I looked around the crowded bus, disgusted. Why couldn't Armando have sent more than two planed tickets to New York? Now instead of enjoying luxury I had to make do with 23$ bus seats.The sound of people talking noisily on their phones, having loud conversations, and babies crying all assaulted my ears. You would assume they were having a contest to see which sound was the most obnoxious with how they kept raising their volume.

I sighed and looked down at my side. Dantae hugged me with a smile on her face, a far cry from her disheveled look after last night’s activities. It had drained us both, so the thought of exerting myself even more to take us through a black hole was not appealing in the least, so it was kind of nice to take it slow once in a while. It would be a nice feeling, if not for the fact that she was crushing my ribs with her brutish strength.

Seriously, I would never understand how such a strong woman like her desires to be dominated. Oh well, they say life is full of mysteries. She was wearing a grey turtleneck to hide the lashings from last night, and gloves to hide the markings from her cuffs.

I looked out the window of the Greyhound bus we had boarded and stared at the hills and rest stops that littered the highway like the garbage it was. I could never get used to the countryside lifestyle.

Too clean, too quiet. Not enough Basically Burger restaurants and not enough technological reach. Not to mention just having the same social interactions every single day because there are only that many people. Seriously, I couldn’t understand how people could live in that small of a community and not go insane from boredom.

Oh well. Not like complaining about it is going to make those feelings go away or anything. I turned back to find Dantae sleeping, then looked over to Alison and Angelina, who were also sleeping.

Like Dantae, Alison was wearing a sweater to hide her marks, and wore similar wool gloves. I couldn’t blame them for being tired, we had got on the bus at four in the morning after only an hour of rest between the end of our session and leaving for the station.

Maybe they had the right idea. I leaned my head on Dantae’s and closed my eyes. I’m sure a few hours of sleep couldn't hurt.

———

“Last stop, Central Station.”

“Come on Leo, get up. We’re here.” I heard two voices overlap, and opened my eyes to see Dantae’s smiling face looking down on me.

“Where are the others?” I looked around but only saw an empty bus, as if the noise from before I had gone to sleep had only been an illusion.

“They’re getting some gourmet pretzels, we didn’t even eat breakfast before we left Boston after all.” I face palmed and got up out of the seat.

“Cut them some slack.” Dantae came to my side and kissed my cheek. “Besides, now we have some time to ourselves before the mission starts.”

“All right. Let’s go find them then.” We walked off the bus with our fingers intertwined and the bus driver gave us a dirty look as we left the vehicle. Sucks for him. He’ll never have a sword-transforming girlfriend that will love him everyday.

I smirked and stretched as the bus pulled away, leaving only the two of us on the platform. We headed inside the station and walked for a bit before Dantae started talking.

“So where are we going?I know you sent Maria and Rob away on Christmas for this, but you never said where in New York we’d be operating… or even what we’re really here for.”

I looked at her and sighed. “I thought you were paying attention during our meeting with General Armando, but I guess I was wrong. We’ve been assigned to locate and detain Lena Flores. She was one of the original test subjects for the Walker Gene after we left, until an accident caused her to leave the base and return to New York.”

“What was the accident?” Dantae had a curious look on her face, but unfortunately I couldn’t answer.

“I don’t know. Her soldier file had redacted text and Armando wouldn’t tell me what had happened. Anyway, her guards were found dead in the Hudson at the beginning of December, and since then there hadn’t been any contact with her foster family or friends. Until yesterday, that is.”

Her eyes widened but she remained quiet, waiting for me to continue. “Yesterday night, Rob and Maria did as I asked and came to New York, but that wasn’t their only objective. They also planted bugs in several of the houses she had frequented during the time that the government placed surveillance on her.”

We weaved in between a sea of people, heading for the Auntie Annabeth’s pretzel cart off in the distance. “One of the places we bugged was her friend Jessica’s house. Judging from her conversation, Lena has been planning to start the next semester at Jessica’s college as a sophomore. So, we’ll be staying until the semester starts and we can track down Lena’s hiding place from there.”

We stopped to take an escalator, so I turned to face Dantae and found her frowning. “How do we do that without being suspicious though? Campus security details have gone above and beyond what they used to be. Also, not to sound rude but you do attract the wrong kind of attention.”

“You sounded very rude.” I frowned and pinched her butt, which elicited a small squeak. “We will be enrolling as students with the help of Armando’s influence. Apparently Empire State Community College was his alma mater, and he holds quite a lofty position due to his donations.

“Ok, sounds good. What else are we doing in the meantime?” I glanced at her then at the spectacle in front of me. Angelina and Alison each had two large pretzels in their hands, and they were eating as if they had been starved for a month.

“Enjoy what New York has to offer… I guess.” I smiled at my fiance and led her by the hand to the traditional New York staple, fast, greasy and delicious food.