<div align="center"><strong>A Shopping Ferret</strong></div><br/>Ferret left headquarters giving the security a slight nod in passing. She paused outside to look over the vehicles parked out there and gave a quiet sigh. Why did everyone have to do flashy or big? It was like they were trying to make up for something. She shook her head and ambled over to a shadowy corner where her bike was kept. True, she rarely used it, but she kept it in working condition for the few times she did need it.<br/><br/>The bike (http://www.motorcyclenews.com/ImgGalleryTn/42/297742/78078_261294.jpg) had painted on it a Dragon (http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2lamaHkQL1r9i5sv.png) that gave a nod to her Asian Ancestry. It was the one thing from the money she has earned from both her past job and this one that she splurged and bought. She’d leave everything else behind but this; she always made sure it made it to her next base of operations. She worked on it herself as it needed, and that way she knew it inside and out.<br/><br/>There was a small storage bin close by and she reached in and grabbed a full leather riding suit in blues and purples and shimmied her way into it. After zipping it up she next grabbed a helmet that matched the bike and put it on. Getting on the bike, she started it up, and after revving it a couple of times to make sure everything was good, she backed it out and then took off.<br/><br/>Ferret headed to a seedy part of town she’d gotten to know upon arrival, as she always did in a new town. It was where she was most comfortable, and reminded her of growing up. She parked her bike next to a small Chinese curio shop and the kids sitting around outside grinned at her as she removed her helmet. “我们得到了你的自行车，鼬。这是与我们的安全。” (We got your bike, Ferret. It’s safe with us.)<br/><br/>She grinned over at them as she unzipped the leather riding outfit. Reaching inside she pulled out something and tossed it to one of them. “我知道了。我付你做得不够好。” (I know. I pay you well enough.) She got off the bike as the kids divvied up the wad of money she just tossed them. Leaving the helmet on the bike, she walked off down the street knowing everything would be there when she got back.<br/><br/>As she walked to her destination, she reflected how Americans would call this place Chinatown, or Little China, but in truth it wasn’t. It was a melting pot of third world citizens of many Nationalities. True there were more Asians than anything else, and why such places got termed as they did. But then again, the average American usually couldn’t tell a Ming from a Cantonese, and thought all Asians were Chinese. She stopped and chuckled at her thoughts as she read an Arabic sign that basically claimed to have all the things you would need from home.<br/><br/>She stepped inside, and after a couple of seconds was greeted by the proprietor ranting at her in Arabic about being so scandalous and a heathen being so undressed. She let him go until he had to pause for more breath and she nodded. “Yes, Sugah, tha’s why Ah’m here. Ah needa full berkah.” The man stood there with his jaw open for a few heartbeats as he stared at her in surprise. The giggle from his wife had his jaw snapping shut and he peered at Ferret suspiciously.<br/><br/>“You not pulling leg, Ryder Sandstorm?”<br/><br/>“No, Rafe. My job is requirin’ I have one.” He blinked at her, then turned away, motioning her to follow. No questions, no speculations, at least not spoken out loud, and why Ferret liked the man, it was also why he was one of the few in Melting Pot who actually knew her real name. “Ah need it ta be street local fer Tunisia.” He paused and looked at her over his shoulder before continuing on with a nod. Soon he had her outfitted with three different berkas that could pass for different social castes. She thanked him and headed out the door with her purchases.<br/><br/>She wandered for the next few hours buying this and that, and a rucksack to store her purchases in. She even managed to find a stick shift knob for Rafael’s Mustang. It was the Navy Seal logo cloaked in a Mexican poncho with a Mexican sombrero. A bizarrely strange find and one that had her laughing as soon as she laid eyes on it, so of course she bought it. It wouldn’t matter to her if he never actually put it in the car.<br/><br/>She headed back to her bike and climbed on after putting her helmet back on and nodding to the kids on guard duty. She headed back to headquarters. Once there, she parked the bike back where it was and stowed away the riding leathers and helmet. She then headed off to home to pack everything up.<br/>