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[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/uvX201s.png[/img][/center]
Location: At the Forge
Time: Several days later after the event at the Ironworks. 

Rach held out her arm, watching Gabe take another blood sample to examine. He inserted the needle which barely stung and drew the black blood through the needle, shortly filling tube one by one. The scientist had been doing this for weeks as more information was collected. They both had learned her saturation levels, her blood to nanite ratio, was at about 89% compared to the 35% back at the CDC. A gradual increase thanks to her experience from the kidnapping and seemed to concern Gabe somewhat, or so she thought. There was nothing they could do now as the virus had settled into her genetics and already altered it to something beyond human now. 

It was a bit unsettling due to her own inner fears causing her to twitch inside, realizing it wasn’t the nanites causing. As the blood was drawn, her mind summarized the rescue in a nutshell. After Gabe cut her out of the cage, she was passed over to a LEGION drone and immediately taken through the traps, thugs, and worst to the exit. Escape wasn’t easy. After all of them got out, they regrouped at the Red Devil tavern. An unpleasant surprise was waiting there for them. While she didn’t the man, Rach felt guilty he was killed in the attempt to rescue her which seemed to draw a little amusement from the tavern owner. He then delivered something they would all reflect upon in the future. When her thoughts tried to recall, she shrugged it off and shuddered as she noted Gabriel wrapping up his task. When each of the tubes had little more than-than an inch at the bottom, he pulled out the needle and untied the tourniquet at her upper arm. The human computer, as she referred to him, retreated to analyze the substance in one of his machines, letting Rach regenerate her blood. 

Rach flexed her muscles a bit. She noted a dark drop well from the puncture then quickly retreat back into her flesh. She shoved her sleeve down over it and stood upright, her feet too restless to remain sitting. When things calmed within Lost Haven, she aimed to investigate into the crime lord that had her kidnapped. Then she would deal with Gene Co. 

With that thought in mind, Rach started to punch the heavy and letting the sting melt away the irritation spreading through her. 

[u][color=olive]Jacqueline[/color][/u]
Location: Within her own home 

Jacqueline’s bedroom mirrored her tastes and habit of pampering herself. She was brushing her hair for what felt like the sixth time that day then rose from the wide, wrought iron vanity near her balcony windows. Her figure paused long enough to snatch up a large profile folder and casually strolled to her bed, her long legs shifted from underneath the red, thigh-long satin robe. Her fingers traced the see-through canopy drapes covering her king size bed  before finding the place they parted. Crawling into bed, she wasn’t aiming at sleeping. Instead, she would lucubrate all night then sleep in during the day since her presence wasn’t needed tomorrow, a rarity she aimed to exploit to examine the paperwork in front of her.   

Since Ms. Desdemona's disappearance, things had gradually gone from a minor annoyance to a slight headache for Jacqueline Freeman. From Tristan’s collected insight into her ally’s performance during the loss of their property, she was starting to reflect deeply about the Cowl’s worth to her company’s progression. Namely, if her own respect and appreciation of his company were starting to affect her business sense. Her focus was strictly upon how much dependence she held on his muscles, from subtle sabotages over her rivals to collecting intelligence or data, and how well she could recover from each failure. 

She picked up the nearest manilla folder and held it open with her palm, her other hand flipping through the documents until she discovered what she was looking for. A large stapled packet detailing the information from the Ironworks event. A few of her men, which was little surprise, had lost their lives during the confrontation. Their bodies cremated then disposed of since according to the world they didn’t exist when they officially entered the Black Project Branch department. It was a requirement and resulted in loyal employees that were easily erased, making it easy for people not to come looking mostly. However, occasionally some spouse or close family member would manage to track the individual down then have to be disposed of. After all, no system was perfect and to expect it to be such was foolish and lazy. In addition to the loss of men, there was the issue of the serum’s progression. 

It was fortunate that one of the Cowl had managed to obtain a sample of the woman’s blood for their labs to examine. She let her eyes wander over the lab reports after examining the blood. Though she had done so numerous times and knew the results, it still fascination her over how quickly the virus had changed to ensure its host would survive. Sighing at the loss, she moved onto the overall review concerning her partnership with the Cowl and the history.  

The most recent failure had been the most detrimental one to date since she began this little deal. Unlike several local syndicates, he understood the inner works and the difficulty in running a business by one’s self. A fact that made it easier to work with and so, he rarely asked for unreasonable requests. In the sense of things, she viewed the relationship more positively than harmful. A matter that satisfied her mostly. 

However, a few board members disagreed highly with her.  

In their eyes, the Cowl was a blight that should’ve been removed ages ago from the company’s reputation. What these board members failed to understand was the fact without an illegal source to test their products at their most critical and out of lab situations, there was no way to accurately determine what needed improving. At least her way prevented a direct trace back to Gene Co as long as the Cowl did his job correctly.

Her face frowned, creating slight creases around her mouth as she spied the Salamander file. It was a reminder that her buyers would be expecting a new ‘model’ of SES soon and she couldn’t quite deliver due to losing the host. All she could do was delay until the Cowl located and retrieved Ms. Desdemona (or at least a piece of her) then shipped it back to Gene Co. While Jacqueline preferred the subject alive, she had informed the Cowl that Ms. Desdemona being [i] unharmed[/i] was no longer necessary and likely safer for his men. Shipping the woman in pieces, with her brain was kept alive by machines or other means was perfectly acceptable. To aid in the recapture, despite his failings, Jacqueline provided a large shipment of nine crates filled with the meta suppressant improved by the blood sample received. If any meta, similar source, or Ms. Desdemona were hit by the suppressant than any offensive abilities would be nulled for a good six hours which would give the Cowl or herself a window of opportunity.   


 For now… it was only a waiting game until Ms. Desdemona cropped up again within Lost Haven.