Academy 218 - IC (Act 6: Reverence and Inspirational Misery)

Anthony Belichini

"auuuugh" creeping back into conscious as he propped himself up he got to his feet and started ambling around the crowded room, he was attracted to where everyone was which was the sight of some guy lying in front of a girl who he assumed had just decked him out which was both impressive and just worrying. "Uh what just happened?" this question was directed at Gabe who looked like she would just punch his head in for asking.

Arianna Madrigal

Everyone has certain elements of themselves they don't particularly care for: both physical and mental. Arianna didn't like the way the insides of her thighs touched or the way her hair always got ugly-looking if she didn't keep messing with it constantly. But, one more spiritual aspect of herself that she despised was her cowardice. Arianna wasn't a fighter. For all the time she'd spent in the training room that day trying to force herself to be strong, it simply wasn't who it was.

Songbirds weren't made for killing.

Arianna crouched, clamping her hands over her ears in almost childlike expression of denial. And it wasn't, to her credit, entirely the fight storming between Jake and Abe. It...it had triggered something. The raw intensity of their emotions was loud and brutal on the Symphony, like standing, at once, in the front row of two heavy metal concerts. It overwhelmed the ambient music of the Symphony and, coupled with her psychic soreness, made focusing on anything difficult. Beyond that, Arianna was tired, psychologically. Since she'd gotten here, it had been one awful thing after another, from Jaska nearly killing them all to someone getting murdered to Titus and the way the very thought of him made her skin try and crawl off her bones.

Arianna wanted to go home and leave the Academy behind forever. She would go play to her old school and her old friends and her old house and-

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Arianna hissed, Abe's bellowing cutting through her impromptu earmuffs rather easily. She turned to say something to him, her eyes watery with tears, and shrieked. He was bleeding. His entire face was drenched in blood, falling onto the snow around him where little crimson tendrils were inking their way across the snow to her-

this ends in blood

this ends in tears

this all ends arianna

Arianna squeezed her eyes shut, desperately whispering to herself, trying to force the nightmarish (and they were not that scary, in and of themselves-it was the fact that Arianna knew it was true, that it was merely from a time in the future or the past or the present presenting itself to her, that was what made it more terrifying than Titus to her) visions out of her head, the sounds of gunfire that peppered throughout Jake and Abe's Songs.

"I'm not okay," Arianna whispered to Jake (who was equally bloody and haggard, his clothes all torn to shreds and Arianna had a sinking suspicion it was her it was her she did this she caused all this she made him die), not wanting to her strain her Voice. "I just...I don't...please stop...don't fight. P-please don't fight."

Gabriela Mya Valos.


The primal emotion of rage faded, and logic and realization quickly seeped in. There was a boy unconscious at her feet, and she was kinda suspicious. While she was confident in her abilities, she didn't want to jump into any fights with this kid's friends/family/whatever and ruin this party. What a twist. She had one target, and one target alone, Titus MacArthur, and ends up directing her anger at someone completely different. That would. One kid (Whom she vaguely recalled seeing ) that. Act like she had nothing to do with the knocked out kid at her feet. "Yo, the boy..." Gabe turned an eye towards the guy, spread eagle, "... Tripped." She gave him an awkward smile. "Ya'... das what happened." Only to notice that a new party had entered the room.

"Crap..."


Adam, Megan, Leon, Drake, Gabe, Sage, & Eliza.


Adam, Leon, and Megan stepped into the student lounge.

The emergency meeting called at the Headmaster's mansion was dismissed. With the trio of power instructors gaining some useful information... Only to return to the school with the dorms in a state of disarray. A party was thrown in their absence. This was something that Adam found utterly unacceptable. This was a revelation that plenty of students had hidden alcohol within the dorms. This would be a problem that would be fixed by morning. Adam stood in the doorway of the room, with Leon at his left, and Megan at his right.

"Oh! It appears they've thrown themselves a celebration!" Megan says, her tone was almost sarcastic, "You know! To ease their nerves!"

"Miss Jervious, now is not the time to be overly jovial..." Adam groaned while he pushed his glasses up his nose, "Leon, find the person responsible for this."

"Heh, on it, boss." Leon began using the eye of providence to see into the minds of those around him. Hoping to find those that fit the criteria.

Adam decided that it was high time that he stepped in and put an end to this party. He gave the room one good hard look, and saw the speakers. With one use of his air manipulation, the vibrations of sound was muffled, and didn't travel that far. "Ahem! May I have your attention?" He loudly said, his voice was carried throughout the room with a wind.

Immediately everyone turned their attention to Adam. With the looks on their face like they just know they're busted, which is several different kinds of true. Eliza cut the music off, looking afraid.

"Crap. Hahaha..." Drake knew that there was a high chance he was screwed (Get thrown off this island on a tornado, screwed). With Leon by Adam's side, all it'd take is one look into his head and see his guilty conscience - Then how he was involved in the formation party. There was one chance, and he had to take it. He grabbed any alcohol in the area and quickly downed it. Regardless of how it tasted. They can't interrogate an unconscious man, can they?

Hm. This was the kind of thing that Gabe has seen a thousand times before. The coppers are here, and everyone's leaving. Gabe looked around - Surprised that everyone isn't rushing out of here. Before realizing her own stupidity. Of course, we're on a bloody island. There ain't anywhere to run off to. Either way, before they start handing out punishments, Gabe was going to make it her mission to get out of here. Since, like Drake, she had a hand in starting this party. Finding Jake and Jaska was an objective, hopefully they didn't get into anymore trouble while she's gone. Gabe was about to walk off, but she had something to say to Anthony "Dunno who ya' are, but a wee bit of advice..." She leaned in close to Anthony, "Ya' should leave 'ere and neva' mention ya' were here. Buh-bye!" Gabe creeped her way out the door, getting immediately greeted by the cold breeze of the island.

Naturally, a rush of nervousness and fear had overcome Sage. They were quite afraid of getting in trouble, despite the fact that they've been here for only a few minutes at best. Still, Sage was the kind of person who enjoyed living in the shadows, being the nice little student for the teachers. It was a near subconscious use of their power, but Sage turned invisible.

Megan had her arms crossed over her chest, looking around with a cheeky, almost child-like, look on her face. "Quite the mess you've kids made here." She giggled, "But how in the hells do you expect to clean all of it up!?"

Adam spotted Drake in the back of the crowd, trying to get drunk. Adam summoned a wind to knock the alcohol out of his hand.

"Double crap."

Getting a good composure, Adam readied a long speech, "I sincerely hope that you all had a good time enjoying your slice of anarchy. It is the first, and only time such an event will go on. All of you - Return to your rooms at once, and do not come out even for a second. Oh, and another thing, you all better good a good night's sleep, and handle your hangovers...." Before Adam could finish, Leon cut him off.

"-Yo, is this some of mine?" Leon absentmindedly chimed into Adam's little clarion call, grabbing a bottle of some fine wine. He swore that he had bought some of this. "Ya'll better not have broke into my room and touched my stuff."

Adam shot Leon a look of disgust, before continuing, "... Because coming tomorrow, the entire Student Body will be cleaning up this mess, regardless of who attended or not. Am I clear?"

"Ah! Bullshit!" Drake shouted.

(Jake coming soon as Lieo posts)

Niza
-

Niza looked up as she noticed a certain group of people arrive n the room. She found herself snickering at the situation, not really surprised by the turn of events. It was only expected that some faculty should arrive sooner or later while the party was going on. She was expecting later, however. Had they given up on finding the headmaster's daughter? Bummer... oh well.

Niza turned to Seth and the others. "Well," she quietly began, a smirk still on her face, "I would suggest that we..." she quietly pointed at the exit Gabe had just left through.

-
Len and Bre
-

Oh crap. Len had to admit he had been having a good time- He had, for once, began dancing, and Bre was dancing with him... dang, she was good. But then these guys had to come in and... dangit. He looked at Bre, with one of those faces that basically tell what exactly is on you mind- We are goners.

Bre shoook her head quickly- she didn't even seem nervous. In fact, her only response of nervousness was fixing her sunglasses to make sure no one could see her eyes. She simply pointed at an exit- it was the only thing they could do if they didn't want to get caught. The only thing they had to worry about was Leon digging into their minds and catching them. She could only hope that didn't happen. But even if they did get noticed.... neither she or Len had really drunk anything, right? So they wouldn't be in as much trouble as others (*cough* Drake *cough*). She gave Len a reassuring smile and took his hand as they began to leave the building. Len glanced nervously at the group of teachers, hoping they wouldn't catch them as they left.

-
Jaylin and Kynan
-

Mr Allen J wrote:

"Oh! Has anyone ever... You know, liked you less, because of your power?"

The twins exchanged nervous glances. They knew some did- they had suspicions of Gabe, considering at times she did cast them drty glances. But since they had mostly kept their power secret back home- no one could really tell when they were merged together or not, so it wasn't that hard to hide their power- they hadn't been ridiculed much for their powers. Kynan was the one to answer the question.

"We haven't told many people about our power, but a couple I think have..."

Jaylin nodded in agreement, not really knowing what else to do.

-
Mina
-

Mina looked in surprise as Ray and Rush appeared, smirking a little bit as she spoke to her captors.

"You are so gonna get it, now. Really, you don't mess with these guys."

Of course she didn't care if she couldn't be heard- she had to do something other than just stand there, right? So Mina threw insults. Until, of course, she watched Ray and Rush.... get their butts handed to them on a silver platter. Mina winced as she watched. They seemed to be doing good for a second.... then.... everything exploded in their faces. She found ehrself scowling.

"That's the best you can do!?" she yelped, watching as Ray passed out. She bit her lip, the motion being so stressed that her own passed out form did the same, causing a little bit of blood to be drawn. She wasn't paying attention to it, though. She was ticked. The boys could have done better than that. But they didn't- and that really ticked her off. And then these guys- whatever and whoever they were- had just completely annihilated them as if they were nothing more than little bugs. And now Ray was all beat up.... at least he put up a fight. Mina wasn't sure who she was more mad at, now. Captors or Ray and Rush... tough decision. The only thing she could do was yell obscenities as they all- even her- disappeared with a flash of light.

Abraham Gene

Abraham broke out in a loud and sudden guffaw that betrayed his anger, and perhaps even his arrogance. Much of this had to do with his anger and betrayal, but they weren't so significant he'd walk away crying. With it, there was also some sense of a personal vendetta - but that was pushing it. Devoting himself to making a worm squirm? No, no. Something more primal, harder to put his finger on it. But he was made a tool. How was it that someone like him was driven to helping a bottom feeder like this fool? And then have the tables turn on him by being given no thanks or reward? That was kind of humiliating. He ought to put Jake in his place, but that would be comparable to beating down a beggar for winning rock, paper, scissors. Jake already knew his place. Abe just had to remind him that he does, too.

When his boisterous laughter died down to but a few chuckles, he barely had the breath to further patronize him. Barely. "You-- you? Oh please! You have to be kidding! How many times are you gonna get beaten again before you actually do something? You can't even defend yourself. How can you expect to defend another person?"

It was somewhat of a hysterical notion, really. Abe was too distracted by his conflict with Jake to even notice Arianna's feeble voice. His arms and hands - they were still encompassed with stone. It was with these hands that he thrusted forward, palms flat, into his chest. It was an action that was swiftly executed, one that Jake might have only anticipated were he expecting it or waiting for it to happen, but also one that would present difficulty retaliating against. Should it connect, he'd undoubtedly be knocked back a couple feet and winded - or if unable to recover in time. Regardless of the outcome, Abraham did have some parting words for him, since Jake was so eager to hear:

"You live in a little fantasy world where you're the big white knight, but I've got some news for ya, kid: wake up. This here's the real world. Ain't nothin is perfect. You best know your place, because I won't be around to be savin' you or your girlfriend anymore. You're fighting MacArthur on your own now."

Well then. That came across more Boston than Abe had anticipated.

Jake Vin Valos.


Hoo-ray, Jake rolled his eyes as he thought, I get this jackass talking down to me. What Abe was saying was ultimately just trash talk. Empty words from a man who thinks he's in charge. It was so hard to get riled up at this point, since he didn't respect Abe even in the slightest - It's hard to get offended when he doesn't respect them. Jake gave him a cheeky smile, saying, "I guess she'll find out." As a short way of saying that it doesn't matter that Abe thinks he can't protect anyone. "Are we done yet-"

Perhaps it was the fact that Jake foolishly let his guard down, believing that Abe was only going to run his mouth. The palm thrust could have been easily been blocked, and would have been countered with, well, any illusory conjure that he could come up with. That wasn't the case here. A web of spit came from his lips as he was knocked back by rock hard hands. Getting the wind knocked out of him. Like Abe predicted, he fell back. This felt like more of a hit to his pride, than to his aching body. Humiliated yet again. By someone who falls under the "tough" category. Get back up. A voice in his head called out, overpowering all other sounds and thoughts, Focus. Fight back. Jake tried to regain his composure, get back to his feet, because he's open. That was hard because he was already little injured right now from last night, and getting hit by Abe didn't help. Then the guy started running his mouth, and because of the absence of punching, Jake preferred him talking now than ever. Jake was only half-listening, but what he did listen to clicked within him.

It all made sense.

...Fantasy world. The whole night was just a figment of his imagination, truly. His power and mind turned against him. The night was going amazingly - Just too amazingly. Arianna was disgusted by him merely a few hours ago, and is likely still in the training hall. It all reminded him of what his power was when it first started. Wish fulfillment. His powers were only fulfilling the wish that things will get better, that Arianna would forgive him. Abe came as a clarion call to snap back to reality. Wake up. Both Arianna and Abe were erased from his senses. Not a trace of them being there other than the distant memory in his head. Even the pain from Abe's attack was gone. "It was..." Jake rose to his feet, clutching his chest, not exactly a bright and cheerful look on his face. "God dammit." He bellowed. Realizing that he was just chasing another fantasy.

Why couldn't he just have a power straight forward as Gabe's?


((Sorry I couldn't have had Jake say something to Arianna without it being as awkward as my last Jake post))


Gabriela Mya Valos, Bloodsucker, & Mannequin.


"Looks like the party's dying down a bit." Bloodsucker spoke, hanging on top of the dorms, with a leg hanging off, idly swinging left and right. The Mannequin stood next to his, white ceramic, and featureless. "They're going to be scrambling... We need to pick up the pace if we're going have enough super-powered brats to do the plan."

Mannequin only turned his blank face towards his leader. If he had a face, his eyebrow would be raised. He looked down, to see someone quickly leaving the party. An eyepatched girl wearing a dress, walking confidently all alone in the snow. She didn't stray too far from the wall, which gave the Mannequin an idea. He pointed at Gabe with one of his long, bony, fingers. Getting the attention of his boss.

"Now you're talking follow my lead." Bloodsucker jumped down from the building, knives in hand. Such a fall would incapacitate anyone else, but he landed on his feet, behind Gabe. It was a loud and noticeable sound, and caused her to pivot towards him, hands casting off with a brilliant laser-light. Bloodsucker stopped that by quickly wrapping his arms around Gabe's midsection, effectively locking her arms. He slid one hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming for help. Gabe resisted, violently shaking left and right. The Mannequin made his descent, climbing down the building, before jumping. Falling to the ground, flat, almost like he was broken. He rose up to his feet in an unnatural fashion, like a puppeteer had strings attached to him and were pulling him up. He had landed a few feet in front of Gabe with his back to them. Mannequin turned around, his head rotated, before the rest of his body.

The Mannequin pulled out a syringe.

This was the point where Gabe stopped messing around, and stopped playing their game. Her entire body started glowing a blood-red light. A flurry of lasers packing a concussive force popped out of her body. Packing enough force to put a hole in the wall. Naturally, the laser had knocked Bloodsucker off of her, leaving him with only a few wounds that were promptly healed. The Mannequin was hit with the lasers, and it only caused a few tiny cracks in his armor, other than the fact that he was knocked back.

Lights around Gabe had subsided, allowing her to see. She didn't know what the hell was going on, or who grabbed her - But they were going to get some hell. She heard some footsteps behind her, and without even thinking, her fingertip started to glow red, and she whipped around. Swinging her finger upwards, firing off a laser hot enough to set anything it touched ablaze. Like her lasers usually did, it gave off a blindingly red light. Her fingertip was set alight with the same kind of burning hot heat that she was long conditioned to take. She heard the sound of a thump, but couldn't see anything but a red light. By the time the light faded, she saw Bloodsucker on the ground, missing a arm and a leg, with the wounds cauterized.

Bloodsucker's severed arm and leg lied dead in the snow. Because of the means of severance, there was not a drop of blood. He looked down, his face was more annoyed or deadpan, than showing a legitimate reaction. "Ow." He chuckled a bit, "I just got a new one. Aren't you at least slightly considerate?!"

Gabe wasn't going to let up, she was only giving herself a chance to see her target. She pointed a hand at Bloodsucker, and was ready to shoot him with a laser. Only thing was that Gabriela was dealing with multiple opponents, otherwise, she may have very well incinerated Bloodsucker where he stood. The Mannequin jumped on Gabe, latching his limbs around her, and the force of impact brought her to the ground. The laser she was going to shoot hit the ground, melting the snow. During the fall, the Mannequin stabbed her in the neck with a syringe, and everything went dark for Gabe.

A tendril of blood, oddly thicker in viscosity than regular blood, erupted from Bloodsucker's severed limbs. It went forward, until bones began to form, with flesh and muscles packed on that, with a slap of skin over all of that. Until a complete hand and foot were formed. In less than a few seconds. He stood up to his feet, and looked at his new hand. While idly "A little different from expected, but the job's done."

Gabe was unconscious at this point.

Like everyone else, they disappeared in a flash of light.


Jaska Din Valos, Heartbreaker, The Contessa, & Flashbang.


Oh. Well not exactly the most descriptive answer, but it was better than nothing. Jaska had a feeling that people thought less of him because of his 'alternate state'.. Because he's too young and inexperienced to control himself. Might have just been paranoia. There was a few awkward seconds of looking for a way to take this conversation. That train of thought came to a halt when Jaska felt something hit him in the neck. Almost like a bug flew into him. He felt tired. Weak. Light-headed. He felt strange. "Uh..." He was wobbling left and right, quickly correcting himself. He reached and grabbed the alien object, after realizing that it was embedded into his skin, he yanked it out. Taking a look at it. A tranquilizer dart. At this point his vision started to get blurry. "Uhh... Wh... What's this?" While Jaska had a resistance to foreign chemicals, he was hit in a rather vital area, and was feeling the effects transfer through his body. He heard some women talking in the distance, but he wasn't in the state to pay it any real attention.

On one of the rooftops overlooking Jaska, Kynan and Jaylin, was the trio consisting of Heartbreaker, Flashbang, and now Contessa. Heartbreaker was in a sniping stance, knelt down, and still looking down the scope of her sniper, "F*ck," Heartbreaker snarled, "Why isn't he going down?"

"He has a resistance to foreign agents. You'll need to shoot him with another." Contessa suggested, deadpan, she had scanned his powers and got the exact details on why he isn't unconscious right now.

"Well what are you standing here for?" Heartbreaker's annoyed look turned into a wide grin, she stood straight up, and slung her rifle over her shoulders. "We're taking the direct route, girls." Heartbreaker raised her rifle up into the head, and positioned the butt so that it was pointing at the ground, like she was going to hit someone with it.

Which was spot on with her plans.

In a flash of light, Flashbang teleported the trio to the three. Actually right behind them. Heartbreaker was behind Jaska, and the second she was teleported, she brought down her rifle. Onto Jaska's head, hitting him right on the very top of her head. Which was enough to knock out the already tipsy Jaska. He hit the ground, the snow softened his fall, and he left several inhuman marks in the snow. Flashbang was behind Jaylin, and Contessa was behind Kynan. When Jaska hit the ground, Heartbreaker raised her rifle with superhuman dexterity, and pointed it at the twins. "Alright kids, you scream, me and my friends here kill you. Got it?"

Anthony
he attempted to respond but before he could Gabe had slipped away."wait what?" his mind wondering what just transpired now apparently they had to clean up tomorrow,He gave a sigh its not good thing to fall asleep when cleaning you'are likely to face plant in a pool of vomit,He shuttered at that thought "what a way to get up covered in bile..". He exited through the door slightly fast not because he was running from anything,rather that he was trying to get to his room before he spent his slumber on the floor. He noticed a distinct lack of people in the halls which made sense considering they just got busted. He realized something what people often do to sleepers at parties hopefully the markers weren't permanent...

Drake Deltori, Adam Leo Blackmore, and...


It didn't take long for Drake to be singled out as the one who orchestrated the whole ordeal. Which wasn't the way that he'd expected the night would be going. Right now, he was getting one hell of a lecture from Adam. Both of them were standing in the now vacant student lounge.

"... This was one of the most idiotic, impulsive, things you've ever done! I cannot put it into words anymore! You choose now of any time to pull this kind of stunt. When you know that there's a threat out there. Putting the lives of students in danger. That is why you will stay here. In this room. Until this room is pristine. You will not stop, you will not sleep, you will not sh*t - Until this mess is cleaned up. Am I clear?"

Drake barely listened. He just waited for him to stop talking before he went to work, cleaning up this mess. "Mhmm..."

"Good. I have business to attend to. Once I am back, you better be here, or you've secured a one way trip off this island." Adam floated off, he needed to make sure the rest of the school was secure, and check up with security.

Drake picked up a broom and dustpan and went to work. The party was all in the name of good fun, but now is the time for work. Worth it? The answer would be yes. Best of all, Drake's name would forever be associated with the school's likely first party ever. He's now going to be popular here! The king of kings, baby! Fighting in the arena non-stop wasn't enough - But, god he had to take a piss.

That was a change of plans. Adam said that he couldn't stop until the mess is cleaned up... A little bit of loopholes is in order, well, because Adam didn't imply whether or not he wanted the whole room clean, or just one tinsy little mess. Drake swept up some empty cans of beer, chucked it in the trash, before he ran his way outside. It was cold out here, and eerily empty - Not a soul in sight, only the distant sounds of activity reminding him that this was not indeed a ghost town. Perfect. Drake dropped his pants, and started going to the bathroom.

Until he felt someone hit him in the ass.

Things got blurry, and he felt light on his feet. In his last moments of consciousness, he turned around, and looked. His eyes widened as he saw what appeared to be a giant creepy doll, a vampire-looking hispanic, and some hot chick with a sniper-rifle.

".... Looks like you were caught with your pants down, kid." Heartbreaker taunted, "Looks like he's the last bag of tonight."

"They're working on turning the security back on..." The Mannequin said, "We cannot risk discovery, not this early into the plan."

"Bag 'em and let's go then, we have enough, eh Bloodsucker?" Heartbreaker had a grin on her face, and her eyes were directed at Bloodsucker.

"Yes... The rest of the team is gathered together. Everyone we've already bagged are ready. Let's go."

This was merely the start of what would be a horrifying experience, not just for Drake, but everyone nabbed at that. Truly a moment when all their lives would be at risk.

An experience where few of them would come out alive from.




1:31 Am



...

Spoiler:

The first to come to, and gradually become aware of the situation was Gabe. She felt strange, and things were blurry as hell. She felt like she was in an odd position, sitting down on her knees, she thinks. She didn't know. When she tried to move, she found herself restrained. Two people stood directly in front of her, unshackled and everything. One was a eerie hispanic man, tall, wearing a trench-coat, and had knives in his hands. If Gabe was sober, she'd definitely know that he was the man who jumped her, Bloodsucker. The other person was wearing an angelic white cloak, with a red-cross symbol stitched on each shoulder. Gabe knew that this person was a woman, going off her chest, and feminine figure. They were talking, she couldn't make out too much of their conversation.

"... What the hell do you mean none of these girls are pregnant?"

The elderly woman in the white robe shaked her head.

"The boss still wants babies! Aw, f*ck it, there goes our Christmas bonus."

"What...?" Gabe managed to blurt, "Where da' f*ck... Am I?"

Bloodsucker immediately got in Gabe's face, while the woman in white walked away. He spoke to her, putting a finger on her chin to raise her head, "Awwww, you're starting to come to. I was hoping that you kiddies would stay napping until we reach the deadline, but oh well." He unhanded Gabe, walking towards the center of the room.

Slowly, but surely, every member of the cast that had been kidnapped by the Changeling Unit started to regain consciousness after being heavily drugged by their captors.

The first thing they would notice that they were heavily bond. Their hands and feet were bond with steel shackles, chained to the wall, they were wrapped tightly enough so that they didn't have enough room to move. The very next thing they would notice is that there was a heavy collar wrapped around their necks. It was large, thick, heavy, black, technological. Interestingly enough, no one wearing a collar powers will work. Regardless of how hard they try, their powers will not come online to save them this time around. Everyone was tied up in a nice row, everyone was next to each other, pressed up against the wall.

Anyone looking around would definitely get a good feel where they were. They were in a gigantic room, it was circle shaped, and fairly tall. It was constructed out of concrete blocks. The many captured people where all up against one wall. On the other side of the room, was a ramp, that lead up to a elevated platform, with a person wearing a mask on top of it. Throughout the room were various members of the Changeling unit. The room was well illuminated, so everyone can see clearly. The room is definitely on the island, underneath the campus, inside the intricate maze of tunnels. Going off the many massive pipes running through the room, possibly the room where many of the pipes meet.

"Hello, Children!" Bloodsucker loudly announced to the group, as he stepped through the room, cheerfully, "I know you all are probably confused, but allow me to explain." He stopped somewhere near the center, and put his hands up into the air. "... Well, your headmaster owes me and my superiors a very big debt, and he's hellbent on defying us, even after we showed him how scary we can be. So, we're running out of options, time, and he's inching ever so closer to completing a goal."

Bloodsucker started scraping the blade ends on his knives together, "We're at plan... C. Which is give Dacious an ultimatum; give us what we want, and you all go free, or we send a few dozen kids back to their families in bags to get some attention of the outside world," Bloodsucker paused and gave everyone a curious look, "Because a little mass murder will definitely get some international attention - Then we'll reveal some curious information, which'll force him to destroy what he has made."

"So if it comes to that, don't think of yourselves as victims of a conflict out of your hands..." A grin that bared fangs crept up on Bloodsucker's mouth, "... Think of yourselves as martyrs, giving us the attention we need, as we are trying to prevent something that can change the world from falling into the wrong hands." Bloodsucker started laughing, "... And don't bother asking what he has. I am only telling you this because it doesn't matter. If we get what we want, we'll be long gone before the authorities can do anything, and if you die... Heh, I hope you are all far enough in school to figure out what that means...." He followed that statement with a bout of laughter.

Bloodsucker paused, "I wouldn't try using those powers of yours. We've made adjustments so that they wouldn't help you. Thanks to our creepy Mannequin." He then pointed at the Mannequin, who was the one who designed these power inhibitor collars. Which have helped the Unit get ahead with their plans time and time again.

The complete Changeling Unit was here, all eleven of them were positioned throughout the room. Heartbreaker was ontop of the platform, with her legs hanging down, and her sniper rifle in her lap. The Mannequin was in the center of the room, standing straight up, on full display. His inhuman face scanned the room. Contessa and Flashbang were standing side by side near the prisoners, keeping a watchful, but blank eyes on them. Dreamwalker floated above everyone else, standing positioned near the opposite wall to the group, his cloak was flowing like he was a ghost.

The yet to be revealed members were scattered throughout the room.

One was a woman in her late twenties, with a rough outer-layer. Going off the scars, and other battle wounds. She wasn't a particularly attractive woman, a rather mean person would call her butch. She had black hair, cut very short, but not well cleaned. She was a few inches above average. She wore an all-black get-up. Black jeans, boots, and a hoodie, which was flipped up over her head. Underneath her hoodie she hid body armor. Primitive Light.

Another was a more notable, intimidating presence. He stood at six-feet tall. He was a horribly wounded, and deformed, man. Covered from head to toe in scars, and growths and deformities. His head looked more like a skull than a face. He didn't even have lips anymore. He wore a large orange prison jumpsuit with a few tears. Acidscar.

A man wearing a suit was also rather noticeable. Not because of his suit, because of his massive hookhand that looked more like an anchor than a hookhand. He had a pirate feel, which was contributed by his hookhand and the fact that he had an eyepatch. He had spiky-red burgundy hair. Count Vicious.

A conspicuous woman was also among their ranks. She wore a jumpsuit very similar to Acidscar. She stood at an average height, and in terms of appearance, looked very European. Flat face, and facial features similar to those from . She had a large masculine jawline, seemingly making her appear near-androgynous. She had a gruff, masculine, demeanor, but still remained quite feminine. She had dark-blonde hair, near-brown, kept in a braided ponytail. Berzerker.

Last but not least, was the woman that Bloodsucker was talking to previously. As it's been mentioned, she was a woman wearing a heavenly white robe. Underneath it revealed an elderly woman, dark-skin, likely a woman from the Caribbean or Africa. She sat down on a chair, looking tired. Witch Mother.

What was most curious about this scene was that on top of the platform was a girl bound, with a mask over her face. She was wearing the same outfit as before, except it was dirty, and stained with old and new blood. This was without a doubt Amimoore. Kidnapped nights before.

"If you're wondering who we are..." Bloodsucker started laughing. His laughter grew louder and more and more maniacal. Until the rest of the Changeling Unit joined in. Their laughter filled the room. "-We are the Changeling Unit! Evil personified! The ones who decides tonight whether or not you'll die tonight! Let that sink in for a minute..."


Carmen 'Lily' Santo.


((This is important))


Oh, god.

Oh, god.

Lily gave everyone a notable show of shock. Her heart raced, and thoughts of death and fear raced through her head. She couldn't even think straight and pay attention to her surroundings. She was just so certain that she was going to die that she couldn't even think of ways to prevent it. Alright, Lil' get a hold of yourself. You can't say this was the first time something like this happened to you. This is true. She calmed herself down, enough for her to get a good grasp on what's going on. So, she's been kidnapped by psychopathic maniacs, and they want to kill her if they don't get something from Dacious? Just her f*cking luck. She goes to this damn school to get away from this, to get another chance at life, but look at her now. She's in a worse situation than before.

Now, she had to come up with a plan to get out of this alive - And get Merry out of this alive. Alright, she needed to weigh her odds. That Blood-sucking verga said that everyone's powers are apparently off... But why can she use her powers just fine? She can still perceive the meta-human energy in everyone. When she looked at the person next to her, she saw the meta-human energy flow within them, albeit, much weaker. By all means, Lily's power was perfectly functional. Perhaps her collar was broken? Or is it because she has a unique kind of Meta-human energy that this stupid collar isn't tuned to inhibit? She stopped thinking about the whys in this matter, and focused more on what she can do now. It was hard to come up with something when a question kept intruding on her thoughts.

Their little power inhibitors don't work on her but what the hell could even she do?

Lily was in a precarious situation. She could hack into one of the Changeling unit's powers to turn it off, but what would that do? Great. She was the only one who wasn't affected, but she was also the one who couldn't help anyone in the slightest. Jesus. Think. Think. Think.

Wait

By looking at everyone's energy, the collars only weaken their powers to the point of uselessness. Perhaps she could hack into someone's power, give them the boost that they need to be capable of doing something. Get everyone out of here.

But who the hell should she boost?

Ugh, more questions, and not enough time.


Gabriela Mya Valos.


It goes without saying that Gabe was less shocked, and more angry at the turn of events. Who the hell does these weirdos 'The Changeling Unit' think they are? Gabe's about to show them that they are nothing but trash. Gabe started thrashing around violently, using all of her strength possible. Only proving for it to be futile. "Get me the hell out of this!" She roared. Alright, plan B was use her power. Yeah, she could break these shackles with a laser or two. Only to realize that she didn't have access to her powers right now. Well there goes all possible plans. Hell. Gabe let out a sigh of irritation, since she had resigned herself to believing that this situation is out of her hands. She would have to hope that someone else would give her a shot of escape.

Whatever happened,

She prayed that she was the only Valos down here.


Drake Deltori Blackmore.


"Uhhh... This reminds me of the last time I went to a party...." Drake slurred, barely awake, "Except you men were naked, and you ladies were running your assess off." He was barely aware of what was going on right now. Because he was already drunk from the party, and the dart that hit him in the ass sent him over the edge. Now, he has no idea what's going on. He needed a minute or two to give himself some time to piece everything together. After he figured out what was going on, which was midst Bloodsucker's speech, he responded with nonchalance, "Now, can one of you lovely ladies be kind enough as to loosen my shackles, my ass itches." Drake is mentally incapable of taking such a dire situation seriously. Even without his powers, he knew that he would get his chance. Then he'll kick their assess.


Ray Judah Drager.


"F*ck, f*ck,  f*ck,  f*ck...." The words hissed through Ray's teeth as he desperately looked around for something that could help him get out of these bonds. He understood how f*cking serious the situation was. He's captured by psychopaths with literally no way to fight back. He's playing their game. That warranted a bit of panic, which is especially notable in the calm and collected Ray. He wish that he had his telekinesis right now, he'd be out of these chains in seconds, and he'd even have time to get everyone else out. Right now, he was coming up with a plan of some sort of getting out of here. Which is less of a plan and more of a hope that something will come along. Ray looked down, and noticed that his wounds that he sustained during his fight with the Changeling unit had healed. Without a single trace of them being there. Which was good, otherwise, he would have died of blood-loss given the time he was unconscious.


Jaska Din Valos.


Everything was just so frightening, and alien. He had no idea what was going on, and for good reason, as Jaska was flooded with absolute terror. His heart started racing, he started looking around desperately for Gabe or Jake - Hell, anyone that he knew. Only not to find anyone who knew. Which didn't help his mood. Jaska wasn't as old or hardened as anyone here. He was younger, and maintaining his dignity at all times was simply impossible. Jaska couldn't hide his emotions from anyone here. He would have been content in crawling into a corner in fear, and hoping everything will be okay. But the last time that happened, things just got worse. "Mommy, Jake, Gabe? A-anyone?" Tears started rolling down his eyes onto his chest, then the floor. He was still shirtless from before, since he abandoned his shirt to navigate through the party unhindered.

Jaska didn't even notice that his power wasn't even working right now. If it was, his instincts would be screaming into his head. Getting him all violent and excited.

Jaylin and Kynan
-

The twins woke up at the same time, both shocked and looking around. The last thing they remembered was receiving threats. Threats of getting shot. Now... Where were they?

Jaylin felt as if he had been asleep for hours, and was tempted to just fall back asleep, but then he noticed then entirety of the situation. He could hear someone speaking- he wasn't paying attention though, since he couldn't sense the one thing he believes he wouldn't be able to survive without- his brother. Jaylin's mind began to panic as he sent a thought into the depths of his mind, hoping somehow that it would reach Kynan.

Kynan? You there?

There was no response.

Jaylin's eyes began to tear up as he tried the thought again. And again. Why couldn't he reach Kynan? Was he dead? Jaylin let out a wail, not listening to the person that was talking or paying attention to the shady people around the room. He continued to wail, too, and normally he would have refused to do such a thing. But this problem, to him, was worse than dying. Suddenly he felt a cool hand touch his arm, and Jaylin's wailing stopped as he recognized the touch, turning around as quickly as he could with the restraints.

Kynan had managed to scoot over to his brother, giving him a reassuring smile, though tears were falling from his eyes, as well. "It's alright, Jaylin. These collars just make us unable to read each other, is all. Calm down."

Jaylin slowly nodded, sniffling as he laid back against the wall, mumbling about how he hated the collars.

"Yeah, me too," Kynan agreed, looking around the room at their captors instead of laying back down.

-
Mina
-

The moment the collar had been placed on Mina, her spirit form returned to her normal body and she got a better sleep than she had in a while. She wasn't surprised, however, when she woke up in the room with the Changeling unit. She yawned, attempting to stretch as she looked around. Wow. This is the most awake she has felt... Ever! She felt great! She looked around the room, listening to the changeling unit talk before finding Ray among the captives. His wounds were healed, though he obviously wasn't happy. Who would be?

She only nodded at him in acknowledgement, feeling a bit more happier than normal despite the predicament. The boost in energy for her physical form helped her not to feel like scolding him for the failed rescue mission. Instead.. Hey, they tried. This thought was so out of her character it was almost unreal.

"Thanks," Mina found herself mouthing to him instead, surprising herself.

-
Len and Bre
-

Bre was the first among these two to wake up. The first thing that she noticed wasn't the shackles or the collars, or even the people in the room. Her sunglasses. Her sunglasses weren't there! Everything was brighter and... And.... What if someone looked!? Bre quickly looked down at the ground, not wanting to freeze anyone, too panicked to listen to the shady person in the room explaining everything. He said something about a mannequin? She wasn't sure. The only thing that snapped her out of her panic attack was when she heard a voice.

"These annoying idiots... I'm gonna kill them..."

Bre looked at Len without thinking, giggling at his statement. He returned the gaze with an annoyed one of his own, before adding, "So your eyes are red, huh?"

Bre jumped a bit at the question. Why hadn't he frozen? She decided to try to not act clueless and instead slowly nodded.

Len seemed to realize that Bre hadn't been paying attention as their captors spoke as he added, "These collars they're making us wear block our powers."

Bre nodded, looking down. The collar... Item.... Thing felt heavy on her skin and uncomfortable, but she was a bit grateful for it. Bre looked back at Len, who was looking around the room.

He noticed Jaylin and Kynan an winced. They were obviously terrified- not being able to read reach other with their thoughts, it's the equivalent of taking away half of their own body from each of them. Now the Changeling Unit or whatever they called themselves had to pay- no other way around it. Len scowled as he continued to look around the room.

-
Ene
-

Ene's head quickly snapped up, nervous but alert as she looked around the room, actually listening to Bloodsucker. They were being held for ransom? Ene felt her heart rate quicken at the thought, though it was already fast from fear of the situation. They couldn't use their powers, either. Not that she was going to complain on losing it, but everyone else not having their powers meant that they had no means of escape. As she listened to Bloodsucker speak, she looked around the room and examined everyone. The twin boys she had met earlier that in her opinion were sweethearts she could see crying. And then all of their captors looked so... Startling.

Ene felt sickened by the events as she rested her head against the wall, not even trying to think of a way out of this. The most she believed was possible in what she could accomplish was waiting everything out and hoping for the best.

-
Niza
-

Niza smirked as she listened to Bloodsucker speak about how they were pretty much being held for ransom, only for that smirk to be turned into a scowl at the mention of the collars. She swung her head to the side, her hair being swept over one shoulder as she went deep in thought.

The collars are made to block powers, but they don't block thoughts, luckily. Niza leaned against the wall, looking at each of their captors, her eyes settling on one wearing mask whose clothes looked familiar. She shrugged off the thought and went back to taking in everything. She finally examined the collars. Technological things that she really had no talent in. Niza frowned. The school did have to have at least one techno-path that could control electronics... Maybe there is one in here. Then if she could find a way to shut down his or her collar, they could shut off everyone else's. Niza slowly shook her head at the idea, however. She couldn't converse her plan with anyone in the room or else one of those Changeling Unit creeps would overhear, so why bother trying with that? Back to the drawing boards...

Jackson
His eyes blinked then grew very wide as he gazed in utter horror as he realized he was shackled, normally this would pose not much of a challenge for Jack, but the humming collar 'round his neck constrained his cells and they didn't respond. He began to hyperventilate his heart pounded in his chest as he nervously pulled at the constraints to add to his stress he realized that he was back to normal he tried to change but nothing happened. This was his worst nightmare people trapping him a cage being led like a pig ,most likely  for slaughter  "no no no no no no!" he stared to yank at his restraints but stopped when he  saw the large amount of meta humans that would drug him again or something worse if he acted up. he slumped down as far as the shackles would allow and lowered his head wishing this was just a nightmare.

Anthony
He walked back to his room opened the door with a swipe of the card he walked in and fell asleep if he had glanced just a few degrees left he would have noticed his roommate gone.

The first thing Merry did when she came to was try to keep herself from screaming as she recalled what had happened. Her room, the attack, the flash of light. A memory that would be forever burned into her skull. She frantically looked around, her head and ears pounding as panic took over. Her eyes widened as she looked around their new prison. Her body felt numb and she could feel the restraints around their arms and the shackles keeping her from moving any farther then they wanted.

She looked up at her captures with failing vision, her eyes just didn’t want to focus on what was in front of her. She saw the man, if she could even call him that, who had attacked and kidnapped both herself and Lily. Merry couldn't keep her eyes on him for long however, she was feeling weak.

Merry had never felt so afraid. It didn't make sense as to why this had to happen. Their lives were being endangered in some elaborate plan that Merry had to get involved in. Guilt passed through her, realizing that maybe if her and Lily hadn't been in the dorm room during the attacks they might have been spared. Or maybe not.

Obviously not all of these kids were in their dorms before being attacked, some of them looked intoxicated. But Merry really wasn't thinking that straight right now, her entire body was rebelling against itself. She wanted to run and scream and fight, but her overwhelming fear kept her on the ground, tears threatening to spill over.

She turned to Lily, her eyes wide and her lips trembling. She could barely breath, and if she was she would be hyperventilating. Merry was far to scared of being killed if she started making noise. She couldn't even find the courage to scoot closer to her only friend. She couldn't help but feel like death was approaching.

Merry felt like she was going to die, or worse. She was going to end up as a 'missing person' report and her parents were going to try everything to find her and her sister is going to question why she went to a school that has such horrible security that it allows so many students to suddenly get kidnapped.

Carmen 'Lily' Santo.


Thank god, someone she trusts is here.

Lily cast an awkward glance in the direction of Merry. Trying to give her a smile. It was obviously forced, unnatural. Until Lily gave up entirely, and her face turned into a despaired frown. Almost at the very same time that something had dawned on Lily;

Oh god no, Merry's down here too.

Which meant that she had to watch after Merry too. A mighty responsibility forced onto her shoulders. Something that she hoped that she can manage, but, there was always that lingering doubt that she will fail. No, she will never falter. She has a plan in mind, but the only problem is finding the catalyst... The key to everyone's survival.

Leaning towards Merry, which was hard, due to being this bounded, Lily spoke to Merry, "C'mon, Chica, it's all going to be okay...." Something that she could only say, but not promise. "I..." Lily stopped there, because she didn't know if any of the Changeling Unit could hear her or not. She didn't want to take that risk to make someone feel better. No, not when pretty much everything is riding on her. She didn't know what would kill her first; the stress, the pressure, or the Changelings themselves. But there had to be some way that Merry could help them. Of course, Merry and Lily didn't hang around each other constantly, perhaps she could pick out someone who's worthy of boosting. "Look around, Merry. Do you know anyone here who could help us, like, if their powers worked?"

Then a little scene took place with the boy, that helped her get in touch with her parents yesterday, and Bloodsucker. She thought his name is Rush. Which gave Lily an idea or two.


Changeling Unit.


Seeing as most of their prisoners have just came to, it was time for him to play around a little. Keep this whole hostage situation from getting boring.

It took a little longer for Rush to come to (since he was more than content with staying asleep), but when he did, he howled loudly in pain. His testicle. It felt like it wasn't even there! Completely crushed underneath Heartbreaker's boot. It was an unimaginable pain. He could barely focus. Through the pain he managed to notice that his powers weren't working, and that he was wearing something. Rush looked down, his vision centered on his collar. It didn't take a genius (Which he wasn't, due to his lack of powers) to acknowledge the connection. Rush listened to Bloodsucker's plan, and his little introduction of his team. Before adding in his two cents, "... What do you truly think you'll accomplish when you kill us?! Place a nice red target on your heads!? Your plan doesn't make any sense! It will not go the way you think it will. The other deaths were covered up quite well."

"Boy genius!" Ray hissed, trying to get Rush to shut up before they decide to execute him ahead of time.

"No, no, no..." Bloodsucker at pointed a knife at Ray as he walked towards Rush, licking his lips the whole time. "He has his right to ask to voice his opinion." He approached Rush, and put a knife underneath the young boy's chin, which was touching his flesh, and would have sliced through his chin if Rush hadn't put his chin up. Rush had his head up, and was staring up at Bloodsucker. "Listen here, kid, you think we haven't thought about it? Have you ever thought that we'd just... I don't know, skip the middleman, and just send your rotting corpses back to everyone you love?" He laughed, a pause in his murderous speech, "That has more shock-value - Which means more attention. Your mum and pop will be dialing up the news stations the second they... well... find your corpse sitting on your doorstep. Then all eyes will be on their last known location, yes?" Bloodsucker retacted his knife, giving Rush an open knife wound underneath his head. Before Bloodsucker started marching in front of the Changeling Unit's prisoners, giving them each an amused eye. "... Besides, your headmaster intentionally turned a blind eye to our business in hopes that we won't become common knowledge around these parts. He's making sure that security doesn't start looking for you."  Bloodsucker gave them an aside-glance, "I'll give you the spark-notes edition; not a damn soul knows you're down here."

Before the entire Changeling Unit (Except for Mannequin) erupted into hysterical laughter.

Bloodsucker quickly made his way from the prisoners, to the platform on the other side of the room, with the mystery captor with the white ceramic mask. "Alright, kiddies, let's play a game..." Bloodsucker loudly announced to the group, trying to get their attention. He pulled out his knife, and ran it alongside the prisoner in the mask's neck. All intimately. Before he stopped, as if he was interrupted by someone walking in on him, and looked up at the group. He finally asks, "... Who do you think is behind the mask? You all get three guesses. Depending on how genuine you are... Perhaps I'll give you a hint about what we're after, tell you how much of a f*cked up man Dacious is. Humor you all before the execution."


Gabriela Mya Valos, Dexter 'Harold' Chertok & Drake Deltori Blackmore.


Both Gabe and Drake quietly watched the scene, which happened very close to them. Because Drake was too drunk to really pay attention, and Gabe's searing anger had subsided. They had no choice but to watch. With the situation truly being out of their hands. After the scene was over, Bloodsucker had walked off, and left a bleeding Rush with them. He tried tucked his chin, pressed it against his shirt, as a way to alleviate the bleeding.

"Hey kid..." Drake turned to Rush, making sure to be quiet as to not upset these maniacs, "... You gonna be okay?"

"Do not worry about me, my wound is not important." Rush said, though his tone. It was a clear deviance from his usual tone and speech patterns. Instead of speaking fast and mechanically, he spoke like a normal human being. Which brought up a few questions.

"I know what is important; we need'ta get the 'ell outta here." Gabe injects, her eyes were narrowed and dead set on Bloodsucker. She was wondering if she could shoot a laser if she tries hard enough... But what good would it do if this damn collar isn't off? "Dese motherfucka's might go buckwild any second now."

"Hehehehe.... That might be a little hard chained up like this..." Drake drunkingly says

Gabe threw him a death glare, before she hissed, "... I guess you wanna die here."

"I don't," Drake retorted, "But, I'm not going to rush and screw up any future chances. Life's all about picking your moment...." He looked ahead, he was wondering who could be wrapped up on that podium. He would save them. What he needed was the perfect moment to .

"Well, you can 'pick your moment' in hell. I'm going to leave here."

"Wait," Rush injected. He leaned towards Gabe, and whispered in her ear, quietly as he could, hoping that none of them had enhanced hearing, "I can get us out of here..." It was foolish to say it out loud, "... I believe the reason our powers are gone is because of these collars, there's little other reasons. Other than the assumption there is a power nulifier among them."

"We have'ta take a chance. Talk to the person next to ya'." Gabe said, determined to get out of here as possible. She looked around, there was Drake, who was still content to wait to get slaughtered. To her left was a very strange looking boy. Clear skin. He looks very weird and monstrous. It hurt Gabe's stomach just looking at him, but that was easily disregarded when looking death in the face. Maybe it doesn't take away powers completely... "Yo, ugly boy, we don't have time to waste, but do you have anything that could help me break off this fuckin' collar?"

In turn, Rush turned to the person immediately next to him, Niza. A dark-skinned girl, certainly not a girl that Rush has seen before. He spoke to her, "Hello, times might be desperate, but I think things will turn out for the better if we all stay calm." Another deviation from his usual patterns, usually he would be to the point, and would never attempt to comfort anyone. He whispered, "We need a way to get my collar off... And a distraction. Think someone could provide that?"


Jake Vin Valos.

Spoiler:

Where the hell are they?

It was late at night. Not a desirable time for Jake to be awake. It's just that something has really been on his mind, keeping him worried to death. He doesn't have time to sleep when there's something more important going on.

Gabe and Jaska are missing.

Jake hadn't seen them since the party was crashed by Adam and the others. He had assumed that they went back to their rooms, but Gabe wasn't answering his texts nor her phone. With the whole Amimoore kidnapped business going down... Well, that just made him even more anxious. So anxious that he decided to take a little night jog through the dorms. Using his illusory powers to hide his movements. When he made it to their rooms, he tirelessly knocked, first quiet enough that no one else would be awoken - Until he got desperate. He resorted to pounding on the door as hard as he could, screaming their names, so loud that their neighbors were awoken, and security was sent his way. Fortunately he was one step ahead of them and was already gone. But this was strange. Even when super drunk, Gabe would probably charge out her door and punch someone in the face if someone was pounding on her door like he was. Jaska is too young to even consider getting drunk, and would have a similar response. Where the hell are you?

With no choices left, Jake had to come back to his dorm room. Even after he paced back and forth in his room for what seemed to be hours, he couldn't figure out something to do. Go to Adam? The old guy probably wouldn't believe him. Go report this to security? It was the dead of night, everyone's asleep, and would probably not take too kindly to the fact that he interrupted plenty of slumber - If they especially felt like being useless, they could just blow him off from the get-go. Hell, Jake couldn't name one person who could help him now; Neal is drunk off his ass, and knowing Ene, she would likely say no and go back to sleep. Not a soul could help him... Except Arianna. She's likely asleep, should he even bother her? After that pathetic display tonight? One failure after another, she's going to reject him at some point. He needs her help just too much, when he never gave anything to her in return.

Taking matters into his own hands was the only option.

Even if it resulted in his death; he needed to do something. He isn't useless. He isn't weak. He isn't going to standby and let things take course. Jake stands tall, is active in everything, and will do his best to change things for the better. Even when he didn't have any leads, what was going to stop him from finding some of his own?

Changing the perceptions on the environment around him so he couldn't be detected, he made it outside his dorm. Unlike he usually is, he wasn't dressed up spectacularly. Since he had dressed down from his suit to sleepwear, he put on a more causal outfit he could just throw on.  A padded coat with a white T-shirt underneath, skinny jeans, and sneakers.

Niza
-

Niza smirked, though in her mind she was in an all-out panic, and looked from some geeky kid to Bloodsucker as the Changeling Unit was questioned by him. Only to be found completely incorrect. This earned a dry chuckle from her that didn't really have any amusement put into it. She watched as Bloodsucker walked up to the masked girl in the from and smirked, this time an actual smirk, because she thought she knew who the person was. At least the collars didn't take away their thoughts.

Niza glanced at Rush as he asked her a question , smirking while keeping her voice quiet. A distraction? "Hun, I can try with that but I am not going to do anything that will get me killed, so nothing flashy. Besides, if you need a distraction from something near you, it's best the distraction be far from you..." Niza's eyes scanned the room before settling on Ene. The poor girl looked terrified yet... Was surprisingly calmer than she would have expect. Her eyes lit up at a sudden idea.

"That girl on the far end- called Ene? Yeah. Her power is really interesting and... Let's just say outlandish. She would do anything to keep people from finding out what it is. You could use that to your advantage. I could tell you her power, and you can have someone else threaten to reveal it to everyone in here. Such a thing would peak their interest, I think- what sort of power would someone try to hide so much, after all? ...Or you can be boring with the distraction and have someone distract by guessing who the person up there is,and  judging by the fact that they hate the headmaster, and his daughter is missing and is known for having lost a leg, that masked hun up there is probably her."

Niza was quiet for moment before adding, "As for getting the collars off, I can't help you there, hun. I could ask the people next to me, if you want."

-
Mina
-
Mina winced as she watched the entire incident go down, feeling for once a bit empathetic. She tried to move her head back to put her headphones on, only to remember they weren't there- no way could a metal collar still allow room for some headphones. Mina growled inwardly at Bloodsucker as she watched, now angry not about him cutting Rush, but for him putting the collar on her. How dare he! Now she can't listen to any music and... Ugh.

Mina decided to try to distract her mind from it all and tapped her foot against the ground before looking at Ray, then looking forward again. She felt less grumpy than usual, and for once felt like conversing just because... It was probably a side effect of her having a good sleep and also trying to distract herself without music.

"I see you got healed- that's good," Mina chided before the pace of her foot slowed to nothing. She still felt displeased with saying the ext part, only mumbling it. "I am sorry for getting caught, also."

Ray Judah Drager.


"No, I'm sorry for getting my ass handed to me, and getting caught in the first place." Was the first thing Ray spat after Mina stopped talking. He felt disappointed in himself for failing to. He wasn't too concerned about his healed wounds - Because he was sure they won't heal any new wounds they make. Right now he was more concerned with leaving here than anything. He turned to Mina, speaking at an adjusted volume, "I know it goes without saying; but we need to get the hell out of here." It felt redundant even saying that. He knew that at least someone here was coming up with an escape plan. Still, he had some thoughts on an escape plan... "But, the thing is; even if we somehow manages to pop one of these collars off..." Ray stopped himself, looking around at the various members of the Changeling Unit, with his gaze centering on Heartbreaker, playing with her sniper rifle. "... I'm certain as hell that our hosts wouldn't give him enough time to spring everyone else."


Dexter 'Rush' Chertok.


Maybe Niza might not be that helpful at all. The girl she was referring to was on the other end of their little congo line. Distracting them... Hm. That seemed like the best option. There was a shiver of hope that someone would come to their rescue, and was only waiting for someone to divert their attention for a moment. That just might have been wishful thinking, but he didn't know - Not even glossing over the fact that he had literally no other options at the moment. Rush's head turned downwards, scanning the area for the person was responding Niza. It might seemed a little cold using the girl's fears and secrets to their advantage...

Underhanded, yes. But, in times like this, secrets are worthless. The thoughts echoed through his mind. It was quite an experience getting used to not using his technomind, and he felt different too. In terms of personality, he may say. This would definitely require some examination at a later date... If they don't die here and now. No, they have to keep trying. Resigning to death. So here on in, he only needed nice thoughts.

After thinking about it, Rush had his answer for Niza, "Perhaps... But, I would like you to take a good hard look at my collar, please. I need a way to get this off before we even consider a distraction." He leaned towards her and stuck his neck out, turned his neck so she can get a good view of it. The only problem is that the Changeling Unit might see this and get suspicious.

Niza
-

Niza hesitated before looking at Rush's collar- she had been thinking for a moment about looking around the room first, but she knew that would only make them seem more suspicious if anyone was watching them. Her eyes settled on a certain part of the collar before brightening.

"I can see where the collar opens," Niza informed in a hushed tone. "I doubt it will open on its own, but..." Her eyes darted around the room before settling her own boots, the heels of them suddenly appearing very... Very useful. She smirked. "...I could try kicking it open, hun, but you might not like that idea."

-
Mina
-

Mina looked around the room, silently nodding as Ray spoke. He had a point- even if one of them managed to get the collar off himself (or herself), it wouldn't be of much use. She sighed, leaning against the wall. She definitely wasn't going to try escaping, herself- she could just imagine herself cheering for being able to escape before falling asleep. How heroic, Mina thought sarcastically to herself. Anyone who got a collar off would be of no use by themself against these guys. And it wasn't possible for everyone to be freed at the same time from these collar things. Mina's eyes scanned the room as she thought through the situation. They couldnt all escape... unless...

"What about Rush?" Mina inquired. "What if he could use his power, hm?" Mina's lips curled up into a sly smile before the smile faded. "But what's the chance of him getting the collar off?"

((Quick post, hurr durr durr))

Dexter 'Rush' Chertok.


There's a way to get it open. That could be their only chance here, or a great way to get killed earlier. Rush was going to take a chance. Gabe was occupied with talking with Jackson, so she's out of the question. "... And I really don't like the idea of dying early here. So getting kicked a few times will be no more worse than what'll happen if we don't do anything."


Ray Judah Drager.


Rush is easily the best hope for the group... If these collars are compatible with his power - But, for once, the super cynical Ray was going to try and think positive for once. He looked down, trying his best to angle his head so that he gets a good view of his collar. It certainly looks electronic. So, it's a hope. He turned to Mina, then looked to his left. A kid, with wings, claws, teeth, and everything, looking like a monster. It wasn't Ray's specialty to give emotional support, so he just kept his mouth shut. Ray turned back to Mina, "I think Rush can do his magic on these collars." He spoke, before that part of his psyche told him to note a few things. "But.. He's all the way over there. That means, more or less, we can't do much to help him from here." Or could they? That gave Ray an idea. He raised his head, looking at the person next to Jaska. He definitely recognized the guy as Len, Rush's room mate. They haven't interacted much, but Ray knew his name. But that's a start. "Hey, Len," He tried speaking to him, "Can you pass a message down to the Boy Genius...?"

Arianna Madrigal

Arianna had retreated to her newfound haven.

Bum. Bam. Bam. Bam. Bum.

Her knuckles, scratched up and raw underneath the boxing tape, pounded an unintentional rhythm into the bag, her body moving and striking in sync without her even knowing. Arianna drew back after a few minutes of intense working, breathing deep and sweating. Nyeh. Her suit, she realized, wasn' very conducive to letting sweat or heat out. It was a f*cking furnace inside that thing. She briefly considered taking it off-after all, the Training Room was totally empty, and had been for hours...

No. No, that'd be really bad. She'd be forever known as the chick that worked out in her underwea-

Hey! Hey, why was the Training Room so damned empty? Arianna stopped, looking around, letting her supernatural awareness of the Symphony cut through the emotional whirlwind that had resulted from Jake and Abe's confrontation. It...it...it was quiet. There was an overwhelming silence across the school, with the whispers of a dark leitmotif beyond it. Like something lurking just out of eyesight-like shining a light into the dark and seeing eyes, feral and hungry, staring back.

Arianna was suddenly very, very afraid.

A lot of kids were gone.

Arianna, instinctually, crouched down, even though it did nothing to hide her inside the well-lit training room. The punching bag swayed idly back and forth, and complaints of overheating inside her suit were long since gone. I have to find Jake and Abe and warn them. The truth, however, was that that wasn't the first thought in Arianna's head. The first thought was wondering if she could make it down to the boat, somehow, and get away from this place. Just leave.

But...no. Not yet. A kid had died last night. And Arianna was really, really afraid that a lot more had, too. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself, running through the breathing exercises and quietly undertaking her vocal warm-ups. It was a familiar ritual, something that steadied her nerves before recitals and performances, and it served its purpose here. Okay, Ari. You got this. You can do this.

Arianna crept forward, moving to the door of the Training Room. Who to go to first? Jake could make hiding through the school far easier-and Abe would be of far more use when it came to actually fighting whatever was out there, in the dark, quiet parts of the Symphony.

It's not about what they can do, and you know it.

Arianna closed her eyes. Sixteen years of being alone and I have to deal with guy problems at the worst possible time. Okay, think, Arianna. You know something is probably out there-all those Songs wouldn't be quiet, otherwise. You also know that you can't fight off whatever it is. She scanned the Training Room, not seeing anything-

((Lone tell me if this isn't chill, I can't remember if I asked you about this or not))

...no. No, there was something. Running (surprisingly quietly-Arianna supposed that years of dance had made her fairly graceful, and her ability augmented that) over to the back of the Training Room, Arianna scanned the shelves. Training weapons. Nothing she could do a ton of damage with, but still...Arianna looked at the arsenal of weapons, trying to make up her mind. Leaving the Training Room with any of these was a big no-no, but given the circumstances, that was a risk she was willing to take.

Look at you. Caught in a love triangle and breaking the rules. Ari, you need to get out of this boarding school.

Arianna picked up one of the training swords, and grunted under its weight. Christ, she could never swing that thing and accomplish anything. She hung it back up, and ruled out the rest of the bigger weapons from her mind. Extra weights for the super strong kids were stacked up, too, but she couldn't do anything with those. She supposed Titus could hurl them like a frisbee, maybe. Eh. There were a couple of training throwing knives, maybe for the kids with incredible dexterity or whatever. No training guns. Even if it didn't have real bullets, she could use it to scare people-assuming she could pull off the bluff. Arianna was about to declare the Training Room's selection of weaponry totally useless when she saw it.

A katana. Slender, curved-most importantly, lightweight. It was made of plastic, but it was hardened. Arianna gently smacked her leg with it and figured she definitely couldn't kill somebody with it, but that was fine by her. She didn't want any blood on her hands. She grabbed it off the shelf and slung the scabbard over her shoulder, tightening the strap across her chest until it was snug. She practiced sheathing it and whipping it back out a few times-Arianna didn't plan on being an expert with this, but if she could swing it hard enough and take somebody from behind, maybe she could concuss somebody or just knock them silly for a few seconds if she did run into one of the school's mysterious assailants.

Arianna moved over to the punching bag, swinging it once or twice at the heavy canvas. It didn't break or anything, which was good, but something else caught her attention.

When she swung it through the air...it whistled. Made a tiny little Song of its own.

Grinning beneath her mask, Arianna began to feel a small trickle of confidence enter her after a few weeks of despair. Christ, I might actually stand a chance. Arianna slipped it back over her shoulder and took a deep breath. She faintly hummed a lullaby underneath her breath, making her feet fall lightly on the ground below and her form blend more easily with the shadows of the twilit school, and she set out to find somebody. Anybody. I'll head to the dorms first.

Jake Vin Valos.


"Arianna,"

Jake spoke in a somber tone as he made his appearance to her. He was hiding behind his invisibility yet again, he didn't want to startle her... Given the eerie mood. He appeared in a cloud of grey smoke, and stepped out of it. He was still on edge. This time, he was going to keep it safe. The only way he could. Invisibility. Out of sight, out of mind, he always told himself. He placed both of them under a veil of invisibility. He was going to keep distractions out of his head, thus, keep his illusion going.

As much as it pained him to ask for her help again, there was literally not another soul here that could help him. It was so shameful, feeling like he was over-dependent on her - Still, there wasn't any time to mull about that. Gabe and Jaska are missing, and there's far more serious things here going on than his feelings, grudges, and conflicts. It'd be idiotic to hold onto them in times like these. "I don't think you've seen Gabe or Jaska around here...?" He started off, looking aside, as if he was afraid to make eye contact with Arianna. Before settling his gaze on her. "I haven't seen them since I split off from them during the party... I mean I looked f*cking everywhere...." He was trying to hold in how distressed he really was.

Jake was honestly hoping that they were with friends (Or in Gabe's case, in someone's bed).

Arianna

Arianna hadn't seen or heard Jake coming, but she had Heard him coming. Normally, picking out one person's Song out of the Symphony would be like trying to follow one player of an orchestra-but the school was silent tonight, literally and spiritually. Arianna lowered her hand from the hilt sticking out over her shoulder as she realized that the presence was Jake's, and stopped her humming. The Song wasn't incredibly strenuous to maintain, but it was sapping her strength just a bit. Humming wasn't much, though-and given that her voice was back to full speed, Arianna was ready to work some magic later.

"Hey," Arianna said. She spoke softly not because her voice was still paining her but because, given the general ominous feel of the school, being loud seemed pointless. "No, I haven't, I've been in the training room since..." You and Abe...

Wait. Oh, Christ.

Jake didn't realize...he thought they were all sleeping.

"Jake....Gabe and Jaska...." she hesitated, her throat not wanting to spit out the words. "They're not...here. They're gone. Everybody's gone. I can't Hear the whole school-I imagine if we're still here, Abe is too, but I don't know about anybody else. The Symphony it...it doesn't lie. They must still be on the grounds, but there's nobody sleeping in these dorms. Maybe after the party they ran off somewhere? Would they go to the Ruins again or something? I..." She hoped she wasn't delivering the news too cruelly. Being an only child, she couldn't imagine what it was like having a brother or sister too well, but..."I'm sorry. I'll help you find them. I...I don't want to startle you, but, um, maybe we should be careful going to find them. The headmaster's daughter, the-" Arianna very carefully avoided saying that a kid died last night, because surely Gabe and Jaska were alive-"the incident last night, I mean...we should just be on our guard is all. My voice is back, so I won't be useless." Arianna tried to speak more confidently than she felt. "I can fight now. I can help."

Jesse Sutor

This felt like a pretty long night. Jesse had spent a lot of his time in his room, sitting in his bed, and saying what more he could learn about his connection with the apparitions and what abilities he may be able to utilize through them. It was peculiarly quiet, too. Usually, there were noises coming from outside the door. Most often from students horsing around or seeking to cause some form of mischief. Not that he was complaining, of course. The quiet helped him focus more on what he was trying to do. For instance, he recalled that the apparitions were psionic. So they had some measure of psychic abilities. So perhaps he would be able to perform these powers through them. It was an interesting thought, but i had yet to be tested. Jesse looked back at his phone, which had sat idle and undisturbed for a good while now.

Usually Lily returned calls by now - he had thought she was off with Merry and forgot to bring it. But even Merry didn't pick up. Between the quiet, his friends' apparent disappearance, and rumors of a student dying - the school no longer seemed like much of a safe haven anymore. He felt more comfortable with the idea of returning home and living a normal life. And now that he had a better grasp of who he was and what his powers were, there wasn't much reason to remain here. But at least he had friends. He should be looking for them, not be getting homesick.

Jesse sighed as he threw his legs off his bed and felt them hit the carpeted floor. After slipping his socked feet into his shoes, he straightened himself out and looked in a mirror that perched on his wall, taking several deep breaths to calm his nerves, and perhaps slow down the heavy beating that pounded against the inside of his chest. What felt like a lump in his throat made that task a little harder. He hadn't an ounce of a clue why he felt so nervous. Something just felt off, though. Nobody was around. He couldn't get a hold of anybody. Has something happened while he remained in his dorm? Jesse looked around his room, and grabbed a heavy blue coat off his dresser, in case he ever had to go outside in the snow. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and looked at the apparitions that hovered around in his room. His distress attracted them. They concentrated themselves near him. Safety in numbers, I suppose. Some of you scatter around. Make sure you see them before they see me.

With that thought, a few of them did indeed scatter. They phased straight through the walls, and Jesse opened the door and poked his head through. Followed by his whole body, he continued his trek through the hallways of the dorm section. It really was dark. Not a soul. Even the dorms sounded silent. What had he done to warrant this kind of trip? He knew coming to this school was a bad idea, but this bad? He thought this would be some kind of regular school - as regular as it can get for super-powered teenagers, that is. This has to be the last straw. After tonight, Jesse is packing up and getting a boat back home. This was beyond ridiculous.

In an act that could only be numbered as pure, unadulterated luck, one of the apparitions reported back to Jesse. BOY FORMAL STRESS GIRL VOICE FEAR.

His spine crawled. The voices still rubbed him the wrong way. It was something he had to get used to. Regardless, there was some people nearby. Two. A boy and a girl. "Formal" sounded a bit odd - he didn't know there was a party. And "voice" was kind of undefined. In what way? In any case, neither of these people sounded familiar. And as he reached the end of a hallway and turned a corner, he found a boy and a girl talking. They seemed uneasy. With Jesse's luminescent eyes peered out of the thick darkness, he approached them cautiously. For his sake, and possible for the sake of these two. They seemed jumpy.

"Hey... has the either of you seen anybody? The school... uh, it looks abandoned. Where is everyone?"

Jake Vin Valos.

Shade wrote:

"They're not...here. They're gone. Everybody's gone. I can't Hear the whole school-I imagine if we're still here, Abe is too, but I don't know about anybody else. The Symphony it...it doesn't lie. They must still be on the grounds, but there's nobody sleeping in these dorms. Maybe after the party they ran off somewhere? Would they go to the Ruins again or something? I..." She hoped she wasn't delivering the news too cruelly. Being an only child, she couldn't imagine what it was like having a brother or sister too well, but..."I'm sorry. I'll help you find them. I...I don't want to startle you, but, um, maybe we should be careful going to find them. The headmaster's daughter, the-" Arianna very carefully avoided saying that a kid died last night, because surely Gabe and Jaska were alive-"the incident last night, I mean...we should just be on our guard is all. My voice is back, so I won't be useless." Arianna tried to speak more confidently than she felt. "I can fight now. I can help."

Jake shook his head, "My thing is... Even if they were at the ruins or something. At least they would answer my texts - Well, no, Jaska couldn't, because..." He made a claw gesture with his hand. Jake was unsure of where they would run off to, if not their own rooms. They wouldn't go the ruins this late at night. That meant the only logical place he could think of would be someone's dorm room. Still, there was a bit of reassurance knowing that they were still on the island. That means everything's going to be alright, all he has to do is find them. Still... There was that worrying message that Arianna had gave him. Didn't her power give her some degree of an extra-sense? He didn't remember, but he was sure as hell going to take it seriously as possible. "Fighting isn't my modus operandi, but if we do run into trouble, I can easily get us out of there." Jake's illusionist power was quite versatile, he could defend himself, hide, and trick enemies. Still, if there was any enemies running about, Jake wasn't exactly the definition of a threat. His power isn't offensive even in the slightest, and he isn't a physical powerhouse like Gabe and Abe were. This is why he preferred working with Gabe, and maybe Jaska. Gabe packed heavy artillery, and Jaska's senses helped them not get sneaked up on (Though, he's, not an insult against Jake's little brother, useless in a fight) - With Jake's aforementioned abilities providing support. Their powers just worked in synergy. "If anything goes wrong, I think we should get help... Like go to someone like Ad-" Jake's train of thought was interrupted when another kid just entered the illusion.

Lieo wrote:

"Hey... has the either of you seen anybody? The school... uh, it looks abandoned. Where is everyone?"

To say the least, Jake was certainly caught off guard by the new party. He jolted slightly. If he didn't recover, the illusion would have certainly been vanished, and would have became visible. Immediately, the thoughts ran through his head. How the hell did this kid see through my field of invisibility? Whatever. Jake's attention was centered solely on Jesse. He didn't look like a threat at all, but Jake wasn't going to take a chance. "... We haven't seen anyone - But, that's what we're trying to find out." Jake said as he pushed his glasses up his nose, speaking kindly. There was a small sense of familiarity in regards to Jesse, like he seen him before. Wait... After giving it a bit of thought, it finally came to him. You were that screaming kid from the first night. Jake almost said this out loud, but stopped himself. "I have a question to ask you real fast; have you seen a one eyed girl named Gabe, or a kid with claws and wings named Jaska?" Jake felt like he could take a chance trusting Jesse right now. Even if it didn't go as well, Jake knew he could defend himself and Arianna.

Still, in a world where anyone could be packing the deadliest of powers, a little caution was in order.

Niza
-

Niza smirked. "Your loss- don't blame me if I break your neck, hun." She paused before adding, with a sudden thought reaching her mind that she should have thought of earlier.

"Wait..." Niza's smirk turned into an amused grin as she pointed out her thoughts on the situation, making sure to keep her voice down. "Don't you think that getting out of that collar is quite the gambit? Hun, er... Whatever your name is, don't you think the moment you escape you will just be caught again by that creep over there?" She jerked her head in Bloodsucker's direction. "I doubt, considering you got caught as well, that you could take all of them on at the same time- And I doubt they would be kind to you escaping, also. More importantly, they won't be kind to me for assissting." Niza's grin faded back to a smirk, "So tell ne exactly what you're planning for if you're freed from your collar, then."

-
Bre and Len
-

Bre's hand had found it's way to Len's without her even realizing it- she didn't realize she was holding his hand for a while, in fact, until she heard Len mumble something about getting his hand crushed. Bre looked down and quickly loosened her grip on his hand, which was actually beginning to bruise from her, anxiety having caused her grip on his hand to tighten. She kept her hand in his, though- it felt kind of comforting to be holding his hand, and Len wasn't complaining so... She figured it was fine.

Len's hand still felt a bit sore, but he remained silent about it- without his powers, everything felt weird. He wasn't sure if the amount of pain he felt from things was normal or not- did everyone else's necks feel as sore as his from the collars? Len could still feel soreness around the area where he had been shot with the dart that had knocked him out. At least he was pretty sure anyone's hand would be hurting after having it squeezed to the point where it was bruised. But would it hurt as much as it was hurting him? Everything just felt so weird. Len glanced down at Jaylin and Kynan- the two had calmed down and were both leaning against the wall with their eyes closed. At least they had calmed down. He smiled a bit, noticing that even without a telepathic connection, the two somehow found a way to lean back in the exact same position as the other and fall asleep without purposefully intending to. His smile turned into a scowl though as he thought more of the situation, however. These creeps had taken his brothers and done what he was pretty sure they found one of the worst things possible and stripped them of their powers. At least neither of them was dead, but still... This Changeling Unit or whatever they were called was going to have to pay one way or another.

It took Len a moment to realize his name was being called, but he did and turned his head in the direction of the voice- some guy... His roommate's friend, right? What was his name? Ray or something? He wanted for him to tell Rush a message. Len looked back at where Rush was- next to that one annoying Niza girl. He sighed and flatly responded, "Sure- what is it?"

Arianna Madrigal

"Yeah, getting help sounds good. I don't want to...if there's something out there I..." she gulped. Be strong.

Arianna, being quite a ways away from the strong, combat-ready huntress she wanted herself to be, found herself entirely caught off-guard by Jesse's presence.

She barely managed to stifle a shriek, whipping around and almost falling (which, in a way that is perhaps beyond my ability to describe, still managed to look impossibly graceful) as she fumbled for the acetate katana strapped to her back. Her fingers caught it, finally, and her face burned beneath the half-mask her suit provided. Christ, Arianna, you'd better hope you can get to that thing more quickly when somebody actually wants to hurt you. She, too, was suspicious of this stranger finding them in the dark-but...Jake did seem to sorta know him. Her apprehension of Jesse eased off-no, wait, he did seem familiar-she'd talked to him before, she was pretty sure. If he was a student, that put them all in the same boat.

It was probably just nerves and paranoia and the creeping silence of the Academy, but Arianna couldn't shake the feeling that they were being hunted. That there was some malevolent force out there, engineering catastrophes, doing its best to turn the initially idyllic Academy into a dystopia.

The minute we find Jake's family, I'm going home. I'm going home and I'm never thinking of this place again.

"We were just wondering the same," Arianna murmured, pulling her face mask down so she could speak more clearly to Jesse. A strange bit of social apprehension occurred to her, and Arianna quickly added "Also, uh, I was busy training when I noticed people were gone and came here, I don't, like, dress like a ninja or whatever all the time." Just stop talkin, hon. "You want to help us look? We don't know where everybody is but..." she hesitated. "With the student dying yesterday and...and all the other stuff going on..." Arianna was referring to Titus, primarily, who didn't indicate danger on a school-wide scale, but had nevertheless shattered any delusions Arianna had about the school being safe. "...we figured it was probably smart to, uh, be careful about this." Because something's out there. Can't you feel it?

Jesse Sutor

Oy vey, this was one heck of a coincidence. Though, perhaps, to be expected. There was less noise than usually, and all of the regular trouble makers seem to have taken a nap or something. Surely anybody else he'd run into would have similar questions. And - as expected - both of them jumped. In varying degrees. The girl appeared more startled than the boy, and was dressed in one of the skin-tight training room outfits. It had prompted something resembling that of a blush, which was fortunately concealed by the thick darkness. He straightened himself and made a duly mental note to ignore it - no time for that. Never a time for that. Or was that prude? Not that he would... or that he'd... agh, a double edged sword. Er, in any case, something about the girl's voice was soothing. It eased him. And she confirmed that they, too, were wondering the same thing. On top of that, a half-joke-half-explanation about her attire, which had made sense. They were looking for people too. The boy was looking for his sister and his brother. What did he say there names were? Jaska and... Gabe? Wait, that Gabe? This guy was Gabe's brother? But this guy looked like he had money, and Gabe looked like she clawed her way out of Mexico or something! What to say?

"Uh, sorry, no." Jesse admitted. "I... ran into Gabe the other night. I didn't see either of them today though. I was in the dorm all day."

And how odd it was that even when talking about the accident the other night, with the student, her voice betrayed the unease that would normally come with such a subject. Was this her power? Nobody did that to him, ever. Regardless, she asked for his help. Given what little clue he had about the situation, he couldn't guarantee he'd be of any help, but hell, it sure beats sitting around with his thumb up his ass.

"Yeah, sure. I'll help." Jesse nodded. Then he remembered that he had folks of his own to be looking for. "Uh, my name is Jesse by the way. As it happens, I was looking for two of my friends too. Lily and Merry? A girl with purple hair, the other girl a little short, just barely a tom?"

Jake Vin Valos.


"Since we're getting introductions out of the way; I'm Jake Valos. And this is Arianna." Jake said to Jesse, hoping that the guy wouldn't be bitter about what happened with Gabe, Merry, and a lot of alcohol. That little event was told to him earlier today... Er, yesterday. As amusing as it sounded, he knew that she left a sour taste in their mouth. And he wasn't talking about the liquor. Still, like he said before, this is more important than petty grudges and grievances. He had to tell Jesse what he knew. "I know exactly who you're talking about, but... I haven't seen them in a little while, sorry..." He scratched the back of his neck, a sign of him being worried. He was going to try not to falter. His eyes wandered towards Arianna, before settling back on Jesse. At least not in front of her. Where the hell would all the people they're looking for go? That party was quite loud, though there were still a few people that probably weren't the party-going types. Off the top of his head he could say that Ene... Actually, where's Ene too? He hasn't seen her since the incident with Titus last night. "Ari," Jake asked, "Have you seen Ene at all today?"

Hopefully the group could get to the bottom of this... Still there's that pessimistic feeling that they're in over their heads, or won't be able to make a significant contribution to this situation. He means, honestly. They're only three kids - They can't make a real difference here. Jake especially didn't have faith in himself given how great his track record looked. That's not even taking into consideration that the three of them have no where to even start.

I'm no Sherlock, but I'm not going to sit around with my thumb up my ass.

But, trying isn't going to be any worse than finding out that both Gabe and Jaska were butchered behind his back... A less than hopeful look crept up on his face. The moment this sh*t is over with, Jake is getting the hell off this island with Gabe and Jaska. It doesn't matter whether or not they were forced to come here, the situation is FUBAR. His only problem was that there was a chance he would never see Arianna again. Still, he had the feeling she would leave too, and Jake has the money to visit where ever she is.

It was time to stop mulling and get a move on. With introductions out of the way, they should get a move on. Because, times a wasting. "We should move... Stick close to me. I'll make out invisible - If that helps." Jake started walking around the dorms. Trying to think of a good place to look first. Perhaps the scene of the party if they want a clue? Well, that'd be a start. On the way there, Jake heard someone walking around, opening a door. He didn't know who, but he was going to check in case it's anyone they're looking for. Only for it to turn out to be the one person that he didn't feel like dealing with today. Abe. The rock-asshole. That one guy was just so overwhelmingly, such an enormous ass, that Jake could barely stand being around him. Still, if he wasn't captured, then perhaps he could be. Perhaps was the key word. "Abe." Jake said getting his attention, turning visible, giving him a narrow glare. Obviously less than pleased about asking him for help. He was expecting him to laugh in their faces and walk off. He was going to take a chance. Because nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Jake was going to do the talking here, "Something very bad is going on here. Everyone we care about is missing, and we have to find them. I hate to be cliche here, but I know we have our differences..." Jake paused in his speech, looking at everyone here. He honestly couldn't speak for Arianna when he used the word 'differences'. "... But, We need to put our them aside, just this time. We might be the only ones capable of getting to the bottom of this."

... At this point, Jake figured that he would do is cause Abe to burst out in laughter again.


Dexter 'Rush' Chertok.


"I can get these collars off of us." Rush answered her question, which was only obvious at this point. He only sneared in response to the comment about possibly getting his neck broken. Probably the girl trying to wisecrack in a situation like this. The rest of what she said was quite notable. It would be stupid to try to kick his collar open while they're in this state. He knew that they'd be keeping an eye on them, even if they know they got the group subdued. He didn't know how attentive they are, but something as blatant as that wouldn't go unnoticed. "No, we need a distraction first. You see the woman with the gun?" He nodded in the direction of Heartbreaker, still on the podium playing with her gun. "I fought her. She can likely blow our heads off before you even get a chance to position your leg."



Ray Judah Drager.


There wasn't too much of a message Ray had to send to Rush. Instead, he wanted to get a message from him. Otherwise there was little he could say other than 'Are you okay?' which would be a huge waste of time. He spoke to Len, "Tell Rush to send any and all evil schemes he has back down to me."