The sewers hadn't been a pleasant experience...heck, this whole day hadn't been a pleasant experience. But at least sitting in the doctor's office, she was safe, and whatever he had given her was starting to drive the fuzzyness out of her mind. "You said someone sent you to find me...I'm not going home."

"Why's that?"

"Cause I don't exactly feel like being sacrificed..."

Savior blinks in surprise. "Excuse me? Care to explain that in more detail?"

"My parents brought this creepy guy over for dinner. He looked at me weird, then said I was perfect for something. A couple days later, creepy guy showed up to say it was ready. They took me to this place deep in the Arc. Next thing I know, I'm on a table, and this guy has a knife ready to slit my throat. Needless to say, I paniced. Odd thing is that while I was running, no one seemed to see me until I was way gone. Been gone for a week." Jessica explained, wondering if her rescuer would actually believe a tale like that. She knew she wouldn't, if she hadn't of lived it.

"Ok. You aren't going home. Sit tight for a second and let me think..."

The transducer kicks in and a call goes out to Jessica Johnson.

Jessicas voice mail kicks in, she must have her cell off...

"Jessie, you know who this is. Get back to me quickly. Like now girl."

Savior turns to Jessica, "What are your parents names and where do they live? If you know their SINs that would be even better."

Jessica was releived to see that Savior was taking her seriously. Most people she had told her problems to had just brushed her off as an overly imaginative child. "Roger and Laura Sutherland. Don't know their SINs. We live in the Aztechnology Arc. They work in Research and Development."

"Alright. I'm gunna make a few calls, hang tight."

Savior takes a moment to scan Jessica's aura. Less to see if she is lying, more to see if there is anything about her that would make her special to a Blood Mage. While he does so, he puts a call through to Todd.

"Yo Frankie! Been waaaaaay too long man! How ya been!?"

Todd's over-enthusiasm towards everything would get on anyone's nerves, that is unless you know him.

"Good and bad man, same ol'... Todd, I need ya pal, this one is heavy and I'll owe you big for putting all your attention on it."

"Drek man, serious stuff, eh?"

"Yeah. Find out everything you can about Roger and Laura Sutherland. They live at the Azzy Arc and work in R&D. About a week ago they had some 'creep' over for dinner. I'm pretty sure the guy is a Blood Mage and they were selling their daughter to him. I've got the daughter with me now. Look to see about any dinner guests they had over a week ago, the computers keep track of who accesses which doors and stuff right? If you can get video of the guy that would be even better. I need as much info on this fragger as I can get. Be careful though, this fragger is number one of the evil badass list."

"And let me guess, you're going after him."

Savior couldn't help but smile, "Yeah, well, I'm evil badass hunter, right?"

"...Right. Just be careful... and I will be too. I'll call you when I got something juicy for ya."

Disconnecting the line, the burly orc turns back to Jessica, "Do you have anyplace safe you can go and lay low?"

" 'Safe' wound me up where you found me." Jessica answered. So much for her so-called friends. Where had they been when those guys jumped her? For all she knew they had set her up. It was hard to know who to trust these days, what with her own parents giving her up to be sacrificed. But she wasn't going to be able to manage on her own, and at least this guy seemed interested in giving that creepy guy what he had coming.

Savior sighed... "Alright, hang on and let me make another call real fast, I'll see if I can setup a safehouse for you. In the meantime, I'm going after your parents and the fragger they were gunna give you to."

"For all they might deserve it, handing me over to that guy like that, I'd rather not see my folks hurt. That guy, however, I wouldn't mind getting a piece of myself..."

Savior smiled. "How old are you? Trust me, I'll handle it. As for your folks, I'll be questioning them at the very least. I may hurt them in the process, but most corpers aren't trained to stand up to interrogation."

"Fourteen. And you expect me to just sit back and wait? There has to be something I can do."

Savior looks at the girl in front of him for a long time. "How long have you been a mage?"

Magic, nobody noticing her...it made sense. "Umm...since I ran away."

Savior shakes his head, "What a nice way to wake up. Look, I'm gunna make a quick call and see if I can get you a place to stay, ok?"

It only look thirty seconds, he didn't knew it was a long shot, but Martin was as full as he'd been earlier that night.

"Drek... So much for that..."

The orc was silent for a while, thinking. "Alright. You can stay with me. But don't get too nosey into my life or we'll have issues with each other, alright? Drek, I don't even know your name. Mine's Frank, but most people call me Savior."

"Fine." she said, even though she was rather curious about this guy who was offering to help her. She doubted he was just in this for money. If he had influenced her parents like he had, that creepy guy surely had money and influence to toss around in getting her back. "I'm Jessica." she added. He probably really did know her name, but introductions were still polite.

Savior stood. "Lets get outta here then. Lemme just say g'bye to the doc."

"BYE DOC!" The orc bellowed through closed door.

"See ya Frank", came over the loud speaker installed in the corner.

"Unfortunately, I left my bike back by where I found ya, so we'll have to head through the sewers again and hope none of them are waitin' for us when we come out. Come on then, lets get movin'."

"Well that stinks." Jessica replied. She was starting to recover enough to have a sense of humor. "Guess no use of putting it off."

For Frank the trek through the sewers was standard affair. He had to slice a couple of rats and scare off a squatter but it was no big. For Jessica it was a nightmare of shadows and unfamiliar noises. She heaved a sigh of relief when Frank finally pushed up the manhole and exited next to his bike.

Frank took a second to shake his long coat off, getting off anything that had stuck to it from the sewers, then mounted his bike. He turned to his new ward and smiled, "Hop on."

The motor roared to life and as soon as she was on, thunder of the bikes engine and the wind were the only sounds she'd hear. Savior on the other hand kicked his advanced hearing into overdrive, blocking out the sounds of the wind and the motor. He heard the city and listened for any dangers.

Leaving the sewers behind, Jessica prayed that they never had to do that again. Between the dark shadows, the stench, and the inhabitants, it had been a nightmare. And now she was on to something else that was exciting in a better way. She had never ridden a motorcycle before. Despite the noise, it was fun watching the city whip by without the intervening windows.

The apartment building that Savior pulled up in front of wasn't much to look at, but then again, we were in the Barrens. He dismounted the bike and lead the way into the building. Opening a small door, it lead into the stairwell, "Going down. The basement is mine."

"All of it?" Jessica asked.

"Yup."

At the bottom on the stairs was an odd sight for a building of this nature. A metal door. With a maglock system and what looked like an old style combination tumbler lock used on safes back in the old days. Sure enough, it was just that. Savior punched in a series of numbers on the maglock, then spun the combination lock around several times, stopping along the way at the proper numbers. Finally, after what seemed much to long to open your own front door, he gave the door handle a twist and it swung open.

The lights flickered awake as the door opened, shedding light into a large open basement. There were pillars spaced apart every 10 meters or so as building supports, but all walls had been knocked down to keep the area as clear as possible. At the far end was a rather large workout area, complete with a sparing mat and a shooting range. There was a small kitchen area that was clear never got touched. The center of the space had a large couch with a trid not too far away. The only wall that remained was that of the bathroom, which Jessica couldn't help but sigh in relief over.

"I've got some ration bars in the kitchen, help yourself and make yourself comfortable on the couch. I'll be in the bathroom for a bit."

After excusing himself, Savior made his way into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He stripped down and turned the shower on, giving the water time to heat up. Then he turned back to his pants... opened the pocket and pulled out the baggy which held the chuck of ganger flesh he'd taken as a prize earlier in the evening. Before he could even think, he tore the bag open and bit into it. He hated this part. He imagined this must be what drug abusers felt like. It felt and taste so good, but he also knew what he was doing and silently hated himself for it.

He grabbed a wad of toilet paper and cleaned up the few blood droplets that he'd spilled on the floor, then stepped into the shower to clean up. He brushed his teeth his ritual three times, getting the taste of raw metahuman flesh out of his mouth, but also missing the taste at the same time. Stepping out of the shower, he opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out three bottles, one mint extract, one parsley, and another that Doc Bloodmoney said should keep all odors out of his system. Pulling on a pair of pajama bottoms that was hung up on the back of the bathroom door, Frank stepped back out of the bathroom to check on Jessica and see if any of his contacts has got back to him yet.

Savior's home wasn't the Hilton, but compared to what Jessica had been living in for the past week, it was practically heaven. She couldn't wait for a shower. However, as Savior claimed it first, she settled for the next best thing. Food.

Taking a couple ration bars, she plunked down on the couch, and flipped through the channels. She passed over the action shows she normally chose in favor of a sappy sitcome. Somehow it was comforting to see others living a normal life while her own life was in such an upheaval. She got sucked in to the extent that she barely noticed when Savior emerged from the bathroom.

Barely didn't mean she didn't, and as soon as the bathroom was free, she rushed in to partake of a, at least to her, important piece of civilization. The water was warm, washing away dirt and grime. For a moment she could step away from the nightmare that had been the last week. She didn't emerge until each and every speck of dust had been washed away.

After drying off, however, she was confronted with the wreck that was her clothes. If she had been at home, they would have gone straight into the trash. However, she doubted that Savior just happened to have any clothes her size lying around. As she was about to resign herself to distasteful task of putting the filthy clothing back on, the power that she now recognized as magic flowed through her. As it ebbed away, she found her clothing clean and intact.

Still clueless as to how she had done that, she quickly got dressed. Her hair apparently would still have to be done mundanely, but that wouldn't be a problem once it had time to dry. Wrapping it up in a towel, she headed back out to the living room. "You know, this whole being a mage stuff isn't half bad." she commented.

The next morning found Jessica clean and rested. There was no sunlight, or windows for that matter. Nor were there any clocks on the wall. She had no idea what time it was when she woke up on the couch. A moment of disorientation held her as she tried to figure out where she was and what time it was.

Savior was up long before Jessica was, needing only a few hours of sleep each night. The spend the later part of the day, being that they went to sleep when the sun came up, meditating and trying not to freak out about Ms. Johnson. Finally, he couldn't take it any longer and tried calling her again.

The phone rings for several minutes when it is picked up. At first you hear nothing but the sounds of breathing. Then a mans voice comes on the line. It is distant and sounds like he is in a tunnel.

"Now tell me, where is this man who asked about us?"

Jessica's voice comes back weak and fuzzy.

"I'm not sure, I don-n't know hi-s number, he just calls me occasionally. Wait it's..."

The last part is cut of by a loud noise. There is silence for a moment and you can hear sobs coming though the line.

"Please help me." The man answers, "no one is coming to help you Ms. Johnson, you are going to die. And the only thing that is going to make it easy, or hard, is how willing you are to cooperate. So let me ask you..."

The line is cut off.

"NO!" The shout bellows through the apartment. "Drek! Jessica!!!"

Savior's large fingers fumble for a moment, then he slows down and calls Todd.

"Todd, drop whatever you are doing and triangulate this phone number, its Jessie man, they're killing her!"

"wuzza? Franks whats up, who? Huh?" You obviously woke up the Decker in the middle of his 'night'.

"Right triangulate Jessie's number got it. Plugging in now it will take a few minutes. I'll call you when it's done."

Savior glances over at the 14 year old waking up on the couch.

"Get dressed. Now. We're leaving. My friend is in trouble and when we get there you stay out of sight, got it?"

Savior walks over to the lock closet against the wall, near the training area and starts loading up his gear. Slipping into his form-fitting, then his secure-tec stuff. The katana goes into his sheath and a pair of predators disappear under his coat, one with a silencer, the other without. Various objects disappear into the many pockets sown into the inside of his long coat. He then heads for the door, stoping to turn to Jessie, "Lets go!"

Hearing Savior's reaction to his phone call, and the one right after, Jessica felt a knot in her stomach. She had realized that creepy guy wanted to kill her. She hadn't realized that he was willing to kill others to get to her. Though she wasn't about to simply hand herself over, she didn't want others to get hurt because of her. She was glad that Savior was letting her come. She didn't want to think about sitting here alone, wondering what was happening. She wanted to do something to help, even if she didn't know what yet. With just the clothes on her back, she was ready to go as soon as Savior was.

Savior led the way back to his bike and with Jessie on his back, roared towards the I-5, heading towards Downtown. Hopefully Todd would have an answer soon, but he figured he'd at least head towards the move likely area he'd find Jessica.

"Frank, Todd, shes in her apartment, north Seattle near Lake Union. Good luck Hombre, you want me to call the star?"

"No, they'ed go in loud and get her killed. If you're up for it, create a false alarm somewhere to keep the cops off the freeway so I don't get pulled over for speeding. Then dig into her apartment and make sure the doors are onlocked. They got cameras?"

"She's in a double A zone, I don't know how they busted in, in the first place. I'll try to hack their system and get access to the cameras, but it could take a while."

"Well, you got time while I'm on my way. Get to work and I'll figure out a way to pay you back."

Over his shoulder he yells back at Jessie, "You wouldn't happen to have an invisibility spell you can toss down on us, would you!?"

"I don't know if I can do it again, but I'll try." Jessica said.

Finally, a clear way she could help. She thought back to the day she ran away. Then she had desperatly not wanted people to see her. She focused on the situation at hand. If the police saw them, they'd be stopped, or have to run and possibly be hurt. Either way they'd lose time, in which Savior's friend could be killed. Holding the paralyzing fear in mind, she focused her will on others not seeing them.