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"Something you need to learn... no matter how personal the fight.. we are all family. So, even when you want to be alone... we are there whether you like it or not. Best take advantage of that.. you're going to need it."

Location: Somewhere in London...
Thoughts: Lost... Taken... Where?


It was cold. The voice and muffled shuffling of JC's movement was cut abruptly as the call ended; leaving Darren alone in the silent night. A final tear- the final tear fell from his cheek. Filled with loss, hate, and blame, it plunged toward the shingled roof as if with the purpose of drilling a hole to the center of the earth. It failed... colliding with the rough surface, only to be rent asunder. It was cold. Darren's quivering eyes stilled, staring off into the dark. What was the point of crying? To release his emotion? No... he wanted all of it. He wanted it to build; to swell... so that when he found them... he could unleash it upon them. No more, would he cry. No more, would he wallow in sadness, self pity, or shame. His shivering body duplicated the action of his eyes; falling motionless in spite of the chilling breeze. It was cold.

As Darren sat silently, he could hear the whirring sound of JC's motorcycle approaching. It wouldn't be long before his friend arrived to... save the day. Save the day. The day shouldn't need to be saved. Everything should just be perfect. Darren shouldn't be sitting here, wondering if he would find Aria. He should be with her, celebrating a job well done and making a toast to the end of the Vixen persona, as well as her dark, Irish compatriot. Though, who was he to choose what should and shouldn't be? His thoughts were cut off by the echo of JC's voice. The archer lifted himself up before quickly making his way down the side of the building. As he wandered in the direction of the street, he heard Redhawk speak over the comm. He was issuing a code red? Darren wanted, more than anyone, to find Aria. He also understood that it might take every soul on the team to do it, but... this was his fiancee. It was a personal matter. Sure, he couldn't do this on his own, but that's why he contacted JC. Such a hustle from the entire team would bring attention to them. Whoever had Aria would know they were coming before they ever arrived.

Darren stepped up to JC, giving him the details. When JC mentioned a teleporter, the archer's eyes narrowed. That explained the sudden disappearance, but not the lack of sound that had come from the room. This certainly didn't draw them any closer to who these people were. If anything, as JC stated, it made the search area substantially larger. This was quickly debunked by Shaundi, who had cut across the comm with new information. She was attempting to gain access to street cameras. Just as Darren was about to try and help, another voice broke in. Who was that? Darren felt like he should know. Even more disturbing, he felt like he should care, but... he didn't. The archer pulled up his tablet to receive the incoming footage. As he stared at the stilled image, his hand gripped the tablet. His knuckles nearly turned white before he loosened his grip to avoid cracking the screen or breaking the tech in half altogether. His eyes darted from blurred figure to blurred figure before focusing on the captor. Not even his ability could make out such a distorted mess. Darren snapped back to his current reality as he heard his friend call out for assistance.

Celeste was there in a flash, asking for the coordinates. Darren swiped his tablet to bring up a map, handing it to the light wielder. Before they took off, the archer nodded toward the bike before looking at JC without a word. It didn't really need saying; the Hawk would have to either stash the bike or send it home. Once that was taken care of, they were off. In a blink of an eye, Darren, JC, and Celeste all appeared in the middle of the street; before quickly being ported a few feet from that very location as a car horn blared in Darren's ears. He didn't flinch... not even for a moment. In fact, as soon as they had been relocated, the archer stepped out into the street, the car having already passed. He seemed to pay little mind to what Celeste was saying. It wasn't that he didn't care, he just needed to be doing something else right now and it would have been a waste of time worrying about something that didn't happen. They hadn't been hit, they were alive, and JC could remedy Celeste's problem. Though, there was... one thing that he did notice. When Lux had first appeared, there was a barely visible bruise poking just outside of her mask. From the look of it, it had been there since earlier in the day. How was that possible? He had seen her when she came to heal his leg. Had he completely overlooked it then? From the sheer size of it, it would have needed to be dealt by quite a large object. Darren shook it off. It was obvious: Jaeger had a good training session. That made him feel... Well he thought it would make him feel better, but it didn't. That's when Kayleb and Tina dropped onto the scene.

Darren's nose sniffed at a million miles per second. Damn... damn, damn, damn! The scent was there, but it was faint, and didn't seem to lead anywhere. His eyes searched ferociously; taking in every speck of dust, every fiber, every molecule they could. His motions became more and more sporadic as he circled the area the teleporter had landed. His face kept lifting to the sky as if looking for a trail upward, or far away. Then, Kayleb asked the simplest of questions. Darren didn't mean to snap... he didn't... he truly didn't, but... he did. The archer's hand clinched as he swung with anger at nothing but air, "No! I don't see a goddamn thing! You wanna know why?!" he asked rhetorically with a crazed look on his face, "Because there's nothing to ******** see! They are toying with me!" he shouted, kicking a nearby parking meter, causing it to bend slightly. After the outburst, his body tensed one last time, as if he were just going to explode, before it ultimately relaxed, "They are toying with me," he whispered, his hand coming up to reach behind his head, rubbing the back of his neck. The anger lingered on his face, but he was visibly attempting to hold that anger down for the sake of those around him... especially Kayleb. Darren's hand moved again, this time to his ear, "Shaundi, you there?" he paused for a response, then continued, "I need you to search every camera feed for a match of that distorted image. I don't care if it's just a damn drop of dew on the lens; if it was captured within the last thirty minutes, I want the location." He knew it wasn't a simple task, but this was far from a simple situation.

After receiving the first few points of interest, Darren sent Kayleb and Tina to canvas the path by air for a possible sighting, then had Celeste teleport JC and himself from location to location. One after the other, they searched; all coming up with the same results: no scent trail, no odd fibers... no clues. After hours of this, they all converged on a single corner to regroup. Celeste was tiring, as were the others. JC was constantly putting out what energy he had left to keep Celeste going. This wasn't working. This wasn't getting them any closer to Aria. Darren stood, staring off down the street as the others tried to put together anything they might have found. He sighed before turning to the rest of them, "You guys head back to base; I'll keep looking on foot." They all refused. In response, he glared at them, "None of you are in any state to do any good. Go home." Celeste pointed out that Darren wasn't looking any better than they were. "I'll manage." They were stubborn, just as Challengers tended to be, and refused again. To them, it wasn't his place to tell them whether or not they could help a friend in need, and they made that clear, "I'm not asking." he said calmly, "I don't need Savior falling out of the sky with a nodding off Flood going down with him. Further more, I don't need Lux teleporting us into the path of another speeding vehicle. Lux, take them back to base, that's an order. I won't stop you from continuing the search tomorrow, but for tonight, you are done. I will let you know if I find anything and we can go from there. Shaundi," he started, switching over to speaking through the comm, "send me everything you have for now. I really don't have any jurisdiction over you and you aren't out here in the field, so if you're going to stay up to help, try to keep the info flowing." Darren waited for the group to gather for teleport before finally walking off.

Suddenly, a hand fell on his shoulder. Darren turned to see exactly what he expected. The rest of the group was gone, but there was JC. He had heard him walking away from the group, so it wasn't a surprise, but it didn't mean Darren was very happy about it. JC was very quick to point out that the archer didn't have jurisdiction over him either. "Fine." he said with a flare in his eye, turning to walk toward the next camera sighting without another word. It was cold.

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Length: 3 days
Weather: Snowing
Time: Around 8:30am (Sun is just beginning to rise)


Reminder: You are certainly allowed to put a pre-skip portion in the first post of each of your characters for the new day. However, the timeskip has come into effect as of now, so please acknowledge it. Thank you.
^.^

Lonely Spirit

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”There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again, now.”
EUGENE O'NEILL


Location: Challengers’ Headquarter







Pre-Skip

|W|hen Igasho had arrived back at the Challengers’ headquarters, he immediately sought out Manny. The Warrior Shaman had wanted to share the good news as well as apologize for going AWOL, but he had arrived to find the youth passed out at the dining room table. After checking in with a woman at the computer bank, Igasho found a stack of paper and a pen. He found a comfortable chair in the common area and began the long and arduous process of backtracking through history to find humankind’s place on this part of the timeline

Post-Skip

|T|hree days. It had been three straight days of backtracking history, connecting trips into the timeline, and fact-checking. Manny had assisted when he could between sleeping and patrols, but it had still been a slow process. He had been even more help by being a friend that Igasho could talk to while forcing himself to study for hours without breaks.

|M|anny was sitting at the bank of screens, monitoring comms. Having tracked the comms through most of the night, Manny was almost done with his shift. Igasho sat in a chair next to him, pen flying over paper as they talked. Igasho was sure he was coming close to this era. They continued to pass the time while things were slow by talking.

"So there I am, waiting on the rooftop to go in and grab the hostage. I get the signal, teleport in and grab the hostage; as I'm teleporting away, I can't help myself, so I also undo the hostage taker's belt. Couple of seconds later, the guy is standing alone, holding a knife, with his pants around his ankles on the evening news!" Manny smiled as he looked over, but was surprised to see a pained expression on Igasho’s face.

|T|he Warrior Shaman asked in a serious tone, “Manny, if you had to make a choice between doing what you knew was right and being able to continue being friends with your best friend, which would you do?”

Manny responded hesitantly, "Well mano... That's a tough one. I would try to convince my friend of what is right. If they don't see what I see... I would try to figure out if I'm actually right. We pick our friends for a reason."

|I|gasho explained, “Shortly after this time, the world becomes united. With their efforts focused on the good of Humankind instead of war, they enter an unprecedented age of scientific advancement. They travel into space and join the Outer Worlds Confederation. I know the man who is leading Humankind. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how the Challengers fit in with this man. In the near future, the Challengers will cease to exist.”

|T|he Warrior Shaman set down the paper and pen as he stood. He held out his hand as he said, his voice pleading, “I have to go, Manny. This is not where I belong. I must join the man who is to unite Humankind. Come with me. You could be a part of this unifying. I know you think that the Challengers are the right way to do this, but what have you really accomplished? The world is still divided; you must all still go out and fight back villains. This man will join all the corners of the world so there can be peace among all humans. Very soon, the Challengers will cease to exist. I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

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Location: Small gang's hideout

The snow continued to fall. It had been snowing for hours and the clouds showed no intention of letting up on the drifts of flakes any time in the near future. The boy barely noticed the crystals melting as they landed on the metal suit that encased him. His attention was focused solely on the door. On the surface, the wood seemed to be aged and rotting, apparently unused for years, but a quick scan confirmed that it was more than it appeared. The boy was still surprised the power the suit held, even able to scan a door from the roof of the warehouse across the street.

This gang was clever. They weren't as notorious as others in town and they tended to stay away from any major crimes. Hell, if they hadn't picked such a bad time to mug that man in the alleyway, Apex might not have even noticed them. Even after they had appeared on the vigilante's radar, it had been very hard to track down their home base. Between his mentor's hacking of the local police's records and Apex's advanced A.I. though, Tenkei had found them eventually.

Releasing a breath, Tenkei tried to rid himself of the growing nervousness gnawing at him. It didn't help that he was still getting used to thinking of himself by a new name. Mokin had told him it was important to even think the new name when Tenkei thought of himself. If he continued to think of himself as Ryan, he would still be Ryan, and it was Ryan that was being hunted now that he had Apex.

Returning his focus to the task at hand, Tenkei thought over the past couple of days, He'd been watching the hidden headquarters ever since Mokin and Apex had found it, getting a feel for the gang's timing and movements. It seemed that the only time the entire gang was there was early in the morning. As the last few stagglers made their way inside, it appeared that the pattern had continued this day as well.

Mokin had originally protested sending Tenkei in alone, but the boy had raised a valid point that he needed a chance to really test the system. Mokin would wait nearby just in case there were any problems and he would listen in using Apex's communication systems. This was Tenkei's chance to make a name for Apex and to test himself as well.

Apex checked the ground at the lip of the warehouse's roof, nodding with satisfaction as he saw the snow had melted away completely. He walked backward until he was halfway across the rooftop and turned around. He crouched down, reading the calculations that zoomed by on his visor. Tenkei nodded, saying his thanks to Apex as the numbers worked out. It was time.

Kicking off into a full sprint, Apex cracked the snow and ice forming atop the roof as he began running. Just as his foot reached the ice-free edge of the building, Apex pushed off with his left leg and soared through the air. The metal suit arced high over the street as though he were flying. Gravity finally won out over Apex, noted by the beginning of his quick descent.. The jump had been calculated perfectly though as he crashed through the wall of the second story. The brick exploded inward as Apex rolled, changing his momentum's direction as he hit the floor. Apex was back standing and moving forward immeditately.

At the end of the hall two men guarding a door finally worked through their surprise and lifted their guns. They fired at Apex's central mass, receiving only the sound of rebounding bullets as their reward. Apex then fired back. Two quick, sharp cracks preceeded blood spraying from their chests as the bullets burrowed through their ribs and into theirs hearts. They both fell, face first, at the same time.

About to walk past them, Tenkei hesitated. He felt sick as the blood pooled out from beneath the two men. They deserved their fate. How many lives had those two men taken? I am "Divine Punishment". That is why Mokin picked the name Tenkei. Steeling himself over, Tenkei said to Apex, "Prepare explosive Pin Missiles." The left arm responded by forming two launchers to the side, each with a small sliver of metal within them. Apex kicked the door sending it flying into the room and fired the two missiles.

Chaos ensued. Everyone looked up at the sound of the door being kicked in. One pin landed on a pool table right next to the door, the other on a table where many played Blackjack. Both exploded, sending charred bodies flying. Everyone then reacted, rushing to get to their weapons. Tenkei rushed to the exploded table in the room, flipping the burnt pool table on its side. He crouched behind it as the first wave of bullets flew.

Splinters of wood flew as the bullets impacted the wall behind where Apex had just been standing and the sound of hard objects impacting the top of the pool table could be heard. The table held strong though as the gangsters shot at it. When Apex detected the sound of clips being changed, he stood, firing his wrist cannon several times in quick succession. He ducked back under cover as the bodies fell and the bullets began flying again.

After the second volley ended, Apex leaned back on his arms and kicked out with his legs, sending the pool table crashing into the midst of the central part of the room, crushing several who used a card table as cover. He wasted no time rushing forward into the nearest knot of enemies, using them to discourage their fellows from using their guns further. The nearest man swung with the butt of his gun. Apex dodged beneath it and came back up with an upper cut. The man raised into the air, coming back down on his back. The battlesuit was struck in the back and Apex turned around. He saw a man standing their holding a broken handle of solid wood, shocked expression cycling between the broken baseball bat and the metallic god before him.

Apex caught the man by the throat and lifted him up. The man grabbed at the arm holding him, trying to break free, but he may as well have been trying to tear an anvil in half with his bare hands. As Apex began squeezing harder, the man start to claw at the hand around his throat, the visor rotated left to right, taking in the people around him. Most had dropped their weapons, some had their hands raised as they attempted to go around Apex to get to the door he had come in.

The minions were ignored as the door to the gang leader's room opened. Out of the door walked a metallic man. This was the one that Apex really wanted. Tossing aside the near suffocated man, Apex let the riff-raff run. He would deal with them if he ever caught them doing evil again. He hoped that this had taught them their lesson, but he had heard of how criminals functioned. Tenkei said to Apex, "Wrist Cannon."

Lifting his arm to aim at the man who had just left the gang leader's room, Apex said, "I am Apex and I've come to bring you to justice. I can make this quick and with minimal suffering, or you can resist my judgement and be taken down the hard way. Either way, you will no longer be a threat to civilized society after today."

Friendly Elocutionist

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Location: Warehouse


The past three days had not been kind to Rotor, not that he deserved it. Jack had done his best to cheer up his buddy, but Rotor had not been in a mood to be cheered up. Neither Jack nor Jenny knew what the shapeshifter had been up to, but he kept busy enough that he was hardly home. This morning had been no different; he was gone before Jenny woke up, though the signs were present that he had been home. Rotor had forgotten to wash the dishes from breakfast.

Though his friends did not know it, Rotor had been soul searching, while running around London's seedier side. Nothing he did had placed him on The Challengers' radar because nobody was knocked out, or hurt... just disrupted. Rotor was information gathering, solely to have something to do. Breaking in to criminal hideouts, stealing and wiping all of their information... he was making some enemies, but he was not making any friends amongst the heroes because he was just... holding onto the information. The entire reason he had been going home was to eat, and to pick up blank flash drives to store the data on. He was not stupid, so the drives, once used, were then stored at another location than his house. Not plugged in, they were inaccessible unless found. Just how Rotor liked things: nobody kept information safer than someone who's entire being revolved around stealing it.

Conflicted was an understatement to him at the moment. He wanted to do something good with his life to show he was more than some criminal... but he certainly was no hero. Heroes did not hurt the people they lo... cared about... like that. So what was he?

That thought stuck with him as he operated this morning. This particular group of baddies, well, they had the skills to stay off most radars. Pity for them, they could not stay off the radar. Encrypted communication meant nothing to a walking supercomputer, at least when he needed to be. Some of the chatter from this group caught his interest, and Rotor decided to break in to steal their information. It was incredibly easy to break in, mostly because nobody ever paid attention to inanimate objects in a warehouse. True, sneaking in took an hour, which was an incredibly long time for moving about one hundred feet.

Inside, Rotor had been left with no choice but to knock out the leader of the gang. Well... okay, he had a choice, but Rotor saw him looking at some questionable material on the internet, and decided to act. Two prongs formed out the side of the box he was pretending to be, shooting out and trailing lines of wire behind them. As soon as they struck the leader's neck, a high voltage current shot through the lines and needles, knocking the man out nearly instantly. “Kidnapping? Really?” Rotor muttered to himself as he formed out of the box, taking his new favorite form: a carbon fiber battle suit. On the screen of the computer was an image of a man tied to a chair, attached to an email... no more collecting. Rotor copied the contents of the computer, forcing them into the inbox of every metro detective in the city. Dirty secrets were now in the open.

“Firewalls my a**...” Rotor mumbled, shaking his head as the data was sent. “Makes me think of sending the rest of the data I have... don't want to overload the local LEO's.” he added with a shrug. It was the most he had said in three days.

The sounds of a scuffle outside caught Rotor's attention. It was a pity the office did not have windows, so Rotor could know whether to run, hide, or attack. Luckily, he had other options; namely, his left hand turned into a scanner, searching for signals. If it was the police or Challengers, Rotor would be able to pick up on communications. Searching... searching... woah. Now that was interesting. There was a signal, but it was weak... and complex. It was not piercing far, but the signal was heavy with encryption. Whatever was outside, it was bad news.

As his hand returned to normal, he decided to just go for it and opened the door, stepping out and taking in... oh there was a surprise. The battlesuit outside was one he recognized from his RotorBots, from a fight with Redhawk. There was no name, and the Rotorbot did not get much info from the brief encounter, but meeting twice meant this was no coincidence, a fact confirmed when the suit spoke.

Rotor could run his mouth and talk a good game, and even had his own penchant for the dramatic; his first encounter with Lux proved that. Even he found this suit to be trying.

“Bring me to justice? Well, I am impressed, even I did not know I would be here until I showed up. Pardon the rudeness, but 'resist your judgement'? Really? That's how you come at me? Apex is a misnomer, I should be calling you Dredd. 'You have been found guilty by the court of Apex'.” Rotor shrugged. “Oh and do put the gun away, unless you'd prefer I log in and override your system to do so.” he added, flicking his wrist in a shooing motion. Of course, doing so would take some time; he was not a technopath after all, but Apex didn't need to know that.

“I didn't realize I was such a threat to civilized society. Annoyance, sure. Jackass... well, yea, that one definitely fits...” he paused, head dropping for a moment. The gun was still aimed at him. The shoulders of the suit he was clicked opened, a dozen missiles poked their heads out, though they did not fire. “My artillery tops yours. Why don't we leave this gang's gritty warehouse if you are so eager to fight? The cops will be here soon with the info I sent them. As much of a menace as I apparently am, I have no desire to hurt them. Hell, anyone... unless they are bastards like El Jefe in there, or pointing a gun at me like you.” Rotor finished, missiles clicking as he primed them. They were just smokebombs, he had no desire to hurt this person.

Really, his biggest concern was as to why he was being hunted, by whom, and how they had known he was going to be here. The easiest one to answer meant Rotor was being tailed... which put Jenny and Jack in danger. If the bounty hunter wanted a fight, he was in for a disappointment... unless someone Rotor cared about was threatened.

Tegian's Wife

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XX↳xa.k.a. Luxx

Aria Remi had gone missing on Friday. It was now Monday and they were no closer to finding her than they had been on Friday night when JC had called everyone in for a search. Sheera had not shown up and hadn't bothered to come on any subsequent searches; she hadn't really been back to base at all, actually. Celeste might have felt some form of exasperation or irritation that her friend wasn't helping find a mutual friends fiancee but she was too tired. They all were. Everyone had been spending their days and nights searching for any clue they could find in regards to Aria's whereabouts and had gotten nowhere. It was... Frustrating. Who on Earth could have the knowledge and resources to kidnap someone and keep them so well hidden? Shaundi couldn't even get a signal from the tracker that had been injected in Aria's leg, so her kidnappers must've taken steps to insure that she couldn't be found electronically. And all scent had been wiped away, so they must have also know that the Vixen's 'Shadow' was actually the hero known as Drift... Or at least the kidnappers knew that her shadow had enhanced senses of some kind, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered with destroying the scent trail and she already would have been located. Celeste didn't even want to begin to think about what horrors their friend was suffering at the hands of unknown attackers. Today, Tina and Kayleb had left early to do more searching and interrogate a few known anti-meta's who ran solo; they hadn't had any luck so far but maybe things would turn around in their favor today. Anything was possible. Amanda had been pretty unresponsive for the last couple days but had spent time in the computer lab with Shaundi, helping the best she could, a little kitten draped around her shoulders. JC and Darren, of course, had been spending almost all of their free time scouring the city, with no luck, while Igasho had been pouring over papers and writing - no help there - and Manny had been doing what he could but there was only so much a teleporter could do without coordinates. Novik was no where to be found but it wasn't uncommon for him to leave and wander the city on his own for long periods of time, so she wasn't worried quite yet. Celeste shambled through the living room, yawning after a long night of patrolling and still in uniform; even with Aria missing, she was still trying to patrol and keep up Challenger presence in the worst parts of London. It was hard work but it left the others more time to look for Aria. The news was playing on the tv as she passed it and, ordinarily, she wouldn't have paid it any mind... But then she heard Aria's name. What? She backtracked and stared at the screen as the reporter continued with their story- "In a BBC news exclusive, we bring you the report of Aria Remi. Miss Remi is the part owner of Remi Security Solutions, and Niece of the company President, has been missing for three days now. Authorities have no leads, as they only learned of the disappearance this morning. We have just received word that authorities are investigating this as a potential corporate espionage. Due to the nature of RSS's business, authorities are looking into contract disputes as potential leads. One of RSS's biggest contracts is with Montoro Incorporated for their gear, a deal that is up for renewal at the end of this year... As of this broadcast, Mr Montoro could not be reached for comment." Celeste blinked. Then her brain caught up with what she'd just watched. "JC!" she called. "You might want to come take a look at this!" He entered from the kitchen, an energy drink in one hand, as she picked up the remote and rewound the footage. Thank the Gods for modern technology. At the start of the report, she pressed play and the footage began again, allowing JC to watch what she'd just witnessed. After it had finished, she fast-forwarded to current time and looked over at her friend. "Isn't that... Darren's employer or something? I remember that he got a job so that he could help support Aria when they got married; wanted to make a good impression on her uncle. I'm sure that's who he started working for." She paused and thought for a second. Who had leaked Aria's disappearance to the police and, by extension, the media? Would her attackers see the footage and realize just who it was that they'd taken? What would happen to her if they did? A headache began to form over her right eye. "Should we... Should we pursue this as an active lead?" He seemed lost in thought. "JC? What should we do about this? Anything? Nothing? We're... We're no closer to finding her now than we were on Friday. We have to do something different." She doubted that Aria's kidnappers would keep her alive for very long, unless they got something useful out of the vigilante... And she doubted that would happen. Aria was one of the most stubborn and hard-headed people that Celeste knew. She'd die before giving up anything important... And they had to find her before it got that far.

Every moment of ＬＩＧＨＴ and ＤＡＲＫ is a miracle


Tegian
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Tegian's Wife

Demonic Wolf

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                                                                Location: CafexxCompany: No onexxMood: ThoughtfulxxOutfit: Cafe

                                                                Three days had passed since her talk with Julia and the man who called himself Zephyr. Three, long, silent days that left Doctor Chiara Aldaine wondering why on Earth she even bothered to get out of bed at all. She had heard nothing from JC in these three days and didn't dare text him. She assumed that his silence meant that they still hadn't found his friends fiancee and so were still looking for her. That was okay. Someone's life was in danger, her own relationship mattered very little compared to something like that.

                                                                She just hoped that Aria was okay.

                                                                In the past three days, she had spent most of her time in her shop. Or, rather, she had spent most of her time in the greenhouse behind her shop, even spending the last two nights there, passed out on the cot in the corner; she kept her phone nearby, on the off chance that she got a phone call from JC.

                                                                It was on this third day, after she'd perfected her version of the Abracadabra Rose - a rose with deep russet and yellow strips - and fixed the issue of reversion, which sometimes occurs in such a plant, that she realized just how long she'd been cooped up in her little greenhouse. Sure, her formula would stop the reversion process, which meant that every bloom would always be the striped russet and yellow, instead of sometimes getting a solid russet or solid yellow in an entirely striped plant, which would then spread to the entire plant itself, but she'd had zero interaction with anyone since Friday...

                                                                Of course, the last time she'd interacted with people hadn't exactly gone that well. Perhaps it was better that she'd immersed herself in something harmless rather than surround herself with the asinine ramblings of a crumbling city and its people.

                                                                But now that she'd calmed a bit, she realized that being cooped up for so long wasn't good for anyone. Since she'd gotten a little work done - it was actually a lot of work by anyone's standards - Chiara decided that maybe it was time she got out and walked around a bit; she'd been inside for almost three solid days now and her legs could use a good stretch. So she went back to her apartment, taking care to check and make sure that there wasn't anyone waiting there for her, before going inside to shower and dress in clean clothing that wasn't covered in potting soil. It was snowing out, so she decided it would be necessary to dress warm and settled on her green 'Kiss me I'm Irish' sweater and a pair of jeans and boots, with a few pieces of jewelry to match, before plopping a slouchy beanie over her head, grabbing her messenger bag, and heading out.

                                                                She pulled her hands up into her sleeves to protect them from the cold but otherwise she felt quite warm.

                                                                Chiara walked down the street, consciously heading nowhere but ending up at a small cafe anyways. Damn this city for having so many of these things. She went inside and ordered a latte and a muffin before settling down in a corner booth and pulling her notebook out. It was starting to get very full... She'd need a new one soon. Chiara pulled her pen out and began to write, occasionally pausing to sketch a small picture to illustrate what she was writing about. In the end, she wasn't writing at all but sketching a picture of two hands clasped together.

                                                                She hoped that Darren's fiancee would be okay.

                                                                A local news broadcast caught her attention, for it mentioned Francisco Montoro, possibly even implicated him in the disappearance of Aria Remi. Chiara sat back in her booth, staring at the tv, stunned. Him? Involved in a kidnapping? Well, why not? After all, he didn't seem opposed to ruining her life, so why not branch out to someone elses? But still... Kidnapping? She wasn't sure she believed someone so high profile would kidnap someone else who was fairly high profile. Didn't quite... Seem his style. Who had left the tip for the police though? Surely not Aria's fiancee... He didn't strike her as the subtle type, to say the least. Her head was beginning to hurt.

                                                                She hoped JC would call with good news.

                                                                (( Ooc: ))


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Location: At the base with Igasho


Manny was recapping a story to Igasho, trying to make the shaman laugh, or smile, or something. Igasho was not himself; Manny could always make the man laugh, but the last three days... something had been eating at him. This was one of Manny's best stories, usually earning quite a bit of laughter when he told it, especially if he fished out the picture of the tough guy in pink heart boxers, trying to look tough with his pants around his ankles.

Instead of laughter though, a pained expression filled the shaman's features... not good. It was then that Igasho asked Manny a serious question: how to choose between what was right and being friends with his best friend. Manny was no idiot; Igasho was talking about him... but what could the Shaman be involved in that was both right and against Manny? After all, Manny was a good guy, doing what was right. Something that would end their friendship could not be right.

“Well mano,” Manny paused, referring to his friend with a sad smile, “That's a tough one. I would try to convince my friend of what is right. If they don't see what I see... I would try to figure out if I'm actually right. We pick our friends for a reason.” he finished delicately. Hopefully this would get Igasho to open up; Manny couldn't deal with a situation he knew nothing about.

Igasho sighed and explained that down the line, the world becomes united, focusing on things other than war. Science advanced, space is joined, and Novik's OWC is joined as well. Manny could only focus on so many problems at once. A man was leading earth... one The Challengers would not mesh with. The team would cease to exist. There were only two ways the team would cease to exist: if they were destroyed, or if the world did not need them. Neither seemed likely. Igasho held his hand out and asked Manny to join him.

“The Challengers only cease to exist in two instances... if the team is annihilated... or if the world does not need us. I'm thinking you see the first...” Manny closed his eyes for a moment. It was then that Igasho asked what they have really accomplished. “What have we accomplished? You really think I would waste my time?” he asked, typing furiously on the keyboard, bringing up several images and charts. “Los Angeles, crime rate dropped drastically... went from the 28th percentile in terms of danger of violent crimes to the ninetieth; the safest large city in the states. Detroit: out of bankruptcy, unemployment down to 5 percent, violent crime levels to unheard of lows. Even here in London, violent crime rates are trending downward. There have been spikes, but overall trending down.”

“If there is someone who can join the world, good for him. But unless it is under good terms, it will not be worth it. Dictators can bring peace to their countries, but never in good ways. There is reason we defer to the people. We turn in bad guys, we are not judge nor jury... we keep ourselves away from overrulling the will of the people. And Igasho... if I go down fighting for good... then I go down a good man... and I cannot ask for more. Better to die a good man than live a bad one. You really think someone who goes against that is what is right?” Manny asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What are you looking into? Let me in, we're friends. I can help. Nobody is forcing you to be with us... but if someone is painting us as bad, then we deserve the chance to defend ourselves. I've never known a more selfless group. Yea, there are problems on some individual levels... but that is humanity.”

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”Jean. I’ve met a woman. I didn’t think this was possible, but, I think I’m in love.” Geraldo Grant Green.


Location: Chicago Streets/Penthouse Suite/Zephyr’s Office










{D}amn it, Zephyr! How do I make this thing call the police again?” Geraldo asked for at least the seventh time that night. A female voice came from the suit’s ear piece, saying with a pleasant voice, “Calling police.” Geraldo said to Zephyr, “Hang on. It’s doing it.” The suit responded with, “Hanging up.” Before Zephyr could say a word, Geraldo shouted loud enough for the thug outside of the suit to hear him without the speaker, ”Forget it! I’ll just do this the old fashioned way.” The thug renewed his attempt to struggle free of his bonds, but he wasn’t going anywhere. The man’s heavy jacket wrapped around him, holding him tight to the light pole behind him. Instead of being tied, the jacked had somehow been melded together to create one long strip of leather. Geraldo pointed at him and said through the suit’s speakers, “Stay right there. I’ll be right back.” With that, the suited figure disappeared in a shimmer of light.

Officer Brent stood in front of the board of wanted posters. He sipped on his coffee thinking. This board gets more and more full every day. What can we do to actually catch some of these guys? When the costumed figure appeared directly in front of him, Officer Brent’s training took over, he took a step back, drawing his side-arm and demanded, “Who the hell are you and where did you come from?” The costumed man ignored Officer Brent, his hands on his sides as he scanned the posters. As several other officers moved in, all fire-arms pointed at the intruder, the man in black and gold reached out and grabbed a poster. He turned to the knot of officers, finally taking notice of them. He held up the sign, a picture of Julio Lafuentes, and a distorted, mechanical voice said, “I have this man in custody. I am in need of two official law enforcement officers to apprehend this man before any of his fellows remove him from my care.” The masked man pointed at Officer Brent and his partner, Officer Jones, the two closest officers. ”Hold out your hands and I’ll get you there.” Officer Brent looked at Officer Jones questioningly; she shook her head, her brunette ponytail shook with it. He knew it was stupid, but hadn’t he just been wishing that the Chicago Police Department could capture a few more of these wanted criminals? Officer Brent slowly holstered his weapon and held out his hand. Officer Jones sighed with contempt as she did the same. Neither were prepared for their newest method of travel as the figure touched their hands.

{G}eraldo stood in front of the captive Julio, his visor taking in the two cops trying to regain their bearings. Inside the visor, he smiled. Not many officers were brave enough to blindly trust him to teleport them. This man was different. Officer Brent seemed to regain his composure first as his eyes took in the captured criminal. He compared the man to the wanted poster in the vigilante’s hands. That was definitely Julio LaFuentes. Officer Brent said to the vigilante, “Who are you?” The vigilante took a stereotypical pose with his arms out, hands on his side, as he said, “ I am the light in the darkness. I am the shining hero. I am The…”

”Nope,” Zephyr’s voice cut him off, “Photon. No the, just Photon. Before you get your panties in a twist... you are the most insistent son of a b***h I've ever met... you really think people won't piece it together if you insist on a 'the'?"

{T}hey wouldn’t if more heroes would be a bit more discerning when choosing their titles. Fine, I suppose you might be ri…” Geraldo trailed off as he saw the strange look the two officers gave him as they tried to figure out what he was talking about. Geraldo waved his arm in front of him as though trying to erase the words he had accidently said through the suit’s speakers. He tried to cover it by simply saying, “I am Photon. I’ll contact you again Officer Brent if I require your assistance again.” Photon was gone with a flash, leaving the officers to call for a pick-up for themselves and the wanted Julio LaFuentes.

{G}eraldo appeared in his penthouse suite. The Photon suit was already on its rack and Geraldo was in a yellow suit that most would call tacky. Those that knew how much he was worth contemplated trying some of the bright colors he was usually seen in. He sat for a minute, fatigue getting to him. He had been patrolling Chicago, getting a feel for his new super suit that would keep The Shimmer’s reputation free from any bad publicity that the OWC’s missions might carry. The technology behind it baffled him and the voice commands irritated him more than anything else. He wasn’t used to a volume controlled speaker/comms system and criminals had heard most of his side of conversations with Zephyr. The man was witty and insufferable. Geraldo would never admit it, but he really liked the man.

{T}he lightwielder’s thoughts moved to his other primary relationship. Geraldo and Jenny had gone out on another date two days ago. This time it had been his choice. Jenny and he had arrived in London, just outside of an upscale apartment complex. Jenny had looked confused until Geraldo had steered her to a restaurant hidden within called L20. The menu had been very interesting and Geraldo had helped Jenny pick out something good from the odd choices. He explained to her that the service couldn’t be beat and the staff had made sure to live up to his statement. They had talked and chatted, the previous silence gone from Jenny. It had been a good night. Geraldo would need to give her a call to see when she wanted to go out again, but first he had promised Zephyr that he would be by after his Chicago patrol.

{W}ith a flash, Geraldo left his suite and was standing behind Zephyr, looking at the plans on Zephyr’s computer screen. He leaned in to get a closer look and asked, “Is that the place? Are those the ambush plans?”

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Location: City Streets > Base > Station


~~~~Pre Skip~~~~


JC put his hand on Darren's shoulder, letting his friend know he was still here. Darren opened his mouth and JC cut him off. “One, you really think I'd leave you on this? Not going to happen. Besides, you don't outrank me, so you can't order me away. As if that would work anyways.”

The duo walked into the cold night, and the longest three days either had experienced so far.


~~~~Post Skip~~~~


Three days. Three days of hell. JC had been searching just as hard as Darren, refusing to let his buddy search alone. The pair were grinding themselves to the bone and beyond; JC was fairly certain the only reason they could still stand was healing from their teammates. Darren only seemed to accept them as it fueled him to search better. JC... was scared. Scared for Aria, and scared for Darren. Something had snapped inside Darren, and it was not good.

Scared for Chi too, if he was honest. He had not spoken to her the past three days, though he had taken a couple of searching breaks to go to her apartment... only to not knock. The thought if her brought up a fear in him that was new: what if something happened to her? Every time he thought of her, he pictured her in Aria's place... and that froze him inside. Whenever he thought of his teammates getting hurt in the past, it angered him, driving him to action. He had never been frozen... losing Chi froze him. And it scared him. Darren seemed broken by this, but only emotionally. No tears, just forced efficiency... it was not the Darren JC knew... but it would have to wait. For now, Darren needed Aria, that was all that mattered.

Today the duo had split up, with each insisting they had an idea of where to look. JC had exhausted his usual list of snitches and informants, and was now operating under a different idea. Well, would be. He had fallen asleep on the rooftop across from Chi's apartment, looking down at her as she slept, heart simply breaking. When he woke, he was shivering, nearly frozen under the snow. Special compartments in his suit could hold devices to help deal with the cold, but they had worn off as he slept; it was shivering that woke him. Hands shaking horribly, JC dropped a pair of heated projectiles, the heat melting the snow around him as he cursed his own stupidity.

He huddled around the projectiles to try and regain feeling in his hands and feet, using the time to make up his mind. Clearly, he needed to talk to her. When he pulled out his cell phone however, he found it unresponsive; the battery was dead. Luckily for him, his communicator was not. It took some doing, but he managed to place the call from his comms, while making it look as if it was from his cell phone.

Just when he thought he would have to leave a voice mail, he heard Chi pick up; a quick glance over the edge of the rooftop confirmed she was not in her apartment. “Hey Chi... it's me. Listen, I'm sorry I haven't called... been searching with Darren... still no luck.” JC explained in a hollow voice; he wished his teeth could stop chattering.. “I miss you.” he said, sad smile on his face as he fought back tears; all he could see in his mind was Chi strapped to a chair, being tortured. When she asked why he sounded as if he was frozen, he had to explain he had spent the night looking for Aria and was caught without his jacket in the snow; he promised her he was heading home to get some warmer clothing.

After ten minutes, they both hung up, JC feeling a bit better. It wasn't just the heat from the projectiles; talking to Chi made his inside heat up as well by helping him realize he needed to focus on what he had, not what would happen if he lost it. The fire in his heart was rekindled, and he knew what he had to do.

At precisely 8:15 in the morning, JC was in full costume, standing next to a news reporter with a camera trained on the pair. “We have been asked by Redhawk to broadcast a message... Mister Hawk?” the reporter asked, unsure what was about to happen; Redhawk had simply called the news and asked for a single reporter and camera for a message. JC nodded at her and stared at the camera. “William. Game. Call me, I know you have the number. You call or I find you. That girl is being brought home to her family today.” he said before nodding at the reporter and walking away. The last line was to provide a bit of context; the kidnapping of Aria was gathering media steam, and now it appeared to the public that The Challengers were concerning themselves greatly with it.

It was not unusual for them to help with kidnappings, but for a shout out like this... well, it would raise some eyebrows, but as long as one pair belonged to The Game, then it would be worth it. Now all JC could do was wait. Well, go home and restock his body and his gear with food. He appeared back in the base in time to hear Celeste calling for him, so he raced to join her in the living room, where a news report was in full swing about Aria; it appeared the authorities were investigating every business tie her family's company had. Somehow, JC knew that was not to blame.

“...I have a different lead.” JC said; his teeth had stopped chattering, but he was still quite pale, and felt frozen in spite of the emotional heat burning in his heart. “I need food and a hot shower before I lose fingers to frostbite...” he added to her; he was afraid to remove his gloves and see his fingers; they still had no feeling. “But you should check out channel 4. I put a call out to The Game. He has to know something about this... and I will do whatever I have to in order to get Aria back. Even talking to the devil himself.” JC said with a shiver that had nothing to do with his lowered body temperature.

Light pulled off his gloves, revealing his blackened, frostbitten fingers; Celeste pumped healing light at JC to heal him, her look was full mama bear. Although he was soon good as new, she still had a worried look on her face, so he decided to explain, using a low voice in case they were overheard. “I went to go see Chi... I couldn't face her though... I ended up passing out before I could bring myself back to base, took a nap in the snow. Stupid, I know. Thank you Celeste. I'm going to shower and grab breakfast... hopefully dear ol' dad has the decency to call.” he said, turning to leave and shower; Celeste grabbed his shoulder, reminding JC that his dad had kidnapped him, tortured him.

“I know... but I will kick down every door I can. If he wanted me dead, he would have killed me... and besides, it's just a phone ca-” JC was cut off as his communicator rang, forwarding the call from his dead cell phone. A blocked number. “Shower can wait I suppose...” JC shook his head and then answered the call on speaker; JC knew better than to try and solo this. “Alperton station. Women's bathroom, third toilet.” a voice said before disconnecting; dear ol' dad.

“Shower definitely can wait, mind giving me a lift?” JC asked Celeste, who still looked to be in full mama bear mode. “Okay, shower first.” JC held his hands up in surrender and walked to go enjoy some hot water. Only Celeste could perfectly blend concern and kindness with sternness; you would do what she wanted because she cared. JC headed to the showers, permitting himself five minutes of hot steam before coming out and changing into his spare Redhawk outfit; even heroes needed to change clothing. A protein bar was forced in his hands before they teleported to the Underground Station. “You know.. just realized I'm going to look like a putz going into the women's bathroom.” JC laughed as he unwrapped the protein bar and took a bite.

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Jenny Walker
Location: Rotor's > Station

Jenny's past three days had been much better than the team's; she had gone on another date with Geraldo, and it was quite pleasant. However, in her down time, she had been split between worrying about Rotor and doing everything she could to find out about Geraldo's mission. No way would she leave him out there on his own. Unfortunately, she had gotten to the same point on both fronts, which was to say absolutely nowhere. Every OWC contact and outside contact she could scrounge up proved utterly useless.

So she was standing at the window in Rotor's apartment, sipping on hot chocolate and staring at the falling snow, seething internally. Most unlike her, she had been ignoring all job requests the last couple of days, or at most sending emails saying she was not interested. No jobs... so why was someone calling her?

“Alperton Station. You will print the files being emailed to you and be at the third stall in the women's restroom.” the voice on her phone said as soon as she answered.

“William. Unless you have the file I asked for, I will not be there.” Jenny said, recognizing the voice at once.

“I think you will be... it is about the kidnapped girl on the news... and let me also add, I am not giving out the location, as I have said before, of the operation for Photon. I will not tell you to be at Sage's Urban Cafe when you finish at Alperton.” William said before the line went dead.

“...b*****d.” Jenny shook her head; why did he have to be so reticent? Why not simply tell her instead of denying then giving her the location anyways? It all served some purpose, she was sure, but she could not see it.

So it was that she was waiting in the third stall of the women's bathroom at Alperton Station carrying a manilla envelope with paperwork inside it. Normally, she would not look, but she did this time; William owed her, and she was not going to put herself in a potential trap. The information she printed were akin to police files on several subjects, though the information was incomplete. Why a bathroom stall? Why not just in the bathroom? Underground toilets were quite gross; she was standing to avoid sitting, and had no idea who she was supposed to wait for. Had she been watching the news, she would have been expecting Redhawk.

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                                    The past three days had gone swimmingly for Sin. His weekend had gone by with late nights partying and sleeping blissfully until noon. It didn’t hurt that twice he had woken up in the “morning” with his favorite blonde snuggled into him. Sheera had been with him almost constantly for the weekend actually, and he was by no means complaining. She had made an excellent drinking partner, and dance partner. She was more than that to him now actually, quite a bit more than a pretty face. Which was why he was so pleased to see that the overnight shipping promised by Jiyong came through, it’d be horribly awkward if he took her out later and didn’t have this little package after all.

                                    Sin had been woken up by a softly beeping alarm, and in a sleepy daze, reached out his arms in search for someone to pepper with good-morning kisses. He didn’t find anything but cold tangled sheets, to his disappointment and slight confusion. Soon however, it dawned on him that he had said goodbye to her last night, in front of where she lived actually, snow drifting around them.

                                    Winter had hit the city quite quickly, the air had felt a little nippy for some time, but the amount of snow they had been receiving seemed sudden, and a bit alarming to Sin. It did snow in Korea of course, but normally not before it was much further into November, and certainly not to this amount. Not immediately anyway. Once, in his memory, there had been a winter that had started like this, and he had spent all of winter trudging through chest-high snow and going around snow piles taller than his head. Of course, he had been in preschool then, so in reality it hadn’t been that bad. But Jack Frost was somewhere in the city, and from what he knew, that was probably going to end up tripling the amount of precipitation the city received.

                                    He didn’t wince at cold floors when he walked off towards his bathroom to get ready for the morning, mostly because he ensured that his residence was kept at a comfortable temperature. After a brisk shower, and scraping the patchy stubble off his face with a razor, he ran a comb through his bleached hair. On Sunday he and Sheera had woken up to their surprise (and her, amusement), that at some point the previous night his hair had gone from it’ natural black to a pale blonde. The when, why and how of the mysterious hair change was only dimly remembered, but they were certain it involved copious amounts of alcohol. Every source on the internet screamed at him to not dye his hair back, because doing so would result in even worse damage. So Sin was rolling with it, even if it was probably going to earn him snickers from his men. Eh, it wasn’t the worse color his hair had been…

                                    It wasn’t blue again, he could deal.

                                    He had been shrugging on a warm tweed blazer over his sweater (one could never be too prepared when it came to cold weather) when his doorbell rang. He took another moment to slip on some socks before walking downstairs. Sin peered through the peephole, happy to find a bundled-up postman with a clipboard for him to sign, and a small parcel in hand. Sin was all smiles, it was a bit of an unusual sight to see, there wasn’t a trace of his normal dark calculations behind his eyes, just simple happiness.

                                    Even though the postman was getting on sixty, and had been happily married for nearly forty years of that, he felt his heart flutter a little at the sight of that face. He shook it off quickly though, just the cold playing tricks on him.

                                    So, Sin was now in the possession of a tiny package, one whose contents fit neatly into his blazer’s pocket. He hummed happily through making himself tea and breakfast. He read the day’s news while he munched on his meal. Oh the things happening indeed, a kidnapping, of a high-profile person, and he didn’t have the foggiest idea who was behind it! It looked like he’d have to keep on digging before the city’s underworld gave up its secrets, but it wasn’t particularly important. The woman had probably gotten cold feet and run off with a lover somewhere. A ding from his phone informed him of an incoming message, it was from Bobby.

                                    Bobby: hEy b0ss, Florist went to go get some breakfast according to Tibbs. Dunno when she’s opening the shop up. Stay warm and wait a bit, we’ll keep you updated.

                                    He and some of the younger, less experienced, members had been staking out, watching, her shop for a while now, trying to figure out her schedule. Miss Chiara had apparently found their occasional presence inside a bit unusual. They reported getting odd looks and questions on why they were in her shop (it wasn’t particularly normal for their demographic to be a customer). It hadn’t been particularly bad when it was warmer, but now some of them were miserable with what had seemed like such an easy assignment. None of them were willing to outright request a new one though, they had learned what whining earned through the grapevine, and did not want to see it for themselves. They wanted to be able to see in the future after all.

                                    Sin frowned, he was hoping to have gone into that shop now, but not everything could always go his way. Well, not immediately anyway. He had business to discuss with the lady, she had quite the green thumb from what he had been told, and he could really use it. Whether she wanted to lend her skills to him or not.

                                    His fingers tapped out ’Where is she exactly? Give me directions, I can’t put this off much more’

                                    One more button to send, and it was off. Almost immediately, Bobby had responded in perfect detail, right down to what booth she was in. Sin was impressed with the speed, it almost seemed like his underling had anticipated his order. He was going to get a nice bonus for Christmas if he kept this up.

                                    Sin stuck his dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and folded his newspaper neatly before arming himself with an umbrella with a fine chrome handle, had to keep the snow off himself somehow. A thick scarf the color of pitch was coiled around his neck, and he put on a loosely knitted vibrant red beanie. He stepped into some warm boots, and then he was off on the barely-salted and shoveled sidewalks of London to reach his car. His destination wasn’t exactly near him, and he had to get there before she finished her own meal.

                                    He had walked into the café dusted with snow despite his umbrella, damned fluffy stuff was blowing every which-way with the wind. The dark calculating look was back lurking behind his eyes, he was here on business, and nothing else. To appear like he was a normal customer, he went through the motions of ordering a tall cup of coffee he was probably going to toss once his conversation was done.

                                    Coffee in hand, he strode over to where the woman was sitting, intently fixated on her notebook.
                                    He smiled crookedly at her when she looked up. “Hey, mind if I sit across from you?” He glanced over his shoulder momentarily, attracted by some motion in the window, it was Tibbs, mittens and all, waving in the window, but he made sure to step out of sight before the redhead saw him. Or tried, she may have gotten a glimpse of a colorful jacket.

                                    He lowered his voice slightly as his expression grew serious “I’m terribly sorry, but my ex is over there.” He jerked his head in the direction of a young couple staring adoringly into each other’s eyes, clearly playing footsie under the table. “I’d really not like to be seen alone like this by her, you know how it is.” The lies flowed easily off his tongue, this wasn’t the first time he’d pulled something like this after all.

                                    He looked at her hopefully, it was something few could resist, particularly if they didn’t know what was actually churning in his mind. His dark eyes set in his face was somehow able to portray the picture of a normal young man, perhaps someone who’s come abroad for studying, who didn’t want to look like a loser in front of an ex-girlfriend. If this didn’t work, he had back-up plans, but he didn’t particularly want to use them. Back-up plans being used meant that something went wrong, and he liked doing things right the first time.





      Location:Cafe
      With: Chiara
      Feeling: Like a Boss
      Humming: Sober


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                                                                  The team was running itself ragged looking for Aria Remi and they hadn't gotten anywhere. Leads had come up cold and informants had led them all to dead ends. It was as if her kidnappers had just... Wiped her off the face of the planet. It didn't seem possible but even in this day and age, anti-meta activists would utilize the power of a meta if it would further their goal in some way. Maybe someone really had made Aria disappear. But why? For what purpose? Sure she was the niece of a wealthy businessman and part owner of said business but from what Amanda had seen... It didn't seem like Aria had ever had a hand in her family's business except for the occasional phone call. She was hardly a threat in that regard. So why? No one seemed to stop and consider the why of this whole ordeal and only seemed to consider the who briefly. If they could just figure out who had taken her or why, then maybe they could figure out the where. Aria was running out of time after all...

                                                                  These thoughts, and many more, bounced around Amanda's head as she shuffled through the base on Monday morning. Maximus was perched on her shoulder like a parrot. She'd come to really appreciate the little fuzzy companion that her sister had rescued and it gave her something to focus on, something to help her with her own woes. But even her own woes were small compared to what Darren was going through. Everyone knew that they'd gone through a rough spot for a while during the time Darren had seemed to be losing his mind and then... Something happened and everything seemed normal for a minuscule amount of time. And now this. It seemed like none of them were ever going to experience 'normal' any time soon. Or ever. Who needs normal anyways? Not us... We function just fine with our disfunctionality Except they didn't. Something had snapped in Darren and he was... different. Cold, calculated efficiency. Ordinarily he was like that but there was more to him than just that... He was caring and gentle, he never ordered anyone around... But from what she'd heard from her sister, he'd started ordering the team members around like he was their drill sergeant. That wasn't like him. Neither JC nor Darren had ever ordered anyone like that.

                                                                  Aria's kidnapping had changed a lot of things.

                                                                  Everyone had been acting kind of stressed out since Friday but Amanda supposed that was to be expected. It had been a bad day to begin with; Celeste had been injured by Will and then again by a mugger, she, Tina, and Ri-...Rotor had been injured horribly by Ivy. She'd suffered a broken leg and God knows what other injuries and her sister had been hurt too. Now Igasho was acting strange and God knew where Novik had wandered off to; he wasn't much help around base but seemed to enjoy Celeste's company. It just seemed like they could never catch a break. Was it really too much to ask for? Apparently it was. Amanda shook her head and walked past the comms room; Igasho and Manny were in there and from the sounds of the conversation, it wasn't something she needed to get involved in. Besides, Shaundi wasn't in there and so there wasn't any point in Amanda entering. Everything they had tried had led to a dead end, so the Detroit leader had finally laid down to get a few hours shut eye and who even knew where Darren was. Tina and Kayleb were out following leads and Celeste had just returned... Oh, and JC was back too. He looked frozen half to death. He and the white-haired heroine were having a quiet discussion in the living room. She decided not to listen in and instead slipped past and into the kitchen.

                                                                  "Here, Maximus, have a little kitty milk; I need to get you big and strong." She poured him a small saucer of kitty milk and set it on the floor for him, pulling him off her shoulder to set him down next to it; the hydrokinetic settled down next to him. "What should we do now, do you think? We need a new angle on this kidnapping..." Amanda mused mostly to herself and partly to the cat, as though he would answer her and give her the final puzzle piece to what they were looking for.

                siris99
                Tegian
                ooc: sorry for shite post. didn't really know what to do with her

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      Kayleb crouched, perched on the edge of a very tall building he knew not the name of. He stared down at the streets below, his weary eyes not really taking in much of anything, only seeing the bug sized people and cars going every-which way. The last three days have left him ragged and exhausted. He hardly took the time to return to base for basic necessities of food or water and twice now had found himself waking up on a rooftop as the sun rose to wake him. He couldn’t remember how he had ended up there, but had to assume he had plummeted, considering the damage he woke up to about where he lay and the dull ache associated with his healing.

      A long drawn breath escaped him as he rubbed a hand over his face and stood up slowly. This was no time for resting, his best friend was still missing and there had been not a single clue or lead as to where she had been taken or by who. Fighting back a yawn, his wings slowly unfurled from his back before he let himself drop off the building to gather the necessary air under his wings, rather than expending the extra energy it would have taken to lift off from a standstill. Tina, who had been kind enough to accompany him half the time these past few days was likely waiting for him at their meeting spot so they could continue the search.

      Tina had been waiting nearly half an hour by the time Kayleb bothered to show and she looked at him skeptically as he landed on the rooftop beside her. The kid had obviously had some sort of spill, as long dried blood crusted his hair, neck and one of his wings. “I see you were out all night again.” She spoke critically as she stared at him with a harsh expression. It was only natural to assume he had likely flown about until he literally fell from the sky. Kayleb didn’t bother to look abashed by this, which told her all she need to know, and was about to speak but Tina cut him off. “Don’t. Look, I’m not here to help you kill yourself trying to find her. I’m here because it’s partially my fault for indulging your reckless search. I’m taking you back to base. You’re a ******** mess and you need to take care of yourself. I don’t care how much you complain, you’re coming with me.”

      “I don’t want to go there.” He said simply. It wasn’t only because he wanted to continue the search for Aria as soon as possible that he didn’t want to head back to base… Another part of it was because of Darren’s treatment of him and his friendship with Aria.. and somewhat because of what he had said to JC to make him follow Sheera. He hadn’t intended to imply he didn’t feel like part of the team, but after having voiced such a thing, he found he honestly wasn’t sure how he felt. Most of the time he felt useless, the only worthwhile thing he could contribute was his healing and no one, except for tina generally, seemed inclined to allow him to use it on them. The rest of the time, he couldn’t help but feel they probably only kept him around to keep him from being retaken by the OWC. Though he was pretty sure they didn’t want him anymore. If they did, they surely would have tried to take him back by now. At least now, right now he was doing something useful. Or at least he was trying too. Aria needed to be found, who knows what had been done to her these past three days. “I’ll wash up and eat, but not back at base.” He finally said as Tina grabbed his arm to start guiding him back to base.

      Tina frowned lightly, she had some idea as to why he wouldn’t want to go back to base, she wasn’t blind to the tension between him and Darren, but avoiding it wasn’t going to help the matter. But it wasn’t her problem, as long as he was willing to take basic care of himself, it didn’t matter if it was back at base or not. “I’ll help you clean up, no one in their right mind would allow you into any form of public showers looking like this. And as I know you are literally penniless, I guess I’ll be having to buy you some food as well.” She sighed, at least it was better than letting him continue as he was.


      After a quick ‘shower’ under the cold water provided by Tina, the pair headed down to the street to find the closest fast food joint. A sandwich shop presented itself, so they headed there, ordered a sandwich each then sat themselves down, ignoring the surprised stares from the other patrons at having a couple challengers in such close proximity. Most of the civilians tried not to stare too much, while a couple were trying to take sneaky pictures on their phones. And a select few looked like they were trying to get up the courage to actually come over and talk to the pair.

      Tina rather hoped they would all just stay away and get back to eating rather than gawking, but not much could be done unless she and Kayleb ate while walking, but she wanted Kayleb to get a bit more rest, even if it was just a sitting rest while they ate, it was better than nothing in his current state. Kayleb himself seemed oblivious to everyone around him, as he became very focused on his food after his first couple bites of his sandwich made him realize just how hungry he really was.


      Location: Subway: Eat Fresh

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      Celeste bit her lip, mind turning over what she had just seen; who had leaked Aria's disappearance to the media? More importantly, why had they decided to implicate a major corporation and it's CEO as a suspect in the kidnapping case? Should they pursue the lead? They didn't have much of anything else to go on... Her head began to ache. "JC?" He was being particularly silent, as though he was deep in thought, and while she would usually just allow him to think, she needed an answer; it would determine the course of the rest of her morning. “...I have a different lead,” JC said, finally breaking his silence. He didn't look quite right. In fact, he looked incredibly pale and there seemed to be almost a... Blue tinge to the edge of his lips. He looked frozen. “I need food and a hot shower before I lose fingers to frostbite...” he added, almost as an after thought. “But you should check out channel 4. I put a call out to The Game. He has to know something about this... and I will do whatever I have to in order to get Aria back. Even talking to the devil himself.” He shivered and Celeste frowned. Golden light surrounded his hands and pulled off his gloves to reveal blackened and frost bitten fingers; healing light flowed into JC to fix his hands and warm his core temperature. What had he been doing, to get so cold? She could feel her features rearrange into something more akin to 'mother bear' and did nothing to try and stop it. She cared deeply for all of her teammates, they were her friends, her family, and she wanted to protect them and take care of them; it's why she spent time to cook breakfast and to cook dinner's and to go on extra patrols so that they could have just that small amount of extra rest. Although he was soon good as new, his hands completely healed and body temperature to normal - his skin even looked healthy again - she still felt incredibly concerned for him. This team couldn't handle losing him, he had to take better care of himself. She remembered what it had done to everyone when he was kidnapped and couldn't bear to think of what it would do to the team if he died because he hadn't taken care of himself. JC must have registered the worry on her face because he decided to explain why his hands had been frost bitten and why his body temperature had been so low, “I went to go see Chi... I couldn't face her though... I ended up passing out before I could bring myself back to base, took a nap in the snow. Stupid, I know. Thank you Celeste. I'm going to shower and grab breakfast... hopefully dear ol' dad has the decency to call.” He said all of this in a low voice, to avoid being overheard, before turning to leave and shower; Celeste hesitated for a moment before reaching out and grabbing his shoulder, stopping him. "JC... He kidnappedyou. He tortured and what he put you through almost killed you! Can we trust him not to try and mislead you? To try and kill you? It didn't need to be said. He knew without her having to voice those fears. “I know... but I will kick down every door I can. If he wanted me dead, he would have killed me... and besides, it's just a phone ca-” JC was cut off by his communicator ringing and he said, “Shower can wait I suppose...” He shook his head and then answered the call on speaker; Celeste bit her lip at the sound of the voice flowing through the speakers, “Alperton station. Women's bathroom, third toilet.” The call disconnected. That... Was fairly ominous. And why would the Game request his son to enter a women's bathroom? At least they were moving in a direction that might potentially lead them to Aria. “Shower definitely can wait, mind giving me a lift?” JC asked, looking over at her. Celeste frowned, crossing her arms. There was no way he was going anywhere without a shower and a change of clothing. “Okay, shower first.” JC held his hands up in surrender and headed to the showers; she knew he wouldn't take much time for himself and so jumped into another free shower herself, taking just a few minutes to wash the sweat off and by the time JC returned to the livingroom, she was in a clean uniform, her hair swept back in a simple yet elegant braid, and she looked ready to go. A protein bar was forced into JC's hands before she grabbed his hand and teleported them both to the Underground Station. “You know.. just realized I'm going to look like a putz going into the women's bathroom,” JC laughed as they headed into the bathroom; Celeste used light to disguise their entrance. "No one noticed," she promised as the door slammed shut behind them. "Your reputation is intact, at least for now." It would be different if someone entered while they were in there, as she wasn't sure she'd be able to shield them fast enough. After the door slammed shut behind them, JC took the lead; Celeste was just the back up here and she was sure the Game wasn't interested in anyone else. But would he actually show up? Would the Game put himself at risk like that? As they approached the stall in question, Celeste realized that no, such a man wouldn't risk his own life for a little information exchange with the son who hated him. Instead, a petite blond stood in the stall, holding a manila file that no doubt had whatever information that the Game felt like doling out to the team. Celeste's eyebrows creased over her nose for a moment as she tried to place the young woman; it took a moment but then the memories resurfaced. It was Jack Frost and Rotor's new assistant, the woman called Jenny who had super strength and who had been released from their containment center by Darren. She was still certain that he had some hidden motive for doing so without consulting anyone else on the team. But that was for another time. They knew how dangerous Jenny was and her attention needed to be on the here and now, not on what had happened weeks ago. Hopefully this exchange would go smoothly and there wouldn't be a need for excessive force or threats. They needed to find Aria before she was killed and if that meant working in tandem with the OWC, then so be it.

      Every moment of ＬＩＧＨＴ and ＤＡＲＫ is a miracle


      Tegian
      siris99
      Quote:
      Roskuel
      ooc: bleh post
      Gaia Forums » GAIA Community » Barton Town (Role Play)

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