Julius shook his head, saying nothing. He and Diego had hardly left on the best of terms; another argument about how to handle the government. Finally, taking off his glasses so that he could look at Mari but with vision so blurry he didn't actually make eye contact, he spoke.

[b]"I... kept tabs on him, where I could. It wasn't like after we escaped the House of Powers but it wasn't great either. I've spent the last six months trying to mediate but the government were just appeasing me; they showed up this morning to take me back to the House. I might have been taken if it weren't for Alexis warning me ahead of time."[/b]

He looked away, ashamed of his failure. For a time he thought they were making actual progress but the stories coming in from the streets soon told him another story; they were trying to pull the wool over his eyes until he was no longer useful. Six months wasted on a cause destined to fail when he could have been using his influence to hide and protect fellow Empowered from the government and the darker gangs... more than he had been, anyway.

[b]"Wait, Mari. Hold on a mo."[/b] Her frantic walk had been too fast for him to keep up with, his left leg slowing him down drastically with two bullet wounds; one to the knee and one to the upper thigh. If it weren't for his now lost regenerative powers he probably wouldn't be able to walk at all anymore. [b]"There's an abandoned apartment building two blocks from here. I've had Alexis spreading rumours to sympathisers about the place, try and gather Unnaturals there. An old gang used it but they moved out a month ago so the authorities think it's just left over tales about them."[/b]

As he was speaking someone approached them and asked an innocuous question about the time. Julius glanced at his watch and ground his teeth in frustration; the clock face was nothing but a blur to him without his glasses. The roman numerals were too fine and the clock arms too thin for him to make it out when he held the watch further away from him where his vision normalised. Instead he held his wrist out towards the man.

[b]"Here, I haven't got my glasses on."[/b]

The sound of sirens nearby nearly made him jump but he controlled the impulse carefully, eyeing the scenery nearby for any movement. He had assumed the two men from earlier had radioed in his location before their confrontation which probably meant that specialist teams were incoming; the price for infamy it would seem.

[b]"I'm sorry, but we need to get going."[/b] Julius turned to Mari and leaned in close. [b]"We need to go, now. They've got Empowered teams patrolling the area and they'll know I was nearby now. We should get out of sight."[/b]