The warmth of his bed was nearly intoxicating, so even though the day had moved into the afternoon, Asher didn't particularly care he was still in bed. The sun was trying to peek in from behind the blinds of his bedroom window but to no avail. They were made with a deep opaque fabric, and he kept them tightly shut for lazy days such as this.

There was a noise disturbing his half-asleep bliss, though, and it was beginning to aggravate him. He couldn't tell what it was, being that he was covering his head with his blankets, but it had been going on for a few minutes, and Asher's hopes of it stopping were starting to dwindle.

Reluctantly, he left his haven of comfort and sleep to investigate. He shivered as he opened his bedroom door, the living room fan circulating fresh air throughout his apartment. He noticed that thankfully, the air conditioning seemed to be functioning correctly at last.

Someone was pounding relentlessly upon the front door, causing it to shudder in its locked position. Asher's brow furrowed in confusion. He never had visitors other than his friends, and they had keys in case of an emergency. If they genuinely wanted inside as much as this person seemed to, they had the means.

He stepped carefully over the empty cans and trash that littered his living room. Dirty cups and bowls were scattered about his small kitchen, and he was pretty confident there was a wet towel on the bathroom floor from the previous night. He wondered to himself, as he nearly tripped over a stack of books, how much food he would have to grant Will in exchange for cleaning up after himself for once.

Once he had evaded all the booby traps set in his living room, he successfully reached the door. He did his best to smooth his dark hair in its deranged, uncooperative state and opened it only to be blinded by the harsh rays of the afternoon sun. Stagnant hot air assaulted his face, and the sound of chirping birds began to ring in his ears. He held his hand up to shield his eyes so he could see the origin of the disturbance.

"What in the world -"

"Asher Crowe?" a deep voice asked, a tall man with silver hair and emotionless eyes stood before him, clad in dark clothing and combat boots, with a cloak around his shoulders.

"Um... Yes?" he said hesitantly, clearing his throat when his voice came out gravelly.

"Captian Ryker. We will need to enter the premises for investigative purposes, which stem directly from the Capitol. If nothing suspicious is found, we will be in and out quickly," he said in a monotonous voice, professional, to the point, and void of detailed explanation-typical of a Capitol official.

"Alright then," he mumbled, knowing he didn't have much choice in the matter.

He moved to the side, widening the entryway for him. As the Captain stepped inside, several others followed, quickly scattering to different areas of Asher's apartment in search of who knows what. They were dressed similarly, but the clothing was not as elaborate. Their uniforms were plain, dark shades, adorned only with the Garrick symbol and likely their names. Whereas their boss, or whoever he was, had his shoulder covered in various clips or pins of diverse colors, probably representing all of his prior achievements and his current dominant position.

Captain Ryker was the one in charge here.

Asher stood noiseless next to the open doorway and eyed the Captain, who occupied the other side. He was a tall man, lean but still muscular. The head of silver hair was thick and full, yet he seemed too young to be sporting such a look. He wondered if it was one of those fashion trends Hannah had a tendency to ramble about.

They were silent, all that could be heard was the thumping of boots hitting the floor and items being shifted on shelves or within closets. The Capitan waited patiently for his troupe to finish, and Asher idled impatiently for them to just get out of his space. The sight of these uniformly dressed Capitol people in his home oddly disturbed him. This was his safe haven, his retreat from the weight of the world, and discussion of anything Capitol related, and now they were in his home.

The Captain drew a small device from his pocket, which created the faintest beeping noise, steady and repetitive. He held it in his palm, staring intently at it. Asher assumed it had a screen of some sort, a Capitol gadget, but he couldn't see it well, and he didn't venture to converse with the man.

A sharp pain abruptly seared through his skull and pricked the inner corner of his eye. He involuntarily groaned, rubbing his temples. It had begun the previous night after getting out of the rain, and consistently woke him up every hour throughout the night, thus his complete right to sleep in so late, in his opinion.

The beeping from the small device seemed to be growing more boisterous and speeding up, irritating his head even further. The little insistent annoyance began to make his eye twitch with each assault to his ears, causing him to wince in pain and pinch his eyes closed. He was becoming overwhelmed, heartrate increasing quickly, and breathing becoming unsteady. They needed to leave. He despised Capitol people and the stress they caused him by mere mention of them.

"Hey, kid!" a voice shouted in his face, causing him to jump and eyes shoot open quickly, looking up at the man. His scalp was stinging, and he suddenly realized he'd been tugging on fist fulls of his hair. He released his grip carefully, feeling disoriented and uneasy, and began to rub the palms of his hands together anxiously.

The beeping hadn't sped up or increased in volume, as Asher had imagined. It was maintaining its bothersome mantra of a soft indicator every two seconds.

"Apologies, I've been suffering from severe headaches lately," he explained.

And you're making a significant contribution to them, by the way, he thought to himself.

The Captain closed some of the distance between them and peered down on him, scrutinizing his face while still holding that stupid machine in his hand. Asher couldn't determine what the man was thinking. His face was a blank slate, almost stone-like. He seemed to loom over Asher, but the boy refused to let his harsh gaze make him feel inferior or shrink from his authoritative aura.

It was clear the Captain had successfully been trained to hold his composure, or maybe he just wasn't phased by anything. Perhaps he had observed weirder things. Or maybe he was just a Capitol asshole who only cared about the assignment, and whatever else happened was utterly irrelevant.

But then, to Asher's astonishment, the man raised an eyebrow inquisitively, almost as though the situation amused him.

His attention was quickly snagged however, by the device, which had abruptly stopped its noise entirely. He stared at it for a moment and then shoved it into his pocket.

"We're done here," the Captain said suddenly, thus summoning all the officials in the apartment to discontinue their burrowing into Asher's personal life and leave the apartment. Asher watched as they left in a very uniform fashion, falling into line one right after the other, perfectly spaced apart and walking in sync. He desperately wanted to roll his eyes at these emotionless, robot-like people.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Crowe," he said, staring down at him for one more scrutinizing moment before exiting himself and closing the door firmly behind him, his dark cloak billowing in the breeze. Asher listened as their heavy footsteps made the stairs cry out in an ear-piercing squeal, forced out by the weight of so many people at once.

As the sound died out, Asher came back to reality. Capitol officials had just raided his home, and they left immediately afterward. Asher lived between two apartments, so if they were investigating everyone, they would have had to move on to one beside him, depending on which end of the hall they had started on. So what about his apartment made them call off their search? What could they possibly find useful or interesting about a place like this?

Asher lazily shuffled through the room, staring at the giant mess, which had been made much worse after they invaded his privacy. Not that he had anything to hide.

He grumbled to himself in frustration, "Fuckin' Capitol," as he began a long afternoon of cleanup.