### **Harmon Rottlage, Leonard Boggs, & Blathnat "Sugar" Balore** --- Dissipate in isolation Irretrievable salvation The only thing The only thing you need --- Darts. Darts. Lenny was throwing darts. At balloons. If the plan was to look inconspicuous, they were doing a decent job. At least, Lenny was. Harmon was simply cradling himself, crouched beside the front of the game booth. The brim of his hat was lowered so no one could see his face. His camera was watching the crowds pass by left and right. Before Lenny reared his hand to toss his third and last dart, he turned and lowered his head, looking at Harmon. "H-... Buddy." He said, realizing that using any real names might be a bad idea while they were in a crowd. "Why don't you stand up and take the last dart instead of just sitting down there? C'mon, it'll be fun." Harmon slowly stood up, positioning himself in front of Lenny, who held the dart in front of Harmon's pocket which the camera was tucked inside. Harmon slowly raised his hand and took the dart, turning and positioning himself directly towards the array of balloons, some of which were already popped. He slowly raised the dart in a... rather awkward manner, and then chucked it towards the balloons in a haphazard manner. The dart spun through the air erratically before slamming against the plywood wall behind the array of balloons. The dart fell on the ground below with no flare at all accompanying it. "That's three." Said the man running the booth, "Another round?" "Nah, we're good. Thanks." Lenny responded, patting Harmon's shoulder and guiding him away from the booth. Seemed like he wanted to hold on to at least some of whatever money he had with him. The two passed through the crowd, eyeing the multitude of games and food stands that were available for the public to partake in. Some of the boats were even hosting a few gatherings, people being up on the deck and dancing, or just conversing. Harmon's vision through his camera started to falter some as the crowd grew thicker and thicker. And when the two emerged from the crowd, everything that had filled Harmon with the slightest or even the most harmful sense of unease dissipated. Not out of relief, no, but in the wake of a much, much greater, and all too familiar fear. There, standing over by a hot dog vendor's cart, holding up a NEST PDA to show someone a picture, was _him_. _Frank._ Harmon's lips quivered and slowly parted agape as he took a few steps back. Lenny turned towards him, seemingly unaware of Frank's presence, and said, "You okay?" Harmon didn't respond, he simply turned and began quickly pacing backwards through the crowd. Lenny immediately chased after him, pushing through the crowd. Harmon, however, seemed to have made it through the other side much quicker, before a sudden surge of people moving through that one particular area. Lenny was shoved back as he tried to move through the center of the crowd, desperately trying to keep an eye on Harmon's boonie hat to mark him down. But the crowd was clouding his vision. And he couldn't call out his name, that would set off red flags everywhere for anyone who saw the news cast earlier. "Hey!" Lenny called out, "Excuse me! Excu- move!" His voice was raised some, and he finally started to push his way through the crowd. Finally, he made it through to the opposite end. He darted his head left and right, but... There was no sign of Harmon anywhere. "Shit..." Lenny muttered. He didn't waste any time thinking the situation over. He immediately picked a direction and began searching for his friend. God knew a socially inept wallflower like Harmon wouldn't be able to handle this crowd well enough. He had to find him before Frank did. Or anyone who wanted Frank's reward. And fast. ... ... ... Hm, Sir Reginald seemed to know where he was going. Sugar had been following him away from Shannon and Achille, on her quest for cotton candy! She knew that Shannon would be fine without the Princess. Because in Sugar's eyes, Sir Reginald could lead her back to Shannon just like he had lead her away. That said, she waded through the crowds... they seemed to be ignoring the fact that an eight year old girl was wandering around the Fair Grounds all by herself. Either they had found a reason for it in their own minds, or were truly apathetic. It didn't matter to Sugar long as they didn't impede her "quest" for cotton candy- "_Hidehidehidehide-_" The thoughts had forcibly intruded themselves into Sugar's head, thanks to her psychic guardian yet again. She stopped in her tracks, and looked around. Who's hiding? And from what? Is someone in danger? Suddenly, the child had stopped looking for cotton candy, and instead her sense of morality had taken over. Someone needed help, and since Black Fall was her kingdom, she was going to keep it safe. Sugar looked up at Sir Reginald, and nodded her head. Sending the command to him, "Where is he?" "_Nonononono-_" In an instant, Sir Reginald had urged Sugar in the direction of Harmon, and immediately, she set her sights on him, and simply wouldn't let him escape. Not when he's in danger. He was a strange dressed man, he dressed like he was hiding himself! She didn't consider why anyone would hide themselves in her kingdom, but if he was really in danger... now that filled her with even more determination. With the guiding hand of Sir Reginald, she quickly homed in on Harmon. "Hey, mister!" Sugar called for him. "Do you need help?" Harmon turned his head at the sound of the young girl calling to him. Help. Help, from, from who? Who else would be helping him but Lenny? It was a confusing notion and he couldn't wrap his head around it, surrounded by the chaos and commotion of those around him. But the impending fear of Frank closing in on him overshadowed his sense of worry. And that fear was quickly superseceded by a brand new one. Standing over the girl. Towering above the crowd. Nothing but a thin, shimmering outline overlapping the faintest signal of an immensely powerful force of mental energy. Frank was nothing compared to this... thing. Harmon immediately took action, gasping some as he ducked underneath the white curtain surrounding the game booth next to him. An act of desperation in the wake of this new, horrifying figure standing over a small child. "Wait!" Sugar said to Harmon, she said as a sharp whisper, she was trying to keep her voice down just in case whoever this poor thing is hiding from is nearby. The man had hidden behind a curtain, Sugar was about to walk underneath it too, but Sir Reginald had stopped her... merely by exerting his telepathic will on her yet again. He told her that Harmon was frightened, frightened by her guardian. Whom Harmon could vaguly comprehend - much like all other Cerebral-type metahumans. Wait, why is that? Sir Reginald is the nicest, most noble Knight in all the lands. He isn't nothing to fear. Neither is Sugar. She was quick to say, "Wait, he's-" but she stopped when Sir Reginald had warned her of a man approaching her, and she stopped. Sugar turned around and looked up at the man.... "Hey, kid." The bald man said. He was dressed in a NEST trooper's uniform. He looked down at her with squinted eyes and asked, "You wandering around without your parents?" A NEST agent? Those men are... scary. They walk around in armor that look like knights, and they carry around guns (Guns!). Daddy told her that those things are dangerous. Worst of all, they keep calling her a "Meta-human", and saying she has "Telekinesis" and "Telepathy". She... didn't know what those things are. She's a Princess, 100% human. But, what did worry her was that this NEST agent didn't look very nice. She took a step back away from him, and adjusted her glasses. "Hi," She addressed him, waving her hand. "I'm just... looking for some cotton candy." Sugar quickly telepathically asked Sir Reginald what the man here wanted.... _Wonder if she's seen that slippery fucker anywhere._ Slippery fucker? Those are baaaad words. Sugar briefly wondered why Sir Reginald would tell her _this_. But all that did was enforce that she didn't like the looks of this man. "That doesn't answer my question, though." The man said, "Where are your parents?" Her parents? She... came here with her sister. Far as Sugar could tell, her mother was still home, drinking that bad smelling stuff, and Dad was... still in the hospital. "I... came here with my sister and a friend. I left them to get some cotton candy, then I'll go right back, okay?" Sugar nodded her head, hoping that this scary man would leave her alone. The man nodded. He took out a NEST PDA from one of his buttoned pockets and flipped through it a bit. He then crouched down so he was at Sugar's eye-level and held the device up to her, showing her the same database profile image of Harmon Rottlage, as it was seen on the news cast earlier today. "Think you can help me with something?" He said, "I'm looking for this meta-human. Seen him anywhere?" Meta-human, there's that phrase again. It still confused, but the problem here was that Sugar hasn't seen this strange looking creature... tall, white skin, no eyes or facial features, only a mouth. Sugar would have called him a monster... but maybe he's just misunderstood, and needs a friend. Regardless, she didn't know who is the person this man is after - and even if she did, she wouldn't tell him. Sugar merely shook her head from right to left. "Nope, mister." The man nodded. He gave Sugar a bit of glare before he said, "What's your name, kid?" "Sugar." Sugar told Frank, frankly (Pun intended). Of course, she shared her alias, since she would never tell anyone what her embarassing real name is. "Your _real_ name." He said, holding up the PDA. "I want to check something. Don't worry kid, you can trust me." Ughhhh... "Blathnat." She said, forcing it out, really. The man looked down at the PDA and began typing something into the keypad. After a moment, he saw a matched profile come up for the name "Blathnat". He stared at the picture of Sugar, before he slowly raised his head again. That haunting smile was etched across his face once more. "I'm Frank." He said, standing up, looking down at Sugar. "Franklin St. Jopling. Now, are... are you _sure_ you haven't seen this man anywhere, _Sugar_? Because he's... a _very, very bad man_. And I need to find him so _nothing bad happens_." That smile... It wasn't friendly. It looked almost exactly like a _villain's_ smile. If Frank's goal was to unnerve Sugar, then he did it. She took a step back with her prosthetic leg, and kept her eyes on Frank at all times. "Yes, I'm sure...." She wasn't sure if the person he was looking for was bad, merely because she thinks that he's a _very, very bad man_. Frank took a step forward and said, "Are you _absolutely sure, sweety_?" "Yes... just leave me alone." Sugar whimpered as she took another step back away from Frank. She didn't know why this scary man was bothering her so much! She just wanted some cotton candy and would head back to Shannon! All this harassment was getting her stressed. Frank's brow (or lack thereof) furled a bit as he crouched and said, "Oh, sweety, no..." He stopped advancing towards Sugar and said, "Okay, okay. You haven't seen him. But listen..." He brought his hand up and motioned for Sugar to approach him, as if to whisper a secret to her. What did the scary man want to tell her? Is this a trick. She didn't know... but if Sir Reginald hasn't told her otherwise, then, then... maybe Mr. Frank is telling her something important. Or maybe he'll finally go away. "Uh, sure..." Sugar took a few step forward, slowly, she was going to make sure that she'd be ready to run should he pull something on the princess. "If you do see him..." Frank said in a hush tone, "Don't tell anyone else. Come straight to me, okay?" "Okay." That was a lie. Sugar didn't want anything else to do with this man. Even if she did see Frank's target, she wasn't going to say anything. Frank stood up, keeping that horrible smile going. "Now." He said, nodding, "You said you wanted some cotton candy? Want me to buy you some?" "Uh..." Sugar looked away. "I don't want any." She didn't trust Frank, in fact, all she wanted to do was get away from him. Frank paused for a moment, before simply replying, "Okay, sweety." He patted Sugar's head before turning and walking away. As he disappeared into the crowd, Sugar sighed out of relief seeing that he was finally gone. Just for good measure, she contacted Sir Reginald... who scanned the crowd's mind until he found Frank, and noticed that his signature was heading away from Sugar - along with his thoughts telling him that his search is going elsewhere. Now, she needed to find Harmon. "Hey, it's okay," Sugar turned around, and raised the cloth to look inside. She telepathically urged Reginald to keep an eye on her. "He's gone now. You can come out." The cowering Harmon, still shaking in fear of the percieved threat that Reginald presented, slowly turned his head towards Sugar. He took the camera out of his front pocket and aimed it at her, seeing the young girl looking down at him. She... she didn't seem to harbor any ill intent. And there was this apparent... link, between her and the _thing_ that eased his worries some. He slowly crawled out from under the curtain and stood up, looking around for any immediate sign of Frank. But, fortunately, he was gone. His camera swayed a bit until he focused it back on Sugar. His scarf had loosened a bit, revealing his lack of eyes, a nose, and ears. And his horrible cracked lips. The same as the picture spelled out. "Th-..." Harmon muttered, huddling a bit. "Th-thank... thank, you..." Now that Sugar got a good look at him... he was the person that the scary man was looking for. White skin, no eyes... yes, he's exactly the thing that Frank was looking for. But, unlike Frank, she saw something else in Harmon. She didn't see him as a bad man. If he had people like Frank looking for him, then Sugar figured that he was misunderstood because of his looks. He was like... The Hunchback. Reviled because of the way he looked, but sweet inside. "You don't have to worry about that scary man anymore," Sugar assured him, "I'll keep you safe." Harmon nodded. He'd gotten separated from Lenny in this crowd, but... this girl, she knew what she was talking about. But that thing hovering over her... "Th-the..." Harmon stuttered, "The... being... above, you? You..." Actually, she was wondering why Harmon could see Sir Reginald. As far as she could tell, no one could see Sir Reginald but her. He was her invisible guardian, but if Harmon could see him, then perhaps he could be a closer friend than she thought. "He's a friend, Sir Reginald." She then looked up at him, "Say hi." Sir Reginald didn't say anything. "My name is Sugar, what's your name?" "H-... H-Har... Harmon..." Harmon replied, still a little shaken. "Harmon... R-... Rottlage..." He paused for a minute, scanning the area with his camera. "Looking..." He continued, "Loooking for... other, other friend... here... lost... separated... can't, can't find..." Aw, he's just looking for his friend. The heroic resolve inside Sugar intensified. "Harmon," That's a strange name - well, no stranger than Sugar's own name, actually. "I'll help you find your friend, Sir Reginald can find anything, just... come with me." Sugar grabbed Harmon by the wrist. She looked up at Sir Reginald and nodded. She relayed the command, "_Keep an eye out for his friend, please._" Sir Reginald complied. Harmon quickly wrapped his scarf around his face once more and readjusted his boonie, concealing himself. And he let Sugar and... Reginald... lead him away. Hopefully, to somewhere safe. Hopefully, to Lenny.