Experimentation

Prolouge

         "Whaddya mean you 'don't know'?!" Casey shouted into the phone.

"Casey, relax I-" the man on the other end started, but was quickly shut down by the green eyed red head.

"No! No, Jason, I won't relax! You said you would know where he was by now!" Casey gripped the steering wheel of her onyx ford focus tightly under her palms as she tried to regain her composure.

"I know what I said Casey, but you have to calm down or you know what'll happen!" Jason replied through his speaker. Casey beeped her horn a few times, her patience for the heavy New York traffic dwindling.

Casey inhaled deeply, focusing on controlling the subtle shifting of her muscles which were rippling beneath her skin. She didn't need the distraction of morphing now! Once she had calmed, her heart slowing to its normal rate, she replied. "Yeah, alright. I'm good." the redhead mumbled softly over the phone, having brought her boiling rage down to a simmer. There was a moment of silence before her companion replied.

"Good, now don't interrupt me, woman!" he ordered with a slight chuckle, bringing the tiniest of smiles to the 18-year-old's lips."I am working on finding him, Cas. I promise you that. You understand that I am trying my best right? I even have two of my old friends from the FEDs on the case!" Casey's smile widened, but it didn't last very long.

"But you haven't found anything? Any traces of his whereabouts? Any leads?" The girl heard her friend sigh over the phone, and he was very quiet when he replied.

"No, Casey, I haven't got any traces on your brother, or the association who took him. I really am sorry, you know." When Casey didn't reply, Jason spoke up again. "I'll keep you posted, little lady, but I gotta go. I'll talk to ya soon."

And just like that, Jason hung up. Casey listened to the dull beeping of the phone for a moment, before she shut her own phone off and placed it in the cup holder. SHe beeped her horn a few times again, weakly, and fought back tears. The man in the car in front of her rolled down his window and stuck his head out, turning and glaring back at her.

"Shut up, lady! Geez!" he shouted as he flipped her the bird.

"Maybe I will if you realize you can move up 30 feet!" Casey shouted out of her window back at him. The man looked ahead of his car, only to see that there was, infact, space for him to move.The man glared daggers at her one last time, before pulling up to his max limit in the ridiculous bumper-to-bumper traffic."Maybe if you stopped playing candy crush for ten minutes, I wouldn't have to honk in the first place." She mumbled under her breath, glad for the distraction because now the threat of tears was gone.

Casey glanced at the clock, and upon seeing the time, she dropped her head onto the edge of her steering wheel rather harshly. "Dang it..." she sighed "Joe is gonna kill me..." She muttered. It was 8:45, and her shift at the Starbucks on town square started at 7:30. Casey could now only hope that the older man was in a good mood today, or didn't notice her absence.

By the time Casey got to the Starbucks near the Empire State Building, it was 9:11 THe girl put on her green apron and name tag, as well as her little starbucks hat, hoping she could slip by and clock in unnoticed.

However, apparently she did something to anger the gods of sneaking-past-bosses because as soon as she went to take a lady's order, her co-worker, Nathan, approached her with a smirk.

"I'll handle this, sweet stuff." He flirted, "The boss needs ya in the back." He winked at her and Casey rolled her eyes. The lady tapped her foot impatiently and crossed her arms.

"Hey, can I order please. I am late already!"

Nathan glared at the customer briefly. "Yeah, alright lady I get it. Casey here was late too, so relax while she leaves." Casey sighed and ran a hand through her hair, walking off with a curt nod, letting out an undignified yelp when Nathan delivered a firm smack to Casey's rear upon her departure.

Clenching her fists, and restraining herself from beating her fellow worker to a bloody pulp, Casey walked hurriedly to her Boss's office in the back of the store. She didn't want to keep the man waiting, after all she was already in trouble for her tardiness during morning rush hour...

When she arrived at Joe's office, she was greeted by a stern look and a flat tone. "Have a seat Ms. Willows." he announced upon her arrival. Crap... She thought. Joe Nelson was usually on a first-name-basis with everyone, unless they were in real deep trouble. The redhead cringed and nodded, placed herself in a chair in front of his desk.

"Yessir..." Casey spoke respectfully, needing this job almost as much as she needed air. If she lost it, she couldn't pay rent, pay her electricity and water bills, buy food, or anything else to cover her basic partially-human needs.

"Ms. Willows, do you want to explain to me the reason why you were late today?" Joe asked with a grim expression on his face. Casey inhaled and folded her hands in her lap, not meeting Joe's eye. He wasn't only her boss; the two had history together.

"I was on a call with Jason, sir. I lost track of time, and got stuck in morning rush traffic." Casey didn't need that last bit though, because as soon as she stated that she was on a call with Jason, Joe's expression softened. He knew how important finding Dakota was to her; he was the one who introduced her to Jason in the first place.

"Any news?" He questioned, his eyes now warm and kind instead of stoney and stern. Casey shook her head mutely, not trusting herself enough not to cry if she spoke. "I'm sure we will find him soon, Cas. Jason never drops a case until it is solved." Casey nodded once again and dismissed herself, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes to erase the immediate threat of tears. After she composed herself, she walked out and pushed Nathan out of the way in order for her to take over at the counter thinking that today was gonna be a normal day.

Oh how wrong she was.

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