John chuckled. "Come on." They went into the clothing store and John looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was following them, but didn't see anyone. He led her over to the pants first. "I'm guessing you don't know the sizes of any of your clothes, do you?" She shook her head. The clothes she wore now looked like they were supposed to be one size fits most, so he couldn't go off of them either. "You will have to just try stuff on."

He had her pick out a few pairs that she liked, and then picked out reasonable pants for her when the only ones she chose were pajama pants and a Halloween costume. He held them up to her to see if they were generally the right size and then had her try on a few pairs. When she gave him an uncomfortable look and started to undo her pants he quickly added, "In the changing room."

He showed her where it was and then waited outside while she tried them on. He looked around for anyone following them again, but still saw nothing. He hoped Leon would be okay. "John?" He heard Selena call through the door. "Yeah?"

"I put them all on and one of them fits good. What do I do now?" She asked. The clerk nearby looked a little confused, but probably heard stranger things around here anyway. "Keep them separated from the ones that don't fit so that you don't get them mixed up, and then put your old pants back on and come back out."

She came back out holding one pair in her left hand and the other two in her left. "These ones are good." She handed them to John. He looked at the size and then walked he back to the pants section, putting back the other two pairs. He grabbed a few other pairs that were her size and then moved to the shirts section.

"The process for shirts will be the same, we grab a few and try them. Then we know what your sizes are and pick out the ones that you want." They went through the same process for shirts and socks. He wasn't sure what to do about her underwear. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable by trying to pick those out for her, but he also wanted to make sure she didn't pick out anything expensive or anything that was barely something that you could call underwear. He decided to just let her pick.

"We need to get you some underwear too. Do you think you can pick that out on your own now, or do you need help for that too?" He asked her.

She looked a little intimidated at the choices. "I will try to choose by myself, but I will come get you if I need help." He nodded.

"Great idea. I am going to go pay for these at that counter over there if you need me okay?" He pointed. "You don't try on panties, the bottoms. Just grab some that look like they will fit. Bras you do try on." She nodded and then they split up. He went up to the clerk and put her clothes on the counter.

"Your girlfriend is lucky, I wish I could just come in here and have a guy buy whatever I want." She said to him casually, scanning each item in.

John just smiled, unsure how he could explain this in any way that made sense. He looked over his shoulder and scanned the mall for any followers. It almost looked like that guy was...

"Are you paying with cash or credit?" She asked him. He handed her some cash and then went back to looking. The guy was gone. Must have been nothing. He took the receipt and the bag and then walked over to a seating area outside the changing rooms.

A man in a nice suit walked in. "Selena?" He spoke through the door, trying not to attract attention.

"John?" She responded. "What is it?"

"Are you almost done? I think we might have company." The man was getting close enough that he would be able to hear them. He walked up to the counter and spoke to the clerk.

"Um... almost. I don't normally have these kinds. They just give me the type that look like shorts and the ones that wrap around your chest." She admitted.

"Okay. Stay in the changing room until I come and get you, alright?" He told her through the door.

He heard movement, and then she stuttered. "Yeah, okay." She must have nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see her. He walked up to the counter, grabbing a random pair of socks on the way there.

"... any sort of backdoor in here?" John heard the man say. Fuck.

"No, not that I know of, sorry. You can get out just around the corner over there, or I can call security if it is an emergency." She said, concerned.

He just nodded and then reached into his pocket. John grabbed his arm and then moved around to look him in the eye. "Don't move besides breathing and blinking." He turned around and said the same to the cashier, then turned back to the man. "Tell me the truth and the entire truth. Who are you?"

"I'm Berty Gerome, I am immortal and I work-" John interrupted him.

"That's enough. Are you with the Council?" John asked.

"Yes." Berty responded.

"What are you doing here." He asked next.

"I am here to kill Subjects 590 and 591." Berty answered.

"You aren't going to do that anymore." John told him. "What were you going to do after that?"

"I was going to go back to the Council and report to Council Leader Stevens." Bert told him

"Okay. You are going to go report back to him now. You are free to move again. You killed Subjects 590 and 591 already." John said.

Berty nodded and then made his way out of the mall. Was it really that easy? John figured that since they knew about the mind control, they would at least send someone that was immune to mind control or try something unique.

He turned back to the clerk. "Forget that you ever saw that man or were present for that conversation. I was just coming up to the counter to buy this pair of socks. You are free to move now."

She smiled and scanned the socks. "Is there any other last minute items that you might have forgotten?" She asked him.

"Actually, the girl I came with is still trying on clothes, I just wanted to order all of this so that she could change into them when she is done." John explained. The clerk nodded and John made his way back to the changing room. "It's all safe out here Selena." He spoke through the door.

He heard her sniffle and then heard more movement. A few seconds later the door opened up and Selena ran to John and wrapped her arms around him, crying into his shirt. He ran his hand through her hair.

"I know. I'm sorry that I scared you. You're safe now." John told her.

He held her for a little while longer and then led her back into the changing room. "Here, change into your new clothes and then put your old clothes in this bag." He handed her the bag of new clothes and the bag that the socks had been put into.

He waited outside while she did that and then he grabbed all of the bags. "Did you find underwear that fit?" He asked her. She nodded and handed him the set that was her size. He looked at the numbers and then put it into the new clothes bag. They took back the other pairs and grabbed more that would fit her. "You should try all of these on, I hear that the fit is weird, even if they are supposed to be the same size."

After another bit of waiting outside the changing room, Selena came back out. "They all fit except that this pair is poky." She handed them to him.

"We will just put them back, this should be enough." They went back to the counter and John paid for everything else. "This should be the last of it." He said to the cashier.

She smiled and looked over at Selena. "Getting a whole new wardrobe huh? Must be nice." Selena hid behind John a little bit. "You two are all set."

They made their way out and John led them over to a bathroom. "Go in there and change into your new underwear now, put your old ones into the bag of old clothes." John told her. She nodded and then went in. John kept an eye out for anyone else from the Council, but the mall was clear from what he could see.

She came back out and handed him the bags. "Thanks John." They made their back towards the entrance of the mall and John threw away the bag of old clothes on the way out. The less that the council had to identify her by, the better.

They passed a bookstore and Selena stopped at the window, entranced. John sighed. "Okay, we can go in. It's probably a good idea to get you something to do anyway." They walked in and John followed Selena as she wandered around in reverence.

"I've never seen this many books." She said to him. Eventually she somehow managed to pick out a few books. A couple of sappy romance novels, which she seemed embarrassed about, a few fantasy novels, and finally another book by H.P. Lovecraft.

John paid for them and then the two went out of this entrance and towards the one at the back where they had parked. They got into the car and made their way back to Leon's. On the drive back, Leon called and John had Selena hold the phone while he put him on speaker.

"What's up Leon?" John asked.

"No luck with my friend, he doesn't want to get the Council pissed at him. So much for my plan of calling a hearing and exposing them. I can't exactly walk up there and call one myself, unless I want to wake up in a lab. If I wake up at all." Leon explained. "I am on my way back to the house now."

"We are on our way back too, so you can just use my password to get in." John told him the code that he made and Leon thanked him and hung up.

Damn. "What are we going to do now?" Selena asked him.

"We will figure it out." John said, trying his best to seem confident.

They pulled into John's driveway and got out of the car. John knocked on the door and then heard the lock click and walked in.

The only thing he saw was Leon bound and gagged before something hit him in the head and he blacked out.