Chapter 1, Part Aii

"Van Hollen," Isabele began as she sank into the passenger seat of their cruiser, "What's with the tights?" she finished, another gnarled deathstick between her lips waggling crazily as she spoke. With a groan she leaned out from the corner, where the seat back and the door met, and pushed the cigarette lighter in.

"Isabele, they're not tights. They're leggings," Felicity corrected as she eased through the police barricade. She lowered her window half way, "Thank you," she piped, with a bright smile at the handsome patrol officer, who tugged the bill of his smart police hat in response. "Tights are thinner: nylon or cotton, a little Lycra; and they have feet. Leggings are 'close fitting trousers' without feet. 'Never sacrifice comfort for fashion's sake' my mentor always told me. And it was freezing out there. And besides, socks with tights would just be awful. And wear my good boots in that nasty alley? I don't think so."

The cigarette lighter clicked and Felicity looked over at her partner as she made a right hand turn. Isabele leaned crumpled in the corner, breathing heavily, unlit cigarette in her lap.

"Isabele Smith: chain-smoking, chronic ecophobic insomniac," she murmured under her breath as she plucked the cigarette off of Isabele's lap and flicked it out the cracked window. "Not on my watch," she continued in a matter-of-fact whisper, as she made another right turn and applied the brake, the car stopping at a metal barricade. The same kind that you see on the freeway.

"I thought as much," Felicity said out loud as she opened her door and stepped out. She slammed it shut. Hard. Smiling mischievously as Isabele Smith started awake.

She walked, hands in her pockets to the front of the car, just short of the barricade, shook her head as the breeze blew across her hair, pulling at the wispies that dared to flaunt themselves, staring out across the panorama before her.

"Oh, for cryin'" Isabele mumbled as she staggered next to Felicity, crumpling the empty package that used to hold what her monster so desperately wanted. "Could this morning get any worse?"
And then she looked up.

"Oh, You Have Got to Be Kidding ME!" Isabele Smith shouted, fists clenched.

It was a crater. A mile in diameter, six hundred feet deep at it center, and that was to the surface of the twenty acre lake that pooled there. Scraggly tree covered tussocks, and rolling brown hills, that shone like dirty emeralds in the spring, surrounded the glorified pond; neglected red stone paths crisscrossed in and out of the landscape. Across the crater, a lone jogger, a blue bipedal speck, was working his way up and out and away.

"Boss. It's Crater Park," Felicity turned to view her partner talking into a cellphone that was larger than her hand, it had to be at least ten years old, as the patrol officers came up to join them. "And there is a jogger leaving to the Northwest. Looks blue from here. Mm-hm.
"Can you have a Uniform climb up on the wall and wave?" She started toward the barricade and then past, down onto the washed-out dirt trail that had been forced into existence by eager children and adventurous adults trying to "save a little time." "Yah. I see 'im. Thanks.
"Is Harper buying breakfast? Well past, huh.
"We're on our way." She pressed the phone off and stuffed it back inside her coat.
"Are you coming, Van Hollen? Or should I send you an invitation?"

"I'm coming. Yes," and to make good on her word she started awkwardly in Isabele's wake.

"Here, let me help you," one the patrol officer's offered his arm.

"Oh, thank you," she smiled with every tooth, as she placed her hand on top of his wrist.

"Oh, brother," Isabele mumbled, too low for her companions to hear.

It was a quiet, fairly short, if not uneven walk around the perimeter of Crater Park, along the narrow, rebel foot trails to the alley wall. There weren't any winter birds, no errant rabbits scurrying for their lives, no rustle of life anywhere. Just the crunch crunch of Felicity's ankle boots in the light gravel, and the tuneless humming of the rearguard patrol officer to keep them company.

They came to the wall, and the officer still sitting on one end of it, feet dangling over on the park side, heels thumping the brick absentmindedly.

"Comfortable, Joe?" Isabele asked as she stopped about fifteen feet from the end of the wall.

"No," he replied, pursing his lips, and shaking his head slightly.

"Backsides' frozen solid. I think I'll be stuck here till spring.
"Took you long enough."

Isabele snapped her head backwards, towards Felicity and her "attendant" and winked. "Didn't want the young one to be embarrassed so I took it easy getting over here. She doesn't have her hiking boots on."

"Oh, be nice," Felicity said, mock scolding the two as she pulled out a small digital camera and began snapping images of the immediate area.

"Tell me what you see, Joe," Isabele instructed the officer who was now standing on the wall as she began to dig in her pockets. She pulled out the small plastic wrapped package that she had just crumpled up and frowned.

{[(I think you guys are starting to get the hang of it, so I won't prompt you with many questions. We are at a decision making point: look at what you know and post away. There were some posts about a time limit for recieving ideas. So far, for me, because of my schedual, that hasn't been a problem. My biggest problem is not being able to post as frequently as I would like. If I had it my way, I would be turning this around once a week, maybe every ten days, NOT once every two weeks or more. Keep it up! Hang in there! Don't get bored on me! Note the updated element on the right (at the bottom of the guidelines)!)]}