Othergrounds: The IC Edition (Act 8: The Strangest Days have gone By)

9:31


Drake & Victoria

TheⓍperator wrote:

"I'm here." Dragonfly said out loud to tell them that he was indeed in the area. "But I'm not changing until we get outsside. I have my reassonss."

The moment Dragonfly spoke, both Drake and Victoria noticed Dragonfly. He was quite the interesting fellow, there were some reasons for him hiding--- And at this very moment, neither of them didn't really care. They needed to explore much more about what happened here. Now wasn't the time to ask questions that would likely cause a rift and upset Dragonfly. Dragonfly wants to leave here, something that both of them could do (Plus, Drake wanted a cigarette). "Alright. We're heading out right now." Victoria says to Dragonfly, wherever he was. The pair stepped outside of the hospital and walked down the path until there was at least a bit of distance between them and the Hospital's entrance. Drake stood on one side of the path, while Victoria stood on the other side. They looked at each other. For a moment Drake looked back into the Hospital, Bones was still standing there. He was still unsure of if he should trust her or not--- Victoria however at least proved she was being truthful in this situation.

Drake broke the silence by speaking to Dragonfly who (Hopefully) was nearby now that they were out. "Dragon, We can talk now."

TheⓍperator wrote:

"I heard everything. I'm willing to help i any way I can. What do you need me to do?"

"Good." Drake started off. He had already had a plan cooked up in his head about what to do next. Because of his Mind-link with Victoria, she knew all about his plans. Drake really wanted a cigarette right now, he'll have to wait until later. He was going to tell Dragonfly all about his plans to go about this investigation into this "traitor" and "attack". Drake let out a very loud sigh before he spoke, in a serious, yet adventurous tone, "I need you here as backup just in case..." He started off, now that he's said it, Dragonfly sounds much less required here. Drake knew what to say to (attempt to) fix this, "... Because you know. Don't you have like super senses? You could detect anyone just in case of an ambush and the three of us kick their @ss... Or you could smell something, I don't know." That would hopefully get Dragonfly along. Because the siblings were more than capable of handling this all on their own. All they had to do was follow the blood and where it leads. Except, Drake wanted every edge in this that they could gather together.

"We need all the help we can get." Victoria says to Dragonfly.

In which case, Drake felt the need to prepare for any action in advance. He stood straight up, hands glued to his side, fists balled. He choose a partial transformation into his lightning form opposed to a full transformation. A small amount of electricity danced across his body. He looked much more determined and aggressive as light-crackling could be heard. His lush, black hair started flowing and floating as it was enshrouded--- Seemingly transformed into, electricity. Drake slid his tinted goggles from off his forehead to over his eyes, as his eyes started glowing bright as they transformed into electricity too. His hands were enshrouded in electricity. This was far weaker than a full transformation, but much quicker. He was also less dangerous as his friends could at least touch him, and he was less noticeable. His body only illuminating a small amount of the area. "I'm ready for an @ss-kicking myself." Drake smugly says. He was anticipating a short-fight or ambush, if there's any fighting at all. If it escalates, he can easily transform into his full form. At least he won't have to start from scratch.

Victoria didn't need to suit up any further as she still has her Brainwaves adjusted to allow her the use of telekinesis. While she wasn't very skilled in it, she could easily mess people up with one flick of the wrist. Mixed with her telepathy, she can easily tell what people are going to do next. Which gave her the edge that her brother couldn't possibly have.... Except for the fact that she's rather hefty. "Alright. I don't think you need to prepare, Dragonfly." Victoria says to Dragonfly with monotone speech, "We need to get to work fast. Let's go."

With that Victoria and Drake started walking towards the Dorms. In less than a few minutes, they all arrived in the main lobby. They had followed the trail of blood left by Hunter, and it only lead deeper into the dorms. It was unnerving to say the least. Neither of them knew if Hunter (or even Bones) had done anything to provoke being attacked--- If Hunter hadn't even mentioned the traitor then they would have never got involved. But, here they are. Sweaty and ready for some action. Drake was still slightly hurt from his spar with Dragonfly, he wasn't going to let that slow him down. If anything it added to the action. Before they did anything, however. Victoria had a few more things to say. These were words of preparation, "Alright boys, we don't know what the hell we'll find in there. We should be a bit prepared get into something we don't like--- Especially if it's a fight. This means we shouldn't keep any edges that we have here a secret." What Victoria was about to do went up against what she said that she was going to do earlier. "Dragonfly. There's much more about my powers than I told you twenty minutes ago. I can copy powers by reading the brain-waves of other Meta-humans, and copying them for myself...." Victoria lets out a bit sigh, she's already explained the meat of her ability, time to reveal her side power that she's been keeping a good secret, "But, I'm also a telepath. Me and Drake have been having conversations in our minds the whole time--- Don't get the wrong idea. I didn't read any of your thoughts at all. That would be both stupid and an invasion of privacy. That isn't the point, I'm telling you this so that just in case we're attacked, we can communicate without even moving our lips. They won't know a thing and we can strategize."

"You sure you wanted to tell him that...?" Drake asks, skeptical.

"Yes." Victoria responds. Awaiting Dragonfly's reaction.


((Victoria's background character status has been retracted. I really like this relationship we're building up between the Blackmores and Dragonfly.))

That was what she was afraid of hearing. Taylor shivered a bit, and began to slowly trudge forward towards the lounge. She walked down the stairs slowly, trying to stay away from the lounge for as long as she could. With each step she took, Taylor got closer to her fate. Be prepared for a heartbreak Johnny had said. Maybe Johnny could do that, but Taylor could never do that. She could never be prepared for the death of her own sister. She wasn't strong enough.

But fate couldn't be prolonged forever. Finally, Taylor arrived at the door of the lounge, next to the soda machine that TJ had used the day before. She leaned against the door for a moment, and looked at the knob. She really did not want to open that door, but she had to.

"I-I can't." Taylor said, her face flushing white "Johnny...can you go in first?"

Drake & Victoria

TheⓍperator wrote:

"That'ss a very interessting power, Victoria... Sso you wouldn't gain my powerss if I touched you?"

Victoria did notice Dragonfly tensing up. Like there was something that he didn't want them to know. However, while she had the full ability to read his mind and find out what, she did not. If there was something that he didn't want them to know--- She respected that. Unless she was given reasons not to. Victoria shrugged and answered his question. She wasn't sure of her abilities, due to a lack of exploring into them (Which was one of the reasons why she came). "No. I can only get powers I want to get... unlike him." Victoria looked at Drake, "I don't even think that I can even get your powers.... I can only get powers that are, you know, activated? I can't get powers that are 'always on', would be better stating it." Victoria continued her exposition on her powers.  She was being honest with herself when she didn't exactly want the powers of people like Dragonfly. Merely because she wants to retain her humanity, if she can.

Drake crossed his arms and looked back towards the trail of blood, "Can we get a move on? This isn't going to resolve itself, ya hear...." He spoke in an annoyed and impatient tone, he was anxious to get this over with (And probably a smoke or two).

Victoria narrowed her eyes and looked annoyed at Drake's impatience. "Right... Let's." She started walking, following the trail of blood. She went slowly, just out of caution of what could happen. She looked back and saw both Drake and Dragonfly following her. She closed her eyes for a moment and sent a thought to both of them, This is Victoria. Everyone be on guard. The first sentence was added merely out alerting Dragonfly that she was communicating with him telepathically.

I'm always on guard, ready to start rocking and @sskicking... Drake replies at Victoria.

You sure got an "@ss kicking" from Dragonfly. Victoria laughs as she sends her reply.

Eh, hey. Don't start that crap with me. Drake replies again. Looking angry.

The trio kept moving down the hallway, with the intentions of getting to the bottom of this traitor situation. As they went on, the blood seemingly was getting dryer. If it wasn't cleaned up now. That means that they were getting closer to where Hunter was attacked. Drake naturally looked around constantly as they got close. Whoever attacked Hunter could be nearby. "Keep an eye out..." He says to himself. He transformed a bit more of his body into his electrical form. His arms, up to his shoulder, were enshrouded in electricity, and his knees were also transformed as well. While it wouldn't make him anymore effective in a fight, it was inching him closer to a full transformation where he could be at full power. Victoria just took a few steps away from him, lest she wants to be electrocuted again. She read his thoughts... They were of determination and anger. He was angry because this happened, and determined to get to the bottom of this. That was at least motivation for him, Victoria herself just wanted to investigate. Hopefully not getting into any confrontations. Eventually, after all of them followed the blood, they found out where it lead. Into one of the dorm rooms.... There was a puddle of dried blood, over a small amount of fresh blood (Which was Hunter's). The siblings stopped to look. If anything happened, it would have happened here.

"... That doesn't look like a good sign..." Drake says to himself, quietly, as he stared at the blood. There was something inside of him that was stopping him from stepping inside and looking around. That spark of determination was being overshadowed by the ominous question of "Do I want to see what's in there?"

"No. It doesn't." Victoria shared Drake's hesitancy in this situation. There might be something bad in there... There might also be nothing.

Drake grabbed the silver locket with the Blackmore Coat of Arms which was always present around his neck and looked at it. It was a source of inspiration. Family pride, eh? He quoted something he's heard before in his head; Just when you think it can't get any worse, it can. And just when you think it can't get any better, it can. He closed his eyes and slanted his head downwards. Thinking about what he can do here.

Drake? Victoria worryingly sends the thought into Drake's head.

Her younger brother ignored the telepathic message. Drake went deeper and deeper into himself, trying to find the courage to face the fear of finding something he won't like. Fear was something that held him back more often than he'd like... Fear of his friends being killed, fear of feeling useless... Fear of living the same repetition of life every single day. The funny thing about fear was; the longer you think of them, the more you'll fear them. It was a vicious cycle. The only way to break the cycle was to strike out. He raised his head with a new found determination and let out a sigh. "There's no telling what we're going to see in there," Drake starts off, "But, I'm going in... With or without you all." Drake nodded and started walking towards the door, and stood in the doorway looking inside...

The first thing that he saw was something he'll never forget.

Spoiler:

There it was. The body of John Doe. A deep gash on the side of his head, and a gaping hole in his chest, right where the traitor placed Hunter's blood sword. The boy was long dead, killed by the traitor for whatever reason. Drake jumped up, out of shock--- Which shortly passed. Drake's fists balled and he let out a loud growl. He wasn't too shocked at what he's seen. It was anger and sorrow that were the dominant emotions here. This hasn't happened to him before, but he reverted back into his normal form subconsciously. The electricity faded away, and the area around him ceased to be illuminated. Tears started rushing down Drake's eyes. He spoke, with a mix of sadness, anger and fear, "Who the hell would do this god d*mmit...? Who...?" While Drake had no idea who this person was, that didn't stop the tears. Drake took slow, light steps towards the body of John Doe. Every step showed his power. He stood over the body of the recently deceased and knelt down over him. His light tears were dropping down on top of him. "Will this... violence, ever end...? Whoever you are, I'm sorry that this had to happen to you..." He muttered to himself. First that Flamingo maniac attacks them and nearly kills Jia-li, now someone had to murder.

Victoria stood out in the hallway, even as Drake went in. She looked very worried for her brother, even she looked like tears were about to run down her face. She was reading Drake's mind the whole time. She knew what he saw, the sorrow he's feeling right now. All over someone he barely knew--- Victoria didn't know the youth--- Except, she knew that he was apart of the group that she arrived in here with. She did feel bad about the kid herself. He was just murdered here, in cold blood. He didn't look like the type that'd deserve this. Victoria sent a thought into Drake's mind,     Drake... I... Really don't know what to say right now. I... God, d*mn...    Victoria truly didn't have a clue what to say (Or think). There was nothing that she could really think of. She leaned up against the wall and looked at the blood soaked carpet.

Drake continued focusing on the body, "Then don't say anything..." Instead of thinking the thought, he just said it out loud. If anyone was listening they would be confused.

"Look, Drake. I know you're feeling bad about this right now..." Victoria started off, letting out a loud sigh. "... But, there's  nothing we can do...." That may have made her seem like a heartless b*tch--- But, it was true. There was truly nothing they could do for the boy. He was gone, but they all are still here. The best they could do was give him a proper burial and try their best to spread the news of the boy's departure to his relatives (If the group ever escapes the Othergrounds). "... I wish It could have been different myself. That's--- We should see if we can bury him"

Drake stayed there, and paused for a moment. Before standing straight up, his face still wet with tears. His face was red, and his facial expression showed anger. "There is one thing we can really do..." Drake started off, "Find the @sshole responsible and bring him to justice. Even if we don't have 'real justice' here...." Drake wiped the tears off his face. What would defined as "justice" where they all came from didn't apply here--- A land without rules, and people sure are taking this place as one. Without courts, without cops, without rules... They would have to establish their very own justice, even if everyone trapped here didn't agree. They don't matter if they do mind. Drake walked in between the door frames, "But, we sure as f*ck can't let this go unpunished. It goes up against every damn ethical rule there is to just end a life like this."

Victoria put her hand on her brother's shoulder, "I... Know." She started off, "This violence won't stop on it's own. I know it..." She took a few steps towards Drake and looked right into his eyes. "We have to be the ones who find the person responsible and, do all in our power to stop them."

"Yeah..." Drake replied. Both of them stood quietly, and still in the same positions as they were. "... We will stop them... The problem I'm having with this is..." Drake grabbed Victoria's hand tightly, he spoke seriously as possible, "What do we do when we find them...?" This was a legitimate question, with no answer that can be found right now.

Ending a life, over a life, won't solve anything.



Johnny

Maxx Toron wrote:

"I-I can't." Taylor said, her face flushing white "Johnny...can you go in first?"

Johnny looked directly at Taylor. He read her Emotional Aura again. She was feeling fear... legitimate fear. Obviously she was afraid of what was to come. Fear of the unknown can be easily be both the oldest and strongest kind of fear. Still, it's warranted fear. Johnny closed his eyes and focused, he tried picking up every Emotional Presence. There was none behind this door, that means one of two things... Neither of them he was going to tell Taylor. This was something she had to see for herself, and while he did tell her to be prepared--- She definitely was not ready for anything. He was quiet, and he let out a sigh, as he opened the door into the student lounge. The lounges of the school were plentiful and they were important to keeping everyone entertained in between training. Because bored teenagers in a place with little of anything to keep them occupied, is not a good thing at all. There were several lounges in the school. This one specifically was considered to be the "Main" Student Lounge, because of the large size. This room was very large and rectangle shaped. There are two small hallways on both sides of the "center" of the room, leading into bathrooms and smaller, secluded student lounges. This lounge is least large enough to hold a hundred people at a time. Around the room were several fun things. On one part of the room were several large flat-screen TVs. On another there were things such as pool tables and Foosball tables. There was even a dance floor, and a "Kid-friendly" bar (Which, obviously, didn't serve alcohol). This place looked like it would have been fun... Except, much like the rest of the school, this place was f*cked up. There were bullet holes all over the place, furniture overturned to make cover for battling students. There even seemed to be burns in certain spots in the room, showing signs that a battle took place in here. Which was tragic since Johnny loved this room. It would take much cleaning to bring this place back to it's original glory.

The first thing that Johnny noticed when he stepped through the door was the battered corpse that looked very familiar...

Suiting music:

"No..." Johnny mutters to himself quietly as possible. The dead girl looked much like Taylor. He knew what Taylor's reaction would be. He slanted his head downwards, letting his Pimp Hat cover his eyes. This was tragic. Except Johnny barely felt anything. He felt a little sad for Taylor, and her loss--- That was just it, he felt a little sad. Nothing else. There was nothing but a hollow feeling inside of him. He knew he was going down the road of sociopathy here. The real question he wanted to ask himself was; Does he want to fight it or just embrace it with open arms? At least Taylor found what she was looking for--- Even if it wasn't the way she intended to find it. It would take awhile, but she'll get over it. It didn't matter to him if she did anyway. Even if she's depressed about this for ages; he, and his family, will move forward. Just like they've done time and time again when faced with heartbreak. Now he just feels even more empty. Before he does something he'll regret he decided to just leave. Johnny turned around and was about to leave, but there was something stopping him...

... He remembered the potential for some poontang. To meet it, he would have to give Taylor some solace (Even if he has to feign it). "... I really am sorry for your lost, Taylor. I really am. I don't know what'd I do if I was in your situation right here..." Johnny started off in a somber tone, he didn't know what to say, "... I really, really, don't know what to say here. But, I will say this. If you need anything from me; whether it's a favor or something to talk to; I'm there when you need me."

And at that moment, Taylor's glass heart shattered into a million pieces. At first she was silent, as she stepped into the destroyed room that had once been the lounge. All she felt was pain at first, as if the shattered fragments of the broken heart were tearing through her chest; a billion glass needles. Her chest seized up, and she became unable to breathe as Taylor saw her sister. her mouth hung agape, and her eyes watered, yet there was no sound. She began to shiver, as if the room had dropped temperature, which infact it had. The windows frosted up as the water in the room dropped to just above the freezing point. Taylor fell to her knees in front of the couch on which Marissa laid, dead as a stone. The black tears flowed from her eyes and dropped to the floor, leaving behind black inkblots on the floor. As she took another breath, a blast of cold soared through Taylor's body. That feeling filled her up from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet; coldness. She shivered once more as Taylor's skin flushed white, causing the falling black tears of mascara and pain to leave grey streaks across her skin. In that moment, it was as if all the happiness had been drained from the world. She just wanted to go lay in the dark and die.

She thought back to before the men had killed Marissa. What was the last thing she'd said to her sister? How did she spend her last moments with her sister? Did she tell her she loved her? Did she say goodbye? What was the last thing Marissa had said to her?

Three days ago...

Once more, as usual, Taylor was at the beach, laying in the shining sun on a towel. Next to Taylor was young Marissa, her 13-year-old dopple ganger. Both were wearing the same white bikini and mathcing sunglasses; an arrangement only okay by Taylor because she "wore it better". After a time, Carole approached, carrying a cooler filled with ice. She set up a beach chair next to Taylor, and sat back, sitting the cooler down between them.

"Bonjour, ma cherie!" Taylor said, standing up and french-kissing Carole. "What's in ze glaciere?" Marissa sat up on her towel and watched from behind.

"It's called a cooler, dear." Carole said, rolling her eyes "And it's your newest shipment is in this." Taylor shushed Carole here, despite the fact that she was done talking.

"Not here, ma cherie." Taylor whispered "les gens nous regardent."

"Très bien, alors. Je vais parler en français." Carole replied in French. Marissa, who grew up in France on the French language, understood every word of the conversation, and sat back to eavesdrop, pretending to be asleep.

"Combien cela va me coûter?" Taylor replied.

"Sept mille, plus de deux cents pour Alex." Now Marissa was interested. She slowly rolled sideways to her feet. She moved quietly as she could, trying not to disturb the girls, towards the cooler.

"Sept mille! Vous plaisantez?" Taylor whispered angrily.

"Le vin n'est pas exactement pas cher pour faire passer dans l'école, ma chère." Marissa put her hand on the cooler, and slowly opened it up to reveal that the cooler was filled with bottles of wine and other spirits, all submerged in ice. She let out a gasp, but muffled it just in time to protect her from getting discovered.

"Jésus, c'est bien. Je vais te chercher de l'argent mardi." Taylor whispered. Marissa was unsure of what to do now. She venerated her sister as if she were a goddess, but this wasn't right. How could she let her sister do something like this? Yet again, it would be cool to go to an adult party... no, she had to do something.

"Tu te rends compte que je comprends chaque mot que vous dites, non?" Marissa said, standing up between Taylor and Carole. Taylor's face moved from a slightly distressed look to a straight, rather authoritative face.

"Ce n'est pas votre enfant d'affaires!" Taylor whispered at her sister.

"Vous êtes au-dessus de cela, Taylor!" Marissa said back, slightly louder.

"Um, may I chi-" Carole was cut off by Taylor and Marissa who both yelled "Tais-toi Carole!"

"Pourquoi cette même vous concerne, Marissa?"

"Quel papa ne penserait, Taylor?"

"Papa n'est pas là, est-il?"

"Um, guys. Yo-"

"Tais-toi Carole!"

"Pourquoi êtes-vous toujours comme cela, vous petite peste? Pourquoi tu ne vas pas embêter quelqu'un d'autre?" Taylor yelled. A crowd was growing now as the two of them went at it.

"Je pensais que vous étiez censé être le modèle ici!"

"Sortez de là, vous petite chienne!"

"J'essaie juste de faire ce qui est juste!"

"Va te faire foutre! Sors de ma vie que vous ravageur! Je vous hais!" There was silence as the two realized the crowd they had drawn. Taylor's cheeks flushed red and Marissa began to cry.

"Oh, dear..." Taylor muttered. "Marissa, I-"

"Bon, je m'en vais!" Marissa cried, "Mais un jour, vous allez le regretter!" Marissa ran off through the crowd, and towards the dorm, crying.

Now Taylor realized how right Marissa was. She was now kneeling in front of her body. She reached out and hugged her sister one last time, and cried, leaving an inky stain on Marissa's white blouse, still clean, despite a few stray drops of blood. She slowly slid towards the ground, and held Marissa's lifeless hand. Suddenly, her head perked up, and the temperature rose a few degrees. Taylor gasped, and stood up, her face still smeared with running makeup. She still held her sister's right hand; her sister's beautiful, lifeless right hand.

Her sister's beautiful, lifeless, ringless right hand.

That concludes: Act 4: Demons disguised as Angels



Act 5: The Ugly Side of Paradise


3:12 PM, The Cafeteria

Act Five Song:

Sylvia & Lily


Standing over the ruined cafeteria was Lily. Just a few hours ago she was informed that there was a "traitor" running about, destroying stuff and killing people. The moment she learned of this travesty, she called one big meeting. With every single active member of the survivor collective attending. She had a few ideas of what to discuss. Finding food, informing everyone of this traitor... and escape. The meeting was supposed to take place around 3:20, PM, and most people aren't even here yet. That means that it's a good time to prepare. She walked through the front doors of the Cafeteria, with a subtly seductive walk. The Eyes were at work, they were doing their best to repair the damage done to the Buffets. They had already cleaned up the mess of the spilled food on the grounds, leaving it squeaky clean. The damage to the buffets would be complete fixed in a day or two--- The Cafeteria Eyes were another problem. As they didn't automatically replace themselves, the higher-ups ordered more Eyes to be created. The students would have to serve up their own food... Fortunately there are quite a few people skilled in cooking.

The Cafeteria was completely empty (From the ground floor that is) and Lily was the only person here. She'd figured that she should pick a spot in the center of the cafeteria where everyone can hear her. She scrolled over to the tables by the ruined buffet and took a seat. This was a large, rectangle shaped brown table. She sat down in the chair and waited for everyone to arrive. Her wait was interrupted by a very familiar voice.

"Sup, purple hair." A voice came from on top of one of the cafeteria platforms (Which overlooked the cafeteria on the ground floor). Lily looked up at the voice, to see Sylvia. Floating a few feet away from the top of the platform. She was wearing the same attire as before, except she had her pink headphones around her ears, and iPod in hand.

"Oh, Sylvia." Lily starts off, unsure of what to say, she looked around "Looks like you're the first one here.... Heh."

"Yup. This motherf*cka is always on time. So, what's up?" Sylvia floated down to Lily, they were looking at each other face to face.

"You know... Just waiting. And praying to god that people show up...." Lily looked stressed again, "... Because you know, if we're going to improve our situation here then, you know, we're going to start working as a team."

Sylvia smiles fiendishly, "I'm down with workin' with these f@ggots that f*ck 'round these parts." She spoke in a forced cowboy accent.

Lily's eyes strayed away from Sylvia, nervous, "... That's a start." Lily coughed nonchalantly. There was the question of why no one was here yet, "Did you tell everyone to tell everyone they see about this meeting? Not dou---" Before being cut off by Sylvia

"Ha. Do you f*cking dare doubt my win? Are you mentally challenged? Ha?" Sylvia poked at Lily, before giving her an actual answer, "Yeah. I told that c*ckhead Johnny all about this f*ckin' thing. The f@g told me that he wasn't gon' to show up... I f*cking punched the f*ck out of him and he said he'd go... Ha." Said punch wasn't a very hard one. It was done wrong.

"Um..." Lily was once again unsure of how to go about this. Sylvia was the abrasive and unpredictable one. She figured that it'd be best if she didn't piss her off (And because she was starting to regard Sylvia as a friend... Just not a very good one). "... That's nice?" She said hesitantly.

"You best your sweet @ss it is..." Sylvia knew how awkward that sounded, "He'll be here once he's done jerkin' himself off! Ha." This statement certainly didn't help the awkwardness.

"Alright..." Why the hell are we talking again, Sylvia? Lily thinks to herself. She figured that she should stop now, and get ready. When the people start coming she wants to look nice and orderly. Not standing around talking about... Whatever the hell she could call that. Lily grabbed the nearest chair, on her "designated" table and sat down. The pair stared at each other for a few moments before Lily says, "Well, have a seat. This is my special table, you know?"

"Well why the f*ck didn't you say that? Special b*tches get all the special sh*t." Sylvia says as she sits down on the chair she choose and throws her feet on top of the table, leaning back in the chair slightly. With an evil grin on her face, and sunglasses over her eyes.


Johnny, Gabriela, & Jake

Johnny's song:

Fresh to death looks. Always lookin' to stir up trouble. And at the same time; always lookin' for a good challenge, and hot d*mn, a good man loves a greater challenge. I am Johnathon Kin, the first son of Jason Valos, and the last person you want to meet when he's pissed. Johnny monologue to himself.

Johnny was in his dorm room, staring at his mirror as he adjusted his tie for this meeting that Sylvia demanded that they go to. He wasn't sure of what called for this meeting, but one thing he knew was that something sure as hell was going on. People were getting killed, and they weren't by the soldiers. Someone ended them--- But, he was just going over the obvious. The only reason why he was here--- Well reasons, was because he wanted to throw his opinion in and test the waters with the rest of the group. Not because Sylvia punched him in the face (Hilariously incorrectly, he must add). Hopefully a large group of people will show up, because he wasn't going to stand around a smashed cafeteria and discuss stuff without the group at large to hear. Without a doubt, the people who ride his d*ck will show up, as long as he's present. He smirked. For a moment he wondered how Taylor was doing--- Then the obvious came to him that she's moping over the lost of her sister. That was unfortunate, but Johnny couldn't stop because of this tragedy. The quote: "When one man dies it is a tragedy, when thousands die it's statistics" fits the whole situation here at the Othergrounds quite well. With thousands of people missing or most likely dead. "That's one hell of a statistic..." Johnny mumbles to himself as he kept adjusting his tie until it was perfect.

Johnny was wearing a plain-brown suit, with a tie with an exotic pattern of stripes and flowers. Over his suit was his same-shaded longcoat, and obviously he had his brown pimp-hat on his head. He would never be seen without it. He wore at least twenty rings on his fingers, with fake (plastic) jewels of various colors. He wore a massive gold chain around his neck, and three smaller chains around it. They jingled with every step he took. He still had that medical cane he stole from the hospital. Johnny felt like a binged out f*cking mob boss right now, he says to himself "I'm ready to bag me some sick honeys and get some money..." A sinister, near-evil grin, crept on his face once again, before he started laughing loudly. Then abruptly stopping when he heard some hard banging on his door. "Who it is?" He calls outside, curious.

"Oh I dunno.... It's your godd*mn family. Are you ready for this crap?" Johnny recognized the sarcasm. That could be none other than Gabriela Valos. Johnny walked over to the door and opened it. Revealing his two siblings, Jake and Gabe. Wearing the same exact clothes they were wearing a few hours ago. "Oh, you two seem prepared for this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Jake says hesitantly. He was heavily worried about this traitor everyone keeps rambling on about. He/She could be lurking in these very halls. "Yo, Johnathon. Is there anyone around here?"

Johnny closed his eyes and focused for a moment to pick up any Emotional Presences. There were none. He stopped focusing and went to Jake, "We, are, alone." Johnny sternly says to Jake.

"Now that's very nice. It really is..." Gabe sarcastically inserts. Before she turns around and shrugs, "... But, what are ya' worried about, Jakey? 'Fraid a monster will come out of no where and eat ya' ?" It appeared obvious that Gabe knew what Jake really wanted to know.

Jake rolls his eyes up into his head, "... It's nothing" He shrugged, "Can we just get a move on already?" Jake asks, annoyed.

"Ya." Gabe quietly agrees, "They probably already started without us... And what's a party without the Valos, Johnathon?" Gabe smiles.

"One gay @ss shindig. That's for sure." Johnny replies with a smirk, "But, yeah. Tired of standing here anyway. Let's get this party started!" Johnny started laughing as he started walking towards the cafeteria, cane thrown over his shoulders. Jake walked alongside him on one of his sides, and Gabe walked alongside him on his other side. In less than a few minutes they were the first people to arrive in the cafeteria.


Johnny, Gabriela, Jake Lily, & Sylvia


The trio stopped after they were through the doors. No one else was here.... Except for Sylvia and that girl Lily (Who they believe arranged the meeting). They were sitting on a table in the center of the room. Naturally the trio walked over to them. Once they were "in range" Johnny says to them "Heeeeey, Sylvia. Thanks for getting us a good seat."

"Woah. This b*tch is private.... Her f*ckin' words. Not mine." Sylvia lashes at him. Pointing at Lily.

"Now... Is that so?" Johnny looked very skeptical, he turned to Lily, "Now little lady. Is this true?"

"Well... Um..." Lily didn't know what to say at first, "Yeah... I want this table to be for me..." She stated both sentences nervously.

"This massive @ss table is all yours?! That is such poppy-cock!" Johnny says to Lily, in an exaggerated tone.

"Johnny stop talkin' out of your @ss." Gabe calls Johnny out, "You would be doing the same thing to them."

"Yeah. Getting a little..." Jake scratches the side of his head directly under his hat. Before Sylvia "finished" his statement.

"... Full of sh*t? Retarded? Douchey? Cuz' all the f*ckin' bove fits you quite well, fag." Sylvia starts laughing loudly.

Johnny growled, "Well then." The butthurt was flowing through him. "Me and my clique will be finding our own table, Ms. Bertoose." Johnny turned away from Lily's table and found his own table not too far away from them. This was a small circle shaped table. With five chairs pushed up to it. It was obvious it would get uncomfortable if more than five people sat down here. Johnny picked the first chair he saw and put his legs up on the table. Leaning dangerously back. Gabe shrugged and sat down as well, except she crossed her arms and put one leg up. Jake just sat down and put his hands on his lap.

"Ya' maaaad, f@ggot!? Ya' maad?" Sylvia taunted Johnny as he did so.

Forcing Lily to facepalm with both hands and mutter to herself, "Dear god what the hell did I get myself into...?"

"What was that?" Sylvia heard a bit of it, and looked back at Lily.

"Nothing! Nothing at all." Lily responds.

Back to Johnny, "Now can we start this meetin'? Because you got the VIPs here and we demand a start and a finish!" Johnny says grandiosely.

"... Let's wait for everyone else to show up, please?" Lily hesitantly asks.   These f*cking Valos kids are crazy as hell. She thinks.

"Ah, well. Let's wait then. We have all the time in the world here... Let's use it in style, shall we?" Johnny says incredibly sarcastically. Before laughing.

"Can you ever shut the hell up, Johnny?" Gabe says in a very annoyed tone. Prompting Johnny to stop the laughter.

This only made Johnny laugh, "Hahaha... The only way I'll ever 'shut the hell up' is through fisticuffs... In order words; wanna scrap?" He says playfully.

"Only if ya' want to get my molten hot foot stuck up your @ss." Gabe says with a sinister look on her face.

"Good. We'll meet in the Arena after this crap is done with. You better be ready for this mayhem!" Johnny says loudly..

"Oh god, you two knock it off already... This is serious." Jake pleads.

"Fine. But, better be ready for this @sskicking you brought upon yourself later, Gabe."

"You're on." Gabe says, competitively.

Yup. These people f*cking insane.... and for the love of Jesus what did I do to deserve being trapped in here with them... Lily thinks again. Before hunkering up.



Drake & Victoria

Drake's Song. Because Audioslave:

Drake Blackmore was in "his" dorm room after a long, warm, shower. Quite the days he's been having. Every time he tries to have fun and forget about the past, something new hits him just as hard. He was in the bathroom of his room, standing over the sink. The water was running and his head was facing the sink. He was splashing water on his face, until his face was soaked wet. He started rubbing the water in for some reason. There was a sadness running through him. That pleasant, care-free, fun-loving child was slowly being replaced with a hardened, calculated and cold man. He just wasn't aware of the change just yet. When Drake raised his head and looked at the mirror--- What he saw in the mirror inspired great fear and anger in him. The Zizz, with his eagle claws ready to bring them down on his prey. Drake responded by enshrouding his fist with electricity and punching the mirror with full force. The glass of the mirror shattered and dropped down on to the sink, and floor. There was no Zizz, only his mind playing tricks on him. He kept his fist pressed up against the (now) destroyed for a few seconds, before he pulled his hand back. He had cut his hands quite a bit. Nothing too serious, but he was bleeding. Fortunately Drake knew what to do when he hurt himself like this--- And, every dorm-room has an emergency first-aid kit in the bathrooms. "Am I going crazy...?" Drake questions himself. He sighed and walked over to the first aid kit and grabbed it, then opened it up to get at it's contents. He spent a few minutes patching his hand up, when he was done, he had some band-aids over the cuts and the glass was removed. Drake let out another sigh, before he decided to get dressed.

Drake was wearing his usual attire, something that covered up most of his body to avoid any unnecessary transformations. He wore a few sizes too big black leather jacket, with a shiny silver zipper in the center of it. He left his jacket unzipped to show a black T-shirt with A Brand NeW Hero Runs About written on his chest in red. He still had his silver family locket around his neck, it hanged and swung off his neck with every new motion. Drake wore black leather gloves around his hands, to also keep from any unnecessary transformations, just in case he does touch anyone. He wore black baggy jeans, with a black leather belt to keep them up, and white Adidas sneakers. Drake never went anywhere without the tinted goggles resting on his forehead, to be slid over his eyes in case of combat. He was ready, he immediately stepped out of the door and started walking towards the Cafeteria. There's supposedly some meeting, and he wasn't going to miss. Drake did know that Victoria certainly wouldn't miss this for any reason.

As he walked through the halls, every step he took echoed how empty this place was. It also sent an echo through his own soul. He shook his head again, as he walked he spotted a very familiar face heading towards the cafeteria as well. His sister, Victoria. Who dropped the grey sweat shirt/pants combo for something new. She wore a long-sleeved dark purple striped shirt, (With darker stripes), blue jeans and black combat boots. Victoria also wore the ring on her hand that has BLACKMORE engraved. She was walking towards the Cafeteria, Drake caught up to her and walked alongside her

Drake slide his hands into his pockets and sighed, "Hey, Toria." Trying to force a happy tone, when there was no such thing inside of him.

"Hey Drake." Victoria greeted Drake, "So, this meeting...?"

"Better not be a waste of time." Drake looked forward, hard and strong, "I do think this cute idea is nice and all... But, I don't think it'll go anywhere."

"Don't..." Victoria did agree, but she didn't like this negativity around Drake, "Don't act like that Drake... Jesus. Be positive like you always are."

"Always are?" Drake quotes Victoria, before making his own response, "When things change... Know what? Never-mind" Drake was about to go off on some speech, but he saw the cafeteria. There was no point in them arguing now (Especially since the two of them can Mind Link). "We'll talk about this later." He quickly snaps at her.

Fine. We'll just do it mentally... Victoria sends the thought into Drake's head. Even though the mind-link has been long broken.

The pair found their own table near Lily's and everyone else's and sat down on it. Drake put his heavy shoulders on the table, and Victoria just... sat there with her hands in her lap.




Lemontea


Lemontea entered the room after everyone else made their grand entrance. She wasn't the type to be front and center, so she grabbed the nearest chair and sat down out of the way. She rested her ever-so-present  bag of tool on the top of the table and faced Lily. The only thing she was going to contribute here was her input on things that she found striking. Then she was going to leave.

Johnny, Gabe & Jake


Johnny's siblings are among the few people to notice the large group of people just entering the room. Johnny only peeked at them for a moment, most of them are animal type Meta-humans. As silly as these people looked, Johnny knew it'd be dumb to piss them off purely based on looks. It's much better if he pisses them off after they give him a reason. His gaze focused back on Lily. He didn't say anything to them, just waited for this stupid meeting to start.

"Eh, looks like the zoo animals got let out of their cage." Gabe gazed at the new arrivals with great hostility. She's never liked people with physical mutations, or "freaks" as Gabe would call them. This has put her at odds with the Animal-type Meta-humans of the school, getting into plenty of fights in the process.

"Gabe... Don't start." Jake pleads, he really didn't want anyone around him to start any trouble--- Especially his siblings, which is hard since they always seem to start fights wherever they go.

"Not startin' anything here, Jake. I'm just gonna' beat the ugly out of them if they even try anything." Gabe says back.

Johnny just leaned back slightly further in his chair and swung around his medical cane in a circle. "Gabe, start anything. You finish it.... The same goes for everyone else." Everyone else being the people who calls Johnny a friend.

"Don't I always? Ha? Speaking of which, I do want that fight with ya', Johnny." Gabe challenges Johnny.

"Who doesn't? There's something about me that just drives people up the wall..." Johnny smirks, as he speaks in a sarcastic tone, "Maybe it's all the good looks and smooth moves that makes people just want to tear a piece of me."

"More like all those smart @ss comments and bullsh*t ya' try to pull off constantly."

"Aw, you're too harsh, Gabe." Johnny says sarcastically.

"Oh? You're gonna have a new definition for harsh after I'm done with ya'."

"I would love to see this right now, but let's wait until we finish up this stupid little meeting before we beat each other's brains out. Haha."


Drake & Victoria


A few moments after sitting down, Drake felt the urge to smoke a cigarette. He reached into the pockets of his leather jacket and pulled out his carton of cigarettes (He was now down to three cigarettes, if he was going to stay sane he would have to get some more). He held the carton tight, as he pulled out a single cigarette with two fingers. Then he slid the cigarette in between his lips, fortunately he had brought his lighter. In his other pocket, he pulled out his chrome lighter with a scorpion engraved on both sides. He flicked the lighter on, lit his cigarette and then put everything away. Drake coughed slightly as he inhaled a puff of smoke. Before waiting ever so patiently for this meeting to start.

Really, Drake? Victoria sends the thought to Drake with a smile. She found it a little amusing that Drake was going to smoke in a time like this.

Drake's eyes went in Victoria's direction, before he sent his own response, Yeah, Toria. Got that urge. Before their conversation could go after further, Toby's extravagant entrance. Both Blackmores peered at the group that just entered. Drake recognized all of them, since he was apart of their recruitment run and they helped in the Zizz battle (Well, some of them did, the rest just stood there useless). Sandy, Toby, Bones and Nicole. He was glad to see that Nicole was alright. "Hey, guys!" Drake shouted to the new group, "Want to have a seat here? There's a lot of room on this table." Hopefully Drake won't clash with Bones.




The Group

Music for the meeting:

Lily looked at large group of people enter and then thought that they have enough people in here to start the meeting. They have a grand total of fourteen people. Which was more than enough people (Barring the injured) to start this meeting. Lily closed her eyes and sighed, getting ready to prepare herself for this meeting, along with a speech. She said valiantly to everyone, "Alright, do you all think we're ready for the meeting? Are people missing?"

"A few people are... Absent. But, if they ain't here yet then that's on them! Haha. Let's commence!" Johnny loudly says in response so that everyone can hear.

"Yeah, let's just get this over with, Lil. We shouldn't wait on people we probably aren't even going to come" Drake says to Lily.

Lily nodded, and stood straight up, using her hands as supports. She climbed up on to her chair, and stood straight up. With her hands behind her back, giving her that regal, leader-like role. No matter what happens here, she will not bring up the subject of the traitor. Because this is exactly what he or she wants, recognition and to hate monger in the group. It will be difficult, but she can pull it off. "Alright. For those who do not know who I am; I am Carmen Brenna Santo, but, everyone call me Lily." She started off, putting her hand on her chest, "I am the one who called you all here today for this meeting. Because, it is time that we all make a big change."

Johnny raised an eyebrow before asking a question, skeptical, "And what change is that, oh lovely Lily Santo?"

"Yes. We have to leave here. Because of everything that has happened recently, I have decided that we need to leave as soon as possible." Lily continues, "Just by any chance you don't know what happened; someone has sabotaged our food, and attacked two members of our group... One was fatally attacked, unfortunately...." Good job at keeping this traitor plot a secret, Lily. Lily scolds herself in her own head.

"And do ya' know who did it? Cause' I'd like to share... A few words with them." Gabe aggressively inserts.

"No. If I knew then would we be sitting here talking about it? No. We'd all be handling it right now." Lily says in response, she did sound like a b*tch right now, but, this was necessary right now.

"Don't get smart with me, I'll shove my molten foot up your pus---" Gabe put both feet on the ground and was about to stand up, before being stopped by both Jake and Johnny, who put their hands on her each of her shoulders, keeping her down. "Let me go, d*mmit..." Before Gabe just gave up and sat back down.

Lily appeared to be completely unphased by Gabe's obvious aggression towards her. She knew that she would be held back. This, however, had brought Lily to another subject. She quickly inserts, "Alright. It's clear that I got to set a few ground rules here. I know of all your stupid grudges and conflicts-" Even though, I have no idea what's the relationships the hell you people have... "-And as long as this meeting is going on; there will be NO fighting, or violence in general. This is neutral ground, take your fights outside. Am I clear?" Lily spoke in a very leader-like manner. Which was exactly what she saw herself, as the leader of the group.

"If no one fights me, then I won't murk 'em." Johnny inserts.

"Yeah... I ain't one to fight anyway..." Jake says.

"Alright, but don't think I won't come and shove my foot up anyone's @ss who dares cross me..." Gabe tilts her head downwards and says, quietly enough so that no one outside of the table hears it.

"Do we look like the kind of people who'd start fights?" Drake says, before blowing a puff out of the side of his mouth.

Sylvia was silent, because there was no way in hell she was going to follow any peace laws let up by anyone.

"Good. That's just what I want to hear." Lily says, a smile crept on her face for a moment, before she went back to her serious deposition. She started up her own speech "Now, as I was saying before. We have to leave here soon as possible. To do that we need to work together. Because I know we can't do it alone, you know? We all have our own skills, powers, and ummm..." Lily wanted to say intelligence, but that just wouldn't sound right. "... Yeah, skills and powers."

Lemontea has been in the school for the longest, and she knew much more about the place than anyone else in here. She spoke to Lily (And the rest of the group), basically telling them how hard their plans would be, "Look sweet thing. I hate to burst your bubble. But, leaving here ain't going to be easy. This place was made with two ideas in mind. Keeping them out, and more importantly; keeping us in. There ain't going to be any straightforward magical exits... Instead there's probably going to be really thick doors that need a hundred different codes just to open...." Lemontea knew she was being pessimistic, "And we can stay here for a bit. There's enough food and resources to support thousands of people... I trust we'll have more than enough resources to go around."

"Alright then... Um, scar-face. What do you think we should do then? It's a challenge, I get that, but there's no way we are just going to give up and be trapped here, forever.'" Drake turns his head towards Lemontea and asks hoping to get a response.

"What we should before anything do is get some food. This place has a food storage somewhere in the sub-basement... I have the slightest clue where it is." Lemontea starts off, before shrugging, "We should go find that. Then... For your little escape plans, I'm sure we should raid the headmaster's mansion first. That place has to have something."

"Alright, alright. Everyone what are your opinions on what we should do? This is a meeting and you all are apart of it! Don't be afraid to share your opinions." Lily says to the group.

Hunter

Musiks:

Just another scar... How many scars will I gain before I am finished life...?  Hunter thinks to himself. As he sits on the side of his hospital bed. Gently grasping, and gracing the bandages that have been wrapped all over his forehead, where he was hit. He was still in pain from the attack, and wasn't exactly in the right of mind. He was also told that he has a concussion and should rest for the rest of the day, by the Doctor Eyes. That, however, didn't stop him from wanting to leave. There is a traitor out there and he needs to be dealt with, regardless of if Hunter is injured or not. He stood straight up off the bed, and immediately reached for the strap that should be on his shoulder, that sheathed his knife.... It was gone. Probably taken from him when the Eyes swarmed him. Which was unfortunate, since he was now cut off from the easiest way to access his Blood-Art. There were several more knives in his dorm room. He would have to get to them, of course he would have to visit this meeting first. He started walking out of the door, before he felt a hard tug on his arm.

"Student: Hunter. It is not recommended that you leave. Stay in here so that you can be properly monitored." The Eye extends one of it's several arms out to Hunter, grabbing him lightly by the arm. Barely keeping him still.

Halting in place, Hunter turned to the machine and spoke in his usual apathetic tone, "There is something that requires my immediate presence. I will be fine."    I am Hunter. I cannot fail to inform my allies because of... circumstance. With that, he pulled hard and got free of the Eye's grip. Immediately moving forward, out of the reach of the Eye and out of the room. There was one side stop he wanted to head to before he moves on to the dorms. That girl, who was injured last night, he wanted to make sure that she was alright. For reasons that came unknown to him, and reasons he wouldn't even look into. He kept his bag slung over his shoulder, as he pressed forward. Determined to find this girl no matter the cost. She was on the first floor, he believed. As long as the Eyes didn't disturb him, he would continue, uninterrupted. After a little bit of wandering, he found the room with an Eye at the very entrance of it. He had approached the Eye, and asked it a question, "Hello, I wish to speak with the girl in there..."

The glass-shelled machine turned towards Hunter. He was unaware that the Eyes transmit messages, commands and codes to each other. The Eye that was in Hunter's previous room, had sent a message. "Please. Return to your room or step inside of another one."

After the Eye had gave Hunter it's command, he felt like the Eye wouldn't let him into the room. Even if he was persistent. He wasn't desperate to go see this injured girl. It was purely optional. Hunter nodded in (false) agreement. "I will go back to my room now." Hunter then turned around and started heading towards the exit to the hospital. Every step he took echoed through the halls, or crunched the debris under his feet, left behind from the fight against Pestilence. Quite the battle that he had missed, and barely helped in... Not that he was complaining. He'd prefer staying out of such matters like this. After a few minutes of walking, Hunter made it to the front exit and was out of the building, without any trouble from the Eyes.

Now was the time to start heading for the meeting, to tell his tale.



Drake & Victoria


The moment that Nicole and her friends had approached the table to sit down, Drake was about to put out his cigarette and extinguish it. Remembering that she said that it irritated her, or messed with her powers. Either way, he was about to blow it out, when he was interrupted by his older sister. She had sent a message to him telepathically,   Drake, do you know where Dragonfly is? I didn't see him in the crowds.

Did we give him an invite... Crap, he scurried off somewhere and we forgot all about him.    Drake replies with his own thought. He didn't want to miss this meeting, but he felt as if he should at least alert Dragonfly of the meeting.    Come on, let's split off for a bit to take a look for him.

You sure? We'll miss stuff.   Victoria replies mentally again. Before Drake just stood up, with the cigarette in between his fingers.

The moment Drake stood straight up, he put his hands down on the table to support himself as he leaned forward. He spoke to the rest of the group slightly authoritatively, "Alright, the two of us are going to head out for a bit and look for Dragonfly. Can you all tell us what happened after we get back?"  If we get back... After saying that he turned away from the group and started walking away, towards the exit. Followed by Victoria. He loudly announces to the group, "We'll be back." Before exiting the room, heading down the hallways.

So, where do you think our little lizard pal is?  Drake sends a thought to Victoria, hoping that she remembers somewhere that Dragonfly could be.

I think he said something about the Sub-basement... I don't remember what exactly he said, but he did mention it--- I don't know what'd it do with his whereabouts...  Victoria replies.

Heh. We won't know until we find out. Let's find a way down and make some noise.  Drake replies, with a surprisingly blank face on. He remembered that there was something that looked like a way down by the hospital. They're going to head down there, Drake's going to go lightning form, and hopefully attract Dragonfly. As they walked through the dorms, they eventually made it near the entrance to the dorms. The Eyes had cleaned up the excess amount of blood that Hunter had created when he was attacked by the traitor. It was still unsettling for Drake. Reminded him of things that he didn't want to be reminded of. Shrugging it off, he kept moving forward, with his sister walking by his side. After a few minutes of walking, they came across a man-hole behind the hospital. It was opened, and Drake had found it this morning during their jog.

Both of them stood on opposite sides of the man hole, looking down into it. It sure did look creepy and unsettling, but they had to try something. Drake immediately came up with a plan. Blue electricity danced across his skin, and his hair started floating and flowing like he was in the wind. The electricity on his body crackled, making lots of noise. His hair then was turned into electricity, flowing and waving even more. Then his arms were enshrouded with this electricity, making the body under the electric cover nothing but a black shadow, featureless and pitch black. The rest of his body followed, until he was nothing but made out of electricity. His clothes were also incorporated into the transformation and immune to the searing heat of his electricity. The area around him was greatly illuminated. After his transformation was finished, Drake dramatically grabbed his tinted-goggles by both lenses. He then pulled down the goggles over his eyes and said, "I'm ready... You're going to want to take a few steps back, Toria." He pointed his right arm into the man-hole, palms open.

On que, Victoria turned around and got several meters away from Drake, to avoid getting shocked again. She turned away from Drake, covered her ears and hoped for the best. Looking at Victoria, he nodded his head and unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning. The boom of the lightning could be heard from all over the Othergrounds, and created a bright flash of light. Which would have badly shocked everything in it's path, but hopefully Dragonfly (Or anyone else) won't be inconvenient enough to be in front of it. This also would have be loud enough to (Hopefully) attract people to it.

A few moments after the flash was gone and the "dust settled," Victoria turned around. Mostly unharmed by the lightning bolt (It did hurt her ears). "You think that'd get him over here?"

"I hope." Drake replied.

Drake & Victoria

TheⓍperator wrote:

"Drake? Victoria? Why are you here and sshooting lightning down the tunnel?"

"Heh, nice to see you too." Drake sarcastically says to Dragonfly as he reverted back to his human form. Now that they had attracted Dragonfly there was no further need for this form. The bright light grew dimmer and dimmer as he reverted. His hair stopped flowing, as it dropped back where it should. His eyes stopped glowing, until his amber eyes, always full of determination, were left. The electricity faded away, and his "core" body started getting brighter, bringing the true Drake to light. The moment he was done his de-transformation, he lifted his goggles off his eyes, and promptly rested them on his forehead. Where they belonged. Dragonfly's abrasiveness was definitely noted by Drake. Instead of hostility, he choose sarcasm, which also meant smart-assness.

The very moment that Drake finished his transformation, Victoria answered Dragonfly's question the best way she could, "We wanted to find you because there's one big meeting going on and we thought that you should be there... As for the lightning... Ask him, it was his idea." Before nodding in Drake's direction.

The first son of Blackmore responded by scratching the back of his neck and looking up at Dragonfly. He spoke adding on to Victoria's response, figuring to tell him a bit about the meeting, "They were mostly talking about crap. But, they said something about a food storage in the basement... I don't know." Before he nonchalantly coughed, covering his cough with his fist. Before he resumed focusing on Dragonfly, "Sorry if I 'interrupted' anything, Dragon. "

Taylor, Carole, and Alejandro

Spoiler:

At the foot of a mound of freshly-packed earth in the Sparrowdale Academy graveyard knelt the broken form of Taylor D'leau. She wore a long black dress which dripped with rain water, as did the rest of her cold, broken form. It wasn't raining, unless you were in the graveyard, which had its own private rain cloud hovering over it courtesy of Taylor. She looked down at the ground below her, at the fresh mound of dirt which now laid before her, and contained the body of Marissa. They had buried her this morning, along with a few other people who had died. Ever since the burial earlier, Taylor had been here, doing a combination of crying and praying in the pouring rain. She was completely alone, having asked everyone else to leave earlier so she could have some time alone; that was an hour ago.

After a moment or two, Taylor rose to her feet, as if to leave, yet she couldn't. It was as if she were a fly trapped in amber, unable to move or look away from the grave of her beloved sister. Just as she was about to finally leave, a thought struck her. When were her parents going to find out? There was no longer a way to communicate with people outside of the school; they could go months without knowing that their little girl was dead. She stood for a few more minutes, crying with no one to hold her; no shoulder to cry on. Not long later, Carole and Alejandro arrived at the graveyard quietly, trying not to disturb Taylor.

"She looks so broken." Alejandro sighed "Like that spark she used to have was torn out".

"I know." Carole sighed "We have to go get her. She can't exactly just sit here and cry all day in the rain". Carole opened the graveyard gate slowly and quietly approached Taylor. She knew, however, that Taylor knew she was there; nobody with water in them could hide from Taylor D'leau.

"Tay, we should probably get going." Carole said, placing a hand on her shoulder "Johnny wants us all in the cafeteria".

"J-just g-g-go...go without me." Taylor sputtered through her tears.

"You can't just sit out here and cry all day Tay. I know it's hard, but we can't just stand here crying forever." Carole herself began to cry now, and The two criers held each other as they wept. Alejandro felt the need to intervene next, so he walked in and put a hand on each of their shoulders in a brotherly fashion. He looked up at the rainstorm, and then down at the grave. When a child is killed, even God cries a few tears. He wasn't sure what to say to comfort the two; being comforting was never Alex's strong suit. He was more of a doer than an encourager, but he knew he had to say something, so he tried to make the two feel better with words no softer than sand paper covered in a napkin.

"I'm sorry Taylor." he said "She was, um, a great little girl. It's a shame when someone who had only a short time to live dies. I-I guess, um... Jesus, I'm not good at this." he mumbled the last few words under his breath, and continued shakily "But I think that if Marissa were here and you were there, um, Taylor, she would know that the best thing to do right now would be to go to the meeting and help the others." Taylor sighed, and for a fraction of a millisecond it appeared as if a smile crossed her face.

"You're very bad at making me feel better, ma cherie." Taylor said, resting her head on Alex's stone shoulder. "I guess...I guess you're right. We should go." The storm cloud disappeared, and Taylor's outfit and makeup, as well as the ground, all dried. The makeup repaired itself, and she slowly began to walk away from the grave, her friends at her side. The soon arrived at the cafeteria, at the same moment that TJ and Claire walked in.

"I heard about Marissa, Taylor." TJ said, stopping just before he entered the room "I'm sorry, and I think this belongs to you." From out of his pocket TJ produced a chocolate diamond ring with the D'Leau family crest in the center. Taylor pushed Alex out of the way and snatched the ring, returning the gesture with a half-hug half-strangle. She felt mixed emotions of anger and relief as she hugged TJ, and nearly screamed at him for stealing the ring off of Marissa's body, but she realized that he didn't know. It wasn't his fault for stealing the ring; it was the fault of the bast*rd who killed her. As the five teenagers took their seats in the cafeteria just in time for the meeting to start, one thing was on Taylor's mind; revenge. She was going to find the monster who killed Marissa and slaughter him.

The Meeting


As the meeting went on, Johnny looked around the room. Hoping to figure out why no one else is contributing to this very important conversation. If no one is going to talk--- Or even contribute, then they might as well just move along. "This is some meeting we have here..." Johnny says under his breath, quietly chuckling afterwards. Not a soul heard him. He didn't bother saying anything to Taylor, Carole and that weird Gargoyle guy. He wasn't in the mood to speak to Taylor, especially since she just looked so sad... And Johnny (Ironically) was out of touch with his own emotions to properly comfort her. He didn't know why, nor did he want to. He just continued leaning back in his chair.

The meeting was going smoothly. Mostly smoothly. Lily thought that they should get a subject going before they continue. It was almost about time that they find their way into a sub-basement. Perhaps they should get some small talk about everyone's skills and powers. She kept her regal, leader-like stance and was just about to talk. Except, something caught her eye. A new arrival coming through the front doors of the cafeteria. He was wearing a black long coat, and his T-shirt (Underneath) was stained with blood, and there were bandages wrapped around his forehead. This stranger was Hunter. He walked to the center of the room, quiet. Mostly everyone's eyes were on him because of his "off" appearance. It was a bit unsettling, to everyone but Johnny. He was used to seeing such a sight from his earlier... adventures. To say the least, he's long buried his fear of seeing blood, and replaced it with concern when he saw someone like that.

For a few moments, Lily was unsure of what to even say. This guy was a stranger who came out to no where, and looks shady as hell. However, to Bones, and Johnny's friends; he was a familiar face. She looked obviously nervous, as she uncrossed the hands behind her back, putting them back where they should be, at her side. "Um..." Lily started off, not knowing what to say, "Who are you... Exactly?" This may have been rude.

Hoping to cut the introductions short, Johnny just blankly through Hunter's name out there, "Yo, Hunter. You look... Mighty beaten. To say the least." He smirked, and watched as the inevitable conversation took place.

Lily put her hands on the table and looked very curious. This is the Hunter who was attacked by the traitor... He doesn't look like what I was expecting. She then put her hands on her jaw-line, gently stroking it. "Oh, you're the one who apparently was attacked...." She says to Hunter, slightly skeptical.

In response, Hunter nodded and stood in place. "Yes, I am... Hunter." He says, in his usual devoid of emotion tone. "I heard there was a meeting here..." He looked around the room, curious to see who's here. There are plenty of faces he's never seen before, so are there faces he has seen. Bones, the face of an ally. Johnny, the face of lies (Hunter could just tell that he's shady, and hiding something). Everyone else bore the face of strangers.

"Yes. There was something I wanted to ask you..." Lily let out a quiet sigh as she put her hands back on her table. She was obviously nervous, and unsure of what to do. "I want to know what happened... Since, from what I was told, you had a first hand experience with this traitor..." She trailed off, looking around, "... If you're willing to tell that story." Lily puts on a fake, warming smile.

"Why yes..." The tale of how I was hurt by this traitor and nearly framed for murder. It is best that I tell if, or I risk being accused when my Blood Sword pops up again. He looked around as everyone shows their individual reactions

"Oh, dear. This will be good..." Gabe says to herself as she focuses on Hunter. With a half-smirk on her face.

"This motherf*cking better be a clue to that sonofa b*tch who thought it'd be hi-f*cking-larious to do this." Sylvia loudly says to Hunter.

"Can't say I like where this is going..." Jake quietly says.

"Hmph." Lemontea grunts, awaiting to hear Hunter's story.

Is this the part where I tell them what happened? Where do I start? Where do I end?    Hunter thinks to himself as he closes his eyes. He inhaled deeply through his nose, lifting his head slightly. Before quickly exhaling, reverting his head back to it's normal position. He looked determined to tell his story, now that he's gathered his words. "Alright. I must share this story I hold." Before he stood tall and determined, he looked directly at Lily like she was some sort of Judge, and he was a witness.

The story he was itching to tell was told start to finish. He spoke in his usual emotionless tone, "Earlier today I met a female survivor named Bones in the administration building while-" They must not know why I was in there. "... Investigating something. After a short conversation we went to go help her friend, Nicole. After we found Nicole, we split up in the Dorms. I went to go get a ladder, while Bones went to go find some cushions for her to properly land on. After I got the ladder, I brought to Nicole the ladder, and went back into the dorms..."      Wait, I am a fool... I forgot that I had left one of my Blood-Swords in the theater...   Hunter thinks to himself as he abruptly stops his story to think.  

"... And then the first thing you saw the Chippendales dancers and you were so distracted by the sexy that you fell and knocked your head in a wave of pleasure?" Johnny says to Hunter incredibly sarcastically, and jokingly. Since he wasn't taking this whole situation seriously, and Hunter abruptly stopped and left himself open for Johnny's joke.

"Johnny. This is serious!" Jake hisses at Johnny, the least bit amused.

"Eh. I might have a bit of fun since this isn't very fun. Oh, and I want to fight Gabe in the Arena, soon enough." Johnny blankly inserts.

"You'd probably shoot off like a rocket if you've seen that yourself, eh Johnny?" Gabriela taunts Johnny, turning her head over to him, with a smile.

"Oh, really?" Johnny says to Gabe, "... How about we split off for a moment---" Before being cut off by Lily.

The loud slam of Lily's hands on the table denounced that she was the least bit amused right now. She yelled loudly at Johnny in an authoritative tone, "This isn't the time for stupid jokes, Johnny!" She definitely got his attention. While it may have made her seem like a party-pooper, it was the truth. There was a time to joke and a time to be serious. Now was time for the latter. "If you're going to play around then get the hell out!" She then pointed towards the exit.

"Yeah! Get the f*ck out!" Sylvia loudly shouts.

In response to Lily, (Sylvia was ignored) the only thing that Johnny said was, "Oh? This is serious and all that...? Wasn't told that, heh. Very well, then. You all shall proceed" He spoke near sarcastically, and with a sarcastic smile. Negativity and Hostility gave Johnny power. It made him happy in the process.

You wouldn't be making those jokes with no head...   Hunter thinks his threat to himself. He choose not to do or say anything. Because that'd only feed into Johnny's stupidity. He gave Johnny a narrow and threatening death glare before he spoke again. "As I was saying; after I got into the dorms I heard a sound and saw someone in all-black armor scurry off away from a room... Which had a puddle of blood leading out from under the door..." He turned back towards Lily before he finished, "I... Investigated and... Saw a dead body. With my blood sword jammed into his chest and a large gash on the side of his head..." Hunter coughed again, "I believe he was dead before my sword was added. Simply to implicate me, as I am the only one capable of utilizing the Blood Art Technique..."

Johnny rolled his eyes up into his head and said, "That is..." Johnny spoke with all honesty from the very bottom of his heart, "Unfortunate... I must add..." IF this traitor fellow wanted to frame Hunter... That means that he, she or they are trying to turn the group against each other. Which, wasn't something Johnny wanted. It could have been anyone.

Nodding her head in response, Lily asks if the story is over, "I... Wish you all didn't have to see that... But, is there anything else? We have to know everything."

Hunter nodded his head, there was a bit more to his story. "Yes, yes... I... Pulled my sword out of his body and left to warn everyone... But, the traitor ambushed me. Knocking me down with a blunt object--- I don't really know what happened next... It's all a blur. But, I wholeheartedly believe that he took my Blood-Sword to attempt to frame me for his crimes later... Everything else you should all know, and it's generally irrelevant."

"Alright, Hunter. If that is the case... If this sword pops up again later... Then that means that you're clear, yes?" Johnny says to Hunter, skeptically, keeping what he really wanted to say to himself.          Not saying that I don't believe you... It just seems a bit too convenient that you came across this dead guy AND was attacked by this Traitor, who conveniently took your blood sword. Like, there's something up here. I've been in way too many of these situations to just take whatever bullsh*t you present to me. None of us seen any of this. I get the feeling that this guy killed someone, hit his head on the wall and made up some traitor just to pin the blame on someone else... And is going to end another life with these swords, and just blame the traitor again.   As Johnny thought deeply about it, he scowled and gave Hunter a narrow stare that just says "I'm on to you." If anyone had been paying attention to him, they'd notice. He was going to keep quiet for the rest of this meeting.

"Alright. Thank you, Hunter. That really helps." Lily says to Hunter. Not sure if what he's saying is true, but, there's no way to truly know. They have no detectives, no crime labs, no telepaths, no lie-detectors... Anything he said could be a lie.

The current two children of Valos were mostly quiet during this meeting. It was just that they had nothing to say during the duration of this meeting. Up until now Gabe had nothing to say. After Hunter told his story, however... She stood straight up at looked directly at Hunter, crossing her arms. She wasn't the subtle type when she spoke, "Now, now. I have a few things to get across... You can call me paranoid, but I know I"m not the only person who'll think this..." She looked at Johnny for a moment, before looking at Hunter.

"Gabe don't..." Jake tried to plead to his sister, hoping to not start anything with the animal-types or Hunter.

"Now, now, Jakey. I have to say this.... Hunter, you were the only person who's seen this strange person in black-armor, yes?"

Gabe's abrasiveness was definitely disconcerting, and Hunter knew where she was going to go with this. "Yes, but, do not go down the path you are planning on... I... Didn't do this."

"Now, I"m not saying that you did. I'm telling every man, woman and child here to take a moment to think about this... According to his story; he's the only person who's seen this corpse and one of his 'Blood-art techniques' just so happen to have appeared and was rammed in this poor bloke's chest..." Gabe stated loudly so that everyone can hear her. She paused for a moment to look around, before continuing giving Hunter a skeptical glare. "... Then, we should also consider the possibility that Hunter could be the one responsible for this. Just blindly believing everything that we're told without even stopping think about any other possibility is stupidity on par with the zoo-animals..." Gabe says loudly again, momentarily glancing at the animal-type Meta-humans in the room, then back at Hunter.

There goes subtly, and his sister ambiguity...  Johnny thinks as he tensed up looking annoyed as hell. While Gabe did say exactly what he was thinking--- That was the thing. He wanted to think this. Not be vocal and give away any possible suspicion to the very suspect. All Gabe did was give away any possible subtly Johnny would have used. Now, Hunter would probably dispose of any evidence. Johnny didn't say anything, only sinking further into his chair. Letting this play out.

"Are you... Argh!" Hunter says to Gabe. Infuriated that, after all he's been through, he gets accused of being so monstrous that he would end a life for no reason.     You, Valos. I am not a killer, or a lirr. I fight alongside you and you respond with this!? That is such... Argh. I only fight those who need to be dealt with... And have only killed one man--- No, one monster, in my life and I plan on never ending another!     Hunter clenched his fists and shouts at Gabe, upset, "You have such gall to accuse me of such wicked crimes!? I cannot mentally grasp how ridiculous it is for you to act this way!"

An iron cage promptly appeared out of no where and surrounded Gabe. It was an illusion created by Jake, who decided it was time to stop being the wuss telling people to stop, and start being the Master Illusionist who holds the power to contain this in his mind and hands. The iron cage kept Gabe contained, as her twin brother loudly shouted, "Gabe! That is enough! I am standing by and letting you all instigate fights. This is what the f... Traitor! Wants! This won't solve anything," Jake pleads, hoping to talk sense into his sister. He briefly turns to Hunter and says, "I am sorry here... Hunter. I apologize for my sister's
abrasiveness, we're going to... exit now."

After the illusion was created, Johnny got out of his chair and stood straight up. He was about to go emotional-energy form, but he choose not to. Gabe and Hunter's negativity sure was giving him power...

Inside the cage, a loud sizzling could be heard, which was caused by none other than Gabe. Both of her arms, starting from her fists down to her shoulders were super-heated. Small streams of smoke came from her arms. The first thing that she did was punch through the illusion with her right hand. Her molten fist went clean through the illusion like it was silly putty. Before it shortly faded away. "Jake! Ya' know good and well that ya' illusions don't work on me." She hisses at Jake.

"I know, but it's time to stop! This will only end badly" Jake says in response--- Which Gabe ignores as she turns to Hunter, who looked more and more angry.

"Guilty conscience, eh?" Gabe says with a growing smile, her molten fists were still burning brightly, ready for a fight. She had the feeling that she has found it in Hunter. "I wasn't accusin' ya' of d*mn near nothing. I was just telling all the idiots in the room that they shouldn't just take what you said without even saying a word or thinking about it... But, the way ya' are acting, it tells me that you are responsible. So, yes, now I am accusing you, you weird little b*stard."

Do not let your emotions get the best of you, Gabe. I will not. Take arms and I will not hesitate to battle you.    Hunter thinks to himself. He looked even more upset, "You are obviously too close minded to realize what is going on. You're giving the traitor just what he wants, conflict. But, you are too dense to realize that. You just choose violence over reason, because that must be all you know. Violence..." Hunter says to Gabe. It has antagonized her greatly.

"Oh, ya' bugger? I'm dense, eh?" Gabe says, voice laced with venom, "Ya' better be prepared for a fight because I'm about to bring it to ya..." D*ckhead... Gabe started taking slow steps towards Hunter.

Jake wanted to stop all of this, but, he couldn't touch Gabe without getting a third degree burn. He quickly put an illusion of another brick wall in front of Gabe, yelling, "Stop this now, dammit!" Swearing for the first time in this story. Gabe ignored him again, punching through the illusion.

"I am requesting that you stop now," Hunter starts off, with a threatening glare at Gabe, "I will not hesitate to defend myself if you engage me..." He was defenseless, he needed to make a blood sword this instant. But, his knife was gone, and so was his actual blood sword. He needed to draw blood this moment. Hunter brought his right hand up to his mouth and tightly bites down on his flesh. He then started pressing down, and pulling back his skin. Eventually, he broke his skin and drew blood. All he needed to do was get a moment to make a weapon. While Hunter would be at a severe disadvantage, he wouldn't give up that easily. He knew that the girl was too angry and uncontrolled to be that much of a threat (From their eariler spar). "Does it have to be this way...?" He asks Gabe one more time.

"Yes, yes, your anger gives me power..." Johnny quietly says to himself, with a smirk. He was about to get involved, but, wanted to see where this would go. He wanted to get as much Negative Emotional Energy out of this as possible, and being in the mere presence of a negative person gives him power. However, when the fight was about to start, he would break it up and get Gabe out of there.

It was a very heated and tense moment--- And, it looked obvious that there would one hell of a fight. However, the loud command from Lily breaks up the tense moment.

"You two! Calm the hell down! While I don't know what happened, and you girl have the right to be suspicious... You should know that fighting to the death won't solve a god-damn thing! So, as the organizer of this meeting I demand that you both either remove yourselves from the meeting or sit the hell down!" Lily shouts again, hoping to calm this situation.

Johnny decided it was time to step in. His entire body (Including clothes) was covered in a white light almost instantly. Pulses of various colors (Like a rainbow) pulsed across his body from left to right over and over again, another pulse appeared the very second the last one disappeared. His entire being was hardened as hard as titanium. More than enough to allow him to endure Gabe's heat. He quickly dashed over to her. In the blink of an eye he was grabbing her super-heated upper arm (Above her shoulder) tightly as he could and was pulling her back. He spoke in a dead serious tone, "Look, Gabe. I know you like a nice fight... But, it's time that you quit while you're ahead before you p*ss off the rest of them!" In the process of this, Johnny started influencing Gabe's emotions. She would slowly start to calm down, and she wouldn't know it was him. It was slow, but it was something.

"Hell no! The bugger started this." Gabe replies to Johnny. Trying to break loose by violently tugging.

"Listen to him..." Jake says to Gabe, voice full of annoyance and fear, "You're being almost as stupidly violent as Claire!" That probably would anger her friends, but he didn't care. "And look what's happened to her..."

"Yeah. Do you want to lose your brain cells like thunder-tard? Heh" Johnny drops his authoritative and serious tone for his more joking tone. "Just back down, already. You've already ruined all subtly we all had in our own suspicions.... Don't make it worse."

Gabriela let out a quiet exhale through her nose (Smoke came out) and decided that they were right. She powered down, her arms stopped glowing a bright orange. "Fine, fine... But, if that bugger tries anything again, you can't stop me." Gabe stopped resisting and was dragged back to the Valos family table. There, they all sat down.

I am glad that you came to your senses. Let's end this here, please.  Hunter thinks to himself as he watches. His hand was bleeding drops of blood to the ground. He took slow steps backwards and got to the furthest side of the cafeteria. Out of the way of everyone else. The bag of art supplies were rested on the table, and Hunter pulled out some paper. Since he was still bleeding he decided to take advantage of this, just in case. He scattered them across the table. Hunter then used his fingers to open up the wound even further, letting the blood on the papers. He started drawing with his blood, slowly, he was making a sword.

"Aw, this sh*t looked like it'd be some fun sh*t to watch..." Sylvia says, disinterested now that there  looked like little chance of violence.

Lily sat down and slanted her head downwards, obviously looking stressed out of her mind. These kids are violent and stupid, the kind of person that Lily doesn't get along with. "Qué carajo hice para meterse en este lío?" Lily mumbled in Spanish under her breath.

On the other end of the cafeteria there was Lemontea, she smirked and said to herself, "You all are just a bunch of little dumb @sses, aren't you...?" Before laughing silently at the turn of events. It just got more and more fun to watch.

Crystal was hiding in her closet.  It was the only place close enough when the attack hit.  She knew it was a stupid idea- after all, tons of people look in the closets for others who are hiding- but she didn't have any time to hide anywhere else.  She picked at the dried blood that was between her nails, watching the dark brown substance flake away.  There was some dried blood on her arm, too, but she didn't pay attention to it for some reason.  Crystal had gotten hit in the arm earlier and had a pretty big wound, but she had healed it while she was in hiding.  She wasn't quite sure how the wound had been made.  She just knew that there was a sudden large pain in her right arm.  Crystal listened for some noise.  It had been a while since there had been any screams resonating the halls.  It was probably safe.  She grabbed her backpack as she stood up, slowly pushing the closet door open and looking around.  There were some orange peelings on the floor of the closet since she had been hungry while she was waiting for what she had thought would be her death.  Funny, people were dying and she was hiding in a closet eating.  She felt like a coward, kind of. Crystal gave herself a quick look over.  Her white button down shirt now had a brown blood stain on the side from her arm touching it, but her blue skirt was fine.  She would have to worry about changing later on.

Crystal continued walking- out of the dorm, down the hallways, trying to avoid stepping in blood.  With each step she thought a word. 'I' step 'hate' step 'my' step 'parents' step 'for sending' step step 'me' step 'here.' The last step turned into a stomp as she looked around.  The area was eerily quiet.  Where could she go from here? There were probably other survivors around the area. Hopefully, at least.  The most logical place to go to would be the hospital.  She would have to be careful if she wanted to heal anyone- only if someone is close to death, then only heal them just enough to get them out of a death sentence.  Sounded like a good idea, considering if she overused her powers Crystal knew she would get a major migraine that couldn't be healed.  No one can heal over-thinking.  It just couldn't be done.  Crystal was hesitantly looking around as she walked over to the hospital.

Crystal headed to the back of the hospital, worried of attackers, still.  She paused when she saw a boy, a girl, and some lizard-like being standing out in the back.  They all seemed to be carrying on a conversation.  Maybe they were good.  Besides, if they didn't kill her she could still probably live if attacked, right?  Crystal didn't really feel safe about the lizard creature, but she still approached the trio, a smile on her face that he always tried to hold when talking to people.  She wasn't sure what to ask.... she had heard something about a meeting, but from as far away as she had been, she had no clue what else had been said.  Crystal decided to try and just be relieved that there were others around.

"A meeting? Some people are okay, then? Good," she let out a sigh of relief, "So can anyone tell me what had happened?" her tone wasn't urgent, it was laid back.  The usual voice she chose to talk with to other people, though her true thoughts were currently of panic.

Drake & Victoria

Celo wrote:

"A meeting? Some people are okay, then? Good," she let out a sigh of relief

Both of the active Blackmores turned away from Dragonfly to the newcomer. It was a girl, a few years younger than them. Victoria speculated that she was around 16 or so years old. Drake examined her before he did anything, which was pretty much the usual at this point. She looked average for her age. Nothing outstanding or notable about her. There was that backpack on her. She asked about a meeting, which she obviously heard from their conversation with Dragonfly. However, Drake felt like there was something wrong here. While the girl did look innocent and like nothing happened, he did find her presence suspicious. Maybe he was starting to get paranoid. However, he has one ace in the hole on his side; Victoria, a skilled telepath. All he has to do is ask a few questions while she reads Crystal's mind, and hopefully they'll get some solid answers. Before he did anything, he asked her a few questions.

What do you think? Girl appears out of no where after everything that just happened. Can you read her mind just to make sure there ain't nothing suspicious...? Drake sends his opening thought to Victoria.

These questions immediately made Victoria violate her "no mind-reading" rules yet again. Since, she was reading his mind already and knew exactly what he was thinking. No need to probe futher into this. She closed her eyes and put two fingers on the side of her head. She focused on Crystal's mind, and hoped to gather something meaningful out of this. The moment Victoria started reading Crystal's thoughts, she knew that she was just another victim of this attack. You see, Crystal's mind was racing with fearful, panicked thoughts. That betrayed the girl's calm demeanor, she must be very good at appearing calm, when the contrary was obvious. Victoria opened her eyes and put her arms back at her side, looking at Crystal. Just not to give away anymore hints about her telepathy, she decided to speak, introducing their little group, "Oh, hello there. I'm Victoria, this is my brother Drake, and our friend Dragonfly. What is your name?" While Victoria already knew Crystal's name, it would best that she just downright asks.

Alright, Drake, she appears to be in a state of panic... That means two things; she's either really good at lying, or it's legit. Victoria replies mentally.

And we're in the dark about whether, right? Alright then, we should just keep an eye on her for a bit. Drake replies again.

Right. I'm going to be reading her mind periodically. Just act natural. Victoria replies one last time, before both Blackmores nod. Drake went on to responding to Crystal. Victoria stayed quiet, periodically reading Crystal's mind.

Celo wrote:

"So can anyone tell me what had happened?"

"Yeah, we don't really know," Drake scratched the back of his neck, "From what we were told, this place was attacked by some soldiers. Dunno..." He knew as much as Crystal did. He however, figure that he should tell her a few things about their situation, just in case she doesn't know anything (OR it brings up a suspicious thought). "Me, my sister, and some other people just popped up in here last night with no one even here. Heh, next day we run into a bunch of other peeps who survived whatever the hell happened... Now, we just having a meeting with everyone who's left..." Drake left out a few key details, "...Some strange things are happening here, that's for sure."

Crystal watched curiously as the girl held two fingers up to the side of her head.  She was a bit nervous that the girl was going to use some power on her, but she forced herself to believe it was just a headache that the girl must be having.  She decided it would be best to focus on the fact that there were some people alive.  

Lone wrote:

"Oh, hello there. I'm Victoria, this is my brother Drake, and our friend Dragonfly. What is your name?"

Crystal slowly introduced herself, "My name's Crystal.  It's nice to meet you." They were introducing themselves.  Still no suspicious actions.  That was good- maybe they were good.  She could risk explaining her power to them, but it might not be a good idea.  They could just be faking being nice- many can fake their true feelings.  Crystal was doing it right now- panicking on the inside, but acting calm on the outside.  Then again, if Crystal were to say she could heal, maybe even if they were what some may call "bad" they would just probably have her help heal or something.  The best scenario would be that these they were good and knew what was going on, since she was completely confused here.

Lone wrote:

"Yeah, we don't really know," Drake scratched the back of his neck, "From what we were told, this place was attacked by some soldiers. Dunno... Me, my sister, and some other people just popped up in here last night with no one even here. Heh, next day we run into a bunch of other peeps who survived whatever the hell happened... Now, we just having a meeting with everyone who's left..."

Crystal felt her hope slowly decrease.  They knew just as much as she did.  Nothing of interest.  Except maybe the meeting.  They definitely sounded good, so maybe she could trust them.  Crystal then herd the the part lizard part human- Dragonfly, wasn't it?- speak up.

the Operator wrote:

"We need to get to the meeting don't we? Letss go."

Crystal nodded- wait, they can't leave! At least if they did she was going to go with them.  She really didn't want to go back to hiding in a closet waiting for death to take her.  In a rush of panic, Crystal quickly spoke up. "Is there anyone at the meeting who is hurt?  I think I could help." There was no use in stopping herself from explaining her ability anymore.  Why should she anyways if they now already knew?  Crystal continued talking trying  to keep a calm tone of voice, "I honestly came her to see if anyone was hurt, but if you guys are going somewhere I guess I could join. You said what was left of you guys were meeting, so I guess coming trying to help at the hospital is useless at the moment."

Drake & Victoria

TheⓍperator wrote:

"Oh no, no, no! You didn't interrupt anything at all!" he said almost too quickly. "I'm just not ussed to having people come to me. Let alone know where I am. So there'ss a food sstorage down there?" He said, looking down to his feet. "I wouldn't be ssurprissed."

That wasn't a too convincing answer for Drake. He crossed his arms and looked at Dragonfly. He gave him a forced smile. It just seemed like Dragonfly was doing something shady, the way he responded right here. Then again, he did seem like a shut-in that'd dislike being interrupted. So, he decided to not press any further about it. "Alright then." Drake states blankly, starting off, before finishing up his statements, "This chick with these weird @ss facial scars says that there's a food storage. Personally, I don't know if she's full of crap or not...." His eyes went towards Victoria for a few seconds, before bringing his gaze back to Dragonfly, "... She sure as hell looks like a shady one. That's for sure..." He nervously chuckled. Sometimes it's alright to judge a book by it's cover.

Celo wrote:

"My name's Crystal.  It's nice to meet you."

Once again, Victoria already knew Crystal's name from probing her mind much earlier. It did inspire a bit more trust in Crystal, since she told her name. "It's always a pleasure." Victoria said in response, politely as possibly.

"Same here." Drake just nodded at Crystal before moving on.

Celo wrote:

"Is there anyone at the meeting who is hurt?  I think I could help." There was no use in stopping herself from explaining her ability anymore.  Why should she anyways if they now already knew?  Crystal continued talking trying  to keep a calm tone of voice, "I honestly came her to see if anyone was hurt, but if you guys are going somewhere I guess I could join.  You said what was left of you guys were meeting, so I guess coming trying to help at the hospital is useless at the moment."

This piqued Drake and Victoria's interest. Obviously from the way that Crystal talked, she must be a healer of sorts. Just to make sure, Victoria had quickly read Crystal's mind just to get confirmation. She is indeed a healer type, which could prove helpful if she's friendly. There's Jia-li, who is in need of a healing herself. It might be a bit much, given the Asian's extensive injuries. It was still worth asking. "Can you heal people...?" Drake started off, asking a question, before adding "Because we, uh, um, have someone who got banged up pretty badly and could use some healing...." "

You think she can do it? Drake sends a thought to Victoria. Asking her an honest question.

I don't know... Like you said, Jia's pretty banged up. Maybe we shouldn't try to push her that far.... Victoria replies, giving Drake a dishearted look.

Right. Maybe we'll ask her after we get done the meeting. Drake replies, mentally. It was so nice having a way to have an entire conversation in their minds. That nobody can listen to or interrupt. That wasn't the point. Drake nodded his head and said to Crystal, attempting to steer the conversation away from where he brought it, "Yeah, um, we'll discuss healing our friend a little later..."

"Yeah, our friend will be fine for now." Victoria agrees, softly. She didn't want to immediately force the girl into something like that this early.

TheⓍperator wrote:

"Sstrange indeed." Dragonfly agreed. Looking between everyone, he decided to get back to the topic at hand. "We need to get to the meeting don't we? Letss go."

That immediately brought them back to the subject of the meeting. Since they have found Dragonfly, and picked up a newcomer... Perhaps they should stop the conversation here, since none of them are contributing anything useful. They all can move on to this meeting and continue. Victoria decided to be the first person to speak, "Yeah. Let's all get a move on, I'll lead the way." With that, Victoria started to lead everyone (Hopefully) from behind the Hospital, all the way back into the Dorms. Then the Cafeteria. They arrived just in time, since the main event was just about to start.

The Meeting


The Blackmore siblings were the first two to step inside of the cafeteria, followed by some new comers (To the meeting). Both Drake and Victoria stood side by side a few yards in front of the main door. The meeting seemed to have taken an aggressive turn. Everyone seems to just looked, pissed, shocked, or afraid. Something happened, and neither of them wanted to find out what. Drake yelled, albeit very nervously, "Hey...! We're back, with some friends..." His voice echo'd through the entire cafeteria. Everyone ((Well, my characters)) turned towards them for a moment, before resuming the usual business.

The host of the meeting, Lily, was just about done with trying to reason with these maniacs. They were too hard to have a civil conversation with on her own level. Perhaps she can gather them all together to begin this search into the sub-basement. She stood straight up, on her chair, and put her hands behind her back again. She did a loud fake cough, covered by her right hand. She addressed the entire group, speaking loudly so that they all can hear her, "Alright everyone. I think we can conclude this meeting," Lily looked at the group, she had already assigned herself as the group's leader. Because, in her eyes, there's no one else better suited for the task. They needed to go get some food before they do anything, or else they'll die before they do anything, ", I have decided that we'll head into the sub-basement and find the food storage to get some food. Because we don't want to starve...."

Amongst the first people to respond to Lily were Johnny and his many siblings. Johnny himself, was rather indifferent to this plan of heading down there, "Alright then... Lily Santo... I have to ask two questions..." Johnny raises his right hand, pointing it at Lily. In accordance to this, he extends his index finger. "One; are we just going to wander around in the scariest part of the school, not having a damn idea where we're going, just walking into some spooky demon who will give us a prison-style pounding or we get lost...?" Then he extends his middle finger, in accordance to his next question, "Two; which f*cking ones of us will even go down there?" He was extremely skeptical about this plan. Mostly because it just seems like Lily was forcing on them, and it just seems plain stupid to just wander around there. In any case, he would go down. In the name of adventure.

These questions were something that Lily anticipated. She answered them both in two sentences, "To answer those questions, Johnathon: first, I think that the storage isn't too far away from here... And if it is, I think that one of us has the ability to help us find it." Lily started off, looking Johnny down like someone full of pride and confidence. "As for whoever should come with us... I don't know. Who wants to come?"

"... Is that so...?" Johnny replies, looking like he thinks Lily is full of sh*t. However, he knew that he should come along, even if the plan seemed stupid as hell. He decided to help contribute to this question on who should come, "Well... I have the ability to sense Emotional Presences. So, if anyone gets lost, I can easily find them..." He stood straight up, holding his medical cane by the center and an extremely smug look on his face, "I guess I'll come along to deliver the usual world-class excellence! HAHA!"

This made Lily smile, and blush slightly, "Excellent! It's a start, who else will come?" She asked the group, enthusiastically.

"Sorry, sugar. There ain't no way I'll crawl around in no sh*tter unless I know where I'm goin'. I'll be somewhere else." Lemontea hisses, in a calm, but harsh tone. Immediately afterwards, Lemontea got up off her chair and walked out of the room. Before she left, however, she said some last words, "Good luck. You'll need it... Heh..." Before quietly chuckling as she walked out of the room.

Upon hearing Johnny's stance on this mission, both Jake and Gabe looked at each other. Gabe was the first to speak, "Lookin' to go down there, Jakey?" She asked Jake, near sarcastically.

"Nope. Don't want to get my suit wet. Besides, someone has to cook this food!" Jake says with wide smile, now was the time to put his years of high-end cooking classes to good use.

"Thought so..." Gabe said to Jake, as she stood straight up. While she knew that the animal-type Meta-humans would participate, and she hates them with all of her heart; she needs to help find some food for Jake. "Well, Lil, guess I'll jump on this bandwagon, huh?"

"Two people. Anyone else?" Lily says, "Before anyone says anything; I'll be coming too!"

"F*ck yeah, this f*cker upper will be showing up to throw sh*t down!" Sylvia loudly shouts, to the dismay of Lily and Johnny (and Gabe).

Drake was about to step in, only to be stopped by Victoria grabbing on to his arm, speaking to him (Opposed to using their Mind-link), "Drake, I don't want to go down there... I really don't like the sound and idea of that place, and I won't be too much use..." Victoria told Drake, "... What I mean is that I'm not going down there, but I'm sure that you will... Just don't do anything stupid. Remember, we'll be linked, so if anything goes wrong, then tell me."

"Kay. Hate not having you by my side, we make a great team you know." Drake replies, with a warm, comforting smile. Victoria let go of Drake, as he took steps towards Lily, "Alright. I'm going too! I guess you all will benefit with having a Thunder God on your team, heh."

"I will stay up here..." Hunter says to the group, as he completed his blood art. He didn't want to slow down the mission in case he clashes with Gabe again. Especially if they fight down there or get lost. Right now, he was going to protect that Jia-li girl with his life.

"Alright, alright, alright. Anyone else want to join our valiant mission?" Lily says, examining the group from left to right. There was something she just had to say, "I know most of ya'll have been quiet this entire meeting, but is there anything--- And I mean ANYTHING, anyone else would like to say before we get a move on? Because poor communication kills you know."

Crystal looked at the siblings, uncertain if she should believe them when they said their friend would be fine.  They didn't sound very confident saying that.  But then, the person was their friend while she didn't know the person, so she shouldn't pry any farther into the conversation.  Then they began to leave for the meeting they had been speaking of.  Crystal supposed it was okay to follow so she did so.

Crystal awkwardly eased into a chair and listened silently, feeling out of place in the room, considering she only knew three of the people, and only enough to know their names.  Everyone seemed tensed up, but she preferred to keep a calmer demeanor.  Crystal took out her notebook and jotted down some notes.  If she ever got out of this place, it could make a good story.  Not that anyone would believe it, so she could try and publish it as a science fissional book.  With everyone else's permissions, of course.  Though she had a sinking feeling no one was going to survive.  Everything just seemed so.... hopeless.

Crystal placed her journal back in her backpack and listened as a the people discussed who to send to the sub-basement for some food supply.  Some people declined, some didn't.  Crystal waited a moment, thinking about the words she was going to say before carefully saying them.  She really didn't like announcing her power, but the three people she first met already knew it and they would probably tell everyone else anyways.

"Well, I can heal.  I don't know if I should go or not.  There could be an attack up here and no one to heal people, but then an attack down there and no one to heal people," She casually pointed upwards when she said, "here" and downwards when referring to the basement.  "If the group were larger, I could suggest I stay here and then if anyone in the group gets hurt they could come up with someone to accompany them and I could heal them.  I would suggest also going down, but if someone who stays gets hurt they wouldn't know where to go downstairs since there are probably several places.  Someone downstairs going up would know that we are all in here, though, and wouldn't get lost trying to get healed."

Crystal didn't like giving so much information about herself to complete strangers, but what else could she do?   The kids here were probably going to kill themselves if they didn't think about certain facts, and she was just pointing out the obvious.  She had a feeling she was going to get some strange looks from people, though.  Best not to bring up the complicated junk for how her power works.  If someone asks, maybe she'll just say something short and cute like, "brain power!" Though that would sound idiotic, it was a funny thought.  Better then going into the PSI and psionist junk that gets way to complicated. She didn't completely understand it, in truth.