Pathline (20 page)

There was some small commentary between the field reporter and the anchors then the camera went back to the
studio
.  The moving ribbon that ran along the bottom of the
screens read: Wanderer Riots. 

"Of course
this
was just one example
of the
riots and protests that have sparked up around the country. 
T
he national climate certainly is uneasy, with people of all walks of life
calling
for registry reform from the NSDA.  Things certainly haven't been this volatile since the government first announced the existence of
W
anderers
sixteen
years ago." 

The
co-
anchor nodded.
"
A
nd let's hope things don't escalate to that level again.  But the fact is that the government never really dealt with the issues that
W
anderers present.  They promised us control over the situation but got so caught up with their own
agendas
that they overlooked the threats th
at these peoples existence pose
.  They glossed over all the major concerns by painting a pretty picture of international security, but it's domestic security we should be most concerned with now.  To speak further on the topic we have our capital correspondent with us today
.
" 

A conservative looking
middle-aged
man joined the anchor
s
.  "
T
hank you for having me.  Let's get right to the point shall we.  Public security, public safety, these are the issues at the center of all this.  Can the agency promise us that with
W
anderers roaming free and unchecked? 
T
hey need to be registered, all of them, as early as we can catch them, and the registry needs to be publicly accessible, like sex offender lists." 

"There are some
people
defending the agencies stand, saying we are too harshly judging these people, what do you say to them?" 

"The agency has never fully defined the
W
anderer ability, for all we know these people can come into our homes, our businesses, at will. 
T
hey can spy on us, putting our security and personal information at risk. 
T
hey say it's unfair to classify these people alongside killers and rapists? 
W
ell
w
hat's
to say there aren't any W
anderers amongst the killers and rapists?  How
are we supposed to
keep
our
families
safe from that?  No, we need to know who these people are,
and
we need to have them monitored constantly." 

"
T
his of course was first triggered by the public outing and subsequent uproar of the r
elationship between top agency Defender and Appreciation D
ay
award
recipient Malik and the
W
anderer Rune. 
T
he agency has of course up to now refused to comment on the pair and initiated a 'silence' policy keeping any agency employee from commenting publicly.  What are your thoughts on that?" 

"W
ell first of all I want to say that I've always been a very vocal supporter of Malik, you all know that
.
"

The others chuckled.

"
B
ut I'll admit that this is a rather dangerous turn of events.  Malik is a national hero and he has many followers out there.  It all comes down to his potential sway over the population.  Would he use his popularity to defend
W
anderers? 
S
hould his supporters pull their support?  He has already lost a couple of his endorsement deals due to this. 
For all we know this relationship is already over, we are all fallible and up to now Malik has managed to maintain a spotless reputation
.
I believe he can come back from this if he's careful with how he handles
it
all.  Of course it would help if
the agency wasn't hiding him from us, but considering he's not the only top level
D
efender curre
ntly missing it does make you wo
nder what may be happening with the agency ranks internally.  It makes one suspect that Malik's in-house rivals may be behind this veil of silence
;
the agency attempts to protect its poster boy by stopping his competition from speaking out against him." 

The anchors nodded.
"
W
ell unfortunately we're out of time, please tune in later tonight for the post-game recap and further discussion on this hot button issue." 

The screens went dark for a second then the feed from the game started, several people at the bar cheered.  Rune and Blythe sat in stunned silence, starring at the screens.
 
They turned to look at each other. 

"Holy crap" Blythe mumbled under his breath. 

The wa
itress came by to check on them.
"
E
verything okay here?"  She glanced between the two of them noting their somber expressions. 

Blythe smiled at her.
"
S
orry
,
you caught us in the middle of an argument, she doesn't like it when I bet on the games" he said, as a means of explanation. 

Rune gave a strained smile. 

The waitress
gave her a sympathetic smile
in return
.
"
M
ost of the guys in here are betting on the game.  I guess there are just some vices we have to learn to accept in our men.  How about I get you two another round?" 

Blythe nodded.
"
Y
es, thank you, that would be great." 

"W
ould you like to order any food to go with your drinks?" 

"Yes, can you bring us some wings?" Rune added. 

"S
ure, I'll go put your food order in and grab those drinks for you." 

R
une watched her walk away then turned to glance at the game. 

"As if I would want to spend my free time spyi
ng on his fat correspondent ass"
Blythe said in a low tone. 

She turned
back to look at
him.
"I don't know what to say, I'm so sorry about all this
.
" 

He looked up at her.
"
T
hey may have used you as the trigger, but this isn't your fault, those idiots have been looking
for an excuse to bring up the W
anderer shit again for years, you just happened to be a conveniently public target at the moment. 
T
hough this explains why the
TV's
in the agency apartment
s
have only been playing re-runs lately, I'm guessing they didn't want the unit knowing about all
this
until
the op was over." 

Rune frowne
d.
"I hadn't tried the
TV’s;
I didn't know they were running re-runs." 

T
he waitr
ess came back with their drinks.
"
F
ood should be out soon
.
"

T
hey drank in silence, half-watching the game
,
and restarted small talk when their food came out. 
T
hey couldn't leave until the game was over, since that was supposedly the reason they were there.  After the game was
finished
they paid their check and walked out.  They set up a rendezvous time for the next morning and parted ways.  Time for night recon. 

Rune made her way back towards the dive hangout she'd found earlier, letting down her hair and tousling it with her hands as she went.  As she approached the entrance she unzipped her jacket and undid a button on her blouse.  She knew that if
she
was
walking in somewhere that was impossible to slip in unnoticed, then
she
had to control the type of attention
she
got.  In this case she wanted them to see her as just another girl passing by looking for a good time.  The man at the door checked her out but didn't ask any questions.  She stepped in and looked around.  The place was bustling, there was a stereo sitting on the countertop now and a couple of patrons appeared to be arguing about the music.  There
were
two coolers set up behind the counters and a man was handing out beers from them for a price.  Another was pouring harder drinks into plastic cups. 
Most people were standi
ng around
talking;
a few had up-
turned boxes they were using as chairs. 

A man smelling strongly of alcohol and sawdust came up to her. "You ain't from around here are you?  I would
have noticed you before now." 

Rune turned to him.
"
J
ust passing through, wanted to stop and relax for the night
.
S
aw
folks
making their way here off
Main Street,
figured it was worth a look." 

The man gri
nned.
"
R
ight you are, we are experts at relaxing here
.
"
H
e turned
and looked towards the coolers.
"
W
hy don't I get us a couple of beers?" 

Right then a woman came up from behind him with a cup in her hand
.
"
Too late Jasper.  H
ere miss, this is courtesy of that gentleman over at the corner
.
"
S
he gestured to the far right corner of the open area. 

Rune glanced around as she took the drink...
and smiled.  She turned momentarily back to the man next to her
.
"
S
orry, I really should go give him my thanks for the drink
.
"
T
hen she walked away leaving him looking put-out. 
She made her way across the room to where he was standing, slightly apart from everyone else. 

"Cheers"
she said, lifting her cup
as she came up to him. 

He smiled in return.
"
C
heers" he said, meeting his
cup
up with hers for a moment before drinking. 

"
T
hanks for that"
R
une said, nodding towards the drunk who'd hit on her. 

W
raith chuckled.
"
I
t's good to see you again girl, it's been too long." 

Rune smiled.
"
G
ood to see you too. 
R
ook didn't tell me you were scouting the area
as well
.
" 

W
raith raised an eyebrow.
"
Y
ou know how he can
be;
he probably didn't think we'd cross paths.  I've been working trying to get a line on Mana for the last few days, and I've been hearing all sorts of rumors connected to this. 
Th
ere's an uncomfortable rumbling going on behind the scenes that I don't like." 

S
he nodded.
"
N
ot to mention the uncomfortable rumbling going on in center stage
.
" 

"
Y
eah, interesting coincidence don't you think? 
T
he agency has its first APS op to deal with at the same time that the public is turning against the most anomalous of the mainstream classes."  He surveyed her as he
took another drink from his cup.
"
H
ow are you dealing with all this baby girl?  You've always hated being
the center of attention, I still remember how you used to hide out on your birthday so no one would sing to you, and that was good attention." 

S
he sighed and shrugged.  "I don't know, I've been trying to focus on the job, but it's getting to me anyway." 

H
e grinned.
"
Y
ou're not
invulnerable;
of course it's going to get to you. 
W
hich brings me to one of the most potentially dangerous rumors I've heard about
M
ana's current job.  Word has it he's got a
S
hielder backing up his play."