Rowan Campbell, Nick O'Connor, & Wendy Emily Lucker.
Havenfield Market, Roseview.Written in collaboration with @Mr Allen J and @Zombiedude101After Wendy had lead Rowan to the stand, she treated the two of them to some delicious funnel cake. After they were prepared, Wendy was sitting down on the chair, with Rowan across from her. She was more fixated on her funnel cake - which was coated with cherries and cherry syrup - until she looked over at Rowan not too far away.
Offering her a thumbs up, he found the funnel cake to be a delicious treat, one he'd never had a chance to know before today. He was grateful towards Wendy for it, to say the least and had made a mental note to figure out how to make it up to her.
Oddly enough, she was starting to put a little bit of credence behind Diana's "couple" claim. They kind of looked like a couple. She took a bite out of her funnel cake with a fork while her eyes drifted over towards him. She didn't have any feelings present for Rowan... he was just a friend of hers. Nothing more, nothing less.
But, she wondered what Rowan thought of
her.
Was she pretty enough to pip his interests?
Though, before she could continue her line of thought, bullets sprang out from the enviroment. That made Wendy jump, and she was quick to look around. People were screaming, and running away. It wasn't long before the masked men in armor came running after them.
It wasn't long before the two became targets. The armed men threw canisters of Metahuman-Suppressant gas at them.
"Rowan!" Wendy shouted, as electricity began to arc off herself. She created a magnetic field, and fired a blast of electromagnetic energy in a ring. It shot forward and deflected the gas canisters that were aimed at them, and were fortunate enough to go off away from them. Red gas startred filling up at the area around them.
Wendy covered her mouth as she made a quick note to turn around and tried to haul ass
Sucking in his breath, Rowan chased after her, frantically clambering over and around anything in his path. Eventually he managed to catch and firmly grasped her by the arm, tugging at it in another direction. "This way!"
And like that, they were off - Rowan might've been scrawny, but he could run like hell when push came to shove. As the chaos enveloped everything around them, it became clear he was leading them out towards the fairground rides set up at the corner of the festival, the ferris wheel looming overhead with its flickering lights.
Then it became obvious why he'd took them that way - on the other side was a side exit, for employees. "C'mon, c'mon-"
Rowan stopped abruptly as two gunmen approached them, weapons and canisters at the ready. "On the fucking ground!" One of them barked at the duo.
For a moment, Rowan froze, then clenched his palm and made a frantic sweeping motion, tearing off the upper half of a temporary metal fence and slamming it into the gunmen at full force, dragging them visciously across the ground with the squeal of metal against stone and flesh.
The sight was god awful. Wendy almost wreched in disgust as they were getting torn to bits. Well, this was what was neccessary to stay alive.
It had been the second time Rowan had ever done some harm with his powers, yet this time he froze in place, jaw clenched, palms shaking with a mixture of subconscious rage and fear.
Nick had taken off running just as soon as the shooting started, acting purely on instinct. He had to get home, had to get back to the hive. He had no idea what was going on or who was shooting who, and he couldn't have cared less. He was in danger, and he would be safe in the hive.
Those two kids he'd seen before, the ones who the carnie was furious at - they had the same idea he did, taking off away from the gas and gunfire. Nick followed them from a distance, hoping against hope that maybe the scruffy kid leading them had an idea of where he was going. It looked like he did, but that hardly mattered after they got cornered.
Nick was just about to turn and bolt away when the fence ripped off its hinges and nailed the gunmen - judging by the sweeping motion the kid had made, it didn't seem like an accident. The boy was a Metahuman, then - maybe he'd... maybe he could be trusted. Nick felt a pang of guilt at his earlier intention to abandon the two to whatever fate awaited them; they were just kids. Like he'd been.
Nick approached cautiously, carefully avoiding the horrible mess that was resulting from the two men being scraped along the ground like an ant by a shoe. "I know a safe place," he whispered, then swallowed sharply and repeated himself louder. "I know a safe place. My name is Nick, and I'm like you. I know a place where we can hide, where we'll be safe for as long as it takes for this to blow over, but if we don't go now they're going to hurt us real bad. And kill us, probably. Come with me."
Wendy came to a stop as she looked at the man. He said that he would help them. Honestly - Wendy was turn between trusting this stranger, and taking their chances. He said he's
"like them," which means he could be a Metahuman. Everything was going horribly wrong, and Wendy tried to make sense of why. She had no idea of who these men were. But, if she was willing to take a chance, this man could help them. That was what Wendy was really banking on.
The girl hesitantly nodded her head, and said, "Okay, lead the way." She was hoping Rowan would go along with it.
That seemed to snap him out of it, in any case - Rowan quickly followed after Wendy's lead, deciding to trust her call.
Oh, shit, that actually worked. "...Cool, cool," Nick muttered, and immediately walked past them, pushing through the employee exit and breaking into a jog away from the sound of gunfire, trusting that the kids were following.
Fortunately, his taxi was in a parking lot not far away - drivers weren't really supposed to use them for personal commuting, but as long as they paid for gas nobody really gave a shit.
Well, the guy's a taxi cab driver. He's no more dangerous than any other cabbie. Personally, Wendy was never one for
public transportation, to begin with, but since she's separated from her precious scooter, she'll have to make do.
"Don't sit in the front," he called out to the kids as he jumped into the driver's seat. "I should probably get this out in the open, we're going to my apartment. I've been getting it ready for something like this for a while. I promise not to murder you, but like, if that's not good enough, feel free to take your chances out here. There's also a bunch of metal around, though, so you'd probably be okay if I tried to kill you. Which, just to be clear, I'm not going to do." Without waiting for a response, Nick started the car and leaned over to the glove compartment, opening it wordlessly.
Okay, he's starting to sound a
little bit like a conspiracy theory nut. Wendy was wondering what she got herself into. She peered over towards Rowan, nervously trying to get her unease across to him the best she could. God. This night was going horribly. It started with Wendy arriving with her sisters, and hanging out with Rowan, ending with this awful, awful, disaster. Who are even these guys?
Wendy didn't want to find out... because she was wondering what the hell Nick was pulling out his glove compartment. Was it a gun? She was getting a little on edge here - kind of paranoid. She channeled that electricital ability of hers in order to control the metal as Nick said....
The large soldier insect inside spilled out, chattering wildly and glancing around frantically, eyeing the newcomers warily. "It's okay, they're alright. I think." Nick reassured the insect, before looking back to gauge the kids' reactions. "Don't... freak out."
... But what Wendy wasn't expecting was a god damn giant insect popping out of the glove compartment. Her eyes shot wide as she wondered what the hell is that thing. One of the Arachnids from Starship Troopers?
"Uhhhhh...." Was all that escaped Wendy's lips.
It took Rowan a moment to process the situation. This stranger was talking to an ant.
An ant.Even
Rowan was confused as she was. "What is that...?" Wendy trailed off, before realizing it wasn't important. "Um. Nevermind. Just get a move on!" She said.
All things considered, mild terror and temporary shock was about as good as Nick could've hoped for. Without any further hesitation he slammed on the gas, pealing out of the parking lot and blasting down the street at speeds anyone else would probably have considered somewhat unsafe.
"I'm a metahuman. Like you guys," he offered in explanation to the kids without taking his eyes off the road. "I make the bugs - the eggs grow in my skin, and when they hatch, they do what I tell them. They won't hurt you, but they'll keep us safe until this blows over and you guys can get back to... wherever you're from. " He cleared his throat as the cab made a particularly sharp turn. "There's, uh, gonna be a whole lot more of them where we're going."
What an odd ass power. Part of Wendy wanted to just roll out the car, but she had no idea of what happened back at the festival - or if it was going to spread. So maybe...
maybe hanging with the creepy taxi-cab driver won't be so bad?
But, she was worried about Diana and her friends. She hoped that they got out safe.
She wanted to at least text her... So, before she responded to Nick, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, and hammered away at it. Typing up the best message she could.
Diana, please tell me that you're okay.
She hit send, before Wendy looked up at Nick.
"... I'm a Metahuman, too." Wendy was quick to add... she was unsure of what she should tell him. She didn't want to announce that she was a Power Replicator to the world, but she can tell him a half-truth. "I can... I can shoot electricity, and control magnetism like he can."
"Huh, small world. Guess you guys probably have a lot to talk about," Nick joked awkwardly at her response. He'd often wondered what it would be like to be one of the 'normal' metas - someone with actual powers rather than the clusterfuck of misery that was his life. No point in thinking about it, though - it was like wondering what it'd have been like to be human.
The rest of the short drive was spent in silence, which suited Nick just fine.
