Burbank hopped back towards a distortion. This was the part Matt was interested in. He followed, walking, fast enough to strike some fear in his heart.

The distortion shifted, and through it was somewhere else entirely. And Matt focused as hard as he could on what he could find on the other side of that rift.

It opened out onto a street. The asphalt had been replaced some time in the last three months. It was still well worn. Imperceptible tire tracks lined it, up and down, and had already caused a few dents and dips. On one side of the street, Matt could smell lamb, and bread, gyro place. Next to it was, metal. Circuits. Computer repair store. On the other side of the street was an apartment complex. Not many conversations going on. A few switched on TVs. One man, despite it being the small hours of the morning by now, answered his phone. “Jackson Consultation, can I-”

And the distortion closed. That was all Matt could get, for now. He hopped up a fire escape, climbed back onto the familiar rooftop, sighed, and pulled out his phone.

[...]

“I’ve got a lead on where they might be based. But I only managed to get a few details.”

“Oh. Yeah- Yeah sure, let me hear them and I’ll see what I can find.”

“Jackson Consultation. Run out of an apartment. Across the street from a gyro restaurant and a computer repair shop. Roads repaved in the last few months.”

“Okay let me...” it took a minute for the computer to turn on. She pulled up Google Maps while holding the phone with her shoulder, and started plugging in information.

“Yeah I’m finding a couple places with that name. But uh, nothing matching the description in Manhattan. Or Long Island.”

Matt patiently waited for her in silence. Made the whole process a lot more awkward.

There were a handful of Jackson Consultations across New York. Nothing that matched the description Matt game. She kept scrolling out and out, the farther she went the more unsure she was about what she would find. Until she found Meadow Hills Luxury Apartments. Right across the street from Gyros 2 Go Halal and Laptop Computer Repair.

“Wait, hold on, I think I got something. Maybe. There’s a place in Jersey.” She went to his website. “Yeah. Yeah it is in an apartment complex.”