An Oversight

The lives of the infamous Wrecking Crew

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Maria Graziano
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An Oversight

Post by Maria Graziano »

Wednesday, February 10, 2010
1:15 am

Naked and cold. Well, not quite completely naked but that's how Maria always felt standing in the very sterile looking Project Rubber Band laboratory in only a pair of boy shorts, a sports bra, and the Old Temple baronial ring hanging from a chain around her neck. The buzz of the busy gnomes who had been awoken for this unexpected visit filled the room with a tense air as they scurried to prepare the procedure. She and G'nort seemed the only living beings in the laboratory that were not moving. With his arms crossed over his chest, G'nort stood on the opposite side of the room waiting to make sure that she was settled into the tank without a hitch. As her eyes caught his, he twisted his lips into a lecherous grin which served as a reminder that she would later like to wring the neck of the gnome who thought it was a good idea to alert their boss to this incident. Her stern frown in reply to his grin caused him to uncross an arm to shoot her a thumbs up. By the look on his face, it wasn't a gesture to give her confidence in what she was about to do but one meant to suggest he liked what he saw. Of course as bloodied and pale as she currently was the gesture had to be mainly to irritate her. With a roll of her eyes, she felt the urge to retaliate in some way but exhaustion kept it an unfulfilled desire.

The deep wounds on her right hip and thigh still radiated pain with every step and blood seeped from the cut on her left shoulder but she refused the offered assistance of the gnomes on the walk to one of the coffin-like chambers in the center of the lab. This was her pain to harbor. Sheer force of will and intense self-directed anger kept her upright. One of the white coated gnomes mashed down a button on the control panel causing the mechanical lid on the chamber to open with a soft whirring of gears. Pale purple light flooded from long rectangular lights on the sides of the interior of the empty chamber. Soon, it would not be empty but full of a yellowish ooze with her floating in the middle of it all.

The gnomes had been able to slow the bleeding from the cuts that Anubis had inflicted on her in the ring but only twelve hours in one of their tanks would heal them completely since the Ward had refused to interact with the magic of GnomCorp. It certainly wasn't a complete surprise. GnomCorp's magic had been slowing the Ward's healing properties on her for some time but G'nort, Maria, and the GnomCorp scientists believed that increasing the concentration of the regenerative properties within the ooze would counteract the problem. Yet, instead of it enhancing the Ward, the Ward had refused to work in conjunction with it completely.

"Ms. Graziano?" One of the gnomes held out a palm as she reached the chamber. The ring. They wanted the Old Temple baronial ring. Metal had a "rather unfortunate reaction" to the ooze according to the gnomes. Maria had never bothered to ask what that unfortunate reaction was or who the guinea pig had been in the tank when they had found that gem out. With practiced ease, she unlatched the lobster claw of the chain hanging around her neck and dropped both the ring and the chain into the outstretched palm.

Without Jenna, Maria's longtime personal assistant, on hand there was nobody in the room she trusted to hold it. Jenna. The mere thought of her seized her heart and made her feel the need to gasp for air. She forced herself away from the emotional pain and instead focused on the physical. Jenna was miles and miles away. She had to concentrate on getting through this night and then she could try to salvage her reputation. "Have Tical hold onto it," she whispered softly as the gnome closed his hand around the chain and ring.

Only then did she have the nerve to lift her eyes past those gathered in the room to the glass window where the man that had helped her from the Arena to Project Rubber Band watched in the observation room above. There was a gnome at his side to explain the procedure at her request. It was time that he finally knew the full truth of what she had signed on to be a willing participant in. Tical's brown eyes met her's for just a brief moment as he studied the laboratory below. That fleeting look was all she could bear before she returned her gaze to the chamber. Although his features were set in an unreadable stoic expression, she could feel his frustration through the glass that separated them. She couldn't blame him for any of it. She deserved every bit of his anger after having pushed the Council into allowing her to take on Anubis without discussing it with him, after having unknowingly lied to him and Ria about still being on the slaver's payroll, after keeping her issues with the Ward from the Crew.

"We're ready," another gnome in a lab coat (or it may have been the same one as Maria simply could not tell them apart) stated, breaking through her dark cloud of self-loathing. Without hesitation, Maria climbed into the coffin-like chamber and lay back. The spinning of gears promptly sounded as the clear glass lid drew shut, encapsulating her within the tank's confines. She had found it best if they immediately close her in. It gave her mind less time to panic over what was about to happen.

The low purple lighting dimmed as a signal that the procedure was beginning and suddenly the warm yellow substance began pouring into the tank. Although, the clear glass lid gave her a view of the gnomes busying themselves above her head, she tightly closed her eyes to wait for the ooze to induce a deep restorative coma. For the next eight to twelve hours, she would float in that unconcious state while the yellow fluid seeped through her pores and wounds to deliver oxygen directly into her bloodstream and the regenerative properties stimulated her body to heal itself. She would awake in the morning feeling a brand new woman. Yet, even those reassuring thoughts did not lessen the instinctive fear that gripped her as the chamber continued to fill.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. And then the words were repeated a fourth and a fifth time in her head just as her grandmother used to when anything worrisome or tragic occurred. Either the power of the prayer or the power of the memory of her grandmother gave her a sliver of strength and serenity. By the time it was repeated for the sixth time her mind was stumbling through it labored by the ooze forcing her mind to shut down. On the seventh time through, she faltered and gave in, allowing the deep rejuvenative sleep to carry her away.
Last edited by Maria Graziano on Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Maria Graziano
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Post by Maria Graziano »

Two days earlier
Monday, January 31, 2010
4:45 pm

"I don't understand." Frustration was heavy in Maria's voice as she twisted the ledger around on her accountant's desk so that the entries faced him right side up. A finger reached out to point to one in January and one in February. "See. The entries are here. The money was taken from my account."

Patrick Lopez shook his head slowly and set the entries from the mortgage company down on top of the ledger to face her. "As you can see, Ms. Graziano, the mortgage company received payments from Anubis Karos to be credited to your account on the first of both of those months."

"You're my accountant. You're supposed to account for the whereabouts of my money, right? So where the hell did my money go?" Maria demanded as she sank back into a chair to frown over the statements from the mortgage company.

Patrick hesitated, placing his clasped hands down on his desk. The hesitation drew Maria's attention. Her brown eyes drank him in, reading his expression until realization dawned. He knew. He knew the answer but he wasn't sure how to break it to her. Her jaw set in a firm, hard line and the sign of anger was all the prompting that the accountant needed. He stalled only to clear his throat before diving into his theory over the missing money. "As we discussed several months ago, I handle your business accounts directly -- Wrecking Crew Racing and Graziano-Bojangles Inc. I have been keeping an eye on your household accounts as we discussed as well but Jenna has still been paying your monthly bills. I have noticed a sizable increase in the amount of your household bills in recent months."

"How sizable?"

There was a deep seriousness to her tone that gave him pause. His thumb ran over the edge of the desk. He owed her the information but he could sense that it had very grave consequences. "I must say that all the receipts have been in order. I haven't called the vendors but they appear to be legitimate receipts."

"How sizable?" Her voice grew fiercely intense. The statement in her hand was slapped onto the desk as she pushed back up to her feet.

An exhale was released before Patrick could continue. "About fifteen percent."

"Christ," Maria muttered, shaking her head as she turned her angry gaze out the window. So thick with tension was the silence that settled over them that the air in the office was nearly unbreathable. All paths led back to Jenna. Jenna should have been the one to notice that the mortgage had already been paid. Jenna should have told her that Anubis was still paying it. Jenna. Jenna. Jenna. The truth was almost too hurtful to accept.

The phone in her jacket pocket suddenly sprung to life with its piercing generic ringtone and instinctively she fished it out, pushing the button to accept the call harder than she needed to as she lifted it to an ear. So entrenched was she in her own fear that the ill mannered decision to accept the call while in the middle of a business meeting barely even registered. "Hello?"

"Maria?" The voice of Adie's nanny, Nikki, caused an instantaneous wave of panic. Her fingers curled around the phone and her words came too slow for Maria's need for information even though Nikki had a tendency of rushing when she spoke as if she couldn't get one thought out before the next struck. Nikki continued without pause. "Jenna and Adie aren't with you, are they? Jenna said she'd take Adie out for lunch for me so I could get some studying done but they were supposed to be back hours ago."

"I'll be right there."
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Maria Graziano
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Post by Maria Graziano »

Monday, January 31, 2010
7:15 pm

The sound of the front door of the New Haven brownstone swinging open caused Maria's heart to leap out of her chest with dangerous hope. She just needed Adie back under this roof. One hand gripped the banister and the other kept its death lock hold on her cell phone as her bare feet slapped against the floorboards of the stairs on her way to the door. Myria and Mike Grimaldi (the Pizza and Beer chef who was quickly becoming Myria's steadfast partner in crime) had barely made it through the door when they were assaulted with the question that dominated her every thought. "Did you find them?"

"No. I'm sorry, Maria." There was a deep level of concern in Myria's tone and she failed to lift her eyes to her sister. Instead, she chose to concentrate on unzipping and removing her coat. Nikki appeared in the doorway leading to the living room, her shoulders sinking as she too heard the news or lack thereof.

Mike read Myria's tone as well and as he took Myria's coat to place it next to his on the rack in the corner, he felt the need to add a bit of hope. Through the gradual course of Mike's business relationship with Tony, his romantic pursuit of Myria, and now his friendship with Maria, injecting optimism seemed to be becoming his role in this family. Considering that being optimistic just didn't seem to be in the genetic make-up of the Graziano siblings (or Ria for that matter), it was a position very much in need of being filled. "They're going to show up, M.G. Promise."

Although her heart clung to the hope that Mike offered, her mind viciously ran over worst case scenarios as she sank to a seat on the stairs and dropped her elbows to her knees, pressing the closed phone in her hand against her forehead with a shaky exhale. Maria's slow consoling rock back and forth on the step was what startled the three others in the hallway. With Nikki and Mike's eyes on Myria looking for answers as to how to deal with this frightening version of Maria, Myria finally began to admit to herself that this problem may be too big to handle without back-up. "Tic's just a couple blocks away. Maybe we should get him? Or maybe it's time to call Bode, Maria."

After that article and with her recent tricks in the Council, Maria wasn't entirely sure Tical would even take her call and Bode was an even worse option. The mere sound of his name drew a humorless laugh from Maria. Her ex-husband was not at all pleased with her recent behavior. Who would be blame him from being concerned to find that a slaver was paying for the roof over their daughter's head? Finding out that Maria had lost Adie might just prove to be the catalyst needed to push their precariously balanced co-parenting idea out the window and send him into a fight for more custody. At this point, what judge wouldn't side with Bode over her?

The door swinging open again broke her internal debate and all eyes in the hallway jumped to the giggly entrants. Adie's cheeks were flushed from the cold but a carefree smile was firmly planted on her lips. Jenna was laughing but had that slightly spaced out look that Maria remembered all too well. She had hoped she would never see it again on Jenna's face but here they were three years later and it was back once again. The door had not even completely swung shut when Maria rushed forward, dropping to a crouch before Adie to scoop her up into an unbreakable hug. "Oh my God," she whispered into Adie's neck, inhaling the sweet lingering scent of Adie's tear-free shampoo.

Stunned silence settled over the brownstone's entry way. The relief of Adie's return did little to break the anxious tension that hung in the air. Jenna's laughter came to an abrupt halt and the closing door seemed to echo off the corners of the room. Maria pulled back enough to meet her daughter eye-to-eye, remaining in the crouch with her fingers curled around Adie's shoulders. "Where have you been, Adie?"

Frightened brown eyes met Maria's in confusion. "Mom?"

"I asked you a question. Where have you been?" The words took on a heated tone as Maria's grip tightened slightly.

The level of Maria's rage startled even Myria, particularly considering it was directed at Adie at the moment. She broke in gently. "Maria."

If Maria heard the warning in her sister's tone, she ignored it. She was dogmatic in her search for where Jenna had taken the little girl. Jenna stood stock still growing ever increasingly pale while Adie took the brunt of the interrogation. The jig was up. It was written all over Maria's face. "Answer the damn question, Adie!"

Scared tears flooded the four year old's eyes as she was forced to face her mother's panic-driven explosion. Her voice came tiny and childlike in stark comparison to her mother's agitated demands. "Jenna took me to the zoo and then we went and ate at that restaurant near the zoo."

Those big brown eyes filling with tears drove enough sense back into Maria for her to loosen her grip slightly and ease the fury in her tone by a degree or two. "By yourselves? Was Jenna's friend Mav there?"

The question caused Jenna to tense in fear. The defensive movement was all the affirmation that Maria needed but Adie's nod in response sealed the unfortunate truth. Maria pushed herself to her feet, releasing her hold on Adie to explode in anger on Jenna. "Jesus Christ!"

"Maria, I can explain," Jenna begged weakly. She released her desperate grip on the long striped scarf around her neck to hold her hands out, palms up, innocently to Maria.

"Oh, you better start bitch 'cause I'm 'bout to skin you alive," she shouted as she advanced a step on Jenna. Mike usually cursed his burly frame for causing him problems in the kitchen but as he reached out to grab Maria's arm, he was for once grateful for it. The size advantage was always helpful when a pair of line cooks got a bit rowdy or when trying keep one of the Arena's baronesses from committing murder. Although, Maria did not fight the hold Mike had on her arm, she did not slow in her brutal verbal attack on her personal assistant either. "Please explain to me why you took my daughter to meet with your drug dealer."

Jenna's hands remained outstretched innocently. While brave little Adie's tears never spilled over onto her cheeks, Jenna was already sobbing with a misery that ran much deeper than the situation at hand. "I'm not using again. I promise, Maria. I've been clean for three years. We just happened to run into Mav."

The Graziano siblings were used to having to alternately take turns at playing referee and, therefore, it was with relative ease that Myria slid into the position. There was one overwhelming thought in her much cooler mind -- to get Adie as far away from this impending disaster as possible. "Nikki, why don't you take Adie to get some ice cream."

Nikki barely took the time to grab her jacket from the coat rack as she ushered Adie out the door. The stunned little girl gave no fight. She was pliable in the face of her mother's seething anger. Maria reached forward, ripping Jenna's purse out of her hands as the door shut behind Adie and Nikki. Immediately, she began rifling through its contents in a search for proof to her accusations. Fear rooted Jenna in place. Tears continued streaking down her face at an ever increasing rate but while the sight of Adie's impending tears cooled her head, Jenna's tears only infuriated her further.

"You think I'm a fucking idiot, Jenna? You're screwin' him again, aren't you?" Maria gave a humorless laugh as she finally came up with a pill bottle with a label peeled off. The purse slid out of her hand and thumped against the floorboards as Maria lifted the bottle and gave it a shake in the sobbing young woman's face. "Here! What are these, Jenna? Vitamins? Diet pills? Some sort of herbal energy boost? Or maybe they're pain pills. Are they pain pills, Jenna?"

Just as Maria's fear had erupted into a fireworks display of anger so too did Jenna's panic over her secret being discovered. Her bottom jaw tightened and she launched herself forward at Maria, provoking Myria to reach out an arm to keep her at a distance. "It's my life! It's my life! Fire me if you want but it's my damn life!"

Maria launched the bottle of pills at the door just a hair's width from Jenna's head as she squared off before her friend. Only Mike's big mitt of a hand gripping Maria's arm and Myria's arm across the front of Jenna kept violence from erupting in the heart of Maria's home. "You stole from me. You took my daughter out with you when you went to meet your drug dealer boyfriend. You have Tical and Ria thinkin' I lied to them 'bout bein' done with Anubis. You put the girls' center at risk over this! And I'm gonna be lucky if Tical even talks to me again! I trusted you!"

"Just tell them I did it! Tell them I stole the money," Jenna sobbed in reply.

The lack of understanding that Jenna's words contained drew Maria back a step with a shake of her head. "The press isn't gonna believe that, Jenna. Nobody's gonna buy it. And it would destroy your mother. No, I'd rather kill you where you stand."

"Nobody's going to kill anybody," Mike broke in, shooting Myria a nervous glance.

Myria swallowed back the tension that gripped her almost as much as the two other women. Someone had to step in. Someone had to force reason on the situation. There was nobody here to do that but her. The youngest Graziano would have to serve as the adult. "Mike's right. Jenna, if you let Maria and I take you to rehab tonight, Maria's not going to press charges. You don't start packing your stuff up now and there isn't enough excuses in the world that will keep you out of jail."

The threat of rehab hung heavy in the air and Jenna balked at it. Her hesitation was not tolerated. The submissive slump of her shoulders told Maria that Jenna was more than ready for this nightmare to be over. She brushed past Jenna to grab her coat, growling low. "Let's go."
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Maria Graziano
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Post by Maria Graziano »

Monday, February 15, 2010
5:59 am

Maria's morning begun as the clock beside the bed turned from 5:59 to 6:00 and Adie had slipped as quietly as she could into Maria's bed after flipping on the television. The two little cold feet pressed against her legs drew a tired sigh and Maria closed her eyes tighter against the pale blue early morning light. Five minutes later, the volume was greatly increased on the television as Adie joined in with a duck who had a terrible lisp singing some peppy number on the wonders of teamwork. Maria pulled a pillow over her head and slept on. The war was on.

By 6:28 when the duck, hamster, and turtle saved the baby elephant and returned it to the grateful mother elephant who had been inexplicably missing while her baby's trunk was stuck in the mud, Adie left the television on and slipped from bed to raid Maria's drawers of cosmetics. More than one tube of lipstick would die in the battle but, although Maria could practically hear their cries of pain in time with Adie's giggles and whispers of "Oops", she refused to budge from her bunker. No, this morning she would stay in bed until 7:00.

At 6:53, Maria could see the finish line and she breathed a happy sigh, closing her eyes once more to enjoy a final few moments of quiet rest. Yet, at nearly exactly the moment she shut her eyes, the sound system in her room exploded with a horrifically upbeat Bollywood version of "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered". If the assault on her ears wasn't bad enough, Adie was quickly back in bed to sing at the top of her lungs and jump in time with the music.

"For cryin' out loud, Adie!" Maria launched the pillow covering her head at the four year old who squealed in delight as she took a pillow to the shoulder.

It was over. Adie had proven herself once again to be the true trouble-maker of the pair. She took her victory lap by jumping extra high through the song's final chorus. Then with an exhale of laughter she dropped down beside her mother. Maria lay on her back with an arm dangling over her eyes and Adie reached as she had multiple times in the past for the Old Temple baronial ring that always hung from a chain around Maria's neck. The little girl's lips twisted in confusion as she failed to find the chain tucked beneath the oversized WRC t-shirt Maria was sleeping in.

"Mommy?"

Maria peeled her arm away from her face to smile up at Adie. "What's up, sweetheart?"

Adie gave a curious tilt of her head as she pulled her legs beneath her Indian style. "Where's your ring?"

The question cut deep. Asking Tical to hold onto it at GnomCorp clearly had been a mistake but the degree of his anger with her was shocking. Yes, she had expected him to be angry about Anubis and the Council. But that angry? Not at all. A heavy exhale was released as she reached up to brush Adie's dark locks back and tucked them behind an ear. "Tical is holding it for me because I had to go into the tank last week and I couldn't wear it in there."

"Why hasn't Tic given it back?"

Adie's continued interrogation made Maria push herself up to rest her back against the dark espresso headboard. It was a good question that left her unsettled for more than one reason. Even in spite of his anger, she didn't think he would make her ask for it. She simply had assumed that he would hand it over the next time he saw her without question. She pursed her lips while she considered her response. "I should have talked to Tic before I did something and now he's angry with me."

Her response came quickly and with a proud smile as she clearly thought she had the answer to all of her mother's woes with this one little response. "Then you should say you're sorry."

It seemed incredibly easy and insanely difficult at the same time. The difficulty she had apologizing seemed directly proportionate to the amount of guilt she felt. It was easy saying that you were sorry to someone you accidentally bump into in the grocery store but apologizing to the man you're sleeping with for going behind his back and pulling the strings in order to face a slaver who wants to take his title and then failing to defeat him thus giving the slaver a chance at the title? Well, that was a lot harder. Eventually a smile slowly formed and she offered a slow nod while reaching for her cell phone on the nightstand. "You're right, Adie."

Adie smirked brightly and gave a sage nod as Maria scrolled down her contact list to Tical's name. "Of course, I am. I'm always right," Adie stated cheerfully.

With a soft laugh, Maria typed in the words and sent the text message without a second thought. I'm sorry. I need to talk to you. Can you come over tonight?
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