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@mayacat @urwen-starial @kayla-skywriter @esmeralda-gramilton @naiya-dyani @emberynus-the-dragonslayer

Okay, here we go.

The morning sunlight glinted off the windows, most of which were only shards of glass clinging to gray window frames. Only a few were still whole. A crust of dirty snow from an early morning storm had caked into the frames, casting a gritty film over the glass.

Megyn glanced at one of them as she walked past them. Her face looked back at her, blurred by the dirty glass. Pausing, she gazed at the entire building, once the grandest office complex of the Third Sector. It was only a crumble of half-stacked stones now. The roof had rotted away years ago, opening up the interior to the elements. Decaying beams and worn furniture littered the floor inside.

She only stood there a moment, looking into the ghost of that ruined building. A musing expression tightened her lips as she sighed. Turning her face, she walked down the street. Changing her course at a four-way intersection, she entered a narrower street.

A stiff wind rushed over her, wisping her braided hair and tugging at her sleeves as it swirled around her. Shivering slightly, she straightened her back and headed off the street towards a gray brick, two-story building. In appearance, it was rather nondescript. Most would have walked right by it without a second glance. The sign, hung by a rod perpendicular to the door frame, spelled out in faded black letters, Outopían First Response Medical Squad Headquarters. It rocked gently in the wind as she walked up to the door and reached for the door handle.

The door scraped on the threshold as she opened it and stepped inside. The room she’d entered was arranged like a lobby, plain but clean. A row of black metal chairs stood in rank along the left wall. The wall directly across from her was dotted with an old snapshot of the Headquarters and a few public notice posters, tacked to the faded white brick with rusty nails.

Megyn’s eyes stopped on one of the posters hung at her eye level. The bold, black letters “A Government Warrant for Sparrow Suspects” seemed to leap off the wall and settle as a lump in her throat.

She stepped over to the wall and lifted the corner of the poster. It read, in smaller black type – “Notice to all citizens of Outopía- The Council of Outopía has issued the following warrant for the arrest of any and all persons suspected of association with Sparrow Rebellion . . .”

Her eyes seemed to darken in their hazel as they followed the words down the page,  She pressed her lips together, swallowing a lump in her throat.

“Megyn Harris?”

She half-turned, still holding the corner of the poster. An agent sat at the long desk to her right. His shoulders, straight, toned and usually held upright, slumped over with weariness. His faded blue eyes studied her with a slight warmth of friendliness shining out of their cold shadows.

She let the poster fall from her fingers.“Good morning, Commander Enlow.” She turned and walked up to the desk.

He rose, extending a hand to her. “Good morning,” he replied, a jaded smile twisting his lips.

Her eyes looked into his as she shook his hand, “Are you alright, Commander?”

The smile tried to widen his tight lips, attempting to warm his eyes as he released her hand. But it only faded away completely as he replied, “Up late on a bad case last night. It didn’t end well. The old lady passed away.”

He lowered his hand to the desk. As he studied her face, his lips pressed close in concern. “You’ve got shadows around your eyes. You were out late as well, weren’t you?”

“I was up late, with two cases actually,” She admitted, nodding her head, “Caleb Devroye is sick again.”

Commander Enlow sighed.

Megyn bit her lip. “It’s pneumonia this time.”

His gaze dropped to a deep split in the top of his desk as he sat down at his desk and sighed. “He’s a die-hard, like his brother,” he pointed out, as though more to bolster his own hope than hers. “He’ll pull through.”

Megyn ducked her head, still biting her lip. “I hope so.” she said, barely above a whisper. She stood there a moment, eyes lost out the window behind Commander Conayre Enlow. As they focused on the glass, the faint reflection of a poster on the wall behind her caught their gaze. Straightening her back, she reached for a chair, a wave of determination sweeping over her. “But I need to talk to you about the second case.”

He glanced up at her, his right eyebrow cocking. “What about it?”

She crossed her ankles as she seated herself before him. “First,” she spoke calmly but cautiously, “the nature of the case. I was on my way back from the Devroye house when I noticed the Police arresting a young suspect. Apparently, during the pursuit, they shot him, inflicting a severe flesh wound in the left leg.”

Commander Enlow nodded.

“I went with them to the Tower, “ she continued, “where the Tower Warden granted me permission to treat his wound before his interrogation.”

His eyes locked into hers. “And?”

Her hands clasped in her lap, knotting her fingers together. “He was a Sparrow suspect, Commander.”

Both Commander Enlow’s eyebrow rose. “I see.”

“Please Conayre,” Megyn leaned forward, laying her clasped hands on the desk, “Would you please grant me a permission slip from you, allowing me to continue treating his injury. I’m concerned that, if left untreated in that unhygienic environment-”

Something rasped in his throat. A laugh, low and forced, grated out of him as he held up a hand to her.“You don’t need to go into a speech, Megyn.”

Megyn watched him anxiously, her lips pressed together, as he turned in his chair. He punched a button on the printer hunched on the battered table behind him, then began rummaging through a filing cabinet beside it.

“I’ll have one for you momentarily.” he told her as the printer grumbled to life.

A sigh of relief rushed from her lips. A smile, radiant with relief, brightened her face as her hands unclasped. “Thank you!”

He smiled another burned out smile. “You look like you were granted the world.”

She laughed hesitantly, glancing down at a crack in the top of the desk. “I guess I was just — very nervous asking you for this; especially with the posters going up over the city.”

He nodded as he fed a sheet of paper into the printer. “I was watching you reading the one on the wall.”

He swiveled his chair around and faced her as the printer began creaking. “You and I both know that, as FRMS agents, we serve everyone,” He spoke earnestly, leaning forward and resting an arm on the table. “Sure, there’s a poster here but that’s because we are a government agency. It doesn’t mean we’re going to break our pledge.”

With one last metallic creak, the printer silenced and spit out a sheet of paper. Commander Enlow twisted around and leaned a hand back, slipping the paper free. Turning back around, he laid the sheet down on the desk with one hand as he dragged a tin of pens across the top of his desk towards him with the other.

Megyn’s tense shoulders relaxed as her smile brightened. “Thank you for your understanding.”

Nodding, he selected a pen and signed at the bottom of the sheet, then slid  it to her and held out the pen.

“I’ll keep you informed on the progress of this case.” Megyn promised as she signed the sheet.

Commander Enlow nodded again. Taking the pen back, he dropped it back in the tin. “I hope the young man recovers.” he told her as he pushed the tin aside.

“So do I.” She slid her chair to the side as she rose.

“Good-bye, Megyn.” The commander held out his hand.

She smiled again. “Good-bye, Commander.”

They shook hands. His longer-fingered hand enveloped hers as he gripped it firmly. She squeezed his with an equally firm grasp. They were comrades, fellow members of a thin line of defense in Outopía, As long as the city was here, they would be here, serving its people.

Megyn gave his hand one last shake. Releasing it, she lifted her hand to him in a crisp salute. Turning away, she walked to the door.

“Megyn.”

She looked back over her shoulder at him, one hand on the door handle and the other grasping the permission slip.

“Take care of yourself.” He told her, his voice quiet but earnest. “You’re my youngest agent and-.” He swallowed as something glistened in his eyes. “We’d hate to lose you.”

“I will, Conayre.” she assured him with a quiet smile. Opening the door, She slipped out into the piercing wind.

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The wind blew bits of snow across the road into dirty drifts on the pavement as Megyn turned onto the road leading to the Second Sector gate. She walked quickly, her head tucked down against her chest to keep out the frigid wind. Turning her wrist slightly, she glanced down her watch. Nodding in approval, she walked on.

Minutes later, she arrived at the gate. Turning her back, she stood against the wall next to it. She tilted her head back against stones behind it as she gazed out over the snow-bound, ruined city. Her face shadowed with sorrow as her eyes drifted over roofs, caving in under the weight of the snow. Half-knocked down walls, with mounds of brown-stained snow cast against them. Heaps of rubble and small mountains of snow blocked some streets, rendering them inaccessible.

A cloud of frost blew from her lips as she sighed and closed her eyes. Lord, we need You. She whispered. Give us the strength to carry on.

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So, Naiya, you can write Kedori coming to meet her and we’ll go from there. And, Kayla, if Pasha is still with him, then you can write something too.