"We? Us?" Isaac said with a slight bewildered tone, "That would explain the explosion in your hands, and a newly dirty house." He continued, picking up trinket after trinket. "But, this would explain a lot. On the boardwalk, my migraine did go away. For the first time in years."

Isaac and Louis finished straightening the room back to its original scene, "And lets not clap your hands, at least not in here."

"Understood, sorry about that." Lou said with a slight smirk

"Now that grocery store explosion, I was living on the other side of town, and I just got home that night from work. But I remember seeing the bright flash and the smoke billowing. Everyone in the building thought it was a gas leak, an old neighbor of mine, a veteran, said it reminded him of a type of weapon that uses the air around it to not only create the explosion, but an intense fire and heat."

Isaac's eyes shifted around the room, and went to grab his house keys.
"C'mon, let's get out of here. Don't want anymore accidents."

Louis sighed in relief. So he wasn't crazy after all. Isaac believes his wacko notion that super powers were real. It didn't set well, however, that he had basically murdered an entire grocery store. He was sure that would haunt his dreams for the rest of his days.

"Don't want anymore accidents." Isaac said as he grabbed a set of keys. Louis nodded and began out the door. It wasn't until the two were on the street that they realised they had no clue where to go.

"Isaac, I don't want to alarm you, but I don't think I control my power," it felt silly saying it out loud. "I set my house on fire in my sleep. I think I'm a walking time bomb..."

"I think I'm a walking bomb."

Isaac stood on the sidewalk, staring at people all around them, wondering what would happen if Louis activated his 'power.' Isaac swallowed the lump in his throat, "So, no more mexican food for you." Isaac chuckled, but quickly remembering what could happen.

"And listen, I'll do what I can to help you. I mean, I don't know what's going on with you, but I'm sure we can find a bomb disposal suit I can start wearing."

Not looking at Louis, Isaac was trying to think of a good place to go, a secluded open field, or a massive warehouse. Some place that if any causalities happen, it'll just be the two of them.

"The industrial park." Isaac said quickly, almost surprised by himself. The sides of his vision were vibrating, with a vague image of an abandoned cooling tower. The view point looked up, then down to a pad and paper.
That's not me.
Isaac lifted and looked at his hand, but in the corner of his eye, the pad and paper went down the he saw another person's hand. He snapped back and shook his hand. He looked at Louis with a hesitant smile, "At the industrial park, we can at least play any mishaps off as a gas leak."

Louis sighed, "Let's just hope for no explosions or fires for the rest of the day." Scanning the faces of the crowd, Louis felt a little stupid for feeling so paranoid. No one knew they were... er, special. Unless they were all special. And could read minds. Louis shook his head. Calm down. What are the odds of that?

What are the odds of us being a walking example of spontaneous combustion?

Stop it.

The two of them walked hastily through the crowds towards the old industrial plants, the smog from their smoke stacks streaking the blue sky with imperfection. Louis stopped at the intersection just before the industrial jungle began. "Wait, what about the security guards?"

Isaac simply scoffed. "Professional thief, remember? The guards here a lazy, and never check their full route. There's an empty building that is always empty and they never check it. Used to use it to stash anything still hot, which, incidentally, you tend to be, apparently."

They slipped into the abandon warehouse with relative ease. Isaac grabbed the corner of a sheet of tin and pulled it back from the wall. Louis cursed as one of its sharp edged tore a new hole in his already devastated jacket. Isaac slipped inside behind him and let the tin roll back into its original resting place.

Louis heaved out a heavy sigh as he took the place in, "well, at any rate, at least it's dry."

"You're tellin' me. This is definitely a decent place to sleep for a night if needed, but," Isaac looked around the lightly creaking warehouse, "It's empty."

"Is that bad?" Louis asked, fidgeting with a hole in his jacket.

"Not bad, but not surprising. Since I left, they haven't had much luck by the looks of it." Dragging his finger across a broken industrial packing box, Isaac flipped it to a solid side, and gently sat on top. Three large windows on both sides of a two story warehouse beamed in light, illuminating the entire warehouse from the cold concrete floor.

"So," Isaac's voice echoed, "Let's talk about what you can do."

Louis looked down at his hands, "We figured out something in your apartment."

"Yes, you have the ability to go boom. But that can't be it," Isaac responded, while rubbing his eyes. "If it is, you'll do phenomenally in the military."

Louis smirked and began pacing back and forth, and almost clapped his hands together, but stopped and put his hands by his side. Isaac leaned back, and sighed with a smile.
"You're gonna put me on edge man," Isaac relaxed his back "But I suppose I should tell you a little about me, since you told me some stuff about you in my apartment."

Isaac hopped up and began walking lightly around Louis, "I kinda began in a pretty crap place. Y'know, bad house, bad neighborhood, and bad people all around. But I always had more motivation, so I did good in school, got picked on, the usual."
Isaac began looking at the ceiling towards the damaged industrial lights, "When I wanted to go to college, I needed a way to fund it, so me and a few old pals got together and sold the usual street stuff. It grew into a manufacturing thing, then somehow splintered into nothing more than a bunch of thieves."
He began to fidget one hand in his pocket and another on the bridge of his nose, "Not, not my greatest achievement, but I got in school and paid it all in cash. Now the school pays me to do research. So now I'm banking and the others-"

"LEFT HIGH AND DRY!"

Isaac and Louis spun around, their eyes met with four strangers, dressed in ragged jackets and jeans.
"If I remember right, despite a pounding ass headache, that 'I would be safer in jail'?"
Isaac stepped in front of Louis, "Matt, listen-"
"No, no no no. You don't get to speak." One of the male strangers spoke out in a familiar tone.
"Big shot kiddo leavin' us in the dirt. Mista big money bags ain't good no mo' to his real friends." Another male stranger hissed with a growl.
"We had faith in you man, we believed in you. Now you're running with some half-wit piece of sh-" The last female voice muttered

"HEY!" Louis barked.

"Calm down pup, you ain't worth it," Matt hissed "But he is. Go snag his ass."

Two of the figures moved forward around the beams of light from the windows, Isaac slowly moved away from Louis and lined up with the two figures in the shadows. About 10 feet from Louis, Isaac could feel his blood running, adrenaline surging through his body, ready for fight. Isaac's vision split into fractals, but no vibrations this time.
Ok, ok, ok, now isn't the time, but hell, I suppose I can't ignore it now. Isaac thought to himself quickly as he concentrated on the person to his right. The fractal morphed into a view point, but now in Isaac's eye, he was looking at himself, getting closer and closer.
Isaac then solely focused on that image. I'm, I'm seeing myself getting closer. I'm in her head.

Time seemed to slow down, Isaac noticed every twitch she was making. She made a quick look down and shook her head ever-so-slightly.
He was in and she knew something was off.

The headache. Louis. Matt. Now her.

Isaac began to flex his hand, and he noticed that the girl was flexing her hand too. With each clenching grip he made, so did she. Time sped back up, and Isaac stood firm, pulling his fist back to strike.

Without missing a beat, the girl continued walking forward, but her head went limp, rolled, and came back up. She swung her arm around and clothes-lined her partner, connecting to his lower neck, slamming him to the ground on his back.
Sluggishly and limp, she loosely stood there.
The fractal in his vision showing the man on the floor, holding the back of his head.
The man yelling curses through her darkened eyes.

I can work with this.

Two thugs moved off towards Isaac, demeanor threatening. He seemed athletic, but Louis didn't think Isaac was the fighting type. He moved to help, but the remaining thug and the leader, Matt, if Louis recalled correctly, moved to intercept him.

"I don't know who you are, dude, but do not think you're going to interrupt a friendly reunion."

God, Louis thought. This guys a dick. How'd a nice guy like Isaac end up with this jackoff?

Just kill him, dumbass. You have powers. Use them. Practice.

Louis shook his head. Were those really his thoughts? Did he truly feel such hatred towards someone he didn't even know?

Doesn't matter! You have to fight, now! Louis came out of his mind with a jolt. Matt had advanced during Louis's mental struggle and struck him with a metal pipe that had been lying on the floor. A flurry of emotions erupted from Louis from the blow. Fear, pain, hate.

Matt was coming down for a death blow when Louis's eyes crept open. He put his hand up to stop it and closed his eyes. He heard a shout, not his, Matt's, possibly, and a thud. Louis's eyes shot open to catch Matt slide across the floor, the pipe in his hand bent on a strange way. Louis's amazement gave way as the hatred returned.

He tried to kill you. End him! Louis gave into his anfer, his hatred, and a blinding thought came to his mind. It was all he could think about. Combine the powers you have. Make them pay. Show them true strength.

Louis brought his arm back, as if to ready a punch, he suddenly felt a weight in his hand; when he looked back, he realized that he could visibly see how dense the air around his hand was. It was with a red glow and seemed to shake everything he could see beyond it. As his heart began to think about the potential regret, he threw his power with a savage shout, and a brilliant flame erupted where Matt had been.

Once it was over, nothing could be heard. Not the screams, not the fire, not even the overhead sprinklers. Louis observed what he had done and terror swelled within him. Matt had been rearranged to decorate the walls, the moron that stood beside him was missing limbs, and the wall behind them had a massive hole opening to the outside. Louis looked back to see Isaac and a girl staring at him.

The air burned.
With each breath Isaac drew in, heat and ash filled his lungs. Isaac staggered and clutched his chest. It felt like Isaac was hit with a truck. He rubbed his eyes and the fractal disappeared, the man on the floor once yelling curses was charred across the right side of his body. The girl still standing was no better, her hair singed and skin penetrated with pieces of glass and stone. Neither moved and blood gingerly dripped from their lips and nose. They were either dead or critically injured, probably better off dead.

The wall was breached by a massive hole, water drenching Isaac as he searched for Louis. Isaac was breathing deep, as the dust began to dissipate as the sprinkler system continued for a little longer, then was reduced to drips.

The pipes are broken, but I can breathe.

Louis was staring at the hole in the wall, the blood and limbs coating any surface it could get on.
Isaac lifted Louis by his arms, "We're leaving, no one could've ignored that."

Cracks along the hole began to creep towards the ceiling as small chunks of what was left of the wall began to fall. Walking towards another exit, the sound of falling stone and dancing pipes rattled the air.
Once outside, Isaac and Louis sped up towards an empty field that overlooked the industrial park. The building lightly billowing smoke slowly gave way as the roof collapsed, the walls crumbling or falling in any direction that gravity pulled it in.

"Ok, so, no more buildings. Open air training for you."
Isaac put his hands on his head as the dust cloud that arose from the collapsed building resembled a mushroom cloud. A person that helped guide him through his younger years, now coated the dust and dirt of a destroyed building.

This is a new phase in life. Isaac thought to himself. The old gang died, and so did Isaac's old life.

Isaac placed a hand on Louis' shoulder.
"C'mon, let's grab a drink back at my place."

The wind lapped against his jacket as Ryan sped down the street, his motorcycle growling pleasantly as he went. With school out for the day, and maybe even the rest of the year, he wasn't really sure where to go, and with all these weird things he was experiencing, a good ride seemed like the only answer.

He had decided to take the long way home, he had no place to be, and he needed some time to escape his current deboggle. As he rode, the city became less coffee shops and pizza joints, and more power plants and utility buildings. The shittier side of town for lack of a better phrase. Tweakers and prostitutes on every corner, and the occasional homeless dude passed out on a bus stop bench or curb.

Yeah Ryan, that'd be a good way to end the day. Just get mugged, and lose your bike and rent money to one of these junkies. He rolled to a stop as he approached a 4-way. The street was mostly desolate, but he noticed a beat up car with brand new spoked rims on the right, and cars just loved pulling out in front of him, so he waited.

A voice called out to his left, "Hey man!"

Ryan turned to see a man in dirty clothes, thin as a rail, waving his arm at him. He didn't answer, but the turn of Ryan's head was apparently enough of a welcome for the man to walk out into the street towards his bike.

"Hey man!" The guy repeated, still walking over to Ryan, in no hurry to get out of the road. "Say bruh, you got a cigarette?"

Ryan shook his head, more in disbelief than an answer to the stranger.

"Come on man, you can spare a cigarette!" The man insisted.

Ryan looked back at the other car to the right, who still hadn't moved. He noticed someone leaning into the drivers window now.

Of course it's a drug deal.

Ryan shook his head again and sped off. Leaving the man who wouldn't take no for an answer standing in the middle of the road. Maybe I should find somewhere else to ride, this place is just a shithole.

A few miles down the road he found a cross street that would probably lead back to the inner city, and turned on to it. There were less people here, and mostly just old warehouses, most of which seemed run down or otherwise vacant. He slapped his helmet a few times, trying to shake of the grogginess that was still lingering inside him. As tired as he was, he probably shouldn't be riding.

Home it is I guess.

Suddenly there was a massive boom. A warm orange glow glared over the left side of his helmet visor, and as he turned his head he was barely able to see the explosion of the nearby warehouse before a large sheet of metal whisked past him. He swerved away from it, but as he turned forward, the thickest layer of smoke he had ever seen had already encompassed the road and he was completely blind.

He could hear shrapnel falling all around him, but before he could slow to a stop, he was struck by something large and hard. The sport bike slid out from under him, and he skidded across the road. The grinding of his helmet on the pavement tore through his ears as he slowed to a stop.

He couldn't tell if he was on fire, or if his gear was just hot from the slide, but even in his helmet, the air was burning his lungs. He struggled to get up but collapsed back onto his face.

My bike. He thought, trying to catch a glimpse of his beloved machine, but the smoke was too thick. He couldn't even see the pavement he was laying on. Ryan just layed there, pain shooting through his body, too tired to move. He could only hear the sound of his own aching breathes, amplified inside his helmet.

Get up. he told himself, Get up and get out of the road.
But he couldn't move.

As he tried to lift himself up again, he heard a tink on the back of his helmet. Something was on top of him. Now he could feel it digging into his shoe. His other shoe seemed to have disappeared, he could feel the air on his toes.

He just laid there. Unable to move. His breathes getting harder to take. Where was the adrenaline he'd heard so much about? Why was he still so weak? The shrapnel finally stopped falling around him, and he could finally hear the familiar growl of his exhaust.

Well Grace....I guess we die together.

Louis and Isaac sprinted across the poorly paved pathway and started up a hill. Sirens soared swiftly through the twilight as an angry orange glow ate at the horizon behind them. Louis looked behind them as they fled, remorse for his actions chewed away his resolve. Not watching the path Isaac was taking, Louis's toes tangled into a mess of debris and he crashed into the grass. Tiny chunks of warm aluminum poked him through his clothes. Isaac quickly returned to help him up. He seemed to refuse to let him fall behind.

As Louis struggled back onto his feet, he couldn't help shake the feeling that he was supposed to pause here. Blocking out all the surrounding sounds, Louis's mind calmed and he began to identify everything he heard, one by one. Sirens, shouting, crackling of fire, the soft purring of an engine... Louis's mind began to panic and race for plausible answers. Was someone following us? Did they see what I did? As his mind began to give to fear, another stronger emotion let itself into the forefront of his thoughts. So what if they did? What they saw was a test. We could do so much more, you and I. Louis shook his head, afraid of the power in the thought, the power in himself.

Louis observed the space around them. They had made it to a side road, not well kept. Some of the debris of the warehouse had managed to fly this far. There was an ember just down the way from him. An ember that did not flicker. Louis focused on it and realized that he had found the source of the engine. The ember was the taillight of a motorcycle. Louis's heart sank. He must have hurt someone else on accident, maybe killed them. He had to know. He was furiously digging through chunks of aluminum when he heard a cough and a moan of pain. He ran to the sound and discovered a man trapped beneath a thick steel door. Louis struggled, desperate to lift it, but the weight was disproportionate and awkward. He called out to Isaac for help and together they hoisted the door and heaved it aside.

"Hey, man, are you alright?" Louis asked, "Hey, hey, hey, stay awake. Hey. Christ, please be alright."

Air suddenly spilled back into Ryan's lungs, his breathes no longer forced. Whatever was on top of him, he could feel it being peeled away. The air came to him so fast he couldn't help but choke on it, much like surfacing from water that he'd been submerged in too long. His eyes widened, and his vision was less blurred. There was a newfound strength in him now that he could breathe.

Fresh air....Works wonders.

"Hey hey hey stay awake. Hey. Christ, please be alright."

Ryan was trying to answer but he was still choking on the new air. He could only manage to wave his hand around as he coughed. He formed his index finger and thumb into the O.K. sign, then lifted his arms to remove his helmet.

As he pulled the thick plastic from his head, he coughed a few more times, dropping the helmet to the ground as he caught his breathe. Looking up he saw two men, his rescuers, staring at him worryingly.

"I'm...I'm alright." Ryan choked, "What the cough, cough, What the hell happened?"

"...What the hell happened?" Louis had to keep his nerves under control as he tried to think of a lie. Is this who I am now? Lying to people, hurting them, killing them? Louis couldn't help but want to tell this man that he was the cause and to blame him for the damage he'd caused.

As Louis opened his mouth to speak, Isaac was quick to cut him off. "Gas leak. I mean, well, that's what we think." Louis shot Isaac a glance, mentally screaming. He didn't need to be covered; Louis could own this.

"Listen, you might have been wearing a helmet, but we should probably get you checked out. We'll hide your bike nearby and take you somewhere, okay?" Louis tried to make it sound as appealing as possible; truthfully, Louis just wanted to get out of here as soon as he could.

Ryan nodded, hiding the bike was way better than cops and medics. He damn sure couldn't afford a ride in an ambulance, much less a doctors visit. He could hear the sirens in the distance now. "Lets do it." He stuck hi arm out, and one of the men grabbed it, pulling him to his feet.

As he stood he felt his left foot hit the pavement. Where's my damn shoe. Ryan looked around, most of the smoke was thinned out by now, and he saw his shoe a few yards away, a bright white beacon in the street. He half hopped his way to it and picked it up, sliding his foot back into it, and caught a glimpse of his bike.

Oh baby....He thought, a frown forming to his lips. Grace wasn't bent out of shape at all, but she was missing a side mirror, and long deep scratches covered her white pearl body. With time of the essence, Ryan would have to look her over further another time. He picked up the sport bike, and hit the kill switch, she'd been idling too long.

He looked back at his rescuers, "Where are we going?"

Isaac looked at Louis worriedly as helicopters, both police and fire department were flying towards the now blazing inferno.

Maybe we did hit a gas line.
The sky was slowly darkening as the sun was creeping under the horizon, black smoke rising to the stars.

"I have some medical stuff at my place. You don't look too bad, just banged up." Isaac said inspecting the biker, a few scrapes here and there, fresh bruises soon to form no doubt.
Holes littered Louis clothes more so than originally thought, a guilty feeling slowly surrounding Isaac. The three quickened their pace through the streets, making sure to take as many alleys and dim lit areas as the drug dealers and transients of the lower districts pushed pass them to either help subdue the fire, or to flee from it. None of these people had homes, but they were doing what they could to save what little they had.

"We have to fix this." Isaac muttered under his breath, upping his pace to a slight jog

"Not now." Louis whispered, following suit after

"How far to your place?" the biker asked as he caught up

Isaac looked up the buildings growing in height, "A few more blocks, near college avenue."

Within the roar of the city, people seemed unaffected by the fire. The usual chatter of shopping malls and coffee shops infected the air as the subtle crashing of the ocean waves hit the sea walls and piers. They turned onto the apartment block where Isaac's penthouse stood, and it was almost completely silent, except for the occasional car passing by. Just silence.
The three climbed the small set of stairs to the front door as Isaac entered the code on the keypad, Louis turned facing the street, making sure no one was looking at them. Isaac held the door open and nodded for the biker to enter the lobby, and the door closing behind the three.
The three stepped into the elevator, but as the doors closed, the fractals began to show glimpse of different parts of the city, the forever-awake skyscrapers, the calm of the suburbs, the scattered, smoldering buildings of the industrial park, and the grocery store of all places. The three got off on Isaac's floor. Normal sight returned. A sigh of relief left his mouth.

Isaac burst through his door and went straight for the fishing gear box still sitting unkempt on the coffee table. Isaac looked at Louis then quickly to the door, almost instinctively, Louis reacted with the same motion of Isaac's eyes.
Isaac set his eyes on the biker.
"So, take a seat, and we can begin."

Louis closed the door and latched it as Isaac began digging for the supplies he needed to fix the damage Louis had caused. Louis felt the guilt painted across his face as he watched. He quickly decided to do something else with himself to try and hide his involvement. What am I doing? It's not like he could possibly guess what really happened. Louis dipped into Isaac's refrigerator, looking for something to take the edge off. There were a handful of beers left on the shelves and Louis sighed. What better time to start drinking than now, right? He snatched one off the shelf, then, as to not seem rude, scooped up two more. He walked across the room avoiding eye contact with either of them and placed the two extra beers on the coffee table.

Louis moped around the room while Isaac worked. The room was awkwardly silent, minus the occasional grunt from their new acquaintance. Louis, while lost in his own mind, began to subconsciously tidy up the room. He had been doing this for several minutes before Isaac turned around to him and asked flatly, "What are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh. Uh, I dunno. My bad." Louis put the nicnac back where he had picked it up from and drank the rest of his beer. It had an undesirable taste to it and Louis couldn't help but wonder what the hell people saw in the flavor. He shrugged and tossed it over towards the trash can. It tipped the rim and bounced back onto the floor with an overly exaggerated clang, enhanced by the tense emotions filling the space. "... Sorry." Louis shuffled over to the can and replaced it into the trash can. At a loss for what to do with himself, Louis flopped down onto a recliner and sighed deeply.

He won't figure it out, fool. Not unless you keep behaving like this. Compose yourself. Louis wondered for a moment if these were his thoughts, or Isaac's. He hadn't known Isaac to be able to send thoughts, but the thought lingered. He shrugged it off, calmed himself, and discovered just how tired he had become; it really had been an outrageously long day.

Ryan grunted as the hook pierced is skin. Luckily he wasn't hurt too badly, his gear had done its job and taken most of the slide for him. He thought back to his bike, and how they'd stashed it in a desolate alleyway under a tarp and some miscellaneous crates an trash. The man currently sewing Ryan's stuffing back in was oddly well versed in making something disappear in plain sight.

Suddenly Ryan realized he didn't know either of his rescuers names. He turned back to see the other man was shuffling awkwardly around the apartment, fidgeting with things here and there as he went. He seemed uncomfortable, which made Ryan uncomfortable. This WAS a very peculiar situation that he only now payed attention to. There was just an explosion that knocked him off his bike, yet his rescuers seemed unscathed....so why were THEY in such a hurry to make themselves scarce?

He remembered the awkward explanation they gave him when he'd asked what happened. Gas Leak. But how would they know? Maybe they just didn't want to be mixed up in whatever happened, it is very easy to catch blame out of innocence, by simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The sound of a glass bottle hitting the floor shook Ryan out of his thoughts.

"Sorry." Said the pacing man as he picked the bottle up and placed it in the trash.

The jolt seemed to wake Ryan up a bit, his heart was pounding.

As the man plopped into a recliner, the room became quiet again.

"I never got a chance to thank you for pulling me out of the street," Ryan said, breaking the silence. He looked back and forth at each of the men, "Thank You."

"Of course," Louis was still wandering around the room. "I'm Lou, by the way. Well, Louis, but Lou is fine. The nurse is Isaac." Isaac shot him a look. Louis couldn't tell whether he was upset about Louis revealing his name or calling him a nurse. Louis cracked a smile for the first time since the fight and went on fiddling around the apartment.

Issac finally snapped at Louis's insufferable pacing, telling him to turn on the television or find a book. He opted for the television. He clicked on the T.V. and a news channel came to life across the black screen. Louis finally stood perfectly still as he watched the breaking story of a warehouse explosion downtown. The newscaster went on to relate this to the burning of another building in the city; Louis's building. He went on to tell a story of a similar explosion that occurred two years ago at a local market. One person was connected to all three incidents. Louis. His picture came up on the screen, followed by security footage from the warehouse, enhanced on Louis as he entered the warehouse. Louis could also make out Isaac, but the camera luckily failed to get a shot of his face.

Louis turned around. The two on the sofa were staring at him, expressionless. "No, I can explain. I'm not. That's not. It's not like that."

"With the inferno finally under control, the search for the men suspected of setting the fire is now underway-"
Isaac turned the T.V. off with the remote, "Maybe T.V. wasn't my best suggestion."
He looked back up at Louis and stood up, "You only gotta explain to him, but when we have time."
Isaac went to the kitchen to wash his hands, and retrieved the beer that Louis had placed on the coffee table and paced around the room, but not as anxiety-ridden as Louis had appeared to be. Tapping one finger against the beer bottle, Isaac would glance outside the window through the curtains. The clear night sky was obscured by heavy clouds, rolling thunder, and the wind carrying the faint sounds of the city down the streets.

Great, back in the spotlight. Well, not me at least.

A lone lamp and the overhead lights of the stove top illuminated the penthouse. The fact that Isaac could still suture up a wound in near darkness impressed him, but not enough to ignore the issue at hand. He began thinking of how his fight at the warehouse was abruptly ended, but not by the explosion. During that moment, he thought of hitting the guy in the throat, but as he thought it, the girl had clothesline him. Isaac controlled her, he had to, it wasn't just a coincidence, nor the first time.
If I can control one person, put a group in a trance, and see what others see, what else could I do? Who- no, how many can I control?

Isaac let out a long winded sigh and chugged the last of his beer, "Well we've all had a hell of a day, and I'm about to hop in the shower. Food is a thing we should do to. So while I'm showering, there's plenty in the fridge so help yourselves."

Suddenly, a stinging sensation surged around Isaac's elbow, and as he looked down, a part of skin was red, tender, and burnt.
I knew I couldn't have been that lucky.

"I hate to take control, but with all due respect, I'm gonna make a sturdy suggestion." Isaac said grabbing the other beer from the table and tossing it towards the man on the couch.

"And that is?" Louis asked.

"Well, doctor," Isaac sarcastically belched out, "Your face is now plastered on the news, you say your place burnt down, and so did some of the industrial park. SO you don't have many places to go."
Isaac then realized how harsh he sounded, "You can take the guest bedroom. If not, then you do what you do."

He then turned to the man still sitting on the couch, trying his best not to be heartless, "And you, whatever your name is, can take the office, there's a couch there and bedding in the closet. However, same rule applies. You can stay or leave, but you won't leave until we explain what happened."

Isaac tossed the bottle into the trash clear across the room. "Any objections?"

"My name is Ryan," he answered, suddenly feeling out of place. Explosions, fires, and fugitives....the day wasn't over yet. He was sure something else beyond credibility was just waiting to find its way into his day before sunset.

Whatever the case, he was done trying to understand his recent eventful hours and had come to one conclusion. Whatever these people may have done, or are accused of doing, they saved his life, stitched him up, gave him shelter, a beer, and now are offering him food. How bad could they possibly be?

"Thanks for letting me crash-" The one called Lou snapped his attention at Ryan. "...on the couch....thanks for letting me crash on the couch." Ryan let out a small chuckle, but Lou and Issac remained silent.

"....cause.....crash....has dual mean-" Ryan looked down at his shoes. Yes Ryan. Puns. This situation needed puns. Idiot.

Louis cringed at the pun. And then the explanation of the pun. Isaac was shaking his head with pity as he exited the living area. "Listen, Ryan. About the whole.... News, situation. I want to explain it. I need to explain it, or else, I'll be the only one to think that I'm crazy." Louis sat in a recliner with a heavy thud and with a heavy sigh, he released his inner demons. "It was two years ago. I had just moved into town, just started working at a food joint as a bus boy, just trying to make it here until I could afford to go to school full time. Work got busy, I never went to school. I just got stuck in a rut. Well, one day, while shopping at that supermarket, the impossible happened. The air around me got incredibly hot, but no one else seemed to notice. I felt like my skin was boiling. But then, suddenly, it just stopped. That's when I woke up in a hospital bed. Three weeks, I was in a vegetative state. The building had exploded and collapsed. They found me in two days while clearing debris. The area around me was scorched but my body was fine. The only damage caused was from the structure falling on me. Chalked it up to luck, and began my rehabilitation. Fast forward, to last night. Fresh out of rehab, I went to my home, only to find out that it now belonged to the city bank. Regardless, I needed a place to sleep and I knew my way into the house without a key. While I slept there, the house caught on fire. I then chalked it up to bad luck or a curse or something. Then, little odd things kept happening and..." Louis paused for a long yawn. It had been an exhausting day. "I met up with Isaac and he helped me find a safe place to stay, or so we thought. We got in a fight with some thugs and the building went up in smoke because of me. Because of the thing that I--"

Louis sat there, in the recliner, head slumped over. A light snore occasionally broke the silence. He had fallen asleep in the middle of his explanation.

Ryan listened as Lou explained, he seemed so regretful and no homo it touched him. He knew these people couldn't be bad. Such a hard life Lou had been through and Ryan connected with that. As he explained some of the strange things that had been happening around him, Ryan's mind began racing. He surged with energy, maybe he wasn't crazy. He started to connect the dots. These events were very similar to Ryan's....minus the....fire....and explosions....

Ryan leaned forward to pick up his beer and took a long swig. There was definitely gonna be some drunken conversation tonight over life and whatever these strange things had to do with them. The silence broke his train of thought. His brain and his heart were racing, and as he looked back to Lou to hear the rest of the story, he realized Lou had passed out.

One too many. Ryan thought.

or was it.....no. Nope. No. Uh uh.

Ryan realized his surge of energy. The same he'd felt in class, that seemed so out of place while everyone around him drooled on their desks. Could he really be....? Ryan shook his head and stood up. He reached out to shake Lou awake, "Hey man....you alright?"