( Collab with [@Subject Zero] )


And as if by some magical means via the spoken word, Nates handcuffed girl woke up from her seemingly eternal stupor, eyeing the three guys in the car as if they were from a another planet. Vin sheepishly smiled at the chick, knowing exactly how she felt, and yet somehow being held responsible for her condition. Either way, JJ didn’t hesitate to do what any attractive, blue-blooded, and extremely uptight girl would do after waking up from an unconscious state of mind…

She whipped out her phone to make a call.

After her surprisingly brief conversation - giving Vincent just enough time to zone out while accidentally, yet purposefully staring at her thighs - the woman exchanged a barrage of words with Nate that Vincent didn’t really care to follow, but based on the fact that he was stuck in an enclosed space with them both, was forced to listen to the incessant bickering. Afterwards, Nate hesitantly uncuffed her and she quickly stepped out of the car. 

“Wait!...” Vin shouted before the door slammed shut and JJ took off in the opposite direction. 

"Let her go." said Nate, cutting Vin off. "She's been nothing but trouble since I met her...She cut me with a kitchen knife you know."

"She what now?" asked the duplicate with a genuinely surprised look on his face as he started driving off.

"Yeah, she's a psychopath." said Nate. "It's okay though. I'm good." He took a moment to look at his palm where JJ had cut him, poking at it with his other hand just to make sure it was indeed, good.

Duplinate looked from Nate to Vin and said "Well she may not have liked us but she kind of liked you...for some reason."

Vin turned around to face forward, and leaned his head back with a smile across his face. “Eh?...did you hear that numbnuts?, [i]I’m[/i] not that bad...” He said, pointing a thumb at himself, and turning to give the Nate boys a quick wink.

Of course for Vin, things would have been a lot nicer if he’d had his phone to key in and save JJ’s phone number, but shrugged off the notion knowing that he didn’t need to include any more disturbed women in his already deconstructed life. One thought did seem to linger like an ownerless puppy looking for a home, and that was the fact that he felt some unusual connection to her, yet couldn’t place it. Aside from the obvious powers that they've come to realize, the girl left a mark that Vin just couldn’t shake. He shook his head, musing over the whole ordeal and assuming that his lack of sleep or perhaps bad drugs, alcohol, or a myriad of deficiencies was contributing to his damned one-tracked thinking. 

What he did know, however, was that he needed to find out where exactly he was being taken. 

“Okay...Nate? For the love of the Bee Gees and Betty Crocker chocolate cake, where in the nine hells are we headed?”

"Yeah, in a minute." Nate replied "But first, were you at that charity Gala a couple of weeks ago?" Nate didn't remember seeing Vin there but if he was, his theory about that place in that time being the catalyst for their powers may prove correct.

Vincent narrowed his eyes for a moment, going back a couple of weeks ago when...

“Holy shit!, I was, at least I know was at [i]some[/i] kind of event with my bud James, who had been invited by one of his clients, who was then invited - ah fuck, you get the idea.”

He drummed his fingers along the top of the dashboard to a random tune in his head, as he thought back to that evening, which turned out to be more than he bargained for. He stopped drumming, sat back against the seat and took a deep breath before continuing.

“Yeah, I remember being messed up pretty bad that night, but no surprises there. I met this chick and her boyfriend, and we ended up back in the kitchen doing shots and eightballs until we’d been [i]forcefully[/i] escorted out by an uptight security guard.” 

Vin’s voice trailed off for a moment, as he stared blankly out the front windshield. 

“I-I don’t know how it happened, but as soon as this asshole grabbed me by my collar, because I was resisting of course, my head started screaming with pain...same as earlier in the alley. Next thing I know, these ‘things’ were erupting from my skin, attacking the guard, and even the other two. I just ran. Ran through the rear emergency exit and didn’t look back. Didn’t even look to see if they were dead. I just knew I had to get the hell out of there. So I ran...”

Nate furrowed his brow as Vin recounted his tale about the party and how he ran away. "Real brave of you." he commented.

Duplinate sighed through his nose and told Nate "Oh shut up"

Nate was confused and slightly annoyed by his own clone telling him to shut up and tilted his head at him. He was about to say something when Duplinate cut him off. "He's lucky he got out alive. Not everyone did."

Nate noted the serious look that came over the clone's face as he looked at the road ahead and asked him "What's up your butt?" The clone glanced back at Nate then back at the road, pausing for a moment as he thought about what he was about to say. In the end, he simply reached into his pocket and pulled out the photo he had taken from his attacker, handing it over his shoulder to Nate. Nate took the photo and stared at it for a second. Confused by it, he asked the clone "Who's this?"

"She was at the gala." the clone informed him. "The guy that attacked our car? He had that on him."

Nate looked at the photo again before slumping back into the seat, coming to the same realization that his clone had come to earlier. "...Oh."

The car was quiet then. Painfully quiet.

Vincent peered over at the picture briefly, and then lean back against his arm on the door frame. "Well shit, I'm hungry. Any one else hungry?..."