Jaiden couldn't help but chuckle at the older woman's awkward attempt to take back her perceived order, not to mention how she clearly didn't catch on to Jaiden's subtle mocking of her either. Oh, she's going to be a fun one to mess with. He thought as a mischievous grin spread across his face as he followed behind her, finally removing the helmet as he walked into the Lodge proper. Taking a look around, he couldn't help but give a low whistle as he eyed the new digs, before allowing his nose to lead him to the dinner table. Wasting no time finding a seat, he made with fully loading his plate with a rather sizable pile of food, only paying partial attention to what the quirky blonde girl was saying. When she got to talking about there being a hidden tunnel the lodge, and going inside it despite possible danger, Jaiden waited till he'd packed away a good portion of his meal before speaking up, allowing for a few of the others to get there words in.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not really down to head into some dark, dingy tunnel right after that whole kerfuffle with the spaceship earlier. Especially if we've got no idea what's down there, not to mention that I don't trust the brat over there to behave by herself, concussion or not." As he spoke, Jaiden set to wrapping up a large amount of sizzling meat in a tortilla, opening his mouth wide before shoving the entire thing down, not even taking the time to chew it, and yet didn't choke once. Wiping his mouth of the last traces of the meal, he continued to give his opinion on the current situation. "Nothing against the girl, but she's seems a bit too shifty for me to trust her alone with all of our stuff. Besides, whatever is down there can wait until tomorrow, so I say we leave it to be tomorrow's problem."

Having said his piece, Jaiden went back to his feasting, holding only the barest amount of table manners as he sought to quiet the insatiable rumbling deep within his core. Even after this gluttonous showing, he knew he'd probably have to hunt tonight in order to make sure that he'd be able to use his abilities without risking loss of control, which was the real reason he was against going down into possible danger. However, given how things had started between him and the group, he wasn't to eager to let them in on this tid-bit, especially the princess. Cute clothes and demeanor aside, she seemed quite likely and willing to cut someone down, much more so than Jaiden was comfortable with, if he was being honest.

Sam lifted an eyebrow before she could force her face to remain neutral. "Shifty?" she repeated, incredulously. "Says the guy who eats trees with tentacles." She cleared her throat and stood, the backs of her knees thrusting the chair backward. It scraped and squeaked against the tile floor, almost toppling with the force applied. She grabbed her plate and avoided eye contact with her would-be savior.

The plate clattered in the sink. She hadn't meant to abuse the stoneware, but it happened. She felt her cheeks burning. Her first reaction was to question why, but her mind immediately shifted to his know-it-all, superior tone.

"Who the fuck does he think he is, anyway?"

She realized she'd been standing at the sink for several seconds when her eyes focused, producing a view of white knuckles curled around the edge. Her expression softened and she let go of the counter. She had to keep cool, at least for now, or she might risk losing out on her ticket out of this place, or worse. The thought of alien interrogations made her swallow her pride and turn to face the doorway to the main area. She tried to take a deep breath, but huffed it out as an exasperated sigh. On her way past the table, she paused to glare at Jaiden.

"I would say 'eat me', but, in your case, I don't want to risk being taken literally."

She breezed past him, refusing to look at anything but the opposite wall, and disappeared up the stairs. Her footfalls were not light, despite her desire to prevent any display of emotion. First the government, then the mafia, then actual bloody aliens, and now she's to be lectured by some shape-shifting wannabe rebel? She reached the living quarters before realizing there was nowhere else to go. She didn't even have a room to stay in.

"Way to go, Shirley Temper..." she chided herself, her back thudding into the linen closet. She slid down into a sitting position and buried her face in her arm.

A secret door? Interesting. The prospect bounced about in Amie's mind. It would be a tremendously exciting way to begin her stay. If she was fortunate, there may even be threats to her safety, and she wouldn't mind a good spar. Jaiden had effectively robbed her of a proper duel, and her gloved hand twitched at the thought of putting her sword to use. On the other hand, her luggage was still packed and sitting on the opposite side of the front door. She had not even started to move in.

She soon discovered, to her horror, that this was a good thing. A sharp knock at the door caught her attention, and she was wondering if she should get up and answer it herself (like normal people do) when it was opened from the outside. The color drained from her face at the sight of a certain assistant who was approximately 365 days too early. His face was emotionless, and his stiff upper lip and half-closed eyes confirmed that he was now playing the part of a proper servant. He cleared his throat in an effort to gain the attention of the occupants.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he called, bowing to everyone present. "Presenting the Lady Ingrid Jane, Baroness."

He was overshadowed almost immediately as the new Lady Jane filled the doorway. She was nearly as tall as Amie and almost as slim, but everything about her commanded attention, from her sharp features to her long, raven-colored hair to her piercing black eyes. At first glance, she looked very little like the wide-eyed, cheery Amie, but the connection was made clear the moment she spoke.

"Amethyst Jane! Your attention," she barked. The edge on her voice could have matched the blade of her daughter's sword, who felt a chill roll down her spine. She rose silently and curtsied, though the blood had returned to her cheeks and her face burned red in embarrassment.

"Your stay at the Lodge has been terminated. I will spare you the lecture for the time being," she said, emphasizing the last four words in a way that made it clear to any listeners that a very long lecture was in Amie's near future. "Your luggage has been loaded. You have two minutes to make any goodbyes you deem necessary. Starting now."

Amie took a deep breath as her mother vacated the door, aware that she had time for perhaps one individual farewell. She decided to use it on her assistant.

"Winters," she said in an icy tone.

"The Lady Ingrid made contact first. I refused to lie. All consequent decisions have been made by her," he said quickly. His face remained unconcerned, though Amie could sense a strand of regret in his voice. He may have had his way, but he was just as displeased about the methods as she, and he knew full well that Amie would give him a lecture immediately after hers. He was right, of course. He couldn't have changed Lady Ingrid's mind if lives depended on it. But he was also wrong. Winters was always wrong.

Turning to face the others, Amie's mind conflicted one final time. Should she return to her formalities, using a stiff bow and strong words? Or remain sincere (and admittedly awkward) in these last seconds? Last impressions are important, but ultimately she wondered how she wanted to be remembered. A lady, or a compatriot? She couldn't resist a chuckle. It would likely be formalities from here on out. She might as well enjoy the common dialect one last time. Raising her head with a smile, Amie waved to the group.

"So long, everyone. I'm sorry I haven't been more, well, honest about who I am. I'd be more like any of you (more or less) if I had the chance. Looks like I won't be getting it here. Might not get another one. But -" A soft tap of the foot from Winters indicated that she had ten seconds remaining. Ingrid Jane had a mind like a machine, and two minutes meant exactly two minutes.

She paused, then flicked her head, tossing the loose blonde strands of hair to the side. "But you never know. Wish me luck." And without another word, she turned and walked calmly from the room. Winters closed the door quietly behind her.

"I'll have your head for this, Winters," she muttered as they approached the car. He sighed.

"As you wish, Lady Jane."

-END-

Ashley had been sitting about daydreaming for a time while she waited for Nora to make the final choice on exploring the underground lab area. Two important things happened that snapped Ashley back to reality from whatever fantasy she was enjoying: The first was that Lady Jane had been called back to whatever fancy manor her family owned for some transgression she had committed. There were many unanswered questions about Lady Jane, though now Ashley supposed that they didn't need an answer from the tone that the conversation took. It was sad that she would likely not be meeting Lady Jane again, though perhaps some things just pan out poorly.

The next was the recently awakened Sam revealing that she might be heir to the title "Queen of snark" with a few jabs of quick wit. However, something clearly clicked within Sam that what she said might not have been the best response. The extended stay at the kitchen and firm grip on the counter. Something was going on with Sam that she wasn't telling anyone. It was probably best to leave such things unquestioned by this point. Sam probably had much more going on than she let on. That much was already obvious, since she was recovered from a crashed alien ship. It was probably best to let Sam steam on her own rather than try to force the truth from her. That and trust would come with time, or perhaps Sam would run away from them. That would be sad, but not unexpected of Sam's current attitude.

Deciding on non-intervention for now, Ashley went back to lounging about while she waited for Nora to make the call for exploring the secret door that had been found in the basement. There was one slight bonus to Lady Jane leaving in that Ashley no longer needed to inform her of her werewolf status, Though Sam and potentially some others would need to be told. That could happen later, as Sam currently seemed like she didn't want to talk to anyone. The thudding footsteps as she retreated towards the rooms was an obvious indicator of that.

With little to do to help the situation as it stood without seeming to forcefully insert herself into situations that were none of her business Ashley resumed daydreaming while waiting for other things that she had a relevant say in to happen.

Nora's enthusiasm for her plan dampened as the opinions of the lodgers divided between the two options. She began to doubt herself as she considered the situation with the new input; after all, the secret door wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and even if it suddenly stayed shut, they could probably figure a way to bypass or - if it came to it - break it down, and then they could explore it at their leisure. In her excitement, she had forgotten about the basic needs of the lodge tenants, how they had just arrived today, and here she was, demanding for them to put themselves into immediate service. Sure, they weren't here just to laze about, but she knew just as well that she wasn't a slave driver or their mother. What they chose to do with their time here was their own business; she was only here to represent Cybertronics and make sure they were provided with everything they reasonably could need.

I really don't feel like I should even be here, she thought to herself dispiritedly, her shoulders slumping unconsciously. These guys, their powers...what can I do that would even be more than a bother to them? I should be back to work...

But this was her job, at least for the time being. And by golly, she had to at least try.

She listened to their responses while trying not to get too distracted by her depression, but when Jaiden's lighthearted - but somewhat thoughtless - comments got to the stranger girl, enough to upset her, Nora was too stunned to intervene on her behalf or do anything - and then she kicked herself once the girl left the room for not saying or doing anything. She pushed herself up to her feet, her chair sliding back with a squeak against the tiles of the floor that seemed deafening in the awkward silence that reigned after the girl's departure. Nora, suddenly self-conscious and very aware the others were still waiting for an answer from her, made a snap decision and opened her mouth.

"On second thought, since this is just our first day, and everyone is probably a little tired after all of our little adventures and moving in today, we'll wait a day or two before we check that out," she decided as she glanced around the room to see the reactions of the others. "After all, it isn't going anywhere, and if nothing bad happened to the company surveyors or Justin when they were checking the lodge out, I doubt we'll be in any trouble until we're ready. I'll cook dinner later tonight around six, but other than that, you are all free to finish unpacking and making up your rooms as you see fit."

Then she adjusted her glasses, the light catching on the lenses briefly as she did so. "Now, we don't know where she came from, or even what her name is, but our visitor" and here she gave Jaiden a surprisingly stern and pointed look that seemed almost out of character for her usual demure self, "is still recovering from a very bad accident, and so I'm going to offer her one of the extra rooms. Until we know what she's going to do from here, she is a guest and we will treat her with the same respect as anyone else living here."

Nora walked around the kitchen table toward the door leading to the living room, but ask she left, she said, her voice once again kind and easygoing, "Now, just remember to put your dishes in the dishwasher when you're done eating - and don't forget to wash your hands!" Then she left the kitchen.

Boxcar saw that Nora had left a part of her fajita on her plate, and he sidled up to the plate and snarfed the food down. "Mmm, good," he managed to say through a mouth full of chicken, before he swallowed, gave a sigh of satisfaction as he licked his lips - and gave a very un-doglike belch. "Well, I don't have hands, so I don't have to wash them, eh?" he asked those in the kitchen, waggling his distinctive black eyebrows fiendishly.

Nora checked the rec room first, then the garage, then finally went upstairs and there, she found the girl sitting with her back against the linen closet at the end of the mezzanine in front of the bedrooms. Still clad in her science apron, she caught her breath from all the hurried walking she had just been doing, then approached the young woman with a sympathetic smile, finally stopping a few feet away. She really wanted to do more than that, but she wasn't sure what she could do that wouldn't set the girl off - like somehow she had when they were in the clearing earlier that day - so she just decided to squat down on the carpet and try to catch the girl's eye.

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened down there," she started off with. "Jaiden means well, even if what he said wasn't very nice. This is a very new situation for all of us, for you see, we all just came to live here starting today. This is a lodge for people with...special abilities, for them to be able to train them in a safe environment. I know you didn't ask to be here, but you're still recovering from the crash you had, and I don't want you to be doing too much until you've had time to recover, so..." She took a deep breath as she scanned the young woman to see how she was reacting so far, then pressed on. "I'm offering you a room of your own. There are plenty of extras, and you can stay here as long as you like. This is being all paid for by corporate sponsors, and I doubt my bosses will mind if we have one more person here than we planned for. They probably won't even need to know."

Then she managed a small, friendly smirk. "But I do have one condition for lending you a room, and that is, I need to be able to call you something. What's your name?"

Samantha Cole had many failings, but her sense of hearing was not on that list. Neither was her power of observation. She knew someone was coming up the stairs even before "the doctor's" messy spray of golden hair rose above the edge of the floor lining the staircase. Her footsteps had been quite a bit lighter than Jaiden's build would have allowed, and even Ashley seemed unlikely to produce this little vibration in the floor as she climbed. With the departure of Her Royal Ladyship of Stabbingshire, that left only one candidate.

Nora was breathing too heavily for a casual pace, and much of the noise of consumption from the kitchen had died down minutes prior to her appearance here. That meant she'd been specifically searching for Sam, and that there had been at least some urgency to that end. Sam could not decide if she liked that; especially combined with her almost too-cautious approach.

"I'm not a wild animal, doc..."

The forced smile topped this particular sundae with a proverbial cherry. These were common tactics for psychologists; try to link positive emotions with the discussion, attempt to steer responses toward 'acceptable' behavior, etc, etc. She couldn't hide a scowl as she took her arm away from her face and glared at Nora from beneath wild black bangs. It could have been the lighting, or just the way her brows knit together, but her eyes took on an acid green tint in that moment that seemed almost dangerous.

"I don't even want any of his shit." She spat, ice hanging from every syllable. "What would I do with a crotch rocket-" she took the time to lean forward slightly, forming every word with a percussive precision engineered to communicate contempt. "-in the middle of the fucking woods?"

She scoffed to prevent her voice from cracking, but the moisture in her eyes betrayed her emotional state. It had been too much, too fast. In weeks past, she'd have burned her assumed identity, her base of operations, any tech which might have IDed her, and just vanished. She'd have set up shop in another town. But this was not Earth, and she was flying blind. Sam was nowhere near any of the resources she needed to put this all behind her. For the first time, she would have to face her enemies directly...even if she did not yet know they weren't enemies.

"I do remember you, doc." She finally continued. "But if this is some kind of mental ward, you're doing it wrong. Your security is trash, there are zero guards, and you haven't even pushed any pills yet." She nodded toward the high ceiling and extravagant decor as another point to make. "No place I've ever been looks like this. Maybe it is legit. But...if that's true, and you really are just babysitting a bunch of freaks for The Man..."

She trailed off, trying to think of the right words. A tickle on her cheek prompted her to wipe her eye, and she just laughed. This was not who she was. Sam had fought all her life to contain the liability her emotions represented, only to lose that fight in front of a demoted Suit and a bunch of renegade Supers?

"Why help me?" she finally managed. "If you're not just trying to cash in on these 'talents', then why help me? I give it ten minutes before the government knocks on that door and takes me anyway. That is if you haven't already called them."

"All I want is to finish what I started and live in peace. As long as they know where I am, I can't do that. So, try to understand why I can't give you a name. Until I get away from them, I'm Jane Smith, and I am absolutely nobody special."

Nora couldn't help but wince at the vitriol in the girl's words contained in her first response. She didn't like to think that she was a bit of a prude, but the truth was, she really was. But the truth also was that Nora was sensitive to anger and other negative emotions, and she had a hard time trying not to take this personally.

But Nora wasn't blind, and when she saw the girl's tears build up in her green eyes, her heart melted. She couldn't bring herself to be sharp against someone who was just as vulnerable as she herself felt behind her facade of scientific neutrality and pleasantness. So, she just listened until the girl was finished, and now she finally had a name to work with. And, while this Jane Smith now seemed to remember their encounter in the forest clearing, at least she wasn't threatening Nora like she had back then; that seemed to be an improvement that heartened the scientist.

"Okay, Jane," Nora said, adjusting her glasses briefly with a touch of one hand. "I disagree about how special you are, after seeing for myself that laptop setup you had rigged to connect to that ship you came down in, but...I think I know what you really mean. I can tell you that, as far as I'm aware, only the people downstairs are aware that you are here, and none of us have called anyone else. I don't have any obligation to report you to my superiors, either, since you're not one of the people on the list to be here, and they didn't tell me I couldn't accept other residents if I saw fit..."

Nora then stood up, leaning forward with her hands on her thighs. "As for why I'm helping you...well, you didn't ask to be here, and you don't seem like a bad person to me. And that's good enough for me. Maybe that sounds silly, but..."

The blonde scientist stood the rest of the way up. "Anyway, Justin and I salvaged what we could of your laptop and other belongings from the wreck, and they're downstairs wrapped up in a blanket. There was some kind of metallic goo that leaked from the ship onto your laptop, so I'm not sure what kind of damage that did to it, but we did what we could to clean it up." She pointed to the rooms along the line. "My room is on the end, closest to the big bathroom; if you need anything, just let me know, and I'll try to do my best to help you feel at home. The next two rooms have been claimed already, but all the other rooms are open for now. If you want, you can pick whichever open room is available, and you can start arranging your bedding from the closet while I bring your things upstairs. That would give you a little time to...adjust to the situation."

Nora sighed, then laughed at herself for doing so. "And, if worse comes to worse, if somebody bangs on the door demanding that we hand you over, you can always jump out the bedroom window and make a break for it. I'll hold them off as long as I can."

She stepped to one side so she wasn't blocking Jane's exit, then waited to see if she would agree to this plan of action for the moment, or if she'd rather do something else. Nora was trying to give Jane a chance to compose herself before any of the others saw her, but she wasn't entirely sure if Jane would feel like she needed that or not.

Nora pushed her glasses up with an index finger and took on a tone which, for an instant, reminded Sam of her mother. It was not a negative memory this time; not a complete memory at all, but rather just a feeling of familiarity. She could be as curt and concise as this, but still retain a measure of professionalism which robbed the listener of any definite confirmation of ill intent. Nora took on that authoritative neutrality and Sam marveled at the irony of such vast distances failing to separate her from those memories.

"So she's violating orders..." Sam mused. That took some of the fire out of her eyes. Her expression softened, perhaps not considerably, but enough that an eye for detail might register the change. "Kinda risky, doc. Maybe you're not as bad as I thought."

"Maybe..."

She perked up again at the mention of her laptop. She'd forgotten all about it! There had been some mention of a fluid handling system onboard, but Sam had not had the time to investigate what it was, or what function it served. For all she knew, it could be a defense mechanism.

"New priority," she told herself firmly. "I need that laptop."

She kept silent for Nora's speech, in its entirety. It felt odd, but she wanted to say something to her. That compulsion felt out of place, and Sam sectioned off perhaps a bit more of her concentration than warranted to figure out why. Instead, she struggled against pins and needles to rise from her half-crouch, half-sitting position. She winced and resisted the urge to shake it out; the circulation would return on its own, in due time.

"Sounds good, Doc." She returned to her standing policy of avoiding eye contact and shuffled toward one of the empty rooms, pausing in the doorway to give a fish-eye glance at Nora. "I'll, um...I'll try to stay out of the way." With that, the door quietly clicked shut behind her.

Jaiden only blinked as the brat got up in arms about his comments, only offering her a raised eye in response as she stormed off. Huh. . . didn't think she would be so sensitive, He thought as he continued to inhale his food, eyes following her path for a moment before switching over to their cute blonde caretaker as she addressed the group as a whole once more. Listening to what she had to say, he nodded along with most of it, though when she gave him that pointed look, all he did was shrug in response. Honestly, the girl's outburst didn't really seem that big an issue, and given that she came hurtling down from a fricken' space ship, a bit of caution around leaving a stranger around their belongings seemed like the least of what the girl should have expected. 'Oh no, I hurt her feelings'. . . pssh, give me a break. The brat looked at me in my armor form and didn't even flinch. Like hell anything I said really got to her unless she's carrying more baggage then you could fit in a semi-truck.

Getting up with a stretch, Jaiden set a path for the door, intending to do some hunting so that he could be ready for whatever they discovered down in the mysterious dungeon. However, he stopped mid-step as he turned to look at the other chick, who was just lazing about with nothing to do. After tossing the idea in his head for a bit, he decided to sit down and have a chat with her, perhaps even see if his limitless charm could possibly sweep her off her feet and into his bed for the night. Unlikely, but hey, never hurts to aim high. Giving a little mental chuckle at his thoughts, Jaiden took a bit of a breath before he glided over to his target, taking a seat next to her as he tried to engage in some conversation.

"Hey. I figured if we're going to be roomies, we should take the time to get to know each other a bit, yeah? Besides that, I definitely would like to have a redo on the first impression that we had early. Generally bad form to greet someone with your bits dangling out in the open."

Ashley was a passive observer in the conversations after Nora's announcement. For once, Ashley was content with longing. It was a distinct change from her previous life, since most of her prior free time was dedicated to taking care of herself and her band. There was always a slight struggle to find where the next meal was coming from, and the new need to constantly re-buy clothing had pushed Ashley's already tight funding over the edge. Secretly, the invitation to The Lodge was a lifesaver to Ashley. Money running out had come into full focus as a problem for her, and there wasn't a way for her to really compensate enough due to the already intense strain on her vocal cords from the songs she was capable of singing covers on.

That was part of the problem with singing covers, people expected them to be sung properly. Singing a version that was easier for you to manage would get you booed off the stage pretty quickly. As Jaiden glided over like a man on a mission Ashley picked up the vibe that he might be starting the conversation because he wanted something. Ashley knew how most guys worked, and Jaiden was currently no different, but Ashley knew that she needed to at least be polite. Sliding down from her daydream haze back into reality Ashley gave him a friendly close-lipped smile before speaking. "We probably should, though I don't think you're going to top the brief introduction we got in the woods. I'm not really all that shocked, though. You'd never imagine the scenes you see at bars. I'm Ashley, if you weren't here for my previous introduction, and if you missed the tour and my small announcement, I'm a werewolf, so please don't freak out if you happen to see me transform."

The news dropped a lot quicker than it had last time, since Ashley was already a lot more comfortable with sharing it due to the mostly indifferent reception she had received earlier. The knowledge that most of the people here didn't care was rather reassuring in that Ashley knew she wasn't going to be judged. A lot of people already had a firm hatred of werewolves due to the problem of feral werewolves, and most were rather biased against them due to the big news coverage on the activities of a small group of feral wolves.

With nothing else to really contribute to the conversation, Ashley waited for Jaiden to respond.

Sam sat quietly at the table eating his food, after their visitor left and Nora went after her Sam slinked away from the table, put his plate in the dishwasher and headed outside. He had been planning on putting his room in order but he knew Nora and the other girl were up there and he didn't want to walk in on that. So instead he stood out back of the lodge and did something he hadn't done in a long time, practice his martial arts. He didn't really remember any of the Forms he'd been taught so instead he just did whatever moves felt natural, making sure to face away from the lodge. After each move he made flame shoot from his hand or foot, some just small puffs, others shooting as high as the lodge, anyone looking outside would probably wonder what was going on. The martial arts was fairly therapeutic, it allowed Sam to clear his mind and think about what had happened since they'd properly arrived at the lodge.

His thoughts mostly lingered on the door in the basement. Its not like it was just hidden behind some boxes, there was a secret switch and if it wasn't for Boxcar's nose they probably never would have found it in the first place. What could possibly be down there? It wasn't a dirt tunnel, it looked like the entrance to a secret underground lab. Sam found it hard to believe that the house full of somewhat unstable supernaturals happened to be built on top of whatever was in that basement.

Then there was the girl they had found, she was from the crash in the woods, Sam wondered what her story was. She'd clearly been through a lot and didn't want to tell anyone about it. Sam could respect that, he knew people always said talking would make it better but it didn't always. Sometimes all talking did it let your emotions spill out, sometimes what you needed was some time to yourself to process things alone. He was sure given some time she'd eventually warm up to them, maybe not tell them what happened, but that was fine, some things were better left unsaid. During Sam's time out back he had remembered one of his Forms, his favourite one , so he was now doing that in the back, shooting his flames, alone with his thoughts.

Sam gently pressed her back against the door and cast her eyes downward. She had been granted a temporary reprieve from social contact; the first, she felt certain, in weeks. She pressed two fingers against both temples and squeezed her eyes shut as the pain from her concussion asserted itself once again. The patterns of flashing light beneath her eyelids might have been interesting -even entertaining- under more benign circumstances. Today, in this strange place, surrounded by unknowns and hostiles alike, she seemed capable of feeling only one thing.

As she tried to sort out her thoughts, the memories became a jumbled mess of past, present, and her hopes and fears for the future. She remembered briefly wondering when these periods of lucidity would grow to be longer, or more frequent, than those of detachment and confusion. The thought seemed to come from outside her own mind, and she tried to discover where.

From the window, Sam observed geysers of flame, issued forth from an unseen source somewhere near the lodge. From her vantage, she could not determine their origin; the slope of the roof would not allow it. The aggressive orange glow felt vaguely comforting to her and, for a time, she just watched. It would be the first moment of peaceful reflection granted her in ages.

"Nice to officially make your acquaintance Ashley, and don't worry about me freaking out. I'm no stranger to odd, monstrous transformations. As long as you aren't going to wolf out and bite me, we'll get on fine. Even a bit better than fine, mayhaps? If I play my cards right?" Unlike the doc or the princess who had been removed from their little band, Jaiden felt that wolf-girl here hung around crowds closer to his own, and more importantly, knew all the signs of what kind of guy he was. With that in mind, why not be a little bit obvious, if only to gauge her opinion of him at the moment. His eyes flicked from Ashley for a second to that of the other dude, whose name and face were completely unfamiliar to him, made his way outside. "Careful out there, some wolves and what not wondering around this area." Jaiden had smelled the scent of a wolf pack, and a big one at that, in the area while he'd been searching for that damn deer, and while wolves weren't really confrontational creatures and tended to leave humans alone, it was better to be safe than sorry. Even with powers, a pack of wolves wasn't something you wanted to mess with.

"Ya know, speaking of wolves. . . " He started, turning his attention back to Ashley as a thought came to him. "Gotta ask, how well do you and wolves/dogs get along? or any kind of animal, for that matter? As you might have seen earlier with the mutt the doc keeps around, animals tend to avoid me like the plague or attack me on sight. Guess something about me wigs them the fuck out.

@Valor

Ashley blinked slowly at the obvious flirting that Jaiden Put forward. Almost giving a sigh Ashley decided to shut him down before he got any further ideas. "Just because I've seen it doesn't mean I want it. I've known you for about twenty minutes, you'll have to give it more time than that." Ashley noted that Samuel was heading outside, and his confession to being part phoenix turned out to be true as Ashley briefly spotted flames passing the windows. Hopefully Samuel knew what he was doing and didn't set the lodge on fire. When Jaiden asked her how wolves treated her, Ashley gave a brief moment of thought before responding. "I'm not really too sure. They are territory based animals and thus would want to establish dominance among the whole. They might include me in that, or they might not. It depends on a lot of unknown factors. I wouldn't count upon things being smooth and friendly if we were being hunted."

Ashley stood up then, wanting to get away from Jaiden and his flirting and having a reasonable excuse to do so. With a stretch, Ashley commented. "Sun's going down and I'm tired from running to the ship that crashed. I'm going to turn in for the night. See everyone in the morning."

Turning and walking upstairs, Ashley walked into her room and shut the door behind her. As a bonus, she gave it a quick lock in an attempt to maintain her privacy. Showering and changing into a loose nightgown, Ashley tucked herself into bed to sleep for the rest of the diminishing day.

Nora let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding after the door closed behind "Jane." She felt she had achieved a minor victory there, though now that she found herself standing alone in the hallway, she found herself wondering if she was doing the right thing.

Oh, stop it! she told herself with a shake of her head. She needs help, and it's not my business to pry into what brought her here. What's important is that I've done most of what I've reasonably been able to do to help her, and just hope that nothing forces me to bring her to the attention of my bosses.

She went downstairs and brought up the laptop, among the other things that they had recovered from the crash site. She laid the laptop right outside of the door to Sam's room, then took the metal-infused hoodie and threw that into a cycle in the washer/dryer. While that ran, she took Justin's glove - the one he had given her with the sample of the metallic goo - and brought that into her room.

A few minutes later, her suitcase was empty and all of her clothes were haphazardly hung up in her closet. Mostly she had white shirts, various colors of slacks, and several more of the white labcoats; there were only a very few other things she had to wear, and if she had not already had her science gear out on a desk by the room's window and was involved in transferring the goo from the glove into a safer container, she might have regretted that she had very little casual wear. As it was, Nora was in the middle of science! and that overtook just about all of her other concerns.

By the time the wash cycle finished for the jacket, Nora had safely contained the goo and had already run a few diagnostic scans on it with her portable equipment. Transferring the gathered data to her portable computer, she then sent that data over the commnet to her lab computer at Cybertronics. It would take time for the analysis to be completed, and she figured she may as well get that started as soon as possible. Once she had a better idea of what this goo was, then she could figure out what kinds of tests she could run on it for further experimentation.

She took off the apron and put that away, then swept on another labcoat, and she felt at ease again as she left her room. She took the hoodie - now washed and dried - and put it in a neatly folded pile on top of the laptop, then gently knocked on the door and called out, "I put your things just outside your room, Jane!" before she went back to her room and pulled out the blueprints she had been working on before being assigned to work here. Sure, she would go downstairs later to make sure everyone had dinner, and to clean up and put away things, make sure the lodge was all locked up...

Not very long later, she was slumped over her desk, snoozing and drooling a little on her (laminated) blueprints. It had been a very stressful day for Nora Minder already, and if today was any indication, this was only the start of it.

At one corner of the blueprints, the word "Rockbear" was printed...

Boxcar finished up his dinner and left Ashley and Jaiden to talk in the kitchen. While he wanted to get a better idea of what kind of wolf Ashley was under that human skin, he did not want to hang out too long around Jaiden. The young human man was...something felt wrong with him, something that offended Boxcar's animal instincts. A competing predator sort of smell. It was hard to say, exactly, what it was that bothered Boxcar, since it wasn't Boxcar's conscious speech-capable brain that was reacting to Jaiden. How could instincts speak words that the awake brain could translate? The wolf knew he could handle it better than any of his former brethren of the wild, but he still did not want to push it.

That, and he was curious about the flares of fiery essence that his nose detected outside. Sure enough, after he wrestled with the back door (grateful the handles in the lodge doors were long handles and not slick round doorknobs), he found Samuel out in the backyard behind the lodge, practicing some kind of...dance? That was Boxcar's first thought, though he thought he sensed something martial within the motions, meaning behind the gestures. He sat and watched for a few moments on the patio, panting quietly in the warm air outside the lodge. Whatever Sam was doing, it was relaxing to watch.

Boxcar's nose was able to predict each instance when Samuel was about to let out a burst of flames from his hands as he went through his motions. Each release let out a signal to Boxcar moments before it happened, almost like a bat's echolocation, though a bat's ears couldn't discern the smell of smoke and burnt oxygen like Boxcar could. Boxcar had little to no curiosity about his own power and how it worked; he only reacted to and trusted it like any of his other instincts.

He finally spoke up after a while. "Hey, Sam," he called out, "what're you doing? It looks kinda like a dance to me, but there's no music, and I don't think any dance partner you had would 'preciate the fireworks in the face. Is it exercise, or some kind of religious thing, or what?"

This was Boxcar's attempt at conversation, such as it was.

Weeks Prior

Sam found herself ducking down an alley. She ditched her cell phone, even as it ignited, and retrieved a freshly-booted netbook from her bag of tricks. They wouldn't get her thistime...

"Seriously?" Sam mouthed as her back hit the brick wall. Her fingers danced across the tiny keyboard, producing another symphony of ones and zeroes which threatened to secure her place in the record books. "These assholes seriously never heard of SQL Injection?"

The local emergency bands registered an infuriatingly soothing tune, at Sam's behest. It blanketed all frequencies typically used by emergency responders; including, but not limited to police, EMTs, and local anti-terrorism units. All in all, it was a rather catchy beat, Sam mused, as she entered in the final computations to initiate the self-destruct on this burner netbook. She wouldn't be using that algorithm again...

Sam ducked down an alley and crouched behind a dumpster. Her headset relayed the expectedly infuriating music, but yielded nothing else. She smiled at the fact she'd have to put up with this, rather than instructions to other field agents as to how her freedom might come to an end. She even took a moment to view one of their field units, reveling in the disarray her little stunt had created. Had they even yet realized why they could not communicate?

But the voice of reason took her again. It told her this situation could never be permanent, and if her freedom was ever to make that status, she had to leave...now. Sam tweaked the transmission slightly, allowing the network to broadcast a slight imperfection in the jamming signal which indicated an origin point two and a half miles to the northeast, then slinked past the patrol and into a sewer. The manhole cover had been orders of magnitude heavier than she predicted, and Sam made a mental note to thank Gugliermo Marconi for the few extra seconds she needed to disappear.

---

Sam broke from her reverie as she heard Nora's departure from the doorway. Her thoughts became a jumble as she attempted to sort out memory from memory. She put her ear to the door and confirmed that Nora had indeed left, then tried the knob. When it opened, Sam let out a sigh of relief. These were definitely not secure dorms. When she cast her eyes downward, she found herself confronted with a new problem.

"Oh, yeah, sure... the voice of reason taunted. "Go ahead. Touch it. I'd like to see this."

She scowled, remembering all her previous experiences with the selective nature of her ability, and went to retrieve the top cover of her bedclothes. Sam slept only with the thinnest sheet, anyway, so the comforter could be properly sacrificed to shield her from an unwanted episode. She netted the laptop with the thick blanket and gathered up all her belongings by scooping up the corners and carrying it inside her room like a hobo's bag. Her heel prompted the door shut as she headed for the bed.

"I know you did something...." Sam just stared at the bundle, unwilling to undo it and confront what awaited her. She must have knelt at that bedside for hours before her thumbs and forefingers delicately peeled away the protective layer to reveal what lay underneath.

To Ashley's curt refusal, Jaiden merely shrugged his shoulders with a muttered "Meh, worth a shot," eyes following her ascent upstairs, his eyes fairly focused on her ass for a good portion of her walk before he looked back up at towards her. "Have a good night, Ash, and see ya in the morning."

With Ash gone, and having solidly shut him down for any chance of having fun, Jaiden decided that it was around time he get down to business. Getting up to his feet, he gave a slight yawn as he stretched out his back, which still felt a bit stiff from the thrashing it had received earlier. He heard the sound of voices upstairs, probably the doc and the brat, but put them out of his mind as he made his way out the door. Upon making his way into the woods, he happened upon the dude from before doing some martial art moves while shooting fire from his hands as well as Boxcar attempting to make conversation. Jaiden himself didn't say anything as he passed by, merely nodding his head to Sam and giving Boxcar a firm pat on the head that may have been too hard, though whether that was on purpose or accident was hard to tell. Jaiden also made sure to pull his hand away quickly afterwards, not feeling like having to regrow/attach his fingers in case the wolf wasn't a fan of some friendly horseplay. . . or would it be wolfplay in this instance?

Either way, after his brief interaction with those two, Jaiden would make his way into the woods, telling them both that he'd "be back before dawn" as he slipped past the trees and brush. After some time spent walking through the woods, and only after he was sure that no one else was around, Jaiden quickly began to strip down to his birthday suit. After depositing his clothes in a nearby uninhabited tree hollow, he proceeded to shift his body into it's altered form. His flesh giving way to a hard carapace as his eyes, nose, and ears were all replaced with a much more precise and powerful set of sensory organs, all hidden beneath the surface of his arm. Looking around with a tentative air, Jaiden took a moment to enjoy the peace and quiet of the cool mountain night. It was only at the sound of a howling wolf that he began to move, ordering his body to limit pheromone production as he worked to remove his scent, slowing giving up his sense of humanity to the beast within, letting himself be swept away in the thrill of the hunt.

"I guess it's kind of like exercise," Sam said as he finished the pattern, then bowed out of habit. He gave Jaiden a nod as he left, "alright man, I'll make sure the others know." Sam turned back to face Boxcar again and explain what he was doing, "it's from Tae-Kwon-Do, basically you do the moves and it's supposed to teach you proper form." It felt a bit strange explaining what he was doing to Boxcar, partly because Boxcar was a wolf, but mostly because Sam had never really explained his hobby to anyone else before so it was a strange experience. "The fire isn't required, I was just adding that in because it feels nice, y'know?"

Sam immediately realized how dumb that question was, "no, I guess you wouldn't know." He walked over and sat next to the wolf, "do you ever feel like you're not in control of yourself Boxcar? Like if you don't work for it your instincts will just take over and you won't be able to stop yourself until it's too late and something bad has happened?" Sam sighed, creating a small fire in his hand, "that's what it's like for me. It's why I came here, to try and figure out if there's a way for me to not live in fear of myself." Sam snuffed out the flame and gave Boxcar a little smile, "sorry, that got a bit heavy, thanks for listening." He gave Boxcar a rub on the head then got up, "I'm gonna go to my room and get myself set up, you wanna come in, or are you gonna stay out here?"

Boxcar liked being petted or patted, but he didn't like being surprised - or if the patting was too hard to be comfortable or nice. Jaiden did both of those things, plus his hostile smell set off Boxcar's instincts, so he did snap at the offending hand. Jaiden's hand pulled away in the nick of time, however, as if he had expected Boxcar's reaction.

Yeah, we'll see how many times that works, wise guy, thought Boxcar with a snuffling huff as he watched Jaiden go off into the woods behind the lodge.

Then, after listening to Sam, Boxcar's ears perked as he heard the sound of wolves off in the distance. Well, at least he had some company around here. Boxcar stretched and yawned. "I think I'll head inside too, catch some early shuteye. It's been kind of a long, weird day."

So Boxcar made his way inside with Sam, and the door closed behind the both of them.

Later, around midnight

The sky overhead, so far away from Segaso City or other sources of artificial illumination, was full of stars. The lodge sat in relative darkness, though Faiza's triple moons shone down at different angles and reflected across the lake like rippling clones of their skyward sisters. There was enough ambient light from the moons that it made it easy to see in the dark. As night fell, a cacophony of chirping insect noises rose from the grass and trees. The hooting of a nocturnal bird of prey occasionally sounded nearby, with just a shadow of an echo. And fireflies floated lazily about through the air, occasionally marking their locations with a glow from their abdomens, like airplanes signaling their location in the night.

Inside the lodge itself, the only lights still remaining on were a series of small glowing nightlights that gave pale illumination along the stairs and hallways, without being so bright that they would disturb anyone sleeping in the bedrooms or even out on the couches. Well, perhaps those, and any lights that any of the lodgers may have left on in their rooms; but the doors were so well-placed that no light escaped through the cracks in the doors as long as they were shut all the way. The background noise of the night life of bugs and animals outside could be heard through the window, if it were left open and the protective energy screen activated (to prevent bugs and other unwanted intruders from entering the window, but allowing air to move through); but it might almost be an eerie quiet if it were shut entirely, for those not used to sleeping without background noise.

Deep under the lodge, something stirred. Systems that had been put into temporary stasis booted online as they were triggered by the readings that the building's integrated sensors relayed down into the depths. Electronic life flared in a network of computer cores as the security system detected multiple red flags in the building above. Life forms, none of them identified as the Master, now resided in the lodge. This was not acceptable; the Master's secrets were to be protected at all costs, and there had even been a recorded breach of the main entrance earlier that day. Were it not for the delay programmed deliberately into the security system, there would already have been a reaction - but the Master had not wanted a response to just a temporary intruder who visited the lodge and left again after a few hours. A response that quick would only arouse suspicion and investigation. But now, there were not just visitors. There were residents, unauthorized and with apparent intent to infiltrate the Master's lair. That the Master had not had the foresight to place locks or require identification to open the door in the first place was not something this system questioned for an instant.

The security system, using data from the sensor network, determined that most of these invaders were asleep or at least in a mode of lesser activity. Now was an ideal time to strike, and either cause the invaders to vacate the lodge - or to cease functioning altogether. A sentry drone powered up inside of its storage bay, and the multi-legged and segmented drone crawled out of its hiding place with a programmed assignment. Each segment was a magnetized gunmetal sphere with two pairs of angular insect-like legs each and a pair of angry-looking glowing red sensor clusters facing forward. Like a robotic centipede, the drone crawled with tapping steps across the metallic panels of its subterranean home toward the hidden entrance to the secret lair.

The door in the basement of the lodge - the disguised door that Boxcar had accidentally stumbled upon earlier - slid open with hardly a whisper, and the drone crept along the cement floor with a clatter of robot limbs. It easily climbed the stairs and used its forelegs to open the door that led into the rec room. From here, the drone's pointed feet made less noise on the carpeting and wooden floors, as it became more cautious in its movements, moved with a deliberate slowness to avoid giving away its position by excessive sound or motion. It curled around the corner of the rec room door and began to climb the stairs, each sphere bobbing up in regular intervals as they mounted further upward, until the whole drone made a peculiar zigzag along the length of the stairs. Its blazing red sensor clusters stood out in the relative darkness of the lodge.

The drone hesitated only for the briefest of seconds at the top of the stairs before it chose one of the bedroom doors - it knew that it had picked one with one of the intruders inside, because it had access to the sensor information the security system provided it - and reared up like a snake, then latched onto the door handle with its four legs. A hatch opened on the front of the foremost sphere, and it deployed a tiny array of spike-like tools that it used to lock-pick the door. It opened the door with stealthy purpose, just enough for it to crawl around the door and slip inside.

It scanned the room, ready to leap and attack with its pointed metal legs. Red targeting lasers created vibrant strobing dots that crawled across the floor and up the walls. Fear, tension, retreat - these were not a part of this drone's programming. It would not stop until it fulfilled its purpose, or was destroyed in the process.

Earlier...

One corner of cloth slipped away, then another, and another. With that, Sam's eye caught sight of a familiar brushed-steel surface and a faux chrome logo which read "Toshiba". She didn't feel the corners of her mouth turn upward; an involuntary response she would not have doubted came from the familiarity she'd built with this specific machine. It seemed like she would just finish setting up the operating system and tweaking preferences, and would have to sacrifice yet another computer to one of countless unknowable factors ranging from compromised security to the need for a hasty hack-inspired solution to a problem which threatened her freedom or safety. This particular laptop had survived for much longer than the others, but that alone did not account for the feeling. This computer had allowed her to escape from not just one group of power-hungry criminals, but from her first-ever alien captors.

Her hand stalled within a fraction of an inch from the latch which kept the display closed when not in use. A terrible thought clawed its way to the surface of her mind, and she carefully withdrew from the computer altogether. Sam's ability was, at times, unpredictable. Furthermore, it seemed to frequently trigger itself upon physical contact with new technologies, or even unfamiliar configurations of components she already knew. Without more information on the strange metallic liquid from that downed fighter, how could she risk making physical contact with any device it had come into contact with?

"Gloves," she told herself firmly, as if scolding a metal shop student who'd forgotten to put on safety glasses. "No unnecessary risks, here."

She resolved to slink out of her room and retrieve...what, exactly? Her shock gloves had been involuntarily relocated by "doctor" Minder, whom Sam still was not certain about, and who would certainly be asleep by now. Even if she'd been able to keep them, the gloves had no fingertips. Sam often cut off the tips of all her gloves, to preserve the mobility and dexterity needed to operate keyboards and other tools which required fine motor control. Even as she cracked the door to investigate the hall, she mentally kicked herself for not keeping at least one pair of gloves on-hand which had not been compromised.

The only option, she decided, was to determine whether any other area of the house might have some gloves available for use. Her first thought was of the kitchen, but as the stairs came into view, Sam recognized the general layout of a laundry room. Many people kept cleaning supplies in rooms like those, so it was worth a shot.

"They did in the facility, anyway..." Sam scowled, noting that some of her best ideas came from bad memories. It wasn't enough they'd taken away her formative years; now they couldn't even let her have the credit for her own genius. She swiped a pair of latex cleaning gloves from the laundry room and retreated back to her quarters.

Now," she mused, dropping into a cross-legged position in front of the damaged computer. "Let's take a peek under the hood."

She flipped open the display and checked the keyboard for damage. Everything appeared intact, but the power button did nothing. She rotated the device, inspecting every seam, until she settled on the exhaust vent for the CPU fan. The plastic grille covering the fan showed the same metallic goo as the ship. This substance had hardened, but was still tacky when Sam probed it with the tip of her gloved index finger. When she withdrew the fingertip, she noted the substance displayed a peculiar reluctance to let go.

On a hunch, Sam examined the glove at its point of contact. With the naked eye, it was hard to make out anything definite, but the material had definitely lost flexibility at that point; almost as if it had been hardened by some kind of epoxy. She made a mental note to have Nora examine it later, assuming she had access to any kind of powerful microscope. For now, she had to put it out of her mind and continue with her examination. She removed the back cover and hard drive, and went over the motherboard inch-by-inch.

What she saw made the hair on the back of her neck stand. The metallic liquid had entered through the CPU fan vent, but it hadn't stopped there. She saw evidence of movement along the PCB's copper traces, almost as if drawn across the board by capillary action. About ten percent of the board had been compromised by the substance, which appeared to be attempting to coat it completely. She retrieved one of her best jewelers' loupes from her messenger bag and took a closer look. Each and every component the liquid metal had made contact with had been fundamentally altered.

Sam straightened, jaw wide open, and let the loupe fall from her eye. What she saw was...impossible.

---

It had been hours. Sam paced, pausing occasionally to glare at the defunct computer. Should she risk trying to charge it? Would it work differently, or not at all? If it did do something, would that "something" end up being worth the risk? She tried to stifle a yawn, but lost the battle. Her limbs had a mind of their own, spreading into a luxurious stretch which made her long for the comfort of a soft bed and a warm blanket.

"Yeah, right." She stared at the bed, knowing it wouldn't help. The clock on the night stand read 12:28am. She would try for sleep, but it would not come for at least two or three more hours. It would only end with her staring at the ceiling, when she could be doing more important things than wishful thinking.

Naturally, the insomnia hadn't been the worst part of that deal. She had her suspicions that her ability was partly to blame, but some part of her knew it was more than that. One of the biggest drawbacks to an active imagination, she decided, had to be the fact it would never allow her to forget. It wouldn't be so bad, if those memories had been good ones. They weren't. Every failure, every fear, every dark and well-hidden worry that ever tugged at the back of her conscious mind lived in those hours. Plans, goals, dreams for the future...they all existed for mere seconds before being replaced by every possible thing that may ever go wrong for her.

Noise helped her to sleep, some times. She'd tried white noise machines, but most models were cheap enough that they usually skimped on the audio quality; she could pick out the exact point at which the file looped, which engaged her brain every time. Sam thought the irony a bit sadistic; that the intended client would end up counting the number of loops in a sound file instead of counting sheep. No man-made device helped. It was on those nights that she most missed the rain.

She sat on the bed and tried to imagine the sound of water on her window. The occasional rumble of thunder reminded her of storms, and she closed her eyes and treated herself to some dazzling displays of lightning. Her head descended softly into the pillow and, just for a moment, she could hear the rain again.

"Wait a minute." Sam's eyes shot open. The three moons shining through her window confirmed that, whatever it was she heard, was most definitely not rain. She strained her ears as she went to the window. Again, there was no rain. So, then...what was that sound?

Sam cracked her door again and put her eye through the slim opening. It seemed everyone had either gone down for the night, or was otherwise occupied elsewhere. That tapping sounded closer all the time. She widened the opening and, just as she took a step through, discovered its source.

The red glow of sensor eyes whipped around the banister to face Sam, even as she worked for the words to alert her housemates. The thing never stopped moving for an instant, each of its spherical segments scanning its surroundings in three-hundred-sixty degrees. It maintained a signal lock on her position, even as it set to work on one of the bedroom doors.

"...oh, SHIT!" Sam finally shouted. "What the fuck is that thing?! Wake up! Everybody, wake up!"