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    Blitzz

    A Friendly Brit
    Ryu had thought his demands rather reasonable. Yet, he was always astounded by the ignorance of some people, and how selfish they were. A quiet flight was all he really wanted. Food would have been nice, but really it was a quiet flight he was after. Yet it seemed on every flight he had always been on he was always unlucky enough to be dumped next to someone with no sense of personal hygiene, and in front of an overprotective dad and his kick-happy child. Ryu hated them.

    He slept for the last few hours of the flight, and eventually he landed in Copenhagen. After battling his way through Danish customs, Ryu collected his luggage and headed through the airport. Sure enough, there was who he assumed to be Hal. He was blonde, not short but not tall, with a thin beard and lightly tanned skin. He was holding a board with the single word 'Ryu' scrawled on it. He made his way over, suddenly feeling quite self conscious and extremely tired. "I guess you're Ryu then. Let's get out of the way." They headed for some seats. "Well. Here you are. Welcome to Copenhagen." Ryu really felt like he should say something polite in response, but he wasn't functioning properly. "I assume your safe location is still safe?"

    "Yeah, the cottage in Malmo will be fine, at least for the next week. A week we wont need, but good to have none the less." Hal gestured to the assorted restaurants around the terminal. "We've got nearly 9 hours before Gwen's flight lands. I suggest you grab something to eat, then maybe sleep. I'll find some way to entertain myself. I suggest the fish place, Nordsee. All the fish places in Copenhagen are excellent." Ryu nodded his thanks and rose to track down the restaurant. It was relatively inexpensive, and the fish was good. He hadn't expected to enjoy the food, but he was pleasantly surprised. Full, and feeling significantly better, Ryu headed back to Hal, and found him on the same seats. "Is this a safe place to sleep? I don't know much about the Danish SDD."

    "It's an airport man, you really thing they're gonna lead a raid in broad daylight? Besides, enough channels pass through airports every day they've given up on catching them here." Ryu was confused, and guessed by Hal's follow up that it must have shown on his face. "Oh, not officially, they just do a really bad job of checking. If you pass their fancy "Hunter Sensor" you're through, and that thing only picks up active abilities." Hal's words were reassuring, and Ryu nodded in understanding, before laying down to try and catch up on some sleep.

    "Ryu, time to get Gwen and get the heck out of here." Ryu awoke as Hal shook him gently. Ryu stood, having been woken from a deep sleep and having not slept for as long as he'd wanted. He stood and followed Hal over to a desk where he got a whiteboard, and wrote 'Gwen' on the board. Ryu just sort of followed Hal. They stood and waited for Gwen, until Hal's phone buzzed. He let out a loud groan and grabbed Ryu's shoulder. "C'mon, she's already here, in the airport somewhere, we must've missed her flight land early while we slept." Hal tapped out a reply but Ryu, despite his best efforts, couldn't read the messages, but he assumed it would be between Hal and Gwen.

    The pair wandered through the terminal while Hal and Gwen exchanged messages. Ryu didn't like this feeling of being in the dark. Eventually, however, Hal set off in one direction at a fast pace and Ryu stumbled after him, struggling to keep up. They were headed towards a woman sitting with a laptop. She had short cropped brown hair and looked worried. Hal and Ryu approached.

    "Uh, Gwen?" Hal asked, cautiously.She looked up at him. He extended a hand for a handshake. "I'm Hal! This is Ryu. He's rather tired right now."
    "Hello," Ryu managed to say, giving a tired smile.
    "Hi," Gwen said, giving the two men a nervous smile, and accepting Hal's handshake with a firm grip. She was fairly attractive, and Ryu could tell already that she'd had quite the impact on Hal. He hoped this wouldn't turn into a teenage romance story. They had much more important things to be doing. "Let's get out of here, my car is out in the lot. It's only 45 minutes to my safehouse in Malmo from here, I'll answer any questions you have in the car."

    Gwen picked up her things, and Hal led the two out of the airport and down into the parking lot. They found his Volkswagen and piled in, Hal and Gwen in the front, Ryu in the back. They quickly came to the bridge spanning from Copenhagen to Malmo. "This is one of the longest bridges in the world, it spans what the Danes call the Oresund, the strait connecting the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. It connects mainland Europe to Scandinavia." Ryu didn't reply, but he found it fascinating. It was so vastly different to Japan's sprawling streets and towering skyscrapers. It was incredible. After another half hour, they arrived at the cottage on the beach side of Malmo, facing the Oresund.

    Hal stopped the car and got out. He walked up to the porch and stuck his hand under the mat. He grabbed the spare key and opened the door. Once they were all in, he locked it behind them. The cottage was small. Two bedrooms, one shower, a kitchen, and a sitting room. A nice vacation home for one man, but not perfect for the three of them. It would have to do. "You two can each have a room, I'll sleep on the couch." When they tried to protest, he put up a hand "I didn't just fly thousands of miles to help a stranger in Europe. I'll sleep on the couch," he said again, reaffirming his point. The two shrugged and went into their respective rooms. Ryu didn't complain, nor did he intend to. Gwen went to one room and Ryu headed to the other. The rooms were nice, small but nice. Ryu lazily chucked his suitcase to the other side of the room, and got out of his clothes, leaving on his underwear. He was too tired to get into the bed, so instead he just threw himself down on top of it, and quickly picked up where he left off at the airport.
     

    CapObvious

    A Rotten Scroungeral
    Brom sighed as he leaned against the window pane, listening as the two of them continued on their tangents. This scene was commonplace by this point, but it never stopped becoming so damned frustrating. Brom’s attention returned to the shouting match behind him, sighing heavily as it showed no signs of ending anytime soon.


    “Damn it, Clay. That’s not how they work. This isn’t one of your damn video games anymore. This is real life, with real people lying to our faces so they can just stab us in the back. They aren’t offering asylum, it’s a damn prison camp! The channels are better off on our own, with no one holding us-”


    Clay piped up then, not liking where this was going. “Damn it Kris, the Mage-Templar comparison was only a simple match up, I wasn’t saying they were the same thing. Back on topic: No, we aren’t better off alone. You’ve seen what we’re capable of! Look no further than outside your window, and you’ll see what happens when we go about unchecked. No one knows what makes us tick, not even us. We shouldn’t be left to our own devices, Kris. We need help.”


    Kris retorted immediately. “So these hot heads with itchy trigger fingers can tell us more about our own powers than we can? They know more about our natures and personalities better than we know them ourselves? That’s bullplops. They just a bunch of scared children, afraid of what we can accomplish if we just stand up tall!”


    Brom turned from the window and spoke for the first time, clearly having had enough. “Stop. Right now.” They turned to him, about to turn their frustration on him, before he cut them off. “Neither of you are going to make a difference blowing all this hot air. Could you please get it through your thick skulls before you get us all caught or killed, please?” They looked to each other, reluctantly ending their argument early. Brom continued. “Now, how about we figure out how the hell we’re getting out of Chicago? They got us all pegged as terrorists out there, thanks to that little fiasco in the town square.” Kris swallowed hard, not meeting Brom’s glare. He continued. “That need’s to be our priority right now. You can rip each other apart over your stupid war when we aren’t getting hounded by the SDD, alright?” They both nodded, and Brom sighed. “Good. Now finish packing up, then we’ll see what we can cook-”


    Before he could continue, he heard shouting in the distance, along with footsteps pounding from below his feet. He cursed. “plops. New plan. Looks like we’ll have to wing it. Luckily we’re on the top floor, it’ll take them a bit to check each floor for us. Grab your stuff.” They began moving around the apartment, packing up and taking their stuff into the front room.


    But as they got their things gathered up, Clay stopped himself, standing up straight. Brom stopped to see what he was doing, seeing that Clay’s mind was working on something. “Clay, what the fluff?”


    Clay spoke up, looking away from the two of them and to the door. “No, this is our chance. We could turn ourselves in.” He looked to them finally, seeing a look of disbelief spreading on their faces. “See, we could surrender, and offer our services to them. Prove that we are worth keeping around.” Brom shook his head, while Kris spoke up without missing a beat. “You stupid son of a- There going to fluffing kill us, okay?!” She moved to him, and punched him in the jaw, before either he or Brom could react. “This isn’t the time for your bullplops. If you even think of this plops again, I’m tossing you off the balcony.” Clay clutched his jaw, before swinging his fist at her. Big mistake.


    Damn it, not now.


    Kris ducked below his swing, and then tackled him to the ground. She pinned him under her, her flesh already beginning to harden and darken until it came closer to the color of steel. She started to rain down punches on the now helpless Clay, while Brom did his best to pry her off of him. “Cut it out! Now’s not the-” Before he could finish, the door was kicked in behind them. The familiar sound of guns and boots echoed loudly in the room before they all could turn to see what had happened. There was a squad of SDD with weapons trained on them, now waiting for them to make a move. Brom sighed, raising his hands in the air while the others got back to their feet. “That’s two times you two have gotten me into this plops. We make it out of this, you two are on your own.” A man stepped out from in between the men who stood before the door, smoking a cigar while cradling his rifle in the opposite arm. “Well, now. Looks like we’ve hit the jackpot boys. Three hunters ripe for the picking. I can see the zero’s adding up now.”


    Brom spit, glaring at the man as he moved about the room. “Seems pretty foolish for people like you to come here of all places. Chicago is the most dangerous place for people like you. Especially after that earth freak tore up half the city.” He paced back toward them, growling under his breath. “But you probably thought it’d be safe to hide where the resistance was thick, no one would expect you to be stupid enough, right?” He stopped before Brom, smirking, before he pulled back and socked him right against the temple. Brom hit the floor, seeming to be unconcious. “Wrong, son. Dead wrong.” He didn’t move, while the others began to silently panic. Kris, because she was going to lose her precious freedom, Clay because he was quickly realizing how naive he had been. The SDD weren’t going to help them. Not by a long shot.


    The man waved his men toward them all, Brom still unconscious. “Gather them up, and let’s get out of here. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”


    The men did as they were told, cuffing each of them before he lead them all down to the armored van, with what looked like enough plating to take a nuke and still have some resistance left. They pushed Clay and Kris in first, while carrying Brom over their shoulder. They tossed him in with a loud thud on the floor, before shutting and locking the doors behind them. Kris looked down to the floor, growling under her breath. “If you had just shut up…” Clay didn’t fight this time. He knew he was in the wrong. “I know, I know.” Kris was surprised by the easy victory, but quickly spit more venom. “I don’t think you do yet. But we will soon enough.” With that the van began to move, heading to God knew where.


    Looks like their story was already coming to an end. At least, that’s how it seemed to the kids locked up in the back. To the pair of men who were now tailing them silently, their story had just begun.
     

    Wolfbane

    Why change the past when you can own this day?
    "Who do you think you're talking to?" Bryce asked, leaning in and staring at the man. "If you don't want to be here, you're welcome to turn away." The man tried to adopt an authoritative tone, but Cass sighed as he waited for the man to continue. "But if you want to help me free three channels, then you've come to right place."

    "I don't know who I'm talking to and quite frankly, who do you think you are talking to me like you're my superior? I'm here for business. Cut the pl*ps. I came for my people, not to listen to some arrogant shmuck gab on and on."
    Cass was getting more and more impatient with this guy's superiority complex. He says he wants to save these channels, yet instead he is going on and on trying to intimidate the guy that he is trying to enlist help from. So far he wanted this guy to shut his mouth. The other people luckily were loud enough to mask the matters which they were discussing. On top of that, the rattling of plates and glasses and the clashing of pots, pans and other kitchen utensils made it that much harder to make out what one table was talking about. Although if he really wanted to be unheard he would silence their table himself. Most times it can be very incognito.


    "You best watch your tongue mate. You don't want to make an enemy out of me. Now if you're done trying to act like your opinions mean anything, we can get to it. This guy wasn't even worth the bloodshed and for the sake of the people he'll ignore the man's arrogance. "You will help another channel infiltrate a cell block. You're the backup and you're to kill no one. This plan is damn near fool proof. Now I didn't dig to deep and so I don't," Bryce lowered his voice to a near whisper as if it mattered. All Cass needed to do was wave a finger and no one would be able to hear a sound. "know what abilities you possess. Inform me and I will if they can provide any special assistance."

    "I'm not your mate. What's this plan then?" He begin to slide his finger around faster to deal this pompous prick. Any energy out of him? This guy has no idea who he is talking to. "Lets say I can make more than your eardrums explode. Not only with sound but the air around you as well."

    "So do you have sound manipulation? Could you suck the sound right out of a room?"

    "As well as the air, yes."


    "That'll so nicely. You will accompany my other accomplice and ensure yourselves along with the hostages we're freeing are dead silent. 7 PM meet me at my apartment on Maxwell street, there you will meet the other channel and I will go through the entire plan with you both. Assuming you're in."

    "I'm in. Lets get this over with"

    "Good. I'll see you soon. In case you need me," Bryce hastily jotted his number on a napkin, "here's my number. Burn it when you're done."

    "I was going to burn it either way"
    Cass walked out reaching for his lighter and the pack of cigarettes in his right pants pocket. He held the lighter up the cig before programming his the man's number in his phone under the name 'Asshole' before burning it with the lighter. He made his way to the car figuring that he had some time to kill. He decided to visit his mom for the rest of the day because after all, the woman who brought you into this world should be the first to see you. At least for a woman like his mother. Before long it was six, and he needed to make his way to the apartment and Maxwell street. The drive was uneventful in the sense of nothing happening. Cass in his usual fashion picked a song and blasted it as he did his errands for the day.


    The song gradually got quieter as he noticed the address and another car out front, most likely belonging to his operation partner. Cass decided on a spot right behind due to courtesy of the other person. He made his way up to the door and knocked three times before getting let in by the guy from the steakhouse.

    "You're here, come in and take a seat. Can I get you a drink?"

    "Sure. Wouldn't be kind if I refused," he smiled to the pretty girl sitting opposite of him. The girl must be his partner, and if so, then maybe he won't hate this as much as he first thought.

    "This is Maxine. I call her Liz, but that's just because it was her username. This gentleman is... Cass?" The man was trying his best to hide a sly grin, and almost did if not for the slight turn of the corner of his mouth. Cass had assumed that the man would do his homework on him and quite frankly didn't find it surprising. The man made his way to the kitchen to get Cass a drink while his new guest picked a spot by his new associate. For now he was interested in saving these three channels while still being free and alive himself. There will be time to get to know the girl after the mission.

    "Just Max, if you don't mind," There was slight pause allowing her to think if she wanted anything to drink. "Yeah, please. What have you got?"

    "It's coke or water, haven't done the shopping. Sorry."

    "Ehm, I'll have a coke then, please."


    the can popped open as the man sat down and threw his guests a coke of their own, that one popping as well with him nodding as a silent thank you. The briefing had finally started, "I appreciate both of your willingness to cooperate, we are about to save three lives. Get to know each other a little, I'll be back with some equipment." He got up to retrieve the aforementioned equipment from what looked like a spare bedroom.

    "So," she said slowly, "Cass, eh? Not heard that name before. Where're you from? I'm from Glasgow meself, though I live not far from here."

    Cas smiled as Max made note of her name and told him where she was from and where she lives as of now.
    "Cass is a special name for me as well. To answer your second question, I was born in Dallas. It's an hour maybe two hours away from here." He ran a hand though his hair with a faint smile as he fiddled with his can. "Well, I'm glad in good looking company. Let's make sure this thing goes smoothly, yeah?"


    Their host finally returned wheeling in a large military looking crate. As if in a show and tell he pulled out each item as he talked about them; "Here are two adjustable bulletproof vests. You shouldn't need them, but it's there to be safe. Night vision goggles, please handle them with with care. You'll need these." He handed them the Kevlar vests and prompted them to put them on. "Some gloves," he said as he chucked them over. "helmets." they made a loud noise when set on the table as well as when Cass pushed his away. "They look a little funny, but they're designed to keep your hair in the helmet, there's a little net in there. They could probably withstand some damage too. I can't promise you they'll stop a bullet, but they're designed to. Just try not to get shot. Here are your ear pieces. Any questions thus far?" The man was far from finished with his turn. Max and Cass shook their heads in answer to his question as he continued to show and tell. The man began to set up the TV and two monitors to display the files that were next in the briefing.

    "We will arrive at the compound in approximately an hour and a half, I'll park the car a little out of the way but when you've retrieved the Channels I'll get closer to pick you up. There is only five seats, so it'll get squishy in the back. I'm only one man, I can't afford everything. I'm just lucky an SDD shipment was.. Mishandled." A smirk slid on his face as he used the word before pulling up a map of the interior of the building. "This is every corridor, every hall, every room you will set foot in and more. The ones with red lines highlight your route, the blueprints are there on the left. It's just a repurposed warehouse. There is two of them, but you'll only be entering the one. Printed copies of these images are right here, study them on the way."

    There was a silence allowing both Max and Cass to study all the colored routes and most of the rooms, hallways,and corridors before the man continued, "You'll notice blue lines along with red, blue represents the patrol paths. There isn't necessarily patrols per say, but those are the areas you'll most often find the soldiers. There won't be too many in your way, I'll make sure of it." Pride was beaming of the man so bright you would be able to shield your eyes from it. "Oh," he said, "how could I forget." He reached into his crate like a boy reaching a prize in the treasure chest of a doctors or dentist office. "You get three flash grenades between the two of you. Again, you shouldn't need them, but it's better to be safe. Cass, as you go through I want you taking the sound of your movements. Is there a way for you to do this and maintain a closed bubble in which no sound can escape? This way the three of us can communicate at leisure, while nobody outside the radius can hear."

    I can mask any sound and restrict our sounds only our vicinity. I will not however, wear that helmet," he motioned to the ugly helmet before taking a look at the files that were out before him. As they discussed the possible patrols and guard locations he took special note of any hallways, corridors, and any other area which the acoustics would be the loudest. "We'll not even make a sound. If done right, no one will know we are there until it's too late."

    "You don't have to, but they're suppose to stop bullets. If you're willing to take the risk, you're free to opt out of wearing it. If we do a good job you won't need them anyway. I'm liking this attitude better than the one you had at the steakhouse, which is good, because it's a lot easier to protect those you respect than those that disrespect you. And Max, I hope you can melt iron."

    Funny considering whose talking

    "Aye, I can melt iron," she said, glancing at Cass. "But you might want to cover your eyes when I do."
    "I'll cover my eyes, don't worry."

    The two paused to most likely go over the plan so they know exactly what to do ahead of time. Cass will mask their noise coming in, making their way through the halls along with whatever noise Max creates as well as using the muffle as a failsafe if one of them gets clumsy. They needed to trust each other fully if this was going to work. They were out in the field not the recruiter.

    "Alright, so are we ready to go? Everything sorted?"

    Lets get this over with. We've been here long enough"


    "Yes. We're ready. Take your gear and let's go, cars out front." The man lead them to the parking lot across the apartment. The car was pristine as if just gotten the day of. Cass smiled and waved for Max to take the front seat seeing as how he is a gentlemen. The trip was long enough but it seemed even longer due to the anticipation of it all. The silence was never broken until the driver spoke up, "I've thought about how I'm going to reward you." He said. "If you want money I can arrange that, but once I get all five of you out alive we'll head back to mine and celebrate. As far as I'm aware the channels haven't faced any real harm yet, but if we don't act now they surely will. I've done my best to inform you, but if you have any questions ask them now. We're nearly there."

    The group was nearing the location, prompting silence once they saw the area. The building was a typical warehouse; giant sliding doors for whatever sized cargo they could have gotten, boxes old and new stacked up, along with another building attached which would be the holding cells along with the common spaces for supply house.They started their way inside the main part and decided to slowly make their way to the holding cells. "We can enter anyway we want. I can muffle the noise to where it's non existent. Although the bigger it is the harder it can be."

    "Alright. Ready to do this Max?"
     

    Daryl Dixon

    Absentee
    [OOC: I swear this beginning here isn't just random exposition [emoji23]]


    "Oh Levi? Yeah he can be a kind 'Chuck a tantrum in the middle of the aisle' kind of guy when pushed..." Kathryn said to Paige, whom Levi had offended. "What does that even mean?" Paige asked curiously. "It means like, I don't know, doesn't care who can see. In clear view of the others, you know..." She tries to explain. "That's why your asshole friend could tell everyone what he did, he didn't care and said what he wanted."

    "He's the asshole.. He was so rude to Clarissa. He told her to eat pl*ps and choke on it." Paige retorted. "Did you see how rude SHE was being!? People need to cut him some slack. " Kathryn wouldn't let Levi's name drag through the dirt. He was homeless, near friendless and was being hunted already. He didn't need more bullying, even if it was cyber.

    "If you're going to defend him you're just as bad as he is."

    The two bickered some more and parted. Levi was losing it lately, she was worried about him. Who knew what that kid got up to. He had sent her a worrying message last night. He was assaulted by some Americans. He didn't say what happened after, she could only hope he was alright. She sent him a reply.

    ––––––––

    "Hey, Alice" Levi types. He backspaces. "Hey," He types. He backspaces it again. He begins typing once more. He was anxious and indecisive as of late, he was experiencing many changes and was uneasy.

    "Hey Alice, how are you? I hope nobody said anything mean about you today, because I think you're great. You shouldn't keep letting people push you around or it is never going to stop. But I'm sure you've heard this a thousand times."

    He knew all of this was cheesy, but Alice was a beautiful young girl who did not deserve to be picked on. He didn't know what she looked like exactly, he'd never met her, but she was very innocent and beautiful on the inside from what he had gathered.

    "Today a homeless guy took me in after I rode my bike halfway across the suburbs. I'm staying here for now, the people that chased me might catch up and hopefully they go past or give up. I made it rain down heavy, so that would have made it harder for them."

    He wasn't sure if this was the right thing to say, he didn't want her to know he was homeless but he needed to vent. He didn't nessesarily mind too much if she knew, but it was somewhat embarrassing that his mother wasn't taking care of him or giving him the means to do so himself. Especially in a foreign country. They weren't citizens.

    "Even when humans don't know I'm a channel they try and abuse me. Humans, weird right? That I can't be considered one of them anymore. Their laws I never really cared for, I didn't go out of my way to break them but whether something was legal or not didn't factor into my decision making process. For example, trespassing on school grounds to shoot hoops. Harmless things like that. "

    He tended to stray from the point quite often, his brain was like that. Random information being thrown around all over the place.

    "But now just being who we are is illegal, so I refuse to take them seriously. They don't even refer to us as human. How did channels even come to be? Are we the result of some kind of messed up experiment? Today I had a huge fight with my mother, she said she'll 'come back' when she's ready to see me again.... I don't get it.... Leaving me out here alone? How will she even find me, I'm moving all the time. Idk... She's a channel, so I'm not worried about her. It's weird to think how rare channels are, then to have a direct relative also a channel. Doesn't help that she's a massive bitch. At least she knows what it is like to be one of us. Not that she seems to give a pl*ps."

    Levi looked up and around, he was slouching against a wall under a bridge and it was raining. He saw the homeless guy that had let him stay under his bridge on the street with a cup for money, and nobody out to give him any. The rain slowed to a stop, and the clouds moved out of the suns way letting more light shine through. Levi gave a lousy half smile, hoping the streets would get busier.

    "We don't belong in this world, Alice."

    Levi was angry as he thought about their circumstances. For how bad he thought he used to have it, he would kill to have his old life back. He was one of the many disoriented channels with nobody to turn to for protection.

    "I'm trying not to be noticed, but it seems everywhere that I go there's people who have it out for me. I can't just kill them. Well I could, but.... I wouldn't. And sometimes it is so hard to just get around. Where am I even going? I don't even know where I will be tomorrow night, let alone in a year. Probably dead or in some Channel prison.

    Sometimes I think I should just kill them. Kill them all. Not the people who are okay, but the discriminating protestors, the SDD and everyone who tries to pick on us. They'd do the same to me. But I'll be fine as long as there's charge in my phone, even if 90% of the time I'm alone."

    Levi thought about cancelling the whole message and just asking how Alice was, but he desperately needed her council. He knew she had some words of comfort tucked away somewhere and right now that's what he needed. He was losing his way, he knew it, and he was afraid of it.

    "I seen something on the news the other day, I think there's a channel around here... I'm not sure if I should be glad or afraid of it. Im trying to find them but I think they're moving. I don't know.
    But back to you, stay safe. Let me know about anything that happens please, and if you ever need me there I'll come for you. It may sound creepy, but I swear I'm not some 50 year old pedo. I'm only 36;)"

    It was a really long message, Levi realized, but being homeless and having only his bag, bike and phone he didn't really have much to do. Alice encouraged him to open up, but he wasn't sure if she expected so much trouble. He was venting in as gentle a way as he could, but there was a lot of complaints.

    "Stay safe, sorry for the complaints. I gotta go now." Levi sends the message, ending it rather abruptly.

    He got up, took his headphones out of his pants pocket. He was wearing a red shirt and cargo pants, he slung his backpack over his shoulders and picked up his bike. He had 67%, he needed to find a library or some other public place he could plug in his phone before it died. He went through his phone a bit, chose the song 'Cinderella man' by Eminem and couldn't help feel like it was relatable to himself with 1 particular line.

    "There's a storm coming that the weather man couldn't predict," Eminem rapped into Levi's ears. "You're god damn right." Levi thought to himself. He always dreamed of having powers, but he can't exactly do what he thought he could do. He imagined being praised and saving people, not on the run from the government. How did spiderman get away with it? He bike rides through the streets for hours. He makes his way onto the side of a huge motorway, cars flying past at 110kph. He slows his bike to a stop and rests for roughly fifteen minutes, wishing he could just rocket through the air without a care in the world.

    He could, but his mother couldn't, where was she? This has happened before and once she didn't show up for nearly 3 weeks, this time it had been 4 days. He didn't want to get too far. His mother had kicked him out, he was waiting and depending on her calling him back. Often she would kick him out and a day or week later she would threaten to call the police if he didn't return. Levi's phone goes off and he checks it, "Heading back to Australia to deal with some family issues. Won't be back for a few months. Love you xoxo"
    "What the absolute fl*ff!?" He shouted. He got off his bike, and prepared to crush his bike with his mind. That way he could travel, fly, without having to carry his bike and to let off the frustration that filled him. He couldn't bring himself to do it, this bike had served him for so long. Helped him get away from so many bullies before he had powers, it had just done so much.

    He picked it up and concentrating on lifting both himself and his bike with his mind. It was clunky, but he managed. He didn't care who saw him. He made his way to where he had spent the night before. It didn't feel like the trip was a waste as it was mostly just to kill time. He enjoyed riding, only now he was alone and needed to have as little burdens as possible. With these new powers, it was sadly a burden.

    An hour later, the bike had been donated to the homeless man. He had his backpack on, but that was it. It only had 3 water bottles and a jumper in it, the rest of his possessions were in his pockets. Ultimately he left the bag with his water and jumper with the homeless man too. He wasn't sure if the man needed the bike, but he had graciously accepted. At least he could probably sell it despite it's rather used condition. Levi went into an alleyway and began to cover the sky with clouds. He concentrated on propelling himself into the air, and in a controlled state, began to float. Then he flew.

    The conjured clouds masked his flying, so no one down below would see him and he could truly be alone. He could be at peace up here, but he was still angry. He decided he would head to the airport and follow a plane heading for Australia, hopefully he could keep up flight for that long. If he stayed here he was dead anyway. He knew people in Australia, he knew the people, the culture and the way of life. Along with the metric system and degrees over farrenheight.

    He made his way to the nearest airport, receiving directions from his phone. He stopped around 15 minutes away, and made his descent to the ground. He couldn't land closer as it was too high profile, he landed on a roof and made his way suspiciously through the building.

    As he walked the streets he was pissed off and angry, the streets were busy and the buildings tall. As he was walking he bumped into someone and the man in his mid thirties spilled his coffee all over himself. "What the hell, you fool!?" He spat at the 17 year old. "It was a mistake." Levi grunted, pissed off himself. "I don't care kid, look what you've gone and done! I work 12 hour days, I rarely get a break and I need this coffee-" The man started rambling on, and Levi just zoned out gazing into space as he mentally beat this man to death.

    "Oi! Are you listening to me? Un-freaking-believable. You people are the worst kind. You people... Just-" The man was ranting, Levi cut him off. "You know what?" Levi snapped, "You're making me so mad I could just..." He began, then there was a thundering sound from the sky. He was drawing in a storm with his emotions and he lifted the overweight middle aged businessman with his telekinesis. The unnamed mans demeanour changed instantly, shifting from one of anger to one of cowardice and fear.

    Levi slowly started to crush him, his eyes filled with a hatred and rage only the man on the receiving end of pain could see. Until at the back of his head his conscience kicked back to life, and he let the man down. He ran off behind Levi shouting in fear, warning people of the dangerous monster. Levi continued toward the airport as the man ran away from it.


    When Levi entered the airport he noticed the crowds were fleeing, he made his way through the lobby and to where one would board the planes. A plane had just arrived in from Greece. There was a few chairs, a receptionist desk and a huge open space. At first he thought people had somehow how managed to get the fat mans warnings.

    Until he found the most surprising feature of all, a young woman with a gun to her head. There was a lot of soldiers, SDD, and this woman had her hands and legs bound. "She was attacking some civies, we got her under control quick. Damn Hunters." A soldier reported it on his radio. Levi's heart sunk and he felt nautious, he was about to take on the SDD. He had to.

    This must have only just happened as now people were being guided out by police.

    Morally he couldn't let this happen, she was more than likely one of his kind. He could have someone like him right there in front of him, someone like him. Someone who was actually with him, not just on the internet. It would be someone new.

    News reporters were already in, with at least 2 helicopters. He called in a powerful thunder storm, it slowly rolled in over the river. Using his telekinesis he broke apart her restraints, she looked up as a soldier whacked her across the face. "It wasn't me!" She pleaded, Levi knocked down the four surrounding soldiers with a telekinetic push. He ran over to her, put a hand on her shoulder. "We're leaving, now!" He yelled. They both got up and began to run, using their powers to incapacitate anyone that got in their way. The storm only made things dramatic thus far, but he had a trick up his sleeve and a dangerous idea in his mind. He noticed her powers were somewhat strange. She was drawing off of glass, and hurling it toward the victims. It was lethal.

    They ran out of the airport via shattering the glass that made up the walls and proceeded to run out into the streets. "Man how many of these guys are there!?" Levi shouted as bullets came flying their way. He managed to shield them via telekinetic shield for a split second, but it wouldn't save them.

    With all his might he stirred the winds, he held up his arms and drew in the storm so it was right above them and he created a tornado. He made it push out in front of them at their 10 o clock, but with the powerful wind and most things being flung into it the air the woman he had saved was knocked over the back of the head with a bin. "Oh come on!" He shouted, this tornado wouldn't last very long. It wained on his energy and he had to stop it before it destroyed the city. He scooped her and a bag by her side into his arms and began to run, since she was unconscious he lifted them both up and flew as fast as he could muster.

    He flew for a solid hour in one direction, until suddenly he couldn't take it anymore. He began to descend a bit too fast, and realized he couldn't carry her anymore. His arms felt like jelly, he dropped her and she made her way down the what he thought was 50 thousand feet. He wasn't worried, until he seen he wasn't as high up in the air as he thought. They were about the height of what he thought was equivalent to the Empire State doubled, she had about one minute before she turned into paste.

    He flew down as fast as he could and caught her, then steadily landed on a long road in Nevada. It was mountainous and dry all around them, they were in the middle of nowhere. He lay her down on the side of the road, then lay down himself. He wanted to give her something to use as a pillow but he didn't have his bag or jacket anymore and using his arm would creep her for when she was awake. Then he remembered it, she was hit on the back of the head.

    She could have a concussion.

    He got up and frantically bolted over to her, he rolled her onto her side and checked her head. He felt where there seemed to be a little bit of blood in her hair, but he wasn't sure it was hers. Feeling the back of her head revealed a slight lump. He decided to leave her rolled onto her side as it kept the wound off of the ground, even though it doesn't seem to have opened her head. He was far from a doctor. He sat next to her for quite sometime, with her back toward him.

    He was physically and mentally drained, creating the tornado and flying for this long really look it out of him. He felt like if he used anymore of his powers his mind would burst, it hurt, he needed a rest. It was like he just did a massive workout at the gym and went way above his weight class, not that he went to the gym. The tornado was a trick he learnt in Australia. It was rather exciting, yet scared some of his old friends.

    Around half an hour passed when he heard a soft groan coming from the girls lips, and her breathing increased in pace. He put his hand on her shoulder before she had a chance to get up. If he could keep her calm, this situation would be a whole lot better.

    "It's okay, you're safe now, you hit your head while we were escaping." Levi said, "I saved you. Try not to get up too fast. Do you remember what happened"

    Events transpired and he found himself in a hotel with her. He had just woken up from a good nights rest. The two had gotten along fairly well, it turned out her name was Evelyn and she was quite rich. She graced him with a stay in a very high class hotel that they had found. In her bag she had a laptop and few other gadgets. It felt almost criminal to have his own room, they were very expensive and large.

    They had gotten to know each other a little and in the morning he got up and made his way to the door to knock on hers and go see her again. As he unlocked the door he noticed a piece of paper at his feet. "It was great getting to know you Levi but I really had to go see someone. I hope we see each other again soon, thanks for saving me!"

    A half assed lazy reply and an excuse to ditch him. She left her number at the bottom of the paper. He pocketed and forgot about the note. He should be grateful to be in such luxury. He could stay here for a little longer, but he didn't want to. It was filthy. He locked the door again and walked over to the window. The windows made up the wall on the opposite side of the suite, giving a good view of the resort. A pool, a few parking lots. He made his way to the fridge and began to drink. Heavy. He could handle his liquor without puking but a bottle of JD later and he was smashed.

    He stumbled over to the windows and leaned on them. His phone buzzed in his pocket. It had gotten a good charge last night. A message from Alice. He was excited now and a little too giddy for his own good. He tried to open his phone but kept dropping it and upon getting a grip, couldn't put his passcode in. He leaned against the window and focused extremely hard as he input his code. 1 7 0 2.

    The gates of Olympus opened, it felt like, and he made his way to the forums through tapatalk. It was a battle, his head was spinning.

    Levi, I'm really worried about you. Let me start by giving you a big hug, you really need one.

    *huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugs!*

    Now, some of the things you're saying in this message...I'm afraid you're going to do something to hurt yourself. If you feel like you might then please, please talk to me first. I've been down that road and nothing good comes of it. Even in the best of situations. It doesn't sound like you're in the best of situations. I have to say I'm really shocked that you would just...leave your house? Run away from home? You're out in the L.A area, right? What about your mom? Where did she go? What if she comes back and can't find you? You've talked to me a lot about your mom and it doesn't sound like she's the best person, I get that, but she's still your mom. Do you even have a plan on where to go? I'm not judging you, not by any means, I just want to know if you need help.

    Listen, if I give you my number, will you call me? I need to know that you're okay and at least sort of safe. Please don't do anything that will get you in trouble. It's about 8:15 a.m here on the east coast but you can call me any time. I promise I will answer and if I don't it's because I'm asleep and I will call you back as soon as I wake up.

    If it makes you feel any better I had a really rotten day yesterday. I covered it in pretty exhaustive detail with PyroLizzie (Max) and I'll invite you to our conversation once I'm done with this. I could use a second opinion on my bullying plight anyway. In the meantime, please try and keep your spirits up. We do belong in this world. YOU belong in this world. I don't know how religious you are but I believe our powers were given to us by God so we could do something with them. Something that changes this world for the better and improves the lot of the people in it. Stopping someone from hurting themselves. Helping someone with their groceries. Helping somebody at school pick their papers up after they trip. Even something as small as smiling at someone who looks like they're having a bad day and asking them how they're doing. If you can help even one person with your abilities, then you've proven every anti-Channel naysayer wrong. More importantly, you're spreading God's love, his hope. Just as sincerely as Jesus did when he walked the earth, even if the scale is smaller. That should make you feel good.

    Sorry, that was a little preachy, but I hope you get what I'm saying. We have just as much a right to be here as anyone else and if we show the world that we can use our powers for good, for betterment regardless of reward or thanks, then I firmly believe that anyone with a heart will accept us.

    My number's [ERROR: NUMBER NOT FOUND] Give me a call soon, okay? *huuuuuuugs*


    Levi comprehend about 1/6 of what he had just read but smiled anyway. He began to write. "Hugs are funnnmmm. And I'm in Nevada now lol you should check the news. Some lady was about to die and I stopped them. I didn't kill anyone I just took her and flew away from bad peole. I love autocorrect isn't it the best. Guess what I'm having for dinner to tonight. Thank you for your number it's very yummy my namber is fbglpuavetl d97.

    Thank you for your good words I will listen to them later right now my stomach lion is growling goodbye"

    Levi sent the response, not being in the right mind to consider how thoughtful Alice's message had been and how incomprehensible his own. He made his way over to the fridge and pulled out some bacon. He put some in a pan on the stove and some in the toaster. He forgot about both of these and drank some vodka. About 20 minutes later he came back to the pan and ate the raw bacon as he had not turned the stove on. He then devoured half a loaf of bread before tripping over the couch and knocking himself out on the tiles.
     
    Last edited:

    Kaelbu

    Well-Known Member
    Gwen awoke to the dim morning light peeking through the blinds in the room's only window. It took her a few seconds to realize she wasn't in her hotel room.

    Oh!
    A small surge of adrenaline brought her to full alertness.
    Sweden.
    Hal.
    Ryu.
    Stockholm boy.


    Gwen wasn't sure if she'd slept in, or was awake before the others. She hoped they hadn't been waiting on her long, at least. Slipping back into her boots, she hurried out into the main room.

    Ryu was exiting the restroom, fixing his jacket collar. Looking a little more rested, he gave her a polite smile and nod, which she returned. Hal was lounging on the sofa, but sat up straight when he noticed he had company.

    "Good morning," Gwen told them both. Her southern drawl was quite noticeable as her vocal chords were still trying to wake up. Embarrassingly so.

    Hal stood up, holding out his car keys.
    "Morning, guys. Ready to head out?"

    "To Stockholm," Ryu agreed, clasping his hands together.

    Straight to the point, then? No time to lose!
    Gwen supposed it made sense. They weren't necessarily there to make friends, after all. There were more pressing matters to attend, and this wasn't the time for her to find new buddies for the first time in her adult life. Still, she tried to enjoy whatever time in others' company she would have.

    The drive to Stockholm was going to be nearly six hours. The three took the seats they had the night before, and began what was sure to be another quiet ride.

    Ryu stretched his legs across the entire backseat. Hal faithfully manned the steering wheel. Gwen took in Sweden in the daylight, wondering if she'd ever get the chance to see it again.

    Silence.

    Finally, Hal pulled the car into a gas station.
    "I'm going in to pre-pay. Anybody want anything?"

    Ryu and Gwen exchanged looks, each waiting for the other to answer first.
    "Coffee," Ryu said, seeming a little unsure of his own request.
    Gwen smiled, knowing the stigma that gas station food carried. Of course, having lived next to those sources of food, she knew that there was nothing to be afraid of. At least when it came to coffee.
    "Me, too," she said. "Thanks."

    "Sure thing," Hal told them, and with a pat of his seat, he left.

    Gwen and Ryu sat awkwardly in the stagnant car. She wanted to twist around and say something to him, but she couldn't think of anything that didn't sound stupid. It would either seem like she was prying or it would make things even more uncomfortable... or both.

    Much to Gwen's relief, however, Ryu dared to break the silence.
    "So, Gwen..." he said from behind her. "I don't believe Hal ever mentioned what your Channel abilities are. Care to share?"
    Gwen hadn't even realized she didn't know what either of the men's abilities were; the fact that they were Channels at all had been enough to overwhelm her.
    "I'm able to control plant life. I can manipulate, generate, and, um... destroy it."

    The more she tried to describe it, the less useful her power revealed itself to be.
    "So, what can you do?"

    "I've never heard the question asked that way," Ryu responded with a quiet chuckle. "But that's the question to ask, isn't it? I can manipulate living tissue, heal wounds, broken bones; things like that."

    "Incredible," Gwen reacted honestly. In comparison, her botanokinesis was like a parlor trick.
    "I can also halt pathogenic microorganisms within the body. Essentially, paper cuts and common colds are terrified of me."

    "Well," Gwen chuckled in disbelief. "I'm glad you're on our side."

    Before another thought could be expressed, Hal returned with the coffee, filled up his car, and resumed driving.

    The rest of the journey consisted of similar pit stops, but was much more relaxed. Gwen managed to take a thirty-minute nap; Hal would periodically point out how much farther they had to go; Ryu quietly did whatever Ryu did... Gwen couldn't see him without obviously and awkwardly craning her neck.

    After many miles were behind them, Hal spoke up once again.

    "We're here."
    "What?"
    Gwen's eyes lit up. Not only was she excited to know their commute was almost over, but she didn't know if the opportunity to visit this city would ever present itself again.
    "Welcome to Stockholm, folks."

    The city was beautiful. The old buildings and historic feel reminded her of downtown Savanna, but on a larger scale. Trying to drink it all in, Gwen barely noticed her forehead almost pressed against the window until it actually bumped when they came to a stop. They were at a hotel.

    "Let's go get the rooms," Hal said, stretching a little in his seat.

    It being just after 1:00 PM, they had time to settle into their rooms before further pursuing their target. Gwen welcomed the break from riding. It always surprised her how tiring simply sitting in a car could be. Still, she was ready to find the Stockholm Boy, and was sure the others had to feel the same way.
     

    Simus

    An Excellent Site Member
    Alice padded downstairs after sending the message to OrangeDusk. Normally she dressed and made herself presentable as soon as she got up but she was feeling a little slow today. Her dad had always told her a shower would help with that but it always felt strange to her. Alice always showered at night. It helped her sleep and let her go to bed clean and comfortable. Plus it made her mornings easier when she had school. Saving 15 minutes is a big load of stress off her mornings and leaves plenty of time for hair and makeup, which takes about 10 minutes.

    Alice was surprised by how sluggish she still felt considering she'd given herself a good half hour to wake up. Of course she had been in bed that whole time and that was a place her brain relaxed rather than woke up from. That was probably the reason so if she walked around some she'd wake up. When she got downstairs she heard sizzling on the stove and the smell of bacon and eggs wafted into her nose. Her mom, Amy, was at the stove in her blue robe and slippers making breakfast. It looked liked she didn't hear Alice come down so she quietly walked up until she was only a few feet away, rubbing her eyes as she went.

    "Morning mom." Alice said.

    Amy turned around and put her spatula down, then gave a warm smile as she saw who it was. "Hi sweetheart!" She turned her burner off and walked towards her daughter. "You sleep okay?"

    "Yeah, I did. I slept good." Alice said. She went up to her mom and gave her a big hug. Amy gladly accepted her and pulled Alice close, her right hand instinctively cradling her head. "Thanks for tucking me in last night."

    "You're welcome." She said. "I saw you all curled up on your bed and in your jammies and I could tell you were done. Were you warm enough?"

    "Oh yeah. I was cozy."

    "You feeling better about things today?"

    "Yeah. I'm feeling good today."

    "I'm glad sweetheart. You were so sad yesterday. I'm glad you're feeling better."

    "Thanks mom. Me too. I love you."

    "I love you too sweetheart."

    "Where's dad?"

    "He's out ridin'. He should be back in about an hour. I've got some breakfast for you if you're hungry. There's saracha sauce in the fridge if you want it for you eggs."

    "I think I do. Thanks mom."

    Alice sat down and ate breakfast while doing a bit of reading on her phone. At about the time she was finished a new message popped into her mailbox on Channel Surfing. It was from OrangeDusk. She was surprised he'd replied so fast.

    Participants: Starpebble, OrangeDusk
    Subject: Re: How can I help?

    Hi Starpebble. I'm afraid I don't frequent the Roleplay section much, though I've seen your comments in the Rommel debate. I've never seen anyone counterpoint me like that. Given I was going to be a history professor before I went on the run, I'd say you've got a good path in that field madam. I think I've thought of a way you can help us with this Stockholm boy (Stockholm is in Sweden by the way). Once we rescue this poor kid, he's gonna be terrified. Traveling around with 3 20-ish adults isn't going to help him much, as much of a kid-at-heart as I think I am. Maybe you can talk to him via Channel Surfing? I'm sure he'd like to speak with someone closer to his own age. Thank you for asking me, any help is good help. We'll probably come to the States after we pull off this rescue, I have a few friends in New York who may be willing to harbor us for a while.
    Thank you for your help, Good Luck, and stay safe,
    -OrangeDusk


    So this was really happening then. This OrangeDusk really was going after this boy and there was something Alice could do to help. She felt immensely proud of herself for reaching out but also nervous. How long would it be before she was talking to this boy? What would he say to her? How would it be set up? How much would she have to talk to OrangeDusk about this? Would she end up meeting these people? Alice had gotten to know several channels on the site but she had never actually met any of them. Jess was the only channel she knew face to face and the internet being what it is there was a nonzero probability that all the others could just be SDD agents infiltrating the site. This was an infinitesimally small chance but it was there. When her dad set up the site he expected the SDD to stick their noses in and that was why there were certain rules about what people could and couldn't talk about on public boards. So far everyone had been safe but Alice was always a little nervous.

    Both her parents had always told her she had good reason to be. Not because the SDD could use Channel Surfing as one giant proxy informant but because people on the internet aren't always as they appear to be. A certain amount of common sense was needed to communicate on public forum sites like this one. Don't give people your last name or where you live, don't give out the names of your parents, don't give out any personal information. All things a sixteen year old girl could be naive enough to give out but things she had been discreet enough to keep. She had kept herself safe and things had been fun. Could that start to change now that she was involving herself in something? If she ever wanted to meet another channel would that be putting her in danger?

    "Hey mom?" Alice asked after finishing her breakfast. "Can we talk about something?"

    "Sure." She said, sitting down across from her daughter. "What would you like to talk about?"

    "Well..." She began, suddenly nervous about this conversation. Her mom loved her more than anything or anyone and she loved Jess almost as much but she was wary of other channels. Channel Zero had terrified her back in 2008 and she was totally on board with the creation of the SDD. Even today, with the SDD's ranks and power being blatantly abused and being much more about fear than necessity she still didn't think they were completely wrong. "Have you seen that story on the news about the boy in Stockholm who froze every single waterway in the city? And how the SDD is on the hunt for him?"

    "Yes..." Amy answered suspiciously. "Are you thinking of going to Stockholm to try and save this boy?"

    "What?! No! Of course not!" Alice yelled in surprise. She was caught completely off-guard by the question and insulted that her mom was even asking about her doing something so foolish. The fact that she wanted to made her mad. "Why would you even ask me that?!"

    Her mom glared at Alice for raising her voice but stayed calm. "Because you spend a lot of time on that Channel Surfing site. Dad and I were talking about this story last night and it was the big buzz on Channel Surfing. He said one of the users was talking about doing something about it. That's dangerous talk Alice, especially for the internet. You've got no idea who these people really are and with every way you've been feeling lately we're worried about you."

    "Do you not trust me?" Alice said very defensively.

    "I did not say that." Amy's voice wasn't angry but it was stern. "Of course we trust you. We trust your character but we're worried about your judgement. You feel very deeply Alice and with your age, the issues you've got to deal with every day like this plops with Britney we're concerned you might put your trust in someone who could hurt you. You're pretty naive honey and that is not outside the realm of possibility."

    Now Alice was pissed. She knew her mom was just concerned but she interpreted this as as an attack on her independence. This was not acceptable. "Well you know what mom? That's not gonna happen. I'll be the first to agree that I'm naive but I'm not stupid. Yes, we have talked about the Stockholm Boy on Channel Surfing and yes, one of the users did make a thread discussing doing something about it. And you know what? I think he's right. We should do something to help this kid. There isn't much I can do but I'm gonna help however I can because it's the right thing to do. No this person doesn't know who I am and I'm not about to run away to Stockholm with your credit card but if I can help this kid I will."

    Alarm bells rang out in Amy's mind. This was exactly the thing she had just gotten through warning Alice about. Now Alice had gotten it into her head that she was some moral crusader when she was being dangerously naive. She was surprised her daughter had spoken with such conviction however and was caught a little off guard. "You listen to me young lady. You have powers that are very unstable and frankly I'm a little afraid of. If the SDD finds out what you can do they will snatch you up and take you away. After dad and I have lost our jobs. And we've worked very hard to keep you safe so if you blow this it will be on your head. You have no idea what these people are capable of or what they can do to you despite whatever internet research you think you know but if you try and get involved in this Stockholm business then you're gonna find out real quick and you don't want that. I'm gonna say this once: Don't. Get. Involved. If you do you will screw yourself, us and everyone around you. Now if you've got anything else to say to me you better say it."

    Alice was deeply hurt by this. Her mom sounded prejudiced and closed-minded and more than a little threatening. She couldn't see that it was a knee-jerk reaction. Her face softened and her eyes got misty. She was about to cry and she was furious at herself for such weakness. "I've got to get dressed mom...I'll see you later." She said in a barely contained voice. She stormed off upstairs. "Alice? Alice, you know what I..." Amy started but Alice cut her off "fluff you!" She screamed. She stomped off upstairs, stripped her footy pajamas and jumped in the shower, grateful for the water to hide her tears.

    Twenty minutes later she was in her room. Dressed, made up, cleaner and calmer but also more reflective. She had allowed her mind to catch up with her emotions and felt guilty for the way she acted. Her mom wasn't a prejudice bigot. She would never be that. She was scared for Alice and didn't want to lose her to the SDD. A risk that they've always had to live with and was brought far too close to home with this Stockholm Boy business. Now Alice had told her that she was talking with an "activist" and made it worse. She was sitting on her bed and thinking about what to do. She wanted to go downstairs and apologize but was afraid of judgement. Her parents had never judged her for anything so why was she afraid? Because her mother never sugar coated anything for her and was unafraid to tell her exactly how she felt, un-softened and unedited. Her dad was always a little gentler. Surely they would talk to her about this but what would she say? How could she explain herself? Alice wasn't sure and thought the best thing to do was to simply go downstairs and apologize to her mom. Now if only she could summon the courage to do that and face her own outburst. Five minutes passed. Then then. Then fifteen. Alice was getting worried. Would her mother come upstairs and talk to her or let her stew and force her to come down herself? She knew what the better option was and yet she was afraid. As Alice tossed around her thoughts she heard the door open. Her dad was home from his bike ride and she could hear him walking towards the kitchen. Surely he and her mom would talk. That could only make things worse. Alice had to act now before it was too late. With a deep breath she got up and quickly inspected herself. She looked good. Her face was clear of tears, her light skinny jeans were neat and intact as usual, her black T-Shirt was cute and fitted like most of her others while still covering her appropriately and her blue long underwear top underneath it was cute and comfy. Her long blue socks completed her casual weekend outfit nicely. So, resolved to act, Alice opened the door.

    (OOC: Sorry this took so long so I tried to make it big for you guys. There's more coming but I want to get some of it up now. And this last part gave me a big Stanley Parable vibe. As in I was writing it in the narrator's voice. Life is strange.)
     

    Blitzz

    A Friendly Brit
    Ryu sat on his bed gazing out of the window of the hotel room, furiously studying the passersby on the street bellow. This part of the world was all new to him; it had been difficult to imagine anywhere in the world looking different to Japan until now. It was a little past 1:00 PM and the group had separated to their individual rooms for short break, one that Ryu was glad of. The journey had been excruciatingly awkward, and even when he had tried to spark a conversation it had swiftly died out. The sooner this was all over, the better.

    All of a sudden Ryu's stomach growled so fiercely that he was sure the entire hotel could hear it. He hadn't eaten yet today, having skipped breakfast, and was only now realizing how hungry he was. Eager to progress towards their objective, Ryu decided to head out and find the others. As he stepped out of his hotel room the cold air hit him like a tonne of bricks. It was bitter, freezing, completely adverse to what he would usually be prepared for back home. Instantly he regretted not researching the climate, frowning at his thin, insufficient jacket. The door clicked shut behind him.

    A few rooms down the hall, Ryu rapped quickly on Hal's hotel room door. A few moments later, he opened it. It was the first time he had gotten a proper look at the man. His blue eyes were an odd dark shade, and his skin was darker than Ryu had initially thought. After a second or two, before it could get awkward, Ryu spoke. "Hello, Hal. I'm starving, should we grab Gwen and go get some lunch? Then you can run over how we're going to find this kid. Assuming you know how, that is."

    "Sounds like a great idea." He grinned. "I'm always hungry. And yes, I've got a plan."

    +++​

    After the pair had collected Gwen, the three of them set out onto the streets of Stockholm, set yet again in uncomfortable quiet. None of them knew the city, so they wandered, hoping to stumble upon somewhere they could eat. After maybe ten minutes, Ryu spotted a small place called 'Vapiano' and pointed it out to the others. It appeared to be Italian, selling pizza and pasta and not much else. None of them, however, seemed in a mood to object, so they crossed the road and found a spot where all three of them could sit. Ryu went up to the counter to place their orders, and returned about 15 minutes later. As he approached the table it seemed as though a conversation had just died down at his approach, but he did not care to know what they had been discussing; it was not important right now.

    All three of them dived into their meals. The food was good and relatively cheap. Still, Ryu would have liked to have gotten some rice with his pasta. About half way through his dish, once the initial desperation to eat as much food as possible as quickly as possible had subsided, Ryu looked up at Gwen and Hal. He smiled, though couldn't resist feeling like it was forced. He glanced around, making sure no one was watching them. The general din of the restaurant would sufficiently drown out a hushed conversation. "So," Ryu began quietly, "the boy. Do we actually know where he is, and how do we get to him?" There was a brief pause as Hal finished his mouthful and readied himself to speak.

    "Alright, so, to be honest, I don't know precisely where he is. But, I know he's holed up in one of the hundreds of forts in Stockholm, and, given the strength of this kid's powers, we just follow the temperature. The colder it gets, the closer we are. Like the warmer colder game, but reversed." Hal looked at the two to make sure they understood, then continued "Once we get there, let's assume we'll have to use our abilities to get in, probably smash down the door or something. At that point, we'll need to assure the boy that we aren't SDD guys, and we're here to help. That's pretty much it. Find the boy, convince the boy, run like hell." He gave a wicked grin. "Any questions?"

    Ryu let the information sink in. It wasn't a whole lot to work with but at least it was something. He flicked a stray wisp of hair away from his eyes and went to speak, but Gwen got there first. "I just hope we don't freak him out too much. I know if I were in his position, I'd be terrified." She made a good point, and it prompted another question to form in Ryu's mind.

    "Good point. What if he decides he doesn't trust us? I mean if we get there, and we can't convince him that we're not here to hurt him, chances are he's gonna use his powers on us. What then?"


    "We defend ourselves, but we don't hurt the kid, got it? If he doesn't want to come with us, we leave. Abducting him makes us no better than the people we're trying to protect him from. If he can fight off 3 adult channels in full control of their powers, he can fight off the SDD." Ryu nodded his acceptance. It wasn't the reassuring, all-eventualities-covered kind of answer that he'd been hoping for, but he did have a good point.

    "Ok then. I guess we should get going."

    +++​

    The trio decided it made more sense to locate the boy on foot. Hal had pointed out that they could judge the change in temperature more easily if they were outside. Needless to say, the lack of vehicle for a quick getaway option made Ryu nervous. Fortunately Stockholm was not an enormous city; it was nowhere near the size of the sprawling urban mess that was Tokyo, and that made it much easier to locate the boy. It didn't take them too long to get a sense for the general direction. Determined, they quickened their pace, and soon enough found themselves looking out over a lake with a solitary building at the center.

    Ryu noted that it was cold enough for his breathe to be visible. The three stood in silence in a row, awestruck at the sight ahead of them. The lake had frozen solid, several inches thick of ice. The fort in the middle was made of weathered stone, slightly yellow in colour. Frost coated every brick, glazing the great stone walls with a wintry sheen. From every overhanging window ledge, every battlement, hung horrifically long needles of ice, some as long as Ryu's own arm. He did take in that the front archway was riddle with icicles, like the teeth in a Lion's maw. Into the belly of the beast, Ryu thought. On the far side of the fort a solitary tower reached up to the heavens, and at the very top the Swedish flag was being battered about the bitter, icy winds. The whole sight would have been beautiful, had it not been so terrifying.

    "Well. I think it's safe to say we found the kid," Ryu said with a somewhat nervous chuckle. It was hard to sound confident. Ryu steeled himself, remembering why he was here. As long as he kept the long term aim in sight, he would be fine. All he needed to do was make sure that he got the kid, whether it meant imploding Hal and Gwen's hearts or not. A sick smile slashed its way accross his face before he quickly suppressed it. "I guess we should get going. It's going to take us ages to get accross that lake, and we're running out of sunlight."

    Ryu stood at the frozen water's edge, watching the way the frost stretched out over the bank before blending back into the familiar brown of mud, painting all it covered a ghostly shade of white. The notion of stepping out onto the ice terrified him. The water was frozen deep, probably about a foot or so, and would have held stronger than concrete. Ryu knew that. Yet for some reason, he was scared of what lie accross the lake, through the jaws of the beast that had this fort in its icy grip. The wind roared fiercely, as if trying to warn him, whipping his hair around this way and that. The young Japanese man was frozen to his very core, his thin coat having proven to be drastically insufficient.

    He glanced to his right, letting his eyes spend a few seconds each on Hal and Gwen's faces. Hal didn't look at all fazed, like the bitter cold didn't get him one bit. Gwen's face was harder to read. Whatever she was feeling, be it fear or excitement, her eyes were as still as the lake's icy surface. At this point, Ryu silently cursed himself for looking as scared as he felt. Gulping loudly, he stretched out a foot and placed it lightly onto the ice, slowly shifting his weight onto it. It held. The next step was easier, and the next easier after that, until the fourth step bought a creak out of the ice, and for a moment it felt as though the crack of the ice would be the last thing he heard before plunging below, never to resurface. When a second later, he found the ice cracked and himself very much alive, it dawned on him that he was about five feet from the water's edge, and the water could be no deeper than a few feet at his point.

    The others had begun their journey onto the lake, Gwen taking small, cautious but efficient steps and Hal leading the way with big bold strides. Ryu took a moment to steel himself, buried his hands in his pockets, and set about pretending to be as chilled as the biting wintry winds. Ryu didn't think his facade was particularly convincing. Nevertheless, he tried his hardest to maintain it. His pace quickened to bring himself in line with the others. With the only sound coming from the thump of the trio's footsteps and the harrowing howl of the wind, Ryu found himself running through his plan in his mind again and again. The Stockholm Boy was the first stop. Young children's minds were ideal; pliable, easily fixed into any twisted shape Ryu desired. Whatever this child was told about the SDD he was likely to believe, and that was incredibly important.

    The way Ryu thought about it, there were two types of Channels. There were those who would run and hide, living a life of discretion and suspicion. Then there were those who realized the true power granted to them by their gifts. Channels were vastly superior beings, evolved far beyond the reach of any mere man. They could rule the world if they wanted to, if they would just shrug off the veil that had been forcefully thrust upon their heads by their governments, their friends, their families, the media. Most Channels were deafened by the incessant reproach of society. They were deaf to the truth, too blind to see their true potentials. Those were Channels like Hal, and Gwen. Ryu was determined not to let another potential savior of their kind be veiled and deafened. He had come too far to lose him now.

    "So," Ryu began when they were about two thirds accross the lake. The sun was beginning to crawl back towards the horizon, not quite yet painting the sky with the magnificent palette of sunset, but allowing the clouded blue sky to begin its fade into darkness. "Say this all goes off without a hitch. Say we get the kid, the SDD know nothing, and he agrees to come with us. What then? I mean, we can't risk staying together after they realize he's gone. So... where does the kid go?" There was a brief pause as everyone contemplated the question.

    "We have to split up?" Ryu wanted to brush the question off as stupid, but he wanted to keep things civil for as long as he could, in order to keep them in the dark regarding who he really was. Ryu smiled at her. "Well, if you don't want the SDD to track you down and capture you, then yeah. A group is much easier to trace. Three different suspects blended into the populations of three different countries makes us almost impossible to chase down."

    "Well, I'm heading to the US after this, I've got contacts there who may be able to help the boy, and another hopeful in DC."

    "He needs to be the one to decide who he goes with. There are enough people trying to take all decision away from him."

    "We could let the boy choose. Though I'd prefer he come with me, and maybe one or even both of you could come with too. I'd love to bring the boy with me to get him to a safer place."

    "You have to bear in mind that he is only a boy. Any decision he makes is unlikely to be a good one. While America seems ideal, it's also a Channel hotspot of sorts. In Japan, there are very few of my kind, and I have an apartment and enough money to aptly take care of the boy. Maybe he'd be safer with me in Tokyo."

    "What makes Tokyo safer? It's the most populous city on Earth, and Japan has a strong SDD presence. At least stateside, the country is large enough we could blend in long enough to get away. Besides, our powers combined could make short work of any SDD man who tried to slow us down."

    Ryu knew Hal wouldn't like the idea. He had expected just as much. It took all of his strength to keep calm and collected, trying to keep the debate casual for as long as possible. "Japan's massive population works to our advantage. It will be near impossible to track down one man and one child in a city that holds millions. Japan does have a heavy SDD presence, but they are rarely ever called upon. They are complacent, weak, soft. They couldn't stop us if they tried. Even if they did, I could make relatively short work of them." Nothing would make me happier. He hoped to persuade Hal but wasn't holding out much hope. If it came to it, Ryu could steal the boy, but he was also determined not to give the game away just yet. There would be more. He just had to be patient.

    "More population means more people to catch us if we slip, especially because a 20-something Japanese man and a 14 year old Swedish boy would attract a lot of attention in Japan. But in America, it's pretty normal."

    He had Ryu there and he knew it. There was no way Hal was going to give this up without a fight. "You say that like you expect me to slip up. I can pass the boy off for a distant relative easily enough. No one would be interested enough to look twice or double check. No one cares. Tokyo is an easy place to hide him." Ryu's argument was painfully weak but he couldn't submit so easily.Now it was just argument for argument's sake.

    Hal scoffed. "You're going to pass off a pale blond boy who only speaks Swedish and possibly English as the relative of a Japanese man? You might as well bring us along and try to pass us off too. You're welcome to come with me to America, but I definitely think that's where the boy should go. Thousands of illegal immigrants slip in every day and don't get routed out, I think we can get in the legal way."

    "I'll go back to the states with Hal," Gwen chimed in, obviously uncomfortable. "Maybe the boy will feel safer with two of us to protect him?"

    Ryu had failed. Miserably. He had come so far, but it seemed this boy had slipped through the net. He only had one option now, and that was to take the kid anyway. "Fine." He wasn't in the mood for talking anymore. They had reached the edge of the lake, and the gaping entrance was just a few metres away. Ryu stood still, attempting and failing to see anything past the gloom of the entryway. "Let's just get this done."
     

    OnlyThePie

    Active Member
    Hal stood with the others, gazing up at the alternating shades of white that made up the frozen fortress looming over them. He was glad that they had come to an agreement on the destination of the boy. The door was ancient and wooden, sunken back into the wall about a meter, a veranda for lack of a better word.. Massive icicles hung down from the outer edge of the indentation, and jutted up from the bottom, giving the impression of horrifying jaws. The battlements of the fort were riddled with similar ice spikes, and the windows of the towers grinned out at him eerily. Hal kicked down several of the icicles in front of him and stepped into the veranda. A dull plaque glistened faintly from under a sheet of translucent ice, but Hal couldn't make out anything.

    Gwen and Ryu had followed close behind, and now the trio stood in front of the massive doors. A sheet of ice had spread six inches or so out of the crack between the double doors, so they were frozen shut. Hal grabbed the handles and tugged, then pushed, to no avail. He grinned at the other two. "Worth a shot," he said, shrugging casually. He considered the door for a minute. The others shuffled awkwardly, unsure how they could really help open the door. "I guess we'll have to break it down." he said, frowning. "Hopefully, I can do it without making too much noise, I don't want to scare the boy."

    Gwen seemed nervous, but she was the first to respond "Alright. I wish I could be of more help here." she said, unhappily.

    Hal turned. "Just having you guys here is helpful, I could never do this alone. Plus it's a lot less creepy if there are three of us," he said. Hal grinned at them, "Watch this." Focusing on a tiny hair-thin crystal on his arm, Hal expanded and grew it into a foot long shimmering orange dagger, jagged and vicious. Gwen gasped and Ryu nodded appreciatively. Hal raised the blade and hammered it into the center of the frozen fissure, grunting with the effort. He gestured dramatically at the doorway. The ice was quickly replaced with expanding orange crystal. The doors creaked under the strain of having the gap expanded so quickly. A rending crack echoed through the air as the hinges split off the right door and a loud thud followed as it collapsed to the floor. Hal smiled awkwardly, "So much for quiet."

    "Hello?" Hal called out, stepping through the broken doorway. He waved his hand distractedly and the crystal dissolved into nothing. He gaped at the room. Composed almost entirely of a white, weathered stone, two tall, brutal staircases led up the walls of the room to a balcony ledge overlooking the main hallway they stood in. The main room was mostly empty, a few cracked chairs littered the area, but that was it. Tattered banners hung on the walls, and a sad, torn, Swedish flag draped over the railing. Ice coated everything. It trailed up the railing of the stairs, dripped down over the balcony, formed slick puddle-shaped sheets on the floor. Hal's breath fogged in front of him. The cold had never bothered him, but he worried about the other two. Hal called out again, this time in Danish "Hallo? Er der nogen der?" Ryu and Gwen looked at him curiously. A creak, amplified by the emptiness of the room, boomed out from a door up on the balcony.

    A shock of pale blond hair poked out of the doorway, followed by a vicious looking axe with a spike on top, and then the rest of a boy. He looked down at the three people standing in the hall. He began to babble in rapid-fire Danish. Hal held up his hands and responded, "Engelsk?" The boy nodded uncertainly. Hal grinned and said, back in English now, "Thank you, my friends would not understand." When the boy spoke, the English was halting and uncertain, and it had a pronounced accent, but understandable.

    "Who are you?" the boy asked, gazing down at the trio.

    Surprisingly, it was Gwen who stepped forward. "I'm Gwen, this is Hal, and Ryu" she said, gesturing to each of them in turn. "We're here to help you."

    The boy frowned, and Hal spoke up "Could you set down the Halberd? We are not here to hurt you." The boy looked confused, and then realized Hal was referring to the axe in his hand. He set it down tentatively. "What's your name?" Hal asked.

    "I am Christian Gardsson. How will you help me?"

    "Could you come down here? It will be easier to explain if we don't have to shout. I know we're strangers, and you're safer up there, but I promise we wont hurt you."

    The boy inched down the stairs, careful to avoid slipping on his own ice. He arrived and stopped in front of the trio. Now that he was closer, they could see him better. He was no older than fourteen. He was a few inches shorter than Gwen, probably around 5 feet. He had wide intelligent eyes, and a skinny athletic build. He wore a pale blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Worn sneakers covered his feet, iced over along the bottom edge. "So what do you want from me?"

    "The SDD are going to raid this place sooner or later," Ryu said, finally engaging in the conversation "We want to get you out of here before they do. We can help you."

    "We have powers, like you do." Gwen said, smiling warmly at the boy. "I can control plant life, Ryu can heal people, and Hal makes orange crystals." Christian's eyes got wider with each word, and he began to smile.

    "I make ice," Christian said. But then he frowned "I made a mess, didn't I? That's why they chased me and I have to hide here? That's why I can't see my parents?" He began to sniffle, and all three of them could tell he might cry. The temperature began to drop even more.

    Hal reached out a hand and set it on the boy's shoulder, squatting down to be level with him. Hal began using his secondary power, calming the boy and burgeoning trust for the group in him, but especially trust in Gwen. She seemed to be good with the boy. "Hey buddy, it's going to be alright. If you come with us, I know a few people who can help you learn to control your power, and I might even have somebody closer to your age for you to talk to, would you like that?" Christian nodded vigorously. The temperature climbed back towards 0. "Alright, you've got a choice if you want to come with. You can go with Ryu to Tokyo, a big city in Japan." The boy glanced at Ryu.

    Ryu smiled at the boy "I can show you all the best parts of the city, and you'll love the food. I also know some people who can help you learn your power and make it stronger." Hal could tell Ryu's charisma was having an effect on the boy, regardless of Hal's ability. Gwen and Hal might look like your favorite cousin or aunt or uncle, but Ryu looked like the cool guy who everybody wanted to know and hang around with.

    Hal jumped back in, "OR, you can come with Gwen and I to the United States. We're probably going to visit New York. They say it's the greatest city on earth." He smiled at the boy "And they serve killer hotdogs."

    Christian looked at them. First at Ryu, then Hal and Gwen, then back to Ryu. Hal noticed they had unintentionally separated themselves. Finally, he nodded. "I will go with Gwen and Hal." Inwardly, Hal pumped his fist and jumped around like a madman. Outwardly, he smiled warmly.

    "Alright buddy, grab anything you need and let's get out of here."

    +++​
    The four stood in Hal's hotel room. After they had gotten off the lake, the ice was already starting to melt off the fort. It must have been some combination of the effects of the boy's location and his emotional state. Ryu looked at the three of them. He seemed tense. After a minute, he smiled uncomfortably. "I'm going to head back to Tokyo as soon as I can then. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to assist you."

    Hal smiled. Despite their disagreement, Hal liked the man. "Hey, if you need help, you can call anytime."

    Gwen smiled and shook his hand, as did Hal. Christian waved as Ryu opened the door. He turned back and smiled and waved one last time, and then he was gone. Hal sighed. "So." he looked at the pair in front of him. The trio could probably pass for a young couple watching their nephew, or a group of oddly distanced siblings. Hal was optimistic. They would make it. "I guess we're going to America." he said, smiling.

    Christian looked at Hal. "I just have one question. What is a hot dog?" he said.

    Hal laughed. "Only the best meat tube money can buy!"
     

    Destiny

    The Fox
    "Checkmate" I said with a slight smile, an arrow soaring through the sky, ripping the air as it flew. The last kill. A victory screen popping up, it was over. I smiled and said "and that's that guys, see you next stream tomorrow, same time, same place, different games, send me your requests at Facebook, twitter and YouTube in the comment section at The Fox. Thank you for subscribing everyone, hope I haven't missed anyone. Ciao!" And with that the stream ended. "Hey Val, you done yet?" a male voice echoed "Yes Ezio, I finished streaming, what do you want?" I asked, turning around to see my twin brother behind me "I heard an interesting story about the SDD getting their hands on some files we could use." He said, with a sly smile, fixing his brown-ish hair. "On it." I said, turning around my eyes started glowing bright, i touched my mouse once more, this time not concealing my powers, instead, letting them loose, something I rarely did. In a matter of seconds I had entered the website and started my search, inside the private files.
    "How's it going?" Ezio asked, putting a cup of tea next to me "I think I found it, I'm just deciphering it. It's sureley coded by a Cyber, it's really well done. Almost non human, but..." I replied, taking my eyes off my screen for one second but my hands kept on going. "It has flaws, even when made by one of us." I added, smiling. The SDD have caught a rookie apparently and have made him code everything, such a same for the poor guy or girl. "You got even more determined now that a rookie made it?" Ezio asked, hugging me. I smiled and nodded, returning my eyes on my screen, they were still glowing. Others would leave, my brother likes to be next to me, he enjoys watching me "toy around with codes". About 5 minutes later I had deciphered the whole 100 page file and memorised it. "Well, it's about their new findings... And a channel from our school." I turned to him, rubbing my eyes which had some minor pain. "Don't tell me it's us or Nex!" Ezio's green eyes widened "No, not even Mercury. It's someone from my class. I'll talk to her sometime tomorrow" I replied, getting up "Where's Nex?" I added, oppening my room's door "Your 'Boyfriend' went for jogging. Mum and Dad are at work and will go to a buisness dinner at 7 pm and Luna is at her friend's house. Oh and I got a party to go to tonight, wanna come?" I chuckled "Parties and I don't mix, you know that." "I didn't see you have any probs during the summer. When you almost always dissapeared with NEXCEVIS" He said, giving a great emphasis to that name. "He's my best friend... I couldn't do such a thing" I said, passing the door and going downstairs, through the glass staircase with the black and chrome frame.
    We passed the time messing around, he told me about the party and his day, I told him about mine,how plopsty school was and everything in general. "So will Nex come to the party with you and Mercury?" I asked, blushing "Oh, amore (love) is a wierd thing, si? (yes?) " "Si... umm WAIT NO" I yelled,my face feeling like it was brght red "I can read you you know, the sound of your heart every time you hear his name is a bella melodia (beautiful melody) , trust me" He winked "How are things going with you and...?" I was going to ask but got interrupted " We broke up, no big deal. "He he said, sipping some water. "Oh, ok"
    Time passed little by little until it was finally 6:30, Nexcevis still wasn't home, our parents had just come and were preparing to leave again "Pregonaci per favore per lasciare" (OCC: Idk if it's right, i just forget everything if I haven't wrote or read it in a long while) My father said. We tried to keep speaking italian at home, even Nex has learned some things, Ezio and I only know the basics though, as we left Italy when we were 3 years old. "We know dad, have fun" We said simultaneously (with Ezio) as mother came downstairs "Mama mia, tu sei bella!" Ezio said, hugging out mother "Grazie" My mother said, shining with happiness "But It's true" I said, looking at the clock. "I'm sure he will be just fine. He's a grown man" Mother said, smiling. "Alright." I said, smiling. "Where are you Nex? I'm getting worried" I thought, letting out a sigh, as my parents left.
    Ezio got ready for the party and I had a shower, my mind was on Nex, is he ok? Should I enter his phone to see where he is? I should, I thought as I let my mind loose, touching my own phone. as soon as I concentrated, the bell rang and I bolted downstairs, still in my PJs only to see Nex and Mercury talking to my brother. "Nice leopard print PJs" Mercury teased me, fixing his golden-blonde hair "Where's your tail kitty?" He added, coming closer to hug me, which I refused politely as my hair was wet "Why are you in PJs, you're not coming?" He asked "No, thank you. I will stay inside, not feeling too good. Have fun though." I smiled "Ok we'll see you guys later." Ezio laughingly said, leaving the house with Mercury. Nex smiled "So you were worried" He teased me"Of course, you were jogging for hours" I said, frustrated "GO shower and come downstairs." I said, practically yelling, which he aggreed to and rushed upstairs, i on the other side went to change and dry my hair.
    After I dried my hair, I tied it up in a Ponytail and put on my neon blue tight sweatpants and a black tank top, as well as a pair of black fuzzy socks and my slippers and went downstairs. "Hello watashi no Kitsune(Hello my demon fox(rough translation, look up kitsune) )" Nex teased me "Hello mr always late" I said,sitting on the couch, he seemed to kinda get irritated by that" I'm sorry... I just got worried." I said, hugging him tightly "It's alright" He replied, smiling "So, wanna play videogames or go for a walk?" I asked him "i haven't had time to hang out with you for a while so I wanna make the most of it" I added " it is still early we can play some vids for some time and then if we are in mood we can order, or i can cook us something" He blushed ""Hmm I can help" I teased him, playing with the strings of his hoodie "so, what are you in for? I want something competitive" I added, burrying my head on his neck "To spice things up, i wanna make a bet" I looked at him in a playful way, my eyes shining in the dim lighting, he just looked so handsome, my heart was racing "what do you mean? You know i am not as good as you in many games." He said, smiling "So, the bet... If I win, you have to tell me your biggest secret... The one thst seems to be troubling you these days" I demanded with a serious expression "And also.... Nevermind, just that" Nex evaded eye contact for a moment seeming to think "okay, but if i win then you will answer 1 question of mine" I got right into his field of vision " Is something wrong? You've been evading me for a week now" I said, concerned, he felt awkward so I put a distance between us and changed the subject "Let's see, oh I know! Assassin's creed on the VS mode" (OCC: Let's assume it was made *sigh*) "oh god. I think we already know the winner but it was my bad not agreeing after we decided the game" Nex let out with a sigh.
    They played for an hour or so, until their stomachs rumbled "Well that was a good game. 4-3 (4- Valentina, 3 Nexcevis) close one" I smiled but quickly realized we were sitting really close to each other, but staying there nonetheless, we were never awkward about things like that so I let it be. "so, you have to tell me your secret" I said, laying my head on his shoulder. "I really love it when you do that" Nex said after some seconds as he pat my head on his shoulder
    She smiled "still evading the subject, don't stall baka! (OCC: meaning Idiot in Japanese) Please... We promised to never keep secrets, without the other one knowing" I slightly frowned, he had been keeping a distance from me for a long while(aprox 1 week or so) "just messing, tell me" I smiled bright "I'm here for you" I said, moving my head closer to him, without even noticing. Nex moved his head closer to mine "i really love this smile of yours" he blushed "We're, um... Reallu close to each other now" I blushed as well, but quickly snapped out of it "Tell me your secret." I seductively said, wanting to tease him. He leaned and kissed me keeping the conctact for a few seconds before leaning back and looking at the ceiling. "now you know my secret" My heart was racing, I wasin total shock "sorry i did that but the words just could not come out" His face was bright red "it's ok... I, umm... Loss of words" I awkwardly said. It was my first (OCC: actual ) ( OCC: Her first kiss was with Nex but on accident, blumped into each other) kiss and I was in total shock, I was never interested in guys before, other than Nex, and It was all new to me. " i umm.. Well" I kissed him back, I had no control over my body, my heart just took over " so yea, food. Going to make something" I said, about to stand up ,he wraped his arms around my waist and hugged me close, his heart was going crazy as well. then he looked directly into my eyes "thank you" he whispered and kissed me again. "shh, no talking" I said, starting to kiss him "I really like you" my face was bright red, It felt like a dream and I faced it like it was one. This was too good to be true, he saw me as a friend, he couldn't have liked me.
    After an hour of whispers and awkward kisses they heard the door slowly unlock " Guys I'm home, I brought food" a male voice echoed and Val swiftly left Nex's arms, moving to the other corner of the couch and swiching on the lights via the controller on the black coffee table. "Buonaserra Ezio" I waved, trying to hide what had happened, (OCC: Buonaserra means good evening in italian) It was already midnight and I was starving. "Welcome home, how was the party?" Nex said, as cheerful as ever "it went well, Boring as hell but well, Merc came over as well, he just wanted me to check the coast. Like ANYTHING would happen between you two" he chuckled "No, all good, nothing out of the ordinary" I said, awkwardly "Nice save dumbass" I thought to myself "So yea food" Mercury said "we brought a bit of everything from the mall, couldn't choose" They said bringing in 4 bags from different takeouts "Really?" Nex said surprised. "We were just about to cook " he added "I will go get us some drinks" I said, hurrying to the kitchen, as Ezio and Mercury sat on the other couch. "Seriously though, is sth wrong with Val?" Mercury asked. "Well..." nex looked at both of them " Me and Val... uh...don't get mad! Uh... we are ... together now" "Big news, you already were together anyway" Mercury said, chuckling "You've been dating for a year or so now" Ezio laughed "We knew it would be official sometime soon" he added "it wasn't dating" I replied, coming in with 3 cans of beer and one iced tea. Nex chuckled somehow seeming to know that I was spying on them "i can hear everything, you know" I winked over to them,Nex laughed and then exhaled. "i thought you guys would be angry about hearing that".A loud rumble was heard "Well let's dig in" Ezio said, with a guilty look on his face, as everyone laughed and ate, as well as joked around until the morning.
     

    Viserion

    The Light and Darkness Dragon
    We don’t have enough time!” a man shouted from the front of the building “There are too many, we need to buy some time or else we will not make it” he shouted again “Oh… so they were this many uh?” Nex wondered as he saw the sea of men in front of him “Well it can’t be helped…What do you mean man? We can’t leave this place! Remember why we came here” his comrade said angrily “Who said anything about abandoning this place Merc?” Nex said calmly as he grabbed a two knifes from his sides “I will do it myself, go help Ezio” “Nexcevis…” “DO IT!” Nex shouted again and rushed forwards I trust you” Mercury whispered as he ran towards Ezio’s side who was breathing heavily as he passed ten pieces of paper to Nexcevis. He looked at what was written on them and closed his eyes as he wrapped a towel at his head and then shouted “FIVE PORKCHOPS LA SPECIALE, SEVEN CARBONARAS, FOUR PIZZA DELUXE AND TWENTY TWO FRIED-SECRET SAUCE-POTATOES COMING UP HOOOT!” “YEEEEEAAAAHHHHH” the crowd responded as they lifted their forks and Nex started to prepare the food.

    It was around 6pm at that point and all three of the guys were down breathing heavily covered in sweat. The restaurant had closed and they managed to satisfy every single one of their customers. Ezio fist bumped Mercury and they laughed. “Hey, you pro chef-cooking machine of a man, how are you there?” Nex managed to raise his hand over the kitchen window and he heard the guys laughing meaning they had seen him “Come on up” He suddenly saw Ezio in front of him extending his arm. Nex took it and stood back at his feet. “Good job there guys” Nex managed and they all walked out from the restaurant to take the stairs towards their house “Guys you gotta hurry or else you will be late to the party” Nex said “Will you not be coming?“Nah…” “Why is that” “I wanna keep company to Valentina and tomorrow are my exams so I wanna have a final revision before going there” “Okay” Ezio said then smiled “More fun for us I guess” he beamed and they all laughed.

    Nex sank himself in his bathtub an closed his eyes “What a busy Sunday it was today…” he thought “Man… I got to study the Burgess Shale for tomorrow in Archeology… For real…?” he did not realize that he was falling asleep until it was too late. ‘ Nex, wake up, time to go to school. Christmas vacation is over little guy” Nex opened his eyes and saw a face with glowing green eyes and black hair looking down on him “Tia…” he whispered. Tia frowned “Is that a way to say good morning to your elder sister?” she sulked. Then Nex jumped on her lap and curled. Tia laughed and patted his head a few times. “Come on, come on” her hair fell down again and that that moment Nex saw that part of it, just one small part was white, proof that she was her father’s daughter. Nex grabbed that white hair and played with it. Tia chuckled and helped him stand up. “I will come take you from school today, kkay?“Mmm” Nex responded and rushed down to eat breakfast. The day went by normally, his parents drove him to school and said their goodbyes as they watched their son walk down the stairs towards primary school. Hours passed… It was midday and Tia had come to pick him from school “Gimme your bag” “No, I am strong, I am the man, I will carry it by myself” Nex said and straightened his back. Tia laughed and hugged him as they walked back at their home… Thunder cracked the sky covering the gunshots inside the house “MOM!” Nex shouted as a figure fell down to the floor splattering with blood. His dad kneeled in front of a man holding his chest, blood painting his shirt red “Damn… you… SDD b@stards” he managed before he took a shot right between his eyes and fell down “DAD!” Nex shouted again so hard his throat hurt like it was being pierced. He was prepared to charge but Tia blocked his path with her right hand “Go” she said “No!” Nex shouted again his face going red. Tia turned her head and looked at him with her kind gleaming eyes “Go Nexcevis… you said so yourself… you are a man… men don’t cry…” she whispered. Nex closed his eyes, opened the door and ran to the streets under the rain. The roof of his house exploded and darkness started to cover the area as Tia rose wings of darkness growing from her back as he attacked the SDD officers. “Run…” Nex thought “Run…” he did not look back “Run!” Tia screamed in pain "RUN!" ‘ . AAARGHHHH!” Nex hit the water around him. He looked down and washed his head again. He dried himself up and walked out of the bathroom. He had a pain on his chest. He grabbed his cell phone and headphones and made his way towards the exit. He could hear the guys talking about stuff and Vale had started her streaming and was yelling because apparently she got her first death in a 10-0-13 score in League of Legends. Nex laughed as he walked out of the house and started running. Time passed by easily that way and it helped him relax a little. He did not know how much time had it passed until he got a call from Mercury that he was close to the house. “But you were supposed to meet up around 6:30Man… it is 6:26…” Mercury said and laughed before hanging up. “Oh god…” he thought as he ran towards his house “Was I running for two hours…?” he wondered. He just found Mercury with Ezio at the hall as he arrived “Sorry I was late” he smiled. "Nice leopard print PJs" Mercury beamed “Wha…?” Nex started to say but when he looked on his left, Valentina was there wearing exactly what Mercury just said, "Where's your tail kitty?" He said again and went close to hug her but she pushed him away pointing at her hair. "Why are you in PJs, you're not coming?" He asked "No, thank you. I will stay inside, not feeling too good. Have fun though." she smiled "Ok we'll see you guys later." Ezio laughingly said, leaving the house with Mercury. Nex smiled "So you were worried" He teased her as his heart did a little tap dance "Of course, you were jogging for hours" she said, angrily "Go shower and come downstairs." she said and Nex ran upstairs cuz he was all sweaty again. This time, it was a small shower “Not sleeping again” he thought he said as he brushed himself, wore something comfortable and went downstairs to keep Valentina company."Hello watashi no Kitsune " he said GOD WHY DID I SAY THAT?” his mind shouted just a second ago “Hello Mr. always late” she said sitting on the couch and Nex sulked. He was the fastest of the gank, he was never late. " I'm sorry... I just got worried." She apologized as she came and hugged him "It's alright" He replied, smiling "So, wanna play videogames or go for a walk? I haven't had time to hang out with you for a while so I wanna make the most of it" " It is still early we can play some vids for some time and then if we are in mood we can order, or I can cook us something" He blushed “Too tight of a hug!” he thought "Hmm I can help" she teased him, playing with the strings of his hoodie "so, what are you in for? I want something competitive" she beamed, burying her head on his neck "OH GOD, TOO CLOSE… easy… relax…” “To spice things up, I wanna make a bet" Vale looked at him in a playful way, her eyes "What do you mean? You know I am not as good as you in many games." He managed "So, the bet... If I win, you have to tell me your biggest secret... The one that seems to be troubling you these days" she demanded with a serious expression "And also.... Never mind, just that" Nex evaded eye contact for a moment and thought “My secret uh… I don’t know if you will like it… No! No more hiding” he thought and for a second he could see Tia in front of him making the ‘peace’ signal and yelling “Go for it champ”. Nex laughed "okay, but if I win then you will answer 1 question of mine” " Is something wrong? You've been evading me for a week now” She said “If only you knew…” Nex thought "Let's see, oh I know! Assassin's creed on the VS mode" she said as she jumped from the couch "Oh god. I think we already know the winner but it was my bad not agreeing after we decided the game" Nex sighed “GOD DAMMIT YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE TO DISTRACT ME INTO playing with you so that you get to choose… *mumble* *mumble*” his mind shouted and then it stopped “My mind needs some fixing" Nex thought as Vale passed him the console.

    It was a tough fight but Vale’s experience prevailed “Good game” she smiled “So, you have to tell me your secret" she said, laying her head on his shoulder. "I really love it when you do that" Nex said after some seconds as he patted her head. “Body please... mouth please…” he thought as he smiled back at her "Still evading the subject, don't stall baka!... Please... We promised to never keep secrets, without the other one knowing" she slightly frowned "Just messing, tell me" she smiled bright "I'm here for you" she said, moving her head closer to him . Nex moved his head closer to hers “Head, stop now” "I really love this smile of yours" he blushed “Mouth! What did I tell you?” his mind kept on yelling "We're, um... Really close to each other now" she blushed "Tell me your secret." She said in a tone that Nex could not hold back. He leaned and kissed her “It is so warm…” he thought, then leaned back and looked at the ceiling embarrassed. “Now you know my secret. Sorry I did that but the words just could not come out" Nex said, sure that his face was like a strawberry "It's ok... I, umm... Loss of words" She awkwardly said "I umm.. Well" she suddenly kissed him back "So yeah, food. Going to make something" she said, and started to stand up when he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her close “I am done with you guys, I demand another body” him mind shouted “Shut up” his heart beamed and pressed the mute button. Then he looked directly into her eyes "thank you" he whispered and kissed her again. "Shh, no talking" she said, starting to kiss him "I really like you" “I really like you too” he whispered but she did not seem to listen. Time went by like that until Ezio shouted " Guys I'm home, I brought food" a male voice echoed as the door opened and Val swiftly left Nex's arms, moving to the other corner of the couch and swiching on the on the black coffee table. "Buonaserra Ezio" she waved awkwardly. It was already midnight. "Welcome home, how was the party?" Nex said in a happy tone "it went well, Boring as hell but well, Merc came over as well, he just wanted me to check the coast. Like ANYTHING would happen between you two" he chuckled "No, all good, nothing out of the ordinary" Vale said, awkwardly “Hue, looks like I am not the only one with the mindfart syndrome” "So yea food" Mercury said "we brought a bit of everything from the mall, couldn't choose" They said bringing in 4 bags from different takeouts "Really?" Nex said surprised. "We were just about to cook " he added "I will go get us some drinks" Vale said, hurrying to the kitchen, as Ezio and Mercury sat on the other couch. "Seriously though, is sth wrong with Val?" Mercury asked. "Well..." Nex looked at both of them “Me and Val... uh...don't get mad! Uh... we are ... together now" "Big news, you already were together anyway" Mercury said, chuckling "You've been dating for a year or so now" Ezio laughed "We knew it would be official sometime soon" he added "it wasn't dating" Vale replied, coming in with 3 cans of beer and one iced tea. Nex chuckled “I knew it” he thought "I can hear everything, you know" she winked over to them, Nex laughed and then exhaled. "I thought you guys would be angry about hearing that". A loud rumble was heard "Well let's dig in" Ezio said, with a guilty look on his face, as everyone laughed and ate, as well as joked around they fell down from exhaustion.
     

    Simus

    An Excellent Site Member
    Alice headed downstairs to the kitchen to see her parents talking. She was embarrassed and ashamed at herself and they could clearly see that.

    "Hi there." She said apologetically.

    "Hi honey." Her dad said with a smile.

    "Hey there." Her mom said with a neutral expression. "You feel better?"

    "Yeah." Alice said. "Yeah I do. I'm sorry I swore at you. I was upset and hurt at what you said."

    "It's alright." Her mom said "I'm sorry I upset you but I think you needed to hear that. We need you to stop being so naive. And it's not because dad and I are afraid you'll hurt someone. We're afraid someone will hurt you. You're very trusting and you want to believe that everyone is good. That's not a bad thing Alice but if you don't wise up it will get you into trouble."

    "I know mom. You've told me that before but I'm not sure how I can do that. I can't be suspicious of everyone and I'm still following our agreed upon rules online to the letter. I don't give out any personal information ever and I don't discuss my powers ever. If the SDD finds out about me they could take me away without reason and without warning but why would they do that? What threat could I possibly pose to a worldwide peacekeeping organization when there are much older and much more powerful Channels that actually want to hurt people? I don't understand what they fear from me."

    "It's the threat of your potential honey." Her dad said. "A lot of the SDD rank and file are scared, insecure people that believe all the propaganda they're fed. That makes them very difficult to reason with. I know hiding yourself is difficult, please trust me when I say we know how you feel. But it's for the best."

    "But why can't I just go to their office and tell them who I am? I could become a Registered Channel. Get an SDD ID card. That way I'm in their system, I'm following the rules and they can see that I'm not a threat. Why do I have to keep hiding?"

    "Because it's better to just not bring it up." Her mom said. "Getting one of those cards and getting into their database makes it easy for them to find you if they ever wanted to bring you in."

    "I'm afraid mom's right Alice. Your intentions are good and you're right. Being in their system would help you. Not everyone in the SDD is evil. Most of their officers just want to keep the peace, even if they're scared and ignorant. But there are too many bigots and reckless people for us to know you're safe. The risk is just too great. I know this is hard honey but it's the truth. Your secrecy is your greatest defense."

    "That's not fair. I shouldn't have to hide who I am. The SDD is supposed to defend against Channels, not exterminate them. Everybody seems to think they're Nazis and we're Jews and this is 1939." She sighed in slight frustration. They'd had this conversation before and it had gotten them nowhere. She needed to drop it and get to the heart of the matter that brought this on. "Look, can we just talk about what really brought this up? The Stockholm Boy incident and the OrangeDusk thing?"

    "Okay. What would you like to talk about? You and mom already covered this and she doesn't want you getting involved. I don't want that either because of what we just discussed. That does not, however, mean that you can't talk to OrangeDusk. That's okay. The whole reason I started Channel Surfing is so you could talk to other Channels and get some help. Mom and I are just making sure you're using discretion."

    "And I am using discretion. I've only talked to this guy once and it was expressing interest in helping him with this Stockholm thing. It was never my intention to run of to Stockholm and pull a Saving Private Ryan for some kid I've never met but he's alone and terrified and he needs someone to show him he's not a monster. OrangeDusk suggested I talk to this kid, try to relate to him. I wouldn't say anything incriminating about myself, I promise you that. I just want to make him comfortable. Is that really so bad?"

    "No honey. There's nothing bad about that. We just went over that that sort of thing is what the site's for. But if the SDD are looking for this kid, guilty or not, then that makes him wanted and if OrangeDusk helps this kid escape or harbors him than that would make him guilty by association. You don't know anything about this guy. He might be a criminal, he might be hunted by the SDD himself, and you want to help him. Do you really think that's a good idea?"

    Alice sighed and thought about it for a long moment. Her mom was right. If OrangeDusk was in danger already, and that very well could be the case, and he helped this boy, he'd be in double danger and that wouldn't be good for Alice. Despite what she wanted to do, to disagree wholeheartedly to what her mom was saying, she had to concede to her logic. "No. I guess not."

    "I don't think so either." Her mom said. Alice let herself look sad and her mom felt a surge of motherly pity. She pulled her daughter into a hug and Alice accepted. "I know this isn't what you want to hear and I'm so sorry about that. I really am Alice. I don't want the world to be the way it is. You deserve to live your life as you fully are and so does this OrangeDusk and this Stockholm kid. It really, really isn't fair and I wish I could change it for you. But it is what it is. You have to accept that. I'm sorry baby. I wish I could tell you different but if I did I wouldn't be honest with you and that wouldn't do you any favors."

    "This is bullplops. This isn't fair. They've got us so scared we can't even act. Why does it have to be like this?" Alice broke the hug with her mom. "But you're right. There's nothing we can do. I'm gonna go message OrangeDusk and tell him I can't help. If he's got a head on his shoulders he'll get the message. I'm sorry about this."

    "None of this is your fault sweetheart." Her dad said. "You've done nothing wrong. We're just trying to keep you safe. That's all."

    "I understand." Her smile was gone and her face was melancholy. "I'll send the message and see what Jess is up to. Okay?"

    "Sounds good." Her mom said. "See you later. And chin up. You're doing the right thing."

    "I know. In this case it's just the hard thing."

    She headed back upstairs to her room and opened up Channel Surfing. There was a message from Levi but she would read it later. She opened up the conversation with OrangeDusk.

    Hi there OrangeDusk. I hope you're doing well and found some other people to help you. I'm afraid I've got some bad news. One of those people helping you will not be me. My parents are freaked about about the Stockholm news and they have good reason to be considering their daughter's a closet Channel. I talked to my mom about what you said and we ended up having a fight about it. She's a very wary of new people, especially new people that I meet over the internet, and wholeheartedly believes that suspicion is healthy. I really can't blame her, even if I don't like it. Things got pretty heated when she accused me of being naive and reminded me that if the SDD ever found about me they could take me away for no reason. I want to get registered with them. I want to be in their system, to be a Registered Channel so I can show them that I'm not a danger to anyone. I just want to be a teenage girl and go to school and go to college and get a job while being who I am. But mom says getting registered is dangerous because it makes it effortless to find me. My dad's more on my side but he just can't condone it either. They're worried about me and they have good reason to be. And when they brought up that I don't know you very well and am being stupid to try and help you I really got mad. I've had half an hour to calm down and all three of us just got talking but it's a conversation we've already had before. Nothing's changed.

    So what I'm trying to get at, in my incredibly convoluted, rambling way, is that I can't help you. I couldn't accept my parents that you're just trying to do the right thing and I can't go against them. If you're being hunted by the SDD (And there's no need to confirm or deny that) and this Stockholm boy is than helping you would be a bad idea for me. I'm really, really sorry about this. I don't want to write this but you said to stay safe and that's exactly what I'm doing. Please understand.

    My best wishes
    Starpebble (Alice)


    Alice read over the message and hit send. Giving out her first name was harmless so long as she didn't give out her last. There were millions of Alices in the world after all. She felt a little better now that she'd taken some action but still, nothing had really changed. She wanted to forget this situation. It made her feel sad and hollow. After texting Jess she headed downstairs, zipped up her tall black leather boots, pulled on her black leather jacket and headed down the street to meet Jess at her place. Her mom was working today and they had the place to themselves. it was time they both had some fun.

    The day wore on and Simon couldn't get his daughter's troubles out of his mind, hard as he tried. The entire reason he had set up Channel Surfing was so Alice could relieve stress, not amplify it. Now here she was even more miserable than before. Being chained by restrictions on what was supposed to be a refuge. It just wasn't right. This didn't mean he would go back on what he and Amy had talked to her about. Their advice was good, he knew that, but there had to be a way to make things a little better for their daughter. Maybe if he talked to this OrangeDusk himself he could find out more about him. Gauge his character some and see what he was about. Alice wouldn't like it. No teenage girl liked her dad getting into her business, but he hoped she'd understand. Who knows? If this guy turned out to be decent she might even think him. After logging out of World of Warcraft he opened a browser to Channel Surfing and opened a PM to OrangeDusk.

    Participants: Cyclops (Site Administrator), OrangeDusk
    Subject: Your post and Starpebble.

    Hi there OrangeDusk. As it says above, I'm Cyclops and I'm the admin for Channel Surfing. I'd like to talk to you about the thread you started a few days ago concerning the Stockholm boy. I want to start by saying you're not in trouble. That poor kid's probably alone and scared right now and the SDD are probably all over Sweden looking for him. I'm glad you had the courage to speak out and offer help but you really need to be more discrete about what you post here. Nothing about this site is illicit or illegal but it's an open forum. This means the SDD knows about it and we have to assume they monitor it. That means we can't condone any user who promotes violence or unlawful behavior. This isn't the place for this sort of thing anyway.

    I'm not telling you this to scare you or to make you think we're under the SDD's thumb. There are more than enough militant sites to keep them busy and even with their recruitment they don't have the manpower to look at every site or find every channel. even if they did spare someone to look at us they wouldn't care about a discussion and gaming forum. That's the nice thing about the internet. All the same we need to watch what we say here. Please keep that in mind in the future. And please, for your own safety, don't do anything that will get you, or this boy, into trouble.

    Also, I thought I should mention that I'm Starpebble's dad and she told me you and her have been talking. That's okay, it's what the site's for after all. But if you don't mind I'd like you to invite me to your conversation so I can see what you guys have talked about. I don't plan on getting into your business but it would make me (and Starpebble) feel a whole lot better to know we're all on the same page of what exactly you intend. Thank you in advance and I hope you understand.

    And off the record: If you do end up going after this boy I hope to God that you can help him. Someone has to. Just keep it off the site.

    Simon hit send. He hoped he was doing the right thing by getting involved. His intentions were certainly good, as were Alice's and from the looks of things, OrangeDusk. But you know what they say about the road to hell.
     

    EpicVakarian

    Calibration-Master General
    Max entered the steakhouse with narrowed eyes, looking over each person in turn and wondering if they could be the ghost.
    "Hello, welcome. A table for one today?" The waitress gave her that typical fake waitress smile, and Max replied,
    "I'm actually here with a Fiona Tibbet, lass."
    The waitress didn't seem to recognise the significance of the name, but ushered Max into a booth nonetheless. Ten minutes later, the waitress came back with a meal, and pointed over to a booth by the window, where there was a young man sat alone. He was dressed simply, with an almost shaved head, and appeared to be younger even than Max. She headed over to him, and sat down, eyeing him suspiciously.
    "Ye know, for a ghost you look quite real tae me." She took a bite out of her meal, talking while she finished chewing. "I get the feeling you 'ready know my name, so why don't you tell me yours?"
    "I am only a ghost to those without the means of finding me. As of right now, you're the only who can." The man leaned in to the table, getting ever so slightly closer. "My name is Bryce. You asked me how I did what I did, since you're here I'd be happy to answer." He picked up a knife and fork and began cutting his steak. "The same way I got us free meals, courtesy of Fiona." He let Max think on it while he took a bite of his meal. "I have this unusual power to manipulate technology. This includes the internet. Useful isn't it? I think so."
    The tone of his voice made Max think she might be dealing with an arrogant young man, but the power was impressive.
    "If by useful you mean getting yourself free meals and causing a slight annoyance to everyone on Ch... the forums." She didn't want to say the name in public, for risk of being overheard. "You're really using it for good, well done, lad." The sarcasm shone through her voice but she smirked, suddenly remembering why she was here and straightening her face again. "So who are these... people you mentioned?"

    Bryce rolled his eyes. "Who do you think you're talking to?" He asked. "Without the sarcasm, you would be entirely correct in that statement. Arrogance isn't going to get you anywhere lady, so cut it out and maybe we won't resent each other in the end." Bryce had another bite of his meal belts continuing to speak. "The meal was to get you comfortable and show a little generosity, I like to look after our own." He paused for a moment. "These people I mentioned are victims. When I made myself the most popular person on the forums, I successfully found myself a partner to help me free these victims." Bryce did a gesture toward her as he referred to her. "If you have the stones for it and a fire in your heart I believe you're more than capable of infiltrating their holding cells." Bryce lifted his laptop that he had sitting on the seat next to him and placed it on the table. He turned it toward her. Projected was a series of images on the screen. "The quality isn't great but one looks here," he said pointing to a smaller image at the bottom of the screen, "You would go through that door. I'd have the means to unlock the door and from there I could talk you through on how to get to our dear friends and save them."
    There was a slight pause, then, without notice, he teleported to sit right next to her, startling her a little. He pulled his plate toward him. "After all, if we don't, they're dead." He began eating again.

    The sudden teleportation shocked Max, and she barely kept herself from yelping out. She was immediately more wary of him.
    If he's a teleporter, who's to say he's not a telepath too? He could be hearing this right now.
    She took a look at the pictures, putting two and two together.
    "If you can... do that, why do you need me? Surely you can just pop in, grab them and pop out again." She knew it wasn't that simple, that some aspect of Bryce's powers would lead to him needing her. Either that, or she was a patsy to prevent him being caught, which was entirely possible. She knew, with the help of a techie like him, that she could get in and out easily. Whether she could do it without being seen, without drawing attention to herself... well, that was another matter. Max felt manipulated by this young man, and she didn't like it one bit.

    "No, I can't." He said. "Somebody needs to have eyes on everything at once while you infiltrate their cell block. While you're in there I can redirect the guards and cause all kinds of diversions, but you need to be quick. The aim is that while I send you in there I tell you where everyone and anything is and advise you on what to do. I want to have as little manipulation of the scene as possible to avoid detection. They're going to be in a warehouse that has been outfitted for SDD purposes. In just under two days they'll be taken under much higher security. Right now the only reason they're setting up at the warehouse is because of communication malfunctions. If this is too much for you, you can back out. But I need to know if you're in, we need to act fast. So the question is, how sneaky are you?"

    Max hated to put herself at risk, but aside from the challenge; now that she had the opportunity to help her kind, how could she turn it down?
    "Alright. I'll help you." She left it at that, keeping it simple.

    Bryce gave a smile. "Thank you, Liz." He took his laptop, shut it, and put it away. By now he was finished his meal. "Meet me at the apartment complex on Maxwell Street at 7 PM, mine is 17. Second floor. From here I will give you a brief run down of the plan and send us off to the warehouse on Cromwell." He looked her in the eyes. "You're doing a very good thing," he said, "for your willingness to participate you have well earned my number if you need it." He slid her a napkin with his number on it. "Burn it when you're done."
    Max nodded, almost correcting him as to her name, but she figured better safe than sorry. She grabbed the napkin, stuffing it in her pocket and heading back home.

    --------------​
    When it came to about 6:30, Max set out from her apartment, heading toward the building Bryce had mentioned. She got there about 5 minutes early, but she figured he wouldn't mind, so she gave a quick knock on the door.
    The door opened shortly after, and Bryce ushered her into his apartment. Max had to say, she was impressed. It was spotless, and very well-furnished.
    "Come in, make yourself at home. Was there anything you would like to discuss while we wait? I arranged backup for you, he should be arriving in 10 or so minutes."
    Max gave a subtle grimace.
    "What'd you mean, backup? Another Channel?"
    "Yes, a fella named Cass, if my research hasn't failed me. Take a seat," he said, gesturing at the sofa. Max did so, wondering what research Bryce had done on her. "He can assure you a silent infiltration, and if need be he can hopefully help you escape in the event the plan fails. It's a safety precaution; two Channels are better than one."
    Max nodded, before realising something.
    "Wait. Two? If there's another one coming there should be three." Her eyes narrowed at him.
    "I won't be there on scene with you-"
    Of course you won't.

    "- I'll be nearby, keeping an eye on their security footage and directing you. I will be your guardian angel and your GPS."

    While not exactly instilled with confidence at Bryce's plan, she'd become too embroiled already to back out. She nodded slowly.

    "So this is going to be some Mission Impossible plopse, is that it? Want me to yoga round some laser beams, or rope in from the ceiling?" Her lips curled upwards in a half-smile, but Bryce seemed to either miss the joke or ignore it.
    "No. I would not attempt such a thing with an accomplice on our first... Shall we say heist? It'll be a simple infiltration and body snatch."

    Yeah, simple, just an everyday breach of a government facility.
    "I don't know why you're saying 'first'. Don't plan on me doing this again, do you?" He ignored her again, sitting down next to her.
    "I appreciate you doing this. It's very brave. While we wait, is there something you'd like to watch on TV?"
    "We're about to rob the government and you want to know if I want to watch TV? No, I dinnae want to watch TV," she half-snapped. As Bryce grimaced at her, there was a knock at the door. He got up and ushered the backup in.
    "You're here, come in and take a seat. Can I get you a drink?"
    He looked a little bit older than Max, with long-ish hair and a trimmed beard; and Max had to admit, he was fairly handsome too. She gave him a brief smile in greetings.

    "Sure. Wouldn't be kind if I refused," he said politely, sitting down opposite Max and returning her smile. Bryce gestured at her.

    "This is Maxine. I call her Liz, but that's just because it was her username."
    "Just Max, if you don't mind."
    "This gentleman is... Cass?" The man nodded, and Bryce pulled out two glasses. "You want one too, Liz?"
    "Yeah, please. What have you got?"
    "It's coke or water, haven't done the shopping. Sorry."
    "Ehm, I'll have a coke then, please." Bryce nodded, and threw her a can of coke, taking one for himself and giving Cass one too.

    "I appreciate your willingness to co-operate; we're about to save three lives. Get to know each other a little, I'll be back with some equipment." He headed through a door and left Max and Cass alone together.

    Max grimaced at him.

    "So, Cass, eh? Not heard that name before. Where're you from? I'm from Glasgow meself, though I live not far from here."
    "Cass is a special name for me as well. To answer your second question, I was born in Dallas. It's an hour or two away from here." He ran a hand through his hair, fiddling with his glass. "Well, I'm glad I'm in good-looking company. Let's make sure this thing goes smoothly, yeah?"
    Max's face flushed a pale shade of pink, and smiled.
    "Same here. Let's do this."

    Bryce returned, wheeling a big heavy crate out into the lounge room. He pulled out the items in question as he spoke about them. "Here are two adjustable bulletproof vests. You shouldn't need them, but it's there to be safe. Night vision goggles, please handle them with with care. You'll need these." He handed them the vests, motioning for them to put them on. "Some gloves," he said chucking them over, "helmets." Putting them down on the table, he explained himself. "They look a little funny, but they're designed to keep your hair in the helmet, there's a little net in there. They could probably withstand some damage too. I can't promise you they'll stop a bullet, but they're designed to. Just try not to get shot. Here are your ear pieces. Any questions thus far?"
    He began pulling out some electrical equipment, his main laptop, two monitors and the cords to set them all up. When he had done so, the monitors facing his accomplices lit up. The TV and two monitors on the coffee table all acted as one big screen, as he could drag things from one monitor to another.
    He opened some files and began to explain his plan. "We will arrive at the compound in approximately an hour and a half, I'll park the car a little out of the way but when you've retrieved the Channels I'll get closer to pick you up. There is only five seats, so it'll get squishy in the back. I'm only one man, I can't afford everything. I'm just lucky an SDD shipment was.. Mishandled." He let out a sly smirk as he rearranged the images to show the interior of the building. "This is every corridor, every hall, every room you will set foot in and more. The ones with red lines highlight your route, the blueprints are there on the left. It's just a repurposed warehouse. There is two of them, but you'll only be entering the one. Printed copies of these images are right here, study them on the way." He pulled out three folders. "Grab yourselves one each. I don't want to overwhelm you, so take your time. If you can calculate every move before you make one, success is the only option."
    He gave them a second.
    "You'll notice blue lines along with red, blue represents the patrol paths. There isn't necessarily patrols per say, but those are the areas you'll most often find the soldiers. There won't be too many in your way, I'll make sure of it." He watched them with pride, he was quite proud of what he had accomplished in attaining this gear and willing candidates. "Oh," he said, "how could I forget." He reached into his crate, though it felt like a toy box. "You get three flash grenades between the two of you. Again, you shouldn't need them, but it's better to be safe. Cass, as you go through I want you taking the sound of your movements. Is there a way for you to do this and maintain a closed bubble in which no sound can escape? This way the three of us can communicate at leisure, while nobody outside the radius can hear."

    "I can mask any sound, and restrict our sounds to only our vicinity. I will not, however, wear that helmet." Max snorted and smirked.
    "You don't have to, but they're suppose to stop bullets. If you're willing to take the risk, you're free to opt out of wearing it. If we do a good job you won't need them anyway. I'm liking this attitude better than the one you had at the steakhouse, which is good, because it's a lot easier to protect those you respect than those that disrespect you."
    "We'll not even make a sound. If done right, no-one will even know we're there until it's too late."
    Bryce nodded. "And Max, I hope you can melt iron."

    "Aye, I can melt iron," she said, glancing at Cass. "But you might want to cover your eyes when I do."

    "I'll cover my eyes, don't worry."
    She went over the plan as far as she knew it in her head; they would enter together, with Bryce guiding them through. Cass would muffle their sounds, so as not to draw unwanted attention if one of them got clumsy. And Max herself would have to melt some form of iron at some point; she expected it was probably the bars on the Channel's cells, if they were kept in cells. She had no idea how the SDDs dealt with captured Channels, in all honesty.

    And that was all she knew. She felt like she was being forced to trust Bryce; if he fl*ffed up, she and Cass would pay the price, not him.
    "Alright, so are we ready to go? Everything sorted?"

    "Let's get this over with. We've been here long enough."
    "Yes. We're ready. Take your gear and let's go, car's out front."
    -
    He led Max and Cass to the apartment block car park. All the seats were free and the car was clean as if it had hardly been used. Cass got into the back, letting Max sit in front.
    He drove out. It would be a long trip. It was relatively silent, although Bryce had a few things to say. "I've thought about how I'm going to reward you." He said. "If you want money I can arrange that, but once I get all five of you out alive we'll head back to mine and celebrate. As far as I'm aware the Channels haven't faced any real harm yet, but if we don't act now they surely will. I've done my best to inform you, but if you have any questions ask them now. We're nearly there."
    The car became silent again as they approached the warehouse. It looked fairly normal from the outside, but they all knew (if Bryce's information was correct) that the inside would be quite a different story.

    The car rolled to a stop across the street. Max and Cass geared up, got out of the car and headed round to the entry point Bryce had let them know about. They got through the fence, and entered the warehouse without a hitch. Cass threw up his bubble, that would muffle their sounds and allow them to communicate with each other, and with Bryce. It was completely invisible, thankfully, meaning they wouldn't be spotted because of it.

    "We can enter the cells any way we want," said Cass, "I can muffle the noise to where it's non-existent. Although, the bigger it is, the harder it can be." There was a slight pause. "Alright. Ready to do this, Max?"

    Max's heart was in her throat, but she gave a quick nod.
    "Let's get this done," she said. And, quick as that, they began their rescue mission.
     

    Viserion

    The Light and Darkness Dragon
    ‘…Finally, Anomalocaris evolved into the sea scorpions, the Eurypterids, who roamed the seas as the ultimate predator at that period. As an Arthropod it had a strong exoskeleton that allowed it to withstand the harsh temperatures on land and it ultimately became the first animal to live outside the sea’ Nex put down his pen and looked again at his answer. Nothing seemed wrong so he laid back at his chair and exhaled. “Well that was fairly easy” he thought and then looked around him as the other kids were sweating over their piece of paper “I thought I would have struggled since I did not have time to revise yesterday… yesterday…” he smiled as he looked back at his memories. “Mr. Kurokiba, maybe you have finished but that does mean you can do whatever you want” his teacher said irritated “Please don’t look around” “Yes miss” he replied and fell on his desk bored. “If I did not have time to revise and finished so fast then what is wrong with the others? Error 404 brain not found?” he wondered. Finally the bell rang and the teacher collected the papers. As Nex walked out he could hear his classmates discussing the answers “…I know the Ordovician is the first but isn’t Devonian the second?” “No, I am absolutely sure the second age of the Paleozoic Era is the Silurian” Nex stopped by and corrected them “Actually Cambrian is the first, Ordovician second and Silurian the third” he beamed and then walked away as his classmates were left dumbfounded “What a bunch of blockheads” he thought as he walked through the classrooms “Oh here it is” he announced and opened the door that was in front of him.

    He heard a slight sigh before someone bumped onto him “Hello!” Val said excited and hugged him. The hug warmed him up and his brain stopped working for a second and hugged her back. “Heyo!” he managed and patted Val’s head. She smiled seeming to like it. “Oh...hi Nex. I...didn't know you and Val knew each other. That's...great.” a girl from Val’s class said and Nex looked up. She looked the same age as Val “Maybe they are classmates. She could be Val’s friend” “Hello” he raised his hand at her. "Umm...Val and I were about to go to lunch so I guess we'll see you later?" she continued “Aw…” Nex thought and then took a look at Valentina’s eyes. “Could she be the channel she was talking about the day before? Or just a classmate?” either way, he knew that Val should make friends from her class “It would be better if they went alone, I would just complicate things” Nex thought and smiled “Sure, I just came here to see her for a bit and help the professor with some things he asked for” he smiled and looked at Valentina in the eyes. She seemed to understand and smiled back “Sure! See you Nex” they walked by him. Val gave him a quick but gentle squeeze at his hand without the other girl noticing before they disappeared down the hallway. Nex looked at his hand and smiled “So, Prof’! What do you need me to do?

    Awww man I am exhausted…” Nex shouted as he yawned at the roof of the school building. He ate his second riceball and gazed at the sky. He was not sleeping well the last days. He kept having the same nightmare over and over again. He looked behind him, through the railings to the street. An SDD vehicle was moving through the area as one of the men inside it kept repeating the same words “Don’t let the hunters claim our humanity. They are not humans! They are monsters that want to destroy us and take over the world! But rest assured, the Special Defense Department is here to prevent that, but we need your help. If you know or suspect anyone of being a Hunter, you must turn them in at this number…”. Nex sighed as he looked at the sky again and ate his last riceball. “You know that you are the ones that are not acting like humans here…” he whispered as he imagined that he was talking to the SDD high officers. He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply as he lost himself in his thoughts.

    A loud noise woke him up. He jumped up and looked around in surprise. Smoke was rising from the next block and SDD sirens were ringing. The school alert ran off “Students don’t worry, the situation is under control. Please proceed to your normal courses and…” Nex did not have time to listen to this. He kicked the rooftop door open and rushed down the stairs “Nex…” Mercury said with his sound channel abilities reaching him “I know!” Nex shouted and ran as fast as he could. Students were a bit confused but none seemed to really dwell on the sirens coming from the outside, unless they were someone special. Only a few people would know what this siren meant. It was a sound every channel feared. It meant that one of them was found and would be taken down and captured. “Cover me” he shouted as he walked in front of his class. Nex ran towards the exit. Mercury was a few meters behind him. “Ezio will cover us, don’t worry” Mercury shouted as they kept running towards the smoke.

    Nex looked from the corner towards the incident. Around five SDD agents had surrounded a swirling fire pointing their guns at it and yelling. Nex tried to go closer and he was surprised at what he saw. Inside the fire was a little girl. She had a line of white fur at her back as well as at her hands and feet. Four great red butterfly wings were coming out from her back and at their ‘eyes’ flame was sprouting. The girl had her hands around her eyes and was crying. Her mother was standing behind the SDD officers with a terrified look at her face. When the girl tried to walk towards her, the woman stepped back and the SDDs shot at her. The bullets had no apparent effect on the girl. Then suddenly a big blast of water came crashing towards her and she got shot back from the force of the impact. The flames had stopped and the girl was writhing in pain. The SDDs came closer and she tried to cover herself with her wings. One of the men grabbed her wing and forced her to move towards the cage. Nex all this time was counting backwards according to his plan with Mercury. “6…5…4…3” he got his feet ready and a purple gas started to float around his body “2…1… 0” he shouted and ran towards the officers as a sonicboom came whistling through the air from the roof were Mercury was hiding blasting a car into pieces and throwing everyone in confusion and panic.

    “What the…?” the officer that was holding the girl managed before Nex punched the man right in the gut sending a paralyzing poison through him. The man let go of the girl and fell down. “Come with me!” Nex offered his hand at the girl but she just looked at him terrified. She should have been at the primary school, yet she suffered this much in one day. “Mo…Mommy…?” she looked around and finally spotted her mother amidst the smoke looking at her. The girl raised her hand towards her with crying eyes “Mommy” she repeated crying and her butterfly wings rose again as the eyes on them started emanating fire again and a small circle of flames appeared at the girl’s feet again “Mommy!” she shouted as tears fell at the ground. “Monster” her mother shouted and turned her back as she ran. The girl shouted again so hard her membrane at the inside at her mouth broke and she spat out blood, saliva and mucus. Nex contained his anger and grabbed the now unconscious girl and ran towards the other way. Mercury was there and Nex handed the girl to him “Ask if we can provide shelter to her, at least until she recovers” Mercury nodded and fled. Nex turned and faced the remaining SDD agents that have recovered from the explosions and smoke and were pointing their guns at him. Nex’s eyes started glowing purple and one of his enemies shot but the bullet went right next to him into a wall. Their eyes widened and they dropped their guns “R…R…Retreat” one of them shouted as they looked above Nex trapped in an illusion and they started running. Nex turned his back as he wiped his eyes from both tears and blood looked at the sky as he walked away. It was gray from the smoke. Nex returned to the school. He headed straight to the bathroom and washed his face and hands before returning to class. “Nexcevis! Is everything alright?” the teacher asked as Nex sat at his chair. Nex nodded. “Please tell Mercury that he will be excused for returning at his home for the day. Ezio told me everything, are you sure you don’t want to return as well? You eyes are still red…” his teacher patted Nex’s shoulder “I am good Mr. Smith, please proceed”. His teacher smiled “That is a man!” he shouted and clapped twice before he returned to analyzing the chemical composition of chlorophyll.
     
    Last edited:

    Simus

    An Excellent Site Member
    The rest of the weekend was uneventful and by Monday Alice felt better about herself. She was able to go to bed early Sunday night so getting up the next morning was much easier. She had time to properly doll herself up and was able to get to school looking and feeling good. She was in faux leather today. Fitted black leather jacket and black knee high riding boots over a pale green t shirt, skinny jeans and white long underwear to keep the cold out. It was unusually warm today, enough to where she didn't need her coat, but it was still winter. There was no sign of Britney by her first class and Alice thought she might be in the clear. She didn't want to jinx herself but it was looking to be a good day. Computer science, lunch, world history 2, geometry and then home. All she had to do was get through it.

    Today's class was surprisingly interesting. Their professor was discussing how mobile phone apps work and what their basic coding looks like. Alice was surprised that her attention had been held for a full thirty minutes considering she was usually drifting off by now. Coding and programming was not something Alice excelled at and without her visions she'd be lost. Even with them she still needed plenty of time with Jess, who absolutely loved this stuff. It all seemed so arcane and strange to Alice so talking about something grounded in reality, the programs in everyone's phones, was a very refreshing change.

    They were given a project to design a phone app and have it ready by the end of the school year. It was a group project and their teacher decided to assign them a partner randomly to move the class around. Alice was disappointed as she wasn't likely to be paired with Jess but when her partner was revealed she became very intrigued. She was an Italian girl named Valantina, one of the few foreign kids Alice new of and always someone who seemed interesting but whom Alice had never talked to since they were on opposite sides of the room. Seeing an opportunity to make a new friend, Alice walked over to her. Valentina noticed her first.

    "Good morning Alice, glad to speak with you after so long." Val said, smiling. She seemed pleased to see Alice. That was a good start.

    "Morning Val. Your name's Val right?" Alice knew this already but wanted to be polite. "Yeah, it's nice to be working with you. You and I have never really talked."

    "It's Val, you probably heard Nex or Ezio and Mercury call me that. First things first, if our job is to make an app, we need a stranger computer than these." she pointed at the school's computers "How about, after school, you come to my house and do the project?"

    "Sure. That sounds good. And it's 'stronger' by the way, not 'stranger'." She couldn't help but smile at the girl's misplaced words. Her thick Italian accent showed that English wasn't her first language and she had a bit of trouble. It was kind of cute. "What time?"

    "Umm, around.. 7? So you can have dinner with us as well. I wish that you like Italian food." She smiled. "And good company." She winked.

    "I love Itallian food!" Alice exclaimed, delighted by the girl's offer. "Chicken Parmesan is my absolute favorite, with mushroom ravioli being a close second. So when they're together...oh yeah. It's where it's at. Do you think we could start around 6 though? I've got a 9:00 p.m curfew on school nights and I like to be in my jammies around 7:30. I could talk to my parents about stretching it since this is for school but honestly I'm pretty tired and ready for bed by then, usually asleep by between 9:30 and 10 depending on how long my shower is. Is that okay?"

    "Of course it's ok, you could even come over right after school, my parents are rarely home, with the restaurant and all, so yea... I'll text you the address!" Val said, in her deep and fascinating Italian accent and with a warm and friendly smile. Alice liked this girl already. She didn't need her visions to know they were going to have fun.

    "Great! I've got some other work to do when I get home and maybe take a nap. I'll be done by 5:30 or so so let's stick to 6. See you then though. I'm actually really excited for this and I love your boots!" Alice turned to her side to show Val her black knee high boots over her jeans. They had black zippers on the inward facing side of her legs, low riding heels and went well with her black leather jacket and dark hair. Her jacket had zipped up cuffs and was fitted to her well, going down to just above her butt. It was unzipped at the moment and its top button collar was undone. Alice's pale green t shirt shown through along with the collar of her white long underwear top just peeking out from under. "Mine look pretty good for faux leather and they're both cute and sexy but yours look like the genuine article. Same with your jacket! I love mine but it doesn't hold a candle to yours. Where did you get them?" She asked referring to Val's boots and jacket.

    "Well I got these from Milano on my last trip to Italy to see my family, it was a gift from Father and Mother." She said, showing her ankle high, sort of heeled boots that had a silver buckle, carved leather prints and a silver zipper on the inside of her leg, as well as her short leather jacket with fur on the collar, buckles on the hands and a zipper going diagonally. It was tight and Val had it open enough to show her black Burberry polo shirt from inside as well has her armani jeans underneath, black leather with jeans were her favorite clothing choice. "Yours look equally as good, next time I'll go to Milano I can bring you along to shop or bring you some boots, we've got a really nice quality leather"

    "Really? You'd take me to Italy with you just to shop?" Alice was amazed at such an offer and almost giddy with excitement. "I've never been out of the country and I've always wanted to go somewhere in Europe...I would LOVE to go. If I can get a pair of...I guess you'd call them riding boots, that's what my mom and I have always called the...the knee high ones I'm wearing now. If I can get a pair half as nice as your ankle boots then I HAVE to go. They look really expensive though. I'm not sure I'd be able to afford them..."

    Alice realized she wouldn't after a moment. Her boots were from Target for forty bucks of her mom's money. Val's must have cost two or three hundred dollars. Knee high boots would be even more expensive and Alice seriously doubted her mom would shell out that kind of cash just for boots. She frowned involuntarily and looked as heartbroken as she felt. "I'll just have to try and...do without I guess. I'm sorry. I really love boots as you can tell and I guess I'm just feeling a little wistful today. I'll see you tonight."

    "Don't worry about the money. I have a big family who will definitely take care of you. I promise it won't be problem."

    "Thank you Val. That's...very generous."

    "You're welcome Alice. I happy to see you excited! So it's settled for tonight then. We'll meet at 6 and that will give me enough time to work at the restaurant so it's all good." The bell rang signalling the end of class. Now it was lunchtime and Alice was hungry.

    "Wanna go grab lunch together?" Val asked.

    "Sure. I'd love to." She said with a smile, determined to quite literally turn her frown upside down. "I've got a group of people I usually sit with. My friend Jess, she's over there where I was sitting, and a few guys we play Magic: The Gathering and D&D with. If you're into that sort of thing, most girls aren't. You should sit with us."

    "I'm not just into those kind of things, I geek out every time I hear D&D. Although I've never played Magic: The Gathering. I would love to sit with you, as my brother will probably be with the basketball team." Val said, smiling but letting out a slight sigh as they exited the room.

    "Really? If you're into D&D it kind of surprises me you've never played Magic considering they're made by the same company. I'd be happy to..."

    She trailed off as Val and Nexcevus, one of the most handsome boys Alice had ever met and her secret crush since the start of the school year, bumped into each other and hugged. All of the wrong ideas flooded into Alice's head and her abdomen grew warm with apprehension. Her face betrayed more than a little disappointment but she made the effort to at least be polite.

    "Hello!" Val exclaimed as she and Nex embraced. A tiny part of Alice's mind wanted to flay this girl alive for that.

    "Oh...hi Nex. I...didn't know you and Val knew each other. That's...great." Alice was already jumping to conclusions and she knew she really needed to stop but she wasn't done feeling awkward yet and she suspected she'd be upset later. "Umm...Val and I were about to go to lunch so I guess we'll see you later?"

    "Oh hello." he said smiling "Uhhh...I was planning to have lunch with Val." He said as he patted Val's head "I did not know you had plans." He continued, a bit disappointed. Now that really made things awkward.

    "Yeah...sorry about that. Uhhh...See you later I guess. Let's go Val. The line fills up quick." Alice practically bolted out of the classroom, not bothering to see if Val or even Jess were trying to catch up. She was feeling more than a little envy right now and she wanted to try and stomp it out before she sat down. Val was really cool and Alice wanted to be friends with her, teenage drama be damned. It seemed Jess caught at least some wind of what was happening because she was hustling after her.

    "Alice!" She called from her quick step. Alice stopped so Jess could catch up to her in the crowd of students. Once she did they moved out in stride together. "Hey, are you alright? I saw you talking to Valentina and Nexcevus and then you just bolted out."

    "Yeah, sorry about that." Alice said, not wanting to talk about it.

    "Well, it's okay but what's going on? You look upset."

    "I think they're together Jess. And considering..."

    "Considering you've got a crush on Nex the size of a small moon you're upset?" Jess asked with a sly smile.

    "What! No! W-well, yes but it's...how did you know that!?" Alice stopped in the middle of the hallway she was so taken aback.

    "Uh, it's pretty obvious Alice. The way you look at him when he's helping Mr. Ackerman? That special look that goes on your face when you stare at him? This little number in the notes you gave me?" She held a spiral notebook up to Alice with some history notes and a large green NEX written in stylized text and decorated with pink hearts. It was surrounded by a thought bubble originating from an anime rendering of Alice herself. Alice was red with embarrassment.

    "When did I draw this!?" She exclaimed.

    "Over the last two weeks in history." Jess said, trying as hard as she could to not burst out laughing and not really succeeding. Alice was not pleased. "How did you not realize that!?"

    "Oh like you're one to talk. I had no idea 10/40 was reduced to 1/Marcus Peterson." Alice said, holding a notebook page Jess gave her.

    "Okay...Okay I guess you make your point." Jess said, not laughing anymore now that her own little crush had seen the light of day. "Look, Alice, this isn't that big a deal. I was watching you guys and there are a million reasons a guy and a girl can hug and laugh about plans. You yourself talk and laugh with about thirty people in an average school day and you get hugs from at least half of them. And even if they are together it's not like you're really losing out on anything. Last year you were crushing hard on Michael Howard in Spanish and you've completely forgotten about him now. This is just a thing Alice. Remember Elsa's best one-liner that the internet has totally ruined. Let it go."

    Alice smiled and couldn't help but laugh at her own foolishness. Jess was right. She usually was. "Yeah...yeah I guess you're right. Thanks Jess."

    "No problem." Jess said. By now they were at the lunchroom and put down their backpacks. She opened her arms to Alice and the two girls hugged. It made them both feel better. Then she saw they were wearing exactly the same outfit. Right down to the brands. "Say...we match today."

    "Wow...we do don't we! How'd that happen?"

    "Idk my bff Jill?"

    "I suppose that's as good a reason as any. C'mon. Let's go get in line before they run out of ribwiches."

    "Ah the Chantilly High School Ribwich. The purest expression of culinary YOLO thus far discovered by human science."
     

    OnlyThePie

    Active Member
    Hal sighed and he plopped down in his seat on the plane. Christian sat in the window, and Gwen had just sat down next to him in the aisle seat. While they waited for the flight to take off, he checked Channel surfing for the first time in a while. Pretty uneventful. There was a PM from what looked like a site administrator. Hal began to read.

    Participants: Cyclops (Site Administrator), OrangeDusk
    Subject: Your post and Starpebble.

    Hi there OrangeDusk. As it says above, I'm Cyclops and I'm the admin for Channel Surfing. I'd like to talk to you about the thread you started a few days ago concerning the Stockholm boy. I want to start by saying you're not in trouble. That poor kid's probably alone and scared right now and the SDD are probably all over Sweden looking for him. I'm glad you had the courage to speak out and offer help but you really need to be more discrete about what you post here. Nothing about this site is illicit or illegal but it's an open forum. This means the SDD knows about it and we have to assume they monitor it. That means we can't condone any user who promotes violence or unlawful behavior. This isn't the place for this sort of thing anyway.

    I'm not telling you this to scare you or to make you think we're under the SDD's thumb. There are more than enough militant sites to keep them busy and even with their recruitment they don't have the manpower to look at every site or find every channel. even if they did spare someone to look at us they wouldn't care about a discussion and gaming forum. That's the nice thing about the internet. All the same we need to watch what we say here. Please keep that in mind in the future. And please, for your own safety, don't do anything that will get you, or this boy, into trouble.

    Also, I thought I should mention that I'm Starpebble's dad and she told me you and her have been talking. That's okay, it's what the site's for after all. But if you don't mind I'd like you to invite me to your conversation so I can see what you guys have talked about. I don't plan on getting into your business but it would make me (and Starpebble) feel a whole lot better to know we're all on the same page of what exactly you intend. Thank you in advance and I hope you understand.

    And off the record: If you do end up going after this boy I hope to God that you can help him. Someone has to. Just keep it off the site.


    Hal groaned inwardly. This poor man was terrified for his daughter's safety, and Hal hadn't even considered that. He understood what the man was saying about publicity as well. He'd need more discreet ways to get help if he ever needed it again. He linked the original conversation. Then, he began to type a response

    Participants: Cyclops (Site Administrator), OrangeDusk
    Subject: Re: Your post and Starpebble

    Hello bossman. Sorry to have brought this whole mess down on you, I didn't even think about what the publicity of the site might do. You'll be glad to know I and two others were able to save the boy, and are now en-route to New York. I don't know how we plan on staying there, but I'm also looking for a safe spot to begin setting up something big. I wont go into detail about that now. Since you're a father, I'm sure you can understand that the boy we saved, Christian, is more than a little uncomfortable. I inquired with your daughter about possibly speaking with the boy, giving him a friend you know? If you're uncomfortable with that, we can just have the pair talk over the internet or text, or not at all, but I think it would help the poor kid most if they spoke in person.

    That being said, I don't expect you to travel for some crazy guy on the internet. If you do want to meet Christian, or just me and Gwen (The woman who helped me and, also being a fugitive now, has come with us), we can come down to the DC area. I'm sorry I scared you, wasn't even thinking about it. I'm just some 23 year old with a dream.

    Best Wishes,
    Hal (See, I gave you my name!)


    Hal sighed aloud. The plane rumbled up into the air.

    ++++++++

    The flight proved uneventful. When they landed, the trio got out of the airport, and rode the metro to the nearest hotel. Hal turned to Gwen. "You get us rooms, I'll see if I can scope out food, I'm starving," he said, flashing a tired smile."Why don't you come look around with me Christian." Gwen nodded and walked over to the desk, while Hal and Christian went outside to look around the street. A few restaurants dotted the block, but Hal spotted a food cart. He grinned, and nearly dragged Christian over to it. He ordered a hot dog. The man handed it him, and he paid. He handed the meal to the boy. "Here's a hot dog. Now you'll see what I meant."

    Christian took a massive bite. His entire face lit up. "Dish ish very gud" he said, through a mouthful of food. Hal laughed.

    "C'mon, lets go back, Gwen probably got our rooms right now, and I bet she's as hungry as I am." The two walked back towards hotel laughing and talking, partially in Danish, partially in English. From afar, they might have been brothers. Or father and son.
     

    Destiny

    The Fox
    "Miss Volpe, could you please give us the pleasure of your presence inside our classroom and not in your meaningless daydreaming?” An obnoxious teacher ironically said “Excuse me, I haven’t slept well.” I replied, it actually was true, last night we all slept on the couch after collapsing from exhaustion and woke up an hour earlier than needed. Time flew by quickly and soon English Lit. Was over and the bell rung. “Next period Computer Science, fair enough I guess.” I said with a sigh. I opened the door and walked outside, passing right next to Britney, thankfully she didn’t move a muscle so I didn’t have to reply to meaningless things. Walking outside I bumped into Mercury leaning towards a locker, talking to a rather cute girl. “Odd.” I thought. Mercury was not the type to hit on girls that openly, but judging from the girl’s face the discussion wasn’t that pleasurable. Mercury was slightly frowning as well, he looked concerned. “Lemme guess, he hasn’t told you?” a male voice whispered in my ear and hugged me, I was preparing an elbow hit on the man’s stomach but realized the voice belonged to my twin brother. “Told me what? Is something wrong?” I asked, concerned that it may be for something serious, Mercury may have had a problem “That girl there is Mercury’s girlfriend, Roxanne, or Roxy like she wanted us to call her. Or I should say ex- girlfriend.” He said, nodding towards them, Mercury seemed to notice us talking about them, he knew exactly what we were talking about due to his powers, he was a sound channel after all. “Why did they break up?” I said looking over to Ezio who didn’t reply, I felt a hand on my head, patting me, I turned to see Mercury almost in tears “She’s different from when we were together. It wasn’t me who broke up with her, it was the opposite actually… Seems like we didn’t match.” He said, I couldn’t do anything else other than give him a tight hug. “It’s ok… why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I asked him, stroking his back. He wasn’t crying, he was close, but he wouldn’t lose his dignity that easily. “I wanted to tell you today… to bring her over to meet you when…she broke up with me. After a year… she let go that easily.” He said, we just stood there in silence as he poured out his feelings. He always shared his feelings with us, he cared too much for us after all. The bell rung and he was already feeling better. “We’ll see you at lunch, ok? Come sit with us on the Basketball team’s table, ok?” Ezio winked Ciao” Mercury and Ezio said simultaneously.

    I walked into class and sat down on the computer located next to the teacher’s. “Good morning Professor, I am sorry I couldn’t come earlier to help set up” I said with an apologetic tone. He smiled but didn’t respond. “So today’s assignment and project is going to be done in groups of two.” He said, starting making the pairs “And last but definitely not least, Alice with Valentina.” He said, smiling. Alice huh? Right on target. Time to figure out if my information was correct. She started moving towards me.

    "Good morning Alice, glad to speak with you after so long." I said smiling. She seemed to be pleased by me being friendly, a good sign. "Morning Val. Your name's Val right?" Alice said, maybe she heard Nex or the guys calling me by my nickname. "Yeah, it's nice to be working with you. You and I have never really talked." She added. "It's Val, you probably heard Nex or Ezio and Mercury call me that. First things first, if our job is to make an app, we need a stranger computer than these."I pointed at the school's computers in a tone of disgrace"How about, after school, you come to my house and do the project?". I offered, a nice way to see if she is indeed one of us. "Sure. That sounds good. And it's 'stronger' by the way, not 'stranger'." I giggled at the sound of me making a small mispronunciation. I make that kind of mistakes a lot due to the difference between the sound of the Italian alphabet and the sound of the English one. “What time?” she asked me "Umm, around.. 7? So you can have dinner with us as well. I wish that you like Italian food." I smiled “and good company” I winked over at her "I love Itallian food!"Alice exclaimed, delighted by my offer."Chicken Parmesan is my absolute favorite, with mushroom ravioli being a close second. So when they're together...oh yeah. It's where it's at. Do you think we could start around 6 though? I've got a 9:00 p.m curfew on school nights and I like to be in my jammies around 7:30. I could talk to my parents about stretching it since this is for school but honestly I'm pretty tired and ready for bed by then, usually asleep by between 9:30 and 10 depending on how long my shower is. Is that okay?"

    "Of course it's ok, you could even come over right after school, my parents are rarely home, with the restaurant and all, so yea... I'll text you the address!" that girl is so focused on details, something Ezio and I personally can’t think of outside of cooking and our hobbies.

    "Great! I've got some other work to do when I get home and maybe take a nap. I'll be done by 5:30 or so so let's stick to 6. See you then though. I'm actually really excited for this and I love your boots!"Alice turned to her side to show me her black knee high boots over her jeans. They had black zippers on the inward facing side of her legs, low riding heels and went well with her black leather jacket and dark hair. Her jacket had zipped up cuffs and was fitted to her well, going down to just above her butt. It was unzipped at the moment and its top button collar was undone. Alice's pale green t shirt shown through along with the collar of her white long underwear top just peeking out from under."Mine look pretty good for faux leather and they're both cute and sexy but yours look like the genuine article. Same with your jacket! I love mine but it doesn't hold a candle to yours. Where did you get them?"She asked referring to my boots and jacket, a gift from our parents when we went to visit my family in Italy this summer. Alice’s faux leather was good as well, but it couldn’t compare to Italian leather. "Well I got these from Milano on my last trip to Italy to see my family, it was a gift from Father and Mother."She said, showing her ankle high, sort of heeled boots that had a silver buckle, carved leather prints and a silver zipper on the inside of her leg, as well as her short leather jacket with fur on the collar, buckles on the hands and a zipper going diagonally. It was tight and Val had it open enough to show her black Burberry polo shirt from inside as well has her armani jeans underneath, black leather with jeans were her favorite clothing choice."Yours look equally as good, next time I'll go to Milano I can bring you along to shop or bring you some boots, we've got a really nice quality leather" we always had room for more people on our trips, judging that last summer we took Mercury and Nexcevis along. It was fun, while it lasted. "Really? You'd take me to Italy with you just to shop?"Alice was amazed at such an offer and seemed really excited."I've never been out of the country and I've always wanted to go somewhere in Europe...I would LOVE to go. If I can get a pair of...I guess you'd call them riding boots, that's what my mom and I have always called the...the knee high ones I'm wearing now. If I can get a pair half as nice as your ankle boots then I HAVE to go. They look really expensive though. I'm not sure I'd be able to afford them..." she said awkwardly. "I'll just have to try and...do without I guess. I'm sorry. I really love boots as you can tell and I guess I'm just feeling a little wistful today. I'll see you tonight."

    "Don't worry about the money. I have a big family who will definitely take care of you. I promise it won't be problem." I offered swiftly, we took care of so many obnoxious channels that Alice seemed like a little angel. "Thank you Val. That's...very generous."

    "You're welcome Alice. I happy to see you excited! So it's settled for tonight then. We'll meet at 6 and that will give me enough time to work at the restaurant so it's all good."The bell rang signalling the end of class. Lunchtime, a time where the four “siblings” got together and didn’t care about the drama around them.I looked outside my class door and saw Ezio and Mercury walking towards the cafeteria while talking to two girls in cheerleading uniforms. "Wanna go grab lunch together?"I asked. I didn’t wanna be an obstacle in their love lives and Nex was nowhere to be found… Where was he? He usually comes over the lab to help our professor out. "Sure. I'd love to."She said with a smile looking like my offer made her day a bit better. "I've got a group of people I usually sit with. My friend Jess, she's over there where I was sitting, and a few guys we play Magic: The Gathering and D&D with. If you're into that sort of thing, most girls aren't. You should sit with us." More channels I guess, "I'm not just into those kind of things, I geek out every time I hear D&D. Although I've never played Magic: The Gathering. I would love to sit with you, as my brother will probably be with the basketball team."I said, smiling but letting out a slight sigh as we exited the room, my mind was still on Mercury…Even after I saw them talking to those girls, I was still concerned about him. "Really? If you're into D&D it kind of surprises me you've never played Magic considering they're made by the same company. I'd be happy to..."
    "Hello!"I exclaimed as I bumped into Nex. He and I embraced and my heart started racing. I was over the moon with happiness. "Oh...hi Nex. I...didn't know you and Val knew each other. That's...great."Alice said awkwardly. “Did our embrace make her awkward?” I wondered "Umm...Val and I were about to go to lunch so I guess we'll see you later?"

    "Oh hello."he said smiling"Uhhh...I was planning to have lunch with Val."He said as he patted Val's head"I did not know you had plans."He added, in a disappointed tone. I loved it when he patted my head. I just wanted to kiss him again… I wanted a piece of heaven once again, a safe place. I really felt safe in his arms. "Yeah...sorry about that. Uhhh...See you later I guess. Let's go Val. The line fills up quick."Alice bolted out of the classroom and Val ran after her, but she wasn’t fast enough. She was in heels after all. I felt guilty… Maybe too guilty, I kept on running after her and caught her and Britney talking, a girl was standing next to Alice and seemed to be infuriated. “Not on my watch” I muttered walking over there.
    “How about you leave my friends alone Britney?” I said, infuriated after I realized she was picking on Alice. I hated Britney, I deeply loathed her and she really knows how to get under my skin, half as well as I know. “How about you mind your own business? Miss ‘Oh look I’m a tomboy and sleeping with Nex AND Mercury’. Where are your little boyfriends? Weren’t you good enough last night and they ditched you?” She barked, how I hated my friendliness towards my brothers to be missunderstood for 'hitting on' them, even if that was partly true, only for Nex. “Hah, at least I haven’t slept with the whole football team and had some naughty pictures published last night.” I said, smiling and opening my phone to her profile on Facebook “Nasty. Just like the comments.” I laughed as I saw her in shock “Where did you find those? They were supposed to be deleted, not published. “She screamed, infuriated at her ex boyfriend who had published them. “Next time, make sure you delete them. “ I said, with a cocky tone but I had the upper hand this time “You’ll never forget this Valentina Volpe, you and your fake innocence, miss tomboy. I’ll ruin your life.” She cursed “The only thing getting ruined is your hair" I said, taking her cup of coffee from her hand, opening the cup and giving her a hot coffee shower. I turned to Alice “So, Lunch? You told me the line fills up quickly, I don’t want to miss out on a ribwich and some green insalata.” I smiled
    (OCC: Insalata is salad in italian)
     

    Simus

    An Excellent Site Member
    They had gotten here just in time. The line was only just forming up outside the serving area of the cafeteria when Alice and Jess stood up. Alice was in a better mood now that she had put some distance between Val and Nex and was able to reflect on just how childish she was being. Jessica was happy her friend's brain had finally turned back on and was glad to help. They both left themselves to their own thoughts in anticipation of lunch when something happened that threatened to ruin both their days. Britney showed up. She waltzed right up to both of them and cut in front of the boy behind them, the click-clacking of her high heeled boots just as ominous as her sly smile.

    "Alice! Jess! Just the pair I wanted to see!" She said to them as if they were friends.

    "Britney! Hi! Just the bitch I wanted to see!" Alice said right back, determined not to take any of her plops today.

    "Oh Alice, you're so funny!" She giggled in a way that made Jess' blood boil. She had been bullied just as much as Alice and her mom wasn't nearly as supportive. "I just love your sarcasm. I can almost take you seriously."

    "Britney that doesn't even make sense. You're not supposed to take sarcasm seriously." Jessica said. "Now what do you want? Alice and I have plops to do."

    "Oh relax Jess, I just have a question for both of you. When you guys fluff do you use an assortment of toys or do you just scissor like in South Park?"

    "What are you TALKING about?" Alice said, immediately infuriated. "Jess and I are both single. We do NOT...why would you even ask us that!? What ever gave you the idea that Jess and I were even gay?!"

    "Only this." Britney got out her phone and showed them a very disturbing and yet very well done drawing posted on Instagram. Alice was agape and mortified. Jess couldn't help but be curious.

    "Who did this?" Alice demanded, tears of embarrassment welling up in her eyes. "Who the hell had the gall to do something like this."

    "Yeah. Somebody put some real effort into this. You know the likenesses are really..."

    "Spot on? Just like the real you?"

    "...Yes." Alice said, too embarrassed to talk any more. Jessica became infuriated.

    "I just don't get it Britney. Why? Why do you do this? Why go through all this trouble to make our High School experience more miserable than it already is!? Why can't you just have something better to do!?"

    "Because it's fun Jess. Because it's fun.

    “How about you leave my friends alone Britney?” An infuriated voice called from further back the line. It was Val. She had caught up to them alone and looked ready for business. From the looks of things she too had felt Britney's sting. That came as no surprise to anyone but at the moment it was like aid from heaven.

    “How about you mind your own business? Miss ‘Oh look I’m a tomboy and sleeping with Nex AND Mercury’. Where are your little boyfriends? Weren’t you good enough last night and they ditched you?” Britney barked.

    Yes. Definitely feeling Britney's sting.

    Then something amazing happened. Instead of buckling, Val just grinned and pulled out her phone. Clearly she had some sort of card to play and both Alice and Jess were rapt to see what it was. They got their wish.

    “Hah, at least I haven’t slept with the whole football team and had some naughty pictures published last night.” She said, smiling and opening her phone to Britney's profile on Facebook. It was Britney's turn to feel embarrassed. “Nasty. Just like the comments.” She laughed as Britney's face slowly twisted into shock, realizing just where these pictures came from. A week-old breakup that she had caused. “Where did you find those? They were supposed to be deleted, not published.“ She screamed, infuriated at her ex boyfriend who had published them.

    “Next time, make sure you delete them. “
    Val said, with a cocky tone. She really did have the upper hand. Britney was momentarily speechless. Then, for the first time since High School she lost her cool. She started to cry tears of embarrassment and rage, not to mention a little bit of failure. Alice couldn't help but smile. Jess grinned. “You’ll never forget this Valentina Volpe, you and your fake innocence, miss tomboy. I’ll ruin your life.” She cursed “The only thing getting ruined is your hair." Val said, taking her cup of coffee from her hand, opening the cup and giving her a hot coffee shower. Britney skittered off to the bathroom, defeated and crying. Just like Alice had done on so many days. Val turned to Alice “So, Lunch? You told me the line fills up quickly, I don’t want to miss out on a ribwich and some green insalata.” Val smiled, waiting for Alice's approval but she was moved beyond words. She handed her backpack to Jess, pulled Val's back to the floor and gave her a big, grateful hug. She let out the tears she'd been holding back.

    "Thank you. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much that bitch has made my life miserable and you did what I couldn't despite my best efforts. I'm so sorry I stormed off without you ten minutes ago. It was bitchy and petty and no better than Britney and I kind of maybe sort of have a huge crush on Nex and now I need to stop to breathe." She did stop to take a deep breath, holding herself close to the slightly taller girl who had saved her day.

    "It's okay Alice. I'm sure Val forgives you." Jess said, rubbing her back. "Thanks Val. You did good. Now let's go find a table."
     

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