"I guess we're not talking about the obvious fact he's a mutant," Sam commented internally. "Or the fact he must spend a fortune on clothes."

Her eyes shifted between the lot of them, slightly unnerved by the fact there were now plenty of hands to make light work of her recently-acquired freedom. Jaiden had been the obvious threat until now, but that priority had to be rescinded. At least one of the aforementioned "search party" was armed, and no telling whether the others were carrying.

"Although," whispered the voice of reason, once again. "If she's not shy about displaying her weapons, her friends should be just as bold."

She eventually broke the uneasy silence. "Yeah...crashed. Sorry. I'm fine, though. Gimme a minute to fix it up and I'll be out of your way."

It may have been that she was just groggy from the blackout, or just stressed from having escaped from her fourth set of captors, but Sam somehow glossed over the "brat" comment. With this many unknowns in close proximity, her mind settled on more important matters, such as making very damned certain they didn't put her back in her cage. In this instance, Sam thought this so-called "Lodge" would most probably have been some kind of twisted euphemism for yet another facility; prison or otherwise. The thought of more doctors and injections made her shudder. No, that was definitely not happening again. She'd kill first.

Amie stepped around the other members of the search party just in time to witness a disturbing scene; a second young woman was lying on the ground, directly beside what looked like a mass of writhing black tendrils. They were taking shape, but with no way of knowing what sort of being is composed of something so wicked-looking, she decided to take action. She grasped the hilt of her sword, curled her wrist, and withdrew it in less than a second, holding it at a vertical angle. Her knees flexed and shoulders tensed in preparation for a strike, should the need arise. To her surprise, the tendrils took on the shape of a human, and were soon complemented by arms, legs, a chest, and a head. It was a man, or at least a being replicating the form of a man. The thought didn't sit well with her. Fortunately, he didn't give any indication that he wanted to fight; rather, he engaged in conversation.

"Sorry about the scare, ladies, was just thinking you were some thugs in need of some spooking."

Thugs, indeed! If she were in any less danger, she would have been insulted at the offhanded remark, and she had half a mind to teach him some manners with the business end of her longsword. Something about the man was unsettling, and already she didn't trust him, as was no doubt indicated by her raised weapon.

He continued.

"So, are you peeps from that Lodge thing? Cause if so, I hope you got room for one more for a while. Oh, and my name is Jaiden. Jaiden Fairfield, and it's a pleasure to meet ya."

Peeps, indeed! Her royal blood boiled, and she felt herself relapse into the noblewoman she was supposed to represent. Narrowing her eyes, she decided to respond in as cordial a manner as she could when she was interrupted by the young lady lying in the dirt:

"Yeah...crashed. Sorry. I'm fine, though. Gimme a minute to fix it up and I'll be out of your way."

She paused, then addressed the man who called himself Jaiden.

"Good day. I am Lady Amethyst Jane, baroness of the Jane household of Regalia. It is a...discomfort to make your acquaintance," she said flatly, still holding the sword at the ready. "If you have malicious intentions, I sincerely hope you make them known immediately."

She flashed a smile, unable to hold back her excitement. The noblewoman evaporated again, taking her eloquent vocabulary with her. "In other words, you're one wrong move away from the shortest fight you've ever been in. If you want to go, you better get on with it."

Justin had let Ashley and Amie go off, almost forgetting them in his curiosity about the ship. He had seen his fair share of odd things during his time on Faiza, but he knew it was a much bigger universe out there, and this ship didn't look like anything he had personally encountered. The crashed vessel certainly wasn't big enough to be meant for more than one passenger at a time, and certainly not a human passenger, by the look of some of the controls...

Of course, he noticed the mercurial liquid leaking into the interior of the ship, but he also noticed something else. What appeared to be a battered laptop, bearing keys marked with letters he recognized, sat half-submerged in the pool of quicksilver. "Oh, that cannot be good for it," he said with a wince before he reached down, balancing himself carefully against the rim of the cockpit, and grabbed the laptop by one available edge until he had the whole thing out on the grass, with the wires that connected it to the ship still dangling from where it had come loose, most likely during the crash. He was very careful not to touch the silvery liquid that dripped out of the laptop, gloves or no gloves, but he experimentally tapped a few keys, and was treated to what appeared to be a diagnostic of the ship...shortly before the screen gave out with a shorting spark that snapped at him like a mousetrap.

He glanced around furtively - he had one way to scan the ship, the laptop and the liquid all in one go, but he couldn't use it if he had witnesses around. It looked like the others were gone for the moment...nevertheless, they could turn back up at any time, and he didn't want to take the chance. He settled instead on taking off one of his gloves - among some of the best in the industry - and carefully picked up the laptop again to drip some of the liquid metal inside of it. After checking to make sure that it wasn't eating through the reinforced flexible waterproof material, he tied off the glove and put it into his pocket, then set the laptop down in such a way that it would continue to drain and dry out.

I'm not sure why, but for some reason, I'm worried about this stuff...why would mercury be leaking out of a spaceship? It doesn't make sense...I'll give this to Nora, I think I remember reading about her work before, and she should know if this stuff is dangerous.

He brought himself back upright, and was about to go after the girls when he noticed something about the damaged console of the ship. Justin swore that it seemed less scarred up than it had before. Was it-

Before he could do anything else, he heard the focus-shattering sound of a tree splintering to bits, and he bounded to his feet and over to where the girls stood, just in time to catch part of the apology and the introduction from Jaiden. It said something about Justin's life that even with all of the crazy things he had seen on Faiza, something so mundane like finding a guy naked in the forest could still surprise him. That said, Lady Jane's threat certainly seemed to be a little over the top...though the missing tree was a little foreboding, and the way Jaiden's face darkened after such a blatant threat...

Justin's shirt was off very quickly, revealing a white tank top underneath that showed off his lean arms and shoulders. "Name's Justin," he introduced himself into the awkward silence following Amie's threat as he tossed the heather-gray T-shirt to Jaiden. "That should help cover you until we can get to the lodge's clothing materializer. Since you mentioned the lodge, I'm pretty reasonably sure you weren't the pilot of that ship back there, and you're not here to hurt anyone." His last sentence was pointed a little in Amie's direction as well. "That also means you helped pull the pilot out of the ship, and she seems intact from what I can see, so it's good to see you helping out. Well done."

He turned his gaze to the other person there, a young woman dressed in black civilian clothes who, up until his focus went to her, had been quietly trying to move around the group and back toward the ship. She stopped, her slouching posture conveniently keeping her face away from him for the most part, though their eyes met in a brief instant, and Justin saw suspicion, a hunted look, and a question in her eyes. His best guess of the question was, Are you going to get in my way?

"As for you, I dug your laptop out from the wreck and put it on the grass to drain out. Seems like it got partly submerged into some liquid that looks like mercury, and it looks like it shorted out, but it's salvageable. At least, I assume it's yours, since it's the only thing on that ship that looked designed for human fingers." He gave her a friendly lopsided smile. "We have more tools back at the lodge, as well as a workbench you could borrow, a kitchen full of food, a place to wash up..."

He could tell from the hungry gleam in the girl's eye at "tools" and "workbench" that this was what interested her more than anything else he could have mentioned, though there was still suspicion and a temptation to bolt in her body language. "Unless you wanna stay out here in the untamed wilderness, where you'd get interrupted by wild animals and bad weather. And we're supposed to get some rain tonight, nice sunny skies notwithstanding. Just some friendly advice and an open invitation."

He hadn't introduced Ashley (because he didn't want to have to deal with awkward questions about how he knew her name without being introduced) and Amie, leaving that up to them - he had made his deductions and his offers of help. Now he could only wait and see how this would play out...

---

Nora flailed her hands in front of her in a negative and panicked fashion at Sam's suggestion of burning down the door - a course of action she well knew from reading his file that he could carry out. "N-no, breaking down the door won't be necessary! We'll just get in through one of the other doors, instead!"

But, alas, Nora found that the door that led from the garage into the lodge was also locked! And, after going around to the back cement patio, they tried the door there as well, and though they could look into the small window and see the kitchen counters along the edges of the room inside along with a table and chairs set up, this door was locked as well.

Nora let out a sigh of exasperated futility. She hadn't known what to expect from this day, but she certainly didn't think for a moment that she would be defeated so quickly by a manual locking system. "At least if it was electronic, I could try to override it!" she blurted out as she held out her arms and hands directly at the door, palms splayed out, as if somehow she was dumping all of the blame onto the door.

Boxcar nudged her leg, got her attention, then tipped his head in Sam's direction. "Looks like the firestarter's plan B is our best bet now, perfesser. We might need everyone to find where the others went."

Nora nodded, then took Sam and Boxcar back around to the front where Winters and Jorvin waited - Winters with all of the luggage piled neatly beside the front door, ready to be carried in, and Jorvin with his inexplicable lack of luggage, standing where he had been the entire time, a silent sentinel that waited for the right moment to act. "A-All right, everybody," she announced, "so we're locked out of all the doors, and the only one who has a key is likely to be Justin, since he was here inspecting the place and fixing up things for us. So, the new plan is to go out there, find him, get the keys, get inside!"

She turned to lead the way into the woods, though Boxcar quickly ran a little ahead to use his nose to track down the errant Justin. Nora was a little nervous about this - what if Justin returned while her group was still trying to find him? What if he left without leaving the key? What if he was already dead due to alien invaders that had poured out of the crashed ship? But at least she had a course of reasonable action to follow now!

Justin seemed nice enough, but then they always did at first. His offer of assistance, though tempting, sent a jolt of adrenaline through her body. Now she knew he had been sent for her.

"Yeah, but..." was the short answer from that annoying little voice in the back of her head; the one that just would not leave her alone. The one that saved her ass countless times. Gut reactions couldn't hold a candle to cold, methodical, ruthless logic. "You need parts and you know it."

"Thanks," she offered weakly. "I...don't really have any other computers, so that one's..." She took her time to pick the right words and intonation; too much emphasis and she'd give away just how badly she needed that laptop. "...important." The descriptor was only barely that; . She'd meant it to come out neutral, but it sounded flat, hollow.

It could have been that she was trying to ignore the three feet of bare steel in her peripheral vision. That would explain it. But the voice came back again, criticizing her for being a terrible liar.

"You've fought before and survived. Besides, she's hungry for the naked tentacle monster, not you. Play your cards right and she'll ignore you."

"The lodge sounds..." her voice cracked when she said "great". It had all the earmarks of a polite dinner guest trying not to gag on an overdone roast. "I should get to work, so I can get all this cleaned up. You wanna lead the way, or what?"

"Not subtle," said the voice. You're impatient. You're gonna make them suspicious."

Sam told the voice to "cram it". Whether they figured it out or not would be wholly irrelevant as soon as her stolen vessel was operational again. That had to happen before they discovered she was a freak, not after. When you have something somebody wants, they try to take it from you. This group would be no different. Time alone would reveal that.

"That's if you can even fix it at all..." This time, the voice of reason had a point.

Ashley noted that Jaiden was rather lacking in the dress department and moved to unzip her protective jacket. She was wearing a tee-shirt and her swimsuit underneath, so it would've been fine, but Justin showed up fairly quickly and was already tossing his shirt in Jaiden's general direction. Jaiden seemed fairly laid back. Events swarmed around her and Ashley merely shrugged her shoulders. Clearly her usefulness had passed. Shrugging to herself, Ashley gave a simple proclamation as she began to walk away. "Well. I'm gonna head back to The Lodge, since it would seem you guys have everything covered here. Meet you there."

With that, Ashley walked through the woods. She briefly heard Boxcar run by and gave a shout at the wolf to tell him that Justin wasn't far off. Ashley also passed Nora and informed her that she was going the same direction as Boxcar. Minutes passed as Ashley walked back towards The Lodge, and Ashley merely entertained herself with her own thoughts to pass the time. The group was obviously a bit rough around the edges, but it looked like it would work if everyone managed to get past the initial roughness.

It was concerning. All of them had powers that could make them extremely dangerous, was corralling everyone into such a cramped space such a good idea? Hopefully things smoothed out well, or else Ashley was going to have a rather dysfunctional group on her hands. Her band was the same way in the beginning. Would they miss their singer? Probably. It wasn't every day that someone just vanished. Hopefully they would be well off without her. They had skills, they could find work. The lodge was coming into view by now, and Ashley took a deep breath.

Hopefully everything was going to turn out all right. If not, this could get nasty. Though that would also prove to be quite the adventure, wouldn't it? Ashley mentally shook her head. Enough adventure for today. Ashley's legs agreed with her, as they twitched in painful protest to her sudden exertion in deciding to run for a mile. It was going to be a while before they were pain-free. That was just the cost of heroism.

Several more minutes passed as Ashley kept walking towards The Lodge. Soon after, she stood in the initial greeting area where she had arrived. Glad to see that her bike was still in place, Ashley merely stood around and waited for the others to return.

Jaiden's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he gave the swordswoman before him a rather unimpressed look. He didn't even address her words, instead turning his attention to Justin as he found a shirt being tossed his way. Holding it up to inspect it, the naked man couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the gesture.

"I doubt this'll cover what needs to be covered, especially given the height difference, but thanks for the thought, err, Justin was it? Glad to see you've got more sense than the over-eager princess over there. Seriously, what kind of psychopath comes to threaten someone else without provocation." Jaiden shook his head in exaggerated exasperation as he took a step forward, twirling the shirt in his hands. "But you know what they say, let bygones be bygones and all that. I've never been one to hold a grudge. Just put the sword down and I won't report you to the Segaso police for assault with a deadly weapon. I know rich folk like you believe you're above the law, but please remember the time period you live, Miss. I've done no wrong, while you've out right threatened my life like some sort of sociopath. I'm sure the authorities would just love to hear about this, not to mention the company that invited us all here."

Jaiden's smile grew a tad wider as he pulled his Justin's shirt down over his head, though his eyes remained cold and piercing. As he made to take another step, it seemed for a moment that he would leave without further incident. Instead, however, his next step would take him somewhat dangerously close to the sword-wielding noblewoman, the smug look on his face seeming to dare her to do something about it.
"Now do us all a favor, your craziness, and put the sword down. You're getting just a little bit old for cosplay, don't ya think?"

"I'm gonna stick here, in case the others come back, maybe find another way in," Sam said to the scientist, he quickly added to ease any concerns, "no fire, promise." That seemed to be good enough for her because she ran after her wolf in to the forest. Sam was mildly curious what was going on over there, but he really didn't like running, so instead he'd inspect the lodge some more. He'd broken in to his own home a few times in the past, if he could find a window or something he might be able to get them all inside early.

However after several minutes of walking around the lodge Sam found any windows were too high, locked, or both. He was very tempted to use fire and just burn down the door, or burn a hole in the wall, but he figured that would give a bad first impression. Sam wasn't an arsonist, he didn't burn things for no reason, but sometimes problems could be solved with just a bit of fire.

Sam made his way back to the front of the lodge and found one of the girls who went off in to the woods had returned, the one with the bike. "Oh hey, you're back. So what was the scene like down there? And where are the others?" Sam was quiet a second before he realized, "I'm being rude, sorry, we haven't even been introduced yet, I'm Samuel, call me Sam." Sam wasn't too used to social situations, he'd spent most of his life home schooled, even with work he didn't need to interact too much with passengers. He supposed he would need to change that since he'd be living in such close quarters with so many people.
@Valor

Jorvin beat back pangs of annoyance from his being. No matter what this new world had to offer, nothing changed the fact that he was out of his element and in over his head. An older man amidst a party of young people; he was not "hip", he knew no slang, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd shopped in the urban outfitters section he used to frequent when he was a youth. There was no use in lamenting time's slow march, it would happen to the rest of them too. Maybe he was just being a grumpy old man, anyway. There were bigger problems before him: all the doors were locked, and there was no way in. He figured following the Boxcar and Nora may be a good idea, the forest was where everyone happened to be--of course he wasn't sure how they would react to some chubby man adorned in academic regalia. He figured he would wait.

There were two others on the porch next to him; there was a girl with a bike and a young boy whose name was 'Samuel' who preferred to be called 'Sam.' Quite the common name, mundane even. 'Sam' didn't seem the social type, much like Jorvin himself; perhaps it was a credit to the boy's youth, Jorvin had the same quality in his younger years. No, no, no, age hadn't changed him much at all--he was still awkward in any social context. Relegating oneself to a room for fourty eight hours or more without sleep and only a candelight for reading and writing makes a person inhospitable sometimes. Surely, there was no harm in trying to interact with the two.

"Have either of you fine people heard the joke about the Sodium Hybromite?"

Bad chemistry joke incoming. God help these unknowing souls and grant them respite in paradiso.

Ashley looked up when Samuel came to the front of The Lodge. When he asked about the problem in the woods, Ashley gave him a brief rundown. "A ship crashed in the woods. There was a girl inside, but she got pulled out by some guy that can turn his body into tentacles or something like that. It was honestly kinda weird. Nora and Boxcar are on their way over to check things out, and the mechanic and another girl are still over there. They'll probably show up in a few minutes and we'll be back on track. Nothing like a spacecraft crashing to start your day, huh? I'm also Ashley, it's nice to make the acquaintance." Ashley offered Samuel her hand to shake as a gesture of friendship. Though there was nothing more than friendship behind it at this point.

When Jorvin approached and gave the opening line to a joke, Ashley decided to humor him and replied. "No. I haven't. What is it?"

Even though Ashley was sure she had heard about it in school somewhere before, her memory was foggy on the details of the joke and it was for the best to make everyone feel welcome since they would be living close together for what seemed like quite a long time. This gave Ashley some worry, since she knew that she would inevitably transform while the others were around. Would they shun her due to her werewolf form? After all, if she lost control she could infect all of them with the virus. Would it be best to tell them all up front, or try to keep it a secret? Would Boxcar know? Would Boxcar tell everyone? Perhaps Nora could make some medication to suppress the werewolf transformations, or induce them...

Ashley buried her worries for now, since she knew that it was best to avoid worrying too much about something that could turn out to be nothing serious. Still, it was something that would have to be addressed, and perhaps it would be better sooner rather than later. Burying the details for now, Ashley waited for Samuel or Jorvin to speak again.

First section is a collab post with @BlessedWrath

---

Justin gave Sam a friendly grin. "Sure thing - funny that you happened to drop in today, these guys were actually about to move into the lodge themselves." He glanced over at Jaiden and Amie, and the grin turned into a grimace. "That is, if they make it that far."

"Yeah...about that..." Sam tossed a too-casual glance over her shoulder at Amie and Jaiden. It did not take a developmental psychologist to recognize this was not the first time she had witnessed the prelude to violence. The fact she barely knew any of them did help to reinforce a reason for her lack of interest in their affairs, however. She paused briefly, studying the two for half a second or so, before finishing that thought.

"If, by 'lodgers', you mean to include Captain Creature and Princess Cut-A-Bitch...d'ya think maybe somebody should do something about..." she trailed off momentarily, waving a hand in the general direction of the would-be combatants. "...that?"

She turned back to Justin, wearing a more serious expression which, in itself, betrayed the fact that she did, in fact, believe there was a stake in whether they would become violent. That this vested interest in them hinged on whether they would also come after her may not have been expressed, but it was heavily implied in her eyes. After all, she had already been through enough this week. Waking up to three feet of alloy steel sticking out of her chest would seriously hinder her repair efforts.

Justin could tell there was a little more to Sam's tone with her comment than the words themselves expressed. What exactly, he couldn't say, but he had a feeling that this spaceship crash hadn't been the first bad thing that had ever happened to her. Hopefully, he could turn it around into a good thing.

"Yeah, I just barely got done inspecting the place and repairing things," Justin explained with a sigh. "I don't really want to get a call and have to come back to fix something they broke on the first day."

He approached Jaiden and Amie and held up his hands in a non-threatening way - but interposed his own body between the two of them. "Okay, easy - you guys are going to be living at the lodge together, both of you, so can we just have a do-over with introducing yourselves, please?"

"Now's your chance," Sam's inner voice butted in again. "Ditch the spares and find your own way back. Hell, maybe you can wait it out in the bushes until they leave, and get your ship running again before they notice you're gone."

That would have ended her up lost in the woods. The alien woods. The alien woods crawling with unidentified, potentially dangerous life forms, and at least one shapeshifting would-be bad boy. There could be others. Besides, even if she did find her way to the lodge, there was no guarantee she could get in. Waiting for Justin was just as acceptable an alternative; she got his name, and the fact he was crazy enough to step between a monster and a sword-slinging aristocrat. Apart from that, she didn't know him from Adam.

"No..." Sam decided. "I need options. That's going to take time. Gotta figure out what I need before I figure out how to use it."

Instead of rabbiting, Sam stuck her hands in the pockets of her hoodie and leaned against a tree, propping up one of her workboots on the trunk beneath her. If Mr. Diplomacy failed to calm the situation, she'd be ready.

"Yeah?" She chided herself. "Ready for what, exactly?"

---

Nora sighed despondently and slumped her shoulders as she and Boxcar walked along alone through the forest. "Well, so much for being in charge of the glorious rescue expedition," she said, more to herself than to anyone else.

Boxcar shrugged, though it was hard to convey the motion as he was moving along on all four paws. He had just finished a friendly bark of greeting in response to Ashley's called-out statement. "Look, yer just bein' too hard on yourself. Stop mopin' and just be yourself - if they want to follow you, it'll be because they like you for you, and not-"

The wolf paused, his nose twitching as he sniffed the air. Nora squatted down next to him and regarded him curiously. "You have something?"

"Yeah..." Boxcar tested the air again, separating the scents he smells from each other. One scent was purely physical and not related to his super-powered sniffing ability - the remnants of smoke and damaged metal from the crashed ship. He also could smell Justin, he recognized that from earlier, as well as Amie's royalty-tinged perfume.

The other two scents, however, both were charged with power, each in their own way. One scent was like a spritz of effervescent dormant psychic emanations...a telepath of some kind? It didn't smell like a more dangerous psionic power, like telekinesis, though Boxcar had to admit that mental powers like those were a little trickier for him to figure out.

The other scent caused the hackles to rise on his neck and back, and he growled involuntarily. There was a musky odor that reeked of chaotic transformation, a protean polymorphic pungency, along with an underlying...hunger. Specifically, hunger of a predator...

"B-Boxcar?" Nora yelped as she stood up and backed away a few steps quickly. "What's the matter with you?"

With an effort, the wolf stopped growling, though his senses were all on high alert. "I smell Justin, Amie...and two others. One of whom might be very, very bad. This way."

And he ran off through the bushes, with Nora on his heels trying to keep up. "H-hey, wait for me!"

"But you know what they say, let bygones be bygones and all that. I've never been one to hold a grudge. Just put the sword down and I won't report you to the Segaso police for assault with a deadly weapon.

For a moment, this actually seemed like a good idea. The sword quivered ever so slightly as she considered his words. Despite her eagerness, and the potential threat he posed, there was no solid reason to strike. She had little fear of the Segaso police; the long history of peace and respect between the law and her family would play in her favor. But tainting her honor was another matter. Whoever this man actually was, Amie had to admit he was a smooth talker, and he might have won her over if he had finished speaking. But he hadn't

"I know rich folk like you believe you're above the law, but please remember the time period you live, Miss. I've done no wrong, while you've out right threatened my life like some sort of sociopath. I'm sure the authorities would just love to hear about this, not to mention the company that invited us all here."

Her head twitched and a scowl passed over her face. He was either intentionally or unintentionally taking things in the wrong direction again, and she had half a mind to believe it was the former. The tone of voice, the smile, even his posture showed a very serious lack of respect, and that is something the Jane family does not tolerate. The noblewoman in her rose up again in retaliation, and the sword returned to steadiness. Even now, though, she had no grounds to strike, and indeed it seemed as though he would leave without another word. But he didn't.

It was instinct, really. He had intended to move directly and deliberately within, and past, striking distance. She might have taken issue with the smug look on his face or the string of soon-to-come insults, but neither mattered so much as his actions. Without a word, Amie lept forward in a forward parry, feet forward, torso curled, offhand raised, and sword outstretched. The point rested perfectly still at level with the bare throat of the man (if he was a man), not half a foot away. Already her mind was drawing on her countless hours of training in preparation for a follow-up strike, tracing patterns in the air for slashes, thrusts, and blocks, along with offensive and defensive movement. A supernatural element was at play; at the very least, her foe could manipulate himself into other shapes. The golden coat of arms, hidden by the crossguard, glowed gold as she prepared to call on an armament.

And still she could not bring herself to strike. He was, after all, unarmed. But his distance from the swordswoman was, whether he knew it or not, an informal challenge to combat. Further still, infringing on the honor of nobility is a feat not easily forgiven. He was a single step or insult from justifying her actions, and for a third time the entire confrontation could have ended without incident, had he finished speaking. But he hadn't.

"Now do us all a favor, your craziness, and put the sword down. You're getting just a little bit old for cosplay, don't ya think?"

That would do. Without missing a beat, she raised her chin and responded in her coldest voice. "Know your place, beast. You have slandered my status as nobility, my competence with a blade, and the honor of my family. Never has one done such a thing without reprisal. You are heretofore challenged to a duel. May you use your skill in battle rather than your tongue..."

She lowered her head and cracked a wicked smile. "For I am inclined to remove it from between your teeth."

The tension was interrupted by the reappearance of the man from before, who inched his way towards them, each hand pointing palm-forward at either of them. There wasn't enough room to fit between the two, so he held his position and spoke up.

"Okay, easy - you guys are going to be living at the lodge together, both of you, so can we just have a do-over with introducing yourselves, please?"

Her eyes widened, and the smile was immediately erased. A wave of discomfort (perhaps even nausea) washed over her. On one hand, it was a relief to be informed that the other party was already known and apparently not a threat. The danger posed to herself and her comrades had not been there in the first place, it seemed. On the other, it was a disappointment to be rid of a proper fight. But the prospect of engaging and killing a man (which is what he was) in the middle of a negotiation was poor behavior, and she would be hard pressed to explain why an occupant was no longer present when she returned to the Lodge. It was with a snarl of frustration that Amie sheathed her sword, returning it to its place by her side in a fraction of a second.

"Very well. I will retract my challenge," she replied, quickly folding her arms behind her back to block the coat of arms as the glow faded away. She gave Jaiden a harsh glance. "It would do you well, young man, to mind your tongue and know your place. You have made your stance on my person and heritage very clear. Do not do so again."

Amie took a very deep breath and introduced herself for a second time. "As the gentleman opposite us requests, I am Lady Amethyst Jane, baroness. You may address me as Lady Jane, or Lady Amethyst, though I highly recommend the former in the presence of my assistant. He is considerably more formal than myself." With great reluctance, the baroness extended her hand. Traditionally one would kneel before taking her by the hand, but she was prepared to accept that she would be fortunate if the man even returned the handshake.

Amie's challenge wasn't met with fear, excitement, or even any true anger. Instead, Jaiden simply looked her dead in the eyes a he leaned in a bit closer, allowing the tip of the blade to make contact with his throat as he made his response.

"Go ahead. Do it." Discomfort and hunger were momentarily forgotten as the predatory urge to prepare overcame him. If she continued her assault on his person, the response would be sudden and savage as only the barest threads of humanity where keeping the starving beast at bay. However, he needn't have worried as another came between them, a guy who had given Jaiden his shirt. Closing his eyes for a moment, he silently thanked the man for his intervention, as the break in the tension helped him to center his mind, pushing back the hunger just enough. Once he reopened his eyes, however, he'd be greeted with a rather lackluster attempt of smoothing things out, as well as a demand that warranted a much exaggerated eye roll from the blonde man.

"I don't what's more telling of how out of touch you are with how the real world is: the fact that your so quick to draw your weapon, or that you you think you have any right to make demands of me after pulling that shit." Jaiden merely shook his head as he walked around the noblewoman, scratching at the back of his neck as he threw a final retort towards her. "Settle for me calling you Jane for the foreseeable future and tell that man servant of yours that he's going to have to deal with it." Continuing to walk a certain distance past the brush into the smoldering clearing that the crash had made, Jaiden came to a stop as he realized something.

"Oh yeah, Justin, I'll give you the shirt back once I get back to the lodge. I gotta get my bike up to the Lodge before the weather turns, so that means I gotta jet if I want to make it in time. I'll do the whole meet and greet thing later, when I'm less exposed, ye?" With a tip of his head, Jaiden would make to walk away, his feet carrying him away from the scene surprisingly quickly if nothing happened to halt him once again.

Justin let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. I knew that taking this job from Cybertronics Unlimited was gonna be trouble, he thought to himself as he waved at Jaiden as the other man walked away out of sight behind the trees, but I had no idea I was gonna get this involved with the folks here. Still, the pay is too good to pass up, and rent just got bumped up, so beggars can't be choosers...and if this encounter just now was any indication, I'm gonna be out at the lodge a lot for extra repairs.

He turned to Amie and, seeing she had dropped her offered hand, gave her a sympathetic shrug. "Well, that could have gone better, but at least it didn't go worse. I'm sure you two will smooth things out once you get to know each other better...err, Lady Jane," he added at the end, remembering what she had said about the method of addressing her to Jaiden. Then he made a sweeping gesture back toward the lodge with both hands and bowed at the waist; he had no clue if it was deep enough, but as casual as he usually was, he knew that the fastest way to lose his job was to get a complaint filed by an important representative of the co-sponsoring nation of the lodge project. "Shall we head back to the lodge now?"

He looked up toward Sam, but then his eyes widened slightly as he saw Boxcar leap out of the bushes and land on all four feet, glancing this way and that as if looking for danger. Nora managed to clamber through the underbrush as well, though she nearly tripped when her white labcoat got caught on a branch and then slipped free a moment later. Boxcar pointed his nose at Sam, then looked at Justin with a raised eyebrow. "Where'd the other one go?" he asked without preamble.

"Jaiden?" Justin thumbed the direction. "He went to go get some pants and his bike, he'll be heading straight to the lodge."

Boxcar's eyebrow went up a little further, but he seemed to relax after a few confirming sniffs. "I will pretend that all made sense, just as long as you weren't in any danger."

Nora put her hands onto her knees and panted - she clearly wasn't used to running around like her four-legged friend was. "H-hold it, Boxcar, let me catch my breath," she managed to say as she recovered from the exertion and stood straight up again. She looked at each person in the small clearing in turn, ending with Sam. "Oh! You're new!" She flicked the edge of one lens of her glasses as she peered at the girl, and the full list of the lodge attendees scrolled past her vision as she confirmed that this was not anyone related to the lodge. "I'm Nora Minder, head of staff for the lodge," she introduced herself. "And you are?"

Justin thought about speaking up, but he suddenly realized he hadn't even gotten the girl's name yet.

Sam snapped back to reality as her conscious mind screamed at her to answer the new blips on her radar. She'd been reliving the events leading up to the crash, cycling through alternate strategies that might have ended her up...well, anywhere but here. Justin was talking to someone...

Her gaze panned right and, settling upon some kind of...wolf...thing...she decided it couldn't have been him who had addressed Justin. There had been another voice, but only one other, and female. Her peripheral vision picked up Nora's glasses as they flashed in the sun. It was a pity that had not been the only detail she noticed. Nora's white labcoat, sterile and official, registered as a clear and present danger to Sam, who knew all-too-well what it meant to be under "their" care again.

All at once, her propped-up boot launched her from the tree which had supported her weight. It had been like the trained reaction of a soldier at the sight of a drawn weapon. Sam, wild-eyed and teeth clenched, came to rest in a wide stance and clapped her wrists together, producing a high-pitched whine from her gloves. There was another "doctor" here to see her, but this time she wouldn't be helplessly tied to a metal table when they tried to violate her body.

"Nice try..." she hissed, eyes darting between the wolf and Nora. She chanced a glance over her shoulder, to determine whether Justin would aid or attack as well. "I'm not going back..."

Collab post between myself, @BlessedWrath and @MatthiasAngel

---

Nora froze at the high-pitched sound that was the response to her attempt at saying hello, the tentative smile on her face fading away in an instant at the sight of this girl’s reaction. There was such intense anger in her eyes, and in her voice...anger, and a determination that Nora, who had been working around superheroes for much of her professional career, could recognize very clearly. On a very deep level, Nora knew that this girl would die before allowing herself to...well, whatever it is she thought Nora was going to do to her.

But what could it be? And why did she only have that reaction after her eyes had settled onto Nora - not the talking wolf, and Justin and Lady Jane hadn’t elicited that reaction, so why Nora?...

Boxcar cringed at the noise of the girl’s gloves priming - unlike the others in the area, his wolf ears were sensitive to frequencies outside of the normal range of human hearing. His immediate response was to growl, though he had to close his eyes as he fought through a painful headache that had come on as a result of the whine of a weapon power-up.

His sense of smell didn’t tell him the nature of the device, which meant it wasn’t anything based on a superpower or supernatural set of principles. So, besides being stunned by the noise, the wolf couldn’t tell when the weapon would discharge, though it reminded him of other devices he had heard powering up inside the labs he had been in before. It was a purely man-made device, whatever it was, and that was just as alien to Boxcar as a superhero was to an ordinary being.

Justin didn’t move - not because he couldn’t, but because he decided it was better to stay close to Lady Jane at the moment, in case she decided to interrupt this tense moment by whipping out her sword again. That, and he recognized the sound from having heard it several times in the past, perhaps in different formats, nevertheless, it was familiar to someone who had been on both ends of similar devices in the past. If he tried to tackle the girl, he’d just get zapped for his trouble, and then she’d have even more justification for feeling the way she did about this situation...that she was trapped, and felt like she didn’t have a way out. Deep in his heart, he wanted desperately to throw himself in the way, but any fast moves might send the wrong message…and then sword. Some days…

Speaking of Lady Jane, she was at a bit of a loss for words at the moment. She was beginning to tire of things interrupting other things, and having retracted her hand and settled her temper, she was all for returning to a more peaceful place, as Justin suggested. Her mind drifted back to the young lady, sprawled in the dirt not long ago. She had appeared to be in much better shape, what with her standing erect and conversing. Amie had been wondering if it was appropriate to formally introduce herself yet again when her two new acquaintances burst through the foliage into view.

Amie clasped her hands and held her tongue as introductions were made and promptly ignored as the girl transformed from victim to threat. She gave the appearance of a wild animal, trapped in a corner and prepared to fight for its life. Instinctively her hand returned to her sword, and she only managed to stop and regain control of herself just as the blade came into view, about an inch past the mouth of the sheath. The encounter with Jaiden had expended an unnecessary level of adrenaline, and her body was not prepared to produce and utilize more of it. She calmed her mind and weighed her options, ultimately settling on remaining silent to let the others negotiate, though she kept the sword in hand.

Before Boxcar could recover and throw himself in the way, before Justin could try to find something to say to defuse the situation, Nora spoke as she splayed her arms outward, showing she had no weapons and leaving herself vulnerable. “I-I am not your enemy,” she stammered, her light blue eyes looking back unblinkingly at the girl’s green ones.

Sam angled her head, to keep Justin and Lady Jane in her peripheral vision. Her eyes kept flicking back and forth between the two pairs of unknowns, as if deciding what to do. Her posture betrayed a total lack of formal training, but much more than that a familiarity with defending oneself that no teenager should have had to develop. Whatever color her belt, there is a language spoken by stance, and hers loudly proclaimed a willingness to use force.

She worked her lips a little, but when the words did not come, her right eye twitched and she began backing toward the ship; one foot at first, and a sidelong glance toward Justin, then the other. She held her hands out at midrange, palms down, ready to latch onto any limb they might give to her.

“You use dogs now, doctor?” she rasped, eyeing Boxcar warily. “Tranqs aren’t good enough anymore?” She added, a bit more confidently, though her throat could not have gotten any less dry: “Worried I might have taken something that might prevent sedation?”

It was all coming back to her again; the white walls and labcoats, the linoleum floors, the smell of...nothing. She could almost hear the clatter of plastic lunch trays and the whispering shuffle of brain-dead patients trudging by. She shook her head and forced herself to focus, but the memories kept clawing their way to the surface.

“...not going back.” she repeated, barely more than a hoarse whisper. “I beat Don Mantovani, and the government, I can sure as hell beat you…”

Boxcar peeled open his eyelids, though he didn’t need to see the girl to tell just how utterly scared she was. Now the anger, the defiance, made more sense to him. They were a cover, a reaction to a situation that was so horrible that it brought sudden and intense rage to the surface...humans had a phrase for it that sounded awfully clinical considering the trauma it usually described. But Boxcar couldn’t communicate this to Nora without more talking, and if this girl thought he was some kind of laboratory pet in Nora’s service…

To be honest, it was kind of frustrating for the wolf. This was getting too complicated, the way that humans, two-leggers, always made things more complicated.

A frown passed over Amie’s face as she considered the girl’s words. They made little sense. The only thing that was clear was a distinct misunderstanding. Either the girl was hallucinating vividly, or there was more to Nora than was immediately apparent. Amie cast a sidelong glance at the young scientist, wondering in what manner she would respond.

Nora suddenly put the pieces together. Well, some of them, anyway, or so she thought. “I’m not a doctor,” she explained with a calmness that surprised even herself, though she felt her knees wobble underneath her. “And even if I was, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Psh,” Sam scoffed. “Okay. This is the part where I decide to trust you and walk right into a wall of hospital security… Sorry, doc; not drinkin’ the koolaid.”

She took another step backward, eyes flitting over to Justin and Amie, then back to Nora and Boxcar. Her head twitched backward ever so slightly, as if to afford her the extra angle of vision to check for the nose of the fighter.

“Now here’s how this is gonna go...I’m gonna get back in my ship, and you’re gonna go back to Shady Pines or whatever, and I’m gonna fix this thing up and split. Whoever paid you to shoot me down will have to find another lab rat to play with.”

Nora didn’t know what to say. She had dealt with people who were frightened by the machines she made before, or made assumptions about her because of who she worked for, but she had never met someone so utterly convinced that she was…evil. “I-I only want to help,” she said, tears starting to come to her eyes. “I’m-”

Justin couldn’t stand there much longer without doing anything. Just moments ago he managed to stave off an international disaster, and now he couldn’t think of what to say or do. There was a lot of baggage here that he didn’t understand, and whatever had happened before, he didn’t want to let this girl stay out here alone with a strange alien ship. He opened his mouth just as Nora started talking, and he was about to say something when someone shouted.

“HEY!”

Boxcar’s stomach growled in the brief silence that followed his outcry, and he felt everyone’s eyes on him. “Look, I haven’t had anything to eat since breakfast,” growled the wolf as he glanced between each human in turn, “so, if we fix her ship, we can go to the lodge for lunch, right?”

Sam heard that disembodied voice again; the one from before Dr. Devious tried to recapture her. She’d been looking in Justin’s direction when he spoke, but an eyeroll and a turn of the head brought her back to a search for her new adversary...which ended up being the wolf. She realized in mid-sentence that Boxcar had been the one talking.

“Now you’re just being ridiculo-oooh SHIT!” Sam trailed off, eyes widening at the one thing she hadn’t seen before; a talking animal. An honest-to-goodness talking, sentient, fully self-aware animal. “WHAT THE SHIT.” she continued, her eye twitching again. “IT TALKED. WHY IS IT TALKING.”

She stumbled backward as she tried to cope with the prospect of intelligent dogs. She’d meant to retreat into the hole in the side of the fighter, where Jaiden had ripped off the door to the cockpit, but her heel hit a patch of slick grass coated in that mysterious metal goo, and she pitched backward, arms flailing all the way in a vain effort to latch on to anything that might help her avert the fall. Her head slammed into the bottom of the door frame and she grunted as her lights went out. Just like that, the situation resolved itself, and just as well, too; in its current condition, Sam had no hope of repairing that fighter.

An awkward silence fell over the group. Amie looked around at the bewildered faces, then slid her sword fully back into the sheath with a sniff. “Well that was...invigorating, though it looks as though the threat has passed. Will one of you be arranging transport for her to the local authorities? The poor girl is clearly in need of...help, and this seems to me to be a matter best handled by the law. And on that note, I bid you good afternoon.”

Bowing her head respectfully to the trio, Amie turned and marched back into the forest in the direction of the lodge. She would have taken her time and enjoyed the walk back had she not suddenly remembered her dear assistant, who was no doubt very distressed. He may call the police. Worse, he may call her family. The thought of her mother requesting her presence was more that enough to prompt a sigh of frustration and a quickened pace, and soon Amie vanished from sight. Whatever else happened, she would not be participating.

Nora was the first to recover and to dash over to Sam’s side. She was a little too stunned by the situation to take much stock of Amie’s words, and she focused her attention on the girl with a flick against her glasses to turn on a medical analysis mode. The glasses couldn’t scan for injuries actively, rather they took in everything Nora saw and drew conclusions from that. “She’s not too badly hurt, but she slipped in this silvery liquid,” Nora observed. “Her head fell back into-”

Justin wasn’t there much later, and he quickly lifted the girl away from the silver liquid, then noticed that some of it had stuck to the back of her hood. “I’m pretty sure this stuff isn’t healthy,” he said as he hurriedly unzipped the girl’s hoodie and pulled it off of her. “Looks like it just got onto her hood, and her shoe...maybe we can just-”

As the two of them discussed how they were going to bring the girl back to the lodge to recover and to wash her clothing, Boxcar watched Amie go with a curled lip. “‘And on that note, I bid you good afternoon,’” he mimicked with a snort. “What does that lady even eat - ice cubes? That’s just cold…”

Soon, the wolf was wrangled into providing a ride to the unconscious girl, and Justin handed off the glove sample he had retrieved to Nora - and then the three of them all headed back toward the lodge...

The woods melted away, revealing the pleasant face of the lodge and less pleasant face of Winters, who had one hand on one of the larger suitcases (now neatly stacked in a small cityscape of luggage) and the other on his wireless phone. He turned to see the approaching Lady just as his thumb reached for the last digit between moving in or vacating the premises. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief, returned the phone to his vest pocket and bowed to her Ladyship.

"Ah, Lady Jane. You have excellent timing."

Amie was again forced to admire the assistant's patience. Whatever frustrations he held, he was keeping them safely out of view (in her presence, anyway). She caught sight of her reflection in the windshield of the car and winced. Her journey through the forest and close encounter with combat had left more than a few marks on her person, mainly in dirt smudges and sweat stains. Calming her breathing, she elevated her chin and assumed the posture of a Jane. First order of business: put down on Winters for something he didn't do.

"Indeed. I see you have succeeded in removing the luggage from the vehicle. May I ask why it did not complete its voyage to the interior of the lodge?"

"The door is locked and we do not have a key, my Lady," Winters replied quickly. He was at the very least thankful he had a good reason for only doing half of the job (which, in the Jane household, is considered not doing a job at all). "We believe it is in the possession of a man named Justin, who joined your ladyship in her forest venture. He has not returned."

"Forest venture, hmph!" she responded sharply. "I believe I met the man, though he said nothing of a key. We shall have to wait for him to return, as I have quit myself of the business in the forest."

"Your Ladyship is unharmed, I presume?"

"Do not fret, Winters. I do not feel half as bad as I appear." She paused. "I must say, Winters. Today was perhaps the most unusual day I have ever entertained, and it is not yet evening. I haven't the will to recount the...details, I suppose, at the moment, but I will do you the pleasure of telling you the whole tale on the ride."

"The ride, my Lady?"

"Yes Winters, the ride to your hotel room, where you will be residing for the duration of my stay at the lodge," she replied with a lump in her throat. She had been structuring this part of the conversation for the duration of her journey back to the lodge. The best approach, she had determined, was to play aggressively. The more time Winters had to think, the more time he would have to give her excellent reasons why her plan was a bad idea. And he was right. But he was also wrong. Winters was always wrong. His eyes opened in shock and he was halfway to asking her to repeat herself when Amie launched a counteroffensive.

"I have examined all aspects of this expedition quite thoroughly and have reached the conclusion that it is physically and morally impossible for two individuals of our social tier (you serve the Jane household and are entitled to a standard, Winters, you know this) to occupy this facility at once. I regret to inform you that I have packed too much luggage and likely have room for half that which I brought. I regret further to inform you that I will be staying as ambassador of the house, as is my duty, and you will be staying elsewhere. There is an upscale hotel not fourty-five minutes from here. I will transport you there in my vehicle and return to the lodge with it. The Jane household will as is customary sponsor your stay, and you shall want of nothing save my presence until the days of my stay have expired.

"And I regret further still to inform you that you have no say in the matter," she said firmly, and for a moment Winters was completely out of character. His jaw dropped and he stared directly into her ladyship's eyes. She noticed and pressed her advantage.

"Winters, you are staring at me. Refrain," Amie said coldly, giving him a harsh look. He immediately snapped his mouth closed and ceased eye contact, choosing to instead stare at the lodge in disbelief. He had so many objections to give that he couldn't decide on one. After coughing a few times and trying unsuccessfully to clear his mind, he managed to produce only one reply:

"Your ladyship's family will not approve."

"My family will not be informed. You may report my insubordination when we get home...if you dare," she said, gritting her teeth for the last three words. Amie was going all-in, riding every chip she had on this one power play, which reluctantly involved a good bit of malice. Winters was used to this form of treatment, but not from her, and he found himself at a complete loss of words. Amie turned to face him, snapped her fingers and told him to reload the luggage. Nothing motivated an assistant of the Jane house like the snapping of fingers, and nearly without realizing it Winters found himself bowing and moving the carefully-stacked luggage back into the vehicle. She waved curtly at the remaining residents, still gathered outside the lodge.

"My assistant and I have business in the city. Please give word to the others that I will return within two hours, and until then, I bid you good day," she said as Winters opened the door for her, started the car, and escorted the both of them away.

It wasn't long after Amie left when Nora, Justin and Boxcar showed up with the girl, who was riding on Boxcar's back. Justin chuckled to himself as he pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked the front door. "Oops, I didn't realize everyone was gonna show up at once, so I went ahead and locked up the place just as you got here. Here we go...might as well bring along all your luggage inside while we're at it."

They brought the raven-haired girl inside the front door and set her down onto one of the couches of the living room, and there relieved her of her shock gloves. Nora examined her for injuries while Justin supervised bringing in all the luggage inside, and she pulled out a hypo from her labcoat and loaded it with a dose of a pain relief and healing stimulant that she injected into the girl, after the hypo's built-in sensors indicated it would be safe to do so. Even if the girl had suffered a concussion earlier, this should help her to recover more quickly and without permanent ill effect.

The living room was a large, spacious room that served as the major intersection of the entire rest of the lodge. There was a fireplace on the left wall made of red brick that extended up through the vaulted ceiling, and next to that was a door that Justin opened that led into the garage. He disappeared briefly to get an extra shirt for himself from his Ostrich legged cycle, and when he returned, he gestured to the honey-hued wooden floor, walls and ceiling; the variety of couches, bean-bag chairs, and recliners that sat on a single large rug in the middle of the floor; to the mezzanine above where an upper level featured many more doors along its length as it straddled the north and east sides of the second floor of the lodge, where a wooden rail bordered the mezzanine from the floor below it; to the wooden stairs with red carpeting that led up to that second floor.

"Okay, so this is the living room," started Justin as he put his fists onto his hips after he finished slipping into the extra T-shirt with a gaming logo emblazoned across it. "You can see the TV mounted on the wall over there between the fireplace and the door to the garage, an old style that looks weird if you're used to full trivid projectors, but it works just fine, except...apparently the satellite dish on top of the lodge doesn't connect the TV to Segaso City's network, so you're stuck watching the videos until we can figure out a new antenna for it."

Justin then led the way past the northern wide open doorway (to the right of the door to the garage, to the left of the stairs leading up to the second floor) and gestured at a long, low room with a set of weights and benches to the left side of the room, and a workbench and desk with a mixed variety of tools to the right. "Here's what I'd call the rec room," Justin announced. "It's right under the bedrooms, and there was all of this stuff left here from whoever had this place before, so I guess it's yours now. Soundproof, too, so you can't hear what's going on down here if you're in one of the bedrooms, or vice versa. The doors slide out of the edges of the doorway electrically or manually, so you can minimize the noise between this room and the living room."

A door near the workbench area led downstairs into a dark, cement-laden box of a basement, lit only by a single overhead light bulb. Partitioned off by bare gray walls were two large cylinders, one connected by pipes, the other connected by wires to the rest of the building. A fuse box sat on the wall next to the wired cylinder. "Water heater also works as a primary pump to bring water in from an underground aquifer that is also connected to the lake. Geothermal power is used for part of the house power, but most of it comes from this shielded power plant...micro-fusion, surprisingly modern for what was supposed to be an abandoned lodge out in the middle of nowhere..." He shrugged. "Not unusual in many apartment buildings in Segaso, but I'd be hard-pressed to figure out what this place needed this much power for. Good news is, you'd have to drop a nuclear bomb to crack the case on this power source. And your sewage goes down a tunnel that actually meets up with Segaso City's sewer system, so...that's handy, I guess."

At this stage of the tour, Boxcar sniffed at a corner that seemed oddly empty, but he mentioned nothing as the group returned back upstairs to the living room.

Justin then led them into the kitchen, which was through another wide open doorway on the right side as a person entered the lodge from the front door. Smooth granite countertops edged the kitchen, with cupboards mounted above and below, as well as a sink, a fridge, a microwave, stove, and a table with chairs and barstools. "All the appliances work," reported Justin before he opened a door to a pantry area to the left of the back door leading outside. "There's some food and supplies here already, so you shouldn't have to go shopping right away, unless any of you have particularly special dietary requirements."

Then he led them up the carpeted stairs from the living room to the corner of the mezzanine, where the same red carpet extended both ways along the floor and in front of the different doorways on eight side. "Doors to the left of this corner are all bedrooms," Justin announced with a flourish to his left. "So that's eight rooms total." He opened the first bedroom door and showed them in to see a fairly boxy area with a single openable window, uncovered mattress with a wooden bedframe, sheets and blankets and pillows piled up inside a closet, and a small personal bathroom. "There's a closet at the end of the bedroom wing that has extra towels, pillows, and other stuff like that. The bedroom bathrooms are not very big, but they have a sink, shower stall, and toilet each, so you'll all have whatever privacy you require."

"And here to the right of the corner, starting with the closest door, is a bigger bathroom with a tub, a laundry room, and...a really big changing/locker/shower room with a hot tub set into the floor between the men's and women's sides. The laundry room is equipped with washer, dryer, and even a clothes materializer - the styles might not be up to date until you can connect the satellite dish to Segaso City, but it's enough to replace anything damaged or missing, and it'll size you automatically."

The clothes materializer sat just inside the doorway of the laundry room, an open-sided cylinder that a person could stand inside and pull a curtain over the opening for privacy and scan accuracy. A touchscreen on the inside of the cylinder allowed for operation of the device, which gave options for color, fit, and style, as well as a supply reading on how much synthread was available to create the clothing, and a preview of the desired clothing. The top and bottom of the inside of the cylinder projected a light field for full-spectrum body scanning, and when the unit had power, these circles always had a low-level glow to their translucent white surfaces. A series of thread injectors were designed to shoot synthread from above and below a person while a low-level electro-magnetic field combined with air jets to weave the thread into place. A little tingly, but a lot faster than going to town for a proper tailor.

The hot tub room/changing room area was much different than the rest of the lodge. The carpet immediately ended at the doorway, and was replaced with floor, ceiling and walls composed of light bluish-white polished stone, like marble. Light was piped in from skylights set into the ceiling as well as a series of waterproof half-spheres that dotted the walls and ceiling around the room. The hot tub was large and circular in an octagonal setting in the floor, with metal railings leading into the water via a set of built-in stairs that incorporated themselves into the circular seating. On either side of the hot tub was a self-standing wall that divided the room into approximate thirds, with the middle third being where the hot tub was, and each of the left and right thirds having markings indicating men's and women's sides respectively. The standing walls could be walked around on either side of them to enter the tub area, and each changing room had lockers, areas to hang clothes, changing stalls, and open-walled showers. A small wood-lined sauna room sat enclosed against the far wall behind the hot tub, the outer shell masked in more tiles.

"Just saying this now, but this is still a really weird thing to have in a lodge like this," Justin pointed out. "I mean, you already have showers and a tub in the bathrooms, this seems completely unnecessary. But hey, I didn't build this place, I just made sure it was all working."

"And that's the tour!" finished Justin as he led the group back to the living room, and handed the keys over to Nora. "Here you go - this is the only set of keys, but hopefully you won't run into any situations where you'd need more than one. If you run into any problems, my number is on a note on the fridge. I can get here pretty fast in an emergency, but it's still a long drive, so just be prepared for that."

After explaining any answers to questions about operating on-site appliances and functions, Justin waved goodbye and rode off on his Ostrich walker bike, and left Nora, Boxcar, and the rest of the lodgers to their new home.

---

It did not take long for everyone to get their luggage put away inside the lodge. Nora felt the weight of responsibility settle onto her shoulders as she moved her suitcase into the first bedroom, closest to the corner, where she would be easy to find if anyone needed her for anything. Boxcar was supposed to be downstairs guarding the girl - for her own protection, thought Nora, as much as everyone else's - but when she came out of her room, she found to her dismay that the girl was on the couch unattended.

"Boxcar?" she called out from the top of the mezzanine stairs. "Has anyone seen him?"

Boxcar, meantime, had gone downstairs to investigate that suspicious empty area in the basement. The door had been left partially open to the basement, and he managed the light switch with some awkward pawing, and now he sniffed at the corner where he thought he smelled...it was an odd combination of misty sulfur and the tang of ozone, so he wasn't entirely sure if the source was magical or technological or both, but it was definitely coming from down here.

The wolf scrabbled around the corner for a few minutes until he finally hit a hidden button in the otherwise solid granite wall, and a secret doorway slid open to reveal a short corridor to another set of downward-angled stairs. A series of lights built into the ceiling, small as dots but powerful enough to light whole sections of walkway, turned on sequentially as they detected his motion. He knew he couldn't go too far from Nora, but there was something about this lodge that didn't add up, and now he had discovered a secret entrance to...another part of the lodge. Underground, deep underground.

Ashley didn't say much as the tour went on. She admired the rustic appeal and theme that the lodge had, though this could also be considered a bit of a personal bias since the bars and clubs that Ashley sang at ranged from ancient buildings that were barely maintained to ancient buildings that were well maintained. On occasion Ashley was able to sing in a modern nightclub and found the excessively artistic trends to be rather annoying. Ashley favored the rough edges of the older buildings to the ultra-smooth and impossibly flimsy designs of some of the newer nightclubs. To Ashley, dancing on a glass floor pulsing with neon lights was a good way to end up with a broken floor.

Ashley took a glance at the unconscious girl that now lay upon a couch. Though Ashley couldn't say much about her due to the fact that she left the site early and wasn't around for the brief time that Samantha had been awake. The others comments would have to serve as a replacement for firsthand experience for the time being. Justin's continued tour gave her only a moment to glance at Sam before she had to continue. The rec room proved interesting, perhaps it would be best to spend her time as a werewolf there. That reminded Ashley that she needed to tell everyone about that condition sooner rather than later in order to prevent them from panicking. Though it would be rude to interrupt Justin's tour so Ashley decided to wait.

The bedrooms were good enough for Ashley, who had spent most of her time living in an apartment. Ashley made a note to herself to bring her backpack up from her bike and toss it into a room. Though her thoughts turned back to explaining her lycan nature in a way that wouldn't freak anyone out. Most people were inexperienced with a rational and in-control werewolf, so it was going to be tough to break the news to them.

The presence of a clothes materializer was like a dream come true for Ashley. No more would she have to spend eighty percent of her budget on clothing! It was grand, and only the continued babble of Justin kept Ashley from hopping into the machine and starting to replace chunks of her long-lost wardrobe. The hot tub and sauna were indeed strange additions, though if this lodge was built with wealthy tourists in mind the addition made a lot more sense. The tour ended shortly after, and Ashley knew that this was her moment.

Before Justin left and Boxcar went to explore, and while the others were still grouped, Ashley raised her voice slightly and began to speak. "If I may have your attention for a moment, there is something important that I would like to get out of the way before I scare someone." Holding up her left hand, Ashley flexed her fingers for a moment, causing lightning to arc between them before speaking again. "My primary power is the ability to control electricity. But there is something else you should know. I'm not in the mood to lead you all into it, so I'll speak it plainly: I'm a werewolf."

Ashley let that hang in the air for a moment before she lowered her hand and began to speak again. "Now, before you freak out, I can still control myself when I'm transformed, unlike the feral werewolf that turned me. But I cannot control my transformations. They truly happen at random, and are more frequent during full moons." With that said, and awkward silence wove itself through the room. In an effort to try and restore normality and ease the embarrassed blush now creeping into her face Ashley spoke again. "That's all. Really. I just didn't want anyone to freak out and try to murder me."

With nothing more to say and her embarrassed blush not fading, Ashley turned and walked away, heading for her bike. Pushing her bike into the garage, Ashley took her helmet and backpack of clothes inside. Walking back towards the rooms, Ashley tossed them into the second bedroom, next to Nora's bedroom. There was no method to her choice, just picking the next in a queue. With no real direction on what to do now, Ashley merely returned to the living room and plopped down on a chair with a sigh. Her legs ached slightly from the run that she had gone on earlier, but they would heal quickly enough. There wasn't anything to really do, so Ashley could only wait around for something to happen or a conversation to be made.

When Nora called for Boxcar a few minutes later, but got no answer, Ashley got up and walked over to the stairs. "I figured he would hang around you. But he did sniff at a corner during the tour. I think it was in the basement? You want to try looking there?" Ashley looked about for a moment, trying to remember which direction the basement stairs were. Hopefully Nora knew, or else there would be a repeat of the tour earlier as the search for Boxcar progressed.

Previously...

Sam was not there for the tour. She found herself on the streets of New York, desperately attempting to cover her escape from federal agents. She ducked down an alley and flipped open her netbook.

"How do they keep finding me?"

She decided that her adversaries were more intelligent than she'd previously thought...and set about using that strength as a weakness. Keystrokes blended with one another as her fingers worked furiously to establish the code which would obfuscate her true intentions. The local cell network broadcast her jamming signal in a sufficient radius to deny triangulation within a few miles, then put to work an algorithm which would slowly shift that jamming signal northward. She took great care not to make her deception obvious, employing every trick in her arsenal to prevent the Feds' discovery of how she was achieving the scrambler code.

The code, as it turns out, was the important part. Whether or not an individual could interpret a scrambled signal was only half of it. What she needed was not to hide transmissions, but to hide the reason for those transmissions. With a shifting signal source, her enemy could track changes in a developing pattern and follow the trend. They would chase that wild goose to the tip of Canada before they realized they were being had.

Naturally, the prescribed reaction was to head south. Sam had seen that movie. If the Feds managed to determine that the signal shift was computerized, they may suspect it as a diversion. She therefore randomized her movements within the jamming field, keeping always within range of it, but never near the fore or aft of it. There were square miles of it to cover, and logic dictated she'd be either north or south of the phenomenon. Her true intentions were never to escape at all, but to make them think she had. Why burn resources if they can be slightly charred and later revitalized?

That had been her intention...

---

Ten Days Ago

Sam had given them the slip. She'd holed up in a dense industrial section near Detroit, Michigan, having led her adversaries into international territory. She knew that would be a jumble of paperwork and posturing, and so she was safe...for the moment.

The new facility had little to offer her. She kicked a defunct conveyor and made a face. The old warehouse still had power, and served a hell of a lot better than this run-down pit. But, sacrifices had to be made if she was to remain free. Her recent brushes with the Men in Black had taught her a thing or two about radio frequency broadcasts, and she was eager to see how they would respond in her most recent experiment. Like Ahab and his whale, Sam could not leave well enough alone. She spent the next day setting up her equipment to try again.

---

"You're not gonna get away that easy..." Sam threatened her equipment. She scrounged for a length of wire and tested its electrical properties. In a pinch, it would hold the necessary current to complete this phase of the experiment. She jammed it into the fuse box and threw the switch, half hoping, half daring it to fail. When the device failed to demonstrate any visible phenomenon, Sam slumped her shoulders and mentally resolved to punish her equipment with death-by-melting.

"Current flow is stable," she mused, probing the power circuit with a multimeter. "Electron beams...beaming..." She tweaked the phase of the CRT monitor tube array she'd salvaged, on a whim, and -seeing no tangible evidence anything had happened- set about returning the entire mock-up to position one. That is to say...she attempted to do so...

"What the fu-" she instinctively uttered, frozen in mid-stride by an unseen force. She tried reaching forward, but her arm would not budge. Her feet refused to move from the cement floor, and she found she could not even turn her head. Once her stubborn streak subsided, however, she did discover she could retreat backward, away from the phenomenon.

Sam grinned as the cat and the devil should. "Bingo..."

---

Present day, present time, The Lodge...

Sam's head lolled back, curving to match the natural shape of the back of the couch. Her jaw fell open, producing a contented snore. On occasion, her leg or arm would twitch, and a mind less acclimated to REM sleep might have suggested she was chasing something...or someone.

Sam thought the lodge was pretty nice, much nicer than his house ever was. Although a lot of the place seemed to be made of wood, which was not particularly fireproof. He was sure that wouldn't be too much of an issue though, except maybe in his room, if he had an episode while he was asleep that probably wouldn't end well. He hadn't had an episode like that since his dad had passed though, but he preferred to be on the safe side. The hot tub was strange but Sam knew it was something he'd enjoy, water dampened his powers so he was less likely to hurt anyone, but due to the nature of his powers temperature didn't affect him like it would a normal person so hot tubs always felt amazing no mater how hot they got.

At the end of the tour Ashley made her announcement to the group of them about her lycanthropy. He wasn't sure what she was so scared of, that everyone would suddenly hate her? Maybe Sam had just grown up in a very tolerant household, in a way it was necessary to keep himself in check. If he hated groups of people he'd be flaring up a lot more in his everyday life. She left before he could say anything about it, but Sam was sure he'd have time to talk with her, they were all living together now after all. He went out to his bus and grabbed his things, deciding to just leave it out of the garage for now, it was more likely to be in the way inside the garage rather than just off to the side of the lodge. Heading back in Sam decided to occupy the room next to Ashley, might as well fill in the rooms in order. He put his bags on the bed and just left them, he didn't really feel like unpacking yet, he could get to that when he needed something.

He left his room and saw the professor standing at the top of the stairs, he may as well ask her now about fireproofing his room. "Professor, I'm glad I found you, I was wondering, is there a way we could work on getting my room a bit more fireproof? We wouldn't want any accidents," he gave a small grin then noticed Ashley at the bottom of the stairs. "Hey Ashley," he looked between her and the professor, "I'm not interrupting anything, am I? Sorry if I am."