Kyle, Jason, and Rikki

Kyle eyed the sleeping man suspiciously. He watched the man's chest rise...and fall, rise...and fall, in a slow, steady pace. He'd been gazing at the stranger for the good part of ten minutes now and found him utterly fascinating.

“He must be the one,” Kyle muttered quietly.

In response came a soft “Hoo hoo” from a tiny feathered creature perched on his left shoulder.

“I know, I know, but remember our orders. He must be alive or else we won't get anything from him” Kyle told his feathered friend.

“Hoooo”

The small burrowing owl cocked it's head to the side as if contemplating the man's words. Despite the huge blue open sky the park presented, the little bird chose Kyle's shoulder as it's perch. But Kyle was more than simply a perch. He was the little birds flock, and while it was only a flock of two it was home.

The bird cooed softly and Kyle brought a hand up to quiet it, “Shhhhh Rowdy, shhhhh. You mustn't let him know of our plans.”

Kyle patted the small bird named Rowdy lightly, barely touching the tops of his feathers. Rowdy was quiet, realizing the motion meant silence. Kyle absolutely loved the bird with every piece of his being. He would do anything for Rowdy, even take a bullet for him. Ever since he saw him trapped in a back alley dumpster he knew they would be friends for life. The poor little thing was half starved with a broken wing and missing left toe. He had been thrown away and forgotten but it wasn't too late. Kyle had brought Rowdy home and fixed him up, made sure his wing healed in place and got him ready to be set free back into the wild. But when the time came, Rowdy never left Kyle's shoulder. Turned out the little bird liked Kyle as much as Kyle liked him.

“He really does sleep quietly for a sleeping man....” pondered Kyle aloud. His nose was inches from the mans face before he ducked down again.

The stranger lay horizontally across the park bench seemingly gone to the world. Kyle's face slowly rose from behind the man's head like a submarine breaking surface.

“I wonder...” Kyle slowly raised a hand just over the man's face. He was about to wave it once when the stranger's arm snapped up, grabbing Kyle's hand in a vice-like grip.

Kyle jumped,“He-Hey!!”

The stranger's eyes shot open. He growled low,“wondering will get you nowhere my curious friend.”

Kyle gasped in shock. The man was awake! Awake the whole time! He must have everything!!

~~pov change to Jason~~

Jason watch the man squirm in his grip. A grin crawled across his face, growing from one corner of his mouth to the other. The genuine shock on the man's face was so amusing..

“Unhand me you faker!!” the man squealed in anger.

Jason did. But it didn't seem to help the mans disposition. He started on some long rant about spies and WWII and about how the government was really under the Russian control. Must be some vet with PTSD. Will probably start screaming about bombs in a few minutes.

Jason rolled over onto his side to block the man out. He closed his eyes to continue his nap. The man would stop eventually....

A hand jabbed him firmly in the side making his eyes jump open. Okay, now that had just crossed the line. Anger flared to the surface. This stranger was going to be sorry he ever laid eyes on Jason.

Jason's eyes flew open in cold calculation, already planning what he would do. He would start with the thumbs....

The stranger began yanking at his shoulder and had actually managed to pull him half off the bench before Jason sent him sprawling to the ground with a broken nose. Something, must be a bird, had jumped from his shoulder and took refuge in the trees above.

All this didn't seem to faze the man. He was too concerned with something he saw just behind Jason. But Jason didn't care enough to look at the moment.

The man scrawled backward, pointing and screaming, “Woman! Evil woman!!” his eyes grew wider as his fear approached, “We must get out before she becomes nuclear and kills us all!”

If Jason wasn't so mad he might find the man amusing, but not now. He stepped up to the man and picked him up with a fist, holding him up off the ground. The man weighed nothing, literally. Jason was thin but he had muscle, this guy was just skin and bones. The torture would hurt even more for him...

A sultry voice stopped Jason dead cold, “Oh sweeeeetie,” he could feel her hot breath on his neck, “Don't hurt it.”

It was her.

He barely noticed the struggling screaming man in his hand or the bird that was now flying and diving in circles at his head, or even the crowd of confused strangers who had gathered. All he could hear was Rikki in his head.

Rikki smiles deviously behind him, “I think I've hurt this one enough already.”

She reaches out from behind Jason and strokes the man's face. He cringes at her touch.

Jason drops him and he crumples to the ground only to bounce up again and run away in a full panic. Jason watched the man flee if in a daze. Rikki's sweet perfume filled his nose and it seemed to consume him from the inside out.