Day 2: Museum and thereafter

Torres and Wayne were, well, entertaining as always. The one wanting to make a handgun shoot missiles, the other as restrained as a muzzled dog at a kids birthday party. Some days she liked to just sit and listen to them rant back and forth but not on days when a creepy, mutated, possibly evil singer was on the loose. Today she just wanted..."Wayne? I need to be able to fire longer. Just. mod it alright? Better clip? Chain fed with me wearing crazy belts? I don't care, but I was seriously lacking in ammo last night." She sat on a chair in the weapon room, grimly watching the younger of the pair.

"It's not about ammo Aya..." Torres started in.

"Right. And an alligator didn't really turn into an electric shooting, wind using monster."

"...oh. Has psych cleared you for this Aya?"

"Yes, Torres. All the proper signatures are on that permit. We're leaving for an interview as soon as Danny gets out of the shower and dressed in clothes he didn't wear last night."

Torres eyed the permit again then sighed. "Aya..."

"Do it, or let Wayne do it, but do not deny me an extra sense of security when Manhattan is set to be evacuated."

The man finally nodded and took her gun, modifying it as necessary before Danny showed up. "Talk to me later," Wayne announced when she was ready to go.

Danny was...fit to be tied. "Ben was here and no one made him stay! Seems Lorreta got him all hyped on family outing to some concert and sent Ben to get me. I was in the damn shower so he breezed in and ran out..." Her partner slammed into the carpool garage and stomped over to their car. "I sent someone after them but..." Not likely to help.

Aya sighed and settled into her seat. "I know Danny. We'll find him and get him out of town, soon alright? We need to catch this doctor though, before he goes on some screwy company retreat..."

He didn't drive so much as 'plow' toward the museum where their suspect doctor was now employed. Retired from medicine, now researching paleobiology. Hans Klamp was...creepy to say the least. Creepy and the way he spoke made Aya twitch, even though they were routine questions. "I'm sorry, when I work emergency rooms..."

And she swayed. Not a headache, not exactly, just...memory? Klamp. She knew him somehow. She tried to call Dilan but the phone number wouldn't come to her for a moment and she swore as Danny ended the interview with the order to stay accessible. Accessible. Right. During an evacuation. Or soon to be evac...

"I don't like him." Aya confided in her partner as they left the museum. "And something's bothering me. Melissa is a driven girl if her diary is anything to go by. Today and yesterday are her dream come true. Solo acts. So why bug out now?"

"Girl's crazy," Danny rumbled. The easy answer, and wrong. "Yeah, opera last night...concert today right? At the park? Guess that ain't gonna.."

"And why not?" Aya shot back. "Crazy remember?"

"Oh shit. The park right?" He slewed the car around, glancing up at the sky in worry. Sun was already setting somehow and...damn. "Hey, Ben came with tickets to something earlier..."

"I can't be a soloist though right? Lorreta doesn't..." She was going to say 'have taste' but maybe if she'd won them?

"It could. Concert." Those few words were grated from between her partners teeth. His boy was likely at the concert in the park. Time to move faster. Much faster.

Aya tightened her seat belt and dialed Dilan, leaving a message about where they were going and why.

Unfortunately the park was a burn zone. Danny would have kept bulling toward his son until he fried if Aya hadn't smacked him good and hard. Seemed she was going in alone. There was the zoo, the reptile house that she and Dilan had gone to. Now it was full of things that made her chest clench and her fingers tingle.

Monsters.

A whole park full of monsters.

It was okay. EVERYTHING WAS OKAY. She didn't like the monkeys anyway. Or the polar bears really...giant worms she hadn't ever seen at the zoo. They hurt, quite a bit, but she still hadn't found Ben. That meant she kept going until she finally saw the lights of the small amphitheater. Ben was...milling by the bathrooms. Thank God. And he wasn't burning. Another small favor. "Aya! Aya something's weird! My mom just won't listen..."

Aya grabbed the kid and tossed him toward the nearest path out. "That way. It's clear. Move. I'll go handle your mom. MOVE MOVE MOVE." She made sure Ben was pelting off as fast as his little feet could take him before turning toward the seats.

It was like a horror movie, her heart hammering in her chest and not being able to move fast enough as Melissa drifted out on to stage. She still had a tail and creepy arms. She was still flying. And the audience didn't even twitch.

Until they did.

It didn't feel like last night, no heat, no burning, but the audience was dying just the same. They melted right in front of her silent and uncaring as Melissa sang and laughed. Melted, merged, and flowed away like a living river. Dilan was...not going to like that. That should not be her foremost thought in this situation but...well, Dilan wouldn't like it.

She had to try to get Melissa again. Had to try, and her feet took her forward despite the gibbering horror. Keep moving, keep functioning, attack the horror...end up in a carriage with the horses on fire and Melissa screaming at her from each side like some unholy bat. There was more crazy talk too.

"Not ready..."

"...should join me..."

"...until later."

The carriage hit a brick wall as the horses finally lost everything in the flames and plowed to the ground. She hit that wall going a good bit too fast and...didn't wake up again.