[center][img]http://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjcyLjZlNmU2ZS5RWFZrY21WNUlFNXZkbUZzYVdzLC4w/dirty-duo.bold.png[/img]
[code]Six months ago, Verthaven Memorial Cemetery[/code][/center]
[hr]

The woman stood above a pair of graves. The breeze brushed through her hair, messy in its current state, untied and dancing in the wind. She gazed down at the two grave markers, simple stone plinths with names and dates chiseled into their smooth faces. A bottle of vodka was clasped firm in one hand. The other held a small bouquet of flowers. She set the bouquet down between the graves, splitting the flowers between the two. With her hand free, she uncapped the vodka bottle and took a swig. A hearty sigh escaped her lips as she stared down wistfully at the graves, taking in each crack in the stone facade, every chisel mark in the names inscribed on them.

[color=lightgray]"I hate you both, stupid little [i]idioty[/i]."[/color]

She spat the last word with all the contempt she had for the dead men. Strength left her legs as she sat on the dirt, the cigarette clamped in her mouth flaring as she puffed in anger, smoke plumes spraying from her nostrils.

[color=lightgray]"Just had to be heroes, both of you. Fucking [i]glupyye idioty[/i]. Mixed up in all that shit. And then you had to be heroes when the disaster hit. Went and got yourselves killed... Left this poor [i]ztarushka[/i] all alone."[/color]

Tears began to fall from her eyes as she stubbed out the cigarette in the dirt. She stood and stamped the crumpled butt into the ground with her heel, grinding it with barely repressed frustration. The woman brushed hair from her face as she shook her head and took another hit of vodka.

[color=lightgray]"I'll never did understand you two, and now I never will. But... You two were the best parts of my life, and I loved you for that. You never knew it, but I cared for you as I did my own [i]deti[/i]. My own children. My little angels."[/color]

With the bottle uncapped, she poured a splash of vodka on one grave, and then the other.

[color=lightgray]"To you, Marcus and John. I will never forget you both. [i]Proshchay. Ya lyublyu tebya.[/i]"[/color]

Audrey capped her bottle of vodka and strode off towards the exit. The graves of her friends, worn by wind and rain and weather, still stood proudly amongst the countless other unnamed graves.

[hider=In Vain I Hide My Heart's Fierce Pain - Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov]
In vain I hide my heart’s fierce pain,
In vain pretend to inner calm.
I can’t be calm a single hour,
I can’t no matter how I try.
My heart by sighs, my eyes by tears,
reveal the secret misery.
You make all my efforts vain,
you, who stole my liberty!

Bringing a savage fate to me,
you troubled my spirit’s peace,
you changed my freedom to a jail,
you turned my delight to sorrow.
And secretly, to my bitterest hurt,
perhaps you sigh for some other woman,
perhaps devoured by a useless passion,
as I for you, you suffer too for her.

I long to see you: when I do I’m mad,
anxious, lest my eyes give me away:
I’m troubled in your presence, in your absence
I’m sad that you can’t know how I love.
Shame tries to drive desire from my heart
while love in turn tries to drive out shame.
And in this fierce conflict thought is clouded,
the heart is torn, it suffers, and it burns.

So I fling myself from torment to torment.
I want to show my heart, ashamed to do it,
I don’t know what I want, oh, that’s true,
what I do know is I’m filled with sorrow.
I know my mind’s held prisoner by you,
wherever I am it conjures your dear image:
I know, consumed by the cruellest passion,
there’s no way to forget you on this earth.[/hider]
[hr]
[code]Present day, Regal Square, Prince Ed-Field[/code]

With her hands stuffed into the pockets of her windbreaker, Audrey wove her way through the crowd that was slowly dispersing after the Director's speech. The rally was, for the most part, over. The nearbyfood was something she could sink her teeth into, literally and metaphorically of course. She had a hot dog in her hand, idly munching away while she people watched. The rally itself was boring as far as DOVE rallies went. The usual support garnering for the whole human-metahuman relations thing, trying to lift people's spirits in spite of the terror events in the recent year. She was here mostly to scope out the whole thing, since all her employees were either on their break or schooling at the moment. Her cafe was closed, and Audrey was here, spending time alone.

She briefly wondered if there were any other metas here, when a familiar face caught her attention. Just out of the corner of her eye, she saw a vaguely familiar Chinese lady disappear into the main DOVE building, flanked by other men, presumably her retinue. Audrey paused, plate in hand while she racked her brain trying to remember where she'd last seen that woman. The memories came back slowly. The incident with the Fiends more than ten years ago. Verthaven.

Marcus and John.

The NEST agent that arrested them. Took them away from her like a predator stole away the helpless young of its prey animal. Not directly responsible for their deaths, but part of that troubled period of her life. She was determined to catch her on her way out. Just to see if these...DOVE types were the type to remember past losses and to feel them. Audrey kept her distance from the entrance, but if and when Meifeng chose to leave, the old Russian would be close enough to intercept her for a few words.