New Avalon

[Hammer Sister]

And Rob does indeed return to find Erika in that state.

"Sorry about running off like that," he apologises, retaking his seat. "Are you OK?"

[yamikuronue]

Erika shakes her head, wiping at her eyes.

"They're on to you... you have to hide, and not speak to me again." she chokes out, between small sobs.

[Hammer Sister]

"Do you mean Harrox? How much does he know?"

[yamikuronue]

"I don't know. He sent someone to threaten me, I'm not sure I fooled him." She hiccups, swallowing hard.

[Hammer Sister]

With a sigh, Rob settles down to do some serious thinking.

Why would Harrox be interested in my investigation? Does this have something to do with that guy with the red thread we chased, and the buildings that almost crushed us? I could've been killed... maybe I should lay low for a- no, that won't work; if I go to ground, then it'll be obvious I've been tipped off. And it'll erroneously show I can be intimidated, which would stack the deck even more against us. As much as Erika may not like it, our best chance of finding out what the fuck is going on in this city is for us to continue exactly as we are. Out in the open, relatively speaking; with luck, that will fool Harrox and anyone working with him into thinking I don't know anything about their involvement. Of course it means I can't go confront him directly... but then I wasn't planning on doing that anyway.

"Laying low isn't an option; if I go to ground, it'll tip him off. Our best bet is to carry on as we are right now; in other words, hide in plain sight."

As Rob speaks, he gets out his notebook, finds a blank page at the back, and writes 'Harrox = Perry'. Making sure Erika and T can clearly see what he's doing, he crosses out 'Harrox' and underlines 'Perry'; the intention is they use 'Perry' as a pseudonym for 'Harrox' from now on.

I wonder if I could recruit T to find out more on Harrox; something tells me she's good at not getting caught. And hopefully Harrox doesn't know about her yet.

Needless to say, I will not be informing the GRD about any of this; they'll only make things worse.

[yamikuronue]

Erika looks at him, stricken. "You don't understand... if they approach me again..."

T, on the other hand, merely glances over the words, then nods, a firm expression on her face.

[Hammer Sister]

"You co-operate and answer their questions as honestly as you can."

[yamikuronue]

"But... You don't understand, they're dangerous men!"

[Hammer Sister]

"Occupational hazard."

[yamikuronue]

T runs a hand through her hair. "This is fascinating, but if you brought me here to fight this lady's battles for her, I'm probably not the one you want."

[Hammer Sister]

"Trust me, I want to do as little fighting as possible. But I do want to find out more about 'Perry', and I think you may be able to help me with that."

[yamikuronue]

T snorts. "Answers are hard to come by these days."

For example, what was that thing? she adds silently to Crys.

[CalamityJade]

~I...don't know.~ Wow...something actually seemed off about Crys. ~All I did know is that it's...dangerous. It...might be an Intendent?~

[yamikuronue]

...A what now?

[CalamityJade]

~Um...it's kinda like those people that take away the trash...no...or fix...Handymen! Yeah, that's it. They go around when something is wrong and fix it~