Stakeout [Mission]

It was an old force of habit, to check the doorknob. Back home he had always done it before leaving, to make sure no one could break in. He didn't know how he had started it, but he had. The hotel door would automatically lock behind them, so there was no reason to check it, but it was nice anyway. Kind of a comfort tool. He did it at Beata, too.

The restaurant was kind of big, not much bigger than Isaac would have expected though. It was decent, not overly nice. Something for casual lunches or family dinners. Halifax was a big city, so something like this was to be expected somewhere. They took their seats and were given menus. Isaac had never really been a fan of ordering food himself, people always gave him weird looks for his mask. But this was necessary and, with Beata, he hopefully wouldn't need the mask very much longer.

Isaac was absently looking at the menu when Erika tapped the table. It drew his attention much slower than it would someone else's because he had sensed the vibration through the table rather than hearing the gentle noise of her finger against the wood. His ears weren't as strong as he tried to make people believe, so it was harder to hear what she was doing. But he did hear her question. He nodded with a small smile. He was fine with pizza. "Cheese?" He responded, liking this small talk they seemed to have that worked just fine for this situation. He wasn't much of a toppings person, but he wouldn't mind terribly if Erika wanted some.

The restaurant seemed a nice place, the kind of place you would imagine when someone said 'restaurant'. Quiet people, different sized tables dappled with people, those waiters and waitresses in black and white bringing the leather menus, the whole package for quiet night, a shy first date. Or a meal before you went hacking at a store to catch a thief as a secretly sent teenager agent with superpowers.

The menu Erika had opened was neatly arranged, something she had enjoyed greatly due to her sole wish to eat something quick, then get to business. She had scrolled with her huge eyes through the menu, squinting more and more at the different types of fish and meat they showed there, along with pictures that looked less pleasant the how the overall food names sounded. Tasty Fishy Chipsies With Mashed Patatas!!

Pizza had been a close call. At least Isaac seemed to hear her finally through the headphones jammed over his ears. She could figure out why he wore them, but she sincerely wished he didn't have two, judging by the mission they had two. Infiltration wasn't that easy when you looked like you had some forrible sickness reay to sprout out of your nose.

"Sweet sauce." she finished after nodding at the suggestion they took cheese pizza. It was one of those 'light pizzas', meaning you didn't need an iron stomach to finish one alone. And the two teenagers hardly seemed to be able to finish one together, so cheese pizza sounded like the best choice. Plus, it was cheap. The waitress the had brought them the menu now returned, clicking her tails together impatiently over a black iPod Erika assumed she used to send the orders.

"Well take a cheese pizza, some sweet sauce for it, a lemonade... Do you want anything to drink, Isaac?" she asked her companion right before the waitress prepared to leave, a glint of satisfaction at seeing her dumbfounded expression she had put on because she had to wait.

The restaraunt was cute, Isaac made a mental note to go back to it again if he ever returned to Halifax. It was perfect for many occasions, including their own, which made it simpler to get things done and think things over. The food on the menu looked really good and Isaac enjoyed the feeling of the material under his fingers. He had always liked the feeling of leather and fake leather, though he wasn't able to tell the different. The food inside looked good and there were so many decisions but they didn't want to waste too much time.

Leaning on his hand with his elbow resting against the table, Isaac restlessly poked at his headphones. He knew he looked crazy, he had seen the waitress giving him a weird look when she had given them their menus. But he could remove them, he didn't want to scare anyone or make the uncomfortable. Or upset. That was the worst, sometimes he made people sincerely depressed and it was a scary thought. So, once he was finally trained enough in his gift, he would remove the headphones. Hopefully that would be soon. Maybe he could remove the mask soon, too. But not during the mission.

Looking strange might actual be helpful when trying to get the security guards attention to allow Erika into the room with the computers. If he looked strange, then he would be even more suspicious, and thus more likely to draw the security guard away from his post. Despite being taught the ethical value of not judging someone by their appearance, many people - even those of the law - still did it because it narrowed down suspects and creeps. It would be a great help for them as well, otherwise they would have to come up with another plan.

Isaac had no idea what Erika meant when she said sweet sauce, but he assumed it wasn' something they put on the pizza, but just a side. He could try it, but if he didn't want it it wasn't going to cost him his dinner. Soon the waitress came back, giving him another weird look but looking back down at the thing in her hand when she noticed him looking back. He had never been to a restaraunt that used technology to take orders. It was a really smart idea, Isaac wondered why more places didn't use it. Erika began ordering for them and Isaac half spaced out until he heard his name.

"Ah, um, can I have a cream soda?" He had glanced it on the menu earlier. Not many places served cream soda, it was mostly root beers. So he was excited to see it there. The waitress added this to her device, grabbed their menus, and then walked away. He stared absently at the table in front of him, not sure what to do while they waited. Discussing the plan in didn't seem entirely necessary, as they had pretty much figured all of it out by now and they could rebrief right before executing it. The drinks came first, to satisfy the waiting customers. It wasn't very long before the pizza was there as well, and Isaac was surprised.

Warily he removed the mask, letting it hang below his chin. It revealed nothing special, just that he actally had a mouth and it seemed to be perpetually straight, even as he chewed his first slice of pizza. He tried his best to control his gift, he could manage a couple of slices of pizza, but he didn't want to effect Erika, or anyone around them.

Erika squinted at the waitress as she noticed her staring weirdly at her companion. The woman didn't seem to notice,which made the girl even angrier, tho he managed to hold herself back from pointing that out. What was her problem, anyway? Didn't she know there are people that need to wear those because they have something special? Oh, wait, she didn't. Erika shrugged at Isaac after the waitress left with the menus and followed her with her big eyes until she was out of sight.

The drinks came rather quick, which pleased Erika, who didn't really want to have to wait for them much, mostly because she was thirty as hell. She observed skeptically that the lemonade was actually one of those brands that made lemonade, not a home-made thing. She took the bottle and poured some in her glass, frowning at the bubbles floats in her glass through the yellowish liquid. She sipped some at set down her glass, twisting her mouth in a sort of disappointed look and stared at the glass before lifting her eyes to look around more, spotting the waitress coming towards them, carrying their pizza.

Luckily, it wasn't huge. But as Erika stretched her arm to take a slice, she observed Isaac pulling off his mask, which startled her a little. She had never seen him without a mask, and she was relieved he had a mouth, after all. She continued and grabbed a slice, taking it to her mouth and starting to eat it with small bites.

"So, do you like reading?" she asked him, looking up from the point on the table she had been staring at. She sure hoped he did, since she did love book as well, and it would be a lucky shot if he liked them too.

It was okay with Isaac, getting weird looks from strangers. He had always gotten weird looks when he was younger, but having lived in Japan meant he hadn't gotten as many strange looks. It was normal in Japan to wear masks when you were sick, so Isaac had worn the white medical mask under the pretense that he had a disease that was only spread through his breath or saliva. People believed him, didn't ask more, and never spoke to him. Some whispered in the halls that it was contagious if you even so much as spoke to him, but Isaac didn't care. The more they stayed away, the better it was for them. Occasionally he got weird looks, but it was more often from foreign tourists than anyone living in Japan. So he didn't mind the stares the woman was giving him, instead he kept his yellow eyes lowered to the wooden table they were sitting at and his hands fiddled on the tables surface nervously.

Even though he had never worked at a restaurant, Isaac wasn't surprised the drinks had come quickly. All they had to do was fill some cups with ice and then fill them with the drink, add a straw, and then bring it out. Sometimes they even came in bottles, depending on the restaurant. It was an easy job to do, so it was nice when their drinks came quickly. For the most part, while waiting for the pizzas, Isaac absently fiddled with the straw in his cup, spinning it around and around until the ice and the drink had created a whirlpool and then let it go so it spun entirely on its own. He didn't want to remove his mask too early, to avoid effecting anyone around him. When he was young he used to absently bite the straw and drink the beverage until the food came, but he didn't want to risk breathing out a negative smell and making anyone around him upset. Erika was close enough, sitting directly across from him, but there were other people at tables nearby as well, chatting as if there wasn't a complete weirdo sitting close enough to make them relieve their worst memories.

Avoiding eye contact with Erika, Isaac took a bite of his pizza and reveled in the pure warmth and deliciousness enveloping his tongue. What joy! Pizza was so good, Isaac had forgotten how wonderful it tasted. He avoided eating much to refrain from removing his mask too much, so when he did eat it was small simple things. But the melted cheese oozing in a string from his mouth along with the bread and the sauce, the pizza was made in heaven. Only it was made in a small restaraunt in Halifax, Canada and wasn't actually as great as he thought. To anyone els, it was a decent pizza, not special. But Isaac hadn't eaten anything so perfect in a long time, so it amplified the taste. Chewing slowly he allowed the pizza's warmth to reach his stomach before pulling his cup closer and taking a sip of the cream soda.

The bubbles made his eyes water and the sweetness made him sigh a deep sigh through his nose, letting out pleasant smells and happy memories to anyone close enough to smell them. The smell was unique to the memory and the person, and Isaac hadn't even noticed he had involuntarily used his gift. The moment was just making him so happy, he couldn't let it go and he needed to sigh like that. To complete the feeling. Of course, it wasn't going to last long, they still had the mission to finish and he was drawn back to reality when Erika spoke up again. Warily, he flicked his eyes toward hers and they met for a moment before he nervously let them drop. He wanted to be her friend, she was pretty nice, though she had some odd moments. But he didn't want his gift to negatively effect her, that wouldn't be very nice. Taking another bite, he pulled his mask back over his mouth and shrugged.

"Yeah, it's a nice way to pass the time. And I like some of the adventures and characters I read about." Isaac responded, leaving out how much he wished he was one of those characters, in a different adventure, with a different ability, or even no ability at all. Once he had finished speaking he removed his mask again and took another bite, leaning against the table on his elbows, one hand holding his pizza, the other resting awkwardly on the tables edge before him. He didn't know what to do, or if he should say something else. This was a situation he had never found himself in before. On a mission, eating dinner with a girl, talking about himself. Not wearing his mask was the weird part. He was used to it, like a pair of glasses, and not wearing it made him feel the phantom lines where it normally sat on his face. Over the bridge of his nose, across his cheeks. And being able to breath fresh, cool air instead of the hot, reused air in the mask was different. Nice, but different.

Erika eyed the people around them cautiously, avoiding to be stared back, something she disliked the most, since most people always saw her as a weird twelve year-old girl that stared at people in restaurants with that innocent concentration of a child, the sort of one that made you uncomfortable. She was pretty sure the people in the restaurant saw them as a small cute couple on a first date, both uncomfortable and afraid. At least the waitress, since the people weren't really noticing them.

The pizza was actually delicious, to Erika's relief, and every small bite she took was greatly enjoyable by her whole body. She finished her first slice with a pleased look on her small face before she tore another one from the pizza set between the two. She took a careless sip from the glass of carbonated lemonade and blankly watched Isaac's mouth move as he ate his own pizza slice, as if it was a wonder. She quickly tore away from it, realizing how weird that must have been, and she moved her eyes to stare down at the pizza, calculating how much time it would take them to finish it. The result was disappointingly soon.

And then a surge of happiness swirled into Erika's mind, tickling her nerves as it filled her nostrils and then moved to her lungs. It was sweet and pleasant, as if she was eating an ice cream, curled up in her hammock that hung into her room by the window back home, reading a book while her cat snoozed lightly into her lap. It was such a happy memory from back home, she could feel homesickness form in her stomach, put the memory overpowered it by far. When Isaac put him mask back on, the pleasant smell was cut of from Erika, slowly dying away, but she felt like it had been tore away from her. Slight tears formed at the corners of her eyes, but she struggled to hide them as she bowed and took a huge bite from her pizza slice.

"Yeah... I remember back home reading with my cat sleeping in my lap..." she remembered her memory out loud involuntarily, as if her mind still wanted to make it come back, but it refused coldly and let Erika stunned and without much to think about but that. She quickly remembered asking Isaac about his gift on the plane, and the answer being hallucination generation. She began to put the pieces of the puzzle together and a faint blush crept in her cheeks as she realized the happy memory had come from Iss=aac's pleasure to drink the cream soda.

The people everywhere seemed to be enjoying themselves, which was really nice to see. It had been a while since Isaac had sat down with his family and just had a meal. It made him miss his mom and dad, but simply going home for a visit would be a struggle because, even though he had left for Beata, they still lived in Japan. It was so beautiful there, Isaac missed it almost as much as his parents. But he was here, now, on a mission with Erika and they would catch this guy and bring Beata his information and then they could resume normal, or mostly normal, lives. Isaac anticipated being able to return to Beata to practice his gift so he could be in situations like this without getting weird looks. He had grown used to it, and mostly okay with it, but sometimes it still bugged him that people thought he looked weird.

Eating wasn't really a fast thing for Isaac. He had always been told he was a slow eater, but he didn't mind that. He preferred eating slowly, though this situation called for him to pick up speed a bit. So as Erika reached for her second slice, Isaac began digging into the crust of his first. It was really thick and Isaac wanted to enjoy it more but they would have to be going soon if they wanted to get to the store in time. It was very odd thinking they were getting prepped to hack a store while the rest of the people in the restaurant would be going home or to a movie or something extremely normal. It amused Isaac, just a bit, but he was again very nostalgic and missed home. Missed being normal. Not that he had been very normal in the first place.

Being so content and nostalgic, Isaac hadn't realized he had released a scent through his sigh. He had been trying his hardest to hold them in because he didn't want to make Erika relive a bad memory, but since he had been happy when he sighed, she was reliving a happy memory. It was better that way, but it still would have worried Isaac if he had known that was happening. But he didn't and he continued to drink his cream soda and eat his pizza with a content smile on his face. It was so good, he couldn't imagine never having had this for a few years. Japan didn't have very many pizza places and didn't sell much cream soda. They had some Western foods, but not all of them were the good ones, mostly the fast food places. But this was nice, Isaac was happy to get to eat some really good, unhealthy American food.

"Yeah? That sounds nice. I like cats, they're so interesting." Isaac responded, not catching the way her voice reminisced as if it had happened recently. Isaac had never had a cat of his own, so when he heard of other people having cats he sort of wished had had been allowed to have one. Isaac had never really been in a situation where someone knew his gift and was effected by it afterward, so Erika connecting the dots was new to him and meant he had no idea he had used it, since she didn't need to mention out loud what she had seen. She knew what the answer was and didn't really need to tell him, but she could mention if she wanted. Isaac would probably be equally as embarrassed if he knew he had accidentally used his gift.

Erika didn't really pay attention to the restaurant anymore. Her whole head was spinning from the memory Isaac's power had awakened in her. Seeing how his power could get out of hand made her restless, worrying about whether he might affect the guards or other people. He was a danger, from what she could see, but not a danger in the sense that she wanted to run away from him. But he was unstable, from what she could tell, and if his emotions got messed up, he'd make quite a mess out of Halifax's people. Her mind started swarming through escape routes and possible things to do if things got out of hand.

"My parents are going to send Algo here soon. I've sent them a thousand of texts. You could meet him, if you wanted. He's such a sleepy bag." she smiled, thinking about snuggling and giving her cat tummy rubs once again, feeding him and carrying him around like a little baby. She was worried, too, maybe stuff would go wrong, but she couldn't stay away from her kitten, not when all chances showed she might remain at Beata for a long time. She still had two years to learn there, plus she might even get a role as a teacher.

The thoughts Erika thought were ones that crossed Isaac's mind millions of times in a day. How he would hurt someone if his power acted up at the wrong time. How he normally cause negative memories to surface. That was the entire reason he wore the mask and the headphones. So he could keep it under control until he learned to actually keep it under control. The mask trapped his breath and kept the smells inside it so that he was the only one breathing the fumes. Since it was his gift, he was immune to its effects. He took bites of his pizza and pushed the mask back into place to prevent any smells to escape his nose. The food was really good and Isaac was enjoying himself. It was really too bad they were on a mission and this would end soon.

"Really? That would be pretty cool, thanks." Isaac said enthusiatically, finishing another piece of pizza and sipping at the last drops of his drink. They would have to be going soon. The food was starting to become less and less and the night was drawing closer. They would have to get to the store to hack the security system soon.

Erika remembered with a smile her chubby, grey kitten, sleeping all day in her hammock, only coming around the house when he heard food and being careless about anything happening inside. She missed her days home, her huge bookshelf and her hammock where she slept with Algo. She was still getting used to travelling around, being at Beata and all, but maybe having her cat would help.

Erika set down the crispy edge another one of the slices as she finished eating it. She took another long sip from her lemonade and leaned back on her chair as she ripped another sliced, probably her last, since her stomach suggested that one more wouldn't be good.

There wasn't too much about home that made Isaac smiled. His first home had been pretty nice for the most part, but there weren't a lot of memories about it that he could recall very clearly. His second home was where he had been bullied the most so none of the memories there were good ones. And his third home was where everyone had avoided him so all the memories from there were neutral. So Isaac had a hard time remembering happy things. It made him kind of sad that he could bring on happy memories, but since he didn't have many of his own, obviously he didn't bring many on unless he was happy at the moment he used his power.

As Isaac chewed on what he was sure would be his last piece of pizza, the waitress lady showed up again with the bill for their food and drinks. It wasn't a lot since it had been one pizza and two easy to prepare drinks. So they were good. But deciding who would pay.... Isaac looked at the cost of the pizza and thought about how to split it. At ten Canadian dollars it was going to be pretty even. Rummaging through his bag he produced a five dollar bill. "You pay half I pay half?" He asked, making sure it was okay before they paid and were on their way. Which was becoming much more important by the minute. They hadn't been in the restaurant long, but it was starting to get later and Isaac was worried they wouldn't make it in time.

The waitress came and picked her plates, then gave them their bill, leaving with an absurd look towards Erika which she couldn't quite decipher. She peeked over the table at the bill, being somewhat happy that they didn't have much to pay. She plunged her yand in her bag for her wallet, and got out ten Canadian dollars, then she looked at Isaac and blushed, surprised.

"Oh, right..." she said awkwardly, changing for a five Canadian dollars. She wasnlt really used to dine with someone, besides her parents, and then they payed. Now that she dined with Isaac, she had been prepared to pay herself. Well, maybe he wasn't someone to make a girl pay for food, but she wasn't his girlfriend so...

Erika shaked her head, clearing the confusion away and put the bill on the table, getting up and straightening her jacket.

Isaac would have found it weird if only one of them paid. It would have made him feel bad to make Erika pay, but if he paid it would be as if they were on a date, and they weren't. So splitting it made the most sense. Luckily, Erika seemed to agree and they paid their check and stood, ready to leave. Isaac made sure everything was done before heading out of the restaurant. They should be starting the mission so they could get as much night time to stakeout Barry. The store they were going to be getting the footage from was just down the street. So, after they left the restaurant and Isaac made sure Erika was following, he lead the way down the street toward the store they would be hacking. There were actually quite a bit of people at the store, though it was around the time most people had late dinners, so they were probably buying something to eat. It was a small enough amount, however, to make whatever Isaac did to get caught still visible to the watching guard.

"Alright, so, we should find the camera station first or something and then, when you're ready, I'll run off somewhere and distract them and then you can get in, get the stuff, and get out. Sound good?" Isaac suggested, wanting to emphasize the point that Erika get out as quickly as possible to reduce the risk of her being caught. He didn't want either of them to get into trouble for this, but if it had to be one of them, he hoped it would be him.

Well, it was obvious they would share, since all the other two options would make this mission very uncomfortable. So she agreed to split without a word, avoiding any kind of awkward conflict. They both took their leave quickly after, Erika in her leather jackets and hastily going over pictures and notes, murmuring different parts of hacking to herself, so she won't forget. After learning it, it was pretty easy to keep in mind stuff, but that was probably just her super intelligence giving her a hand in life.

"Just don't get yourself in too much trouble. As for me..." she grinned and pulled out a headband with two cat ears on it, and laced it on her head, two ears sticking out over her short, blonde hair. "I pwessed a wong button and it showed me this... I twied to fix it, but it got worse..." she moaned in a childish voice as they neared the store and Erika caught Isaac's hand in hers, glaring at him confidently. Please let him be quiet...

She pulled Isaac after her, looking down at a paper-scribbled map of the possible points of the stolen object. When she sighted the camera, she nodded to Isaac and pulled him away again, this time to a security guard, standing like a statue. [color=#66cc00]"Sir, my boyfriend gladly took me here so I could gather some knowledge over security cameras and surveillance systems. Is this a place where could do so?"[color] she asked him in a less moaning voice than the one she had shown her partner before entering. The guard rubbed the back of his neck and , accepting, a bit surprised about Erika's wish, but accepting, and led her away to the security room. She let go of the boy at smiled awkwardly.

"I'll be fine." Isaac said, watching with confusion as Erika put the cat ears on. What was the point of those? Isaac still wasn't sure what the cat ears were for, but he figured they would be useful for her end of the mission. As they walked she grabbed his hand and Isaac felt himself turning red. But, again, he trusted she knew what she was doing. So they walked closer to the store and, when they got in, found where they needed to check the camera, and then headed toward the possible security point.

Erika seemed pretty good at what she was doing. It was a good thing the guard said yes and Isaac watched as Erika walked off with the man to the security monitors. As soon as she was out of sight Isaac wandered off down the aisles, looking around at the merchandise he pretended to be interested in the stuff the store had to offer. Closing in on something small and somewhat expensive, Isaac reached toward it and looked it over as if he was interested. Purposefully looking as suspicious as possible, he tucked it into his jacket and began to walk away, hoping he had waited long enough to get the attention of the right security guard.