OOM

[_righthandman_]

Thank god for 24-hour pancake shacks. Chase could go for some syrup-slathered breakfasty stuff right now, and the IHOP's a lot cleaner than White Castle.

He's not certain that all IHOPs have unusual breakfast condiments lying around in the kitchen, either, so that's another stroke of luck for them.

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[_mother_dearest]

Lyrae, meanwhile, took a few bites of the pancakes, grimaced at the sickly-sweet taste of syrup and immediately requested peanut butter. The cigarette-smoking waitress was in the awkward, wrinkled-but-tanned stage that falls halfway in the twenty year slide from beach bunny to skin cancer patient with breasts that had never really gotten accustomed to a normal bra from all the time in a bikini. She just rolled her eyes at the request for peanut butter and slurred out an affirmative reply.

Upon her return with the peanut butter, Lyrae cheerfully spread it on her pancakes. Now, that was tasty.

[_righthandman_]

Well, it's better than putting it on french fries, so Chase doesn't think much of it. He drowns his waffle in butter and three different flavors of syrup and munches cheerfully.

"You know, it's not every night that I get to play Nerd Jesus. This is fun."

[_mother_dearest]

Lyrae gave him a withering look, and commented levelly. Yes, she did manage to say that with a straight face.

"Being an object of worship by deluded individuals is a serious matter, Lord Chase."

[_righthandman_]

"Aw, Lyrae, come on. Better us than someone who would've been irresponsible about it and told them to sacrifice kittens or something."

Chase shakes his head. "And we got them to donate money to charity. What's wrong with that?"

[_mother_dearest]

Lyrae shook her head.

"It... did not seem right, somehow, but I saw little other way to go about the matter..."

At this point, the excited murmuring from the next booth over distracted Lyrae, who glanced peevishly but decided not to say anything.

[_righthandman_]

Chase glances over his shoulder, hoping they haven't been followed by any of their new devotees, but it's just a group of shifty-looking college-age kids. Chase takes another bite of waffle and shakes his head.

"Well, they kidnapped you. They had it coming."

[_mother_dearest]

A small sigh.

"I suppose."

Behind her some of the college students began to talk more excitedly as she took a bite of her pancakes.

"What do you think, Pedro? You think Revolution86 has finally got the thing working?"

"Remember the last time we trusted in that guy? It was just something he pulled out of his chem book."

[_righthandman_]

Stupid-ass screen name, Chase thinks absently, pouring yet more syrup onto his soggy waffle.

"Yeah, but remember, he said it blew a crater like this big in the football field and it didn't even get traced back to him. So it works."

"Yeah, man, what if we could put, like, anthrax in it?"

Chase turns around to stare, slack-jawed. They don't notice.

"They have to be fucking kidding," he murmurs under his breath to Lyrae.

[_mother_dearest]

Lyrae frowned slightly, and glanced back over her shoulder. It sounded serious and from what she has seen of this place, not unlikely.

"We shall see certainly."

A slurping sound from the booth behind that made Lyrae twitch. Poor manners and sinister intentions were a poor combination in her opinion.

"Dude, Jimmy, what'd you have in mind for somethin' like that? Your dad knows all about that sorta stuff."

[_righthandman_]

"I could get him to bring some nitrocellulose from the lab if I told him it was for the science fair. That shit burns up like crazy in like two seconds, it's fuckin' awesome--"

"Dude, we could put Cordilla virus on it! That'd be so much better than anthrax--"

"Shut up, dumbass, you know we can't get no Cordilla virus." Chase hears a smack and a whimper. He puts his face in his hands.

"I'm supposed to be off-duty tonight," he complains quietly.

[_mother_dearest]

Lyrae did not know what they were talking about specifically, but it sounded serious, not that they did, and that angered her.

"Should we pay them a visit, then?"

[_righthandman_]

"Let's let them talk for another minute or two to see if they give us any more info."

Because at this point, he doesn't know what they're actually capable of, if they're connected to an organization, who else might be involved, et cetera--and the more information they can get without interrogation, the better.

"Okay. Ahmed, you can get the instructions from FaithSword322. Jimmy, you get the explosive shit from your dad. Juan, you can bring the scrap parts and stuff from work."

Chase pinches the bridge of his nose. "Worst. Terrorists. Ever."

[_mother_dearest]

Lyrae commented rather dryly. What a bizarre evening this had been. She had no problem using her powers against such little monsters.

"I would certainly think that your nation could stand against such inept individuals. I can harmlessly extract information from them quite easily."

A resounding bit of high-fives were passed around.

"Dude, this is going to be so sweet! Pedro, what are you gonna do?"

[_righthandman_]

"Uh, trust me, most terrorists don't sit around loudly bragging about their plans in the middle of restaurants. I only wish they were all this goddamn stupid."

"I'm gonna plant the thing. We just need to figure out where."

That's about all Chase needs to hear. As long as they're not operating under orders from anyone higher up, they can be taken in right now.

He gets up, flashing his badge. "LA Counter-Terrorist Unit, guys. Not only are you under arrest, you're a bunch of fucking idiots."

[_mother_dearest]

Lyrae rose with him, her hands folded demurely in front of her merely watching with interest. This ought to be amusing if nothing else. Two of them simply remained rigid, frozen in horror. One made it into the aisle before tripping and falling.

One began to run to run for the restaurant door, Lyrae nodded to Chase.

"I will fetch the one who is running. We shall be back momentarily."

Lyrae walked calmly out the door of the restaurant. After a few moments, the sound of a banging, some muffled screams, and a car alarm were heard.

[_righthandman_]

Chase rolls his eyes heavenward, jams his hands in his pockets and sighs.

'Jimmy' pipes up, voice trembling. "Is this gonna affect my scholarship to Villanova?"