The clothing store ended up being a much larger outlet store than I had expected. Having clothes for all genders, it was also broken up into separate areas for different themes. At the front was the more generic punk clothing ranges, but at the back was more specialised ranges for different themes, including cyberpunk and steampunk. In the middle there were comprehensive footwear, cosmetic and accessory displays. I walked around in complete awe and could have easily spent days there exploring it all. Jake however was not as amused, especially as we weren't the only customers in the store. There was one female employee. She was wearing black cybergoth clothes with heavy makeup and bright neon green cyberlox hair falls. She was giving advice to a group of young female customers. Then there was a couple checking out the queer ranges. No one paid us much attention despite Jake acting very nervously.

"I'm not wearing a top hat," Jake mumbled, giving the steampunk section a sideways glance.

"No? I bet you'd look great in one," I teased as I checked out some of the cybergoth racks.

"If you want us to go outside the stereotype, I'm just not sure cyberpunk will do," he commented quietly.

I picked up a gas mask and held it up to my face, "Perhaps, but all of our photos have us dressed plain clothes. Going full out would not be expected. And look, it's multi-purpose! Hides my identity and keeps me protected in case of smoke grenades!"

"That mask won't protect you against anything and you know it," he frowned as he reached for the switch on the side, turning on the LEDs lights. "It's just a gimmick."

"Ok fine, but it would still look mightily intimidating," I smiled. "Like you don't want to fuck with me."

He raised an eyebrow, "So now we're trying to scare anyone that looks at us?"

"If they feel too uncomfortable even looking in our direction then they're unlikely to realise it's us, right?" I shrugged as I spotted a different mask. "Hey look, there's even a muzzle for you!"

I held up a black leather mask with a metal grill to Jake's face. He snapped his jaw at me behind the mask, which made my heart skip a beat.

"All you need a collar and leash and he's perfect," a voice distracted me. I glanced over and realised the employee had come over to check on us. "Did you need any help finding anything?"

"Um, no, we're good," I blushed. "This store is amazing though. I don't think I've ever seen so much range before."

"Danke, we try," she smiled. She looked around and lowered her voice, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but you're the ones from the news, aren't you?"

Jake noticeably shifted defensively, "Put it down, we're going."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean it in a bad way!" she defended. "It's just- you're kind of famous in the community right now. Shit, what you two did at the prison, that was fucking amazing!"

"Thanks, I think," I said uncomfortably.

"MC, now," Jake grumbled.

"No, no, I mean it, you're safe here!" the employee pushed. "No one's going to rat you out. Just, if there's anything I can do to help, let me know."

"That's quite a sales pitch," Jake sneered. "She's just trying to delay us. MC, let's go."

"Why the hell would I come up and tell you I recognise you if I was trying to keep you from leaving?" she questioned.

"She has a point," I admitted. Jake was still not convinced.

"But if I can be honest, you need better disguises if you don't want to be recognised," she laughed.

"That's kind of why we're here," I shrugged. "We need new clothes."

"Hmm, first you need to lose this," she gestured to my wig. "But if you're looking for a complete makeover, then speak no further! I'd be happy to give you the full work. Even this one wouldn't be able to recognise you!"

"Really? You'd do that?" I asked.

"Yeah, I do it all the time, especially before a big rave. Speaking of, are you going tonight? Ha, they'd all lose their shit if they knew you were going," she humoured.

"Going? Oh, is there a rave tonight?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's going to be lit!" she beamed.

"Sort of defeats the purpose of a new appearance if we then flaunt our identity to hundreds," Jake rolled his eyes.

"Hmm, that's true," she admitted. "Well, I won't tell."

"It would give us a good cover," I thought out loud.

"You can't be serious," Jake turned back to me and frowned.

"You're the one who said it's easier to hide in a crowd. Think about it, if we're dressed for the occasion, no one will look at us twice. We could go and have some fun," I debated.

"Until it gets raided by the cops," he argued.

"Yeah, and you'd be amongst hundreds of others running," the employee laughed. "Cops would have fuck all chance of catching you."

"Again, she has a point," I shrugged.

Jake shook his head, "All it takes is one idiot posting a selfie with us in the background and suddenly our pursuers are swarming the venue!"

"Hey, there will be a large group of Antifa present. They won't hesitate to step in," she said with a hushed voice.

"That's what I am afraid of. It'll be a massacre," Jake sighed.

"We'll think about it," I assured the employee. "About that makeover though, would you be able to do something with him too?"

"I am sure I can work something out," she smiled. "As long as he doesn't bite my head off in the process."

"Would you believe he's actually a big softie?" I teased.

Jake frowned at me, unimpressed that I gave up his secret.

"Ok, well let's work on you first," the employee insisted. "Oh and my name is Zoe. I always forget to introduce myself."

Zoe took me around to the counter to show me the trends in her look book. After choosing a couple of punk outfits and styles that we thought would work well for me, I went into the dressing room to try them on. Jake meanwhile found a chair in the corner of the store and waited. Whenever I stepped out to show him the clothes, he shrugged and didn't really say anything. I rolled my eyes and came to realise I was on my own for this decision. Once I decided on one set of clothes, I rejoined Zoe to work on my makeup. She had found a long, bright pink wig with soft curled pigtails. Putting the gas mask from earlier on, I checked myself out in the mirror and didn't even recognise the person looking back at me.

"Awesome!" I exclaimed.

"I know right? You look nothing like your photo now," Zoe said confidently.

I glanced over at Jake, who looked at me blankly, "What?"

"It's good. You won't be recognised," he said plainly.

"You don't like it," I frowned.

"It's a disguise. It serves its purpose," he responded.

"So what do you want me to do with him?" Zoe asked apprehensively.

"Well he needs to look like a typical male raver, but nothing that would get in way of free movement and maybe no makeup," I thought out loud. "And maybe let's not mess with his hair too much."

"I thought you wanted him disguised too," Zoe turned back to me in confusion.

"We can get by with just a face mask for him," I reasoned. "He's obviously not getting into the spirit of things."

"If you say so. I'll go pick out some things for you," Zoe left us for a few minutes.

"What's your problem?" I shook my head.

"There's no problem. It's just not you," Jake answered vaguely.

"That's kind of the point," I said confused.

"What do you want me to say, MC?" he asked defensively.

"Why you're acting weird," I pushed.

He sighed and rolled his eyes, "I am just not sure you're taking this seriously. It feels like you're just playing. Are you serious about going to the rave?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Maybe."

"MC, remember what happened on the train," he narrowed his eyes "Only instead of a crowd of scared civilians, there's hundreds of intoxicated, adrenaline fuelled idiots that think they stand a chance against heavily armed, trigger-happy government agents. It would be much, much worse. It would be a bloodbath."

I sighed, there was no denying he was right. Part of me was still tempted to be irresponsible. It wasn't worth risking the lives of others over though.

"MC, why do you want to go anyway? It's just going to be hot, crowded, loud, and full of drugs and alcohol," he frowned.

"I thought it would be fun to do something different," I explained. "To distract ourselves for a little while."

"We can do hot, loud, drugs and alcohol in the safety of a secluded location," he said intensely. "I know you feel disconnected with the rest of the world right now, but this isn't the time to get careless. We need to focus on finding somewhere to hide."

"Yes, I know," I conceded while looking around the store.

Jake was quiet for a moment, then spoke up again, "We could use the location of the rave as cover though. If we headed in that direction tonight, it would be harder to track us."

"So we're going to the rave?" I turned back to him confused.

"No, but I take it the rave is an abandoned building somewhere unpopulated. There's bound to be other abandoned buildings nearby," he explained. "We could use this knowledge and cover to our advantage."

"So we're going-ish," I joked.

Jake narrowed his eyes, "You still want to go?"

"Well if we're going to be in the neighourhood anyway, we could swing by," I mused.

"No, MC. One slip-up could have so many terrible consequences!" Jake tried to keep his voice hushed.

"Come on, Jake, you're being paranoid. It would be only a couple of hours! No one would even notice we were there," I argued.

"Does this really mean that much to you? This event you didn't even know about before we walked in here?" he pressured.

"An opportunity to live a bit normally again? Yes," I nodded.

"Since when did you go to raves?" he frowned.

"Aha, there's things Jake doesn't know about me," I declared happily. "I haven't been to one in a long time, but does it really surprise you that much?"

"I suppose I do have more things to learn about you," he smiled, but it was brief. His expression immediately turned sour again, "Please don't make me regret this. The lives of all those we affect negatively with our selfish decisions weigh heavy."

"I sense a story," I commented.

"I am looking at her," he responded simply.

"You haven't affected my life negatively," I said taken aback.

"Haven't I? You're desperate to do something that feels 'normal'. That sounds pretty negative to me," he sighed.

"Hang on, you think I'm not happy? I never said that Jake. I just want to take a breather with you to live a little lighter, a little freer," I argued.

"I didn't know living the past few days in the penthouse has been that hard on you," he pointed out.

"It was nice, yes," I whispered. "But we were squatting. It's not like there wasn't the impending sense of dread of being caught the entire time we were there."

He shook his head, "Let me do the worrying. I have more experience on the matter."

"Excuse me? Are you telling me not to think? Because that's what it sounds like to me. I'm not your fucking bimbo, Jake," I glared.

"I never said you were," he acted offended. "Hang on, you think I think of you that way?"

"I don't know," I folded my arms. "You sure as fuck make it sound like it."

At that point Zoe returned with a few sets of clothes for Jake to try on, "Sorry to keep you waiting. Here's a few popular items that I think you'll like."

"Thank you," Jake muttered and grabbed the hangers from Zoe. He then disappeared into the dressing room.

"I'll just help these other guys while he tries them on. Let me know if you need anything," Zoe said to me.

"Thank you," I nodded as she walked away.

After a few minutes, the door to the dressing room slowly opened halfway. Jake was in the first outfit, but looked out of place. I walked up to the door to see what was wrong, when he grabbed my arm, pulled me into the room and shut the door behind me. He pressed me against the mirror, his face inches away from mine.

"You're not a bimbo," he mumbled. "You're so much more to me than someone to have sex with."

"Then you have to share the stress of everything with me," I said firmly. "And uh, exactly what was your plan for proving your case to me?"

Jake laughed, "I don't know. I have this need to kiss the uncertainty out of you, but I'm not sure that would be beneficial to my cause. I just know I hate arguing with you."

"Me too," I smiled.

"Now be honest, I look like an asshat," Jake stood back so I could get a better look.

I couldn't help but giggle at his take of the outfit, "If you don't like it, try the next one."

"Ok, but I am not sure it will be much better," he shrugged.

Jake took off his shirt in front of me and then his pants without any hesitation, then quickly chucked on the next set of clothes. Though it had straps and chains Jake couldn't comprehend the purpose of, the t-shirt and loose black pants fit him rather well. Zoe had added in some accessories to try as well. I went through it one by one, helping Jake put it on. First there were studded, leather arm bands, then fingerless gloves, then white and black goggles to wear over his head.

"MC, these goggles do nothing," Jake complained.

"But they look cool and that's what matters," I laughed.

Then I noticed Zoe had snuck in the muzzle along with a simple black collar and leash. I bit my lip as I made Jake put them on.

"Is it really necessary?" he raised his eyebrow.

I grabbed the leash and pulled his face close to mine, "Yes."

He smirked, "If you say so."

I tugged his leash to turn him to look at the mirror, "See? Your face is pretty obscured even if we don't put any makeup on you or a wig."

I could hear him sucking his teeth under the muzzle, "All I see is that pink wig."

"Ok, that's it, what's wrong with this outfit? Hmm? What happened to 'You look hot in anything you wear'?" I frowned.

"You still look hot," he clarified. "It just reminds me of some not-so-good people. I don't like you dressing like them. You're so much better than them."

"Well I am not them. These are just clothes, right? Clothes don't make a person," I pointed out.

"You're right. I don't know what got into me," he shook his head. "But you are doing that annoying, standing out thing again."

I laughed, "I am sorry, I will try to stand out less."

"Please," he pleaded. "I don't want you to have the attention of an entire rave. Otherwise, I will have to spend the entire time fending off scumbags trying to roofy you."

"Really?" I questioned in disbelief.

"I wish I was joking," he sighed. "We probably have spent long enough in this dressing room."

I looked around playfully, "I was just getting used to this place. It's quite cosy."

"If you want to go tonight, we need to scout out a place to stay," he reminded me.

"Ok, ok, let's pay for everything and get out of here," I let go of the leash.

"I hope your plan works," said Jake as he grabbed his clothes to pack away.