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 Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 2:59 pm
Jeremy had been running around the city for hours. He’d scoured the neighborhood, texted all the friends he knew Myles had, checked the theater he worked it.
He was coming up empty handed—and Myles’ phone was still off, so it wasn’t like he could call the phone company to track it. Even though he’d tried. Four times.
Every text message he got was enough to get his hopes up; he was eager for any update.
It took him a few hours to get one—and when he did, it wasn’t from where he expected.
He hadn’t forgotten Delilah, or her fudge. He knew her; what he didn’t know was how she knew Myles.
When she’d texted that they’d needed to meet up, he’d told her that it wasn’t a good time. But then she’d texted him that Myles was okay. He’d asked where he was, and she’d told him to meet her at the Fountain in the park.
Naturally, he’d sped over. He had already been in the area so it had only taken him a few minutes to arrive.
Jeremy was not particularly patient; he’d leapt out of his car and waited by the fountain. At first, he’d tried sitting, but it took less than a minute of that for him to realize he couldn’t just sit there. He began pacing almost instantly, one hand cupping his chin and the other on his phone. He checked it every few seconds, just in case he’d missed something.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:11 pm
Delilah had waited until she had heard the signs that Myles had finally slipped into dream land. He was tired...more than tired if the walk home had been any clue. A quick clean up, something to munch on and she had tucked him in. It was easy for Delilah to begin to see why Jeremy was so protective of him. There was something about him that just made you want to wrap him in a bubble and hold him close. But now she needed to deal with the mother hen. As she expected, the drop of Myles' name had gotten his attention. Honestly she hated doing this but for both their sakes, she had to try. Leaving a note on the table that she had run out for Chinese and her cell number if Myles woke up, Delilah slipped out. It had been no surprise to her that Jeremy beat her. Heck, if he had lights and sirens, he most likely used them! She would have. Leaving her car behind, Delilah took a deep breath and headed towards the pacing man. "You can stop pacing. Myles is safe and asleep." Delilah's voice carried as she walked into view, casting him a worried smile. "He tired and emotionally drained. That had to be some fight to pull a gun on your own brother."
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:36 pm
The voice was enough to make Jeremy’s head snap up. He looked relieved to see her, if only for a second. His pacing stopped and he turned to face her. There was a look of unhappiness when he realized that Myles wasn’t with her, but he trusted Delilah enough to figure that if she had him off sleeping somewhere he was probably safe.
As long as someone didn’t break in again. He doubted Myles would have had time to voice his extreme, irrational fear of robbers, but there was a voice in the back of his head that decided it would be best to narrate things he already knew.
“It didn’t look like him when I pulled the gun,” he answered, bitterness in his voice. He couldn’t exactly explain why Myles had seemed so different in that outfit, and he was too mad to sift through his memories clearly. He blamed it on adrenaline, and the shadows and lack of light. “It was dark. What did he tell you?”
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:41 pm
"Enough to let me know things didn't go over very well." Delilah responded, moving closer to him so that they were only a few feet apart. She was looking at him with her typical collected self. He had seen her melt down with the break in. The new place had a much better alarm system. A system she had made sure was set and that she could control via her phone. "That you didn't want to listen to him or hear his side out." The last bit, Delilah added as she walked past him and sat on the edge of the fountain. "Which, I can't say I blame you. You have seen some of the darker sides of this city. But based on the reaction he told me you had...you haven't seen the darkest."
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:23 pm
Jeremy’s lip twitched as he stared at the empty space where she had once been standing.
"Let’s not argue shades of dark," he said; he couldn’t control what images popped into his head, as if they sought to challenge her claim. He wasn’t going to share things he’d seen—things that gave him nightmares, still, just because he had a need to prove people wrong.
He closed his eyes and drew in slow breath in an effort to calm himself before he turned to face her again. "But, humor me. What are the darkest sides of this city--and what does it have to do with Myles? --Or you?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:38 pm
"The best way I can put it is...a world where things cannot be solved by logic alone." Delilah fell silent for a moment as she watched his back. He was tense. He was scared and she didn't blame him. She shouldn't have started on this so quickly but... "Turn around Jeremy. Please. I don't want to talk to your back but to the man I know who wants to protect the city and the people in it. The good man I know who finally should finally know about the part the media calls terrorist and the war going on in its streets. A war that doesn't give its members much choice on if they play a part in it or not." Delilah's eyes then faltered and she knew her tone had dropped as her hand came up and rested over her heart. Her very soul was the reason she was in this. The reason his brother was in it as well. "Because it was decided we would be long ago...before any of us existed. And all we want...all Myles wants...is to protect those we love and care for. Something I believe you can relate to no?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:50 pm
When Jeremy turned to her, he had planted both of his hands on his hips. He seemed annoyed—not at her, necessarily, just at everything. He’d only been winding up, all night. Stress, he could deal with. Every day on the job was stress.
When family was involved, it was a little different.
“Don’t use that against me,” he warned. She knew how badly he wanted to protect the people he cared for. The people who couldn’t protect himself. “I got training for it. I’m licensed to do it. I’m not some kid running around with half baked ideals. I know what I got myself involved in. Every time I put on this uniform, I know what I’m signing up for. I’ve had my a** handed to me, I’ve been put up in the hospital. I’ve been shot at, stabbed, beaten with a metal pipe. Hit with a car.”
He looked exasperated. “But I signed up for that. I can handle that. That’s my job.”
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 5:41 pm
Delilah rose back to her feet and crossed her arms under her chest. "I'm not using it against you Jeremy. I'm using it so you can relate to it. So you can understand what I'm saying." Her eyes closed for a minute as she listened to him and soaked in the words he said. When they reopened, there was the Delilah who lead her court. The one who used her mind over her emotions to make sure they all came home. "The only thing you have me beat on is the hit by a car. Though I would say fire breathing crystal dragon might come somewhat close." One hand came up expecting him to respond about it being bullshit so she wanted to stop him if but for a moment. "But you need to realize we...Myles and I and others out there...are in a similar boat. We just didn't get a choice. We didn't get the training or the ability to sign up. We got handed the uniform, told to protect the world from the forces of evil and left to figure it out for ourselves. Do you know what it's like to walk around in that level of confusion? To what good people fall to the chaos because they have no direction and they are tempted by the promise that someone else can give it to them?" Of course he did...he was a cop. With a long sigh, Delilah reached to the small bag she had on her shoulder and pulled out her red and white pen. Holding it up, she made sure he could see it. "I could throw this way. Break it in half and walk away from it all. Go back to being just Delilah White. Just like you could throw away your badge and stop being a cop. But tell me Jeremy...could you live with yourself? Could you live knowing you had the ability to protect people and you decided not to do it?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:08 pm
Jeremy’s eyes went to the pen she held out, and while he didn’t pull Myles’ out, his hand went to the pocket it was tucked away in. He looked at hers for a long moment before he returned his attention to her face. Already he was shaking his head, just slightly.
“This is different,” he insisted.
“I don’t run around at night and hide about what I do.”
Well. Tonight was an exception; she didn’t have to know that he wasn’t actually on duty; he’d just put on this suit to convince Myles that he was. And he wasn’t going to tell her that he’d hidden while he was following Myles.
He didn’t ask about the fire breathing crystal dragon because that was a crazy thing, and crazy things got sorted into the mental box he had set aside for things that probably had a totally logical explanation but he just didn’t know what was going on so he didn’t bother with them.
He might not have understood just what that pen was either, but he had a strong suspicion that he was going to. He nodded towards it.
“If he’d just talked to me, before all of this, maybe I wouldn’t be upset. But he hid it from me—whatever it is—and didn’t even try to talk to me. That’s not—that’s not what we do. And,” he finally reached into his pocket and pulled out Myles’ pen. “What are these? What do they do? What’s so important about a pen?”
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:26 pm
"We don't discuss it with people we don't know are part of the war for everyone's protection." Delilah answered back as she uncurled her arms. "There is a magic, a glamour, that protects our human identity from being tied to our powered form. Which is why..." Pieces were coming together. Jeremy had pulled a gun on Myles when he was transformed. "When you pulled the gun on Myles, you didn't know who he was. The only people who know are those we allow to know. It keeps us safe and it keeps those we love safe. If Chaos found out our identities, they could use it to hunt us or others around us down." But her eyes flickered to the pen he held. Delilah watched it for a moment before she looked at Jeremy and locked eyes with him. "What's so important?" Lifting the pen over her head, Delilah closed her eyes and called out 'Phact Star Power, Make Up!' Phact didn't know what he would see but when she opened her eyes again, the pen had disappeared from her hand and she gazed at the officer. "It's the key to our powers. You having it means you have taken Myles means to become a senshi." Her hands went out to her sides and she held them open so he could see she meant now harm. "And it also means he loses his ability to protect himself."
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:36 pm
If Jeremy chose to believe what she was saying, it would have made sense. A glamour to protect identities from their weirdly uniformed selves.
It was hard to deny that there might be some truth to this.
He chose to resist for a while longer, though. It wasn’t entirely clear if it was out stubbornness or just because he couldn’t quite process it, but he scrutinized her entire transformation as if it were some magician’s act just begging to be torn apart.
He pretended like he didn’t just see her change clothes, or like the woman in front of him suddenly didn’t look like Delilah. It was just part of the trick.
“You said, ‘Chaos’. What is ‘Chaos’, and why are you fighting it? Because I hate to break it to you—but this whole world is Chaotic—and no amount of flashy lights and colors and costumes is going to fix that.”
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:49 pm
There was a long, deep sigh from the senshi of doves. This was a question she had been expecting. Phact had chosen to use the word Chaos because it would at least give him some idea. Now, she had to figure out how to explain to someone who had most likely never seen a starseed removed from someone's chest...that made her blink. Maybe he had... "Chaos is the term we use to refer to those who serve the being known as Metallia. Agents of Chaos. Agents of the Negaveruse. And yes please laugh because the name could use some updating but that wasn't my choice." Phact added with a wave of her hand. She had laughed first time she had heard it after all. "You will have to forgive me. This is the first time I've had to explain this to someone not part of the war so there are some elements I'm trying to figure out how to best explain." Phact took another deep breath. "The Negaveruse is made up of individuals who believe it is their duty to protect the Earth from the alien invaders of the White Moon...aka Senshi. Which is what I am. Which is what Myles is. They believe that we plan to enslave Earth and all of the people on it. So they go around collecting energy and what we call starseeds from other humans. I don't know what they use it for but I do know the body count has been...quite high. To the point that, I have been told, there use to be agents who had the job of disposing of bodies for others." That was where she stopped and paused. "Have you ever come across a body that was dead or nearly dead with no reason what so ever as to why it died? As if the person was going about their day and then just...decided to stop living?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 8:20 pm
Jeremy remained silent, contemplating for a long moment. Eventually, he just shrugged. “You know, most of that whole ‘Chaos’ business just sounds like a cult, if you ask me. You can’t seriously believe you’re aliens, can you? –I was there when Myles was born, and I one hundred percent guarantee he is as human as I am. He can’t believe he’s an alien. I mean,” he gestured to his hair, only a few shades different from his brother. They had a similar face shape, a similar nose. Jeremy had stronger features, and though Myles was only a few years younger he still looked far more youthful. The only thing that seemed drastically different between the two was their eye color, and the fact that Myles had a splatter of freckles across his nose and cheeks.
He groaned though and ran his fingers through his hair before he resumed his pacing. “…I’ve seen a lot of weird things in Destiny City. But we get reports,” he tried to clarify. “People in weird uniforms are a part of a gang, up to no good. I’ve taken reports—hundreds of them. Of civilians being attacked by people in weird outfits. My captain’s got a whole folder on all of it—we’re supposed to apprehend on sight but,” he gestured to her, “Most of you are just kids! Kids I’ve had to chase home because they were out past curfew. Kids don’t run around hurting people. I mean, sure, some do—the bad ones, but,” he scoffed. “Do you know how unlikely teenage murderers are?”
His pacing quickening, like it was supposed to jog his thought process. “Of course I’ve seen bodies with no life in them. Not quite dead—yet, at least. I’ve taken reports from onlookers. I’ve consoled heartbroken families. ‘Cause of death: Unknown’ isn’t exactly an unpopular phrase when you’re dealing with corpses you find left out overnight. And you—”
He turned to face her again. “You’re telling me, there are people out there who just do that, on purpose? ‘Let’s protect Earth from aliens, oh, we’d better kill this guy who lives on Earth and was just trying to celebrate his anniversary with his wife’? Because, Delilah, that makes about as much sense as you telling me you and Myles are supposed to be aliens. Enslaving the Earth—really?” Jeremy paused for a second and looked at her. His tone changed, like he’d stumbled onto a different train of thought. “You’re not, are you?”
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 8:47 pm
"One thing, in this form, my name is Phact. Super Sailor Phact, Senshi of Doves if you want the formal, long winded name but Phact please." She added watching him being to process all this. She could see his mind working and in her own way, Phact had to wonder if she was hearing the gears turning in there. It was his final question that made her eyes close. "Technically, no I'm not." Phact answered as she tried to figure out how to phrase this. "As you said. You were there when Myles was born. Our entire form and body is what it is. We are human in every sense of the word. There is only one difference." That was when her hand went back to her chest and over her heart. "That starseed I mentioned. Ours are different from a normal human. Those of us who have awaken as senshi are connected to a star, a planet, or even a comet out in space. That is where we get our powers from. That is what, in their view, makes us alien." She wasn't even going to go into past lives at this time. Explaining to him that his brother was once wandering around on another planet might not go well... "As for the unlikelyhood of teenage murders, I may have to disagree with you. I've watched teenagers and even children fight in this..." She would not forget that little brat who tried to make a bomb in the middle of negaspace. Phact hoped the girl had gotten mental help. "There is no telling when our starseed will awaken. It's why some are children and others are 50 years old. Mine awoken four years ago when I was sixteen." "I never said it made logic sense Jeremy. I still don't know what they do with the energy. I know some of them will eat the starseeds they take. It allows them an energy and healing boost. Eat the life of someone else to save your own..." Her hand came up to the side of her face and she gave a long sigh. "Would it help you maybe if I showed you one of these worlds? My world?" She would have preferred to take him to the moon but with it being closer to the new moon than the full moon, that was out of the question. "To let you see some of this first hand? I can't magically summon a monster or an agent to show you the difference but I can at least show you parts of this side."
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 9:11 pm
Jeremy paused in his pacing for a second to look at her but promptly shook his head. “No. Not right now, at least. There were others, you know—that I talked to. Just kids in costumes. I mean—you’re not the first,” he struggled to find a word and eventually just gestured to her, Senshi, or whatever, that I’ve met. No,” he paused. “That’s not right. She called herself a Knight, one of them. I just assumed she was LARPing or something. God,” he reached up a hand and rubbed at his eyes.
Things were clicking into place—things he didn’t want to accept but was having a hard time refuting, now.
The others were just strangers but he knew Delilah was sane.
And Myles…
It felt like he’d taken a hit to the gut and he just grit his teeth and shook his head.
“I’ve seen things,” he insisted. “I just assumed I wasn’t sleeping enough. The mind, you know, it plays tricks on you. Especially late at night, in the dark. Delilah—” he faltered and then corrected, “Phact. You’re fighting people—‘Chaos’. I assume you can tell the difference between the ‘good ones’ and the ‘bad ones’. You’re a good one, obviously,” he insisted, “And Myles is. Obviously. So how would someone like me tell them apart?”
He didn’t say he believed her, but he wasn’t acting like he didn’t. He seemed frustrated—more because of a new idea challenging his understanding of reality than anything else, now. He wasn’t fighting it, he was just struggling with it.
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