2020-08-16 - Definitely Not Nelson

Despite Lilith's healing touch and the comfort that only she could give him, over all, despite his mental and physical exhaustion, it was difficult for Byron to sleep. Every single nerve in his body burned, but in that nerve damage way. A mild burn. Constantly. Eventually, weariness was bound to strike and it's only a few hours until it's time to wake up start their day.

Getting showered and dressed was only mildly painful. Thorne was smart enough to drop several of his work calls, only keeping the most important appointment which would come up later in the day, despite Lilith wanting him to cancel that one too.

August had contacted him last night after dinner and would most likely get in touch with Kip, so knowing that the pair of them are most likely alive and well, that's one burden that's lifted from his shoulders. So this morning, rather than grabbing a coffee and heading out to the casino, he decides to take Lilith out for early brunch at the Black Bear Diner. He even tells her, "Lil, Waffles or the Black Bear?" To which she was confused.

Anyway, pulling up into the parking area, he escorts her inside with one arm at the small of her back. Dressed in business casual, wearing a white long sleeved shirt beneath a navy blazer, tan slacks and Oxfords, for now he dons sunglasses due to the lack of sleep. Those shades are not enough to shield his identity, because those were expensive sunglasses, but he grabs a local paper at the front of the shop before settling themselves down at a booth near a window. "There are Black Bears all over this place. Thus: Black Bear Diner."

Lilith is wearing sunglasses too, but mostly because it's bright outside. She has the convenience of light accent cosmetics to hide her fatigue, because even though Byron was right there, she felt compelled to keep a conscious eye or touch on him as much as she could stay awake for it. That and she was ready to jump up and get him anything at a moment's notice, his body was hurt in strange ways and healing, regardless of the mending relief she eventually talked him into accepting. Her hair is a riot of air dried waves and curling ends today, mostly just getting a tousle after shower because it's hard to keep an eye on Byron while in the bathroom blowdrying hair.

What if he disappears or makes a cry out and I don't see or hear him because of the stupid blowdryer?

Is this irrational? Yes. But paranoia and PTSD living does what it does and this recent episode of brutality due to Dream exposure is still quite fresh. Lilith is twitchy and semi-clingy. She's still careful about how she touches Byron, but oh, every chance she gets for casual or doting contact, it's there. Also, he called the Grizzly Diner the Black Bear Diner and she can't tell if he's serious or screwing with her to be cute. He should know, his mother worked here, and he has a point, but-- he also does not seem to be putting on after her squint aside. It really is a hard question because waffles generally means Cracker Barrel, but Black Bear isn't a real place here! Does he want to drive to Hoquiam or something?

Nope, he's just calling it black bear and proving their point as they settle. The woman leaves her sunglasses on for a spell while tossing her purse into the booth ahead of herself and eyeing her phone. Her outfit isn't as business as his, but she still looks nice enough in a red-tiered summery long gauze skirt and tucked in airy blouse that's vaguely peasant style pretty with embroidery. When she takes her sunglasses off to stash, though, at least one person starts to squint her way across the cafe, "I can't tell if you're messing with me or not. It's Grizzly Den and I remember that because Gina was so damn... grizzly."

She's not digging in to this argument, but facts!

"What are you getting?"

With the newspaper neatly folded and set off to the side, Byron removes his sunglasses to view the menu. Gina did change things up some after acquiring the place, but the normal diner fare were still all there. Even the menu calls this place Black Bear Diner! There's this glance over at Lilith when the menus were first laid out on the table to see if she noticed. "I think I'll have some cinnamon French toast and coffee. And some breakfast links on the side. Or bacon." He takes this moment to consider his choices.

He tries not to push the fact that this place is called Black Bear either, but the name is posted all over the place! "Gina might come off as grizzly, but I'm sure on the inside she's as docile as a black bear." This is just a poor assumption on Byron's part, having schooled with Gina and knowing that, no, she does not seem like an easily frightened black bear. "What about you?" He asks regarding food as he shuts his menu to push towards the edge of table, making it easily accessible for the wait staff.

That's when he reaches for the paper to read.

"You know. I want to change things. I am going to get an omelet. Mostly because I'm still bad at folding one up, maybe if I eat one, I'll get that special superpower. And bacon. And hash browns. Biscuit with strawberry preserves. No wait, toast. Sourdough with butter and strawberry preserves. And..." Lilith is basically just hungry and reading things to tack on off of the menu at this point, she's looking at pictures, mostly, not the print. Still looks the same to her anyway, he's clearly just being a brat. If he really thought he was right, they'd go back and forth just because one of them needs to be right.

If she was going to resume the contested state of the Diner's name in conversation after choosing from the menu as prompt, she never gets that far. Instead, she trails off to give a brief, polite smile to the waitress in passing as water and cups come, then looks back at the menu. But then coffee comes steaming and spilling in crawl over the tabletop and she exclaims, "Jeeeeeeeeezustop." The woman has stopped by now, and taken off too quick to get fussed at, sending the poor bus boy instead with the towels. Lilith tries to mitigate with napkins, "... we are NOT starting our day like this today, did it..." While trying to blot soak with soaked through paper napkin, she quickly eyes Byron, "Did she get your lap? I need that."

At this point, Lilith has no idea how STUPID their day is going to get. This is what she gets for trying to stubborn up some optimism.

Dinner, despite Lilith's best intentions, was only a tiny bit subpar last night. What with the glass in the well done porterhouse steak drowned in wine for some reason. So while they technically had dinner, they didn't really. Maybe that's why they're hungry this morning.

"The eggs are always rather iffy here." Byron both reminds and warns, "On some days they're decent. On others... The restroom is for customers only." He echoes the words that the staff here are taught to say. Though, really, it's the customers who will be in need of it. Turning to glance across the way at the kitchen to see who is the cook today, he returns to his paper, "Might be a good day for eggs."

And then some clumsy bitch goes and spills coffee not only on the paper that he's reading, but it spills all over the table, some of it dripping into his lap, staining part of his blazer and his slacks, which makes him promptly stand to rise and step out of the bench. Jesus! Yes, he doesn't look terribly pleased by any of this. She apologizes, he supposes that's something. He then makes a grab for a clean napkin to blot out the hot liquid. Nevermind that his veins still felt hot with a low heated burn. "I'm fine. That restroom will come in handy. I'll just rinse this off and be right back, alright?"

"Go. Go. Shoo. I'll be right here." Lilith tells Byron distractedly, though it's only really because she can't go in the men's room WITH him that she stays put helping the busboy get the table cleaned off and re-set. It keeps her busy, the stares that are popping over her way one by one go unnoticed initially. Some of the stares look at the bathroom with speculation too after Byron departs that way. Finally, the table is calm again and Lilith looks around for their waitress to try and find her.

She finds her. Lilith finds Frances glowering at her and half the diner staring at her because some kind of word has spread. Wait a minute. SHE is not the one that spilled coffee, haven't people seen spills before? Ugh. Rubberneckers. Lilith drinks her water and checks her phone idly. Frances the Waitress comes over once she's sure Byron is good and gone.

"You've got some nerve. Some nerve coming in here, free as a bird, you murderer. And with the man's brother! SOME nerve! I hope you rot in prison or hang from a rope."

Lilith is so confused right now, so confused, but slowly, that terrible impulse control that kicks in so often since the Vivisectionist is suddenly a thing and she was just called a murderer for some reason, which is a very personal thing given... well, Lilith things, confusion aside. Then rot? Then rope?

Honestly, what gets her is the implication she's having an affair with Byron's imaginary brother, out of all that. Obsessive and possessive and bristling, she shoves out of the booth to yank the waitress back by her apron strings briefly as she tries to stomp off, "FIRST OF ALL, that's not his brother. SECOND OF ALL, I have no clue what you're talking about, but you don't KNOW me or anything about my life, so you and your MISINFORMED mouth can--" Go places. Go lots of bad places.

Yeah, this is what Byron comes back to, Lilith standing with her hands on her hips about to fight Frances the fourty-six year old waitress with asthma.

"So yeah. Yeah. KEEP WALKING FRANCES!"

This was a lovely start of the day. Byron's nowhere near amused at the moment as he tries to get those coffee stains from out of his clothing, all while his skin still ached. Now the front of his pants were damp due to cleaning. Wonderful. Grabbing a handful of paper towels, he tries to blot out the wetness, grumbling beneath his breath through clenched teeth all the while. When he gets as much of it as he will until it naturally dries, he catches his reflection in the mirror. He looked a little weary if anything, even if the face that confronts him reflect his own annoyance to the situation.

By the time he steps out of the Men's room, he immediately notices that Lilith is not at their booth. It doesn't take long for him to spot her. First, there's a crowd of gawkers surrounding the arguing women. Second, Lilith looks like she's about to beat that waitress to a pulp. With a quick stride, he moves in to interfere, "Lil, it's alright. Let her be." He positions himself to Winslow's side, not directly in front of her, "We'll find another place to eat at."

He's not sure how some spilled coffee erupted into something like this, but he casts a less than friendly gaze in Frances' direction, "We're leaving." And with that, he'll escort (or drag) Lilith back to the booth to collect their things. The coffee soaked newspaper will need to be left behind.

Checking his watch on their way out as they head to his car, he asks, "Where to now? And what was that about?"

"Ugh. Ugh! I don't even KNOW! Ugh, I wish I'd grabbed her by the hair instead of the apron strings when she went running her mouth and tried to walk away. Nuh uh, bitch. Nope. We walk it how we talk it around here... Frances doesn't even KNOW how much her mouth about got her straight up--" Lilith is still quietly ranting on the way to the car, just for rant sake, but it's better than her popping a power gasket. The woman did spill coffee on Byron, yes, but Lily was fine enough with that when he walked away. He doesn't have to tug hard to extricate her from the place, she's ready to leave, despite her mouth popping off outside and in the car.

Byron's kind of got Lilith-wrangling down to an art, she generally listens when he touches her and says 'enough'. But still, something...

"I'll tell you on the drive. Let's get this drop-in console thing over with, then I am coming to work with you."

Why? What?

Lilith is still too blustery to make a straight story, she just plans ahead, "Probably won't even be there, but I don't know her, it's better not to give a heads up, in case..."

"It's just coffee, Lil." Byron says with a laugh, despite how agitated he, himself, was earlier. But he wasn't about to throw down because of that. "It didn't burn as far as I know. Not that my skim doesn't already." He didn't mean to complain about his injuries, so he's quick to remedy that. "Still feels a whole lot better after you worked your magic on me." Something, which Lilith will remember, is what Byron was trying to prevent her from doing last night.

"Do you have her number?" He asks, before nodding with a sudden understanding "Alright. If she's not there, we'll just have ourselves to blame. We can eat at one of restaurants at the casino too. Your pick before I head for a couple of hours." For that meeting that he didn't cancel. "Then my schedule is wide open."

With his keys out, the car alarm beeps to indicate that it's off, before the doors open up slowly for the both of them. He'll notice the car a few stalls down, the one with the popped hood. It didn't look out of the ordinary really, though Byron is a cautious sort, so tries to get a good enough look at the men, before his gaze drifts to the SUV parked a little further down. One of his security team is still there. The other is probably just now making his way out of the diner. "Let's go."

"I'll angry gamble to occupy myself and the food is better there, anyway." Lilith tells Byron, sated by this plan and his easy compliance and humor in the face of... well, Lilith trying to restrain herself from downright jumping a waitress (with asthma). She knows one of the guys came in with them (the one that's easier to beer and food bribe, she likes him). She figures he's leaving not long behind them, notices there's a man following them out, assumes it's their guy with peripheral vision. The problem with Lilith being followed a good lot of the time now is... she's getting too used to being followed. And she was busy ranting, besides. She does mention it, but...

Circling the car as the doors slide open with beep of Byron's key fob, Lilith tosses her purse into the floorboard, "Is it too early to go to France again? Or maybe Portugal. I'm so twitchy now, I almost turned around and flipped off Nelson for following us." (That's not Nelson she's talking about, but timing.) Her eyes flit to the truck in passing and her hand gestures that way in casual brief indication while she's at the car door, "Look, they're having a shit day too, I think it's contagious. We should fly to Brazil. I just got accused of having an affair with your brother, by the way."

Byron doesn't have a brother, okay. That, at least, makes her crack a smile at him from over the car when she... remembers that rationally. Maybe she over-reacted. The woman might have thought she was someone else. Still shitty of Frances, though.

Byron might grin with amusement hearing that Lilith wants to go back to France, but right now, he sort of wants to go back as well. Maybe Veil damage doesn't hurt outside of these thin spots. Who knows! "Nelson and Carter are used to being flipped off by you by now." In truth, it's not always Nelson or Carter trailing Lilith. Or Byron. The security team works on rotation. When the couple are split, Frank sends another pair out. Normally, Byron might be more lax with his own security, but with this cartel rivalry going on in town, among other things, he's made sure that both he and Lilith have guys watching them like clockwork.

"Brazil? Now that's somewhere that I've never been." His upperclass L.A. friends go to places like Rome and Paris. Not Brazil.

Once the doors are shut, he starts his engine and starts to pull out of the lot. "Why.." There's a confused crease in his brow, "Why does she think I have a brother? That's ridiculous." His eyes glance over at the rearview, waiting to see the familiar black SUV somewhere behind them, "And why would anyone think you'd be dating him if I did?"

"They're probably immune to it, it's my favorite handsignal to tell them hello and that they're far too close for my liking. It's a versatile finger." Once Byron pulls out of the lot, she pops up that middle finger and starts to investigate it, "Probably why my polish is chipped here, it gets too much use and air time." Ironically, given the situation, Lilith is calming down more and more once they're on the way out to do their next thing on the screwy 'to do' list before Byron's meeting. After checking her nail with a 'hrmph', she flips down her visor to use the mirror and put on lip gloss.

"Brazil, yes. Rio specifically. I've wanted to go for the Carnivale. I do realize we might get mugged, kidnapped, and beheaded for being white tourists, but it's fine." Now that the woman has touched on brighter (morbid) ideas, she's sighing dramatically to finally explain while putting on that flushed gloss and looking at mirror image, "I don't know, though, babe. Maybe he's hotter than you." She pops the cap on the lip gloss again and gives him a pretty flash of smile before looking back at the mirror to use her fingertip for lip-perfecting, "She said I had some nerve coming in with 'your' brother. And that I was a murderer. And that I should rot or hang. Roughly."

The SUV was behind them, so the Wraith pulls out into the streets.

With Lilith inspecting her middle finger, Byron allows himself a quick look at the chipped paint job. Probably not having noticed it if she hadn't brought it up. It's a nice, smooth ride, so of course Lilith should feel more relaxed in such luxurious interiors. Driving along Spruce, he listens to her explain her interest in Brazil. It reminded him that the Masquerade was coming up again this year soon. Something that he'd speak to Hyacinth and the others on the Historical Society board as well as the Town Beautification board.

Listening to Lilith bring up beheadings and the fact that he has a much hotter brother, who, strangely, looks exactly like him, all of that brings a hint of a smirk to Byron's lips. Until she mentions murder. His initial reaction to hearing this is a surprised blink and then he turns onto the next street on their way to Oak.

"Alexander sent me a text earlier today. Asking if I was still alive, because he'd heard people mention that I'd been killed." Pause, "By you, of all people." He then sighs, "I told him that whoever is spreading this lie, they'are all idiots. I am very much alive."

While Byron's information about what Alexander had texted him is somewhat bizarre, it's more bizarre that people believe it enough to come up and HASSLE her when she just wanted a damn omelet (and all the other stuff). Flipping up the visor again, she thinks they're being tailgated by an SUV similar to the security guys because why would they be...

It gets noisy and fast and confusing just as Lilith takes a breath to ask Byron a question. First, she starts to get pissed along the lines of standard road rage because who expects to be car-stalked and plowed at by their own sec-- oh. The anger keeps itself in check and she surges with response adrenaline instead. Because with twist and lean in her seat to try and see what is going on while strapped in, she sees the truck behind them, then realizes the SUV really IS the security guys' vehicle, which means...

"Shit. Shit. Shit. You have your gun on you, right? I didn't put mine in my purse because I was coming... with you."

To be fair, this isn't Die Hard, leaning out of the window with a gun probably isn't on the table, but if they get boxed and stopped... you'd think this would be easier to figure out for people with superpowers, but Lilith's are so bloody and blatant or fiery, it's really hard to do it in a way that won't get HER in trouble when it comes to non-Veil related things. That and they are moving at speed and moving targets and breaking...

"There's a truck too." She's not sure if Byron sees that, so she warns him, "... should I try to pop a tire on... which one?" She's not sure now if the SUV is actually trying to protect them, she can't quite see who's driving from her side with everything happening so fast.

The whole rumor of Lilith murdering him was starting to annoy Byron. It was weird the first time it was mentioned, but now people were harassing Lilith over it? "I swear, if I'm forced to make a public statement over this, I--" He cuts himself off before he can finish his sentence, when it becomes very clear to him that their security SUV was about to careen right into his Rolls.

Was Carter and Nelson being chased? Is that what's happening?

"Shit! Hold on tight, Lil." In his attempt to try and get out of the SUV's way, Byron forces his car to the side, hands gripped on the steering wheel, turning it quickly as he steps on the acceleration. The closer they get, the more he realizes what's going on, catching a glimpse of who is in the car behind him. One of them was Carter, the other wasn't Nelson. Hell, Byron was about to tell Lilith to give the security detail a call as he drove, but there was no need for that now.

"I've got it." He answers in the affirmative about whether he's packing or not. "There's should be one in the glove compartment too." It was hard to drive and aim to shoot at the same time, so he'll try to focus on the driving for now, especially once the SUV makes contact, nearly putting them into a spin. He hadn't noticed the truck just yet, but he does now when Lilith calls it out. He knows that it's a risky move, with everyone inside of vehicle traveling at high speeds, yet he calls out, "I'll try to stop the truck from boxing us in. If you can, take out Carter's car behind us." After a quick breath, he also tacks on a warning, "Hang on tight."

Now that they know what needs to be done, he tries to lash out at the pair of men in the truck, sending forth an intense sensation of... discomfort, revulsion as if their vehicle were filled with a million insects of varying types crawling all over them. It's enough to make one's skin crawl. Meanwhile, Byron tries his best to keep the car from being jostled off the road.

It's hectic. Lilith is a powerhouse, it's true, but focus and aim is important too in situations like this. It helps to see where she's trying to latch onto something to decay it rapidly into break or burst or shred. When still and facing her targets and enemies, she can pinpoint aim and hone in to disaster effect. It's not the motion that matters so much as the car situation and limited view, trying to focus through the racing, potential impacts, and swerving.

It's very good for Lilith and Byron to be able to sync talk what they're about to do, though. She is his lover and future wife, but that doesn't guarantee wits in a situation like this. That said, their teamwork bond started long ago in formative years. It helps with the 'oh shit' factor, very much. That and Glimmer isn't like using a physical weapon where someone can see you aiming with specific damage or intent. Something one does could cancel out the other or just do too much and wreck them all.

When Byron directs her in answer, Lilith grabs the car's door handle for support and leans to focus on the SUV. Then she can't help it. Her lips twitch with adrenaline-fueled smile and maybe the high of power destruction when she unleashes, trying to break the whole front axle of... the left front tire. It's less likely to angle into them from the left side and it's a front-wheel drive vehicle. She has wits enough to pick and plan for efficiency, at that.

Things happen very quickly, once the pair begin coordinating and agree to divide and conquer. The SUV swerves in again, attempting another sideswipe to try to run Byron's car off the road and into the ditch. The passenger side mirror clips the Rolls' driver's side mirror and they both splinter off and go flying in a shriek of glass and shredding metal. And then Lilith's power goes off, and there's a thunderous sound like metal being sheared apart, ripped atom from atom from molecule like taffy; then a terrific BANG as the tire explodes, and a goodly portion of the wheelbase with it. The SUV goes careening wildly toward them.. and then lurches away at the last possible instant, flips, and tumbles across three lanes before coming to rest upside-down in oncoming traffic.

The truck, meanwhile, slows as its driver is briefly overcome with the very unpleasant sensation of fucking insects crawling all over him. The other guy is unaffected, and reaches across to take the wheel for a moment, to middling effectiveness, while yelling at his buddy to snap out of it!.

Of course, it's only a matter of time now before someone calls 911, what with the flipped vehicle and the apparent road rage and everything going on here.

It vaguely crosses Lilith's mind that one of Byron's men was in that SUV still, probably, if not both of them, but... once she's started slinging power and destruction, it's hard not to feel the proud high and surge of adrenaline. Even with... oncoming traffic about to be unwitting, possible casualty too. (Is she going to feel bad about this later? Were there better ways?) Her fingers grip the door still, and she's watching the spectacle with the immense blowout flip and crash of vehicle with fascination that doesn't let her immediately see what the truck is struggling with.

Granted, she has no idea what's going on with the driver once they start to wobble and lose some ground with the other guy trying to assist. After flitting her eyes to the expression on Byron's face, though, she has ideas. It's just a couple heartbeats second of survey for him and what's ahead of them (hopefully not a trap), then she's assuring him with a readiness to whip out with another exertion of destructive abilities. But this time, instead of pitching another vehicle into more innocent cars with crash, she does something else...

"Go, Byron, I have them too." Then with a grit of her teeth, she focuses on what she knows are flammable fluids and fuels inside that vehicle while staring intensely backwards at the truck model and hood while they struggle to regain on the pair. While she's not TRYING to explode the vehicle so much as burn it out with sudden fire under the hood, who frickin' knows once Lilith is in the zone. Sometimes she's TOO effective.

While trying to maintain this mental assault on the passengers in the truck, Byron must also keep the Wraith steady; when he sees the SUV careening into the side of his car, taking out the side-mirror in the process, he steers to lessen the damage while not drifting or being pushed off the side. Damnit, Carter. He silently seethes, before turning his dark gaze in the direction of the vehicle, getting a good look at the passenger with the gun.

He could try and reach for his own weapon and pop out a shot through the window, but he was still putting some pressure on at the pair in the truck that was trying to cut them off and thus, he maintains focus on that. That is until something he hears the loud explosion, eyes warily lifting to catch sight of the conditions within the rear view mirror, before turning to look over his shoulder to ensure proper distance. They were going wild. With that, he steps on the gas, pulling the car up further, and hopefully, away from the swerving SUV until he watches it flip to crash, blocking traffic in a few lanes.

"Good job!" Or he'll assume that was Lilith's doing. With one vehicle down, his gaze flickers back to the truck, trying to determine their next move after falling back some. Right now, the Wraith was ahead of them. "We got this." He tells her, catching Lilith out of his peripheral vision, but for now, his focus is on the road ahead.

Does Byron feel bad about any of this? Besides Carter, as far as he can tell, everyone else on this road was a stranger. But this was Gray Harbor, a small town. He's bound to know some of them. Still, whether he is or not, Byron Thorne is a focused man and he's not going to let emotions stand in the way of his survival.

Byron's attempts at distracting the occupants of the truck are moderately successful; the vehicle swerves and surges and drops back, and generally struggles to keep a bead on the Rolls as it tries to make a getaway. Then Lilith's attack crashes through the engine, igniting the gas pumped into the combustion chambers, turboheating it and creating a chain of smaller explosions that culminate in a loud FWUMP and a large amount of smoke. And a suddenly dead truck that rapidly falls back from the chase. The driver's still trying to slap bugs off himself as he pulls over, but the other guy pulls out his gun and starts shooting at the Rolls; glass shatters as he clips the back window and takes aim at one of the rear tires.

Meanwhile, that guy that totally isn't Nelson may be down, but he's not completely out. With the stolen vehicle flipped, he took the opportunity to make one last play, and shoot out one of the Rolls's rear tires as it sped off. It's going to be considerably harder to drive now; especially with that other goon about to shoot out another one.

Oddly, Lilith does NOT stay sitting up and spun around to see behind them while in a state of attack and the smoke is... well, big, but she didn't movie explode them. Unfortunately, the smoke makes it hard to see and focus on those figures, but that's less of the issue, really, she sees enough and she could be quick enough for a parting shot of her own. Buuuut, somehow, she thinks rationally or it's survival fear reflex-- when the glass shatters from behind gunfire, she leans forward and down in the seat with a hiss. Hell, if Byron could afford to take his hands off of the wheel right now, he'd be shoving her down by reflex too.

In fact, he still might. And ain't nobody got time for that! It's also a part of what seems to be a sensible moment for Lilith. DON'T get brained right next to your fiancé because you super want a kill shot. Unfortunately, it'll be harder to get away and they're... going to need a little luck. But she's mad at the guy with the gun, and one guy was swatting bugs, she knows which figure, at least, had the gun given the fact she was spun to watch. So she curses the shit out of him instead. With her mouth and her mojo...

It came as a relief to watch the truck combust off to the side, being rocked by the various explosions and taken out of the game. Both vehicles were not only out but not in any position to continue their pursuit as far as Byron could tell. The police would be on their way soon, but were they the good cops or the bad cops? That's one thing racing through Thorne's mind right now. "Nice on--" He starts to call out, before he ducking behind the wheel at the sound of glass shatter. "Keep low, babe." He'll instruct, but it looks like Lilith already knows the routine.

Then from behind, he feels the impact when the first rear tire is shot out, forcing him keep the tail end of the Wraith from drifting as it starts to drag itself along. Through the smoke and stalled cars littering the road around him, he notices the gunman in the truck taking aim at his already shot-up vehicle. "Damn it." He curses, hands clenched tightly around the wheel, trying to keep it steady enough to get as far as he can. "If he hits, I'm going to have to pull us to a stop. Get behind the vehicle when that happens." Even as he says this, without even realizing what Lilith may or may not be doing, he tries again to mentally reach out to men in the truck (and possibly anyone else who may be in that area at the time), but rather than insects, the terror of being caught in a cinema-like explosion is what he's selling this time. There was smoke and fire everywhere. Something was bound to blow.

Through Byron's superhuman efforts at the wheel, he manages to keep the Rolls from running into the ditch. Which is quite the feat with one tire gone, the damage done to the body, and at least one guy shooting at him while he tries to drive and fuck with two people simultaneously. The man clearly is the mental equivalent of Fort Knox.

Gradually though, the other two vehicles fall away. They simply can't keep up with the power put out by the pair inside the Rolls Royce. One more gunshot goes off, but it's wide, and pings off the dirt on the side of the road before being subsumed by the sound of burning, burning. Two vehicles burning, and the sound of sirens in the distance approaching. Police and an ambulance; Byron can see the latter stop well behind him in the rearview mirror, but the cruiser guns it in order to catch up to him, whooop whooop to indicate for him to pull over.

This is the part where Lilith might freak out, probably more afraid of going to jail than bullets. Granted, she's in the passenger seat and probably isn't... wait. Police cruiser after all that isn't odd, but... either way, she knows this is way out of her wheelhouse. Byron's car and plates are recognizable. Her mind whipsnaps to think fast, to plan instead of panic because BYRON is behind the wheel right now and this looks bad. Gradually sitting up to look after getting jerked around by swerve and momentum, she sees the sirens and immediately looks at the man driving with wide eyes.

"This is all you. I don't even... can you make it look like he sees another car and get away untraceable? Or wait and we can tell him a story you make him believe. Obviously, that maniac got road rage and started shooting at us, so it's..." Suddenly, then, Lilith frowns and turns around again in her seat while Byron figures out what to do. HER hand are pretty tied until that time, she's got one hell of a skillset, but it's not for this moment, really, "Actually. Can you tell who's driving...?" They still have no real clue why they're being chased, she's forgotten about the console, or the fact that someone might want it ahead of... Liu. Liu.

"Is it Liu? Can you tell?"

Sure, Byron has firearms in his vehicle. All of them are legal with paperwork. And so far, neither of them had been fired recently. Thoughts like that start to go through his mind, knowing full well that the cops would be involved. But what did /he/ have to afraid of? They were the ones being chased in this scenario. That's when he hears the siren first, then sees the police cruiser in his rear-view. His phone which he'd placed down on the center console may have fallen off to the side. Hopefully, towards the passenger seat. "Call de la Vega. Ask him if this is legit. Ask him where Liu or any of his goons are supposed to be stationed right now. On patrol. Whatever."

He allows the vehicle to slow for a brief moment, only so he can better concentrate on figuring out who is in that cruiser by their brainwaves, doing a scan of emotions and trying to get a sense of some sort of familiarity, perhaps. "I'll try and see if I can tell who it is if he doesn't pick up."

The cop car speeds up, barks its siren a couple more times, and swerves aggressively to try to get the Rolls to pull over. They may note that it's one of the newer Chargers rather than the old style Crown Vics. Harvey Liu definitely drives a Charger. So does de la Vega, but that's neither here nor there.

Also, should Lilith give the acting Chief a call, his phone rings four times before going through to his voicemail, narrated in his usual terse, heavily accented scrawl: Hey, you've reached Javier de la Vega. You know what to do. BLEEEEEEEP.

And then the cruiser guns it into the next lane with a growl of all eight cylinders, and the guy that jerks his head toward them and gestures for them to pull over? Well, shit. Sure is none other than their best friend, Detective Liu.

Lilith takes a minute to actually get a hold of the phone down in the floorboards on her side after looking around, it's easier than digging in her purse (because heaven forbid a woman ever find something she needs in there when she needs it). She knows Byron's was out, though, it's always out and in the cubby hole thing or in his hand, etc. Anxiously, she unlocks his phone (because he's smarter than to hide things on his phone and has told her a few times, probably, or she watches like a little thief). Then she calls de la Vega from the contacts list. When his voicemail beeps after the brusque message, she doesn't quite end the call before it captures record on a string of cussing, "Shit. Fuck. He's not picking up. Is it him? Can you--oh godDAMNit."

Click. That'll be fun to play back later. Lilith keeps her grip on the phone, though, while leaning forward to catch sight of Liu actively gesturing to Byron. She leaves the glovebox closed because she never got out the gun from there, then sits back flat against her seat, knowing what Byron's probably going to do. They're pretty limited on options that aren't sheer violence at the moment and it's bad enough she was called a cheating murderess (with Byron's British Twin Bryan). She's not trying to encourage a full Bonnie and Clyde moment. Eyeing Byron sidelong, she blows out a long, controlling sigh that takes some effort and she has to fight to look some sense of together for what's probably an inevitable pullover.

Which requires Liu getting out of the car, probably. Feeling like a frustrated, stuck and cornered animal for the moment, she not only gets petty as the vehicles roll to stop, she realizes he could get out with a gun. But he could also NOT get out with a gun, so attacking is bad, what can she... with a little pop flare of concentration, she focuses on Liu nearby, traces his body's pulse and weakens the seams of his pants as a distraction. You know. Just in case. It's hard to swagger out with a gun officially when the seat of your pants blows.

Byron didn't need Ruiz's confirmation to tell him that Liu was in the police vehicle, he could feel it. Or, he could feel the familiarity of the driver, sensing the agitation and the nervousness. Sure, anyone would feel nervous in this situation, but he's going with his gut feeling. Knowing who they are up against, it's time to think of a plan on how to remedy this situation so that they can get the hell out. With the Wraith driving at a safer speed just so Byron could expand his mind, it's safe for him to take his eyes off the road to watch Lilith unlock his phones in her attempt to contact Ruiz.

No answer. No matter.

"I'm going to stop the vehicle. No use trying to outrun a police Charger with a flat." By now, he can clearly see that it's Liu. "Be on your guard, we'll work something out." And he doesn't intend to hand over the console to the cop today. Coming to a stop, he turns to regard Liu once the man's door swings open, "What do you want, Liu?" He knows, but this is a conversation starter.

The Charger swings in to block off the Rolls, and the driver's side door pops open as the sirens finally stop whooping. The lights continue to cycle as a couple other cruisers show up to cordon off the area and set up a perimeter around the accident. This section of Bayside's going to have to be shut down for a couple of hours at least.

Just as Liu climbs out, of course, there's a precipitous riiiiip as his pants decide to tear all along the rear seam. He has no idea it was Lilith, and curses floridly under his breath. Thankfully, his jacket hides the worst of it, but it still ain't pretty. Once he's taken a minute to steel himself, he strides around his vehicle and toward the driver's side of the Rolls, and addresses Byron, "Out of the car, both of you. Going to need to see your license and registration, please."

After a long look at Byron with his phone still tightly gripped in one hand, Lilith sets her jaw and reaches to undo her seatbelt manually instead of letting the doors pop open to get it. While she's doing that, though, she's flicking with her thumb over the numbers trying to tick the home screen to record memo, then she conveniently drops it with accidental slide in that gap between seat and console that's a bitch to get out or see. She does it so that it slides into the driver's side, maybe able to pick up SOMETHING in conversation on that side with Byron or if he comes looking in the car, etc.

Unfortunately, while Lilith is pretty slick about this, she's not actually able to get it to record and stay recording in the name of making it look natural. Automatic screen locks probably don't help after X minutes anyway, So yeah, it's pointless. She won't find that out til later though, assuming she even would have gotten dirt at all. She's too nervous about losing her cool to watch Liu get out of the car, knowing what she did, knowing he possibly could have seen, she knows it worked though. When the car door is finished sliding open, she turns her skirted legs and prepares to get out, unless Byron's going to stop her.

Byron raises both of his arms up, just a show that he has nothing in his hands, then slowly he reaches for his wallet to retrieve both his licence and registration. With those items in hand, he opens the car door to step outside. A sharp gaze is given Lilith, making sure that she's alright. During the course of the chase, he was a little banged up, with the protection of his seatbelt when the Rolls Royce was smashed and rammed into. Mostly, he can feel it /where/ the seatbelt crossed over him, but that's a lot better than the alternative.

"Who were those guys? They followed us from the Black Bear and nearly drove us off the road." It's normal conversation that one would have with an officer of the law, gauging what Liu knows or didn't even if Byron felt knew better. Never letting Liu out of his peripheral vision, he scans what looks like a war zone, even if it's just a street leading out to Oak. There were witnesses about, either residential, commercial or those whose cars were caught up in this mess.

For now, he's fishing for information and waiting for Liu to make the first move. And just as he'd done before, he tries to mentally fill the copper's mind with this sense of trust and good-will towards the very much alive businessman, nevermind what the rumors say. He's hoping this way, they can get more out of him while he tries to calm the man's nerves.

The scene outside the car does indeed resemble a battle gone horribly wrong. Bits and pieces of both the Rolls and the SUV are strewn across the road, with deep gouges torn in the asphalt where the other vehicle tumbled and rolled and lost hunks of shredded bumper and cracked glass as it spun off into the ditch. The truck from the parking lot is pulled over onto the opposite side of the road, perhaps 500 feet behind the Rolls, smoke billowing from its engine as a firetruck screams into view with sirens and lights blaring. The paramedics are trying to extract Carter from the flipped SUV; he's unresponsive and bleeding heavily from a head wound, and another pair of cops has that guy who's totally not Nelson in handcuffs, and is escorting him toward one of the cruisers.

Liu, meanwhile, is agitated about his fucking pants. It's goddamned distracting, and he keeps trying to make sure his jacket's covering his ass while he talks to the pair, then quickly reaches for the cards handed over by Byron before calling them in on his radio. Noting that the guy's hurt, too, he puts in a quick call to one of the paramedics on the scene before handing the man's paperwork back. "Like to take a look inside, please," he grunts, leaning toward the rear window of the car, then trying the door handle.

When out of the vehicle, Lilith walks around the back of the car and looks at the damage to Byron's tire, but she looks at the chaos behind them first and foremost on the way around. She doesn't recognize the man being lead out of the vehicles in cuffs, but knows it must have been the one actually driving the SUV. She's tempted to cause some chaos over that way on principle, or as distraction. She's tempted to fix Byron's tire just in case. Then she's tempted to set Liu's engine smoking too. Then... she's tempted to break his zipper fly so his pants have NO CHANCE. This guy is acting like he doesn't have a clue who they are, which may be expected and not that surprising given his role as 'cop' out in the public...

Lilith thinks about running her mouth to tip his public act, the pants were a nice start for that and she's good at causing a scene. Maybe it will delay... ow. Lilith absently started rubbing at her collarbone while standing there being bothered quiet, it hurts from being jolted around, it jolts her back into focus, as do Liu's words about searching the car. She realizes this is all Byron again, however he's going to manage it-- he's damage control, she's just kind of... damage most of the time. Why can this day not give them a break? Lilith drops her lashes into prolonged blink like she's trying to calm herself after all that mess that just happened (not hard to play off, it's pretty genuine too). But she tries to push her power too, tries to will the moment more into their favor.

With all the commotion going on around them, Byron Thorne does a quick visual scan of their surroundings in an attempt to keep track of all of the other players involved who helped create this disaster. With authorities here, they more than likely wouldn't be trying to finish the job they started, right? He sees one guy in handcuffs, but he can't be too sure. He also takes a cautious note of where Lilith is positioned. If anything starts to go down, he wanted her ready to either hop back into the car or bolt.

Whatever Liu's game was, Byron allows the man to open up the door, he even waits for him to push forward the driver's seat, before he's quick to say, "Are we going to do this again? You just looked through the entire car and found absolutely nothing." In fact, when he says this, his steely eyes rest on the back of the officer's head. "It would be wonderful if we knew what you were looking for so maybe we can try and help and move this along." What Byron is doing is trying to convince Liu that the car's been searched. Nothing was found. Implanting a false memory into the man's head that the deed had been done.

The guy pauses a moment. He's suddenly pretty fucking sure he just searched the vehicle and found nothing. Not positive, but pretty sure. The problem is this: is pretty sure going to be enough for the likes of his boss? He checks the time on his watch, notes something down on his pad of paper, and responds to his radio when someone addresses him as 'unit 211'. "Gonna bring you both down to the station for a quick chat," he tells Byron, cracking the man a smile. "Looks like your car's gonna need a tow, anyway. You got yourself a flat." He nods toward said rear tire. His eyes flick toward the trunk of the car briefly, like there's an itch in the back of his mind he still half wants to scratch, and then he goes to haul the back door of his cruiser open. And waits for the pair to comply. Doesn't look like they're being arrested, as no cuffs come out, and no rights are being read. Maybe he's serious about it being a quick chat.

Lilith is pretty close to Byron, and he can see (and practically feel the frustration on her with body language he knows well)-- the woman doesn't like that option at all, her face screws up with a moment of 'are you serious right now' and she starts to make a bit of a show because why not, there's onlookers. She doesn't go full ham with it, last thing she needs is an excuse for any of the other cops to see her as 'disorderly' but...

"Right this second? Aren't you supposed to ask if we want an ambulance or something, we were just shot at and had to play a game of Fast and Furious with angry crackheads or whatever the HELL that was just about! They were clearly targeting us, probably for money because I can't imagine what would make someone so desperate. Can you, Byron? Don't they see who you are?" Huffy and offended, Lilith rakes a hand back through her hair, then blows out a huge sigh like she just CANNOT believe this.

(Also, she's trying not to set his ass on FIRE now. Think!)

Oh. She just figured out what Byron did, a little slow to catch on with side-eye at the man. Maybe they should get him away from the car for the time being. Maybe they don't want to be taken somewhere and shot in the head, but... that's more manageable than this stuck-by-public-appearance problem for Lilith, in truth. After a flopping drop of her hand, she says, "Let me at least get my purse, that is NOT getting towed, it's Prada." Prada, guys. Prada.

(Byron knows Lilith isn't this entitled, but they just got out of a Wraith, so...)

Also it has her phone in it, at least and is a quick and visible grab from the floorboard.

Not only is Lilith's purse in the car, but Byron's phone was as well. Somewhere on the Driver's side. "A flat? Is that all that you see?" Thorne, himself, sounds slightly annoyed by this, "Since you're no longer in need of it." Since it's CLEAN!, "Let me call my mechanic to collect the car. I'm paying enough for damages as it is." It's not just the tire, it's the parts of the Rolls that was rammed. Hell, it's missing a driver-side mirror. "I'll want pictures taken to send in to my insurance as well."

With Lilith leaning forward to make a grab for her things, Byron stands to the side to openly observe this, before bumping into her as she backs out and he passes through, so that he can fish out he can crouch down and fish out his phone from just beneath the driver's seat, his gaze glancing over at the Charger and the open car door. Rising to stand, he rolls his shoulder to try and loosen it, feeling some pain there, "I'm sorry about your loss." What does the businessman know? "I won't say that I know the feeling, but I understand it." As he speaks these words, Byron tries to mentally assault the man to relive his worst nightmares. His fears. His despair. Even his grief.

The cop simply waits for the pair to do as they're told, and get in the back of his damned car. His radio goes off again while Lilith's ducking back into the Rolls to fetch her phone, and he can't help but point out, "Don't you have a brother or something, Bryan?" Small towns, man. But then the guy's talking to him again, something about being sorry for his loss, and Liu clams right the hell up at that. Because what the fuck would a poncy pretty boy know about losing people? He opens his mouth to respond, when that wave of emotion hits him, and knocks him right back against his cruiser, breathless.

A couple of paramedics come over to check Byron and Lilith over for injuries, make sure they don't need medical attention. Thorne's got a couple of scrapes, and one of them smiles and says he'll be fine, asks the cop if he's all right. He waves them both off, and they shrug and trudge off again.

Then the sound of retching, as Liu bends forward and loses his lunch. He stays like that for a while, crouched down, wheezing, as the emergency crews get the place cleaned up. Then, "Get in the fucking cruiser." And both of them feel the incipient crackle as of heat being leached out of the air.. and suddenly filling the trunk of Byron's Rolls Royce. Fire, fire and more fire, until the gate explodes outward with the force of it, prompting the firefighters still lounging nearby to start hoofing it over double time and yelling at them to back away.

Gross, Liu. Gross. Lilith is good at blood and guts and sickening crunches and snaps of bone, but bad at bodily fluids like mucus and puke. Go figure. But she keeps her calm as the man leans over to get sick, looking at him with a vaguely baffled expression (which again, she can't tell what Byron does, easypeasy). Then she turns to look away for her own damn good before she goes getting sick herself. And she doesn't. She reaches out a hand for one of Byron's and starts to turn to ask, "... are you finished? If--"

Lilith has been so good about using her wits and keeping generally tactically cool while lashing out with her powers, which Byron knows is a show of will for her. She even took cover without him forcing her to when there were bullets, which is also kind of a hit or miss thing with her. And look, she didn't even puke or make Liu bleed, she just blew his pants out with petty distraction. The real question is, how long can she keep the calm up, the gut instinct to FIGHT because she feels cornered is STRONG and she's still kind of high off of causing chaos in the wreckage.

Then things change. Lilith snaps. There's no warning.

There's one thing that keeps Liu from getting his throat maimed (or an attempt) on the spot once Lilith feels the heat rush out of the air around them. For a split hair-trigger second, she KNOWS what's happening, it's how she makes very, very big and angry fires with pull and speed flare of kinetic energy. While Lilith is still partially turned, the trunk 'fwoomps' with the flames that start havoc on the car itself, which makes her PTSD reflex subconscious realize at the last second it's not them being plowed with fire. She slams her power with mirror image assault under the hood of the charger, not the trunk.

Also if Lilith is supposed to be running anywhere to not get exploded, Byron might want to take care of that.

"... what fucking charger?"

Who the fuck is Bryan?

Bryan...er Byron doesn't really have a chance to ask this question. So much weird shit's been going on that's it's hard to understand what the whole story is. He allows the paramedics to examine him without much trouble, though as distrusting as he is, he keeps a good eye on them to make sure that they weren't corrupt paramedics. You can't tell in this town anymore.

At this same time, he's also on the phone with his mechanic, "Rosencrantz. It's Thorne. I'm gonna need you to come over and pick my car up. We're on Oak and.." He pauses, eyes on Liu, "Officer Liu, are you alright?" Sure it's acting, but he tries to direct paramedic attention to the man, "I think... I think that officer needs help." But it doesn't seem like Liu wants the help. Back on the phone, Byron states, "Sorry about that. Something came..." What Rosencrantz might hear first is Liu's angry tone as he commands them to get in the cruiser. That is then followed by what could be an explosion in the background. "Shit! Gotta go. Get here soon. I think that fucker blew the trunk off my car."

As expensive as his car is, it's merely a material thing. Byron could have it repaired or replaced, but that doesn't mean that the officer's assault on his vehicle doesn't raise his ire. He's about to make a retort back to the man now that he's off the phone, but it seems as if Lilith has her own ideas, something which... well, in truth, it'd be a lie to say that he didn't expect it. After the first explosion, another soon follows and all that Byron can do is reach out an arm for the woman's hand to force her to crouch, before tugging her out of this chaos, "Jesus! It really is like a war zone out here." This is said to the paramedics and firefighters and everyone else trying to keep things from getting out of hand.

When the firefighters tell them to get back, Byron complies, dragging Winslow along with him. During this, however, he knows that Liu is the real danger, so even as he allows himself to be ushered to safety, he never lets the other man out of his sights.

Fucked up doesn't even begin to cover this day. Shit's on fire, vehicles are flipped over, the road's shut down in both directions. Is Byron even alive? Didn't Lilith kill him? Is this all some figment of someone's imagination?

This fucking town.

Then Liu's cruiser pretty much explodes, and his first instinct, which may surprise the other two, is to shove them back so they aren't hurt by it. Yes, he doesn't want them to get hurt. The firefighters run over, get that shit hosed down, everyone's ferried off in another cruiser to the station, and has to sit through a round of cursory questioning, since they were at the scene of some really strange shit, and it's just protocol, you understand. No charges are pressed, Byron's name is kept clear.

Unfortunately, by the time his car makes it to Rosencrantz, all that anyone's going to be able to find in the trunk is a mangled, melted mess of plastic. Them's the breaks, yo. The car's probably not a writeoff, at least.

Harvey Liu, though, is gonna need new pants. And a new cruiser. And that kind of pisses him off.