[OP: "Resurrection"-- Nicole Sporenberg.]

Romance was watching the whole thing without interfering since he thought Baby was actually doing pretty well.

Was this what he sounded like before? No wonder Mystery had been surprised by it.

"Um, excuse me," Jun startled him by appearing again from the corner. "Do I need to call the police? Is she in any danger?"

"No, at least not from him," Romance said. "But you should go. This could get dicey."

He hoped that no demons were going to show up to interrupt the conversation. Eileen had been distressed, that might not help.

"Umm... Are you sure I shouldn't call the police?" Jun said.

"I don't think it's a thing cops will help with," Romance shook his head. "But maybe he can talk her down."

"Um... she's not... suicidal or something is she?" Jun lowered her voice. "I know someone who works with that... through my church."

"No no... I mean, well, she might be, but I think she's just scared," Romance was worried Jun would get closer and hear them mention demons. "Wait... did you say church?"

"Uh yeah... I'm a christian..." Jun said, as if worried that this might get a poor respond.

"Oh... that's nice," Romance said blankly.

So someone who might already know about demons... well, it might depend.

But still, she probably hadn't actually seen one.

"It is?" Jun said.

"Oh sure, my mentors are that... I mean we're all that, kind of now," Romance said. "Or whatever you call people who accept the ethics, even if they don't use the label."

"Labels don't matter," Jun said. "Well, nice to meet another one in the wild...but are you sure your friend is okay? She looked really upset."

"If you pray, just do that," Romance said. "You probably should go back inside, before you get fired."

"Manager isn't here right now, why do you think I came out here?" Jun backed up. "But yeah... I should... I guess if you need anything, let us know. I'm sorry for prying."

"Oh, nothing to be sorry about," Romance said. "It's nice of you to care, but, I think this is a personal matter..."

"I understand," she nodded. "Good luck."

She walked away.

"What a nice lady," Romance thought to himself.

Why couldn't the girls be more helpful like that sometimes?

Well, he owed them too much to complain about it.

* * *

Baby and Eileen didn't hear any of that, Eileen was still gaping at him.

Baby was starting to find it disconcerting. "What?"

"I don't know, I'm not sure how to take you saying all this," Eileen said. "In a weird way, that's, like, the most respectful thing anyone's ever said to me, and it's from you, the one who doesn't respect me at all."

"You're a person, right?" Baby said. "That's all, basic human respect... I'm not a monster."

"I guess not," Eileen put her hands together awkwardly. "I can't wrap my head around it though... Vladimir... he doesn't even like me, why...? Or know, it's just about proving it... but I can't do that... I'm not good under pressure... Crap, I'd screw this up for everyone if it came down me..."

"Maybe it won't," Baby hoped not.

"But he's already made it that way," Eileen said. "Yeah, because if not, he'll still be evil. And he's dangerous... if I could stop him,  you'd all like it, but I can't... I couldn't fight him, never... he'd kill me in minutes... and I can't pressure him, I'm a stupid little girl to them. To me, even..."

"It's not your job to do that," Baby said flatly. "It's his own dumb fault for not believing his eyes."

Pause.

"Huh..." Eileen said. "Wow, that felt good to hear for some reason. He is dumb... I mean why did he put this on me?"

"Because, he just sees people that way," Baby was disgusted with it. "It's not about your life, it's about if it benefits him. He's a pig... but the others just don't see it. They feel sorry for him."

"I guess... maybe he's not as bad though," Eileen said.

"Really? Because he's seen enough to switch sides, and he can't grow the spine to," Baby said. "Now he's using a teenager girl as leverage? And they think he's the victim here? It's stupid. Man the frick up and make your own choice."

"Wow... uh didn't you, like... choose last though?" 

"I was not the last, Romance was, and I made up my own mind. I didn't let anyone else make it up for me. They all hated on that, but I don't think anyone else is responsible for my decision," Baby scoffed. "So there. They can't rely on him. Even if you got free, he's just find some excuse not to believe it, if he's that scared."

"Not gonna lie, you're making some sense, and that scares me more than if you were being a jerk. You're right... I can't control Vladimir's decisions... boy, that felt weird to say. Not that I ever had control over anything, but, I really... I dunno though... is that just letting me off the hook?"

"What hook? Do you owe him?"

"A little, he warned me... he at least did that."

"Fine, say you owe it to warn him... that's all you owe him. I don't think that's on the level of walking into an obvious trap. and you did warn him. You sent that message with the others."

"I did do that already... I wonder if he even cared," Eileen mused.

"Well, they said that is when he started asking questions, so maybe," Baby didn't see that it mattered. "But he's still a coward. Don't do anything stupid, that's my point."

"But if it were you, would you really just... I don't know, walk away from it?" 

"After that many chances, I think I would."

"Didn't your friends give you, like, a million chances though?"

"Well.. maybe, but I didn't think we could be free, that was different. This guy clearly knows."

"I dunno if it's that simple, y'know," Eileen leaned on the wall suddenly. "Don't you remember how hard it is to believe anything but Gwi-ma, when he's in your head. You all have shut him up a little, and it's made me feel clearer, finally... but before, I couldn't think that concrete about it. It was just one big whirlwind of guilt... shame that I'm such a loser... and I think Vladimir feels the same way. He's got nothing either."

"So you'd really still do it?" Baby shook his head.

"You and Romance don't want me to, do you?" Eileen glanced towards Romance, but he was out of sight.

"We think it's not fair, " Baby said. "It's playing with your soul, if you're not ready... you can't force this stuff... if we try, it's right where Rumi started with the dumb golden honmoon thing. That's all it is."

"So you think it won't work."

"Why does it matter what the reason is, do you really care?"

"I dunno," Eileen said. "It'd be nice if it was that you liked me, but even thinking you should at least be fair is still massively an improvement upon past experience." She sniffled a little suddenly. "Dang it... now I have to stop being such a jerk to you."

"Oh don't let that stop you," Baby said, pretty mockingly. "I can't stand guild motivated kindness. Just be your usual awful self if that's your only reason."

"Well, like, what is your motivation if it's not guilt?"

"It's not guilt, it's logic."

"Wow. Then logically, that makes you less of a jerk right? So I have to act like it."

"That's not the real priority right now, is it? What are you going to to do?"

"I dunno what to do," Eileen sighed. "I almost... started to feel human again... but... then I don't... it's like... sometimes I feel real, and then I feel like some empty shell again. But I felt like before Gwi-ma too... what's left of me? Huh? If I had anything at all, I lost it ages ago. Some of that was my fault... some wasn't, probably. I was just everyone's whipping post... or worse."

"Is that what you said earlier?" Baby said with a look.

"It's darker than I'd like to say out loud," Eileen said. "I was alone... weak... what do you think happened to me? But, you knwo... I stopped feeling anything about it ages ago... now it just seems like a joke... like some big, long, horrible joke, the type of show that goes wrong one thing after another... And I... I'm the main character..."

"Main character syndrome is not an admirable quality."

"Yeah, you just gotta have a joke for everything, you know that?" Eileen rolled her eyes. "Ugh... you're so immature."

"And you're not?"

"I am... but I know it."

"I know it door. I'm not claiming to be any saint."

"Good... well still... for some reason I can talk to you," Eileen said starengely.

Baby didn't know what she meant. "Huh?"

"I think it's this, you don't expect people to treat you that nicely anyway," Eileen mused. "Like, you never act surprised that I'm a basket case. You just dish it back. It grates on my nerves, but it's not that intimidating. Sometimes, I think Rumi looks at me like I'm a rabid dog."

"To be fair, Rumi looks at all of us like that, even her friends. Celine beat that judgmental stuff into her head."

"Celine too... but the others don't like me too much either, they act uneasy around me."

"You made them uneasy on purpose."

"Yeah... maybe... I guess that's just what I do now." Eileen glanced at her hands. "I don't remember a time I wasn't like that. Got sent to the principal's office a lot too.. before I got expelled. Honestly, no one ever had any use for me anyway. I wasn't that surprised that Delray didn't either. Of course I was just his scapegoat. That's my life."

"And he chose you because he thought you'd take that," Baby said. "But I think, it's better to annoy him by not taking that. He can suck it. "

"Oh... but why do you care?"

"Me? Delray is the worst, like I want him to win."

"Hm, you know he never seems to say anything about you," Eileen said. "Just to 'keep him busy'. I think he might actually be worried you're not as easy to manipulate as the others are. All of them care too much, you don't care enough to be manipulated."

"I care only when it's serious," Baby defended himself. "But not enough to do stupid things over it.

"No, you 'lock in'," Eileen made air quotes. "That's unusual... most people just panic. Yeah, you could be a big problem for Jumbo. He's really good at manipulating people and intimidating them, works on all of us, Vladimir too, even... but what does he have on you? Gwi-ma can't get you anymore, and you don't get worked up when your friends are in danger either. You're just... kinda there. That would really throw a wrench in his plans."

"Is that supposed to be flattery?"

"Just that I only realized now why he figures he should just distract you," Eileen tapped her temper. "But he probably didn't know you'd unleash major damage on the other demons. That was new. That changes stuff. Maybe you should avoid him."

"I don't plan to get close to him."

"Just answer one thing then," Eileen leaned back and looked at the sky now. "Are you even microscopically personally invested in this?"

Pause.

"Yeah," Baby finally said, in a low voice. "I don't really have a lot of emotions about it, but I want Gwi-ma out of my life. And the world. And anyone who helps him, needs to either stop or get gone. This is not my idea of a good existence."

"And about my fate?"

"Why does that matter?"

"Please," Eileen said in a low voice. "I need to know."

Pause.

"I don't hate you enough to want you to go back to Gwi-ma," Baby finally said, reluctantly. "That's all."

"So, you care at least enough for that... That's something, finally someone who wants me to go to hell," Eileen almost laughed, almost. "Thanks... for whatever it's worth, you people are the first ones to ever tell me that... but I think that means, I have to help."

"Help? What do you mean?" Baby didn't expect this turn.

"If you all die, I'm dead too. I'd rather help you... do at least one thing, ever, that I could be proud of. If it's all for nothing, at least, I tried. Finally. If that means I have to face Vladimir again, fine... like, I get it.. it's insane, but, this was risky to start with, and I knew it was not a great host that I'd even get away. All I ever did was try to save myself... or I gave up. I'm a wimp... worthless..." Eileen then looked donw sadly. "If I could be part of this, even for a minute... it wasn't worth nothing."

"What if that's not really fair?" Baby couldn't believe this was her conclusion.

"Life isn't fair, right?" Eileen said. "My life sucked so much... honestly, if I even died doing something not pathetic, it's more than before. I'm not... happy about it, don't get me wrong. But, I can't... I can't go back to hell.. and I can't go back to living alone, out there, not if I had any choice about it this time. Even if you all are asking me to do something incredibly dangerous, Least it's important... you want me to do something, anything... I can't let that go. I'll... I'd never... I couldn't forget that."

"Eileen," Baby got more heated than he ever thought he would at such a statement. "This isn't some test. This is real. There's a high chance you'd die if you got close... and that's if it works at all. You'd probably survive if you just say no. They could be guilted into letting you off the hook, they're all soft."

"And then what? They let mes off the hook... but they won't respect me." Eileen said. "Come one... would you?"

"I wouldn't care. You have the right to make that choice."

"And that's very sweet of you, in a very weird way, but, do I?" Eileen shrugged. "Am I really the one who's got the right to say no? I'm a... a demon, Baby. I'm not innocent."

"The worst thing you did was lure a few people into a trap."

"It's still bad. I'm not stupid, okay? I mean, not that stupid. Not that blind... I can't just pretend that didn't happen... not anymore. I could before, but, all of you are too... sincerely noble about this stuff, I feel like crap ... Can't I just try? Just for once?" Eileen looked fragile saying that.

Baby didn't know what to say to her.

It seemed crazy but... it was her choice.

He sighed. "Fine... if that's what you actually want, do it. But I think it's a mistake."

Pause.

"I thought you'd put up more of a fight than that," Eileen finally said.

"It's not my idea, but, it's up to you, I can't stop you. The others would say it was brave or some crap, but I don't know... All of us are trying to survive, it's just what really makes that happen."

"You are so unemotional, it's almost funny," Eileen smiled faintly. "But... Lowkey, admit it, you were surprised that I said that."

"I'd be more surprised if you went through with it," Baby retorted.

"What if I do?"

"Then Ray was wrong about you. And I'd pay money to see the look on his face when he realizes it."

"That would make it a little easier for me if I could see that," Eileen smirked a bit more mischievously. "Jerk..."

Then she stood up. "Well, I feel... both kind of terrified and kinda relieved. I didn't think I'd have any kinda control over it. Maybe... maybe choosing it on purpose wouldn't be so bad..."

"Must feel weird to take responsibility for your actions," Baby's attempt to be mean right now didn't land very well.

"Oh shut up," Eileen said.

Suddenly, her skin darkened.

Baby jumped back, thinking that Gwi-ma had found them after all.

Eileen's eyes gleamed for a moment.

"What?" she said, with a weird look. 

Romance, watching from the corner, gasped.

Eileen felt a snapping sensation inside her chest.

She put her hand over it.

The patterns vanished and her eyes went back to blue.

Baby gaped.

"What? What just happened?" she demanded.

"Do you... hang on," Baby stepped forward and yanked the jacket off of her before she could stop him.

"Hey!" she cried, alarmed.

But, then she put a hand to her ear. "Wait... nothing is happening..."

She looked at the ground for any sign of a portal but one appeared.

Baby blinked. "Your curse just broke, Eileen."

Romance came around the corner. "Did you do it just like that? What did you do, Baby?"

"I didn't do anything, she... I think she just made the right choice..." Baby said.

Eileen laughed strangely. "What? That was... was that it? That didn't even hurt."

"It doesn't hurt," Romance said. "Well, not for all of us."

"Holy cow, I... I'm free?" Eileen rushed to the window of the coffee shop and looked at herself in it. She touched her face and then tried to turn into her demon form.

Nothing happened.

She laughed again. "My gosh... it's.. it's gone... I'm human again."

She turned to look at them dizzily. "I feel weird..."

"It's a lot at first," Romance said. "I... oh my coffee... crud... But we have to tell the others."

"We have to get out of here now," Baby looked around. "Gwi-ma... he's gonna know, demons will be here soon if we don't go."

"What about the coffee shop?" Romance said strangely.

"What about it?" Baby said testily.

Romance frowned and then went back inside.

"Did you do something?" Eileen asked Baby.

"You did it," Baby said. "I didn't do anything... I said, you made a choice that wasn't selfish."

"I didn't officially do it yet," Eileen said.

"No... sometimes it's being willing to do it that seems to make it click," Baby thought that had been the case for him or Romance.

Eileen stared at him strangely, and then she hugged him, which shocked him.

And embarrassed him.

"Hey! what the heck are you doing!?" he pushed her away and turned bright red.

"I just got so excited I had to... you're the only one here..." Eileen said, a little flustered herself perhaps but too happy to care. "I mean...wow... I... I'm alone in my head... finally... this feels so good. Did it feel like that for you?"

"I didn't feel anything at all," Baby said.

"Really, that's wild..." Eileen shook her head. "Amazing..."

* * *

"Miss Jo, this is gonna sound weird," Romance said, "but, you should leave work early."

"Uh... what's going on?" Jun asked.

"I can't really explain it," Romance said. "It would... it's... dangerous people might show up here soon... in the area I mean."

"Minsu... don't take this the wrong way, but who are you actually?" Jun asked warily.

"It's not about me, but, I know there are... bad people on their way here, they're after a friend of mine," Romance said. "And we have to go before they find us here, but, I mean they will target anyone who was nearby also."

"If there's a problem we're supposed to either lock the doors or leave," Jun said. "Or stay here, if it's too close."

"Just do what you need to do, and the other workers here too," Romance said instantly. "It's important. It should be okay by tomorrow though..."

"I hope this isn't some gang ," Jun said.

That was a common reason to have trouble... or being in debt.

"Let's say that it's close to that, bad people who target anyone weak enough," Romance said a bit shakily, as Eileen was one of those people--and so were they.

Jun looked a little scared.

"Uh... Ming-ming," she went to the back. "There's some trouble... we need to close up. Emergency."

"Oh gosh, what?" the other barista said. 

"Not sure exactly, but it's bad, there's a warning to clear the area if we can," Jun said.

"I'm grabbing my stuff now," Ming-ming said , scared.

Romance waited while they grabbed their stuff and then closed the shop.

Baby and Eileen were still outside.

"We have to go now," Baby urged him. "Before it's too late."

"Let's just walk them to the bus stop at least," Romance said. "Just in case."

"Whatever," Baby said.

It was just across the street anyway.

"Who are you?" Ming-ming asked them.

"Uh... nobody," Romance said.

"Hey, stay safe," Jun said to him. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, we're going to people who can help protect us," Romance didn't think it was wise to keep worrying these women. "But we have to hurry."

"I guess," Eileen said. "I'm still reeling right now."

"Here," Jun handed her a card. "if you need any more help... our doors are always open."

"Oh... thanks." Eileen said strangely.

* * *

"Where did Baby and Romance got?" Abby asked.

"I don't know..." Mystery was reading and hadn't even noticed they were gone.

"They just disappeared?" Rumi looked up sharply. "When?"

"Sometime after we stopped talking..." Mira guessed. "Shoot... did they go outside?"

"Just use that racking app we all have," Morph said. He took out his phone. "Hmm, ah ha, they're close. I think they're okay."

"No red flashes," Jinu said. "But... uh, Baby really didn't seem happy with the plan."

"I know he wasn't," Raven said, coolly.

Pause.

"You say that as if you purposely ignored it," Celine then said.

"I tried something," Raven said.

"Huh?" Rumi said.

Morph shrugged. "So... Raven thought maybe, if we talked as if we didn't care about using Eileen, it would finally motivate Baby to take this more seriously."

"You... didn't want us to use her?" Rumi looked betrayed.

"It would be pretty cold to do that without her knowing," Morph said. "We'll have to involve her, but, not without telling her. Did you really think we'd do that? But... Rumi were you really okay with that? That's unexpected. Didn't you all kinda know we were exaggerating how far we'd take it?"

"How would we have known that?" Mira asked.

"Well, we thought the plan would be too extreme," Raven said. "And you would all object and suggest modifying it... not that you'd just go along with it. Are you so desperate you'd just do what we said?"

"Well, if it worked," Rumi said. "And you had an idea.. and we came up with all those different ways to use it...some were worse than others, but you never said...what was best."

"I guess I thought we'd pick an option that would be okay with her," Jinu said. "Was that not it?"

"We can't know what would be okay with that woman," Celine said. "She's not an altruist."

"Vladimir is the one who said that," Morph said.

"I don't think an addict street urchin is going to be the hero of your assortment of sajas," Celine said, savagely.

"Who would be then?" Abby asked.

Celine declined to answer that.

"Did you think Baby would do anything though?" Mira asked Raven warily. "Why would he?"

"He just needs a little more motivation," Morph said. "After we talked to him I thought maybe he was finally starting to take this more seriously... why not give him a chance to decide what he really is willing to do."

"And Romance?" Jinu said.

"Him too," Raven said. "Though it was more of an accident, but, it was nice to see them both stand up for someone for once."

"My gosh," Abby looked at her like she had turned into something totally new. "You've really started to act like your mentor... This whole thing is something Shine would do, in fact. You said she's tricky."

"Oh, I don't know, Shine's not much of a liar," Raven said.

"You misled, I don't think you really lied," Mystery looked up. "Technically, you did just say we needed different ideas... not all of them involved sending Eileen directly into danger, but, sh'es still at risk no matter what we do. I think she has to know that, I don't know if she'll accept it."

"This is a test for he too, then," Morph said. "What she's willing to do tells us how much we can trust her intentions or her courage. If she wants us to keep her away from all this, and try to hide her till it's over...that's reasonable, not everyone is meant to fight... But we'll see. I do think Vladimir is more likely to switch sides if she talks to him directly. We don't have a lot to go off with him. And not a lot of time. But we knew that already. I'm amazed that you all thought we'd really go behind her back. When did we ever do that?"

"Well you snuck around Jinu and I at first," Rumi was salty.

"Never to put you in danger," Raven said. "That was just gathering intelligence, that's not the same thing. Really, Rumi."

They heard the elevator then.

"I think that's them now," Morph checked his phone again. "I'm going to wring their necks for leaving without telling us, that's a cardinal rule for the team."

But he never got the chance to do any such thing.

Romance came into the room in a hurry, with Eileen right behind him.

Baby wasn't in a hurry, he never rushed anywhere if he could help it but he came in looking still a bit surprised.

"You guys had better have a really good reason for leaving--" Rumi began before Morph could even say anything.

"Guys, you won't believe this," Romance didn't even listen to her. "It's done."

Rumi stopped short. "Huh?"

"What's done?" Zoey came in holding snacks now.

"Hmm, I'm hungry," Eileen suddenly started at the food. "Like... really hungry..."

"Dpn't touch my hot sauce," Baby warned.

"It's for something more substantial than that," Eileen decided not to sass him this time.

"Don't you see it?" Romance pointed at Eileen. "It happened."

They all gaped at her.

Celine gasped quietly.

Raven walked up to Eileen and circled her like a tether ball.

She cocked her head. 

"No patterns," she said. "And... she seems different. So you saw it?"

"Yes, it was like before," Romance said. "They appeared darker, then they vanished entirely. It happen behind the coffee shop, I watched, she and Baby were just talking and then it happened."

Baby wished he hadn't said that, everyone looked at him strangely.

"Baby did it?" Abby was stunned.

"No!" Baby said. "I didn't do anything, it just hadn't to be at the same time. It was something she said."

"We were talking," Eileen said. "And I said I would... do the thing you all wanted me to do."

"Oh... wait, he told told you about it?" Mira said. "For the record, Morph and Raven didn't plan to make you do it without letting you know first and asking."

"Oh you weren't, were you?" Baby said.

Raven gave him a sly look.

He suddenly turned red with anger.

"Wow," Zoey said around a mouthful. "Sneaky... But this is so great. It's not even been 2 days, Eileen, I think you just set a new record... Dang, boys, you should step up your game."

"What?" Mystery said.

"I'm just kidding," Zoey said hastily. 

"But how did she do it so fast?" Jinu wondered. "I thought it took longer for the effects to sink in of being around humans again."

"Depends on the person, Jinu," Morph said. "I never thought Eileen was so hard hearted. I'm happy for you. I knew you could do it."

Eileeb smiled. "I feel different now."

"Huh, I don't remember feeling any different," Abby said. "We just stopped hearing the voices."

"Yeah," Eileen threw the jacket on the couch. "It's gone. But I feel lighter too... happier, even. That's a new feeling... Last time I felt this high, I was literally high."

Celine winced at that comment, but then she shook her head in amazement. "This is... but this means your plan could.... but no, it's still ludicrous. Even if she's done it, what if it was a lie?"

"I think he was sincere about it," Raven said. She rubbed her chin. "But we can't trust Vladimir to have the courage anyway. Eileen...if they filled you in, do you know why it would be risky to get close to him?"

Eileen sobered a little. "Yeah," she nodded. "I think I get it. But... it's the right thing to do, right? I ain't never done anything for anyone, Raven... Never... At least not that I can remember now. Maybe I should do one thing for someone. Anyway, there's no escaping the fight now... I'm not so dumb that I don't know that Gwi-ma is gonna know I broke that curse... if he's after you all, he'll be after me too."

"And our first girl saja," Morph said. "In the future, if there were more girls who we can find, you'll be easier for them to relate to. For that reason, he might especially not want to let you escape. But we will defend you, I promise. He'll have to get through all of us."

"Yeah, we're not just not gonna do anything to help," Mira said. "This is what we do now."

"Yeah, welcome to the team," Zoey gave Eileen a hug. "Fully. I'm so excited! And nervous! But mostly excited. Now that you're human again, we can really start to have fun."

"Zoey, we have work to do," Rumi reminded her. "We have no time to waste... Vladimir said that we had to contact him in 3 days or less, so that means tomorrow is the last one we got. We have to find a way to let him know...and make this trap so it's a trap for us instead. And we have to find a way to restrain him, and keep Delray away from us so we can talk. Eileen... if you're willing to help, you'll need to gear up too. No time to train you but you should have something, at least."

"Cool, can I use a gun?" Eileen asked.

"No." Raven said. "Unless it's those water guns."

"Could that work?" Zoey said. "What about holy water?"

"I don't know if that's a real thing," Morph said.

"I guess if we put the oil in it, it would be," Jinu said.

"Could do something, if it's sacred..." Mira shrugged. "It doesn't really matter what we use right? Though it's a little weird even to me... But then, we can't just hand her a weapon she can't use."

"I feel like this is missing the point," Celine said, "You still have to convince the Russian this is real. How will you do that? Can't she just hide her patterns if she wishes?"

"I think he'll know," Raven said. "She'll have to make a compelling case. She can't do it alone though...but, there is no way all of us can approach him safely."

"Was that plan E, F, or G?" Jinu rubbed his head.

"I think it was M for Mystique and Morph," Abby said.

"You have to tell all about how you did it," Mystery looked at Baby more expectantly. "What was going on?"

"And why were you by a coffee shop?" Rumi asked warily.

"Oh, did you go see that girl again?" Zoey squealed.

"It wasn't on purpose," Romance blushed. "And I think she thinks we're bad people now... or at  least weird."

"That was something she'd think if she talked to you longer than 5 seconds anyway," Mira said. "I wanted to hear this too."

* * *

The story didn't surprise them too much, after how similar it was to some of the boys... they were still surprised that Baby had facilitated the moment.

The only difference was Eileen's mood had shifted dramatically compared to the other guys. She was beaming.

It was kind of adorable, as Zoey pointed out to Mira and Rumi.

"Yeah, how can she be so upbeat when we have to deal with Vladimir tomorrow?" Rumi said. "And how do we get him to meet us?"

Mira folded her arms. "They're monitoring us right? That probably means, anything we do, online, they're watching for... We can post on social media. Something that would be a hint."

"Okay..." Rumi thought that was a good idea. "What would be a good hint?"

"Well, we just give a time and place," Zoey said.

They applied to Raven and Morph for ideas since they were used to spying.

"We just want Vladimir it get it," Raven said. She rubbed her chin. "What's a place near here you could easily meet him, unseen?"

"Maybe a place that is pretty often used for shifty behavior," Morph suggested. "He'd feel safer showing up there... and not much chance of fans. We could handle any normal criminals if we run into them."

"Well, near here..." Rumi said. "I don't really know. We tend to avoid crime."

"Let's ask the guys," Mira sighed.