A Momentary Lapse Of Reason

The Woman From Italy

Summary: Natalia suffers the consequences of helping child fugitives, Ellie goes to the opticians and the team investigate strange puddles across town.

Natalia's third eye was shut tight as she ran swiftly towards her apartment. The sun was setting off in the distance and the void sky was beginning to close around the town. She held tightly to the young girl's hand in her own as she ran and questioned every reason she had done this in the first place.

She should have considered more rationally running towards the helicopter as it crashed a block from hers and Ellie's apartment. The biochemist had gone out to Big Rico's with Dave for the evening. She had assured Natalia it wasn't a date when she'd inquired. Just that the two of them hadn't had their mandatory Rico's slice that week so had decided to go together. Still, it nagged at the back of her mind for some reason that she couldn't quite put her finger on. She considered that it could be that she didn't like Dave, but then rebuffed the idea. Dave was nice.

So she had had no-one to stop her running to help when a yellow helicopter fell out of the sky. When she arrived at the scene, people wearing yellow polo shirts with the StrexCorp logo and smiling far too much given their situation were stumbling from the wreckage of the helicopter towards a group of children carrying various weapons. Natalia was 70% sure that one of the young girls was carrying a set of sai swords. But every single one of the children had a slingshot and a makeshift satchel of some kind filled with heavy books.

The leader of the children had what appeared to be a scaled hand around her neck and her black hair was sticking out in many a strange direction. The polo shirt StrexCorp employees had began to draw weapons as they advanced towards the children. As Natalia came closer, the children began to run away with only a few staying behind to fend off the attackers.

"Book club, good work. But we didn't anticipate the enemy to retaliate so quickly. I'm ordering a temporary retreat. We need a place to lay low." The leader whispered to to the others.

"We're too far away from the library." One of the others said.

"What do we do, Tamika?!" Another chipped in.

"Psst." Natalia hissed at them from around the corner. A few jumped and turned around. "This way."

"We don't need help from you adult-"

"There they are! Get them!" One of the Strex employees yelled.

Thus, that was how Natalia had ended up grabbing Tamika's hand, albeit against the 12 year old's will, and rushing towards her apartment with about 20 children running behind her in hot pursuit. Natalia glanced backwards at the Strex workers as the group approached the apartment. She unlocked the door quickly before looking at the scarily still smiling pursuers.

"Use the back door, it leads straight out to the Sand Wastes. Go!"

Tamika nodded to Natalia respectfully and silently before the children filed through the door. Natalia shut the door behind them, locking it again before facing the StrexCorp workers.

"Now, now, miss..." One of the men in the polo shirts said. "It's really not a great idea to help missing children, is it?"

"Leave them alone. They're just kids!" Natalia replied shakily.

"Say, are you a StrexCorp member?" One asked.

"I wouldn't say she is." The other observed. "She doesn't smile! Not smiling doesn't please the Smiling God, now does it?"

Before Natalia could react, they ran forward and grabbed hold of her tightly, with a surprising amount of strength given her size.

"Mmm!" She struggled against them but there was already a hand over her mouth and her wrists firmly restrained.