Sonja considered her master for a moment then lightly nodded her head. She lightly gestured toward a couple of men near the entrance to the building. “Those two men there.”

“Men?” he asked. Scott looked toward where she gestured, and he acknowledged what she had said. “I see them. What about them?”

“Can you tell me their names?” she asked.

Scott looked at her curiously for a moment then turned his gaze back towards the men idling near the entrance. Apparently, the alert status of the bridge and the deployment of their quick reaction forces did not phase them.

Slightly too far away to hear them clearly as they spoke, Scott was forced to rely on his ability to peer into their minds. They were not particularly vigilant, so he fished out the information quickly.

“The guy on the left is named Nigel. The one on the right is Manolito,” said Scott.

Sonja nodded to him then cracked her knuckles. Scott saw that she was ready, so he did his part. He shifted into shadow form then slithered through the shadows of the buildings in a way that make it difficult to be spotted even in broad daylight.

He slipped up to the outer fence and stopped in a place where he could not be seen from the hospital entrance but could be seen by Sonja. He shifted into human form and nodded to her then quickly shifted back into the shadow. All the while a conversation took place overhead.

“Manolito?” asked Nigel.

“Yeah?” asked Manolito. “What?”

Nigel waved his hand around a little. “I can’t stand it anymore. Where are you from with a name like that?”

Manolito blinked at him. “I’m American…”

“Yeah. Yeah. I know, it’s a continent and not just a country…” said Nigel. “But where are you from?”

His partner sighed in a long-suffering way. “I was born in this hospital.”

“Oh? Right on. Right on…” said Nigel.

“So…. Where’s—” began Nigel only for Manolito to cut him off. “They’re from here too… and my grandparents….”

“Right on….” said Nigel.

They were quiet for a moment, but it was inevitable that Nigel could not let it go. “So, Manolito… what kind of name is that?”

Manolito grunted a little then rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Puerto Rican.”

“Oh! Oh…” said Nigel. “So, was it hard to get a passport or…”

“Every day…” muttered Manolito. “Do you really have to do this every freaking day?”

“Did you have to give me a box of tissues because there was no more mayonnaise?” asked Nigel. “Don’t cry Nigel! It’s not the end of the world.”

“Jackass,” muttered Manolito. “You know you love mayonnaise.”

Nigel snorted at him. “I do love mayonnaise. You had no right to make fun of it, and it is the end of the world.”

Manolito started to say something, but a loud feminine outcry split the air. “Nigel! You son of a bitch! Is this where you were hiding?”

Both men instantly turned toward the newcomer who had seemingly appeared out of thin arm. A real live goddess dressed in what could only be described as a battle bikini with an apron over the front had called out to them.

Shocked by the jiggling juggernaut of maidenhood as she strode confidently toward Nigel, they took far too long to collect themselves. It was Nigel who spoke up first, however. “Listen lady. The hospital is off limits. The town is under martial law. You should go back to the shelter.”

“Don’t you try that with me, you bastard!” snarled Sonja. “Who is she?”

“Uh. Nigel, this your girl?” asked Manolito. He eyed Sonja for a moment. There was no way Nigel could score something like that!

“Never met her before in my life!” cried Nigel in shock.

“Are you mad?” she asked him, her eyes wide. “You’re still trying to deny me in public?”

She shouted, “You think you’ll get off easy if you pretend you don’t know me, but I won’t let you run off on our child!”

“Oh, wow!” cried out Manolito.

“What the fuck are you on, you crazy bitch!” snapped Nigel. His face had begun to take on a shade of color reminiscent of a tomato. “I don’t even know you!”

A burst of static came over the walkie-talkie on Manolito’s hip. He answered only to get an earful from his sergeant.

“Yes, sergeant! It’s just some baby mama drama with Nigel’s girl,” said Manolito.

“You tiny dicked bastard!” snarled Sonja. “I can’t believe I let something like you be inside of me!”

“Hey! Cut that shit out!” snapped Nigel defensively. “We can talk this over!”

Sonja threw her hands in the air and started to shout some more. She noticed a sign nearby that was part of a roadblock. She started to walk toward it.

“Hey! Whoa! No crossing the barricade!” called out Nigel.

Soon several more men left the hospital. Drawn by the shouting they needed to see what was going on.

She put her hand on the barricade. “You care more about this stupid fence than our child!”

“That doesn’t even make sense!” cried Nigel.

“Nigel has a kid? I thought he was gay?” asked one of the men who had just arrived.

“Hey, wait,” said Nigel, the light of self-realization dawning in his eyes. “That’s right!”

“I can’t be the father of your child! I don’t even like women like that!” announced Nigel. There was palpable relief in his tone. It was as though he were truly concerned that he might be a dead-beat dad.

“Seriously. Only dude in the whole damned outfit who wears an Ascot, and he’s supposed to have a kid?” asked one of the men. “Bitch, please.”

A militia member raised his rifle and pointed it toward her. “Don’t touch that barricade, put your hands over your head, and step over here slowly.”

Sonja blinked at them then shrugged. She casually put her hand to the barricade then offered them a saucy wink. She leapt over the ten-foot-tall barricade like it was nothing, and then cried out. “I go where I wish! None will stop me!”

“Don’t move! Don’t touch anything!” shouted one of the men.

“I shall touch all of the things that I find in this place,” she announced imperiously.

“Get her!” exclaimed Nigel. The militia ran off in hot pursuit of Sonja, only Manolito was left to guard the door.

Scott would have grinned, had his shadow the ability to actually emote. Instead, he took her welcome distraction and slipped through the walls of the hospital. While he could have done that without Sonja distracting the guards it was best to keep them away from the area if possible. He could become a shadow, and basically be immune to pretty much anything they might throw at him, but he did not know the condition that Ashton would be in when he found her. Fewer guards would hopefully make for an easier escape.