The HQ Team (PLOT)

"I do too," Wally spoke, earning a warm little smile from Wallace. He was glad the boy, while a bit timid, was so gentle, empathetic and supportive. He gave his little cousin a small hug from the side, hoping to transfer some of his own strength to Wally.

"Time will tell. For now, we have empty breakfast plates and full work plates, I'm afraid." The mention of work caused Wallace to sigh, but there was no getting around it. The tasks at hand needed all the attention they could get, especially with what went down yesterday. "We should return to our investigation. Wally, I apologize, but we may not be able to meet later today. I hope you'll forgive me?"

---

"Probably, as far as he knows we won't find anything. If it weren't for a few seconds of blip on the security tape no one would even have a clue where to start. I doubt he'd think we found out in one day." But the asshole was one of the top scientists, right?. It wasn't like Fuhrer Lance let anyone into that lab. Or did he know that Karen and Sid were so apathetic with their jobs he didn't think they'd notice anything? While it was completely true, the hypothetical assumption was enough to have Karen seeing red. She didn't care that the guy offed someone. Honestly, the other guy probably had it coming anyway. No, it was that someone took advantage of her, or there was a possibility of it. And she hated being used.

That. FUCKER.

While she clenched her fist and jaw, hangover somewhat fueling her rage, Clair continued to shmooze the Professor. She could blow him for all Karen cared: she was driven now. "Thank you so much precious you have been an amazing help. You just cut out half of the files we need to read through. We really appreciate it, don't we Karen?" Karen ignored Clair's sickeningly sweet words; she knew the dragon tamer wasn't looking for a real answer anyway.

"Of course we do. But we do have work to finish that I'm afraid must be kept to regional officials so if you don't mind giving us a little privacy? I'm sure I can find some way to thank you for all your help later." She gave him a little finger wave as she all but dismissed him. Karen glared up at him once more, her eyes daring him to stay. "See you around precious."

Thankfully, the mousey man seemed to get the message. Or at least, his Furret did. "O-oh- okay- yes, of course. I'll see you later, Clair and Karen." Good.

Once he was out of earshot, Karen stood and growled out, "I want to find him. And if it was him, I want to fucking hang him by his own shit-eating entrails. He's our best lead. And what better way to cover his own ass by 'discovering the fucking body'?"

"O-oh- okay- yes, of course. I'll see you later, Clair and Karen."

With little more than a stammer and a confused expression Elm walked away with his fuzzy foot-warmer hot on his heels. As Clair and Karen found themselves alone once again Karen began to show the fire that had been lit under her, much to Clair's amusement. "I want to find him. And if it was him, I want to fucking hang him by his own shit-eating entrails. He's our best lead. And what better way to cover his own ass by 'discovering the fucking body'?"

"While it is atrociously cliche it isn't unheard of," she agreed, coy smile still tugging at her lips. "Though since he isn't allowed back at work yet we'll have a devil of a time tracking him down in this mess of a complex. Maybe your Houndoom would be up for a little hunting? Or we could get sneaky with that shifty fox of yours. Unless you'd rather us sit here and read over the rest of these files, that is."

"Maybe 'wander around' wasn't the best plan," Fiona admitted as they passed the library doors again.

He wrung his hands. "W- well; it w- wasn't your worst idea?" Elm's glum face tried its hand at a smile and mostly failed. Fiona nuzzled her cheek against his leg, humming in thought.

"It'd be better if we could find a way upstairs. He's from Unova, so he ought to be living in the Unova section of the city. And I don't know where that is, but it definitely isn't here." Gently pulling him aside so they wouldn't block the door, she settled at his feet again, curling around them. "... Maybe that's just paranoia."

"'R- right. This is- l- like the city library? Oh b- but that doesn't... mean anything. City libraries can be built in whatever district; it's not like there's one area for all public places."

"You know, if this used to be a hotel, there's got to be maps around here somewhere. Like mall maps? We didn't find one yesterday but maybe we just weren't looking in the right place."

"There's... p- probably one in the library..."

He didn't need to say why going back in there would be a bad idea.

"There isn't much traffic right now, but we still saw a few people. We should be able to find someone to point us the right way." Of course, however long it should take to find a map or their ultimate destination would take double that time, but it was important they at least start.

"W- would... you do the talking...?"

She smiled at him. "Of course."

[I am not going on idle until this man finally scores his first badge. So close.]

"Time will tell. For now, we have empty breakfast plates and full work plates, I'm afraid." Oh. Right. That. "We should return to our investigation. Wally, I apologize, but we may not be able to meet later today. I hope you'll forgive me?"

He nods, coming down from the high he associated with conversing with his guardians (about what, usually didn't matter) and forgetting that, oh yeah, he had to go spend several hours mostly alone scrubbing floors. Ugh.

"See you all later," he says with a smile as he collects their trays for them and deposits them where they belong over Steven's protests that that wasn't necessary, which trail off into a sigh. He turns to find Steven waving to him as he heads to the door, waving back from where the dirty trays are stacked.

Silly Steven. Politeness is always necessary.

I don't think I have time anymore to look for Colress. Guess I'll spend that time that I won't be spending with Steven, looking for him. Oh well. At least this time he doesn't need to decide which friend needs him more. Finding Colress this time around would probably be easier, too; by the time he's done with work, Colress has got to be back in his room.

Ugh. Time to go change.

"See you all later," Wally said cheerfully, swiping all of their trays and going to deposit them where used trays belong. Steven opened his mouth to protest but closed it; no point in trying to stop him when he was already in the midst of doing it.

"Thank you, Wally. Now then if you'll excuse us, we'll be seeing you later." He gave the boy a little wave and left the cafeteria, taking in a deep breath and exhaling slowly.

It was time to return to reality. "I think it may be best to start with speaking to the officers on the case; perhaps they've dug something up overnight? After that we should find Clair, and after that we should track down Karen and Sidney. Hopefully Karen is already with Clair and we can cross both of those off the list at once..."

Unfortunately, dealing with them both at the same time would be awful. But they'd have to deal with them both at the same time eventually anyway; he couldn't imagine that if they should find Clair alone, she wouldn't want to tag along with them for the rest of the day, if for no other reason than to watch him squirm. Sick little psycho.

Hopefully the case would become so complicated that she would be forced to devote her entire attention to it.

"See you all later," Wally chimed as he stole each of their trays before either man could protest. Wallace gave the spritely boy an approving nod, even if he didn't like to be outdone when it came to acts of love. Oh well. The next battle would be his.

"Thank you, Wally. Now then if you'll excuse us, we'll be seeing you later." Steven sent them off and without Wally's energy and the looming disaster of the day ahead, the building around them seemed to darken a bit. "I think it may be best to start with speaking to the officers on the case; perhaps they've dug something up overnight? After that we should find Clair, and after that we should track down Karen and Sidney. Hopefully Karen is already with Clair and we can cross both of those off the list at once..."

"Sidney and Karen are likely drunk in a closet humping somewhere, so our best bet is probably..." He shuddered. "....Clair, as much as I hate to say it. And frankly, as much as I like the idea of getting it over with as soon as possible, I don't think I can handle both of them at the same time."

---

"While it is atrociously cliche it isn't unheard of," Clair purred in delight. "Though since he isn't allowed back at work yet we'll have a devil of a time tracking him down in this mess of a complex. Maybe your Houndoom would be up for a little hunting? Or we could get sneaky with that shifty fox of yours. Unless you'd rather us sit here and read over the rest of these files, that is."

Karen stood, her Houndoom's ball in her hand. "Fuck sneaky," she growled."I do not have enough fucks to get me through the day, not to mention having to do it while trying to be stealthy. Nu uh. I have power in this godforsaken hellhole and I'm going to fucking use it." With her mind set, she released her Houndoom into the library and growled. "Ok, hon, we're gonna go find a scientist. Let's get you his scent to track."

"Fuck sneaky," Clair practically howled at Karen's ire, her teasing having riled up the woman gloriously. Karen was always so much more fun when pissed off. "I do not have enough fucks to get me through the day, not to mention having to do it while trying to be stealthy. Nu uh. I have power in this godforsaken hellhole and I'm going to fucking use it." Now there was a twist, Karen not only stepping up to her job but exercising her authority? This should be quite a show then.

She watched as Karen summoned her lovely, albeit rather stereotypical, hound and started acting her part. "Ok, hon, we're gonna go find a scientist. Let's get you his scent to track." Clair stepped behind her and gave a gentle push to the middle of Karen's back to egg her on. "Lead the way miss 'Head of Security'," she cackled. "Time to show these toddlers who they're messing with. You know, before they try and replace you."

Elm's face lit up in happiness as he walked past a map mounted on the wall, only to realize what he'd nearly passed and walk backwards to be in front of it again. "L- look! We f- found it, Fiona!"

"Huh, I think that's a new record," the ferret mused, glancing at the map. It was truly a shame she couldn't read. So many difficult tasks would be made much simpler if she could only help her human with them by being able to read and perhaps occasionally write.

"L- let's see... w- we're here." He pointed, pleased that the map had a 'you are here' star on it. "And w- we want to be... over... here." His hovering hand stopped, his finger coming to rest on the chunk of HQ dedicated to housing Unovian survivors.

"That's... big." Unable to read was one thing, but trying to memorize the route based on hallways and turning left or right was another. Her eyes studied the map, willing to commit it to memory. "I actually don't think it would take too long to get there now that we've seen a map, but actually finding him there- we have no idea where he might be. And he seemed pretty broken up so I wouldn't bet on finding him in the corridors or anything..."

"T- true, but we can at least s- start to get by getting there?"

"Fair enough. Let's get going."

Well, here we go, Wally sighs to himself as he yanks the uniform out of his closet. Time to do this again, I guess.

The sooner he starts, the sooner it'll be over with. It's not the best comfort in the world, but it's the best he can find for this situation. Plus, it's also solidly true; the more he puts it off, the bigger trouble he could be in. If he shows up on time then he won't be in trouble and the time will tick down soon enough to the end of his shift. This too, shall pass and all that.

A solid lump of iron settles in his stomach as he closes the bathroom door, staring at his uniform. Oh, right. He no longer even has his music...

"You know I can be out for some of the time you're working, right?" The concern in his fairy's voice isn't lost on him and Wally winces. He should've been a bit more careful in keeping his emotions in check, "What's wrong?"

It would be no use keeping this from him. Besides, Orion knows that he was going to get his Walkman back from Clair at some point today; if he lies about it now by giving him the impression he didn't ask Clair yet, he'll just have to tell him about the encounter later. What would be the point of that?

"Clair 'lost' my Walkman," he mumbles as he buttons up the front of the uniform and giving his hair one last haphazard comb. It doesn't work.

"We need to tell Steven. She didn't lose it. She probably even still has it."

"I don't need to snitch."

"If you want that Walkman back, you do." Wally grits his teeth at the calm voice. He's not trying to be superior or dig any insult deeper. He's just being truthful. That's Orion.

Sometimes, it's maddening.

"I'll think about it. First I'll check the Lost and Found counter. I know she didn't fucking lose it, but if she didn't keep it, she might've tossed it somewhere random. Someone might've picked it up and done the right thing by handing it over." Anything to put off going to Steven. Plus, no sense in reporting it if that is where his Walkman is. If he can avoid talking to Steven about this, he'll take it.

Orion sighs as Wally opens the squeaking door. Yeah, it's probably just dragging this out, but it's worth a try.

[I am going to skip but only for the moment; I need to discuss something with the others before I can post.]

"Lead the way miss 'Head of Security'," Clair cackled, succeeding in only fueling Karen's rare fury more. "Time to show these toddlers who they're messing with. You know, before they try and replace you."

"Over my fucking dead body," she growled out, stomping her way out of the library, her faithful hound at her side. Sensing the mood and alertness of his normally chill trainer, Eve trotted right at Karen's side, watching for any cue. Though she wasn't sure about why Karen was so angry, she was rather excited she was finally getting to do something in this awful place.

Karen made it to the labs in absolutely no time at all, all but pushing the security guards out of the way that were keeping the crime scene safe. When one tried to stop her, she whirled on the man and jabbed her finger in his face. "I'm your fucking boss; try and fucking stop me. I dare you." When he fell silent, she turned back to the room and quickly found her target: a lab coat with his name on it. "Eve, smell him out."

"Over my fucking dead body."

Clair continued to cackle with glee as they barged down the hallways towards Karen's ultimate destination. Honestly she felt like it was Christmas morning and no one told her because this was the best gift she'd gotten in years. Her friend was in rare form today and it was made all the sweeter when one of her own subordinates tried to subdue her for trying to enter the 'crime scene'. What a laugh. As if anyone cared about a nameless dead man anyway they were just here to have something to do. Not like this person actually mattered. Very few people mattered in this shit hole in fact.

"I'm your fucking boss; try and fucking stop me. I dare you." Clair would have purred had she the ability. Hearing Karen so salty was the most delicious treat as her peon shrunk beneath her and showed his belly like a kicked mutt. "You tell him precious," she cheered with a Cheshire grin, eying the show from the doorway. "Eve, smell him out." Oh this was ever so much more fun than their other scavenger hunts. Perhaps he would resist and the Houndoom would have to bring him down. A little blood on the floor was no matter, the little green shit could clean it up later and then she could watch him cry again. For as awful as her morning started Clair was thrilled she had gotten up to work today. "Such wonderful progress. Maybe we can even have this wrapped up by lunch, wouldn't that be nice? I do so enjoy these outings of ours."

Hunting down the scientist was proving to be as difficult as they'd both expected. No sign of him in the hallways, nor in any of the public areas around the resident areas.

"Maybe h- he went shopping," Elm considered, smiling but giving away his worry with a puckered forehead.

"The optimism is nice, but I don't think so." Fiona sighed. "Even if he was, we don't know where the closest market area is. And like I said, I don't think he really wants to be out in public anyway. He's way too jittery."

"But then why b- be in the library?" the professor countered. "A public library is- well- public."

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "I'm going to guess that it was either an attempt to get him out of his room, or that  he just wanted to grab a book before retreating back there."

"And picking a book c- can take a long time. I've sure had experience with that." Simple fetch requests could turn into hours of sitting by the shelves and reading. Sometimes, books are too enticing to leave alone. Even when one has other matters to attend to.

"I say we keep search for his room before checking public areas around here."

"Well, all right..." He sighed. She had logic to her suggestion, but it didn't offer anything new to do besides ask around. The few who actually did know his name, and that only been one or two people so far, had no idea where he lived or where he might be. Others who knew his description just added to Fiona's point-- a timid rabbit, someone who avoided eye contact and conversation, who slipped in and out of crowds. Really, it was only the blue streak in his hair and the lab coat had made him stick out in anyone's memory; that or the occasional person who had almost bumped into him and, therefore, had gotten a better look at his face.

And there had only been a handful of people so far who recognized his description.

Still, it seemed that asking and looking was all they could do...

"This is a lot more boring without the Walkman."

In fact, Wally considered miserably and with no small amount of bitterness as he stared in disgust at the sink he was cleaning, this was turning out to be worse than he'd expected it to be.

"I mean, not that I expected it to be good, but y'know, I was trying to psyche myself up with 'it won't be that bad c'mon you're overreacting' and- welp." Talking out loud might make him feel kind of insane, but it had the side effect of reducing the oppressive silence. Which was nice, considering silence, bad thoughts, bad mental days, and boring tasks were never a recipe for anything good.

"Besides, this place is... kinda out of the way?" Hmm. How true was that exactly?

Probably not as true as he'd like it to be, really.

"Ugh. Maybe I should let Orion out..." At least then, with someone to talk to, he'd sound less insane if someone walked by. He frowns as he attacked a funny, stuck-on mess and tries not to consider what it might be. "Then again, I'd be making him endure... well... that." His stupid head. Stupid emotions. "... I'll give it a bit longer."

Right now he should be focusing on this stupid thing that won't come off. Dang, it's really glued on there. Reaching for his supply cart, he digs around a bit and extracts a can of cleaning solution, wincing as he lifts it with way more ease than he expected. Shit, it must be empty.

"Well shit, who put you back when you're clearly empty?" he growls at the can as he tosses it into the trash. He's not even sure where the nearest supply closet is; he grabbed this from the one nearest to the janitors' area so that he could assemble the missing bits of the supply cart and occupy his head immediately. Did he even pass a supply closet after that? He must've right?

"Eugh. Time to go find out, I guess."

(I'll be going on Idle now until needed again in a few rounds!)

"Such wonderful progress," Clair purred from behind. Karen didn't pay her friend's enthusiasm any mind; at this point it was a soundtrack she'd more than memorized. "Maybe we can even have this wrapped up by lunch, wouldn't that be nice? I do so enjoy these outings of ours."

Eve sniffed the coat, imprinting the scent into her mind before sniffing the air and then trotting out of the room, intentionally checking her shoulder into the man's leg that had given her trainer trouble. Turning a corner, she kept her pace so the humans could follow without having to run, eyes focused on the floor below her. She'd find this asshole.

Ten minutes later, they were in the staff dorms. What, was he just sitting in his fucking room? I swear to God, if he's just in there, twiddling his fucking thumbs, I'm going to snap them off and shove them up his fucking nose. Finally, Eve came to a stop outside a door and intently stared up at it. This was him. Her first instinct was to kick the damn thing down and throttle the skinny little nerd in there, but one glance from her Houndoom stayed her. Well... fine. She wouldn't kick the door down, but she still didn't have to be nice. Dammit.

She knocked on the door forcefully and growled, "This is Head of Security, I'm coming in." Using her master key, she opened the door and swung it open, Eve trotting in and glaring daggers at the Psychic type. "Return your Pokemon. Now."

Dear God this day just went from exciting to boring as fuck in about three seconds. All of these charades and the asshole was in his room the whole time?! UGH. Useless fucking- She could be doing so many better things right now! At the very least it looked like Karen was just as annoyed as her so maybe she'd get a little violence in today to make up for the shit morning. That would be nice. And if he ended up in the prisons then she could get her own fun out of it.

"This is Head of Security, I'm coming in."

Clair rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath. "Why are you even giving the warning? He could just pop out whenever he wanted now that he knows you are here." Yet it seemed this "brilliant" man was too stupid to even think of that as when she threw open the door the idiot and freaky buttplug alien were staring at them. Fucking losers. "Return your Pokemon. Now." Karen trying to be authoritative was cute and Clair let her more malicious grin slip across her face while she kept behind her friend. "Though it might be fun if he didn't."

It barely felt like any time had passed between Colress picking an item to work on and several loud thuds coming from the door. The sound made Colress nearly fall out of his chair, and R2, who had been sitting on the bed, jumped up as well to float beside his trainer. They didn't know what it was, but they weren't going to be caught unguarded. The voice that followed did not impart any relief; it sounded irritated as it growled, "This is Head of Security, I'm coming in." The sound of a key in a lock caused Colress to nervously jump out of the chair, so that he could face the person coming in. That "person" ended up being two women and a Houndoom.

R2 warily eyed the dark hound; hopefully they weren't here for a fight, because R2 would have some big issues dealing with them. The Beheeyem hovered closer to his trainer just in case. The next order, however, made his stomach's drop, "Return your Pokemon. Now." R2 looked up at Colress in a near panic. If he wasn't out, there was a large number of things they could do to Colress. The man was frail, and even then, he didn't always fight back. Shit.

Colress had a nervous smile up until that order, and then, he began internally panicking. What had they found? Was his guess correct? They couldn't find anyone else, so they were just going to use him as the scapegoat. He glanced down at R2, and the Beheeyem's fearful gaze did not help his nerves. There was no way of knowing what they planned on doing to him. However, there was nothing else he could do. If this turned into a fight, he would be branded as guilty no matter what. "Alright," he said in deference to Karen. He slowly reached into his coat pocket for R2's Pokeball, and he levelled a sad look at the Pokemon before recalling him. He then faced the humans and Pokemon in the room with a nervous, "H-How may I help you?"

"Alright," the scientist infuriatingly acquiesced peacefully, recalling the suspect pokemon back into its ball. Karen was sad she didn't have a reason to sic her dog on him or his weird fucking pokemon. "H-How may I help you?"

"By telling the fucking truth this time," she snarled, drawing closer with her hands on her hips. "Surrender your pokemon to Surrogate Champion Clair. You're coming back with me for another round of interrogation and this time we're not going to fuck around. You and that teleporting piece of shit you call a pokemon aren't going to get away with this." She moved to roughly snatch Colress' arm, silently daring him to disobey.

"By telling the fucking truth this time." Clair nearly squealed in delight at Karen's barely contained rage. It was clear she found this entire endevour far beneath her time or concern and Clair couldn't be happier to see what would come of her anger. Finally the little shitsnack was going to get what was coming to him.

"Surrender your pokemon to Surrogate Champion Clair. You're coming back-"

Surrogate Champion Clair?

Surrogate Champion Clair?!

Surrogate. Fucking. Champion. Clair?!?!

Was Karen fucking serious?! Who the hell did she think she was talking about? Clair's scowl darkened but since it set in tone with the conversation between Karen and fuckstick it wouldn't really be noticed, yet all Clair could think about was the slap in the face Karen just dealt her. Here she had entertained the idea of Karen as her sole friend in this entire shit heap of a League and now she was throwing out backhanded titles?!

Karen's name suddenly found itself much higher than its previous position in Clair's mental shit list as she all but ignored the conversation around her in favor of stewing in her own malice. Lance wasn't even fucking here and still was offered more respect than her. That idiot had run off to do who knew what and people acted like he was still some kind of damn hero! She was the one who had kept things working around here not him! Being a Champion didn't matter to Lance enough to stay so why did he still get to keep the title? It was hers now dammit! And anyone who said otherwise was going to live to regret it.

Karen was livid, and Colress found himself fearing what could have raised this much ire. She put her hands on her hips as she drew closer and snarled, "By telling the fucking truth this time." He was right. They didn’t believe him, or they couldn't find anyone else. He didn't resist as she roughly grabbed his arm; resisting the rough treatment never even occurring to him. Karen then commanded, "Surrender your pokemon to Surrogate Champion Clair. You're coming back with me for another round of interrogation and this time we're not going to fuck around. You and that teleporting piece of shit you call a pokemon aren't going to get away with this."

He owlishly blinked at the word Teleport while reaching in his pocket for his other Pokeballs. Confused, he repeated the word as a question,"T-teleport?" Why did they think R2 could Teleport? As far as he knew, the Beheeyem's parents had also been Elgyem, so R2 never had access to the move. If R2 had had Teleport, so many things could have been prevented... He numbly tried to hand over his three Pokemon to Clair, and the stand-in champion's scowl was not helping his mood. A sudden chill went down his spine. What if they hurt his Pokemon thinking they were accomplices? His chest ached at the thought, and he pleaded silently for their safety.

"Okay, I definitely should've passed one by now." Wally stopped walking, pivoting on his heel, and glared down the hallway, hands on his hips.

It was still empty, thank gods.

"God, where is it? I've been walking for-?" He checked his watch. "Ten minutes!? Yeah, I definitely missed it. Ugh." Now he would have to waste time walking back the way he came and actually pay serious attention this time to the walls and doors. What a waste of time. Heaving a sigh, he folded his arms across his chest and started walking, glaring at the right wall.

... Maybe they built this one on the left wall? No, wait, that'd be stupid. The hotels were built to have the same floor plans. They wouldn't just mix it up or anyth- "There we go," he sighed, finishing the rest of his thought aloud as he slowed to a normal walk. "Finally. C'mere you little bastard," he huffed as he turned the knob and pulled open the door. "I really hope you have cleaning solut-"

Something large and heavy fell out, taller than him, knocking the boy to the ground despite the instinctual attempt to move away from the falling object. He landed with an oof, head knocking against the floor, tasting blood as he bit down on his tongue. With a cry of pain, he reached behind him and tried to shove whatever had landed on him off, and as he did, his heart dropped to his feet as he realized his hand was coming into contact with something that felt very human and very still.

He shoved it off and dragged himself backwards on his butt, gasping for air at the sight of the dead human now lying on his side, dead eyes staring at nothing. The boy opened his mouth wider to scream but nothing would come out, tremors wracking his small frame as he scooted backwards into the wall, still pushing at the floor with his legs even after his back hit the wall.

There was no other thought after that. He got up and ran.

It wasn't until at least several hallways away that the trembling boy stopped, struggling to breathe around a closing windpipe and clutching the wall for support.

Gotta find safety gotta-
Wal could be anywhere it's the middle of the morning-

He took of running again; unable to finish sentences even inside his own head, instinct took the wheel; there was someone he knew who he trusted whose location was almost completely guaranteed.

It wasn't until the terrified boy burst into the room that he realized Colress wasn't alone.

Standing there, clutching the doorway, eyes wild and uniform slightly bloodstained from the body, Wally let go with one hand to point in the direction he came from, gasping. "De-dead person there's a dead person in a closet-" his gaze strayed downwards and he nearly jumped out of his skin, hands clenched to his chest as his breathing grew faster. He was already sheet white, but if he could pale any further, he would have. "Oh gods blood he got blood on me aaack!"

Karen almost wished the scrawny nerd had struggled; then she could have punched him in his stupid confused face. And kicked him in his skinny chicken legs. Fucking shit. "T-teleport?" he stammered, earning more of Karen's ire.

"YES, fucking TELEPORT," she snapped at him. "You're the fucking scientist-- you should know what it is--!"

Everything stopped as the little green-haired fairy boy, the one that Clair hated oh-so-much, burst in, completely covered in blood. Gobsmacked, she and the others in the room could only stare as the boy just started shrieking at them. "De-dead person there's a dead person in a closet-" The kid seemed to have just noticed he was painted in a lovely shade of corpse juice and flipped the fuck out. Kid was white as a ghost. "Oh gods blood he got blood on me aaack!"

"Motherfucke-- you fucking serious?! God DAMMIT!" What the shit was she supposed to do now? Tote around with the skinny nerd AND this fucking kid? What was even happening anymore. "Okay. Okay. You, shut up," she began, pointing at Wally. "Show me where the body is. You," she pointed at Colress, "Don't make this harder for me and I won't fucking clock you straight into your Coke bottle glasses." She stormed out of the room, Colress still in tow, and glared down at Wally to show her. "Fucking Lance--" she growled, "of all the fucking times to be out and about, jerking your own fucking cock! If he's not going to be here, then what's the fucking point of him?!"

Clair continued glaring daggers at both Karen and the nerd as he shakily handed over his poke balls, Clair snatching them up with a loud scoff while Karen continued berating him. "T-teleport?" Ugh e couldn't even fucking talk, stumbling over his words like a baby deer first  learning how walk. How could this fuckhead have killed anyone? He was shaking like a leaf just from Karen raising her voice. Whatever.

"YES, fucking TELEPORT," Karen snapped. "You're the fucking scientist-- you should know what it is--!"

No. No no no no no. Not this fucking little shit stain! Clair groaned audibly as the door was thrown open and Wally stood there, wide-eyed and covered in blood like the freaking Bogeyman was after him. Nope. Nuh uh. She didn't sign up for this today. She was just trying to have a fun, lazy day with her buddy Karen but this was turning into actual work about people she really didn't care about. "De-dead person there's a dead person in a closet-"

Yeah, that was a nope. Hard pass. Clair rolled her eyes as the kid began to freak out over a tiny bit of blood and had to bite back the comment of him just cleaning it up since it was his job while Karen was there. She didn't give two shits about the first dead guy but now there was another nameless idiot who got offed? How droll. Though if this was the same person it did raise the question of who was hunting on her turf. This was a little too close together to be a coincidence and Clair hated competition. Lance was evidence enough of that.

"Motherfucke-- you fucking serious?! God DAMMIT!" Oooh...Karen looked pissed. Okay maybe this was going to be a little more interesting than she thought. Clair giggled as Karen all but went into 'Mom Mode' barking orders at everyone like they were petulant toddlers. "Okay. Okay. You, shut up," she pointed at the shit stain, a sentiment Clair wholeheartedly agreed with. "Show me where the body is. You," she then pointed at the shaking Chihuahua with his order, "Don't make this harder for me and I won't fucking clock you straight into your Coke bottle glasses." Marching out of the room with both idiots in tow Clair followed with a happy giggle.

"And you thought this job would be easy, huh?"

"Fucking Lance--of all the fucking times to be out and about, jerking your own fucking cock! If he's not going to be here, then what's the fucking point of him?!"

'There isn't one,' Clair thought to herself with a malicious grin. 'No point at all.'

(I'm going to skip this round so that Colress can reply--because Wally needs to react to how he reacts. Feel free to go ahead and examine the body, because Wally would have led them to it.)

"YES, fucking TELEPORT," Karen snapped. Colress couldn't help but flinch at the venom in her words. "You're the fucking scientist-- you should know what it is--!" While, yes, he did know what it was, whatever else she had been going to say was violently interrupted when his door slammed open. What little color in Colress' face faded when he saw Wally standing in the doorway with blood all over him.

"Wally?!"

Wally pointed wildly down the hallway as he gasped, "De-dead person there's a dead person in a closet-" His breathing quickened as he looked down and saw the blood that colored the lower half of the janitor uniform. "Oh gods blood he got blood on me aaack!"

If not for Karen's grip on Colress' arm, he would have walked over to Wally in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, all he could do was stand there and listen to Karen yell orders. "Motherfucke-- you fucking serious?! God DAMMIT!" First she pointed at Wally and unhelpfully ordered, "Okay. Okay. You, shut up. Show me where the body is." With his breathing like that, would Wally be okay? Then Karen turned on him and pointed, "You, don't make this harder for me and I won't fucking clock you straight into your Coke bottle glasses." As if he could do anything else. Fighting was out of the question, and even ignoring that, he was worried over Wally. The boy had just seen a dead body, and it looked like he had come into contact with it. Before his concern could be voiced, Karen was already dragging them out of the room. He missed whatever Clair had said before Karen began berating Lance's absence,"Fucking Lance-- of all the fucking times to be out and about, jerking your own fucking cock! If he's not going to be here, then what's the fucking point of him?!"