Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

Nobody had been expecting there to be a game in progress and it showed. Cliff didn't enter, she just stood in the doorway, watching. Jay stepped forwards and broke the silence. "Bloody hell, this crazy plan actually worked" She declared, not seeming to care that there was another person in the room. At the sound of her voice, both turned to face Jay, a smile spreading over Elliott's face. "You have that little faith in my plans?" "Yes, I do. You're a bloody idiot, and if you didn't already have that black eye from me, I'd have given you one for pulling this stunt without warning." And she would have, that much was obvious. She was caught between wanting to punch his lights out or flinging her arms around him like something out of a bad romance movie.

Her words brought a smirk from the other woman "You gave Qui that black eye?" Jay nodded "You got a problem with that?" She added. The woman stood up, revealing her face. She was four years older than Elliott with tanned skin, and a ridge on her nose that suggested it had been broken at some point in the past. Accompanying that was the same cheekbones and molten golden eyes that Elliott had been born with, making it perfectly clear who she was. "Oh, I like this one" Cal smirked, directing the comment at Elliott. She then held out her hand, which was calloused with marks that could only have come from flame. One of her fingers had a blue, grey and white mixed metal ring. "Cal'Za'Lott, Cal" Jay accepted the hand "Jamie Tziyen, Jay"

 

[MzHyde]

Kay let Jay step forward. She had a feeling she'd want to be the first to say something to Elliott. She also figured John would went to be the next, which he had every right to be. She smirked though when Jay seemed almost flabbergasted that the plan worked, causing Elliott and the girl to turn around. She had to admit, it was so good to see Elliott again, and see him smile considering the situation he was in. She smiled when Jay gave him a bollocking for doing this without warning and calming him an idiot.

When the girl then turned around showing the obvious family resemblances, she put two and two together to guess it was indeed Cal, his sister. When she introduced herself as such, Kay knew she guessed right. She wondered if she should speak up or not, never having dealt with awkward first introductions well. Cal seemed to be more focused on Jay anyway, which was fine by her. It really occurred to Kay, that no matter how much she felt like John, Chas and Elliott were her family, she still felt like the outsider in these moments. Even though Elliott knew about her and John before this whole plan happened of his. "How you doing Ell?" She eventually spoke up.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Before Elliott had a chance to answer, Cal spoke up again. "Right let's get this awkward bit over with. I'm Cal, the older sister, pyrokinetic, weapon maker, pilot and royal guard. And yes, I do just so happen to be assigned with the job of making sure this guy doesn't escape." she gestured at Elliott. "I'm pretty sure I know who all of you are, but correct me if I'm wrong. John, Chas, Kay" as she said each name, she pointed at the correct person. Cal then gave Cliff a thumbs up gesture, and the purple haired pilot responded with a nod, before turning, closing the door and heading off.

"Three for three, sis" Elliott then answered Kay's question "All things considered, it isn't as bad as I thought it would be, though I've missed a lot, on both planets" "You really did kiddo, turns out not only do I have to drive John's useless ass around, I have to fly it around too" That brought a genuine smile to Elliott's face, and a joking scowl to John's. Said scowl dissipated as soon as Elliott got up from the chair and hugged him. "I missed you, you know" John told him, quiet enough that only Elliott could hear.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smiled when Cal interrupted Elliott to introduce herself and correctly guessed who each of them were, though considering she was the only female she hadn't yet spoken to it wasn't hard out the three of them to guess who she was. Though it did make her realise that Elliott no doubt told Cal all about them in enough detail for her to correctly get who they were. Kay hadn't long met her and already she decided she liked Cal. The way she just introduced herself sold Kay instantly. Then she turned her attention to Elliott when her question finally got answered. Nodding, she smirked, "oh you have no idea" Kay chuckled but left it at that.

She let John walk over and give his adoptive son a hug. She didn't need to hear what he said to Elliott to know what he told him. John had told her enough times when they were alone how much he missed the kid. So she knew a while ago that that would be the first thing he told Elliott. It brought a warm smile on her lips seeing him hug his boy.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"You're either getting old and sentimental, or have been replaced by some kind of robot clone of John" Elliott replied, loud enough for the others to hear. "Cheeky bastard, we came all this way, put all this effort into creating a plan to get here and this is the welcome I get?" He sniped back jokingly, clearly delighted to have Elliott back. "We all know had it not been for Jay, you wouldn't have got here. The House cany pass through Attil's shielding you know. I'm willing to bet you had no plan either" He continued, summing up exactly what had happened, before hugging Chas. "Thanks for coming Chas" It wasn't as long as the one he gave John, but it was meaningful none the less.

Cal gave Jay a look "are they always like this?" "The ridiculous macho, slagging banter fest to hide the fact that they genuinely missed each other? Yes, they are, but beyond that, I don't know. I'm not really with them, I'm just the pilot" She explained.

 

[MzHyde]

When Kay heard Elliott's reply she smirked and laughed. Without saying anything she did after with Elliott's first part of the dig, she did think that since John had got better at expressing how he cared for her, he had begun to get more sentimental at times. She wasn't surprised by the retort John gave him back one bit. Of course he'd call him a cheeky bastard. It's not like it wasn't true, Elliott did have his moments. The night he said something about her and John in a language only John understood was enough of an example to solidify that description of him.

After he hugged Chas, she hugged him too, "so good to see you again Ell." She simply told him. Her hug told him she too missed him. She didn't need the words to tell him. Letting go moments later, she turned to Cal and Jay when Cal asked if they were always like this. "Yeah.. they are. All the time but it's surprisingly easy to get used to it or tune it out after a while" she smirked. "But wouldn't have this lot any other way" she added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Good to see you too Kay, looks like you're permantly stuck with all of us for life now." He picked up on the fact that she had missed him, and it had not escaped his notice that Kay had become a part of the group in his absence. He'd missed a lot. "I don't doubt that at all. And hey, I'm not complaining" Cal replied "this is going far better than our" she gestured between herself and her brother "family reunion will. Also, it is a relief to see that all of you care more about my kid brother than my father ever did." Her tone suggested, that, just like Elliott and John, she had no time for her father.

"Qui told me a lot about you guys, no doubt some of it is biased." Then she realised what she had said and what Kay had called her brother. She turned to Elliott "this is awkward, but do you want me to keep using your birth name or should I switch to the Earth names you took?" Elliott considered "It's weird and painful being called by the old names, but I don't mind when you use them."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smiled, "oh in so many ways" she told Elliott back in response to his stuck with them comment. She still didn't fully know if he knew about the bond that tied her and John together and thus, meant she with them for life and he certainly didn't know he was going to become a big brother in the future either. All of which he'd eventually find out in one way or another.

When Cal replied to her little comment about the boys always being the way they were she smirked. But hearing that they haven't seen his birth father yet did surprised her slightly. "That we do. It'd be hella awkward coming all this way if we didn't" she said, picking up on the dislike of their father from Cal's tone and body language. As they were told that Elliott had spoken about them all alot she wondered what was said, but didn't ask as Cal brought up the subject of his name. When she had called him Ell, Kay didn't even think about the fact his sister would call him his old name. She just had always known him as Elliott and she had always shortened it to Ell, that it just seemed normal to call him that and not anything else. A bit like when people use their friends nickname so often, it ends up feeling weird when they have to use the real name of said friend.

"So..what is the plan now?" She couldn't help but ask.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John had thought about the whole name thing. It had been the first thing Elliott had rid himself of when he got to Earth. The name was a connection to his past, a painful reminder, with two of the three syllables linking him to his father. On Attil nobody so far had called him Elliott, and the fact that Cal had noticed was confirming what John knew about her. "The plan is that now that you lot are here, you are going to help me stop my brother from doing anything too stupid." Cal replied, narrowing her eyes at her brother. "I second that excellent plan" Jay added.

"I'm not leaving just yet" Elliott started to say, only to be cut off by sharp looks from everybody in the room. "Let me rephrase that. I'm not leaving until I've done at least one day of this trial. If they're going to make a show out of this then I sure as hell am going to be there for it" "Trial?" John questioned with an eyebrow raised. "Yeah, I was banished, but since I handed myself over willingly, it's caused quite a stir. So yeah, I'm actually going on trial as opposed to the vigilante mob justice of the last time"

 

[MzHyde]

Kay had no qualms in agreeing to the plan that Cal mentioned. In her eyes Elliot had already done an incredibly stupid thing by handing himself in and coming back here, so if she could help in any way to stop him doing anything else equally stupid? She was up for it. "I agree with that plan" she agreed. Then came the next bombshell of a reply from Elliott himself and like the others, she looked at him sharply and with an unimpressed expression. It had a 'you better explain yourself young man' vibe to it, which wasn't fully like her at all. No doubt to knowing she was becoming a mother.

She listened to his rephrase and explanation, even after John asked about the trial part of his explanation. She had to admit, she was surprised they'd give him one after all she had learned about his past through John. "Is it really a good idea though? I'll follow whatever you lot choose but it surely it's a bit risky no?" She chimed in, just wanting reassurance it wouldn't completely screw them all over in the process.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John didn't like where this was going at all, and had a distinct feeling from Cal's attitude towards the whole thing, that it was only going to get worse. "This is by far one of the worst ideas I've heard in my life, and I've heard a lot" "It is risky, riskier than I'd like, but my literal being here is a risk. I'm not letting this past define me for the rest of my life. I need some kind of closure on this, and coming back is the only way I can see to get it. By not standing up, I'm letting my father and those like him get away with treating magic users like shit. I want to do something about it, and coming back and showing that I'm not afraid of them is the only way I can see to do this. But if anyone has any better ideas I'm all ears"

Cal threw her hands up in the air "How about literally any other plan that does not involve you doing something as incredibly stupid as this." But they both knew that she would stand by whatever chouce he made, even if she didn't like it. This was her brother after all, and she'd damn well stay with him for all this.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay was glad no one else liked the idea either and John told him as such, but she heard Elliott out anyway as he explained why he wanted to do it. Honestly? She got where he was coming from. She got the whole wanting closure on the whole thing but there had to be another way of getting it she thought. She let Cal express what they were all no doubt thinking. "I have to agree with everyone here and to be devils advocate so to speak... I get it Elliott. I get you want closure on this whole shit past of yours. But surely there's a less risky way of doing it? Malin a point doesn't ALWAYS have to be some grand gesture or over the top action." She replied.

"But I also know that no matter how much we try and deter you from doing something this reckless, we'll all be behind you no matter what. Because true family, blood or not, stick together." She finished saying. She added the word 'true', to that sentence because she wanted to remind him that he had a family that loved him in the people that were around him, and it's not all about being a blood relative. She hoped Cal wouldn't be offended in any way of her wording, as she did try to be inclusive of them all.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Both of you have a point. Yes, we can all see where you are coming from with this Elliott, something needs to be done, but I think I speak for all of us when I say that none of us want to be part of something that is doomed to fail and end in you or any of us meeting a premature gruesome demise." Chas replied, earning nods of agreement from Jay and John. "I absaloutly forbid you from dying while doing this. I don't care what ypu say, this isn't worth really dying for."

Elliott had to agree. "I'm not exactly thrilled about this being the plan but the only other plan is faking my death. Sure it gets everyone on Attil off my back for the rest of my life, but beyond that, it achieves little, unless there is something I've missed." Elliott had no idea of course that his daughter had also proposed a plan to fake his death. "Whatever we do, it cannot be discussed here" Cal sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose "not all the people here are on our side, so we need to move ourselves somewhere else and properly plan."

 

[MzHyde]

When Chas echoed her sentiments and added to them, along with John chiming in his two cents, she nodded and felt glad she wasnt alone in seeing both sides. It was obvious John would say what he did, there was no way he was going to risk losing another kid...his kid. Also, she certainly didn't want to die on this planet, especially as they'd see her come back to life in a burning inferno, and then that would bring a lot more trouble because, it is indeed a form of magical curse her kind was bestowed. Not to mention Chas' ability to come back from death due to magic as well. It's too risky for all of them.

When Elliott replied and mentioned about faking his own death, she thought back to Rinaa suggesting that exact plan also. "You're not the first to come up with that plan" she thought to herself. Kay then looked at Cal when she finally spoke up saying they needed to move somewhere else to have this chat, which made sense to her. "Agreed" she just simply replied.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Am I the only one seeing the great flaw in this moving somewhere else plan?" that was John's opinion "How the bloody hell do we get Elliott out of here without anybody noticing?" "normally that would be a problem, but there's more than just me and Clarissa in on this whole thing." "Clarissa?" Chas inquired. "She shortens it to Cliff, doesn't like using her birth name" Chas nodded, it made sense, he did the same thing after all. "Long story short, I can sneak him out using a short range teleporter and get somebody to cover both my shift and Elliott being here." "It works too, Cal's been doing it since I got here. This place gets pretty boring pretty quick."

All it took on Cal's part was a call to make sure the cameras were still down, and two texts to draft in the replacements. She rolled back her sleeve to reveal what looked almost exactly like the vortex manipulator from Doctor Who. "Obviously you can't normally teleport in and out of this place, blatant security issue and all that, but I have a friend who fixed this up so it can avoid the walls and wards of this place. So where do you lot want to go? The forge, my place or somewhere else entirely?"

 

[MzHyde]

John wasn't the only one who thought that. Kay too, wondered how but she read between the lines of what Cal said to them and guessing she knew of a way to get Elliott out. She stayed quiet, and just listened to everything being said. She was glad Chas questioned who Clarissa was because she too got a bit confused for a brief moment, until Cal explained who Clarissa was. As the explanation went on, she found herself smirking slightly at Elliott saying it does work. It partly surprised and partly didn't surprise her that his sister would sneak him out when she could.

With everyone else, she waited for Cal to do what she needed to, to ensure the little escape would go without a hitch. She noticed the look of the gauntlet on her wrist and how it looked like something out of Doctor Who. She felt like the Who references were all around her with this group. Listening to what she said next, she thought it was damn impressive someone could still find a way to bypass everything that was put in place. She truly had no idea where to pick out of the options, but she gave it a moment to think it all over. "Maybe your place? But honestly, you're the expert here on the best place to pick" Kay commented.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"How did they get around all of these wards and firewalls? There has to be at least seven more on top of the visible ones." Jay asked, her old thief self showing itself, she had been trying to figure out how one would break in ever since they had stepped foot in the prison tunnels. "my friend was one of the designers" Cal smirked. "I know people in high and low places who aren't in it for the bribes. It's like they say.." "If you want to know anything, ask a pilot, a prison guard, a sewer cleaner or a blacksmith" Jay finished the saying. It was abundantly clear to Elliott that the two were going to get along excellently and were already showing signs of being willing to gang up on him.

Nobody had any objections to heading to Cal's place. "Okay then, mine it is. So gather round, you all need to be touching somebody who is me or somebody who is touching me for this to work." Elliott put a hand on one of Cal's shoulders, knowing the drill. Jay took the other shoulder. Chas took Jay's shoulder, John taking Elliott's.

 

[MzHyde]

Listening to Jay try to pick holes in the teleporting action by pointing out the state of the prison area, she had to admit, it was impressive to her that Jay was so alert with this kind of thing. Though Cal's reply, with Jay's addition made a lot of sense to her, figuring that it always came down to knowing the right people. It didn't even matter what it was about, if you knew the right people you could pretty much blag your way through anything. She was also certain Elliott will have his hands full with the two girls ganging up on him.

Kay noted the instructions Cal was telling them after they all agreed to go to her place and as everyone walked up and touched who they did, she touched John's shoulder. Which she gathered no one would have been surprised about. She probably stood closer to him than necessary, but she didn't care. She was after all, only used to the teleporting inside a building style, and not like this.

 

[_gallifrog_]

They vanished in a flash of white light, and re-emerged outside the door of an apartment. There was no sense of nausea as every sci-fi trope would have them believe. But there was a smell of burnt something another. On the door was a metal plate with the number of the apartment-823 and two names, written in Attili script. Based off the number Chas guessed they were on the eighth floor of the building as opposed to the 823rd floor. "It's not the most spectacular of places, nothing compared to our childhood house" Cal directed her statement at Elliott, who nodded. This was his first time at his sister's place after all. "but hey, it's home."

After opening the door, the others followed her in. Judging by the pitch of the roof, this was the top floor of the building. The room slant meant there was a mezzanine level above the main entrance, which instead of having a normal staircase up it had a climbing rope. Like with John's apartment, the main door opened into the combined living/kitchen/dining room, with the rest of the rooms through other doors. A set of double doors led to the balcony and a spectacular view of the main city and mountains. It was slightly messy. Somebody had chucked a pair of shoes on top of the television, and there was a pile of ironing on the ironing board which nobody had got around to doing. A pair of rocket boots were partially disabled on the table. The shelves were full of books, magazines and all kinds of crap. There were three framed photos, but apart from that there was little in the way of art. The place looked lived in.

In place of a coat rack there was a weapon rack on the wall. It mainly contained swords, daggers and some guns. In addition there were two sets of ceremonial katana swords, their blades engraved with patterns and a giant broadsword. There was also three longbow and a fancy compound bows hanging on a specially designed rack, accompanied by quivers and a whole fletchers worth of arrows.

 

[MzHyde]

Looking around when they got to her apartment, she waited for Cal to let them all in, to which she followed everyone inside and gazed around. It reminded her of John's apartment in layout but it looked so difficult at the same time. She thought to say it looked lived in was an understatement, but she wasn't to judge. Her old student accommodation wasn't far off this, minus the weapon rack. There were certainly always shoes in random places or work somewhere, so she actually felt like she was familiar surroundings, despite it not being familiar in so many ways. She looked over to see the view and it blew her away, it was spectacular and she thought to herself how she could totally get used to a view like that.

Then she noticed the bows and instantly walked over. "Nice bows! What's the draw strength?" She couldn't help but ask. Here came the revelation that no one knew about her. She knew about bows. Growing up in the states, she may have hated guns (she's only got better with them since the day Chas started training her on firearms), but she knew about archery. Her adoptive father was a hunter, she hated he killed livestock but he taught her in many outdoor ranges and she shot in Seattle woods a lot. Her top strength in draw was 35lbs and she was good with various traditional bows.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Oh...they're not mine, so you'd have to ask..." Cal started to say, before a call from Elliott cut her off. John, Chas and Elliott had instantly been drawn to the view, which bar the rings in the sky was almost identical to the drawing in Kay's room back at John's flat. Almost, but not quite. Elliott's eyes widened upon seeing the view now knowing exactly where he was. "Cal, are we where I think we are?" He asked, already heading towards the balcony. "You still remember this place after all these years?" There was a catch in her voice, it meant a lot to her that Elliott remembered.

Her remark with Kay forgotten, she headed towards her brother. From the balcony, the two simply swung themselves onto the roof like they'd done it a hundred times before. Which they had. Chas and John followed suit, a loud exclamation of "Bloody hell" emanating from him at the sight of the unobstructed view. Jay who had previously been inspecting the other weapons looked up and headed to join the others on the roof too.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded, inspecting them a bit more, despite not succeeding in getting an answer. She wondered who they belonged to, even though she previously noted there was second name on the apartment sign. Glancing around as she moved away from the bows on the wall, she noticed Jay was also looking at the weapons, something of which didn't surprise her a bit. She knew how much Jay liked weaponry and was drawn to it.

She let Cal speak with Elliott when he asked a question, and only followed suit when Jay did so. She didn't want to be the only one inside and look unsociable. So after Jay stepped up, she did too and took in the view. "Yup.. I could totally get used to a view like this" she thought to herself. It truly was something else in her eyes, and took her breath away like seeing the moors of Paradise in the mind walk did. She totally got why John exclaimed what he did as she took in the sight before her. "It's certainly something else" she remarked. She did think how it was very close to Elliott's drawing in her room, it now not feeling like a random drawing of his imagination.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"It really is something else" Jay murmered in agreement with Kay, her silver eyes wide as she drank it all in. There were other blocks of apartment near Cal's but they all knew that it was this one that had the best view. "I can totally understand if you bought this place for the view alone" The view from the roof matched Elliott's drawing perfectly. John pulled out his phone and flicked to the convenient photo of the sketch he just so happened to have, then handed it to Cal. She took it willingly, comparing the two, bar the rings there really was no major difference between them. It was a perfect drawing.

"We used to sneak up here in the middle of the night back when these apartment blocks were being built" Cal explained, adding the context. "And you used to say that you'd live here, so that when you eventually mastered pyro-flying you could fling yourself off the building and terrify the neighbours. Either that or get jet boots" Elliott added, the memories rushing back as he stood at the edge of the rooftop. "You remember that?" It was clear Cal hadn't questioned Elliott on what exactly he remembered. "Course, I remember, so did you ever master it?" "Sadly not, it's really hard to get the proper wing structure right, and I've tried a lot. The only time it did work I ended up with these massive hang-glider wings. Then I crashed into the river cos somebody thought it would be funny to chuck an ice ball at me breaking my concentration" she recalled fondly. Elliott sniggering at the idea.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay kept staring out at the view as Cal spoke, giving them the backstory of the place and view. She smiled when Elliott added to the story, easily imagining it even though she only just met Cal. She'd imagine she would have done the same thing. She never stood down from a challenge after all, so she could easily see herself doing the same thing with her own wings. She too couldn't help but chuckle at the part of her story of someone throwing ice at her to make her crash.

Kay then realised she had never really relied on her own wings much, mostly only thinking back to the fight months ago that temporarily killed Chas and she wondered what the hell happened. It made Kay think she really should let her phoenix out more for more than just healing others after this was all over. She didn't know what to say or do, so she kept marvelling at the sight in front of her, linking her arm through John's and resting her chin on his shoulder.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Remind me to give that person a medal" Elliott smirked, earning a hard dig in the ribs from Cal. "Oh when I get the hang of pyro-flight I am going to drop you into the bloody river." There was already an idea forming in her head as to how to finally achieve it. Despite only having being reunited with her brother a few days previously, the two had already begun to settle into a comfortable routine of banter. "Bring it on Cal" The next remark was in Attili and accompanied by the finger, so it didn't take a genius to finger out what Cal had said. After that they descended into bickering.

Elliott wasn't facing John, but had he been he definitely would have made a comment about Kay. Chas raised his eyebrows behind both their backs, while Jay really couldn't care less, too busy photographing the scenery. She was also wishing she had flight as one of her abilities. She could see the appeal of flinging herself off a roof like that.