[h2]To new friends and new enemies [/h2][hr][sup]A collaborative post between [@Chulance] & [@Xandrya][/sup]

Jonah was almost in need of an urgent therapy session a this point. Everything that had happened in the past 24-72 hours alone had been stressful. The surprise Tommy had under the mask of course had been the most frightening & shocking of them all. Still he’d done everything within his power & sphere of influence to quite literally bury that evidence with Kalina & her powers playing a role in that as well of course.

While thoughts of Lori & Tommy plagued his mind, Anya’s radio contact broke him out that repetitive negative thought loop about the new demons he was facing in the form of the Forrester’s new laws affecting his kind. Something about almost bringing In some flying black dude then a violent altered spotting them & turning himself into a biological bomb. [I]Just what I need now exploding criminals, sheesh. [/I] Some racist rhetoric flowed through his mind but he didn’t go about spewing it. The people he trusted the most in the office like Patricia either knew or even better shared his views about the altered’s devious nature that they had long before powers.

He returned Anya’s message saying he was on the way, and would take her to Liberty’s medical center. Since Lori’s attack had wiped out the hospital downtown, he figured Anya had a better shot being escorted to Libery’s medical bay. Within fifteen minutes he’d taken black truck from Liberty’s base and went out to get Anya. He located & flagged down the limping agent and pulled up next to her quickly rolling down the window. “Donovan?!”

Jonah exclaimed in shock & worry seeing her condition. Like Angela she’d had a rough go of It today, but surprisingly she was in much better condition. Of course his long time field agent partner had been pummeled by a car jacking altered with super strength. “Christ, get in the car now, I’m taking you to Liberty’s medical bay. What the fuck happened to you?!” Jonah inquired with true concern for his agent as he pressed down a button to unlock the passenger side door of the truck for her.

Anya gave him an expression that indicated she wasn't pleased with her situation. The agent opened the passenger door and reached up to grab the handle in order to pull herself up with her good arm. Once she settled herself on the seat and buckled her seatbelt, she turned her head to face Jonah.

"Some idiot tried to kill me as I was taking an Altered into custody. He launched a couple of energy waves at me and I got burned as a result." Anya turned her arm so that Jonah may see the damage. "Lucky for me he committed suicide... He was one of those coked out radicals, you know the type. Honestly the world is better off without him." Anya breathed a sigh of relief, leaning her head back on the seat and closing her eyes. "Needless to say, my detainee got away."

Jonah could tell Anya was disgruntled whatever she encountered on the field hadn’t been pretty or pleasant that was plainly obvious to the Liberty director. He would have expressed some concern about her bleeding on the seat but luckily this was a company truck. Besides what was more important her imminent survival or the aesthetic quality of this vehicle’s leather seats.

“Fucking suicidal altered launching laser beams, just great. Godzilla Bitch wasn’t enough for San Francisco.” Jonah muttered angrily. His rage was growing more & more by the second but not towards his agent. No if anything he was mad at the condition her confrontation with the vile altered had left her. “Well at least your okay that’s what matters, you and Angela seem to have both almost bit the bullet in life too early today.” Jonah expressed spooked at the idea of loosing two of his best female agents in the same 24 hour period as a result of relentless violent altered humans. 

“Well I ain’t happy one of the bastards got away, but at least your alive & one of them offed themselves trying to make sure you weren’t. Damn it Donovan your one of our best agents, these things are powerful and I hate to admit it.” Jonah retorted startled as he pressed his foot down on the gas and started heading to the medical bay. “This day just keeps on getting worst, the altered are becoming a worst plague than the energy.” Jonah remarked with immense hatred & dislike for the newfound superhumans flooding the United States.

Even though she maintained her composure, Anya enjoyed watching her supervisor get so bent out of shape. Yes, the threat they faced was real, but she also had a job to do, and that took precedence, at least for the moment being.

"Trust me, I ain't happy about it either, but they'll get what's coming to them," she added, trying to make him feel better if only for a second before dropping another bomb onto his lap. "Listen, Hanes, I also have something else to tell you... I'm not sure if it's just me jumping to conclusions or if I'm even allowed to butt into your personal life like this but recently, I saw the yard guy going into your house. Amelia invited him inside and I know how you feel about the Altered, especially after everything that’s happened to us, to all of us. I’m only bringing it up because he’s Hispanic and who knows what abilities he has, or why he wanted access to your home. I may be out of line speaking here but please be careful, you know the Altered like to mess with our minds in order to get what they want.” Anya shook her head, agreeing with her own statement to an extent even though a portion of it was fabricated. "I care about you, and this entire situation is taking a toll on all of us.”

Jonah was becoming less & less sure that the battle, no war against the altered humans was a sure-fire victory by the day. These thoughts as unsettling as they were didn’t deter his focus on the drive to the medical bay nor did he allow them to flourish infant of his wounded agent.

“Your right Donovan, there gonna get there’s even if we have to dish it one by one ourselves if Karma’s on vacation.” Jonah muttered this time toning down the aggression in his voice, not wanting to alarm Anya or have him think any of this fury was directed towards her personally. The the next bomb shell she dropped on Jonah literally caused him to briefly loose control of the truck. Angrily uncharacterstically cursing like a sailor as he swerved and bobbed in between lanes nearly colliding with a ford Taurus & a silver Camry before regaining control. “The what?!” Jonah grumbled and took in a deep breath before stopping at a red light much to the chagrin of drivers blowing there horns behind them.

“I’m so mad, I could hop out the car, throw away my whole detective career & blast everyone behind me honking. I don’t even know where to start whether to wring your neck or hug you. NO Yard man or any man should be entering my wife’s house for ANY reason, I don’t give a damn if it’s a blizzard or a solar flare outside. But I’m still partially in my right  mind even if it’s about to crack and I do NOT appreciate you spying on me or my family, or checking up as you might call it I got them handled okay. Look this altered bullshit is fucking with all of us I…I…can understand we’ve had two trusted agents go rogue in less then a week, but not only am I your superior but I’m good.  Lastly and above all else….t…thank you…” Jonah’s anger subsided entirely towards the altered & transfigured into fear of the unknown with the story Anya was spinning to him about his wife. Sure they’d had there fights recently but he couldn’t imagine her committing the ultimate act of betrayal against him. “But for future reference when the world is falling apart, IF and that’s a big IF you know something that might crumble my home life tell me once the city stops burning.” Jonah answered.

Usually he’d have more rage both about Anya’s peaking behind the blinds of his life, but also her insinuations. But with Amelia’s friend in Altered lives matter as well as being black & everything going, he was starting to wonder if maybe he was trusting the wrong people and doubting the right ones.

As she was listening to Jonah give his speech, Anya thought that her plan would have to be scrapped. Knowing that he thought she had crossed the line was a chance she had to take in order to plant that seed of doubt in his mind. Unfortunately, the next phase couldn’t be carried out by her as she would be in the clinic getting patched up. She wouldn’t use Jace; for all she knew he would probably still be drinking. Besides, using him right after he’d had the meeting with Morozov was a foolish move for more reasons than one. Anya would simply call one of her sources to take care of what was yet to come. 

“Yes, I understand,” she replied solemnly, making it look as if she too was affected by the news. “I do truly apologize for crossing your boundaries, I know I had no right and I will make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The tone of sincerity in her voice sealed the deal on her lie, and Anya made sure to change the subject in order to avoid getting into any more detail.

“Angela will be fine though, right?” Anya inquired with a hint of concern. She liked the woman, and it was unfortunate that she too had gotten hurt.

Jonah frowned. “Angela will live, but she got beat up pretty bad. She won’t be in field condition for at least a week or two I’ll need a replacement till then.” [I]It could even be three weeks the way those cracks sounded [/I] Jonah kept that last part to himself, he wanted to remain optimistic about her speedy recovery.

“Anyway I….I…can accept your apology, like I said I’ll look into it.” He didn’t offer too much emotion with that response, but the seeds of doubt were clear in the fact that despite his fiery temperament he didn’t try to further chew Anya out. That in tandem with loosing good agents was making him more flexible with agents mistakes & even there priorities somewhat as long as they had the same general outline as his own. Jonah took the time to peek at his phone and see they were about fifteen minutes out from liberty’s medical infirmary.

A slight smile was all Anya offered in response. Given she had lost her phone, Anya would now have to wait until she was dropped off to make some of her phone calls and get the ball rolling to complete the last half of her plan. If everything worked according to expectations, Jonah and Amelia's demise shouldn't that far away. 

“These burns...they hurt, but it’s not like I have to be confined to an office. San Francisco is falling apart, and I’m not going to let a small inconvenience get in the way of my work. Brown is still out there and who knows what sort of trouble he’s brewing up for us."

“Well Thank God for that, not your burns but the fact that there not critical enough to keep you down for long. I gotta admit Donovan when you first joined I was wary of you, really everyone even Patricia and I’ve had her as a secretary in the CIA for two years before this.” Jonah admitted.

He didn’t know why this was rolling off the tongue so easily now. Perhaps it was because Anya was starting to make him comfortable, or he was starting to get attached to Liberty agents who were fully human & the most effective. So far she’d put the most work into tracking down Shade & even made some suggestions on how to handle the progression of his case that he agreed with.

After the 15 minutes passed Jonah had parked the vehicle & gotta them to Liberty’ medical bay so Anya could get examined. Taking out his key card he led them into the facility from the basement entrance then had them board an elevator directly to the infirmary. “Come on let’s get you checked out, and see the extent of the damage that got caused to you by the suicidal energy wave freak.”

Anya followed Jonah into the building, her pace slow due to the limping. A couple of staff members and as well as agents they passed by stared at her as she went, though not in a bad way but rather, they stared with concern. The two headed up the elevator to the clinic, the ride there silent. Eventually, once the door opened, Anya spoke once more.

"Thank you for the ride, I appreciate it. I'm sure you were terribly busy but you're the only one whose number I have memorized." That much was true, at least for Liberty personnel. Outside of the agency, the list was much longer. "If you have to get back to work, go, I should be fine from here on out," she added with a small smile.

Jonah took notice of the stares from other agents as they strolled the hallways to get her some help. [I]Oh yeah just stare at us, that’s making yourself real friggin useful[/I] He frowned a bit at his own internal commentary which ironically just like the motionless nosy agents did little to aid & abet the situation they were in currently.

“Don’t mention it, least I can do is give you a ride after your out in the streets fighting monsters for us.” Jonah remarked not wanting Anya to feel any personal debt towards him for what he simply saw as doing his job to help out other Liberty agents in the field. “Uh Yeah yeah I do gotta get back, got some weird shit going down in Oakland I need to follow up on, you get better though your a hell of a fighter Donovan, those altered are gonna quake in there boots when your back on your feet.” Jonah teased in a friendly non antagonistic manner.

She couldn’t help but laugh a little, legitimately this time. “Alright, see you around Hanes.”

Once he started heading back, Anya turned around and went to see the lady at the front desk. “May I use your phone, please? It’ll only take a minute and then I’ll check in.”