Avatar looked around quickly, making sure they were alone in the alley, and wrinkled his nose at the smell of rotting fish wafting from somewhere.

"I think you should change our faces," he said to Danny. "Ophilia won't be happy if stories go around about Conks visiting some of the places we might be going."

A swirl of black smoke obscured Danny's features momentarily. When it cleared, the bland Asian features the young man had used in their trip through time regarded Avatar seriously. "Good point," Danny said in Mandarin accented English. He reached out, smoke roiling around his hands, and grasped the mystics face gently. There was a brief feeling of change, and the smoke faded. "I hope you like being ginger. Always wanted to be ginger myself." He looked around the area and nodded. "There's a really good market about three streets over from this one. Amazin produce."

Avatar looked down. "Jesus," he sighed. "I was afraid you were talking about Gilligan's Island." He removed his mask, pocketed it, and ran his hands over his new face. "Weird," he murmured. "Thanks."

Avatar led Danny through the bustle of Chinatown. The streets and sidewalks were narrow here, and thronged with locals headed home, night shifters headed to work, tiny grandmothers carrying their groceries, sidewalk vendors hawking vegetables and bootleg DVDs, tourists looking for all-night dim sum, and a thousand other types.

They slowly made their way down Cutler, the shops and restaurants shifting from mostly Chinese to mostly Vietnamese, and then down Burke, where gift stores and pho joints gave way to keno palaces, tattoo artists and massage parlors. The traffic was thinner here, but no less intense; the area promised thrills that were shady, if not illegal. Knots of ostentatiously casual young men lounged on corners, women in tight dresses leaned out of windows, and stores advertising adult magazines were doing a brisk business.

Avatar headed for a shabby storefront. Its pink neon signed sported Chinese characters, and below that the slogan "Health Palace." The windows and door were completely covered with yellowed posters depicting various scenes of spas and masseuses. Handwritten signs, translated into English with questionable skill,  proclaimed "Showers! Yes!" and "Happy Rub For Tension!!"

Danny snickered.

Inside they found a small waiting room that seemed stuck in the 1970s, with wood paneled walls and faded linoleum that would probably never look clean no matter how thoroughly scrubbed. The air smelled of incense with a hint of disinfectant. Behind a sturdy metal desk an Asian man of indeterminate age looked up from his newspaper. He sized the pair up for a moment, rolling a toothpick around in his mouth, before speaking.

"You want massage?" he said. "I give you very good girl. Very pretty." He gestured vaguely to a row of head shots taped to the wall behind him. The photos were faded, their subjects presumably long retired from the massage trade.

Avatar interrupted the spiel. "We want special girl," he said. "We want Kim-Mai."

Already narrow eyes, drew tighter with suspicion as the man dropped his newspaper and sized them both up again.  His voice was sharp when he spoke, "You know Kim-Mai? She see you before?"

 "Before?" Avatar replied cooly. "I heard she never sees anyone twice." He walked closer to the man and quietly said, "That's what Chui Ma Lau told me."

"Mmmmm."  The man gave a curt nod of his head as he made the sage sound.  "Who want to see her?"

"I'm Dr. Peter Venkman, and my friend here is Egon. And this," Avatar said, taking out a money clip, "is Benjamin Franklin and his brothers."

"I like Benjamin.  Benjamin good."  The man said with another nod of his head.  "Kim-Mai, she stay safe?  Yes?"

"Absolutely." Avatar said. He began laying bills on the desk.

"Who see Kim-Mai?"  He asked distractedly as he hungrily spied the money before him.  "One more.  Both can see."

"Egon here needs the massage," Avatar said. He hesitated, then flipped another bill onto the desk for the hell of it. "Just in case," he smiled.

"Verry good.  Egon be in good hands."  The man promised enthusiastically as he scooped up his money.  "Kim-Mai see you now."  He bowed and gestured for the two of them to follow him through the beaded curtain.

"I wish I knew why he kept calling me Egon," said Egon/Danny in flawless Mandarin as he followed the old pimp through the curtain. "It's all very confusing, really."

"Egon very good name."  The pimp assured him as they made their way down a small hallway and through a door. 

"Egon see future now."  The man bowed again and extended his hand toward a door, waiting until both were through it before shutting it behind them.

"Future?" Danny asked Palmer, his tone serious and expression questioning. "What's going on here, really?" 

"There's all kinds of little fish in this town," Avatar explained with equal seriousness. "So I figure we visit some of them, maybe lean on them a little. And we might as well start with a fortuneteller. Maybe we'll get lucky.

"A happy ending can make you see heaven," he said with a smile, "but Kim-Mai can see your future."

"A fortune teller? Seriously?" Danny scoffed, shaking his head. "Some daft old baggage with a ouija board and a deck a cards more like." He looked around as he waited for whoever this was to show up. "Yer mad."

Palmer looked amused. "Think that's nutty?" he said. "I know a guy who can turn into a little black birdie." He gestured to the shabby but sturdy massage table that filled most of the room. "Now take your clothes off and get under the sheet already."

Danny stared at him incredulously. Avatar stared back with cool amusement. Shaking his head the whole while, Danny did as bid, finally settling himself comfortably on the table beneath the cool sheet. "This ain't gonna end well," he muttered to no one in particular.

"Well, the night is young," Avatar replied, unperturbed. "If this doesn't pan out, I'll make some calls. Actually, I should do that while you're getting your reading."

"A reading. From a massage. I think ya just wanted me ta get my kit off," Danny grumbled, trying to make himself comfortable on the table.

"I've seen better," Avatar said. He favored Danny with a cryptic smile and waited for his teammate to ask to be let in on the secret. Danny set his jaw and smiled back.

"It's like this," Avatar relented. "Each and every one of us carries our own story in our body. Our DNA, our scars, muscle memory, tension. We wear our past, and a skillful eye can read it in our skin."

"And I can read right to left," a bored voice announced.

Kim-Mai had quietly slipped into the room from the other door. She was a young Asian woman, probably in her early twenties, and she seemed to embody several fantasies at once. Her long dark hair was tied in a loose bun, like a sexy librarian. Her cheongsam dress and pale makeup said china doll. And the white of the dress, with the matching white heels, screamed naughty nurse.

She eyed Avatar as she pulled some bottles out of the cabinet. "Let me guess," she said disinterestedly, "you like to watch. I guess that's okay, but anything kinkier will cost you extra."

Danny said nothing. He eyed the masseuse critically, and snorted.

She walked over to the table with a lazy stride and pegged Avatar with a knowing look.  "From the smile on my boss' face, you either gave him a happy ending or you paid very generously for this.  Tell me what you're looking for, give me my tip up front, and I'll make it happen." 

Avatar reached behind her ear and pulled out a rolled up hundred dollar bill. "That reminds me, " he said. "We don't have time for a happy ending." He looked at Danny and sarcastically added, "Sorry dude."

Kim-Mai gave a half appreciative smirk at Avatar's trick and proficiently tucked the money away.

But there was no humor on Avatar's face when he looked back at Kim-Mai. "Some serious shit is going to go down tonight," he said.  "A lot of people could get hurt. We need to be in the right place at the right time to stop that. So. Tell us where we're going."

"That's interesting."  Kim-Mai admitted as she rolled the stark white sheet down to expose Danny's shoulders and back. 

"I'm gonna text some people," Avatar said softly. "Contingency plans." He moved to the far corner of the room and became absorbed in his communicator.

Slipping some heated oil onto his skin, she allowed her hands to spread it slowly with practiced ease.  Her hands were soft and strong when she began to apply pressure, and as soon as her more serious work began it was accompanied by murmured words.  Words that were presumably powered by her gift of sight.

"You are a man of many faces..."  She said quietly, her eyes closed as she tuned into her gift.  Her hands though, never stopped in their ministration.  "Many, many faces.  Your body speaks lifetimes of volumes."  Her voice trailed off as her fingers pushed more deeply into the muscles of Danny's neck.

"Conflict. Conflict...surrounds you."  Her hands stilled for a moment and then trailed lightly down his spine and back up again, before resuming pressure low on his shoulder.  "You will see conflict tonight.  Conflict that you don't create.  There will be fear and very real danger."  Her tongue stilled again for a few moments before she continued.  "Death will be there tonight."

Danny said nothing, and face-down on the table as he was, he couldn't really see Avatar. Instead he listened for whatever else the masusse might have to say. He could just barely hear the faint clicks of Avatar pressing keys, making appointments with more of Hudson City's oddballs.

"You are no stranger to death."  She said softly as she continued to knead her thumbs down along his spine.  "She won't find you tonight, but the face you wear won't last forever."  All along the young mans back, muscles tensed. The room grew very still and quiet, the hands of Kim Mai had paused along Danny's spine, just above his skin. She seemed lost for a moment, her strong fingers frozen, inflexible. Finally her hands resumed their practiced pace, but something about her was different now. Reserved.

Cautious.  

Her voice though remained silent for many moments longer before she spoke again, with a ring of finality to it.  "South.  The beast you seek will be south of the river.  It travels many miles tonight, but the one it seeks will be in Fayettenam.  The one it seeks will be far more dangerous than he."

"Right," Danny chirped, hopping up from the table with fluid grace. "South. Towards Fayettenam. He gave Kim Mai a sly smile and a wink, then pecked her gently and swiftly on the cheek. "Yer a doll," he quipped as he began to gather his clothes. "And so worth the hundred dollar tip that my esteemed colleague is about ta pay ya." 

The partaking of her gift had calmed Kim-Mai's flippant attitude from earlier.  Her face remained sober and her tongue still as he dressed.

Avatar exhaled mightily, as if he'd been holding his breath. "Another tip?" he protested. "How about this: avoid cheap dates." He jerked his left thumb at Danny, and pocketed his communicator with his right hand. But he bowed slightly and handed Kim-Mai another bill.

"Thank you."  She replied flatly, as she spread the white sheet across the table again.

"We'll meet again, I think," he told her. He turned a faintly amused smile on Danny and asked, "Get anything useful?"

"Aside from directions, and a happy rub for tension?" the younger man asked, pulling his shirt down over his head and running a hand through his hair. "Nope. How bout you?" 

Avatar frowned. "I left some messages. The Clockwatchers, Lily Thoreau, people like that. I thought we might visit Henry Hudson next, if you don't want to go...where was it again?"

"You said south of the river?" Danny asked Kim-Mai, pulling his jacket back on.

"Yes."  She replied compliantly, her attitude from earlier still washed away.  "Fayettenam.  ...or close by." Danny nodded. "Thanks luv," he said as he turned for the door. "Maybe one day I'll come back," he frowned in mock annoyance at Palmer. "You know, when we don't have company." 

 "So," Avatar said as they strode through the dingy corridor, "do we call it in, or check it out first?"

"I say call it in first," Danny replied. "You know how they get when we don't keep em in the know." He fished in his jacket pocket for his phone. "And why me on the table and not you?" 

"I just wanted you to get your kit off," Avatar shrugged.

"Such a perv," Danny retorted as he punched the number for the Cathedral.

"The only thing worse than being ogled, is not being ogled," Avatar replied. He thought about that for a second and added, "Trust me, I know."

"Monitor room.  This is Phase speaking."  Phase replied in an overly professional tone, that was clearly put on for the benefit of whoever was calling. 

"Hullo lass," Danny replied in his best Sean Connery. Sure Sean was Scottish, but Danny nailed it spot on. "Listen, Avatar and meself just learned that the thing we're after will be soon south of the river. Near Fayettnam. We're headed that way now."

"Yeah?  ...and how does someone find out where someone is soon to be?"  Phase asked nonchalantly.  "Over tea?"

"Magic," Danny replied simply. "Make sure Ophilia and Nemesis know, yea? Avatar and I both have our phones if they need us, though you should probably call him first." He snapped the phone shut and looked over at his companion. "Ready?"

"Sure." Avatar thought aloud, "Take me five or six hops."

"Right," Danny replied as they stepped outside the shop and into a dark alley. "Cheers. See ya there." Smoke roiled, and a dark bird glided forth silently into the night. 

Avatar's shadow form flew up from his body and darted after the rapidly vanishing bird. Satisfied that his psychic half was keeping pace with his teammate, Avatar leaned his body against the wall. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"The face you wear won't last forever," he mused aloud.