The following day brought Shade to a place she had hoped to leave buried in her past when she last departed from it several years ago. It was a quarter till noon and she wandered around the abandoned, crumbling old fire station in the slums of Bergstad that had once been the familiar hangout of Viktor's gang. Kicking around loose rubble and crunching shattered glass under her boots she reminisced about those days when she was Viktor's gal and Bergstad seemed like it was theirs for the taking.

    She ran with Viktor's boys, indulging in their deviant ways to numb herself to the pain of loss she suffered as a teenager when the closely staggered deaths of both parents sent her looking for an escape. Pain she ignored, suppressed, covered with the thrills of reckless living until the time when Gideon stepped in to show her the promise of the life she had been so thoughtlessly and selfishly squandering. He taught her how to manage her pain, how find joy in living again. Now, because of all that she owed Gideon for turning her life around, and because she once again had the love of family, the old hang out held nothing for her but contempt for a troubled past. She was glad to see the building falling in on itself.

    Marcus was a part of that past too, the only part she recalled fondly. He and Shade had become fast friends since he also suffered the loss of his only parent at a tender age as well. Many times they had snuck off together to rooftops where they pondered the meaning of existence together for hours on end under the stars and moon. Marcus had plans, big plans to get away from Viktor's gang and start a new life somewhere far from Bergstad. He had often tried to convince Shade to come along, but even though she found his ideas tempting she always somehow knew that her destiny was tied to the Bergstad area. The far-reaching metropolis held both the good and the bad that made her who she was.

    A rustling noise above on the second floor took Shade away from her reflective thoughts as she assumed a slightly defensive posture. Dust from the collapsing ceiling fell near her as someone walked across the floor above. The fireman's pole that allowed a quick descent from the second floor was still intact and Marcus used it to make his entrance, sliding down with a happy expression for Shade, who relaxed at the sight of him.

    "Man, we sure had some good times here, didn't we Shade?"

    Looking around the place with a half-hearted smirk she answered,"Yeah, a few I guess."

    She centered her dark eyes on Marcus with a concerned look. "So what's up Marcus? I thought you got outta here a long time ago."

    Marcus kicked at a broken brick on the floor, then shoved his hands in his pockets with a regretful sigh. "I did, Shade. I got away...then I came back."

    "For what?" she asked.

    He kicked at another brick as he started to pace a little in front of her, ashamed to tell her why. Shade waited through a few steps then said,"I thought we both agreed that if you got out, there was no lookin' back."

    "Yeah, well..." Marcus reached up and pulled a hand through his shaggy hair, sighed. "You see Shade, I'm back in town 'cause I took a job. A job I needed desperately, but I've gotten in over my head, and if I don't come through then that's exactly what it's gonna cost me. My head."

    "Oh Marcus..." Shade scolded, folding her arms with a disappointed look that Marcus couldn't bear to see so he turned his head away.

    "I know, I know..." he admitted openly.  Then he looked imploringly at Shade. "I know I messed up Shade, and I'm askin' you for help.  I know I shouldn't bring you into this 'cause you're the closest thing I got to family..."

    "That's why you should've come to me first if you fell on hard times," she reprimanded as she walked over to him.

    He sighed again as he stared at her remorsefully after hanging his head. "You're the last person I ever wanted to burden with my problems Shade."

    She placed a hand on his slumped shoulder and gave him a little friendly shake with a faint smile. "Marcus, you're never a burden, not to me," she encouraged.

    He flashed a humble smile as he let his eyes flutter back and forth from Shade's to the floor, feeling ashamed to involve her, but grateful that she cared.

    "Now, tell me about this job," Shade instructed in a promising tone which prompted Marcus to lift his head with a gleam of hope.

    Shade listened closely as Marcus laid out all the details of his predicament. Then they discussed ideas and options that would hopefully diminish the risks of his job, as well as logistics for a successful venture. In the end Shade agreed to help, but only after she made Marcus promise on their friendship that this would be his last foray into the life he had already escaped once before. They agreed on another time and place to meet  for the job, then hugged and left the old fire station.

    When the skyscraper-laden horizon of Bergstad was blanketed by the dark of night and the lights of the great city shone like a collective beacon to the mountains that shrouded it, Gideon and Amanda found their way back to the penthouse condo atop the fifty story building owned by Gideon and shared with Amanda.

    They walked through the door of Amanda's condo looking much worse for wear in their rumpled and singed clothes. The burns inflicted upon them by the explosion had already healed to the point of slowly receding pink spots on their otherwise smooth, pale flesh.  Gideon went to the table in the dining area next to the kitchen where he sat down with the slightly scuffed laptop.

    Amanda drifted into the kitchen where she took out two sealed bags of blood from the refrigerator with the name of Lydia written by marker on one and Gale on the other, along with the dates the blood was donated. She brought them to the table, along with a couple of wine glasses from a nearby counter, and offered a glass to Gideon as she sat down beside him and pierced one bag with her suddenly clawed index finger that morphed seamlessly back into a normal finger once the hole was made. Gideon was fixated on the laptop's glowing screen as Amanda poured them both a drink. He took a sip from his glass while she enjoyed a deep gulp from hers.

    Gideon began typing away on the keyboard, trying to break through Merrick's password and access the files on the laptop. Amanda slouched comfortably in the chair beside him, taking regular sips from her glass as she watched Gideon lose himself  in the challenge of hacking the computer. She poured the rest of the blood from the bag into her glass and after the few savoring minutes she used to consume it Gideon's concentrated face broke into a pleased grin.

    "Got it!" he proclaimed triumphantly, looking across at Amanda.

    She smiled back at him with a wink that assured him of her unwavering confidence in his abilities as she slid her seat over next to him so she could see the screen too.

    He ignored the glass of thickening blood near him and turned his focused stare back to the laptop. "Now, let us have a look at what interests Colonel Merrick."