She was utterly stunned by this shocking turn of events. Simon had pulled through and found her sign. She couldn't believe it. She feared the Whisperer's response though. He had want he had wanted now and it seemed he had no further use for her or the boy. As if reiterating that fact he withdrew from all her holes. She hoped Simon could not see what the monster had been doing to her. She felt a sudden wash of shame and embarrassment at having let him have his way with her. Though she knew she couldn't have stopped him and it likely would have been far worse if she had resisted him.

Her torn clothes were suddenly restored and she was blessedly saved from letting the boy see her in such a lurid state. She looked up at the creature, baffled by his strange mercurial mood changes. She didn't question his actions though. She just edged away from him. Getting to her feet once she felt certain he wasn't going to grab her again. She moved to where she could see Simon and gestured for him to move out of the Whisperer's direct line of sight. He was still looking at the sign so if there was a chance to get some distance between them they needed to do it now. She wondered if she could will Simon back to relative safety of the real as she had with the cultists.

Once the boy was closer to her she grabbed her hand and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Thank you, Simon, for coming back for me. It's not safe here though. I'm going to try to send you home, okay. Yeager is still injured so he can't block my abilities right now." She didn't wait for a reply. She just closed her eyes and focused on sending the boy home to the real world.

The sign had seemed to be of greater interest in sex. Assuming that the names in that book had all been from those brought before she came here and assuming that they ended up in similar straights that was a lot of sex. There was no telling if the sign was doing something to him … she had felt funny looking at even a portion of it, even the photo did something with making her a bit hazy where she could recall it.

But it had to be visual, the color had to do with some portion of it's effect. If so Simon being color blind made it tough to locate but immune to the effects. He could at least get an idea of what it was in the photo or assumed that whatever he uncovered was the thing that everyone wanted.

Simon moved with her though as the Whisperer took up the yellow sign with a tentacle before shifting it into his hands. Yeager had not moved either though as she focused on Simon nothing happened. He was shaking his head even as she tried not even aware what she was attempting.

“I'm not Flash quick but I'd beat Aqua Man in a race for sure,” there he went again dumping on that least favorite superhero of his. But that was not why he was shaking his head.

“How are you going to get back?” He whispered to her again at about the same time where it made sense to her, she couldn't change whatever was in that circle that was why this portion of stone had not been deleted like the rest and the only thing that had remained outside of it had been Yeager who still had not stirred though a look to him now would show that some of those worms slithered back inside that open wound but others gathered around as if unsure in doing so as more worms converged on his body.

She frowned when her attempt to send Simon back didn't work. She opened her eyes again to check and see that Yeager was still down and the Whisperer was still distracted by the sign. "It'll be easier for me." She lied. Not wanting to worry the kid. "I just have to wake up but I want to make sure you get out safely first."

It must be the circle that was interfering. The cultists and police station had been outside of it when she vanished them. She stood up and took Simon to the edge of the circle, pausing briefly to wonder if she would be about to cross over it herself without attracting the Whisperer's attention. She decided it was safer not to chance it. She dropped Simon's hand and pointed him to the grass outside the circle. "I think you need to be standing over there for this to work. Just step out onto the grass and I'll try again."

She moved without alerting the Whisperer to what she was doing. In the least he was no longer displaying her any attention though he did look from the sign to Yeager anxious as to how far along he was perhaps. But as he said earlier time was much different for him. He could try something he was uncertain about or just wait a little longer for something that would certainly work. So she might have been off the hook.

Her experiences with Yeager and all his games made her weary though that this could have been another ruse or that he told her a half truth so she stopped short of breaking the circle. She even lost contact with Simon who looked to Yeager, then her then Yeager again He was uncertain.

“Not even Aqua Man runs away,” he stated refusing to budge. Naturally she could shove him out of the circle or could move to trick him but he made it clear that he wasn't going to just abandon her. When he took off in the past it was all part of a strategy as the situation was made clear, audibles were called and changes made. But he always came back.

“Not good enough. What if you're in a coma? What if you can't wake up? You can send me back at any time right? Then nothing can happen to me, correct? If anything bad starts to happen you can just whoosh me away then so it wouldn't be tougher.” At least he argued without knowing anything about how it all actually worked like any kid would. His voice still a whisper though a louder one to keep the creature's attention off them but without anything else making noise they probably weren't fooling anyone unless that creature was hearing those jumble of whispers that she had and could not distinguish one from the other.

She looked skyward as though appealing to the heavens for help combating the child's logic. "Simon, it isn't that simple..." She grasped for the right words to say to make him understand. "If I don't send you back now then I may not be able to later. I can't protect you if you stay and you can't protect me." She looked back towards the Whisperer, afraid he'd remember they were there any second. She lowered her voice. "He has the sign now so he may not need me anymore but if he decides he still does he'll use you against me. I don't want to see you get hurt, Simon."

“I got that stupid sign,” he pointed in the direction he had initially tossed it without looking away. Of course it had no longer been there though he might not have been able to do much in the physical realm. Apparently he took his comics seriously and short of pushing him or tricking him some how he was not going to bow out of things gracefully either.

Superheroes placed themselves in harm's way all the time without regard to their own safety and that was something that had made her understand how Simon was viewing things. Now if she could use that she might be able to benefit from it though judging by it he shouldn't be hard to force out of the circle either especially if she diverted his attention for a moment. He was not chunky and slim, much smaller than she was though he might shoot up in later years had he lived that long.

And then she heard him, the Whisperer diverted his attention back to them. You do realize that your agent is still here in the city …. one of the Faceless though with Yeager down for the count you should be able to restore him and get him out of here as well.

He was in the process of turning to face them. But that other thing is still out there too and there's the question of finding him ... He did not draw any closer though either because they were too close to the edge of the circle and did not wish to spook them or calculating something fiendish or searching for a means to keep her or the boy ensnared.

She swore under her breath when the monster chimed into their conversion. She had forgotten about Mike, counting him as lost once it was clear Yeager wouldn't release him. She couldn't run off in search of him now. It was a wild goose chase but then... perhaps she could use that to her advantage. It had been the monster's suggestion after all.

She turned to face him, blocking Simon with her body in the same movement. "Is this another test? To see if I am capable of finding my friend and undoing what Yeager did to him?"

Simon did not struggle for position or get in front of her. In the past he had allowed that when it made sense to do so for tactical reasons. In this situation the creature was already aware of him but was scary at the same time. He knew there was no way he could face it head on but used his other skills to the best of his ability, observing and scheming, using his wits instead of his brawn like at the amusement park to draw most of the Faceless away from him.

The Whisperer shook his head. Though she could not see the sign head on just seeing it made her feel funny so she had to keep it out of view and avert her eyes or lifted them above the height of the sign he held to stare into those white soulless eyes

No test. No challenge. You have already shown that you are capable of sending people back and changing things here when Yeager's will is not in opposition to yours. But I am interested in seeing if you will do for your agent that the boy did for you. Granted he had to find a sign in this city, tougher then finding a Faceless but finding the right Faceless among a city of Faceless will be more dangerous depending how you do it. So I am curious … but you're always welcome to stay here, he gestured with his arms to indicate the circle as he chuckled at that knowing what her answer would be to that.

Her frown deepen at his implication that she was willing to as much effort into finding Mike as Simon had put into saving her. She just didn't think she could find Mike. He didn't have a frickin' face right now. Who knew if any of his personality had survived whatever Yeager had done to him. Hell, she didn't even know what the man was wearing went he got abducted. Meaning she was looking for the body of a 40-something-year old man, that was likely devoid of any behavior ticks that would make it recognizable. Oh yeah, and if she did find him he would likely try to attack her. She had no idea what Faceless did to people once they finally got a hold on them and she really wasn't keen on finding out.

Still, the monster had given her two options. Either go look for Mike or stay and let him have his wicked way with her again. "So, let's go find Mike then, shall we kid?" She took Simon's hand again and stepped out of the circle with him. If nothing else it would get them away from here and the Whisperer. Plus, if things got to hot she at least knew now that she could save Simon at least by "whooshing" him home.

He did not follow or hinder her. They had an agreement, though there was a deadline so to speak it wasn't officially over until she had expired and the boy got back with the sign before she had. Simon took her hand again. Out of habit he wanted to avoid the Hunters though most present had been collected around Yeager's prone form.

The fact that it was sunny made it easier to see threats a ways off though the Faceless and other dangers were out there for sure. When they were out of ear shot Simon looked at her and stopped.

“If you can send people back could you do something to the Faceless too? Maybe restore them some how?” He was clueless as to how it worked. “If so assuming you can drive we could round them up. Remember how Otis lured them off? Maybe we could get even have them gather around a car, you can do you thing and we can drive on afterward or can you only do one at a time?”

She smiled at Simon's suggestion, suddenly glad she hadn't just sent him home the second they'd left the Whisperer's circle. "I'm honestly not sure but that thing Yeager summoned implied that I could. It would make finding Mike a good deal simpler. Let's see if we can find a lone Faceless to try it out on and if it works we can get a car to enact your plan." She began looking for a faceless that was far enough from it's fellows to lead off and then make her attempt at willing it back to normal.

He grinned, the sort of grin that said 'aren't you glad you kept me around'. She had already changed the weather with her thoughts envisioning it was sunny rather then all that obscuring fog that Yeager had conjured. Her will wasn't being opposed so it was easy to see the Faceless now. There was no danger from them in these conditions. Nor was it terribly difficult to get one alone. They were normally alone but often near one another to check out the same sound.

It was more difficult in just getting the attention of one of them though each time they tried others heard the same noise and came as well. But their movements were slow and jerky at least she knew that they were until they got close enough to lunge as if they were storing up all that speed for one sudden attack.

But she soon realized that she only had to be close. Using the size of the room she was in she could get a sense as far as distance went. Close but not too close. Provided that she did not make any noise she should be alright. They may have been able to smell some how with the pizza from earlier or maybe they couldn't but she could see ears and knew that they heard and could gather that they had a sense of touch too. Sight, taste and smell were probably foreign to them though something was making her uncertain about the last though it was more likely she was just tying the aroma of pizza in with her own flight.

With more targets though she could try her hand out on a few options here. The first being a single target, then a small group The one in the lead worked best as the single target so he in this case judging from the attire, would not be swarmed by the others.

The face was like putty that she was molding and shaping though it told her that it would have been more of an effort to deal with more than one at once but there were two things she noted. One was that the Faceless in question halted while she edited it. The second was that she caught glimpses of it's features as she tried to restore it and hold it. In a sense she was able to peak seeing small details of what the original features were.

She would realize that she could make quick peaks flowing her attention between the Faceless until she found the right one. A small consolation seeing that she couldn't do a group at once it seemed. The matter became finding the right one then luring it some how by itself or in a smaller group.

Simon gasped, more Faceless headed their way as a result. He had recognized the features before she had … Dean … no not Dean she had sent him away but that was his twin, that was who the Faceless was before her.

She stifled a gasp of her own when she recognized Dean's brother. At first she thought it had been the hateful man himself but then remembered that it couldn't be. Dean had been with the cultists. She didn't recall seeing him among the ones at the ceremony earlier but she hadn't been looking for him either.

She didn't have time to think about it, more faceless were heading their way, drawn by Simon's gasp. She hastily finished restoring Dean's brother but didn't have time to send him home. Instead she grasped his shirt sleeve and said a hushed, "Don't say anything yet. We've got to get away from here now." Then she hurriedly dragged him further down the street away from the Faceless.

She wasn't sure why but she felt compelled to save this man. Not for his brothers sake surely because Dean was a complete asshat but unlike the other cultists he hadn't seemed to be motivated by any warped faith. He had just wanted to save his brother and she somehow thought it was important to do that too. Besides, Simon said Yeager had used Dean's brother to communicated with him. Maybe that meant that the brother had some useful intel on where Yeager had taken Mike. She headed towards the pizza shop from earlier. Knowing it wasn't deserted from the smells but thinking it unlikely the Faceless were in there cooking. Maybe they find another ally there.

The man went wide eyed though not stunned as if he had some sort of awareness of what was going on. He knew the current situation at least, that they were in the presence of Faceless and he nodded. The first few steps they took had been to get some distance before the three of them could break into a run to the pizzeria.

They had gotten there though the aroma from earlier had been long gone. There were no Faceless here though but the place had been unlocked. In the back though the place looked to have frequent use. The pizza oven was one and there were things out for a pizza as if someone was getting ready to make one or left everything out and forgot to turn off the oven.

The place was empty at the time though.

“I don't know what you did but thanks. The name's Kurt,” the man offered. After introductions the man pondered their situation and tried to recall what had happened. Piecing things together as best as he could Yeager did something too him leaving him with a vague impression that he was with the Faceless save for the times Yeager tapped directly into him, most likely those times where Yeager had been using his identity.

“Mike?” He pondered when they got to him after asking for a description he nodded. “I know where he is, at least I think I know. It's hard to explain but every time Yeager was using my identity I got clear thoughts but at all other times things are just a jumble in my head, my experiences as one of those things I can't put into words almost as if the entire ordeal was a blur.

“City hall, that's where Yeager last put him while he was using my identity at least though he could have moved him by now.”

"Okay then," Kirsty said with a nod. "City Hall is where we will start." She paused thoughtfully. Wondering is she should offer to send Kurt back to the real world or not. True, a full grown man might be a useful ally to have on this task but it might not be. She liked Simon but he was already one person she had to watch out for. And moreover, he wanted to be there to help him. With everything he'd already been through Kurt might be ready to call it quits and it really wasn't right for her to not even tell him that was an option. "You don't have to come with us, Kurt. I fixed you but I can do more than that. I can sent you back to the real world if you want. I might need some more information from you first, like how to get to City Hall and if Yeager left any nasty surprises there but I can send you after that."