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"Yes, that will be fine. Try not to draw too much attention to yourself. We had a hell of a time trying to cover up Gidget's grand exit this afternoon. I'll be there in a few minutes."

Shane ends the call and grabs his jacket from the back of the chair he was sitting on. As he makes his way back to the surface, he does everything that he can to keep from being noticed by anyone. He prays that a phone call wont give away his position.

His prayers are answered when he arrives at the surface level. As he makes his way to the lobby of the girl's dormitory, Shane repeats in his mind over and over again to leave Annie be for the time being. Right now the important thing is to get the student to their doctors. He ponders the name Stinson, recalling a Lily Stinson in one of his classes.

He arrives in the lobby and looks around to make sure no one is out and about. Fortunately this holds true, as there is supposed to be a party in one of the sorority houses a few blocks down. Shane places his hands into his pockets and waits for Annie.

Lily twisted some in Annie's arms as she slid the cell phone in her pocket. Tightening her grip on the girl, she squeezed Lily, sighing recognizing her expression of one having a nightmare. Carefully, she maneuvered with the girl out of the dorm room, letting the door lock behind them and she made her way to the elevator and finally the lobby.

Waiting in the elevator carrying Lily, Annie smiled, the girl was pretty when she didn't have her bangs pushed in her hair with her strong features and pointed chin. Definitely a face that would be interesting to draw. She'd be prettier if she played up her features with make-up, but then again it was refreshing to see a fresh face too. Unfortunately, on that fresh space were speckled a few acid burns along with down her arms and on her clothes.

As the elevator opened she saw Shane waiting in a practically empty lobby. "Shane," Annie said greeting him and bowing her head. "I really am sorry for the inconvenience. You really are a life saver."

"Hold it." Leviathan held his hand up, fist closed. A faint beeping began to rapidly increase in frequence, Lev's ears buzzing, the sun blaring overhead only heightening the noise.
The two stood outside of an abandoned schoolhouse, not too far from the diner. "Most likely," Lev held up a heavily callused hand, a blue current running along his forearm, "It's probably some bum, got hit with the lights.." Lev kicked open the front door, immediately slinging his hand forward.
A man flipped backwards from the entrance, his hair flashing white before hitting the back wall, a black swirl of smoke rising from the doorway. "He's fine. Just hit him with a cattle prod." Lev winked, wandering into the strange dust and darkness of the broken down home. A heavy layer of crud lay over all furniture, nothing but rotting boards and vermin within the abode. The man twitched, gasping.
His face was smooth, rounded even. He was fairly handsome, say for the fact his hair was nearly gone due to Leviathan's lightning, but Lev took no notice, only patting the man on the head. "Way to jump the jitters on me boy." Lev crouched in front of the gasping man, his gaze suddenly of steel, indifferent and hellish, locked upon the man's own eyes. The man spoke, "I won't join any freakshow your running, if that's what you want."
Lev smiled, lighting a cigarette from his squat. "Well let's not be irrational feller, we just met. Name's Leviathan Cortez, reckon you'll give a fake moniker but i'll roll along.." Lev smiled, offering the man a cigarette.
Still smoking, literally, the man held a stunned, disbelieving look a moment, then, falling into the pits that were Leviathan's eyes, took the cigarette, and sold his soul.
"So what's your story?" Lev asked with a smile.
---
The man's name was Rodney, or Rod for short. Rod had come in contact with the meteor's ray's from the start, allowing him to study his own abilities quite indefinitely. Rodney explained to Lev, (after another cigarette, he was getting to start to quite like the man who had just minutes before electrocuted him,) that he could punch through anything. "I get a swing off on someone and it's over." Rodney spit, ashing his cig on his knuckles. "Knuckles got hard as steel after the meteor. Almost scaled over my hands like..like.."
"Gator scales?" Lev was staring at the jagged strange cut of Rodney's knuckles, how grey and melded they appeared.
"What do you think One?" Lev asked back to his only current partner.

"What are you saying? That because I am a man of science I am incapable of carrying heavy things?" His tone is half playful and half offended. He used to be weak, but that was before he had to take care of Gidget on his own. Even after a few years of weight lifting regularly, all it seems to do is keep him trim without any real growth.

A ding sounds inside of the elevator, accompanied by a sing song voice saying, "Voice pattern recognition begins now."

Shane speaks up clearly, "Shane Morris and guests." There is another Chime and the elevator begins to move. He looks over to Annie and says matter of factly, "Using your powers for the good of humanity is one thing, but melting a boot in front of a reporter `just because`you can is thoughtless. Not to mention that fact that you had the gall to bow up to someone who can set an entire building of fire with a moments thought. You're fortunate that the girl's shadow creature was is fast as it was. According to the readout on the footage Gidget gave me, the suit was calculating an interception course with that bolt of lightning. As much as her power drove her to modify that suit I don't think it would've withstood the blast he produced."

She sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose, "Look, I know I'm not your father, boss, or anything like that...and I know that you meant well by your actions, but you came very close to dying today. God, I don't know. Maybe I'm just taking it out on you because my baby sister was thrown through a brick wall, and then called me later like she has just been an amusement park. I mean, what would Mom and Dad say if they could see us now?" This line of rambling continues for a few seconds more before he slows to a halt. He says quietly"I'm sorry."

Shane looks back over at Annie. He hesitantly places a hand on her shoulder. He has never been good at comforting people, and he is fully aware of this. This time he wants to stop this girl from crying, "I think we have more in common then we realize. Tell you what, I'll stop acting like a know-it-all if you will give this facility a chance. We might just be able to help you reach untapped potential with your powers.

There is a chime in the elevator and the steel door slide open. Before them lies an enormous white foyer that would make Charles Ray jealous. People it lab coats and various other uniforms are bustling about like bees in a hive. Through some windows are people who are using their powers to various effects. Shane smiles and says proudly, "Welcome to Valhalla."

Shane waves for Annie to follow him and directs her through the hectic traffic of the hidden facility. It doesn't take but a few minutes for them to reach the infirmary. Inside is a man that is producing thread from his fingertips. The thread dances and loops as it closes a deep laceration in the patients arm. The thread man speaks in a condescending tone that is to be expected from a doctor who has dealt multiple times with the same patient, with the same injury, "You think you would have learned by now not to anger her. I'm getting tired of patching you up because of your wandering hands."

The thread man looks up at Shane first, then to Annie and Lily. He huffs and nods his head toward the back. His tone is hurried and frantic, "Cosmetic damage caused by acid burns, Possible anaphalactic reaction or septic shock cause of syncope. Please take her to Magrat, will take care of her."

Shane guides Annie to the back of the infirmary and to an open bed. "Magrat is like you, a class three. Her power allows her to restore dead or damaged tissue. We've been trying to find a way to harness her gift to cure terminal diseases, but we haven't made much headway. Also, don't ask her about her name, she'll never shut up about it."

Shane looks back at the patient and chuckles, "Oh him? That's James, our resident lecher. Brilliant mind in terms of radiology, but he tends to let his hands wander. Odds are he ran afoul Carrol, who can makes parts of her body as hard as steel and as sharp as a sword. She doesn't take kind to his...enthusiastic manner."

Shane considers his response for a moment, thinking about the best way to put this. "I don't mean trying to make is more powerful for destructive purposes. Valhalla is more concerned with finding a beneficial use for your gifts in society. What you guys did at the scene of the fire is just the beginning. The Doc behind you can suture wounds just by thinking about it, and even Carrol has proven handy on more than a few occasions. Although I wish she was here when Gidget locked herself in R&D."

He thinks for a moment more, "For all we know, maybe you can do more than just change acid to water and vice-versa. Hypothetically, you may even be able to purify water."

He is about to say more when a young brunette in a nurses uniform enters their area. Her complexion is plane, and her demeanor is that of professional medical stress. Smiling, but only doing so for the sake of bedside manner. Cordially she says, "Good evening, I'm nurse Margaret. I'm guessing the young unconscious lady before us is the patient. Can anyone tell me anything about this girl?"