Aurora Claudwell
Rory had been anticipating the trip to the museum with a mix of feelings. She had visited that particular museum before. Her parents had donated a substantial amount of money to the arts, and this museum had found itself on that lengthy list. Initially, she had been looking forward to revisiting this place from her past. A place that had managed not to change too much.
However, the closer the day drew, the more anxious she became. As she walked into the building, near to her friends, her features took on a distant, contemplative manner as she considered the strange dreams she had had the previous nights, always escalating in vibrancy and urgency. Initially, they had been hard to discern from the subconscious blur of sleep, but as the field trip grew closer, they became more definite. Screaming, crying, and earthquakes.
She felt as if she were on high alert when she stood within the entrance of the museum, unable to shake the feeling of doom that lingered just beneath the surface of her mind. Luna's words cut through her thoughts, "I can't believe you talked me into this..." It seemed to snap her back into the present. She lifted her hazel eyes and turned them on Luna with an amused grin. Yet, while carrying the distinct feeling that something was wrong here, she couldn't help but regret that she had persuaded her friend to attend. She wished that her friends were far, far away from this place. She felt a deeper surge of dread when Kitty called the groups, isolating her from Alicia, Luna, and Naka. All three. She hadn't even be placed with Daisy. She frowned. Of course they had been separated. Was there anything surprising there? "Should have figured we'd get separated," Luna echoed her thoughts, "Try not to have too much fun without me..." Despite her gloomy mind set, Rory couldn't help but smile back at Luna's flirtation. Rory had noticed the shift in her teasing behavior, but of course she didn't mind, so she didn't comment on it. "No promises," she playfully responded, waving to Luna, Alicia, and Naka before being sectioned off into her group.
As they parted ways, her worry intensified. She tried to remind herself that dreams were only dreams. Murmurs of the subconscious. Still, she would have felt calmer if she were able to see her friends and know for sure that nothing bad was happening to them.
She tried to enjoy the displays, but she had seen many of them before, and her leader didn't seem too impressed by them either. Thoughts plagued her, such as, 'Should I text? Just to make sure they're okay?' She shook that notion away. That was silly wasn't it? If something happened, she would know. Guards would take action, the leaders would be notified...something that would tip her off.
And suddenly, as she was distractedly skimming an educational placard before an incomplete set of bones, it happened. She felt the familiar tingle along her spine that urged her to move. To her, it felt as if time slowed. The explosions sounded like long, drawn out rolls of thunder, consecutive and extremely loud to her sensitive ears. As the building rocked and groaned, she sprang faster than the human eye from the center of the room to the edge. Before the explosions even ended, she was positioned safely on top of a sturdy display. She had an explicit view of the scene unfolding. Earthquake, her mind supplied. She felt a tremor of that familiar dread, doused with a sense of eerie foreknowledge trickling beneath her skin. At the numerous screams of fear, the sense only grew.
She slipped down from the display and descended into chaos. Mostly, the civilians were terrified. They didn't know how to handle a crisis. But then, did she? The voice boomed across the loudspeakers, seeming to be much louder than necessary to her alert and heightened senses. At the conclusion of that friendly speech, the numerous guards appeared. Rory's first instinct was to blast through them and get to her friends. To Luna, Alicia and Naka. The urge was nearly overpowering. She couldn't, wouldn't allow them to be harmed. Before her minds eye, she saw the faces of her mother, father, and her small sister. Her brother before he had disappeared in the flaming night. The pain felt sharp and new. No, she wouldn't allow this.
The sound of shots sliced through her mind like a razor, and she was suddenly alight with fury. She took Mr. Faraday's question as permission to spring forward, at a speed that would challenge a bullet, and connected with the nearest soldier. A shot fired, and missed. Her greatest strength was her speed. In her aggressive state, she was blindingly fast as a clawed hand reached up and pierced through the trigger hand of a guard. There was an agonized shout as the weapon clattered to the ground. Within seconds, the unfortunate man was flipped around in front of her body, a human shield as she pushed forward to disarm three more of them in a few fluttered blinks of an eye.