mugging a doctor

[maddox mendez]

[[ TAG: Janine ]]

With a smile and a polite handshake, Maddox showed the last of his clients out of the door for the day. The sky was beginning to darken outside, as dusk settled. Dr. Mendez kept quite strict working hours. With his own private practice, his working hours were as flexible as he made them, and he was usually out the door at seven o'clock on the dot. He would never work late, as that would cut in on the time he had to spend with Christa. His bright-eyed sister was the one person that the supervillain cared for more than anyone else, and he would gladly forgo working hours if it meant he would be spending time with her at home.

Packing up a few of his belongings into his leather briefcase, Maddox stepped out of his office, locking the heavy oak door behind him. He didn't like having his secretary sneak around in there. Some of the things in there could be traced back to his identity as Dread, and it would be unwise to allow anyone to snoop around without him being present. Maddox walked up to the desk, where his secretary was just finishing up a few things. Maddox was always the one who locked up, and so, he expected his employee to have everything sorted out and be ready to leave by the time he was. He grew dreadfully impatient when they weren't, and when he became impatient and irritated, other people became uneasy and paranoid.

"Ready, Jane?" He asked, as the secretary straightened up, bag in hand, finally ready to leave. Dr. Mendez was starting to look annoyed. Nodding, she gave him a quick parting smile and wave, before exiting the room, her heels clicking audibly as she left. Maddox followed soon after, having locked up the clinic.

When he stepped out onto the sidewalk, the warmth of the summer's night hit him. He frowned slightly. This heat bothered him when he had to wear formal clothing to work everyday. The office had been beautifully air-conditioned, but now he had to endure the heat as he walked to the station. Sighing, Maddox started the trek.

He hadn't even walked past the block before a rather rude young man barged into him, seemingly accidentally. Only when he tried to step away, hands firmly grasped around Maddox's briefcase, did his intentions become clear. Upon realising that his victim had a much stronger grip than he had anticipated, the youth tried a different approach: a blow to the stomach. He was amazed to find his swift punch blocked by the doctor's own palm.

"Just because I have a high-paying job that you could never hope to attain, it does not mean that I am pathetically weak like you, my friend." The psychiatrist was smiling, as he held onto the young man's fist. It had been a while since he'd had a good fistfight, and perhaps pummelling this young upstart would help him alleviate some of the stress of a long day of listening to people's problems.

As the two of them stood there, gridlocked, Maddox wondered if he ought to make things a bit more interesting. Slowly, his suppressive handle on his intimidation powers was lifted, and the air around him became strangely thick, and the atmosphere hostile. Maddox could see the beads of sweat forming on the youth's face. Now this was more like it.

"What appears to be the matter, my friend? A frail, old, doctor such as myself can't possibly be that frightening, could I?" To help him with his answer, Maddox let a bit more of his power slip, focusing it into the young man. "What is it about me that you find so frigh..." His voice trailed off, and he once again put the damper on his powers so that the atmosphere returned to normal. Someone was nearby. Maddox looked around, trying to see who their intruder was, and the youth took advantage of the momentary distraction and the let-up of the fear to break free of Maddox's grasp, and bolted, sprinting away as fast as he could.

[janine federa]

With a satisfying beep, the door to her small office locked itself after she swiped her card key. A rather pleased look on her face, accompanied by a smile on her lips, she walked away from the clouded glass door with her name printed on it in lovely black letters. This was a big improvement from when she had first started working here. Then she'd just been a member of the team, in a communal work space with five other people, designing according to someone elses vision. Now she had her own office, and even her own secretary. Granted, she shared Claire with two other people but she still had her own room to work in, a game of her own to design.

It was a sign of her boss's faith in her, if nothing else.

Smiling to herself, Janine walked on down the hall, smiling and waving at Claire when she passed the woman's desk. "Punching out already, Janine?" The secretary said, without even looking up from her screen. Her expression was far too absorbed for her to be doing work, it was more like the expression one had when they were playing Tetris. "Sure thing Claire, it's seven already. Better switch back to that project Kenny had for you. I think he'll be emerging from the cave soon to feed." Grinning wickedly as Claire seemed to jerk herself out a trance and hastily click a few things on her keyboard, Janine walked on down the hall and down the stairs. Working at such a small game developing firm had its benefits, benefits which Janine had chosen this job specifically for. For one, working ones way to the top was much easier, and secondly getting friendly with coworkers was not as much of a challenge. You had to be friendly with people in this line of work. There was no escaping from them. That, and this job had good hours. Come in and leave whenever you wanted, so long as you got your job done.

At least, thats how it went for the higher ups. Coders, on the other hand, those poor boys were stuck in their little caves until the whistle blew.

Waving to the security guard before she went out the door, the warm air of the night hitting her like a wave, Janine started her trek down the side walk to the station. The weather really was lovely, especially since she wore her white blouse and jeans to work today. Not too hot, not too cold either. Absolutely lovely.

The soles of her shoes made little to no noise as she strolled on down. Unlike many of her female coworkers, Janine had opted out of the whole 'wearing heels' thing. They were tiresome to wear, not to mention they made running much more difficult than it needed to be. Granted, kicks and stomping on peoples feet became especially effective with heels on, but the various and sundry benefits simply were not worth the detriments. Not for Janine, anyway. She needed to be able to stay quick on her feet, else she could get herself killed, something she was all too familiar with. And Janine started to appreciate her shoe choice even more as she turned the corner, catching sight of a well-dressed gentlemen grappling with a not so well-dressed gentlemen.

And just as she rounded the corner the attacker had taken out the well-dressed man and decided to run for it. As if he would escape. Without a word, the young woman leapt into action. Dropping her purse from her shoulder she started charging at the young man, bringing to him a halt thanks to a well placed kick to his groin and a swift punch under his chin. But this young man wasn't going down without a fight, seeing as he tried to take a swing at her with the hand holding the briefcase before he went down. Janine, however, caught the perps wrist and gave it a lovely twist, wrenching his arm behind his back before she shoved the fellow to his knees. She was handling the whole fight like a pro, which was only natural, given that she was supposed to be some sort of super hero. Or at the very least some sort of black ops agent. Sometimes it was hard to tell which was which.

"Now you'd best stay put." She said firmly, keeping the fellows arms behind his back, kicking the briefcase a little further away from the pair of them, just in case, as she turned to look at the fellow farther down the street. "You alright there, sir?"

(( There. Hopefully you don't mind her quick take down. xD;; ))

[maddox mendez]

Almost immediately, Maddox dashed after the thief. He was in much better shape than most men, and forced himself through rigorous training programs to ensure that his body was just effective a weapon as his mind was. If he had been in a hurry, Maddox probably would have let the kid go. There was nothing extremely valuable in the briefcase. Newspapers, an umbrella, a few medical journals. Nothing that would be of worth to the boy. But this was a matter of principle, Maddox enjoyed teaching lessons to young, arrogant upstarts who were under the delusion that they actually held some semblance of power in this world. To get the crap beaten out of you by a man entering his middle ages was highly bruising for the ego.

Someone else intercepted, however, and the doctor slowed to a stop, watching the woman execute a few swift, powerful, albeit somewhat underhanded moves. Chuckling, Maddox stepped forward, picking up the dropped briefcase. Where had this woman learnt to fight? She was clearly good at it; he knew some top level martial artists who would have shown similar skills. In this day and age, it was rare for a person to be a skilled fighter in that sort of honed, masterful style unless they were either a superhero or a supervillain, and fighting another with equally well-developed abilities. Dread was fairly confident he knew the majority of villains in the city, or at least, any who mattered, and this woman was not one of them. So did that make her one of the so-called 'good guys'? Perhaps. It was too early to tell.

"Thank you kindly, miss," he spoke appreciatively to her, inclining his head towards her in a small gesture of gratitude. "I am quite alright, thanks to your timely intervention." He looked at her, studying her face and her features. "That was some impressive skill you displayed there; this poor sod didn't stand a chance." With a rather wicked grin, the psychiatrist glanced at the incapacitated boy, shooting a very focused bout of fear at him, whilst at the same time making the probability of the woman noticing the link between his look and the boy's sudden cry of fear and his jump zero. There was no reason to be careless around this woman. For all he knew, she could have been one of those secretive visionaries...

Maddox laughed to himself. The chance of that being the case was practically zero, even without him having to manipulate the probailities involved. "If you don't mind me asking, where did you learn to be such a fighter? It isn't very commonplace to see a woman who can defend herself so well." He was watching her closely, looking not only for verbal clues but for clues in her body language and expressions. If he asked an unexpected question, or asked about something she didn't want too be known, he would notice it on her face for sure. He made a living out of figuring the inner workings of one's mind, after all.

[janine federa]

As she stood there, the nasty little bugger unable to flee (he was a bit preoccupied with pain at the moment) and the other man approaching, Janine suddenly realized that it might have been a rather bad idea to take out the thief the way she had. Women strolling down streets weren't normally kung fu heroes in disguise after all, unless they were heroes. And Janine wasn't like those Flush folks or the Rogues. Her identity, the fact that she even existed, that was supposed to be a closely kept secret. A secret you were never supposed to expose, not to anyone. And, without further ado, she gave herself a lovely cover story. She was getting better and better at this as the months went by, coming up with more realistic covers every day. Not that she needed anything special for this particular occasion. She just needed to be able to explain why she was capable of taking out a goon with as much outward effort as one displayed while playing Tetris, or bowling.

Now that she thought about it, those were horrible examples. Didn't change the fact that she needed a cover though.

Smiling winsomely at the man as he approached, and keeping a firm hand on the thief in case he got any ideas about revenge, she inclined her head a bit in return. "Not a problem, sir. Glad I could lend a hand." She said pleasantly, his interest in her features not going unnoticed. Just my luck. I get the clever and damnably curious one. Janine thought to herself, her expression all sugar regardless of inner irritation. "Oh no, it was nothing special. Would have been much harder, had he an ounce of training." Smoothing over the situation seemed to be like a good idea at this point. All she had to was smile and try to gloss over it and hope he wouldn't be any the wiser. His wicked little grin didn't alleviate her fears about him being nosy. Glancing at the boy, she raised an eyebrow at the boy when he suddenly cried out. "Hey hey, calm down now. You'll be fine so long as you stay put."

Odd. Wasn't like she'd done anything to him, she was being good. What on earth did he have to be afraid of?

The gentlemen's little laugh seemed a bit out of place as well, although she brushed it off. Fellow was probably having a lovely power trip now that his assailant was out for the count. And just as she predicted, he went and asked her about how she could fight. Shrugging a little and smiling blithely, her expression same as it had been before, she met his eyes without an ounce of hesitation. Lies were often more effective when you met their eyes. "My parents always thought girls should be able to take care of themselves so they got me started on karate when I was eight. And I've just sort of stuck with it. Wonderfully therapeutic you know, lovely for blowing off steam. Who knew it'd actually be applicable outside of the dojo?" She laughed at that, lying with as much ease as a fish had breathing water. It was part of the job after all, and to be a Visionary one had to be a damn good liar.

Which Janine most certainly was.

[maddox mendez]

Her attempt to skate lightly over the subject of her martial arts skill did not go unnoticed by the sharp villain. Now his interest was piqued. If she had simply answered directly, he probably wouldn't have given it a second thought, even if she had been lying, unless she was a poor liar. Her smiles seemed genuine, and Maddox did not pursue the matter further. For now... The doctor rarely left things hanging, but to pursue this line of questioning too doggedly would cast suspicion on himself, and that was something he was unwilling to do. He was, after all, a simple civilian, who had just been saved from an attempted robbery. He couldn't allow his supervillain status to slip through the cracks of his role.

She was surprised when her quarry gave a shout of despair, but Maddox was confident that she would not connect him to it. The odds were in his favour, after all. They always were.

"My parents always thought girls should be able to take care of themselves so they got me started on karate when I was eight. And I've just sort of stuck with it. Wonderfully therapeutic you know, lovely for blowing off steam. Who knew it'd actually be applicable outside of the dojo?"

Maddox nodded, smiling at the woman. He was still mildly suspicious, but if this story was a lie, then it had been perfectly executed. Even with all of his training, there was nothing in the way that she spoke or presented the story that he could use to identify her words as untrue. So was the woman being truthful, or simply a seasoned liar? If the latter was the case, then what reason did she have for being so good at it? People were never born with the gift. It required years of practice and repeated usage to perfect. So what reason did this woman have to lie continuously, then?

Perhaps he was overthinking it. It was an unfortunate habit of his. Nevertheless, he would never change anything about himself.

Maddox continued the conversation, having allowed it to lull for a bit too long now. "Ah, my apologies, I don't believe I have introduced myself yet. My name is Maddox Mendez, I'm a psychiatrist who runs a private practice around the block from here."

It was time for a psychological experiment. How would this woman cope with having to restrain an increasingly agitated young man, and maintaining a conversation with a charming stranger? Maddox's eyes were focused on the woman, but his hand, as it held the briefcase by his side, had its thumb pointed very subtly in the direction of the teenager. The grip looked perfectly natural, and the thumb only happened to be pointing towards the young man, who was beginning to break out in a cold sweat, as the eerie atmosphere returned, affecting only him.

[janine federa]

Hopefully the man knew better than to pry further and would simply assume that she was either a mad prison escapee or perhaps a rogue something or other. Either explanation worked for her powers and both explanations would make most people disinclined to probe for anything further. Although she rather doubted that this fellow was the sort of person who would leap to the prisoner conclusion, which was certainly a disappointment. The rogue assumption hit too close to home she was afraid, and the last thing she needed was some nosy man to start poking around in her business. She'd already risked her position on the Visionaries multiple times what with the whole nearly dying thing, and she didn't want to give the Queen any more reason to give her the boot out the door, thank you very much.

Thankfully though, it seemed her lies were working as well as she'd hoped, given his smiling nod. She smiled winsomely back, as she always did, letting the conversation keel over and die without feeling any the worse for it. If he didn't want to talk she certainly wasn't going to encourage him, especially given his poking nature. If he was content to mind his own business and act like a mute, she was more than happy to oblige. It was a good thing she was such a seasoned liar, or else situations like this would give her more pause. But Janine had been lying to her family for years now. Lying to them about her powers, lying to them about having a boyfriend and being "normal", and lying to them about being perfectly safe.

And if she could fool Donnie, who knew her better than she possibly knew herself, then she could fool anyone else if she set her mind to it.

Twisting her prisoner's hands a little bit, Janine did her very best to keep the convict down when the man, now the good doctor, spoke. "Well it is certainly lovely to meet you, Mr. Mendez, although I wish it were under better circumstances. My name is Janine Federa, I work in the gaming company a few blocks down. You know of it?"

Not that he would. Doctors weren't usually the video game type. They were usually the help people and save lives sorts of people. They were also occasionally rather annoying, especially when they were stitching up a bullet wound or trying to keep your guts where they belonged. They did nothing but scold, that bunch. And nag. Boy did they nag.

And while her mind had drifted into her memories of less than agreeable doctors, her prisoner started to break into a cold sweat. The poor thing was positively terrified, although the whys escaped her. If he got any more freaked he was likely to panic and probably cause harm to her and the doctor. Therefore, her mind made the logical conclusion that it was time for somebody to take a little nap. So without further ado she dealt a swift blow to a specific part of his head, knocking the fellow out. After he crumpled, she turned and smiled pleasantly at the doctor. "Sorry about that. He was getting a mite twitchy, as you saw, and I'm not one to take chances with men desperate enough to steal."

Good enough reason as any, right?

[maddox mendez]

A gaming company? To be honest, Maddox hadn't noticed it before. He had no real reason to, after all. His interests lay in the academic and physical pursuits, and things like video games and computer games simply didn't appeal to him that much. Not to mention, he was way past the age for such things. Now, he knew that video games were not limited by age; he had a patient who was a chronic gamer, to the point where it had become an insatiable obsession and his wife had forced him to seek psychological help for his addiction. That man was well into his thirties. But still, it was not the norm for a person to still be so attached to games when they grew older. Apparently Miss Federa was one of these anomalies.

"I can't say I have, unfortunately. I have never been a big fan of video games, I'm afraid." As her captive began to struggle weakly, and his distress became more and more pronounced, Janine chose to silence him. It was an interesting choice, Maddox felt. The usual response would have been to ask him what the matter was, he would have assumed. However, even more interesting was how precisely and easily she had knocked him out. He knew a fair bit about martial arts, but even then, executing a blow like that was no easy task. It required an intricate knowledge of the human anatomy, and it was something that required plenty of practice. No video gamer, no matter how much she trained in a normal leisurely dojo setting, ought to be able to pull off a technique like that so easily. A fairly broad experience in fights would have been necessary for that. And what reason could she possibly have to get into fights?

The evidence was starting to mount... her earlier story was a lie, Maddox was fairly sure of it. However, he decided not to press it any further. If it was indeed a lie, it was a lie s well practised that she obviously did not want the truth to be uncovered. That meant that his probing would only annoy her, and at some critical point, would most likely turn her against him. Now, he had no doubt that he would be able to handle the game designer easily, he didn't want to reveal his powers or his fighting abilities to what was indubitably a sharp and intuitive woman.

Maddox shrugged, laughing lightly. "I have no objections, to it, Miss Federa. In any case, I would suppose that even if I had, I wouldn't have been able to force you to do otherwise. I am hardly a fighter." She wasn't the only one who could lie.

"I must admit I am rather curious, though. Do you deal a lot with fighting games, or fighting sequences then? Considering it seems to be your area of expertise."

[janine federa]

The doctor's response to her question about Inverted Axis was not altogether surprising. Not many people, adults anyway, were interested in her or her company's work. To them, games were just a childish past time, and any adult who enjoyed them was either a chronic gamer or some twisted individual who could not grow up. Honestly, people over dramatized things sometimes. Gaming was not bad in of itself, it had never hurt her life in any way, and yet people treated it with abhorrence regardless. In Janine's opinion, it should be treated as a hobby, just like playing cards or riding a bike. That, and people needed to just get over themselves and their preset opinions. Those were what irked her most.

"Ah well, I didn't expect you to. Not too many people do once they get out of the teenage years." Keeping things pleasant as always, Janine smiled back at the doctor. Sure, silencing the boy had been an unorthodox and risky choice, but leaving him awake was just as risky. The boys panic was unnatural and seemed far from subsiding. He hadn't just been afraid, he had been borderline terrified. And given how he'd acted before, Janine now concluded that there had to be something supplying the source of his fear. Something.. unnatural. Or at the very least something that would drive him to attack her or the doctor to escape. And taking chances with her own well being, and the well being of a civilian, was not on her agenda. She'd been to the doctor too many times to count, and she didn't want to explain the scars she had to anyone, thank you very much. It would cause too much trouble, give rise to too many questions.

Hopefully the knowledge of her fighting prowess would be enough to keep the doctor silent about just where she learned how to take someone out with that level of skill. Although her brain was already formulating a cover story, should he ask. If he probed enough, she could admit to participating in competitive, underground fighting rings. Doctors didn't usually know anything about those. Or she could just suggest, through her speech and mannerisms, that she was perhaps involved with something less than legal. Portraying herself as a type of.. villain, so to speak, was never all that satisfying, but covering her tracks was more of a concern right now.

"Well, Mister Maddox, I'm glad you agree. And i dunno. People can do pretty amazing things if they're determined enough. For example, I heard a story about a boy in Florida who rescued an old man from his car when he crashed it in an water ditch that had some alligators in it. Adrenaline, I think thats the one, does wonders." The story was true, and Janine did rather like that story. After all, the boy hadn't had superpowers. That was downright inspirational right there.

"I work on fighting sequences sometimes, especially if the designers need help with putting in realistic moves. I don't much like doing those games though. I prefer writing complex plots and making worlds, although I'm at my bosses beck and call in that regard."

[maddox mendez]

"Ah well, I didn't expect you to. Not too many people do once they get out of the teenage years."

Maddox nodded, smiling back at her. All this smiling. It was one of the many delightful mechanics of the social norms of Western culture. You just kept smiling at people. Once you learnt to do so convincingly, whether or not you meant it, you started to go places. Maddox was the best there was. He had lived out his life as one of the country's most wanted villains for years now, and no one had ever figured it out.

"Well, Mister Maddox, I'm glad you agree. And i dunno. People can do pretty amazing things if they're determined enough. For example, I heard a story about a boy in Florida who rescued an old man from his car when he crashed it in an water ditch that had some alligators in it. Adrenaline, I think thats the one, does wonders."

Yes, the human body was an amazing piece of work. "Ah yes, I remember that story. People can accomplish quite amazing feats, moreso these days because of the introduction of those with powers." Maddox knew all about the amazing things that one could accomplish with superhuman abilities.

There was a buzz, and a quick tone that sounded from the doctor's pocket. Maddox held up a finger to Janine, excusing himself as he checked his phone for the message. "Won't b comin home 2nite. dinner at frends place. Sunshine."

Well, thanks for letting me know so early, Maddox sarcastically drawled to himself. He looked over the message again, as the word 'boy' seemed to inconspicuously wedge itself into place in front of the word 'frends'. He frowned. If she was over at some guy's place, he was going to hunt the unfortunate soul down and pick him apart piece by piece. He'd done it before, and he was hardly afraid to do it again. Anyone who tried to get close to his beloved sister never got very far, with her overprotective, highly intimidating, fear-instilling supervillain of a brother guarding her carefully.

Looking up again as he pocketed his phone, he spoke. "Well, Miss Federa, it appears that my plans have changed for the evening. Might I invite my rescuer to a light dinner at a nearby cafe?" His cold eyes glanced down at the unconscious man she was still holding. "After we drop off your prize, of course." Dragging an unconscious teenager into a diner wasn't the most natural of occurrences, and would guarantee them quite a few stares.

[janine federa]

Smiling smiling smiling. It was starting to make her feel a little ill, all this smiling. Lordie, how she hated being incognito sometimes. You had to be perfectly friendly to strangers like normal people supposedly were, even though everyone knew they generally weren't. Or at least enough of them weren't so that it wouldn't be "suspicious". But Janine knew all too well the cranky people were the first to go down when there was mischief afoot. You only had to look at all the witch hunts back in the day to understand that.

That, and lying was fun, on occasion. She got to make up the most wonderful backstories for herself. The one she used most often was her own, with a few modifications as to what had happened to her family. In order to protect them, should anyone figure out her identity, by most people's knowledge they were deceased, wiped out in the plague while she was out at camp. There was one little story she'd made up about a red bicycle that was always a fun one to tell, although she doubted this encounter would provide an occasion for it. "Oh yes. Quite so. Though I'm not sure about all this superhero stuff." She crinkled her nose a bit. "Seems like cheating, I think. Then there's the-.." she trailed off when the buzz and tone sounded from his pocket, her eyes immediately zeroing in on the source. Bombs were funny things these days, and all. Not that it was a bomb, necessarily, but there was always the possibility.

And Janine'd had enough of close death experiences, thank you very much.

Although all the fellow did was take the phone out and check his phone, and Janine was sharp enough to notice his frown. So the good doctor wasn't Sir Smiles-Alot after all. Wonderful, someone who had a spectrum of emotion instead of just one shade. That was always nice. She smiled pleasantly as he casually invited her to dinner, watching his oddly cold gaze switch to her prisoner. So, he wasn't afraid of the baggage. Interesting. Part of her wondered whether she'd really needed to intervene at all, if this man didn't seem afraid. There was always something more to people than met the eye.

"I would be delighted to join you, Mister Maddox." She glanced down at the unconscious fellow, eyeing him speculatively for a moment. "Mm. Naturally. Though that does mean an interview with the fuzz, you know. Where do we suggest we bring the poor fellow? Or should I ring them and have them pick him up?"

[maddox mendez]

Ah, yes. The police. Those incompetent fools who thought they could actually stand up to the might of the Kings. Foolish thinking, really. Dread alone was more than they could handle. He'd proved that numerous times. Anyone without some sort of psychic protection placed on them could not last long against him, and even if they could resist his fear-based powers, he was a skilled fighter, and with luck on his side at all times, they didn't stand a chance in that arena either.

It was the perfect combination.

And, as usual, the police would simply be a nuisance; not to his villainous deeds, but to the dinner he was about to have. "Ah, those policemen would probably want a lengthy explanation for this fellow's condition, which I am not particularly in the mood to give." He took out a ribbon from his pocket. He couldn't remember why it was there, or what it had been intended for, but this was as good a time as any to use it.

"Shall we giftwrap him then?" Maddox knelt down for a moment, deftly tying a large bow on top of the teen's head, before stepping back to admire his handiwork. "I think they will appreciate the thought." Gesturing to Janine, he waited for her to make the call. He was a very meticulous and careful man; calls from his phone could be traced if they had reason to suspect him for anything. It was better to keep his name as far off the radar as possible, for Sunshine's sake.

"Shall I take him off your hands for a moment?" he asked, putting down his briefcase and offering to take her present. It was amazing that no one had walked past the pair of them yet. The sight of a woman and a man and an unconscious teenager was not in anyway a positive thing. Most people would assume it to be the worst case scenario. How lucky they were, even without Maddox's gentle push. Still, luck, when allowed to run its own course, never turned out well. Maddox concentrated for a moment, turning down the probability dials until there was no longer any chance that a random passerby would see them with their unconscious boy. No awkward questions were needed.