a permanent position here, but Captain Theo just wants them to do a routine purge and leave.”

“Well, for once, it looks like we’re on Theo’s Team,” muttered Caliston, “Anything you can do to make sure the Guardians are recalled, Sam?”

“I’m working on it Cal,” Sam’s fingers never stopped typing and clicking on the mouse, “looks like I won’t have to do anything. The General has agreed that the Guardians leave after this scientist has enough test subjects.”

Caliston sucked in a deep breath as he finished going through the files he was working on. “That’s still not the greatest news there isn’t that many of us left you know… how many test subjects does he need? Maybe we can set up some enemies to get them gone quicker.”

Sam shook her head and pointed to something on her screen, “It says here that the scientist, a Dr. Cosmo Peters, is completely in charge of the Guardians. They leave when he says so, when he decides he has enough test subjects.”

“Cosmo?” giggled Mo, “What a dorky name!”

“Isn’t it though?” grinned Sam, “I’ve got everything relevant copied from the emails, let’s go before they get back, they’ll probably have the Guardians with them too.”

Caliston nodded and helped the twins climb up the rope to the ventilation shaft, before following them out of the building.

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Witticker’s was, on the outside, a pawnshop. Inside, it was a pawnshop that had a multitalented owner. Avery Witticker was an attractive man in his late 20’s or early 30’s, it was hard to tell and if asked Wit would lie about it with a different answer every time. He had muted brown hair, steel grey eyes, and thick-framed glasses. He wore skintight clothes in the most offensive colour combinations possible, and was generally very flamboyant. It was widely known that Wit sold certain “favours”; it was less widely known that he sold identities and information as well.

When Damien and the others entered the shop Wit hurried over from another customer, who was actually looking at one of the articles on sale. While not his main source of income, Wit did occasionally sell some of the oddities in his shop and he always bought or traded with people who had things to offer him.

“Why hello there Gorgeous!” cried Wit as he flung his arms around Damien. “What are you doing in this neck of the woods Darlings?”

Damien shrugged out of Wit’s stranglehold. He had, on occasion sampled some of Wit’s “favours” in exchange for information, but the other man made him uncomfortable with his flamboyance.

Vince answered with a suitably obscure sentence, “We heard something’s up with Theo and want to be prepared if he comes looking for trouble.”

Wit’s pout at being rejected by Damien vanished as he saw an opportunity for business.
“Well then, I have just the thing in back. Follow me Darlings.” He sashayed over to the beaded curtain separating the back room from the rest of the store and beckoned them over with a painted fingernail. After they had walked past him he called to the customer still in the store, “It’ll just be a few minutes, Honey, and I’ll remind you that there ARE surveillance cameras okay?” Then followed them back through boxes of stuff to a door that he unlocked and ushered them through.

Wit turned and surveyed their faces, “So you sweet things need some ID’s? Word on the street is there’s gonna be a purge worse than any before. I’ve already been cooking up some good ones for you. Lets see here…”

He began going through one of the many filing cabinets that lined the walls of the little room. Although he had one, Wit hated storing anything in a computer, for good reason. The little room was windowless and had no openings in it whatsoever except for the door which was locked with a key that Wit kept on a chain on his neck with a bunch of other keys, some had locks, some didn’t.

“Aha! Here we are!” exclaimed Wit, holding up the ID’s, “I’ve got one for everyone, except this sweetie pie.” Wit ruffled Lex’s hair with his free hand, “I can remedy that with a little photo shoot. It’ll just be a second let me grab my camera and other accessories and I’ll have that done. How will you be making your payment?” Wit looked meaningfully at Damien.

Damien sighed, “We’re going to be laying low for awhile Wit. Lex will need a disguise as well as an ID. He’s a runaway. I’ve got cash on me for the payment.”

Wit huffed but nodded and then left the room to get his equipment. Vince and Ally were memorizing their names and stats and when Marcus handed Damien his ID he did the same. His name was Derek Stone and apparently he was turning 21 in a week. Wit usually found names similar to the customer’s own real name.

Soon Wit was back with his equipment, “Here sugar, I’ve got some bleach and some blue contacts, we’ll set you up with the same last name as Marcus how bout that? You’ll be almost twins when I’m through with you.”
After a haircut, an interesting dieing session, and severe blinking problem’s Lex’s ID was done and they could leave.

They hadn’t gone far before Meg jumped down from a nearby fire escape and came to stand in front of Damien. “It’s Guardians.” She stated, without even waiting for them to stop. “Lots of them. I suggest everyone breaking up into smaller groups to get home.”
Damien nodded before glancing over to Marcus. Marcus nodded and went to give Meg her ID.

“Vince and Ally since your ID’s state you are married, I want you to go to a grocery store together and stalk up on food. The story is that you’re planning a baby shower if you are stopped.” As they nodded and moved off Damien turned to Marcus and Meg, “Marcus, you and lex have the same last name. So, you’re brothers hanging out with Meg who will play Marcus’s girlfriend. Take the other ID’s and meet up with Caliston and the Twins. I’ll just wander around on my own for a bit before going back to the hole.”

They nodded and walked in the opposite direction up the street. Damien waited a while and then continued up the alley they had been cutting through and ran straight into a boy with a book in his face.


Ah yes! our leading lady...so to speak......just so you know the next chapter will have sex.....not sure when I'll have it done but If Damien keeps poking me it should be soon.