By the time Eponine arrived at the checkpoint in question, she would find most of the affair over, medics taking care of the injured men while a clean up crew dealt with the property damage. Of that there was very little this time, though that was not always the case in these sorts of things. Given what the apparent intent was, it wasn't unreasonable though. She'd find Adrian there already, a tall man with black hair and more than his share of battle scars, a former mercenary that had joined up with her. He was of a particular breed, but that made him very good at what he did. "Hey Boss," he said with a nod, glancing over to the men getting treated currently, pitying them just a bit for what they had suffered. "Everything was all settled by the time I got here. You can talk to them if you want, but at this point we don't have any leads. They're looking, but given that it was a magical girl, there isn't much hope for picking up her trail." He shrugged, a hand resting on the pistol strapped to his waist. "Still, none of the other checkpoints have reported seeing her, so odds are that she's still in this section of the city, unless she happens to have some kind of illusion magic." It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. [hr] There were currently two men present in the safehouse that Chloe had found herself at, one the doctor who had patched hr up, and the other one of the men who worked with the Compact, and someone decently important, in terms of this local cell. Luckily, the doctor had had it easy given the nature of his patient, and it hadn't taken much work to deal with the wounds she had received. Now she could spend the time to heal up, if she so wanted. The safehouse was a bit small, more cozy than anything, and it was certainly well stocked with food, weapons, medical supplies, and the like. From the outside it would look like a place to be avoided, but inside it wasn't too bad. Then again, given its purpose that probably wasn't a surprise. The contact, Oscar, a pretty average fellow who preferred to look that way, with close cropped brown hair and casual garb to match, sighed as he watched Chloe from his position, leaning against a counter top. "Yeah yeah, so you say. And you had the code words, and the name drops to get in here. But we didn't survive this long simply on blind faith." He watched her with thinly veiled distrust, not that he'd have much of a chance if she actually tried to do anything. It was a reminder that not even her nominal allies trusted her all that much. "SO what's your plan now that you're here? They're going to be looking for you." [hr] The knowledge of all the plans Maria had was generally well confined, as was to be expected from someone like her. While there might have been rumors, there was no solid proof to accompany them, and as long as that remained the case it seemed that she would be allowed to make her plots in peace and security. Certainly rumors were not enough to act on, at least under the current ruler of Aurora. In the past that might have been another matter, but that was not the present moment. For some time she would be undisturbed, until a voice spoke to her in her head, a familiar tone that she may have viewed with some disdain, yet that also served a valuable purpose, here and elsewhere. [i]Hello Maria Goethe,[/i] Kyubey said as he emerged from around a corner as if by magic itself, which it was in all likelihood. [i]You appear to be well.[/i]