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James Cross went red with embarassment as the Chief of Police kept going on and on about how bad of a job he had done. James didn't mean to cause such a commotion, but he hadn't been the one to use a gun before the men did. James could have let them escape, but he knew these men were apart of something much bigger so he had followed them. In the back of James's mind, he knew what he did was right.

James stared Oual right into the eyes. He had very much respect for him. He had heard a lot of good things about Oual from Graydon and Graydon had a very good judge of character. James took and deep breath and then said, "With all do respect sir... I understand that you are mad that these men entered the school, but what could I have done? I mean I could've called for back-up, but by the time your men would have gotten there I the armed men would've been gone. You are right! I am a sophmore and not yet a police man, so I didn't know what to do when these men attacked me. With all do respect sir... I was just trying to make sure these men didn't kill anyone on their way out... I had no idea that they would lead me to the school..."

James Cross couldn't understand why Oual was being so difficult. "Sir! The men had GUNS in their hands! GUNS! And you think they had no intention of hurting anybody. I am sorry sir, but I don't think calling reinforcements will do anything. This must be finished now before the men can get further away! I will check all of the halls and you..."

James Cross froze for an instant of revelation. He looked from the red haired secretary he had seen when he entered the main office, to the name-tag at the desk. The name-tag read: Ms. Daisy Dotts... and unless Miss Dotts had something done to herself, the man sitting at the desk definitely was not her! The red-haired man made eye contact with James and must have understood that James had caught onto his charade. The man jumped up and pulled a gun out of the back of his pants. The red haired man let out three wild shots.

"CHIEF OUAL! GET DOWN!" James screamed as the bullets came straight towards them.

Cross was one step ahead of Oual. "I got it sir!" James Cross yelled as he sprinted after the armed man. This time James took out his gun and aimed it at the man. Nobody was around the hallways of the school any longer, so Cross had clear shots all over the place. Both the man and Cross came to a dead end at the end of the hallway. James aimed his gun a littl higher and shrieked, "Hands up! This ends now! Tell me where the others are and this will all get better!"

The red-haired man just smiled. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into..." the man said and then he turned around and shot a bullet point blank at the window, shattering it into bits and pieces. Then the man jumped. James ran straight up to the window and saw that man had jumped about seven feet down, landed on his two feet, and was now making his escape. James aimed for the man and finally let two bullets out of his gun. Both bullets hit the man square in the shoulders. 'Great shot!' James thought to himself. 'Now I can get to the bottom of this!'

James jumped out the shattered window and crashed down to the ground. He wasn't as good as the burgular. He landed on his right arm, which he thought he had broken. Pain seared through Cross. The pain had been forgotten because of all of the action, but now it was back with full force. James stumbled upwards and slowly jogged his way towards the downed robber. James pointed his gun, with his good arm straight at the man's heart. "Gigs up pal! I want answers and I want them now! You men knew who I was! How? What are you guys up to!?!?!"

All the man could do was laugh....

James bent down low to the man, his right arm throbbing, and said, “I wouldn’t be laughing if I were you!” He stuck the gun right up to the man’s forehead. Anger started rising in James. “I want to know how you know about Tyler!” James screamed. This is a question that had been burning inside of him. He tried to let it go, but he couldn’t. In reality, catching these men was a necessity to Cross. This was personal.

The man continued laughing. “WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?” James questioned angrily. The red-haired man pointed to James right. James turned in the direction and was struck with awe. He was staring at a school bus in the middle of the vacant lot they were in. Inside the school bus, two other men were sitting there. The one behind the wheel gave James a smile and then all of a sudden was barreling straight at Cross. James got up, but the red-haired man lying down picked up his discarded gun and shot James in the shoulder. “An eye for an eye!” he said and he jumped up, out of the way of the bus. James gripped his left shoulder and swayed. He couldn’t take much more.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The man behind the wheel honked the horn and smiled devilishly. The inevitable was about to happen. James closed his eyes and waited for it. He had no time to jump. BAM! The impact came fast and James flew into the air. Screw what people said about going unconscious from the pain, he was conscious the entire time! He landed back on the cold pavement, all of his bones were surely and most definitely broken. James watched with blurred vision as the bus skidded to a stop and the two other burglars jumped out of the school bus. Both men helped the injured red-head and started running away. They were going to escape. There was nothing James could do. Pain took over his entire body. He was dying. There was no stopping death’s cold grip. Before James blacked out, he saw the silhouette, through his blurred vision, of a tall man. The mysterious figure bent over him and said, “Don’t worry… you are safe now.” After that, everything went black.

<<

((OOC: She's in astral form, so her mind and soul are present but her body is not.))

Secret ran as fast as she could, leaving behind the burden of her exile from the Ethereal plane and the stress from overexerting her mind. She was in a fragile, panicked state; the warped forest seemed to surge forth with shadows. Not long after, she began to lose the shadows of reality and escape into a world that would've been hers. She sprinted through the city, looking at buildings and vehicles as she passed. They seemed familiar, and as she focused on certain things, memories crept back to her. Car... a transport of some kind. Hospital? That's a building of some kind... for sick people? Sounds about right. She'd been away for so long, but it was coming back to her.

As Secret proceeded further into the city, the sheer number of stimuli increased, so she couldn't fixate upon anything for too long. Her dash had slown to a walk, and the shadows were no longer in sight. She began to calm down as this terror faded from her mind. Up ahead, she spotted a building of some sort. She had a hard time figuring it out, what with the myriad of sights and sounds around her. What's more, there was a certain emanation coming from the building. It felt familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

She began to walk toward the entrance. After crossing a barricade of metal and wood, she noticed an uptake in the background noise around her, but she was dealing with too much to tell what was calling for her attention. As she walked through the front doors, the image became clearer. It was some sort of public building--a post office or school, perhaps. She was about to recognize her surrounding when something else hit her hard: she knew this sensation! She had met it many times before, and with every step the sensation grew stronger. The words radiated around in her before slipping out: "Chaos." Yes, that was it, chaos. Fear. Across her visage played a coy little smile as the tension poured out of her and mingled with the air around her. The hazy look to her eyes returned as she stopped right in the hallway, facing a door marked "Science B". She stood there, basking in the dark aura of the school, lazily taking in her surroundings with a sinister half-smile.

<<

Sirens were very quickly surrounding the school. Reinforcements had arrived just as Oual had finished wrapping up his arm. “Sergeant Ryan,” Oual called out, recognizing one officer. The sergeant turned around, offering a hasty salute. “I need the school searched inside and out. Last I knew, a sophmore from Gilligan’s was in pursuit of one of the gunmen. I haven’t heard from him. The location of the other two is unknown. Personally, I don’t think they’d dwell in here after we’ve left, but I think we ought to be sure. I’ll search all the rooms in the main hallway with you. Send some other men towards the gym and another group towards music and the auditorium. Anything suspicious needs to be reported and dealt with.”

The sergeant went to gather his men while Oual hurried over to the counselor’s office (where most of the administration had gathered). “It’s Oual,” he called. Principal Wilhelm cautiously opened the door. “I need the master keys,” Oual stated. “We’re searching the rooms for the intruders. Don’t worry, I think everything’s fine.” The principal’s reply was a grunt. Between himself, the vice principal, and the nurse, three keys were offered up. Oual took these with a hustled thank-you, hurrying back to the sergeant and dividing it up between the three teams.

Very quickly, Oual and Ryan were headed down the science wing. They would have started from the end first, but Oual was stunned into action by a girl standing outside science B. “Hey!” He shouted, jogging to her side. “Ryan, start with the computer lab and business first, I’ll take the science roomsm,” he directed over his shoulder. The sergeant agreed and was gone. The girl seemed dazed.

“Are you okay?” He demanded, even shaking her a bit. “What happened to you? You know you should really be in there where it’s safe, he pointed out. Let’s go. I’ll bring you!” The chief detective forced open the door, using the key, of course. The room was packed, but the noise level was down. Standing next to the girl, he shouted towards a crazy-looking man who must have been a teacher. “I found her outside- Oh my!” He’d seen Cait. “What’s happened to her? Let me help!”


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<<


His uncle’s mind was everywhere, which is probably why he hadn’t noticed his nephew standing next to the gorgeous girl with the oddly colored hair – yes, I’m referring to Rowena! Austin, however, saw him leading in the girl he’d never seen before. It was strange seeing him so quickly after the announcement. Up until then, the idea that his uncle actually dealt with these situations on a daily basis had seemed so unreal to Austin. This was his first glance at Oual in the job. “That’s my uncle, the chief detective,” Austin announced to Rowena. “The income’s great.”

Jay had been previously preoccupied with doing a once over of Cait to make sure she was still breathing through her nose after holding the ice to her face. She had stirred a little, so Jay knew she was waking up a bit. She saw a policeman come in, but figured it would be better to speak only when spoken to. That was, until he freaked out about what had happened to Cait. "Cait has narcolepsy," she address to the man in uniform, "There was no fight. Cait fell asleep in the shock and hit her face on a locker after I ran into Rowena. Her eyes are blackening, so I agree her nose is broken. I'm just trying to stop the bleeding as best I can and get her to come around. She'll be okay." Jay had never lied to someone with quite as much authority before, but if it was possible to get away and not get suspended, she would rather that happen. Her father was angry with her enough as it was, and the stress of this morning would not help his mood. "Doctor, do you have anything we can use in a first aid kit to stop the bleeding a little faster than slow?"

Attomos nodded and went to some cabinets to collect a few chemicals... Looked like they were all going to be witnesses to another one of his expiriments. He fiddled with beakers and compounds while the scene continued.

Rowena smiled at Austin's remark. It was clear to her that he was trying her to please her. Just a little more twisting and...Well, he'd be wrapped around her little finger. He would be of use, this minion of hers, and she would find his role in all that was transpired. For now she sat in a huff at Jay's lie. There was no point in exposing the truth now, she would never be able to get away with it. Soon she would bring Jay and Cait to their knees, but perhaps now was not the time. She fidgeted with the dissapointment this caused, and caught sight of Penelope and Josh in a corner, avoiding each other's gazes. "Aww, and what do we have here? The two lonesome lovers avoiding each other?" she mocked, "And what a perfect couple they are! Two poor geeks, who don't even have the balls to act on their feelings... tsk, what a shame!"

Jay was in a fog. She'd heard what Rowena had said to Josh and Penelope, and feeling the need to keep the peace with armed intruders on the loose, she tried to get between the two of them. She was too late, of course, and Penelope backhanded Rowena the same way Rowena had backhanded Cait. "Hey!" She shouted at the two of them "We really need...to..." Jay turned around and realized she was directly in front of a frothing mass of chemical that Attomos had mixed up. She felt a surge of heat and felt the force puch her backwards. Various body parts struck various hard surfaces, but she felt no pain. Just a searing heat spreading over her skin and the knowledge that her mental faculties were not quite functioning at peak. What had just happened to her? She couldn't quite be sure... There was so much shouting, and the room seemed to be dimming. It was almost like watching a slaptstick comedy unfold before her... Someone was in her face, and a bright light shone into her eyes. She giggled at the absurdity of it all and then realized she was tired... So very very tired... Jay yawned and grinned peacefully to herself. It was naptime.

"Oh My god, My FACE!" Rowena shrieked, unaware that she'd just missed being hit by an explosion by inches. Her face burned where Penelope had struck her and seemed to be swelling unnaturally. She ran to a mirror hanging on the wall and stared at her reflection before beginning to cry. The mark was already a deep purple and raised up into an egg. It burned and seemed to be blistering too. "You witch!" Rowena reeled, "Why, I'll teach you a lesson just like I taught Cait a lesson! You'll get what's coming to you, I swear it!" Rowena tensed her shoulders and balled her hands into fists. It hadn't yet occured to her that she had just admitted to beating Cait, and would not be able to work her way out of this one with the police on the scene...

The Lab Bench under Cait shook, and she realized how very cold she was. She shook her head to try to wake up, but it made her head swim more. She put her face back down and groaned loudly. Her whole body hurt, and her front was wet and sticky. Out of the corner of her eye she caught the image of a woman in white and a woman in black standing near one another, and as soon as she noticed them they were gone. What the hell had just happened?