Dawn of a New Age - Oldport Blues

The 'please hold' graphics on the TV screen switched back to Jennifer Simmons, hands gripping a piece of paper and eyes staring right back at the camera. "We've established contact with our reporter on the ground near Rogers High, and we have confirmation-" She stuttered for a second and placed her hands down on the desk before her. "-apologies— we have confirmation, from the police, that this was an active shooter situation. The shooter has been dealt with and will be identified later, as now all resources will be directed towards evacuating the children out of Rogers High."

"For those of you just-" Simmons took a deep breath. "-for those of you just tuning in, the events began this morning at Rogers High when a bomb threat was called in, which soon evolved into an active shooter situation. We should state that, so far, the police has not connected this shooter to the previous events that have happened in our town- the disappearance of a few Rogers High students and the strange fires and attacks that have been happening throughout the past week."

"We here at WJAR will keep you all updated and stick to the facts— please stay tuned as we—" Simmons looked off screen and nodded. "-right, seems as if we've just gotten confirmation that the children are being evacuated as we speak... we are trying to connect back with our reporter, but we will... keep you... updated..."

Finn would have to look again to realize that the pauses in Simmons' speech weren't her own. In fact, the whole world seemed to be pausing... slowing down... until a whiteness, as if the bloom in a photo had been set at an alarmingly high rate, burst through his windows and consumed his entire vision.

In a flash, he'd see distinct frames of every sight into the future that had beset upon him the past few days. And in that same flash, all of those frames began to crumble like dust or wither away like flowers begging for a single drop of water, all of it being sucked into the ever-growing whiteness, until—

Sasha propped her feet up on the silver table, trying to find a comfortable position in the chair that didn't involve removing her scrubs or her apron. The single light above her blinked on and off, and she fought back the urge to curse. She knew that nobody cared about the morgue, but they could at least pretend that they did and not just look at her blankly whenever she asked for a 'light that didn't make the place look like a fucking horror movie'.

Having finally found the sweet spot, she turned her attentions towards her phone, propped up against a plastic cat statue (one of those Japanese things her boss had bought for a dime or such at Amazon) and displaying that day's news as read by a snot-nosed British man. "President Trump reacted to today's events at Oldport, with a tweet that said the events today at Rhode Island have deeply affected me and Melania- to all the affected students and parents at Rogers High, know that we are with you at this moment." He said, prompting Sarah to scoff- even she, who had voted for the guy, knew he probably hadn't written that tweet.

With the man's soothing voice fading into background noise (he was one of the many national media reporters who had suddenly zoomed into town after news of the shooting), Sarah turned to the sign-in sheet laying on the table. On any other day, it'd be empty, as usual. But this time, tens of names littered the list, most of them police officers transporting the shooter's body. The last one- the police chief- made the man's words echo in her mind. "Don't let anyone in, Whigam."

As if anyone would want to be there— knock knock.

She looked up at the door into the morgue, raising an eyebrow and leaning to the side. "Come in?" She said, before suddenly remembering she was currently in the least professional position ever. With a quiet 'fuck', she pulled her feet back (and had to bite her lower lip to keep herself from whining at the twinge of pain that resulted from that speedy maneuver). Straightening her back, she looked at the person on the door and...

It was still closed.

Knock knock.

That was weird. The knock was definitely metallic. She checked the clock- 2:35AM- so it wasn't the person taking over her shift. She reached for her phone, to contact security. "After the identity of the shooter was confirmed to be 18 year old student Nadine Bauer, police officers found notebooks in her locker, where Nadine assumes responsibility for the recent disappearances of Amy Bang, Benjy Pathik and Kathryn Cherry Quinn. Officers are—" CLANG CLANG. Sasha yelped, her hand swiping the phone off the desk as it continued delivering the information, though now muffled.

She stood up, and found the source of the sound: inside one of the cold chambers. Well, not one of the cold chambers. The only cold chamber that was currently being used, because Oldport was one of those places that didn't have a lot of murders. CLANG CLANG CLANG. It was getting faster now. Sasha scurried out of her seat, shaking. "Oh fuck." She muttered, kneeling down to reach for her phone- CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG- by now, it just kept going and going and going- gloved hands gripped the edges and she forcibly shoved her thumb on the screen, struggling to open the phone app.

"Fuck fuck fuck" CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG "Somebody pick up- SOMEBODY—"

The clanging stopped. Sarah finally managed to open the Phone app. She looked at the screen, then at the cold chamber. She began calling the secretary upstairs, walking back towards the door.

"get me the fuck out of here" A muffled yet distinctly male voice spoke from the inside of the cold chamber, and Sasha dropped her phone, running out the morgue as fast as possible.

Finn would return to reality with Kathryn's words aimed right at him: it happenED aGAin didnT IT.

Edited by Stratofarius on Jul 7th 2019 at 8:57:14 AM

"Harriet."

The Thing-That-Was-Not-Dad spoke up. It stared at Harriet with its 'eyes'. It's lips pursed up slightly, as if trying to hold back words. "Harriet," it sputtered with the drawl of a car trying to start back up. "Harrieeee ET!" It repeated, its voice growing higher and higher pitched until it turned into a different voice... Zia's voice. The Thing-That-Was-Not-Dad launched forward, towards Harriet, its 'arms' gripping her throat—

Zia's eyes glared daggers into Harriet's soul as she squeezed her fingers around the girl's throat, pushing her against the wall of the dilapidated building they were currently in. All around Harriet, dust follicles flew in the air, surrounding the knocked down walls and overturned furniture of what had once been an office building. Zia herself looked different: older, much older, and her hair had been shaved off entirely.

From this vantage spot of being choked, Harriet would be able to see that this different Zia was wearing what could only be described as underground-chic: a bulletproof vest haphazardly hidden under a baggy blue sleeveless shirt, with what looked like a screwdriver and a gun hanging off her belt, which was also working overtime to keep her holey jeans in place, with combat boots finishing off the look. And around her neck, Harriet would notice a distinct red mark, as if a particularly strong choker had been there until the last minute.

"How..." Zia growled, her fingers squeezing Harriet's neck more and more. Near her, Luna- whose hair had also been shaved, and who was still wearing what looked like a orange prisoner's uniform with no shoes- was holding Severance in place, her eyes and hands crackling with lightning. The same red mark appeared on her neck.

"We don't have time." Luna snapped, as outside, the sounds of firework and people chanting 'America the Beautiful' mixed with approaching choppers and the not-at-all friendly noise of boots marching. If she were to take a quick peek of the windows, she'd see that every building outside looked old and weathered, as if they had aged twenty years in just twenty days. "Zia, we don't have time- the collar's off."

Zia's fingers reached for her neck, as if she had just realized that fact for the first time. Her eyes narrowed, focusing on Harriet, and almost immediately those same eyes widened. She let go of Harriet, who gracefully hit the ground like a sack of choked potatoes, landing right next to a growing pond of water that let her see her own reflection: the same orange uniform, the same red mark on her neck. "How... how is that?"

"We don't have time!" Luna snapped, but Zia turned to her, and somehow, just the mere look of surprise in her eyes was enough to calm the other woman down. "What?"

"It's not... our Harriet." Zia said, looking down at Harriet and taking a step forward. "I don't know how but— it's not—" On the floor below them, someone just blew a door open. Shouting, boots marching up the stairs. Zia knelt besides Harriet. "Shit, Harriet, don't." She bit her lower lip and looked back at the closed door leading into the rest of the building. "Fuck... 2017 seems like so long ago—"

"ZIA." Luna hissed through gritted teeth, the sounds of marching boots growing closer and closer.

"Harriet, whatever you do—" Zia clutched her head, and once her fingers ran through her shaved head, she let out a gasp of recognition. "—there's someone coming to Oldport, Harriet, and he's, he's not your enemy. He's not your enemy, okay? U-use him. Bloody hell, Harriet, use h-him. We can't fight him again, we can't survive that, Harriet, promise m"

The dull light of the beige backroom would suddenly infiltrate Harriet's vision, followed by the sight of Marko smiling right back at her. "Okay, you can go, she's back." He muttered to someone behind him, but before Harriet could get a good look at them, they were gone in a flash. "Hi. I'm Marko." The older boy said, keeping a graceful distance between them. "Don't get up now. I think you were having a bad dream. And your body needs some time to recover."

Edited by Stratofarius on Jul 7th 2019 at 8:58:03 AM

Luna hurried from one side of the little area they had escaped into, trying to figure something out, when something Ivy said made her look back at the other person that had followed them (since she had been so focused on dragging Nadine's girlfriend— what was her name again- out of there). And that other person was... Simon.

"YOU!" She yelled, before covering her mouth and looking around to see if anyone had heard her... no one, luckily. With her teeth gritted, she turned towards Simon and got close enough to jab one threatening finger in his face. "What the fuck is wrong with you and give me one good reason why the hell I shouldn't punch you in the face for acting like an insane person and literally almost killing me?!"

Josephine finally decided to speak up, but Luna merely sent the other girl a 'can it for a second' motion, turning back towards Simon with even more fury. "And stop pretending like you don't know what's going on, because I'm pretty sure you do- but if you don't know that is legitimately fucked up and actually way more terrifying than you knowing what was going on and just EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"

Irene's shrug might have peeved off any other police officer, but this one was far more focused on something else as an order came through to his ear. "T-turn around." He said, motioning for her to do so with his arm. Assuming she complied, he carefully stepped over the spine (pointing it out to a nearby officer with a quiet 'h-h-hey') and placed his hand on Irene's shoulder, leading her down the corridor and towards the exit.

"You there!" The officer yelled out to Ivan, pointing his flashlight at him. "Come on. We need to get you all out of here. Girl— sorry, I can't get your name right now— put your hand on his shoulder. Boy, we're gonna leave right now, okay? We have to leave right now so you can contact your father— your mother— your parents. Phones are working again- but don't reach into your pockets, okay?"

"That's okay." The female officer said in a tone that made it seem like she hadn't really listened to what Zia had to say. "Listen, Zia. I'm gonna need you to stand up and follow Officer Joshua here to the exit, okay?" She said, motioning a nearby officer to come closer- jade green eyes poked out of his safety gear as he held out his hand for Zia to take. "Once outside, call your parents."

Ciro moved again, and the female officer turned her attention to him. "Shhh." She motioned, dimming her flashlight and running it gently over his eyes to see if they were following it. "I think you're conscious. I'm gonna need you stay quiet and don't move, okay? Your body's taking some time to adjust to what just happened. We're gonna get you out of here and to a paramedic."

"Fascinating. An artificial intelligence that learns." Benedict smiled to himself, probably because he had just been given a chance to put his smarts to use. "Not all humans- that is, members of Havilland's species- possess special abilities like she, I or Jung here do. Now pay attention, AI, because the next is important: the fact we possess said abilities is a fact you cannot share with everyone else, as our abilities- which we refer to as powers- are a secret."

Now with a much better mood than before, even Jacob's response didn't elicit that much investigation from him. "What did you do to Dixon— nevermind. Not important. I have just calculated a plan!" He turned towards Kev and held out his hand. "Give me your phone."

Kev was about to say something to Jacob when Benedict made his request. "Uhhh." He looked at Hyeon, who was basically telling him what to do. "I'm sorry, I'm helping your— your friend here. And, uh, I'm fine with where we're going— I don't have the rifle anymore, though, I-I'm sorry."

"Ugh." Benedict furrowed his brow. "Look, Jung, I just came up with the perfect plan to get us out of here. Now, here's what we're going to do. AI," He spun around and pointed at Ziz. "I need you to contact your master- or whatever you call Havilland- and tell her that if she's outside, to head to West Main Road... that road-" He pointed at the road at the end of the hallway. "And wait there. You there!" He pointed at Kev, who pointed at himself. "Request that Uber."

Kev just stared back at Benedict. "It's just that... if I have to pick a car for more than four people then it's gonna cost me more than 30 dollars, and I don't think I have that kind of money in me."

Benedict just stared back at Kev, rolled his eyes and threw his hands up. "Fine! I'll pay for it."

With a surprisingly satisfied smile, Kev tapped the screen. Not too many seconds later, a car appeared a few miles away from where they were. "Two minutes."

"Good. Good. Now, AI, Jung, Miller and... whoever you are... my plan is very simple. Once the Uber comes to get us, I'll kindly request that it picks up our other friend- Havilland- and we'll together go to 20 Powel Avenue to collect our teleporting friend and the injured girl. Meanwhile, Jung, you will give me your phone so that I may establish cover stories for all of us. We don't want the police seeing us through security footage or anything like that. Does everyone understand the plan?!"

A sudden burst of wind, and Emmanuel reappeared, skidding to a halt right besides Rhys. "The girl, the girl, I took her to Marko and she woke up. She's fine now!" His hands reached for Rhys' arms, but then he suddenly pulled them back, looking at the ground as his cheeks got redder and redder. "I'll take you now, right?!"

Devin, meanwhile, focused his woozy sights on Sebastian. "Hole... where hole?" He coughed up, weakly raising his hand to pat (read: lazily brush up against) the jacket now covering his chest. "Hole... no..." His eyes widened, and he looked right into Sebastian's eyes. " Kill me. " He whispered, his entire body trembling with fear. " Kill... m-me please. "

Edited by Stratofarius on Jul 7th 2019 at 9:26:20 AM

Wh- What the- Now the other girl's just outright threatening me?! She's the Luna, I get it- but now she's threatening to punch me, saying I almost killed her, and I was acting like an insane person, and she's accusing me of pretending not to know why everyone's ganging up on me and for some reason it'd be fucked up if I didn't know what was happening panic attack, chest tightening, head swimming, aggression crumbling in the face of confusion

"I don't know what you're saying!"

Grab my face, try to get steady, crackling sound, I need to escape, I need a mask, I need to fight...

...crackling sound?

I let go of my forehead for a second. I glance over at my arms. There it was. Just for a second, that crackling sound. Lighting was going up my arms. Electricity dancing about for a moment, and then it was gone, almost as soon as I looked.

"...Wait a minute. Wait a minute...It...This happened before." Not looking at anyone now, pacing about, thinking out loud. "Today, when I was in the locker room, when I was panic- no, not just then, before that. I'm lying in bed...a-a-a-and I think I go to sleep, but I don't remember, and it's not like usual, and then I wake up tired and it's no- How many times? Twice now? Past couple of nights- Before that, right at the start, I was in the nurse's office, she was calling my parents, I felt it get all sparkly, then it all exploded! That boy in the facemask, he...wait...was there another boy? I thought I remem...didn't I remember? Or did...did I make that part up?"

Well, so much fer plausible deniabili'y.

Who said that? Look around. No one but girls here. Someone talking far away. A hallucination? A delusion? Something made up? "Did I...I didn't make it up. I couldn't make it up, I couldn't- I have to have remembered, right? Boy in a mask, boy in a face- Why a mask? I was thinking just now- I was panicking, and I thought I needed a mask. Why did I think about a mask?"

Alley

Hyeon made a good point. Now that they were out of the building, there really wasn't anyone who could call it unnatural to want to get further away from the school. Caught up in the moment, he didn't even think to just leave and go home. "I... don't really know Lenore," Jacob corrected Hyeon. "It sounds like a plan, though." He didn't want anyone to be dead from this. As socially isolated as he was, the teen still valued the lives of others. He'd feel... wrong, to just leave this be without checking for himself.

Thankfully, Benedict didn't consider the incident with Barbra important enough to press at the moment. Jacob had only mentioned it because he was still emotionally unsettled, but he really didn't want to think about how easily he could hurt people through a simple mistake. And... he didn't want anyone else to know that about him either. He wasn't dangerous!

The headache from all his power usage was finally gone, though, so now he could actually think clearly. Benedict could handle the planning, that was fine, and he'd take this uber with them. From there... well, he'd figure it out. Improvisation. Not a lack of planning, but planning and executing simultaneously. "If you can erase the evidence of us, then please go for it," Jacob agreed, thinking already about potential holes in the plan. "I don't think we'll be able to just pick up the one who got injured... if you come in with an injury like that, they wouldn't normally let you out so soon, right? It takes time."

Rhys sighed. "On. Put the jacket on him, not over him." He knelt down, trying to pull his jacket over Devin's arms, keeping his hurt hand at bay. He was just shy of hearing the boy's whispers, so Rhys had no clue of Devin's death wish.

When Emmanuel arrived, Rhys looked up to him, then over at Devin. He chewed on a thought for a moment, and literally chewed his lip too. "I think," he said, standing back up, "it'd be better for you to take Devin here first. He's the one who asked to be taken, and I'd rather not be ran at your speed again."

Ivy initially recoiled as Simon barked back at her, the sting of who was saying it just as strong as how loud, but she steeled herself with the same reaon: the one who was saying it kind of killed her friend.

"There wasn't anyone else...y-y-you, I saw you get knocked out after you did all of that, and then you j-just woke up like..."

...

...

...Hmm.

Ivy thought for a moment, thankfully interrupted by Luna's own aggressiveness. Her face changed out the spite for the more traditional blanched fear and confusion.

You know, when people get knocked out and turned back to normal after doing something wrong like that, there's only so many explanations for the sudden change. To list the different variations would probably require a list of her own references for these things, so it will be excised in this retelling.

Of course, her doubting mind came up with an alternative explanation: he was aware of this, and using it as a great way to get their backs turned.

Or maybe she was entirely unfounded, but who knows.

Simon described his own side of things more...this wasn't the first time, perhaps, and one detail stuck out to her in his recounting. Simon's story was fractured, but if he was certain about it...

She took a cautious step forward, and spoke with even more guardedness. "Ssssimooon? Please...hand—g-give me the mask." She extended her hand.

There Hyeon goes, using big, foreign words like Ziz was gonna be able to interpret them. No, Ivy did not need an Above, she needed careful extracation and an immediate return to safer places. This business was getting quite inefficient for its tastes, so Ziz gave its reply to Hyeon in short: [NO]

[HAVILLAND REQUIRES IMMEDIATE REMOVAL FROM AREA DESIGNATION SCHOOLGROUNDS. SHE WILL NOT NEED TO BE SHOT]

[CREATOR HAVILLAND] was what Ziz referred to its creator as, thank you very much. With that out of the way, it considered what Benedict was trying to get at with his warning. If she possessed abilities beyond normal operational capacity...what were they? She seemed to be able to exude salt-infused water from her porous overstructure, was that a regular capability? This was something that Ziz didn't think to just ask Benedict for, as obviously Ivy knew the answer to it, as everything else.

[REQUESTED DIRECTIVE STORED FOR LATER APPROVAL BY CREATOR IVY] it broadcasted, [SECONDARY REQUEST PERFORMED]

Just in time to make things worse, Ivy's phone decided to spring with bountiful new notifications at this moment in time! She immediately retracted her hand to rip it from her coat pocket in surprise and frustration, wiped off the wetness from the sprinklers (better be just the sprinklers) and read it.

To which she hammered out an immediate reply.

Which was what Ziz relayed to Benedict, verbatim.

Alleyway

As soon as Benedict finished laying out all of the steps to his so-called ‘master plan’, the alleyway began echoing with a series of short, sarcastic claps that were as dry as the hands themselves were wet. “Congratulations,” Hyeon said in a matching tone, his eyelids flickering in a fashion known only to the heavily condescending and to heavier sleepers just coming back to consciousness, “your super-brain just invented carpooling. Really got the bang for our buck on that one.” He pulled out his phone to make sure it had survived the trip alright, barely getting to turn it on before catching the growingly familiar light of their new guest flashing a response onto the alley wall. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He said with an emphatic wave of said phone towards said wall, before turning to face the hovering machine proper and continuing to wave his phone in a gentle circle as he spoke. “Look, just do your robot thing, find her GPS coordinates, and we’ll tell the driver her address so we can get near-ish.” He said, finishing off his request with an imploring shrug of his shoulders.

He then glanced over at Benedict as the preppie boy got to the part of his plan that involved Taking Hyeon’s Phone Without Really Explaining Why, and met the request with a flat expression that he was getting far, far too much use out of that day. “Sorry,” he said, giving the phone’s screen button a definitive and emphasized click to revert the device back to a blank, reflective surface, “’m using it for something.” Turning away to purposefully face the opposite wall, Hyeon held the phone’s mirror-like surface up so that it captured both his soggy form and everyone else’s, taking his own fingers and raking them sideways through the mass of gel, sweat, adrenaline, and sprinkler water that had at once been an immaculately styled piece of art. “You were in the stairwell, being useless, when the lights went out; what makes you think their cameras did any better?” He swept at and slicked down the hair on the sides of his head, attempting to tuck any uncooperative strands behind the resting arms of his trusty sunglasses, a few droplets landing on Kwang in the process while the squirrel sniffed past, his nose to the ground. With a shiver and a shake, the squirrel’s fur fluffed out, and Kwang reared back on his haunches and began to clean himself in a rhythm that, coincidence or not, perfectly matched that of the boy towering above him. “Let’s just… try not to look like we just survived a bomb threat before the guy gets here.” Hyeon’s eyes roamed about, from his matted shoulders to the various debris clinging to his shirt, before eventually and grudgingly settling on Benedict in the background while he started patting down or wiping off the offending spaces. “And if you’re still feeling generous, Carlie could probably use some help paying for the hospital bed she’ll be in right about now.”

As if, out of the blue, suddenly remembering a particularly funny or well-told joke, Hyeon then glanced in Jacob’s direction, a thin smile trying to inject his words with some forced levity. “Also, I’m pretty sure Barbra Dixon tried to mug me for my homework once. She probably got whatever was coming to her.”

Edited by Uncandescent on Jul 13th 2019 at 12:49:31 PM

Irene - Locker Corridor

Wordlessly, Irene did as the officer bid, letting him usher her towards the exit.

It was just as well. What she wanted to do most of all was launch a tirade about Duchovic' failed murder attempt and animated escape, but that wasn't going to help her at all right now. Best to just keep quiet. Her siblings liked to mock her about how she acted when she had a grievance, but in this case there was some value in their spiteful remarks.

But if the truth came out about their powers ... she gave the mental equivalent of a shrug, it wouldn't exactly make her weep.

Edited by joergenjetsam on Jul 20th 2019 at 11:54:53 PM

Marko's Shop

...breathe.

Still somewhat shocked from the snap back to reality, amid a whirlpool of her senses, Marko's words came in distant, but with a bit of thought, understandable. Even so, Harriet could care less about what he just said - her dream spoke to her, strangely coherently, first the part about her house, then that part with the run-down building and...Zia? Was that her? Warning about "using" someone? Who would that someone be anyway? Too many questions, slow down, calm...

Skeptical as she may be, Harriet decided to entertain the thought for the time being. Her body still too stiff and numb to even budge, she rolled her eyes toward Marko, and asked haltingly,

"Who...was that...who just left?"

Outside:

Josephine observed a boy who was responsible for killing Luna, wiping away her tears and bottling up her sorrow and wrath. The girl saw with clarity that this problem needed to be sorted out first in order for this group to make any sort of move.

This boy was a person she had no knowledge of existence till now. For a moment, his behavior made Josephine think: "Was I... the same as him in the past?" However, this was only under assumption that he was telling the truth.

After all the things he performed, there is no way that he would think lying out of his way would work. Then again, he may be using exactly that. Truth. Lie. Mix of both. Either of them was a trouble in their own ways. Above all else, however, the presence of police, possibly the lapdogs of sinister forces according to her, fed her worry and fear, like an existence of a serial killer around her block.

"Do as she asks." Josephine told the boy, suppressing a whirlwind of emotion that would have went out if not controlled. "You'd better be not lying.", she thought to herself.

Josephine hid her right hand in her pocket and froze her hand to ready her weapon, in case there would be an attack.

Edited by kaalban on Jul 21st 2019 at 5:32:37 PM

"Mask?! Ivy, I just said, I don't-" Wait. Pause for a second. Subconsciously brush my fingers against my face. Face... "...on my f...When I woke up, there was something covering my face. I took it off, I- I don't...I didn't pick it up, did I? No, 'course not, idiot, not holding it. Where did I-" I look back the way I came, up the tunnel, back to the...the hallway swarming with police right now FUCKING DAMMIT

"Oh god I lost it." Rubbing my face, kicking myself on the inside. "I left the damn stupid mask lying on the ground, now I'll never know what it was. Probably police evidence by now. Did they get anything off it- Oh god, they couldn't have got my DNA off it, could they?!"

Locker Corridor

Zia was quiet for a few moments after the officer delivered her instructions, looking at Ciro as she felt his discomfort at the idea of going to hospital. She knew his family were struggling enough without having to deal with hospital bills, and if the doctors somehow discovered they were no long entirely human... On the other hand, her friend was plainly not okay. The officer very clearly wasn't really listening to her. "Ciro, come on - we need to go!" She urged, words laced with her psychic urgings as she slowly stood, "I'm not leaving him." Brayne told the officer, arms crossed, "I go where he goes." If they were gonna take him on an ambulance, she wasn't gonna leave him defenceless.

Edited by Lt.BGob on Jul 22nd 2019 at 2:56:57 AM

Locker Corridor, I Know My Rights Coppah

Something like a firefly flitted across Ciro's vision, its luminescence causing him to squint- nevertheless, he was able to follow its path from one side to the other. The sharp edge around his senses was beginning to dull, making it easier for him to process the ruckus around him. He could hear people moving down the hallway, their footsteps splashing along the wet floor- water, from the sprinklers, that'd explain why he still felt so cold.

And then there was a sensation that took him longer to place, like someone was nudging him but inside his head. Zia, right. He focused on her again as she stood, pleading him to follow. He didn't want to disappoint her, but... I can't. She would feel an insistent stubbornness cloud his thoughts, a refusal to accept the treatment that was being forced upon him. In that area, the two of them weren't much different.

Rather than lay quiet like he'd been ordered, Ciro grit his teeth and tested again whether he could move. His fingers flexed, something akin to pins-and-needles but more painful running through them. It wasn't much, but it was better than before. Same deal with his jaw- which, finally, allowed him to spit out words that were just coherent enough to be understood. "'m... invoking m- my right to... refuse trr- treatment..."

Irene - Locker Room

Those words made Irene stop, almost tripping over herself at the suddenness of it all. She turned her head once she found her footing, eyes furrowed in disbelief.

Had she heard correctly? Was Gardner attempting to refuse treatment? Was he mentally unwell? What could possess him to act in so ridiculous a manner?

Perhaps the reason was economical? The thought occurred after a moment's reflection. If that was the case, it was just more evidence of the deep-set problems in American healthcare. Were it up to her, such morally unsound policies would not continue. Alas, she had not the power to quickly change such things. She could cover Gardner's expenses though, if it came to that.

"Please disregard what he just said, officer," said Irene. "He's clearly unwell, and perhaps not thinking clearly. Please see to it that he gets the treatment he needs."

Edited by joergenjetsam on Jul 23rd 2019 at 2:54:30 AM

There was a brief moment when Luna's angry visage broke- when she began developing a theory, one fueled by years of media consumption where this precise scenario was milked for drama, which made her lips sag and her eyes waver, hesitating as they looked towards Ivy for perhaps some mutual understanding before snapping back into place- but she remained committed to her rage, letting it simmer behind her eyes until Simon delivered the final piece of information.

"Oh hell no!" Luna yelled, taking a step back and pointing a finger at Simon. "Way I see it, you know what the hell we have to do right now? We have to—" She glanced at the others, bit her lower lip and shook her head, clenching her other fist. "—fuuuuuuuuuck it!"

Lightning pooled around her fingertip, bolts crackling around her finger, jumping back and forth as if they were jutting out of a broken generator. She closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and a lightning bolt shot out of her finger with a CRAKOW, searing through the sky and aiming right for Simon's chest. Her intention? To knock him out, of course. If the bolt did connect, it'd feel like a ton of bricks just hit Simon right in the chest. Whether that would be enough to knock him out, there was no way to tell.

But then again, he wasn't knocked out the last time.

Those were the thoughts on Luna's head as she was sent flying back by the strength of her own blast, hitting a nearby brick wall with such intensity tha she left behind a dent vaguely shaped like her, before falling to the ground like a sack of damp potatoes. "Ugrrrrrrrrrh." She groaned, stumbling back to her quaking feet. "Bad idea. Bad idea."

"Miller, please. We don't want to take the injured girl from the hospital." Benedict replied, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "That is where she should be. And we can merely excuse it as a consequence of whatever... tragic event the media is going to say happened here tonight. The important thing for us to do right now is establish alibis for all of us."

At Ziz' response of Ivy's location, Benedict pursed his lips and tapped his finger against his chin. "Do I have to repeat myself? Tell her to head to West Main Road. It's the nearest one, it goes around the school- though by that point it's more North Main Road, I suppose- tell her to stay in the sidewalk and be clearly visible by the cars on the... street..."

Benedict trailed off, distracted by Hyeon's sarcastic clapping. "Stop following his orders, AI!" He spun on his heels and pointed at Ziz. "Lest he infect your clearly superior brain with his less than knowledgeable suggestions." Turning back to Hyeon with the smug look of someone who thinks they just won an argument. He would have said something equally smug if not for Hyeon's comments about his looks, which prompted him to analyse his own currently disheveled form.

"For your information, Jung," Benedict said as he began patting down his hair, straightening his shirt, brushing off dust, making sure his pants were equally straight as the edge of his shirt and removing some debris from the bottom of his shoe by rubbing it against the floor (in the back, Kev just patted his shirt once and nodded). "It doesn't hurt to make sure. But yes, let's just assume things went alright. Let's not follow the instructions of the literal genius here."

Hyeon's comments about Barbra prompted Kev to chortle, but Benedict was too busy reacting to something else. "Why should I?" He said, brushing back his hair and adjusting his shirt's collar before smiling at himself. "Does your friend not have insurance? I can't just go around doing charity for everyone, Jung. You should know that by now."

Emmanuel's face scrunched up inwards and he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Onetime," He murmured quickly, under his breath. "Itwasonlyonetimeanditwasntmyfault-" His eyes went wide and he suddenly shot his hand up. "-RHYS!"

Rhys would feel a quick tug, as Devin grabbed onto his sleeve, pushing aside the jacket and pulling the bespectacled boy as close as possible- so close he would feel the heat of Devin's breath mixed with the smell of dry blood and the slowly dissipating scent of human guts.

"Kill me." Devin whispered hoarsely, bloodshot eyes staring into Rhys' own, fingers struggling to hold onto his sleeve. "Kill me, please." He began to tear up, his eyes getting redder and redder due to some unknown internal condition. "I can't... k-kill me!"

"GETYOURHANDSAWAYFROMHIM!" Emmanuel roared, springing into action and grabbing onto Rhys' shoulders, trying to pull him away from Devin- an action that wouldn't meet much resistance from the weak boy, so it all depended on whether or not Rhys wanted to be pulled.

"That's nice, Zia," The female officer said in that same condescending tone- she had not even bothered to interpret the meaning of Zia's words. "But I told you to get out. Call your parents. Do you know what's going on with them right now? They're looking at the news, and they're freaking out about you, and they're probably about to call you. You wanna help this kid, follow Officer Joshua and call your damn parents—"

The words 'right to refuse treatment' hit the female officer like a bomb, and her eyes flew up in a semi-eye roll before descending towards Ciro as she pulled her hands back. "Are you sure about that? You just had a seizure. You're really going to refuse treatment? Jesus, we can't have a kid dying on our watch. "

Irene's voice made her jump up a little, but she managed to restrain any further reactions. "You his guardian? Sister, whatever?" She said, before taking a real close look at Irene- and the color of her skin. "I'm gonna take that as a yes. Help us take your brother out of here." She flashed her flashlight at Zia's face. "OUT!"

There, the kids would find that a perimeter had been set, with police cars and a barricade separating the world from the school... a world that included worried parents, terrified children and news crews, their cameras pointed at the entrance, waiting for someone to walk out, some of them silently, some of them with reporters relaying the information to unseen anchors.

The first point past the barricade was a little area that had been seemingly reserved for the kids and teachers that were escorted out, including Ms. Brayne, a worried Vivian, a surprisingly forlorn Ed, and Destiny, talking on the phone to her own parents.

Marko got up and headed towards the windows, shutting the blinders slightly and turning the brightness of the room a little bit down. "That was, uh..." He looked at the open door heading into the shop and threaded his fingers through his short hair. "Emmanuel, I think? I... I gotta be honest, the last time I saw him, he was really chubby, so that was pretty weird to me..."

"I'm Marko, by the way. I know I said that already, but doesn't hurt to help. I can get you some water, if you want that..." He said, moving past Harriet towards a water cooler, filling a plastic cup with some lukewarm water. "Here." He sat besides Harriet, first offering her a hand to help her sit up, and then offering the cup. "I heard about what happened at school." Marko's face immediately dipped into a frown. "'m sorry about it all."

Edited by Stratofarius on Jul 23rd 2019 at 1:04:18 AM

Irene - Locker Corridor

Really now? Unbecoming conduct from an officer of the law, frankly. She'd keep that in mind for the future. She had a name now though, officer Joshua. That was something.

She could not say she had police procedures and protocols properly memorized, but she doubted that letting a civilian bystander handle someone suffering from a seizure was the recommended course of action. Still, she was not one to shirk her duty, or a request.

Walking over, she knelt by Ciro's side and picked him up without any preamble, before briskly walking out the door with him in her arms where the others awaited them.

"I will summarily ignore any nonsense you see fit to spout about refusing treatment," she said as she walked. "You needn't worry about it, if money is the issue."

Edited by joergenjetsam on Jul 23rd 2019 at 6:11:22 PM

Locker Corridor -> Outside School, D-Doki

Growing up with two siblings whose complexions were a few shades lighter than his, Ciro wasn't a stranger to the look that passed over the officer's face as she went between him and Irene. No, that wasn't what surprised him- just the idea that he could be related to someone as obviously aristocratic as her.

Of course, that shock played second fiddle to Irene countering his refusal of treatment. Why? The question played like an alarm in his head as he tried and failed to garner any possible reason why an acquaintance (at best) was speaking for him. He had to speak up again, try and explain to them why he couldn't go to the hospital without actually explaining it. That it wasn't just the seizure affecting him... ah. Maybe Irene genuinely thought it had messed with his head, and that was why-

Then, in the next moment, he was bundled up in Irene's arms as she strolled right through the double doors and out towards the waiting public. His ruminations on Irene's motive came to a screeching halt, his body frozen in bewilderment and- as he came to realise that there was a crowd watching him be bridal carried out by a younger teen- embarrassment. How in the world..?! He wasn't the heaviest person, sure, but the ease with which she was handling him... Couldn't she heal people? Was this just her natural strength?

Ciro could feel the heat pooling in his cheeks as he debated whether to try and break out of her grip. Not that he probably could, with how weak the seizure had left him and how strong Irene apparently was... "W-Wait." He eventually stuttered out, trying very hard to keep his gaze locked onto his knees and not to her or the crowd before them. "Nnno, I- I don't n... need this, or..."

Alleyway

Jacob had no further interest in the drone. It was clearly created through application of powers, in his opinion, but he was under a bit too much stress to bother figuring out anything based on the provided information. He'd let other people puzzle it out. Too busy trying to not think about Barbra.

Unfortunately Barbra still came up. "She's fine now, let's stop talking about it. Please," he responded to Hyeon's attempts at lightening the mood. "I don't want to think about it." Not one bit. If that girl hadn't been given such a pertinent power... well, he wouldn't be able to become a doctor anymore. There'd be no way he could promise to do no harm with something like that hanging over him.

At least Benedict was trying to be helpful, even if it was making him seem very unlikable. "Right, yes, I'm not thinking straight. Of course she should stay in the hospital," he conceded, shaking his head. All his thoughts were jumbled up ever since this incident started. "I hope no one questions how she made it to the hospital with those injuries, though."

"You can't rely on people having insurance nowadays, though. Not that it would be your responsibility to cover the bill in that case, of course."

When Rhys was pulled down, he raised a hand. His good hand, obviously, fingers tensed to strike. He wasn't sure why he was ready to attack when his target had just recovered from a gaping hole in his chest. His nerves were fraying. He was running on adrenaline that was depleting fast, the throbbing in his broken arm like a ticking timer.

Letting himself be pulled away and to his feet, Rhys stared down at Devin. His hands shook as he saw the boy's eyes turn red. Internal bleeding? Slowly, Rhys lowered his hands to try and steady them, and reached to take his jacket off Devin, having only gotten halfway to putting it on.

"I saved your life," Rhys said, keeping his voice level, cool, distant from his internal panic as best he could. "I'm not going to kill you." I've hurt people enough today, he kept to himself. "Emmanuel. Call an ambulance. The paramedics can take care of him."

Marko's Shop

Harriet wordlessly accepted the water, taking a minute sip of the water within. Her thoughts began to reform, coming out of the still-hazy recesses of her mind - while she was somewhat certain that following that dream's directions would lead somewhere, she could not just proclaim that in front of somebody else and expect them to just go with it.

Marko's sympathy about what happened at school would more or less pass right through her. Hearing about it and actually being there, whole worlds apart. "I'm sorry" really is the most he could say, at least he isn't making light or distracting from it.

In any case, Harriet thought, she'll have to get whatever information she needs indirectly.

"...I need to be somewhere. Somewhere with...immigration records...? Or something along those lines."

"GUH!" Pain, pain, all the pain. Everything went white for a second, now I'm on the ground, everything's crackling, vision's a mess of colours, feeling dizzy, can't breathe, can't breathe, fucking bitch winded me ow, ow, ows. "Why would you do thaaaat..." I struggle to gasp, limp and helpless on the ground

Regardless of Simon's worries about incrimination and Ivy's own worries that Simon left a mask that was probably haunted or something in the middle of the hallway for any schmuck who wasn't wary of cursed objects to pick up and put on, Luna put a haymaker into the former's stomach.

Like...hard. Wow, she must have been hitting the gym daily since they had last spoken.

Ivy just stared at Luna, aghast, and said "Why w-would you do that?"

Edited by wikkit on Aug 6th 2019 at 6:49:23 AM

"What?!" Luna barked back, struggling to get back on her feet- the last thing she expected after blasting Simon was to hear someone questioning her choices. "He was acting all crazy inside and..." She lowered her tone and leaned closer to Ivy. "... we've seen this before! Typical comic book stuff a-and I'm not taking any chances- I don't want to turn into lightning again! Not against my will, at least."

Emmanuel was actually pulling Rhys away from Devin, clutching him by his shoulder with unexpected strength. “Get… get away from him…” He muttered softly, until Rhys had pulled his jacket off the growing-weaker-by-the-moment boy. “Yeah, get away from him!” He yelled out, stomping the ground near Devin, and then immediately backing off when Devin replied by covering his eyes with one hand and wave Emmanuel away with the other. “C’mon. I’ll call the ambulance andthenIllgetyoutothatstorewheretheothergirlisandyoullbetotallysafeokay?”

The word ‘coincidence’ came to Benedict’s mind as he sat down on the waiting room, because apart from the occasional family and straggler, said room was filled to the brim with people he recognized.

An hour or so back, they had been picked up by the Uber (a young man with dark skin and shaggy hair who tried his best to pretend like he didn’t find the whole ordeal weird), leaving Benedict to spend most of the ride having to clamp down on the many arguments simmering through his head as to why he should not pay for the injured girl’s medical bill- a conversation that had been apparently put to an end when Jung sent him a godforsaken look, the non-verbal equivalent of a takedown, a discussion closer, the argument to end all arguments. Or at least, that’s what Morriss said, perhaps using that opportunity to describe the ‘friends’ the Uber had yet to pick up.

After that, they made a quick stop to pick up Havilland, Black, Engel and what looked like a very injured Barclay, which made Benedict have to pull out the big guns, distracting the Uber driver with promises of a very large tip (adding it to Morriss’ bill right in front of his eyes whilst ignoring Morriss’ complaints about the tip). The ride towards the hospital was surprisingly quiet, but that was something Benedict had been quite proud of, as he ‘softly’ reminded everyone that he was the bankroll of this entire voyage and he would have quiet.

They arrived at the hospital not long after, with Barclay asking to be checked upon, whilst the rest of the group immediately demanded to see the girl- whom Benedict had found out was actually named Abelson- before being directed to the waiting room, where other familiar faces awaited them. On one side, Martin waited with her eyes stuck to her own phone, exchanging messages with someone. On the other side, Brayne and Melissenos had apparently just been told to wait for their own patient to return (someone who Benedict did not know), with the arrival after them also being made up of a familiar group: Jae Hyung, holding an icepack to her forehead, accompanied by Bogdan and a pink-colored muscle monster Benedict somewhat recognized- Chen, perhaps?

“What the hell are you all doing here?” Jae asked out loud, looking back at both Bogdan and Chen with surprise. “I thought we were the only ones who came to the hospital, what with the way Jem accidentally dropped me on the floor... plus, school's a mess right now, and some people just wanted to get out of it." She finished, jerking her head towards Miri.

“I could ask you the same question, just without that overlong explanation.” Benedict said, crossing his arms and glaring at Jung off the corner of his eye. “The same goes for you.” He said, pointing at Melissenos. “… and you too, I suppose.” He added with a special viper's poisonous tone to Brayne.

“Hey.” Martin muttered softly under her breath, sliding her phone into her pocket as she snuck up to Jung’s side. “They took her inside, patched her up, ran some tests... left her to rest for now, said she'll recover. Dunno what from, not yet, at least. The Doc's gonna give me an answer soon, but they've been busy and freaked our for a while now, what with the news... of the school stuff.”

In a large room set up for multiple patients (with dividers set up between each bed), a sense of recognition might spread over some of the people in there. As Ciro was led towards one of the beds by the kind-looking olive-skinned nurse Martha (her hair hidden underneath her cap), he might have noticed the person resting in the bed besides him was a familiar figure, someone who had often tagged behind Nadine whenever she got around to making fun of him. And though she looked far paler than usual (with an IV plugged into her arm, and most of her body covered by a blanket), Carlie had that same dumb grin the instant she saw Ciro.

“Curly…” She muttered, trailing off and taking a moment to recover. “You’re here too?” She asked inbetween coughs and chuckles, as the nurse instructed Ciro to lay down on the bed and relax as much as possible.

Not soon after, another figure was led into the room: Simon, being led by a young nurse with a stern face, his jet black hair tucked underneath his cap. "Sit down here." He grunted, patting the empty be on Ciro's other side. "Now, what seems to be the problem?" He set down a clipboard on a small table inbetween the two beds, and if either Ciro or Simon were to glance at it, they might have caught a mention of another recent admittance to the hospital: Devin Chayne, who had been given a room of his own.

Before Marko could finish his attempt at answering Harriet’s question (by looking up the words ‘Oldport immigration records’ on his phone), a speedster cut them short, bringing over Sebastian, and then finally Rhys. Harriet’s question was left behind instantly, as Marko focused on not only bringing them water, but also ensuring nobody was in the shop as he closed the front door, put up an ‘BE RIGHT BACK’ sign and headed into the back room to give everyone a cup of water and a piece of bread.

Once Emmanuel recovered from his runs (and Rhys had a chance to settle down and take a look at his injuries), Marko began telling them everything he knew about the day’s events. “I don’t know what to tell you all, it’s just—” He grabbed a broom and began subconsciously sweeping the floor. “-I’ve been a good friend of Daigo’s for years, but after what happened on Wednesday, with the… with the smoke things? He’s changed. He’s gotten angrier. Maybe…” He lowered his voice. “… crazier. He said he wanted to do something big today, something explosive- I-I thought he was being ridiculous, but when he said that he was really going to do it, I told him he was no longer acting like my friend.”

“Me and Destiny, we stormed out of his house.” Marko sighed and intensified his sweeping, shaking his head. “I thought that would put an end to it, I swear! He never does anything without all of us! But still, he went ahead and… and he did all that and I… I feel like it’s all my fault…”

Edited by Stratofarius on Sep 2nd 2019 at 5:03:54 AM

Irene - Hospital Waiting Room

Irene had spent the time getting to the hospital and in the waiting room mulling over her near future, largely ignoring Brayne and Gardner once she'd overruled the latter's protests and ensured he'd get looked at.

Exams were obviously off the cards for some time going forward, if she judged the situation correctly. Would they be cancelled entirely, every student simply allowed to pass and move on or graduate? She knew not. It would make things simpler if it was the case, it would mean she could accelerate her plans to move out of the country. Having one's last year of high school or the local equivalent abroad sounded increasingly like a good idea.

Still, that was a best case scenario, and so she deemed it unlikely if her recent luck was any indication. More likely a new date would be set that they would have to prepare for. So be it, it was out of her control either way.

Frustration simmered below her placid mien, so she took out her phone, found the Kindle app and began reading. John Deak's Forging A Multinational State had proven both interesting and informative, and she eagerly continued where she had last left off, a small smile gracing her features. The transformative power of good government ... she wished more people would embrace the idea.

It was some time later that Benedict asked his question. She did not bother looking up from the screen as she answered.

"Ciro Gardner was hurt during the chaos at school, so we came here to have him looked at. You can ask Miss Brayne for the particulars, if you wish."

Edited by joergenjetsam on Aug 12th 2019 at 6:53:33 PM