[IC] Unlikely Heroes

[Lady Seraphina]

Cerulean

Adam Cooper

Break time. It had been a decent afternoon but now it was time to pack up and move on. The heckler was still sitting on the bench and could explode into rudeness/obnoxiousness at any time and no one would want to be around that. Putting everything away and gathering his spoils, a van had pulled up to them. It just sort of stayed there, as he was packing up. Just as his case snapped shut the van door had opened someone was making their way towards them.

This was one of a few things. Either this guy was from a record label, or maybe another heckler coming to fuck with him. Or maybe he was here to kidnap him. All the years of paranoia had payed off and now someone was here to take him to some isolated cabin and perform Chinese nipple torture. No...not my nipples. That would be horrible. Instinctively, he covered his chest as if he was a swimsuit model for some random random magazine.

When the question was asked, his blue eyes widened. Yup. Here to kidnap and torture my poor little nipples. Get out. Get somewhere safe. Now.

"Nope. Never rode a bus in my life. I usually walk. Yup. Bye now."

Adam grabbed his case and began briskly getting the fuck out of dodge. Whistling all the while, hopefully there might be witnesses is he is pursued.

[Lady Seraphina]

Izkripp

Vida Curacio

Vida laid on the bed with her head and most of her upper body covered by her jacket as the men talked in the room. Besides the doctor and Ester she recognized one other voice. It was the voice of the man from this morning. The one that she had hurt. She shifted uncomfortably as she thought about what she must have put him through. Under her jacket she pulled her hand up to her face so she could look at the bandaged digits. They did not hurt as much as they did earlier, but she could still feel that they were hurt. She went to clench her fist then stopped before she could. It was not time for her to wallow in self pity, there was things she needed to do. She was hungry, she needed to get something to and to feed her...

Suddenly Vida sat up and threw her jacket clear across the room as she remembered. She had not been home, which meant there were two cats that did not have any food. She did not stop to rationalize as she jumped out of the bed and started to walk off. She was halted briefly by the sharp pain in her arm from the IV coming out. She stared at the blood that pooled on her arm for a moment before turning to the door and walking out. She was completely engrossed her in her own thoughts and walked sure footed without any direction.

"I need to get home. I have to get home. Home is where I need to be. I need to get there. Cats, cats. Yes. My cats. I need my cats. They are hungry. I need to them, they need me."

She rambled on and on about her cats ignoring everything around her, even her own body. She was still tired, but she ignored it. She had a mission that she had to complete.

"They need me. I bet they are going 'Meow, meow. We are hungry!'"

She reached up and scratched her head looking down a hall one way and then the other.

"A way out. There must me a way out..."

[Lady Seraphina]

Ryver et Rhine (Dear Karma)

Callie Wright

Callie caught sight of herself in the rear view mirror just as she was about to exit the van. The horrors! Her hair was a mess, which exacerbated the fact that she was not wearing any makeup. No, oh god no! Walking out like this was bound to chase anyone, man or woman, away. The blonde frantically tried to style her hair without the use of her usual hair products. No matter what she did, strands of blonde fell down over her eyes. She slammed her face down on the wheel in frustration, resulting in a loud beep.

“Where’s Pat?”

From where she sat, Cal saw Pat following the musician and her mouth rounded to form a slight ‘o’. Jenna was already going after the two. That meant she was left with the foreigner. She wondered what nationality he was and whether he spoke any English. Well, when all else fails, speak to the dark haired person in Dutch. That rule worked about 30% of the time and in the remaining 70% she’d resort to impromptu gesturing and broken English. She took a deep breath and turned to Daniel.

“Goededag! Spreekt u Nederlands?” The former air hostess beamed. That sounded close enough, though it was hard to tell with just Duolingo and Youtube for guidance. She flashed him a mini victory sign. “Let’s hope the foreigner speaks Dutch or English.”

She leaped out of the driver’s seat and bounced over to the man. Upon noticing his blindfold, her enthusiasm dipped a bit. Poor guy! Usually having a blindfold at this hour usually meant one thing – a terrible headache. She decided to take it slow instead. “Hey, are you feeling alright?” She asked, focusing on sounding as concerned as possible. “I saw you sitting here with a blindfold and at this hour too.”

This was straying from the topic, but she didn’t have the heart to leave the guy like this. After all, Daniel never said that approaching and recruiting them didn’t exclude the possibilities of providing these strangers with the necessary medical care; plus, no one liked being in pain anyway. Speaking of medical aid and doctors, here was a compromisable solution that might work, provided the guy was agreeable to it, of course. “My car is nearby, I can take you to the doctor's then call your family. Please consider, I’d really hate to leave you out here like this.”

[Lady Seraphina]

Kirra

Jenna Baxter

Getting out of the van, Jenna followed Pat towards the two. It wasn’t the same as finding Sam and Christian but these two were in the same boat as they were and Daniel was right, they deserved answers. However before they could even get a good conversation going, the musician was already trying flee. The idea of another pursuit wasn't something Jenna was interested in especially now that there was four of them, or rather two since Cal and Daniel went to the man on the bench. "Can this day get any worse." The woman mumbled as she ran after the musician.

"Please stop, we're not here to cause problems." Lie. Getting involved in his life would bring nothing but issues. "We just want to chat." Lie. She had a feeling helpful dose of sedatives wouldn't be something Daniel would be against if the man wouldn't cooperate. As long as she wasn't the one in charge of a tranquilizer gun, she was more than fine. It sounded like a disaster waiting to happen and for all she knew, she would mess up horribly and shoot someone else such as Daniel instead. "We just want to help. We were in that crash too." Hey look, there was finally some truth in what she was saying.

"This might sound totally crazy but strange things have been happening since. Things that I couldn't explain. You've seen some strange things too haven't you?" She could see the strange looks she was getting from the people she passed but she didn't care. Although guns and freaky powers wasn't something she was comfortable with, people were different. At least interacting with people wasn't something that changed. "Please stop and...let's talk." Jenna said pausing just enough to gasp for some air. "I can't run and...yell...forever."

Garrett

​
"It's going to be a new start but don't worry, it won't be a new start alone." Garret said to with a warm smile as the two made their way towards where Masaru and the others were. They seemed to be heavy in conversation as Ester and Garret got into hearing range at the tail end of the conversation.

"Don't worry Ester, I'll be right back. Wilson might need some help with Vida later on and anyways, she'll need another friendly face around her." Garret said with another smile before going with Masaru to gather supplies.

"I'm glad to see you around Masaru. I know you're here for the Charlies but Cameron has been worrying me recently. The others have been too focused on the vials and the Charlies to notice but Cameron changed." Garret said, his smile vanishing from his face as he spoke in a serious tone which was rare for the man as the two walked alone down the hall. "I tried talking to him but won't listen. Maybe he'll listen to you if you tried talking to him once you come back."

Dr. Wilson and Josiah

​
"I'll be right back. You all are forcing me to drink another cup of coffee to keep up. I presume that you and Josiah will be fine staying here in case Vida wakes up." Wilson asked before he headed out of the infirmary a few minutes after Masaru and Garret left. Taking a seat in Wilson's chair, Josiah looked around the infirmary. It was a few minutes before Vida woke up.

"Oh shit!" Josiah exclaimed as the woman woke up in a frenzy. "Please don't tell me you jumped onto the crazy train." Josiah muttered quietly to himself. "See if you can try and stop her, I'll go grab Wilson." Josiah said before disappearing. He wasn't the best conversationalist nor skilled in medicine and in a situation such as this, he was more than fine leaving things up to the doctor.

[Lady Seraphina]

Perry

Maxim "Max" Emillianov

For a while, a very short while, it got a little, a tiny bit of little, better. The guy decided to quit pushing next Jim Morrison and stuck to the same boring street music routine. It almost sounded like silence, and with the sun shining not too intensely on his head Max thought he might actually survive this until Viktor got back and took him to the promised doctor. His hopes grew when the guy decided to call it a day and seemed to be packing. Max drank some ice tea in celebration; in small sips of course, since swallowing down huge gulps echoed too loudly in his skull.

Right about when he was washing the sweet remains of the ice tea with his own saliva, though, someone came to collect the »Mr. Mozart on the keyboard« with a loud shout in their direction. More facial muscles than he cared to know about were suddenly creased in pain and aversion. For what Max could tell, though, even the musician was not really interested in the pick up, and Max believed to hear him run away fast. It was little comfort to know that the jackass attempting to blow Max' head up had a chase caught out for him now, and Max realized he was rooting for the musician to get away with whatever he had done that had to do with the crash. Yet the little fun he had picturing the fucker having to run like hell to catch up with the – probably younger – keyboard player did not change the cringed expression Max was wearing. The blindfold suddenly felt as though it were all of a sudden of much thinner material and Max had to cover his face with both hands.

Now that the musician and his pursuer were gone Max hoped for things to get quiet again, but the fucking blindfold just had to attract unwanted attention and pity from a total stranger. “Hey, are you feeling alright?”, a female voice asked, loaded with pity and ready to shoot all maternal concern right at him. “I saw you sitting here with a blindfold and at this hour too.” With ears as sharp as they could have ever been – how the hell was he supposed to hear and feel if she was after his wallet, or dangerous in another way? - he carefully took one hand off his eyes and reached for his cellphone. Viktor was the last called number so that he did not need to see what he was dialing to reach him. Yet making sure that he was indeed calling Viktor and not doing anything else took him a couple of seconds more than usual. She took advantage of exactly these few seconds to talk before Max had a chance to open his mouth or call Viktor.

“My car is nearby, I can take you to the doctors then call your family. Please consider, I’d really hate to leave you out here like this.” She was after his wallet for sure, or maybe worse, his organs. There were all sorts of crazy stories and Max had certainly no clue of the criminal world. Viktor's number was already dialing, and a second later it was on mailbox. Fucking job interview. It was still good enough for a fake conversation, though, which Max decided he was having with his pal in Russian. The best way to shake most people off was usually to speak Russian and pretend not to understand a single word of any language they were speaking. He had heard no accent so the chance that she could speak any Russian was pretty slim. Hopefully she would then fuck off and find another victim to rub or dissect. He sounded extra angry and urgent, which was not far from the truth. Were he to perish then, Viktor would have last words from Max not only to play for the police, but also to burn all guilt into his brain for all fucking eternity. Now it was up to him to think fast about what to do if her accomplice came and dragged him by force.

[Lady Seraphina]

BlessedWrath (Weaver)

Masaru

Masaru could not help but smile as Garret walked him toward the supply closet. He spoke with such certainty; that was rare, in these chaotic times. He had already decided Masaru was 'coming back'. Still...Masaru had to admit...here he was, walking the halls of yet another Reformer base, escorted by yet another TSP-created Super. The irony was not lost on him.

He walked in silence for the moment, allowing Garret to fill him in on some of the recent goings-on. Cameron had not necessarily been a Boy Scout in his eyes, but it was good to know that something was amiss with him. Masaru allowed himself to imagine the continuance of their current timeline, had he not had that information. The places it took his mind were not pleasant.

Masaru decided not to correct Garret. It would only confuse their current issue and raise further questions. It was sometimes best to let people have their assumptions than to bog down progress with needless conflict. That was one of the primary principles in his study, after all. If it served his purpose, allowing Garret to believe he had returned, Masaru would not argue. There would be the eventual confrontation, naturally, but that was the future. Masaru lived in the present.

"Garret," Masaru finally said, softly, once there was an opening in the conversation. "I have come back for your missing team mates. It is vitally-important that you tell me everything you know about the two. What do they like? Where would they go, assuming there were no restrictions? Where were they last, and who were they last seen with?"

"I realize there has not been enough time to befriend these two, but you must know something. Any information you have can mean the difference between recovery and permanent loss."

He let that sink in as they approached the door which read, in giant block letters, 'Authorized Personnel Only'. This was the store room accessible only by trusted Reformers. This was the room in which the weapons were kept. While he awaited Garret's response -as well as his keycard- he allowed himself a moment of reflection. He was about to take up arms again. He was about to violate his vow of peace again.

Was it worth it?

[Lady Seraphina]

dpickle

Patrick "Pat" Anderson

Well that could have gone better. Pat was prepared for several different reactions but taking off running wasn't one of them. Pat started to run after him, but it was soon made abundantly clear that he had a snowflakes chance in hell of outrunning the madman. Pat slowed down to a jog, letting Jenna take over the pursuit while he cursed under his breath. "Of course the guy decides to run away from the only people trying to help him. Why not? This day needed another problem to go with the ten thousand it already had," Pat fumed. Pat momentarily considered turning around and seeing if the blind fold guy was a bit more reasonable. However, that would leave Jenna chasing after this guy alone, and he didn't seem like the kind of person you could trust to not suddenly get violent. Pat sighed and trudged on. He hoped one of the two would stop soon, his back was still far from perfect and he didn't know how long he could keep even this mild pace up.

[Lady Seraphina]

Cerulean

Adam Cooper

Oh god, another pursuer. Why is everyone after me today? As the second chaser turned out to be much younger, and significantly more attractive, Adam grew more worried that danger was in their wake. As she seemed to try and explain herself, the musician slowed and the subject of the crash came up. Squeezes his eyes shut, and somewhat hoping this doesn't come back to haunt him, the running had stopped. Turning around to Jenna, he sighed but didn't walk towards her.

"Fine. I was at the crash. IN the crash, I should say. But I don't have a clue about these weird things you seem to be seeing. If I remember correctly, that might be a sign of brain damage. Which means you should be at the hospital and not out here looking like a bunch of kidnappers. Nothing out of the ordinary has been happening other than right now, so I don't understand what you want from me. It's not like I had anything to do with it either. I wouldn't be dumb enough to crash a bus I was already riding on, just to be poked and prodded by you people either."

He shrugged, watching her pant.

"I have nothing to offer and nothing to take. So where do we go from there?"

[Lady Seraphina]

Ryver et Rhine (Dear Karma)

Callie Wright

"How rude! It’s almost like you... Argh, never mind! I doubt you’d understand.” Callie puffed up her cheeks then let off a huge sigh, as she fell into the empty space on the bench beside Max. She twiddled her thumbs, eyeing the man suspiciously. Somehow she had the oddest feeling that he deliberately switched to that strange “gibber-jabber” Russian passengers used. Often, if they spoke any English at all, it would be so heavily accented that she’d be struggling to understand them. A huge turn-off, really. “You know, it’ll be hilarious, if you were actually talking to an automated voice recording system at the moment.” She shrugged. “Buuut foreign languages sound so fast anyway, so I can’t judge.”

Cal ran her fingers through her thick, tangled hair that desperately needed some Daddy-O conditioner. Think Cal, think, she coaxed herself mentally. There had to be better alternatives then looking up and calling out to Daniel, who was hovering nearby. Doing that might aggravate the situation, since the guy appeared rather jittery as it was. Frustrated, she kicked dumbly, dragging her shoes against the warm, paved ground. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw her assigned target dropping something. Cal held her breath waiting for him to notice, but he continued talking absentmindedly. She waited a few more seconds then leaned forward and picked it up.

“Dr. Larry Bher – Migraine Specialist,” Callie read loudly and dramatically, stretching every second syllable in an exaggerated manner, as some tended to do when faced with a non-English speaker. Again the man beside her seemed remarkably good at pretending not to hear or notice her. By now, it was obvious that he was avoiding her at all costs, which sucked. She rolled her eyes and leaned back. The woman stared at a passing cloud, when something about that card came to mind. She ran a finger down the edge, as her eyes focused on the name then the supposed specialization. “Migraine? Isn’t that like some sort of headache?” She mused. “I know people say it is god awful, but I think Dr. Wilson is very capable. He has to be with so many people relying on him.”

It never once occurred to the bubbly blonde that perhaps Dr. Wilson might not even be a medical doctor. A doctor, in her opinion, was always a man or woman in a white coat, who loved diagnosing you with some unpronounceable disease that inflates the medical bill. Most of which (ironically) were curable with aspirin or antibiotics. Dr. Wilson seemed to be much more decent than that. At least, based on the little she heard while gossiping with the kitchen crew in the morning. Hence, it was only through utter blind faith (and the absence of contradicting evidence), that Cal was able to say this next bit with a very straight face. “I’d definitely recommend him for anyone in need to get their head fixed.”

[Lady Seraphina]

Kirra

Jenna Baxter

A smile started to creep onto Jenna’s face as she saw the man start to stop. At least there was some progress. Closing the gap between the two as the man spoke, the realization of what step two entailed started to sink in. How was she supposed to convince a complete stranger about weird powers that she barely understood and wanted to do nothing more than get rid of them as well as the fact that there was two warring groups in which she had to blindly put her trust into one of them so that she wouldn’t be confined as a prisoner, or worse. Looking back with a pleading look for the older man to hurry up, Jenna knew she would have to start up the conversation before Pat would have the chance to arrive. Why couldn’t convincing someone to join a group she knew for only a day with tendencies to kidnap people for the sake of convenience be just as easy as convincing a class full of preschoolers that biting your classmate is a big no-no.

“Well, Daniel seems like he knows what he’s doing so I trust him when he says you were effected by the serum too.” Jenna started to say as worked on pushing her nervousness aside. “Think of this as a safety precaution if you don't anything weird has been happening to you. If you're clear, good. You can walk away and think that I'm some sort of lunatic but if you were effected, wouldn't it be good to know what is going on?”

“Do you have a quarter? You must have one seeing that you are out here busking out on the streets. Would you believe me if I could prove to you that I'm not crazy because maybe you haven't seen these weird things happen to you yet?”

Daniel

Maybe giving the Charlies the job of recruiting the newest Charlies they came across was the best idea. Taking a few paces away from Ms. Priss and the Foreigner, Daniel looked in the direction of the Runaway, Grampa and the Coward. He wasn't very keen on letting another incident occur and the distance the Runaway created wasn't something Daniel was very happy about but at least the trio stopped. As long as the Foreigner didn't have any nosy friends nearby to get in the way, the biggest concern was making sure the Runaway could be convinced instead of taking off again. At least if push came to shove hopefully Grampa could stop the man in his tracks because pulling a tranq gun out in the middle of the park wasn't the best approach while trying to be discrete, although the Coward might have already screwed that up with her yelling.

Glancing down at his watch as he made his way back towards the bench, he knew that they needed to hurry. Who knew when Cameron would be back but things needed to be resolved before then, or at least the best they could, or else a huge argument was in store for them in the near future.

Garret and Masaru

“Well,” Garret started to say as he worked on fishing his keycard from his pant pocket. “Christian seems like a pretty good guy. He seemed pretty quiet when I saw him but between being stuck in a van and during breakfast, I doubt everyone was as chatty as they could be.” Garret before leaving a slight pause as he tried to come up with specifics that Masaru would deem usable. The lack of time was really an issue and being stuck in the infirmary away from the group wasn’t very helpful either. Besides Cameron, he had the least exposure of those two from the rest of the Reformers and at this point in time hated that fact. Swiping the card and opening the door for Masaru, Garret looked at all the equipment they had. If push came to shove, there was enough to arm both the Reformers and the Charlies if fighting was deemed necessary against this foreign group or even the TSP. Garret only hoped that if they ever reached that point the Charlies would have enough time to train so that they wouldn't be defenseless. Things would quickly become messy and he wasn't very keen on seeing that happen. Another round of bloodshed due to the serum was one thing he hoped to avoid.

“It was kind of interesting though, for a blind guy he didn't have a cane with him.” Garret resumed as he tried to shove his previous, more somber thoughts aside to focus on the present. Added negativity would do nothing to help the situation. “Hmm, but I wonder if that's only because he was taken by the TSP without one. Either way, he does pretty good job as a blind guy. I don’t know what his powers are but if he was able to keep up with the Charlies when they were chasing after the gang, I wouldn't doubt he would have some sort of sixth sense as his power.”

“Sam was an interesting kid from what I saw. It's kind of sad to see someone as young as her get involved in all of this though but since we haven't heard her speak about her parents or had to find a way to avoid an Amber Alert or some other child abduction alert, I don't think she has a very good relationship with them or maybe wasn't with them at all before all of this.” Garret said as he picked up one of the nearest handguns and curiously examined it. He was far from being the weapons expert within the Reformers but knew enough to notice that even during the hiatus, someone was taking good care of the weapons, if not a tad bit too much seeing how clean everything was. “She did have some sort of medical emergency earlier today though. I don't know what all it was about and I doubt Wilson figured it all out yet but it must have been because of her powers so keep an eye out for that if you see her.”

[Lady Seraphina]

dpickle

Patrick "Pat" Anderson

After what seemed like an eternity the man stopped running. Pat wasn't sure why, but at that moment he really didn't care. They could finally talk with this guy and get this whole ordeal over with. Despite protests from his back, Pat picked up his pace a bit. He expect there to be any trouble at this point, but if there was he would have to provide back up. Pat couldn't help but smirk at the insanity of the situation. Here he was, a sixty-two year old man with a sore back and a pounding migraine and he was the back up. The Reformers really needed to get their act together.

Pat came to a stop a fair ways behind Jenna, just close enough that he could speak to them without having to raise his voice. His mere presence was enough to spook the guy before and he didn't want to risk sending the guy off running again. It seemed Jenna was going to do some kind of coin trick with her power to try and convince the guy they were telling the truth. Hopefully the guy would buy it, or at least be intrigued enough to want to know more. Still, there was the possibility that Pat would have to do a demonstration in order to convince this guy, and Pat would be lying if he said he wouldn't savor the opportunity to zap this guy for all the trouble he put them through.

"Yes, believe it or not we're actually trying to help you. Damned if I know why. "

[Lady Seraphina]

Nemaisare

Thea 'Teddy' Palmer - Near the Park, Two Hours Ago

The world had changed overnight. One bad headache and funny sort of flu (though she really hadn't felt like laughing at the time) and suddenly that strange bright lights and too clear vision that came along with headaches wouldn't leave her alone. Although now it was the other way around. It was her eyes bringing about the headaches. And Teddy was thoroughly pissed off that she couldn't make it stop. Advil was touch and go, keeping the room dark only worked until she had to leave it, cool cloths were nice, but impractical for moving around with. School had been the worst. The light wouldn't stop flickering and she'd had to run out of math class on Monday to find a garbage can to vomit into when it made her queasy trying to ignore it.

The only good thing about that was she'd gotten out of taking the test, and stayed home Tuesday. Her parents figured it was some lingering illness from the weekend, or maybe a concussion from the accident on the bus, but they couldn't find any other symptoms, so she'd managed to avoid a trip to the hospital. If it kept up though, she might just ask if they could book her an appointment with the family doctor, because she didn't like it, and she didn't want it to stay. It had been fading a little though, the rough effects, and just that afternoon she'd discovered something pretty awesome. So, she thought she might wait one, maybe two more days in case the problems kept diminishing and her head finally wrapped itself around what had happened.

Sitting in the tree in her backyard after breakfast, Teddy was regaling Dana with her stories. The short version, since she didn't want to accidentally drop the phone and that meant texting and texting lots meant sore thumbs.

-No srsly. I no reflexes = fast but this wsn't reflx. I WATCHED falling and I caught it. Easypeasy. Coaster flip is a breeze! No challenge. Honest!-

-U just think it wasn't. For srs, Teddy, catching things is instinct. That's probs what it was.-

Of course, that's what Dana thought. It's what she'd been thinking most of the week too, until she realised it was so consistent. But she'd saved the best for last. Coaster flipping was nothing, she was already relatively good at it, as Dana was so keen on pointing out. Oh no, she had something far better.

-I saw a hummingbird. Ok. This HAVE to no isn't normal you. I could see its wings. They move in figure eight.-

-Youtube has an awful lot of slowed down hummingbirds, Teddy...-

Sighing, she eyed her phone in annoyance, then stuck out her tongue and took a selfie, sending that in place of words. Dana loled, then allowed that maybe she'd seen a hummingbird, but seeing its wings flapping was a bit of a stretch.

-U sure this isn't from that bump u got on the bus?-

-I no it isn't.-

She had had concussions before, much as she didn't want to remember them, they had never left her imagining she could see hummingbird and bumblebee wings while they were flying or following a softball someone hit right at her and know just where to put her hand to catch it. She might have been athletic, but she wasn't that good at softball.

-But tis all due to what happened on the bus dearie~-

A message said appearing on Teddy's phone seconds later from a new number.

-I know you wanna know why <3-

She stared at it for a long, hard minute, longer than a minute really, as the messager told her Dana had replied. But convincing Dana of her abilities, new and improved eyes or whatever, had suddenly become second to figuring out who had just texted her. And how the hell they'd known what she was writing to her friend.

-Not a dearie............... Is this a prank text?-

Were those even a thing? She'd heard of prank calls...

-Depends on if hummingbird wings are a prank :P-

Great, now random strangers were disbelieving her PRIVATE conversations. Scowling, Teddy checked the number against her other contacts, maybe someone had changed simcards or whatever it was. No one she knew. No one she could think of in her parents' list of contacts either. Brat was more likely, but he wasn't even here to enjoy the joke. And he wouldn't know what she was typing.

-Hey Dana, nvm that, can you call 212647914? Ask for Brat, I think hes messing w/me-

....................

-No one there. It says it's not a #. There's a robot voice and everything.-

-Ok, thnx, I'll kick his ass later, gtg Mum wants me.-

She didn't, her mum was actually very busy not wanting her while out shopping for shoes, but she didn't want to carry on a conversation that someone was stalking. Especially not somene who didn't exist. If that wasn't a number, who was texting her? Frowning, Teddy pocketed her phone and swung out of the tree, ignoring the slight scrape of the bark and dropping the last few feet to hurry to her laptop to try looking up the number there. She left the phone on her desk where she could see it though, half hoping, half dreading another text.

-Now Dearie, why must you get other people involved? What fun is that? Let's not get Dana involved, okay. She would just make this thing we have between us a bit too messy <3-

She grabbed it as soon as it blinked, the internet was probably useless anyway, she wouldn't know where to go after google.

-U do creepy stalker well. Plz stop.-

-Aww fine :( I thought u wanted answers Dearie but I guess not. Good luck figuring things out. U need it :P-

-Answers to what?-

-The weird things that happened to u. Seeing hummingbird wings and last week's flu is because of the crash. I'm the same boat as u too.-

-U no about that?-

-Mhmm. Phones not safe.-

Seconds later an address started to be typed out in the web browser and the results pulled up a map to a local Starbucks about a mile away from Teddy's house.

-Let's meet up, okay. Come visit me in 2 hours and I'll tell u everything.-

The flicking on the screen alerted her, and Teddy stared at the map when it came up, terrifyingly thrilled. It probably wasn't a good thing that someone had just taken control of her computer, but it was rather exciting. Like she'd suddenly become involved in a movie. She bit her lip as she read the text, knowing it wasn't exactly the best idea to meet strangers with no knowledge of their intentions. But it wasn't like she'd be able to tell truth from lies with texting. And she knew that Starbucks pretty well... She'd just have to remember to tell someone where she was going, right?

-Ok. 2 hours. How will I know u?-

-No worries Dearie, I know u <3 Take the table at the back, okay-

-Ok...-

[Lady Seraphina]

ArcanicNeon (ReganOs)

Ester Gardner

Ester watched Garrett skid off to find the man he was with before Ester pulled him away.

Ester's small smile soon faded into a sad frown of defeat, groaning in self-hatred as she covered her face with her hands.

"Oh god why rehab?" She moaned. "Zack's going to kill me, I"ll need to find a new job..."

Ester needed to collect her thoughts, think of a plan after the situation that she was dragged into ends.

...If it ever ends.

Roaming down the corridors, Ester felt like she was lost, continuously pushing back her long dark brown hair past away from her face in a fidgety manor. She stopped at hallway breaks, different paths leading to different directions, confused at the halls and different areas she'd walk past again and again. Ester soon familiarised herself, she was near the infirmary, where Wilson treated her.

"God this place is a maze..." She muttered to herself, brows furrowed in frustration.

Just as Ester remembered where her quarters was, a voice stopped her. A female one.

"They need me. I bet they are going 'Meow, meow. We are hungry!'"

Ester began to follow away, pushing her dark brown hair behind her ear. She was puzzled by what she just heard.

The voice spoke again.

"A way out. There must me a way out..."

Ester finally found the woman, looking down the hall, puzzled and confused. Clearly she didn't see Ester.

Ester stepped forward and spoke out.

"Is everything alright?" She asked her.

[Lady Seraphina]

of Dirt

Katsuro Nakamura

Katsuro looked down at the water a significant distance below him and jumped off the cliff. He could feel the wind rushing by, obscuring his hearing, but the voices in his head rang louder and with more persistence than anything the real world could conjure. Sometimes it wasn’t voices at all. Sometimes it was the memories of sounds that he couldn’t forget due to the pain they caused. He remembered the sound his ribs made the first time they broke, having been the victim of a vicious roundhouse kick. The sound carried more than the physical pain, but also the moment of realization that he had so utterly lost. He could hear laughter from students during his school years. He could hear the scolding tones and voices of every single girlfriend he’s had and the similar lectures that came just before his leaving them. And just before he would hit the water like hitting a brick wall at 60 mph, he’d hear each of his parents tell him something that they hate about him.

He woke up in his single bedroom apartment from the nightmare with an elevated heart rate and sweat. He grimaced and clenched his teeth in frustration, getting into an upright position as he buried his face in the palm of his hand. “Stupid shit,” he muttered under his breath. He kept his eyes closed. “Stupid, weak shit,” he said after clearing his throat loudly. His eyes opened slowly as he sighed, the end of his bed slowly coming into focus. Although his hand was right in front of his eyes, he could still see the blurry end of his bed. He furrowed his brow and slowly moved his hand away from his face, his eyes totally focused on it. He clenched his fist, moved his fingers around. It was all there. He could feel his hand there, but he couldn’t see it, and as he moved it further away from him he realized he couldn’t see his forearm either, or his bicep. As his confusion rose, adrenaline rushed through his body in panic.

“What the…?” he mumbled before quickly pulling the sheets away from him. All he wore to bed were athletic shorts and that was all he saw. The rest of him was gone. It was like he was a ghost. Am I still dreaming? He thought as he raced to the bathroom and turned the light on with his face an inch away from the mirror. “Ugh!” he yelled and jolted backward at the unexpected sight of his own reflection. I’m here, he thought reassuringly as his heavy breathing began to slow. His hand pressed against his chest to monitor his heart rate. He stared at his own reflection as his mind raced. What the hell was that? He took a deep breath and shook his head. “Great. I’m losing my mind or something, now,” he muttered as he returned to the living room and turned the lights on.

He grabbed a glass of water and sat down on the couch. It was still very early in the morning. The sun hadn’t shown itself yet. He kept checking his hand to see if it was still there. It always was. Did I really just imagine that? It was way too real, he thought as he walked back into his bedroom to retrieve his iPhone. He sat on the couch again and checked his messages. It wasn’t uncommon that he’d wake up in the morning to a text he didn’t get to respond to before falling asleep. There were two from Ariel, a new girl he’d been seeing for about a week now. One text was about drama at her workplace that he didn’t care about. The other was asking if he wanted to check out a new restaurant for dinner the following day. He was about to send a text to accept, but he stopped himself. It was too early in the morning. It’d be weird. He set the phone down on the table and lied down on the couch He closed his eyes and thought. At first he thought about Ariel, but then it went on to things he didn’t want to think about. The past. Mistakes. There were a lot of those. He could count them like sheep. Before long, he was passed out on the couch.

When Katsuro woke up a little before noon, he replied to Ariel and decided to take a walk in the park. He still felt a sinking feeling in his chest and couldn’t sit in his apartment all day. I need to walk this off, he thought as he put on some jeans and a long-sleeved, button up shirt. He rolled up the sleeves and styled his hair a bit before leaving. Even if he didn’t intend on meeting up with someone, how he looked always meant a great deal to him. Anything in his life that he could control he did. It’s the losing control that makes him angry, especially when he doesn’t know how to get it back. He checked his hand.

[Lady Seraphina]

Perry

Maxim "Max" Emillianov

Not only did his Russian fail to throw her off, but also it seemed that she was even more eager to keep yapping in his ear, and boy did she have a piercing voice. It reminded Max of some sort of speech which went on regardless of how uninterested the audience was. Now Max felt so unnerved, in addition to helpless, that he started swearing and swinging his free arm about while pretend-speaking with Viktor. He could only hope she was not built up with heavy muscles, or in the company of several others who were. After all the years of growing up together and then fleeing the homeland, Max did not need put much effort into improvising a call to Viktor, he could think about a thousand things, watch a movie, repair his old bike, and still pretend-call Viktor, letting no one on earth suspect the other end of the line.

It was first at the mention of Dr. Bher's name that he spoke slower, yet not much than anyone engaged in a real phone call would. “How the hell did she get that?”, he asked the imaginary Viktor in Russian, still refraining from turning his head her way or paying her any noticeable attention. “Some sort of a headache?!!”, Max now yelled at the imaginary Viktor – still in Russian, “Which retard hasn't heard of migraine nowadays? Every kid back home knows to shut up when parents have migraine.” But then she finally said something Max could no longer ignore, something he no longer wished to ignore.

So far Dr. Bher has been their last resort, one they hoped would lead to a real diagnosis and not just end up being another butthead unable to make any sense, or eager to shove medication down Max' throat, without being able to really tell what he had. But what if this Bher was not what Max had been looking for? Moreover, what if this Wilson so many people relied on had the real answers? He was not going to go childish on this, but that was a real possibility, worth considering. “Hold on a second,” he automatically said, as if in a real conversation, and stopped speaking Russian.

It felt weird, how was he supposed to talk back now that he had done his best to ignore the woman sitting next to him. Awkwardly he searched with his free hand for the card he had apparently dropped, until his hand touched the woman beside him. Max pulled back with haste, which lead to his fingers hitting his chest. At least now he felt a little less awkward. “Wil... Wilson?” His head turned halfway towards her. “Dr. Wilson, you said?” His accent was easily recognizable as Russian, though mild enough not to get in the way of people understanding his English. “Is he a specialist...”, and feeling rude all of a sudden he added, “ma'am?” which sounded weirder than any other chosen word. Did people ever say »ma'am« in a real conversation? She must have thought of him as a fucking retarded Russian from a far off place where English speaking people could never reach.

“You have a phone number of this Wilson?” was the best change of his speech Max could come up with. “My friend...” he said, lifting the phone in his hand a little, pointing out it was the friend – supposedly – on the line, “could take me, if I can get an appointment... or is he overbooked, with so many people relying on him and all?” Afraid, that he might actually miss on a real opportunity, Max then emphasized, “My friend's coming to pick me up in short. We'll call Wilson and see about the appointment if you can get me the number.”​

[Lady Seraphina]

Kirra

Adam, Pat and Jenna

Adam eyed them both, cautiously hoping they wouldn't try to take him by force. "Okay. I'll bite. Show me your little magic trick." Reaching in his pocket, the clinking of metal coins sounded before he twisted to look for the right kind of currency. "Here..." He reached out to her, with a rather worn quarter from 1971.

Taking the quarter from the man, Jenna rested the coin in the center of her right palm. With the added pressure of having to preform the powers she barely understood wasn't very helpful when trying to use her power earlier was already a struggle. She only hoped that this time she would be able to use her power without too much of a fuss.

Concentrating on the coin in a similar way as she did with the attacker's piercing earlier, she tried to push the coin away from her. Although she couldn't put her finger on it, something about the coin didn't feel exactly the same. Whether it was the pressure of trying to preform or something entirely different, something was making harder compared to the first time. From what she have observed so far, her power had to do something with metal so there shouldn't be too much of a difference between a piercing and a quarter. Or was there?

“Well you see, this is about the point where I made things move last time.” Jenna said with a nervous chuckle as she could feel the second start to tick by. “But please, don't leave yet. I know I can do this. Well, maybe...”

He shook his head, not really feeling that this whole situation as not being some sort of ruse. Reaching over and almost taking the coin back, the musician had seen enough. "I know that you seem to believe that you really do have some sort of ability. If you really do, there seems to be something that is escaping you. As for me, I think it's time to either let me go or show me something."

Pat inwardly groaned as he watched the situation unfold. Jenna must have choked under the pressure or something. In any case, he needed to act fast, before the guy ran off again. Pat began to slowly approach the man. "I can show you something alright but its going to require physical contact. My power will make you feel a bit... erm... uncomfortable. So consider yourself warned."

Before Jenna could step in and try out her act on the coin again, Pat thankfully stepped in. She was more than fine letting him take over but as she remembered the incident they had earlier at the base, she wondered if it would bean advisable route. What if he wasn't able to maintain his power and it hurt the man more than being a discomfort. "Are you sure about this Pat?" Jenna mumbled as she waited to see what the musician would choose to do.

Adam blinked and took a step away from Pat but stayed closer to Jenna. "I'd rather you not. Not only do I not trust you, but it sounds like I shouldn't let you near me." Sighing, he looks over to Jenna. She looked happy that he made it over. Her questioning of him didn't help either. "Fine. I will go with you. If nothing is wrong, I will leave. I will also never see you again, or the police become my speed dial 1."

"Sounds fair enough to me." At that Pat turned around and started heading back towards the van. Finally this whole ordeal was done with. Of course, the man could still run off despite what he said, but at this point Pat was totally fine with letting him go get himself killed by the TSP. He had done enough.

Although the man agreed to come, Jenna wasn't exactlysure if she trusted him fully seeing how little it took for him to run. Letting Pat take tthe lead, Jenna walked besides the man man with a slight smile on her face. "Here's your quarter back." Jenna said as she passed the coin back to the man. "By the way, my name is Jenna and that's Pat. The antsy man over there is Daniel. He's with the group that is involved in all of this and the lady over there is Cal. She's trying to convince someone else to join us as well so you're not the only one."

dpickle, Cerulean and Kirra Collab

[Lady Seraphina]

Nemaisare

Thea 'Teddy' Palmer - Near the Park, Two Hours Ago

Well, she was here.

Staring around the Starbucks like it had undergone some surprise renovation, Teddy felt both embarrassed and excited at the prospect of a clandestine meeting. She was also very sure that if this did wind up being some elaborate plot to kidnap her(though why her, she couldn't figure out), she was going to laugh herself silly and then spend the rest of her days telling herself she'd told herself so, but had she listened, oh noooo... As though that wasn't liable to send her around the bend.

She'd left a note telling her parents where she was going, and that she was definitely still hoping for dinner. That would surely be enough time to not be kidnapped and still figure out who was texting her. Right?

Swallowing her sudden case of nerves, and wanting very much to roll her eyes at herself because she really ought to make up her mind about this being a good or bad thing, honestly, Teddy made her way to the counter, waving at the girl behind the register. She wrote out her desire for an iced caramel macchiato, which was damnably hard to spell, and a brownie, if she pleased, paid for it, and then delayed going to the back tables by dithering there until they'd got it made. But she couldn't wait forever, and when she had her brownie and drink, Teddy forced herself to take a deep breath, turn around and sit at a table in a back corner where she could see everything, and everyone, at once.

She shrugged her green sweater nervously up higher on her shoulders until she could catch the zipper tab between her teeth, and stirred the macchiato with the straw. It didn't need it, but she was really too nervous now to actually eat anything, she'd just wanted to fit in with all the other people ordering.

"Oh Dearie! You came! I knew you would." An energetic voice said from a lady in a colorful pink and orange scarf and multiple bracelets jingling on her wrists. Approaching Teddy, the woman gave the girl a quick hug before Teddy could have a chance to get away from the embrace and took a seat beside the teen. "I can't believe how young you are. I knew you were young and all from your profiles online but damn, I still can't believe someone as young as you has to be involved in all of this. I guess I was young too when the whole ordeal started. I wasn't even twenty yet when...when..." The woman said with enthusiasm and speed before pausing. "Oh shit. Here I am talking up a storm Dearie and I have no idea if you can even keep up. Can you read lip or should I grab my phone?" The woman said as she tried to fish out her phone from her pant pocket.

"Ah!" The sound escaped her as she jumped in surprise, caught up in a hug she had not been expecting. Definitely not from something as bright as this... lady was. She'd been watching her, had noticed her coming close, but who would ever suspect a lady in a pink and orange scarf to be a... well, a hacker?! Not her, that's for sure. But the woman remained adamant, as far as she could tell, that she knew exactly why she was here. She sat down at the table and everything.

Teddy only stared. She could see her lips moving. If she'd had any presence of mind, she might have remembered that meant talking, but she was just so surprised by her accoster that the notion of holding a conversation had been completely flung from her head. At least, until her anonymous stranger paused and went for something in her pocket, then Teddy blinked, shook her head and starting signing up a storm. Some of it was pure annoyance that they'd met and she'd understood absolutely nothing of what had just been said, the rest was just her taking a turn at forgetting herself. But she stopped when she got all her thoughts off her chest. It really wasn't fair that this woman, obviously confident about whatever she was talking about, looked more like a fashion(questionable) diva than a kidnapper. But seriously, did she want to be kidnapped?! She was being an idiot.

Frowning, Teddy held up a finger and pulled out her own phone, finding the app she wanted and typing in what she wanted to say. The most important point she'd take away from this meeting, she was sure. When she hit the button, it talked back at the lady, a very officious little robotic voice, so she'd been told. "You are very bright..."

"Oh yes, with all this doom and gloom business Lee likes to talk about I have to have some sort of fun." The woman said with a slight smile. "He says it isn't professional but some of the things he, Carter or Cam does isn't very professional either." Pulling out her phone, the woman messed around on her phone for a few seconds before giving a slight nod towards Teddy. "I am the best at what I do in the world but still, we don't want any eyes watcing us. The government is easy to avoid but there are other more mischievous people out there that might be interested in our little talk, especially if they are linked to Cam."

"Nm!" Teddy held up a hand, frowning and shaking her head. Then typed on her phone. "What? Did you say government?" Lipreading was a lot of guesswork, and right now, she had absolutely nothing to go on. "Can you write? Please?"

-Yes, government- A message said appearing on Teddy's phone from the same number as before. -Oh and can you mute your phone? I don't need the audio to hear your phone ;) - The woman replied before taking a sip of her coffee. She knew that things would be difficult without words but this challenge was one she was interested in. Tech was her forte and with the right moves this could become an advantage to her.

She didn't? What...? Maybe she was just reading it upside down. Or... Teddy skipped that route in favour of doing as she'd been asked and turning off the sound, it wasn't as though she needed it. Then, because it kept niggling at her, she asked. -U can hear no audio?- How did that even work?

-The same way you can see things you're not supposed to Dearie. Tech and I have this weird bond, a superpower if you must call it that. We're not the only ones too-

-The bus?-

-Mhmm. It happened before too. I was only 19 then-

Only, she said, like 19 was that young. Of course, being 18, Teddy had a rather different perspective there. Alright, so, she wasn't imagining things. Well, she might be, but this woman probably didn't think so, and even if she was, other people were imagining things too. And she definitely wasn't imagining her not looking at her phone to know what she'd written. -Ok, weird stuff is happening. Why?-

-A serum. It was locked away but was stolen by the Reformers and was released during the accident (hopefully by accident...). It's not reversible but it isn't all that bad too-

-Reformers?- Well, it was already more exciting than she'd half been expecting. But there'd been very little clearing up of facts. So far. At least the woman seemed happy to answer questions and stay in Starbucks.

-Mhmm. We were once together but drama happened and Cam and a few others left. I almost went but Cam is an asshole. Not all of them are jerks though. Garrett is amazing and we still chat every once in awhile. They are actually why I wanted to talk to you. Most of the new guys are with them and Garrett isn't talking to me.-

That was a lot of very boring information that was actually exciting... How was that even possible? -New guys? Bus people? Who's Garrett? And Cam?-

-New guys= Bus People. The technical term is Charlies since you are the third generation (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie). Garrett is with the Reformers (my bff) and Cam is the one in charge (but you might want to call him Cameron. I heard he doesn't use the name Cam anymore...)- Pausing just to take another sip of her coffee the woman sent another message to the teen. -It's dangerous being alone with your powers. Not only do you not know how to control it, the TSP and Reformers are possessive and will meddle with your life. You should be able to make a choice and you should do it before one of them makes it for you.-

Reading all of that, Teddy's frown became more and more pronounced. It was true that she believed she could see things. This woman... actually, that was wrong. They'd skipped the second most important step of this whole secret meet and greet thing. They'd met, but they'd forgotten about greeting(apart from the earlier enthusiastic hugging, anyway).

-Ok, lots of questions, first. Hello, I'm Teddy, what's your name?-

Holding out her hand, she smiled as well as she could in such a situation. For all the strange manner of their coming together, she thought she might like this lady. And she wanted to make sure that was clear, but not so clear that she'd lose whatever small advantage she had right now in her probably wanting some trust and working towards it. She knew how these things worked, she watched lots of crime shows, and had seen as many of the superhero movies as she could, twice. Netflix had a pretty good collection. At least... She hoped she knew how this worked. All those stories were fiction, this was real. It was her life.

Giving a slight chuckle as she read the message sent her message to Teddy before tinkering on her phone. She could sense something was off but being overwhelmed with the abundance of signal in the city it was hard to pinpoint the exact source. -Whoops sorry about that. I'm a bit of a scatter brain sometimes. I'm Tia, an Aries and electronic communication is my ability.-

Tia and Teddy. Cool. Electronic communication? Also pretty cool. And explained the whole phone thing. Maybe. She thought she was doing a pretty good job holding herself together, but wasn't sure if she was waiting to explode, or didn't quite believe this was all happening yet. Either way, she'd find out eventually, and wouldn't that be fun... Nice to meet you, she signed, still smiling until she decided that was that and now she had to go back to thinking about this whole strange mess of super powers and Alphas and government things that she probably didn't understand at all. But that's what questions were for, as her English teacher had once said.

-Cool. Ok. tsp and reformers? Choices? What?- She didn't really know where to start, but the more she asked about anything, the more she'd be able to figure that out, right? Finally taking a sip of her mocchiato, Teddy pushed the plate with her brownie on it towards Tia, raising her eyebrows in question. She'd be happy to share if she wanted some. It was the polite thing to do, right?

-Hmm where to start...- Tia said pausing to take a piece of the brownie as she thought things over. Compared to the others she wasn't the best conversationalist to discuss important information such as this and without the protection from the constant barrage of information she had while at the TSP headquarters, keeping her focus was getting harder the longer she sat down with Teddy and she wasn't going to compromise her own safety or ruin her plans by turning her powers off. She would just have to make it until she got back. But still, something was off. If only she could clearly see what it was. -The TSP (the group I'm with) and Reformers are both groups with people like us. There some bad blood between us and the Reformers are trying to recruit the Charlies (the new guys like you) too. The choice is yours on who you want to join, I don't want to force you but it's too dangerous to be on your own when you don't understand your powers. I might meet you in private but I don't think the others will. What would your family think if news got out? These powers are dangerous and do you really want to get them involved in something like that?-

She was pleased, strangely, when the woman, Tia, when Tia took some brownie. Like they were sharing a secret and dessert. Made it all the better. She was less pleased when the full explanation arrived on her screen and her family was brought up. She thought it might have been something of a threat, but at the same time, Tia wasn't throwing it in her face, just, making it very clear that not knowing what she was doing was a bad idea. And probably, that she shouldn't have been talking about it with Dana...

No, I don't want that. She finally shook her head, signing the denial without bothering to type it out. But, they were her family. She didn't expect them to suddenly kick her out or stop talking to her. What she didn't want was them getting involved with the news or anything like that if the public got curious. And, well, maybe it never would. But, if this was a thing, and her headaches and seeing things wasn't her own imaginings, then she kinda did want to learn more about that. -How do I choose? I don't know either of them.-

She might have simply said she'd go with Tia and never mind making any other informed decision, but if these two groups weren't seeing eye to eye, there had to be a reason. And if it was the Reformers who had the other... Charlies, then she'd be alone with the TSP.

-TSP might be a good choice (they have ties to the government too) but I'm worried about the Charlies and Reformers. Maybe you can check in on them Dearie if you feel up to it?- Without being in contact with Garret, she was worried about what was going on within the walls of the Reformer's base. The news of Wilson joining the Reformers was new to her and she wondered what else Cameron might have up his sleeve. -Of course you will have to keep our meeting a secret but we can keep communications open between us just in case something happens.

-How?- For a moment, Teddy was baffled by how they might talk to each other secretly, then she grinned and picked up the phone, eyebrows rising questioningly. Of course! Tia had found her that way before, she could probably do it again. -Nvm... No offense to you and TSP, I think I want to be with other people in my boat.-

It didn't take her a lot of consideration to reach that conclusion. There wasn't a whole lot encouraging about two groups of powerful people chasing each other. From what she understood, the Reformers had the others who were just learning, and if they didn't, they'd keep trying to get the rest. Better to go with them first and just see what they were like. Maybe she could help them see eye to eye! -I can learn with them, and still talk to you?-

-Mhmm, of course- Reaching for the bag that Tia had, she searched through it before pulling out a small case and slid it towards Teddy. -There's a microSD card inside. Keep it hidden for now and after they check your phone or give you a new one just put it in and it will do all the work for you. Just make sure they don't find it and you will be good to go.- The chip was a pet project she had been working on since the TSP was shut down and although she haven't had a chance to put it to use in a real life senario she was strongly confident that after all the work and tests she have done that it should work fine. She only hoped that was the case.

Pulling it towards her, Teddy opened the case curiously before reading the text, which, in retrospect, she probably should have done first. But nothing bad happened, so she just grinned again and started nodding before a thought made her frown. -They will take my phone?-

-Not sure. If they see your phone as a a security risk they might do something to it or give you a new one to avoid me from finding them. Cameron has allies that knows how to do things like that so be prepared- Yet again she could feel something familiar coming from her powers. Was it a cell phone? Video surveillance? Something else? Whatever it was she knew it was close and something she should have recognized but what was it. Turning the vibrate on on her phone, Tia closed her eyes as she tried to focus on the source hoping that one less stimuli would help her figure things out.

-Ok, I- Well, losing her phone would not be the biggest trouble she'd have to deal with. It was convenient, but it wasn't the end of the world. Her parents wouldn't appreciate it, but if the Reformers were likely to give her another one or just fiddle with hers... She could live with that.

-I'll try and find them and text you where to meet-

-Ok.-

Nemaisare/Kirra Collab

[Lady Seraphina]

Kirra

Jenna Baxter and Callie Wright

Cal’s eyes widened in disbelief, as her light blue eyes bore into Max’s darker ones. She was so taken aback by the fact he spoke English to feel insulted by his actions earlier. Her nude, baby pink lips rounded ever so slightly before they spread out and up into her usual bubbly smile. “Oh yes, he’s absolutely amazing. One of the very best.”

Thankfully, she didn’t have to keep exaggerating, because it appeared that the Russian-speaking stranger was very eager to get in touch with Dr. Wilson. However, that brought up one teensy problem. She didn’t have a cellphone number or even her personal cellphone.

To Callie’s credit though, her smile didn’t waiver, as she struggled to improvise. The last thing she wanted was for him to get suspicious again and run off, because she was almost certain this man won’t hesitate to call the police. It was a very real possibility considering how unlucky she had been lately. Kidnappings, forced separation from her loved ones and that gang fight back in the alley, yeah, she needed to be a lot less gungho till this streak of bad luck ends.

“I – oh, give me a second. I could have sworn I left my phone in my back pocket.” The limber blonde managed to twist her upper torso by a couple of inches in an attempt to feign searching for a nonexistent phone in a pocket that is equally nonexistent. “Weird… I know it’s here somewhere.” She insisted stubbornly. “I had it in my hand awhile back.”

Discreetly, someone offered her their phone. This caused Cal to jerk her bowed head up suddenly and that almost brought the top of her head into Daniel’s nose. She felt her face grow warmer, as she apologized profusely. Nice timing, Dan, she thought. I am glad to have back up. His next few words inspired even more confidence in the now wavering woman. They were, in her opinion, a big nudge in the right direction.

“It’s okay, dear. I noticed you left your phone in the car, so I drove back to pass it to you.” He explained with a winning smile. “By the way it kept buzzing, I could tell you have loads of messages coming in.”

“I – thank you!” Callie exclaimed suddenly, throwing herself against Daniel and hugging him. She leaned in closer so that it appeared she was giving him a very affectionate peck on the check so their act appear a lot more legit. “You’re a real life-saver. I can’t live without it!”

“I know, I know,” Daniel said with a mock sigh. “I swear you’re married to your job rather than to me.”

His facial expression and underlying sarcasm made Cal burst out laughing. Her first genuinely laugh since all the bantering with Garret earlier. “You’re such a tease. And oh,” she said with a gasp, when her eyes fell on the first few words in the message Daniel typed on the notepad showing on the phone screen. “I have a message from Dr. Wilson.”

Daniel pretended to shake his head, while Callie read the instructions he typed for her. “My wife is awfully devote to Dr. Wilson. Knowing her, she was probably coaxing you to go see him. I always tell her she should be his PR manager rather than his secretary.” He laughed jovially. “Rest assured, I used to be skeptical, but he really knows his stuff. Cured me of the chronic migraine plaguing me since my teens.”

It was Cal’s turn to pretend to roll her eyes. “You’re going to make him doubt me,” she said with a pout. “I mean I don’t always understand what Dr. Wilson does, but I know he’s a great doctor.”

“Right,” Daniel replied. “What did he say this time?”

“He asked if we want to join him for lunch tomorrow. Apparently, he won’t be going out of town anymore,” Cal informed her “husband”. “He wished to take a day off though.” She shrugged. “I guess he deserves it after how hard he worked.”

First part, done. Cal cheered slightly, letting Dan talk for a bit about Dr. Wilson being far too busy for his own good. Apparently, they were supposed to get the new Charlie to believe that the good doctor seldom picked up calls and slip in an impromptu invitation to lunch. It was simple enough, but she still had her doubts.

Finally, Daniel reached the crucial turning point and Cal never felt more ready. He turned round and gave her a sneaky wink before saying, “And he has this bad habit of never picking up his phone. Don’t you agree, dear? That’s why you have to handle all his calls and schedule his appointments for him.”

“Right,” she agreed heartily. “Say,” Cal turned back to Max again. “Why don’t you join us for lunch tomorrow? I don’t know if I mentioned it earlier, but Dr. Wilson always prefers patients through word of mouth. He says it makes establishing trust a lot easier since the patient would be like a friend of a friend.”

She was positively beaming at this point, though it was more out of relief that she was nearing the end of her act. The whole thing had been nerve-wrecking from start to finish, but by some miracle, the guy was still sitting here in front of them. “I’ll put in a good word for you, because I feel you need his help. You looked like you were in so much pain earlier.”

“Ah,” Dan nodded sympathetically. “Migraine? I used to have that myself. Dr. Wilson helped cure me when most other specialists were at their wits end.” He trailed off. “Even if it isn’t migraine, I know for a fact that he is one of the most well-read man in this field of medicine. He chose to keep low-key, so he won't be too overwhelmed.”

“Shush,” Cal cut in. “You’re worse than I am. Really… but yes, if you are still interest, please join us tomorrow. We’ll be meeting Dr. Wilson at 1.40 pm at Urban Grinds, you know, that café across the street from here.” She turned around slightly and pointed to a shop house behind their van. “I can give you my number instead, if it makes you feel any better. No, I think I’d definitely give you my number. That way you can contact us if you ever get lost.”

Daniel's knee-jerk reaction was to stop Callie from giving her number to the man. There was a reason he tried to avoid the need for phones and here this woman went, offering her number as if there wasn't a legitimate reason for the avoidance of technology but the deed was already done and it would be suspicious if they suddenly said they couldn't give a number. Tomorrow after they rallied up hopefully all the Charlies they are really going to have to talk about who they are up against because Tia as well as the others are not someone to think lightly of. Without letting his cheerful facade slip up, Daniel gave a slight nod towards the phone Callie was given before reaching over and pressing the button that would take the phone back to the home screen. That phone and number corresponding to it was a new one after yesterday's fiasco and was the safest option to use at this moment especially with the help of a few of Cameron's friends tweaking the phone beforehand. The number would be easy to find with the phone completely void except for three nameless numbers in the address book, a few texts from before to relay information to Wilson and the number of the phone plastered on the home screen of the phone.

Kirra and Dear Karma (Ryver et Rhine) Collab

[Lady Seraphina]

Izkripp

Vida Curacio

She was deep in thought when the woman's voice made her jump. Her eyes were wide as she whipped her head around to look at her. Was she one of them? Or one of the ones that was taken? She couldn't remember, but something told her that the woman was one of the new 'recruits' just like herself. Maybe she could or would help her.

"I-I need to-- to leave here. I need to go there. Th-th-they aren't h-here and I need to be... need to be with them there."

She rubbed her head with a little more force allowing her wrapped fingers to be surrounded by the strands of her hair. She knew that she was not making any sense, but it was the best that she could do with her mind scrambled, the pain, and being hungry.

"I-I just need to go h-home. No one will feed them, they will di... Die. They can't die. I need them."

She choked back the raw emotion that bubbled up when she thought about her cats dying. She was going to leave no matter what, even if it meant her dying.

[Lady Seraphina]

Regendorf

Frid Adalwolf

Saturday 4th of May

Frid was lightly snoring away in his seat, at the back of the bus. He needed the rest, after all yesterday he put an end to his life in the States. Or at least had put it on hold for a long period of time. He woke to the screeching breaks of the buss and by the time he managed to come to his senses he was about to get put back to sleep. The backrest of the seat in front of him made direct contact with his head...

Before him stood his mother doubled over in crying, beside her, his father attempted to console the woman. This was out of their control now, Frid had chosen his way. He had even established his route, well the route was something all three of them established hypothetically. But both his parents underestimated Frid's thickheaded resolution. Frid tried to reach for his mother, but she seemed to pull back drifting farther. His father attempted to give his son a disapproving look, but in his eyes one could read only proudness. He was proud of Frid and of his choice to stick with the mountains. After all paralysis was one of the most memorable gifts a mountain can bestow upon those that try to climb it. And it had been very giving towards his father.

Come on mom, I know what I'm doing, I ain't my father...​

"I AIN'T MY FATHER!!" He found himself screaming. He was already pulled out of the bus and lied on a stretcher, and his backpack set next to him. He felt his head, the doctors had bandaged it, but it didn't seem to be actually split, as the pain suggested. A doctor noticed he was awake and came to check on him. After the usual checkups for a head injury, the doctor asked a few questions to check his memory. He could answer perfectly to every thing, but when the doctor asked about any family Frid became reluctant. He told the the doctor that his mother had a heart condition and that he would announce them himself.

As there was no open injury h one thing to take a showerWith a sigh of relief Frid jumped into the first cab and asked the driver to take him to the closest pharmacy. The cab driver grumbled initially at the meager fare, but he calmed down fast enough when he was told that he was also hired for a ride up to Park Minnewaska. In the few minutes it took him to arrive at the pharmacy he explained to that driver the buss accident, or better said what he remembered of it. The cab pulled over and the man motioned towards the pharmacy. Feeling his head throbbing he understood that his pain wouldn't subside by the night. So he bought some sleeping pills along with the prescription he got from the doc. With his meds bought he made his back to the cab, took a painkiller and leaned his he'd on the window a few moments later he fell asleep.

The driver struggled to wake him up they had already arrived some minutes ago. Also it was getting late and the man hoped to reach home by midnight. Frid reluctantly woke up took his wallet out, paid the man and got out. Seeing that the pain hadn't stopped, he decided against pitching up his tent today. He walked to the inn that greeted the park visitors with friendly prices for the night.

Fatigued both by the road and the accident he quickly drew into his rented room. With a flick of his wrist he locked the door and dropped his backpack on the floor. Wanting to take a shower he took his clothes off as he walked towards the bathroom.

A few minutes later he strode out drying himself with the towel provided by the inn, took both the sleeping pill and pain medication and went to sleep.

Sunday 5th of May

​

Around noon he woke up feeling even more tired than last night. His muscles hurt with a dull pain, he had all but forgotten. The sweet pain of overworking one's body, no...this was different, it was simpler more basic. The foolishness of sleeping in the nude...he groaned reaching for the blankets, trying to make himself warmer. Trying to sleep it off...

Some time later someone started rapping on the door, hoping the man would give up he turned on the other stuff side. Not giving up the man knocking on the door started yelling Frid's name. Telling him to either vacate the room or pay up, otherwise the police would be called. Reluctantly Frid got up looking for his pants, pulling his wallet from them he pushed a bill under the door. Before heading back to his bed he warned the manager "Don't dare bother me until tomorrow..."

Monday 6th of May

​

Waking before noon with a growling stomach Frid realized he was finally better. Got dressed in a hurry with the same clothes he had worn on Saturday and went down to the inn's dinner, catching a late breakfast. Checking out after that, he turned towards the trail he usually took with his family, all those years back. It led to a small clearing, large enough for a tent and a fire. Not surprising the rocks that they last used were not there anymore. They hadn't been here ever since his father had his accident, well they hadn't had any other outings either for that matter.

Setting up camp took priority seeing that the sun had already long passed it's zenith. Putting up the tent, searching for fire wood and rocks to contain the fire, took him the better part of the remaining daylight. With the fire set up and an early dinner cooked he managed to hit the sac early. Tomorrow he aimed to start his training camp. There were only 6 days left until his plane to the UK left.