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Description

It's 10 AM and Nikki is exhausted. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays she opens up at Jack's Bar and Grill, the pay sucks but the tips are normally good during the lunch hour. Unfortunately for her she works until 2 AM at the Dive Shore, a biker bar just thirty minutes away and a bar maid drinking is damn near a requirement. Last night she lost count of how many shots she had, but the local biker gang, the Lost Ones, were celebrating a big score and although she made enough in tips that she could sit out the next week from either job, she needed this job more than any other. Dive Shore provided her with most of her income yet the pay was under the table, Jack's Bar and Grill was respectable and the only job an ex-con like her could find and she knew if she just hung in there a little longer, she would go from part-time to full time and have a chance at seeing her daughter again.

Nikki, Nicole Mendez-Williams, had been out of jail for almost six months now on parole. In order for her to see her daughter (whom she hadn't seen in over 12 years) was to hold down stable employment for a year and have her own place. A part-time gig didn't qualify as stable employments but the money she was saving from the Dive Shore, was going towards her very own place. She had been staying with a friend she met in jail on a DUI charge. The young girl came from a good family and Nikki's protection ensured that her six month stay was as best it could be as far as prison goes. When Aria told Nikki that she could stay with her when she got out, Nikki didn't believe it. Yet two years later on when Nikki's parole had been granted, there she was in the parking lot smiling. "Told you I'd be here." Were Aria's words, and Nikki has been staying with Aria ever since and only paying 200 dollars a month to Aria's father (who actually owned the place), as a formality. All things considered, life wasn't bad. She had an hour to get the place ready and the others were due to come in soon and she knew she could get her asshole of a manager to let her take an extra break or two with the shirt she wore. Then the her cell rang.

"Hey." Nikki said drolly, the caller ID flashed the name of her parole officer on the screen and the pair weren't fond of each other.

"Nikki" he said. "Where are you at?"

"Work."

"I need you to come down to my office now." he said.

"Another surprise piss test?" she said sounding annoyed "You know you can't keep doing this to me and if you're going to do it, at least do it on my day off how the fuck am I supposed to hold down a job if my parole office keeps screwing me over by having...."

"It's your daughter."

"What?" Nikki's heart starts to beat hard in her chest.

"Your daughter's gone missing....."

"I'm on my way." with that Nikki hangs ups the phone and grabs her purse while dialing her manager.

"Matt?" she says into her phone. "It's Nikki. My kid's missing....for real.....look asshole my fucking kid's missing and I gotta find out what's going on, June should be in soon, and I'm just calling you to let you know why I'm gone....ok? Yeah...I don't know....look as soon as I can make sense of what's happening, I'll let you know....ok....good....thanks....bye."

With that's Nikki hangs up the phone and arranges a car to pick her up. Back in the day, she thinks, she could have made it across the city to her Parole Officer's office faster than a damn car, if there were anytime she needed her super abilities it was now. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and...nothing. No warm feeling, no super powers....it had been years since she and the rest of the superhuman population lost their abilities but every now and then she'd try. She was hoping the seriousness of the situation would somehow give her the push she needed to reactivate them. The world still had magic things, but the magic that had fueled superhuman abilities was extinct and it seemed nothing would bring them back.

Finally her car was there, the driver smiled as she got in the back seat and verified where they were going, Nikki shook her head yes as she called her friend Aria.

TO BE CONTINUED

Description

It's 10 AM and Nikki is exhausted. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays she opens up at Jack's Bar and Grill, the pay sucks but the tips are normally good during the lunch hour. Unfortunately for her she works until 2 AM at the Dive Shore, a biker bar just thirty minutes away and a bar maid drinking is damn near a requirement. Last night she lost count of how many shots she had, but the local biker gang, the Lost Ones, were celebrating a big score and although she made enough in tips that she could sit out the next week from either job, she needed this job more than any other. Dive Shore provided her with most of her income yet the pay was under the table, Jack's Bar and Grill was respectable and the only job an ex-con like her could find and she knew if she just hung in there a little longer, she would go from part-time to full time and have a chance at seeing her daughter again.

Nikki, Nicole Mendez-Williams, had been out of jail for almost six months now on parole. In order for her to see her daughter (whom she hadn't seen in over 12 years) was to hold down stable employment for a year and have her own place. A part-time gig didn't qualify as stable employments but the money she was saving from the Dive Shore, was going towards her very own place. She had been staying with a friend she met in jail on a DUI charge. The young girl came from a good family and Nikki's protection ensured that her six month stay was as best it could be as far as prison goes. When Aria told Nikki that she could stay with her when she got out, Nikki didn't believe it. Yet two years later on when Nikki's parole had been granted, there she was in the parking lot smiling. "Told you I'd be here." Were Aria's words, and Nikki has been staying with Aria ever since and only paying 200 dollars a month to Aria's father (who actually owned the place), as a formality. All things considered, life wasn't bad. She had an hour to get the place ready and the others were due to come in soon and she knew she could get her asshole of a manager to let her take an extra break or two with the shirt she wore. Then the her cell rang.

"Hey." Nikki said drolly, the caller ID flashed the name of her parole officer on the screen and the pair weren't fond of each other.

"Nikki" he said. "Where are you at?"

"Work."

"I need you to come down to my office now." he said.

"Another surprise piss test?" she said sounding annoyed "You know you can't keep doing this to me and if you're going to do it, at least do it on my day off how the fuck am I supposed to hold down a job if my parole office keeps screwing me over by having...."

"It's your daughter."

"What?" Nikki's heart starts to beat hard in her chest.

"Your daughter's gone missing....."

"I'm on my way." with that Nikki hangs ups the phone and grabs her purse while dialing her manager.

"Matt?" she says into her phone. "It's Nikki. My kid's missing....for real.....look asshole my fucking kid's missing and I gotta find out what's going on, June should be in soon, and I'm just calling you to let you know why I'm gone....ok? Yeah...I don't know....look as soon as I can make sense of what's happening, I'll let you know....ok....good....thanks....bye."

With that's Nikki hangs up the phone and arranges a car to pick her up. Back in the day, she thinks, she could have made it across the city to her Parole Officer's office faster than a damn car, if there were anytime she needed her super abilities it was now. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and...nothing. No warm feeling, no super powers....it had been years since she and the rest of the superhuman population lost their abilities but every now and then she'd try. She was hoping the seriousness of the situation would somehow give her the push she needed to reactivate them. The world still had magic things, but the magic that had fueled superhuman abilities was extinct and it seemed nothing would bring them back.

Finally her car was there, the driver smiled as she got in the back seat and verified where they were going, Nikki shook her head yes as she called her friend Aria.

TO BE CONTINUED