Once more, Gloriosa, with the feels.

Emilyn looked between the women and the bearded man. "Yeah, they don't look so hot. I'm going to have to ask you lovely ladies not to die on us, my brain cannot handle it right now." She sighed and snuggled Puddin.


She chuckled and shrugged as they opted out of telling her their name for the time being. "Fair enough." She gave a pouty lip smile and turned in the direction in which they were all discussing going. "Dude, how do you even know there aren't people over there? It's like forever away." She said and raised an eyebrow before shifting her weight and placing Pudin back on the ground.


Emilyn looked back at the woman with the cat as the other woman draped her arm over her to help her walk. "I didn't even know what month it was 20 minutes ago." She mumbled in response to question about the explosions. "In fact I'd still be in my apartment if it wasn't for my curious friend, Piper... I hope he's not dead." She added.


"Well, ONWARD!" She threw her free hand, that wasn't holding on to Puddin's leash, into the air and started to walk in the general direction of the way they needed to get. "Someone else should probably lead though." She suggested whenever she was a few feet ahead of them.


She turned back to make sure they heard her and saw two of them missing. She looked to the bearded man and frowned. "Don't tell me they can fly..." She slumped her shoulders and looked into the sky for a moment before looking to where they were standing and noticing the large hole.


"Oh, shit!" She yelled and carefully walked over to the edge. "Are you guys okay??" She called down to them. "Can you fly?" She added, suddenly hoping that was something one of them gained from today's crazyness.
 
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"I hav not a clue az to vuat iz heppening here. Iz confusing and very frustrating. I have family and vork to return to. Perhaps I should ask dees guards if anyone cen spek to us?"


Really now? She was detained by some morons with crazy tests to not even know why she is detained? The young man had quite the accent, she had noticed; poor guy was just about to try to communicate with one of the guards. Did he not see her a few minutes ago, screaming her ass off to be ignored? A frustrated sigh escaped her but merely seconds later she noticed that the man was really planning on going there. "Oi! Don´t go over there, they are all jerks and a pain in the ass!"


She had called over but to be ignored, making her worry slightly over the man and thus why she had come over with him to the old guard. After the Russian boy had stated his question, the guard had barely glanced at her before answering making her confused. Perhaps she only needed to be polite and act like a scared teenager to get herself out of this mess.


But yet again trouble occurs in front of Lizzie as she tried to move out of the crowds way, following the young man to the megaphone. "Once again, it may not be a bad idea to leave during the mini riot, you know..." She glanced at the police men and the growing group of rebels with a smile of satisfaction. Amber wouldn´t wait to long.


The young man suddenly took the megaphone, his eyes glistened as if he was determined to make people calm down and relucantly Lizzie agreed to everything he said. The crowd and the police officers apparently having the same thoughts as Lizzie as they themselves calmed down. Lizzie observed the young man, her mind going a hundred miles an hour.


She had seen many strange things today. This wasn´t out of the ordinary anymore.
 
Lori had no interest in sitting around on the streets this close to police and emergency services. And even the injuries of the other girl that she and Duncan had waited up for wasn’t going to dissuade her from finding a safer place to hole up.


“Duncan, do you know where St Anne’s is on Shaftesbury Avenue end of Dean Street? The church entrance is there. We can hole up at the public gardens there at Shaftesbury Avenue end of Wardour Street if I don’t get through to someone. I’d just find us a taxi to some motel, but SOMEone -,” she tried not to glare at Robyn, “lacked the grace - and flashlight - to stay out of the liquid refuse of the sewer. She reeks. I don’t think a taxi would even let us in. Come to think of it - so do you now. You got some of the - uhm … stuff … on your clothes.


“Anyways, I know people over at St Anne’s. Not the best choice, but the closest. I’ll see about getting us all changes of clothes - and a doctor for her arm. I have a private doctor that will be discrete. Well, I hope I do. It’s been a long time. I hope he’s still alive. He understands my situation.”


Duncan raised an eyebrow. “Just what IS your situation?”


Lori shook her head. “The less you know, the better.”


Duncan shook his head as well. This was one of his pet peeves. He was one of those people that needed to know as much as possible before making decisions. He did not like being told he didn’t need to know when if he was already risking his life. “Bottom line it then. In the simplest terms.”


Lori frowned. “Witness protection. I saw a double homicide. I can’t let my face, fingerprints - anything - get placed in the system. If that happens, people start dying.” She looked over at Robyn. “I won’t hold it against you if you want to turn around and leave. But understand that the people looking for me will cut pieces off of you until you tell them what they want to know - then kill you anyways. So if you talk about this, they will look you up and ask questions.”


“Anyways,” Lori continued, “I am going to place a secure call - as secure as I can manage anyways - and arrange for a place to stay.”
 
Duncan listened to Lori almost impassively. Her claims made a certain amount of sense. But if she was under a real witness protection program, wouldn’t she had been protected better? He couldn’t help but notice that she practically aimed her worst claims in Robyn’s direction - almost as if trying to scare the poor girl away. Lori was certainly giving the girl every possible out.


The level of Lori’s paranoia seemed to border on the ludicrous. It was as if she was basing all her fears on Hollywood type espionage techniques. It seemed pretty unlikely that anyone he could know would be under a threat of THAT magnitude. Still, there was that remote possibility. Duncan mind spun a few scenarios involving military Black Ops to comic book James Bondish themes. He shook his head as if to dismiss such notions. Maybe, but damned unlikely.


Duncan sniffed the air. Lori was right. something did indeed stink. He looked hard at Robyn.


Duncan now cursed himself for not grabbing the Tyvek suit like he had planned. He had actually thought about it before leaving his apartment and dismissed the idea, knowing he could be careful enough to avoid getting a mess all over him. He hadn’t counted on a complete stranger bringing a load of crap into his life - literally.


Thing of it was, he couldn't spot any crap on Robyn. So he check out Lori's chair and gloves. Nothing. Then he picked up his own shoes and looked. The smell damn near knocked him over. "NOT HER! .... Me."


“Well, make your call,” he said to Lori. Then he turned to Robyn. “Stay or follow? Ladies, if you'd give me a moment, I'll see if I can't get a bag to stick my shoes in.”
 
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The redhead stays out of the conversation for a long while, listening as the two discuss whether to wait for ‘others’. In this time, Robyn got a feel for the both of them; Lori seemed paranoid to an extent, if Duncan’s comment about satellites was serious. While Duncan himself, seemed to have a personal touch and worried about others without really trying to. Robyn wasn’t really sure how the two were friends, but there were a few things she knew off the bat.


For one, she couldn’t let Lori see the tracking bracelet that was nestled under the sleeve of her shirt, cracked, but still powered. The blonde probably did not want to know about being tracked, given the dirty looks Robyn had already received. That meant Robyn couldn’t see the doctor she was getting for her… or even change her clothes in front of her.


“I have a change of clothes in my knapsack” she provides, hoisting the thing briefly to gesture to it. As for the doctor…Robyn couldn’t go to a hospital, but she wasn’t sure what sort of solution Lori had. Black market was what she guessed from the woman’s paranoia, as a hospital probably wouldn’t treat her either. All Robyn had to do was make sure the woman wasn’t in the room when she was treated, or find a way to break the bracelet off.


She wondered briefly if telling Duncan, but not Lori, would solve anything.


Brushing off the thought, she shrugs her shoulders at the two of them, “I don’t have anywhere else to go” she notes, truthfully. She wasn’t sure of the correct answer…maybe they wanted her to leave…but they couldn’t have wanted that. Robyn was well-liked after all…Blue eyes shifted between the two of them, “St. Anne’s sounds like a good idea…” immediately, she tries to work out a way to be alone with the doctor. “But I think I ruined one of my ribs going down that hole...” she pushes gingerly under her breast, cringing lightly.


If this didn’t work…she could always think of something else...
 
When names were asked for, Gerry smirked a bit and nodded at what the new girl had said. "Hey, I'm with ya'. Lets get the bloody hell outta' here first and get somewhere that's not all... this. Then we can share names and not worry about keelin' over." He began to move with them, looking down every so often to avoid anything on the ground that he might catch a boot on... and to try to avoid a lot of the auras he was seeing around him. Despite his odd calmness that was probably shock, he was still deeply unnerved by being able to see such things suddenly.


The words "Divine Winter Guy" snapped him out of his thoughts, however, and he looked up to meet the gaze of the pierced up gal. Before he could answer her question, the stoner asked the same thing. "Erm, well, that's a bit odd to explain," he started, stopping to wipe a bit of wetness off his lip. Bringing his hand back a bit bloodied, he winced and cursed to himself, taking a handkerchief from his pocket and holding his nose for a second. "Damn it all." Cleaning the blood off, he rolled up the black piece of cloth and pocketed it again before continuing, walking on as he talked.


"Well, a bit after that second boom chimed in, I started seeing shit. 'Member, when I stumbled away like a bleedin' idiot?" he said with a joking laugh. "I thought I'd gone off my head. ****, maybe that's still the case. Anyhow, since then I can see all sorta' things. Like... energy in the air and all that. Auras around folks. When I was lookin' off a bit back there... I was looking through the crowd. Bloody x-ray vision or some shit." He shrugged and smiled a bit sheepishly.


The pierced girl asked about the explosion, then, and Gerry just sighed. "It wasn't something I'd ever seen for sure. Kinda' bright, a bunch of colors and all that. ******* bizarre if you ask me." Instead of the response he expected, he heard a scream and sound of crumbling rocks and debris. "Oh Christ," he blurted out, rushing over toward whatever the hell the hole was the two'd fallen into.


The stoner looked at him, talking of flying and then spitting out her disdain at the situation as well and asking if they were okay... then mentioning flying again. "Doubtful," he mumbled with a scratch of his beard. "I don't think they would'a fallen in the first place, yeah?" Moving quickly to the hole, the dreadlocked male began to carefully scurry down it, boots managing to provide just enough traction to not send him tumbling down on top of them. "Hey, hey, nothin' broken?"
 
Lori nodded. “Stay here. I am going to step aside for a moment. This will take a few minutes. Three or four calls to make actually. And I prefer to keep my sources confidential.” She smiled apologetically, then rolled up the street a short ways and into an alcove out of the breeze.


She opened up her laptop and booted it up quickly. Then she linked her phone and notebook, activating a CGI avatar she had developed for chatting that bypassed her webcam. The webcam was, of course, normally disabled. She had re-enabled it to get a snapshot of Duncan. She now did the same for Robyn. Duncan she already knew even if he didn’t realize it. He had popped up on a background check she had done months ago. Assault charges, dropped. Juvenile record stuff. Entered the foster care system at 16 ish. Family troubles?


Now she ran Robyn through her facial recognition software. The signs were all there that the girl was trouble. Hospital scrubs, running from the cordon. Lori was a little shocked at what popped up. It took her several long seconds for the shocked expression to fade from her face. Sexual offender? Lori tried to make sense of the charges in her head. The redhead didn’t LOOK like she’d need to work hard to get a male in bed. So .. offense against which sex? Oh God, and she had just been trying to intimidate the girl about getting body parts chopped off. Lori really wished the offender list gave more details. At least it didn’t refer to violent acts or pedophile.


Wait a minute. The girl was dressed like she had been evacuated from the hospital. Lori wanted to hack the medical records, but that was always a slow process. But … she knew someone who could do that for her. One problem at a time.


Her first call she placed to Father Matthew to make arrangements for Sanctuary and to get her private physician out to look at Robyn. She started to ask the priest to warn the doctor about the possibility that Robyn might be and probably was wearing a GPS tracker. It was a pretty standard procedure. St Anne’s specialized in transgender interests. If any location could be more open minded, Lori couldn’t think of one. But then Lori balked. What if Robyn’s was the victim here? Lori could think of a few scenarios where the charges could be false.


But if Lori took this route it would mean having to cut off the GPS tracker. And if she did that, it would make her responsible for the girl. Lori felt the threat of a stress migraine coming on.


Lori’s next call was to her personal taxi driver. While she rarely ever got out, when she did she avoided public transportation. Instead she used taxis and preferred to use a non company cab driver. And as heavy as she tipped she always made her rides off book, always paying cash. She was in luck and asked the driver to bring a friend - a second taxi for Robyn.


She asked Duncan to join her in the second taxi. Nervously she explained to Robyn the need for a second taxi. “I-I’m going to check some things and need Duncan to help me move stuff. W-with your wrist messed up, you need to see the doctor. I am having one make a house call at St Anne’s. He’s familiar with my situation.”
 
It happened so quickly that she could barely process it. She had until this point just been walking along in silence as she supported the rather off balanced psychic punk and pondered this girl’s question. She had made a good point: the explosion wasn’t normal. That much was obvious … or would have been if the panic levels in the area hadn’t spiked to such drastic highs that even such blatant abnormalities could be overlooked. Of course realizing this lead her to try to reexamine everything that she may have observed and overlooked since she had run out of the coffee shop following the first explosion. Perhaps these ponderings were the reason she had been so careless as to let herself and her companion tumble…


“Oh shit fucking damn it …” moaned Alani weakly as the grey spots which had popped up when her head connected with the rocky ground after the fall finally started to dissipate. She had heard something about flight, but was currently a bit too disoriented to figure out the meaning. Instead she ran a quick mental inventory on herself. Her body hurt everywhere now as emotional strain coupled with actual bruises to make even fidgeting a rather tedious task, but everything was still intact and whole as far as she could tell.


As a few small rocks fell down onto her, her head jerked a bit too quickly in that direction and drew a slight whimper of pain. Her tension dissipated some, however, as she found the cause to be the group’s bearded psychic as he carefully slid down into the hole with them. “Hey, hey, nothin’ broken?” he asked, something of genuine worry finding its way into his tone. If they were aliens, she noted with a bit of amusement at the thought, they didn’t seem all that evil to her.


“You mean other than our sanity?” muttered the girl out loud as she finally attempted to disengage herself from the tangled mess of limbs, leashes, and kitten claws that had become her and the other woman. A sharp hiss escaped her lips as she finished however, a piece of a broken metal pipe slashing at her forearm from where it protruded from the rubble not more than 3 inches beside the spot where she had landed. “Fuck – damn it,” she cursed again as she covered the cut quickly and grimaced before finally looking around.


The tunnel, mostly intact in the area moving farther to the north away from the cave in, made her pause for a moment as she considered what she knew of the area. She had perhaps heard of this. Crawling quickly over the rubble to one of the less traumatized walls, she examined it as her eyes trailed over it and off into the darkness. Pulling her phone out of one of the pockets of her cargo capri’s, she tapped it hurriedly to make it light up, grimaced at the jagged crack running along its usually pristine screen, and held it up to allow her to see a bit better. They couldn’t possibly have been this lucky … could they have?


Now, Alani had more than enough reason to avoid the tunnels and attempt to talk them into going back up top. Logical arguments for that course of action could include the possibility of another cave in, being trapped with the dangerous people of the quarantine in close quarters, contamination by whatever chemical leak had caused the brightly colored flairs, or getting hopelessly lost in a maze of locked doors with no way out … but deep down she knew the reason that she didn’t want to be in these tunnels was that if they got out of this mess the others would leave. Then where would she be with her curiosity? She was currently offered a momentary vision of things that she thought no other human before today had witnessed, and she wasn’t certain she was ready to let that go …


The girl shook her head at such thoughts and forced such selfishness to the back of her mind as she used the wall to slowly stand. “I … I think these might be the tunnels beneath the school,” she blurted out a bit awkwardly as she forcibly made herself overcome the desire to be secretive. “I mean … I’d heard fucking rumors, but they’re largely unheard of … I don’t think anyone has even really explored them … I know I don’t know the layout and I’ve been here for three damned years now …”


The small light from her phone timed out and the area she was in dropped back into mostly darkness as she turned back towards the hole where light was spilling down from. A weak smile crossed her dust and grime covered face as she looked back at the others while letting her weight lean heavily on the pipes running along the wall. “I think we may have just fallen into a way out,” she grinned with a bit more bravery than she felt. “Albeit, the second we get out our first priority would have to be getting cleaned up some … we fucking look the part of people escaping from an explosion. It’d be a fucking shame to fail ‘cuz of that …”
 
Jevel grunted and heaved himself over the fifth cave-in he'd encountered since entering the sewers. There were huge piles of debris and concrete like this one everywhere, and Jevel had to be careful with his footing because they were sometimes unstable, and he wasn't too keen on scraping himself all over.


After dropping down on the other side, he caught sight of the light at the end once again, but this time it seemed more intense, as if it was closer. Jevel walked onwards, to discover the light was shining down from a hole in the ceiling larger than the other ones he had seen. Searching around for a way to climb upwards to the surface, he noticed a small pile of debris up against the wall of the sewer. If he got a running start, he could probably run up the pile and get enough momentum to parkour up the wall and grab hold of the edge, then pull himself up.


Stepping back a few feet, Jevel ran full speed at the debris pile and ran up, planting a foot on the wall and pushing down. He just barely managed to grab the edge of the hole, muscling his way up to the surface.


Huffing for breath as he hunched over, Jevel looked around and realized he was almost a block away from the university. Nearby, three people, one of which was in a wheelchair, were gathered by the side of the road, discussing something as two taxis sitting alongside the curb waited for them to get in. Jevel gathered up his energy and jogged towards the group.


"Hey! Hey, you three!" he called as he neared them, slowing to a stop and gasping for air again. 'Gotta work out more,' he huffed under his breath. Standing back straight, he addressed the three people gathered by the taxis.


"Excuse me, would it be all right if I traveled with you guys? I just escaped from the university quarantine zone; I went underground through the sewer system. I need other people to hang around. Strength in numbers, right?"
 
It turned out Robyn did not have to work too hard. Maybe it was the female’s outward suspicion with everything, but it had worked in Robyn’s favor this time. She would be alone with the doctor, which meant maybe managing to get the tracking device off of her. She hadn’t looked at the thing yet, as to not expose it to the rest of the group, but she was almost sure it had power again. No beeping yet…


Trying her best to look put-off, despite the fact she wasn’t, she turns to Duncan who in their brief time alone together, she had said nothing to. It’s the same situation now, but she’s a little sad that she can’t get to ride in the car with him. She needed to think of the long-run though, and if she wanted to stay with these people, she needed to get rid of her baggage. Finally Robyn turned towards and nodded at Lori, “I’m short on cash, but you probably have that covered too” she grins, lightly.


They still hadn’t asked about her clothing and explaining it now would seem more like an excuse than the truth. So she decided to say nothing, they had probably made up their minds on where she had come from. Hesitating when the taxi’s pulled up, she looked over at Lori, wondering if she needed to say anything to the driver.


Suddenly a voice sounded from behind them, and she turns towards the source; a blonde boy, looked a little young. She wasn’t quite sure where he had come from, but her eyes scanned him over momentarily. After he had caught his breath, he asked a question that made her nervously glance back at Lori. The man had spouted his reasons as for joining them, and Robyn was sure Duncan wouldn’t leave him behind, if his waiting statement had meant anything. So that left Lori…
 
Duncan caught Lori’s face hardening with a moment of fury at the interruption. He actually saw her hand grab the can on pepper spray in her purse. For a moment he thought she would actually pull it out, but it stayed concealed in the purse. And he very nearly got pepper sprayed himself when he laid a hand on Lori’s back to try to interrupt her train of thought. The harsh look she gave Duncan was a clear warning. Duncan mentally kicked himself. Damn, but she really was uncomfortable outside.


Duncan leaned in and whispered. “Remind me never to come up behind you and cover your eyes, asking who it was. I think my new name would be argh, it burns.” He grinned.


Despite herself, Lori gave a harsh laugh. And in that moment the worst of her tension fled. “Damn straight,” she murmured back. The worst of the danger had passed. But she was still none too happy with complete strangers walking up and asking to share a taxi. It was simply rude - no matter the reason.


Duncan stepped toward Jevel a half step, dropped his head slightly, squared his shoulders and rolled them forward - all intentionally to simulate the primal ready for a fight stance of prison mentalities. He’d seen a show of The Mentalist where this habit had been observed during a prison riot. He was neither angry, nor looking for a fight. rather he was trying to look a little more imposing to have Jevel keep his distance from Lori. She was ready to freak out. “Why don’t you join Robyn there?”


Lori nodded and gave a dismissive wave. Then she turned to the cab driver for Robyn’s ride. She handed the driver a 100 euro bill. “Tip.” Then another bill. “And trip. St Anne’s.” The place was less than a mile away.


Lori then turned to Robyn and handed her 3 bills - all 100’s. “There’s a clothing place across the street, restaurants everywhere. That’s London’s Little China area. Just in case. Don’t worry about paying me back. It should be enough to pick up some stuff to freshen up with.” Then she wheeled back and leaned her head back to bump Duncan. “Duncan, if you’d help me into our cab, I’d like to get off the streets.”


Of course, Lori had plans to head in a very different direction.
 
Jevel picked up the "freaking-out" and "omfg creepy stranger" vibes from the uptight woman in the wheelchair, and caught the defensive look of the larger fellow next to her. He got the message and scooted a tad farther away to give them room. The lass in the wheelchair looked extremely paranoid and shifty-eyed, as if she spent every waking moment of her life making sure that no one would ever be able to access any of her personal information, under any circumstances.


Jevel didn't doubt it.


Nodding at the large guy's suggestion, he wordlessly slipped into the second taxi with the third person. He watched inquisitively as the handicapped woman passed three hundred pounds over to the girl next to him in the cab, as casually as if she were handing her a piece of candy.


"That's some serious dough you're handing out there," Jevel observed. He was debating saying more, but then decided against it. The handicap was already suspicious enough of him.
 
As Lori and Duncan’s cab pulled away, she handed the driver a few bills. She ignored the look she got from Duncan. The man was understandably curious, but had yet to ask. Her best guess was that he had already decided ignorance might be a blessing.


Lori’s driver was a young Asian man named Tuan. She spoke rapidly in Mandarin, getting a hesitant nod from the man. She winced at how crazy she had to sound. The taxi driver knew her well enough - as well as anyone did. She was eccentric. But she tipped very well - insanely well. So he didn’t bother to ask questions. Of course, what she usually asked was illegal - and that was to make her trips off the books. And that was why she always tried to use owner operators, rather than company drivers, calling the driver directly rather than going through the company. And the Soho area was London’s Little China.


Lori looked at Duncan meaningfully, then settled into a meditative state and left her body behind. THIS was why she had wanted to get away from everyone. She had decided Duncan was trustable enough - and needed someone to watch over her body. She had deliberately asked the driver to drive around a bit before heading into Little China. She had very good reasons for that. Astral travel in a place like that might actually be dangerous.


Still time was of the essence. Lori made her rounds again. Her first interest was the child in the medical tents. Her second was the Bearded Man and his entourage. If that man ever shaved she’d never recognize him. That last she had seen of them they had been headed north - away from the medical tents. Of course, like idiots they had been headed toward the explosions. What kind of idiots did that? Well, that was a dumb question. Idiots and people stoned out of their minds.


So why was she so damned curious about this group? Oh yes, the fact that there had been two bearded men. The behavior of the two identical men had been very different. Add that to the police frozen into ice statues and she was seeing a very strange pattern here. It was an insane pattern she simply couldn’t ignore. Lori might very well have missed the group save for one member - the Stoner with the pug. It was at that moment Lori decided she liked the pug more than the Stoner. It probably had more brain cells.


Okay, maybe Lori wasn’t being fair. She hadn’t actually met the girl. But she recognized the girl from traffic cams. She couldn’t recall ever seeing the girl not stoned. In Lori’s mind that wasn’t living. But then who was she to talk? It wasn’t as if she hardly ever made it out the door of her own apartment. How was that any different? Lori gave a mental shrug, set self psychoanalysis aside and descended into the hole where the girl had been looking.


She knew that couldn’t hear her, but she couldn’t help but chastise them - still merely a spirit. “Guys, guys, don’t tell me you are going to walk into tunnels noone has used in decades - without flashlights, ropes, hazmat suits, respirators … Only a fool would do that.” She smacked her own forehead. “What WAS I thinking? You just walked over the edge of a sinkhole.”
 
"In fact I'd still be in my apartment if it wasn't for my curious friend, Piper... I hope he's not dead."


Could Grass Girl's friend be dead? Sebastianne has seen too many violent and broken visions to latch on to any faces in particular. A nauseous feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. If she'd been right about how-- abandoned the other side of the crater was, then were all of her visions and real? If so, really, what the fuck had happened to her? Was it more than just madness?





"Like...energy in the air and all that. Auras around folks. When I was lookin' off a bit back there...I was looking through the crowd. Bloody x-ray vision or some shit."


"X-ray vision?" Sebby asked, startled, momentarily losing her normal aloof and prickly exterior. Her knees were starting to shake, as she felt she might faint again. "Wait-- he says he has x-ray vision, and the rest of you take this so fucking calmly?" Sebby's voice rose about an octave on the last word. Panic was starting to set in. The ice cube men, the ice cube men-- that had been real?


"Kinda bright. A bunch of colours and all that." The rainbow sky that she'd heard from the lips of a uncountably many people, seen from innumerable perspectives-- that had been real, too? Sebby felt her lip start to tremble and her throat clench shut, as if she was about to cry again. All those people that she'd seen and heard had rioted and been injured and killed... that had really happened....


It was probably a good thing she'd fallen into the tunnel when she had, or else she may have considered making a break for it. Not because it was the most rational think to do, but because Sebastianne was genuinely afraid to the point of panic. She maniacally as she heard the Grass Girl's words. "Are you guys okay? Can you fly?"


Of course she couldn't fly. "No," she answered, "but I think I'm psychic!" She replied, half delirious, as if it was some sort of great joke. She didn't notice that she had probably sprained her ankle, or that her hands where now shredded and bloody from trying to break her fall, nor that her Divine Winter shirt and her jeans had been torn. "Isn't that funny? All this shit that I've been able to see and hear, this rainbow stuff, the deaths, the riots, the fear....the absolute panic..." Wait. She couldn't feel panic coming from the sounds or the pictures. The visions were just... there. The panic was all hers, it was her reaction to everything that was happening. She couldn't help it as she shivered and tears started to leak out of her eyes.


Get a ****ing grip, Sebastianne told herself. Wiping her tears away with a hand bloodied hand, inadvertently leaving her face more grimy than before, Sebastianne tried to unwind Isis' leash and stand up, hissing in pain as she tried to stand on her left foot. Bloody perfect.


"Albeit the second we get out we get out our first priority should be to be getting cleaned up some...we fucking look the part of people escaping an explosion." Sebastianne looked down, realizing the state of her clothes for the first time.


"Fine," Sebastianne conceeded, too weary to snap at the woman for trying to take control of the situation. As if walking through a fog made in part by voices, images and words, in part by exhaustion, Sebastianne added in a voice that was much more practical than she presently felt, "But I'd appreciate if the second thing you do is to drop me off at the chemist* or the hospital-- my ankle is going to need a tensor bandage, I think. Come on, let's get moving. And hope the university has closed down for the day due to the explosion that may have not really been an explosion. I don't want to pop up in the middle of the UCL campus looking like this."


((*chemist: drug store))
 
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Duncan and Lori shared a short, quiet, conversation that Robyn only managed to pick up when Lori let out a laugh. Afterward, Duncan squared himself off and stepped in front of the wheel-chaired woman, as if protecting her. “Why don’t you join Robyn there” he offered, to which she stiffened slightly, looking back at the man. Waving slightly her way, she opened the door of the taxi and slid in, noticing Lori come over to talk to the driver.


After she handed him his money, as well as giving him directions, the woman gave her three folded bills, all hundreds. Robyn grabs the money, “Don’t take too long” she notes, her smile slightly crooked before Lori leaves. She keeps mind of her directions and idly hears the boy’s comment beside her before Lori backs off, and the cab starts driving.


Robyn turns to eye the boy besides her now, adjusting her bag so it rests on her lap, stuffing the bills in the bag. He had said he had come from the university, which might make her faulty story of living in the health complex fall apart. Then again, Lori didn’t really trust him either… he was probably her best asset to keeping secrets. Eying the rear view mirror so she could see the driver, she stares briefly at him, wondering if he would report back.


Not willing to take the chance, she turns to the boy next to her and says “Care to follow me?” then with what looked to be a nervous smile, “Strength in numbers, right?” The decision is made; he would be her best bet to get the tracker off without Lori knowing. It probably looked to him as if they were friends, being together after all when he interrupted them. The doctor however, was someone who ‘knew her situation’ and that meant he automatically couldn’t be trusted. This driver too, a personal driver to the woman, an extra tip to not ask questions is what she assumed


So when he pulled up at St. Anne’s cathedral, Robyn wasted no time sliding out, “Thank you” she notes. To be extra careful, she enters the cathedral’s door and is lucky enough that there is no one waiting in the entranceway for her. Turning back to the boy, she makes sure to cover all her bases, “Actually, we should probably go shopping first.” In actuality, Robyn was waiting for the cab to leave, just in case there were some words that weren’t said to his instructions.


Robyn knew paranoia well.


Fixing her bag again, she leaves the church and hopes the boy follows behind her, heading a block to the east. "What was your name?" she asks him, without turning.
 
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Jevel smirked slyly when the girl next to him in the cab said her comment.


"I see no reason why not. Strength in numbers, indeed."


When the cab stopped at the cathedral, he stepped out behind her and followed.


"My name's Jevel. Hey, uh...you wouldn't have experienced anything strange, would you? Suppose, like, special abilities or anything of the sort?"


he asked, walking up next to her and scratching the back of his head. It wasn't the best way to ask, "Hey, do you have superpowers?", but Jevel wanted to know just how many people the anomaly had affected. For all he knew, everyone inside the quarantine zone was now a freak of nature.
 
Robyn was trying to stay focused on the street ahead of her, but when Jevel started talking behind her, she casted a weird glance back. Eventually, she paused momentarily so she could walk next to him, instead of in front of him. Now she gave him an odd look, because although what he had said made no sense to her, at the same time she knew what he was asking. Immediately wondering if he was experiencing whatever he was talking about, she formulated a plan on the fly.


“Can I trust you?” she wonders, looking at the boy, worriedly, “At first, I didn’t really understand what you were saying, but…” her eyes shift to check her surroundings. Then she motions the boy to follow her into a hardware store…this was far enough. Immediately she dreams up a power, “sometimes…and I’m only saying sometimes because I’m not really sure myself… I can see…things. Like, when a person is talking, they sometimes emit…vibrations? I’m sorry…this is new to me” She blabbers on and on, knowing full well what she is talking about, but remembers that she shouldn’t.


It is a clear lie, and that’s the exact power she was describing to the boy; Lie detecting through visions. Robyn then eyes him, frowning slightly, “What about you?” she asks, slightly surprised when someone comes to check on them, a greeter. The redhead waves her off, assuring her she didn't need an ambulence, and being reminded of the pain she had been ignoring. Using this as an excuse to go for what she came for, bolt cutters. Once the girl finds them, she takes them to the counter and makes the purchase, leading them out of the store and down a nearby alley. Breaking the package open, she eyes the boy, “There’s another secret I would like you to help me with” she asks of him.
 
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Jevel raised an eyebrow at the girl's look that she gave him. What? Did he have something on his face?


After walking side by side for a moment, she ushered him over into a hardware store. Her nervous comment about "seeing things" when other people talk made his eyebrows raise slightly.


"That's...interesting...when I was over at the university campus, there was this big riot that broke out. It was over after a couple minutes, but there was this guy, right up against the police line shooting fire from his mouth, like water spewing from a fire hose. No joke. I went up to him to get him to stop, and when I placed my hand on his shoulder, he...stopped. He couldn't do the fire-breathing thing anymore. I guess I sort of...disabled it or something? This is all kind of crazy, but I swear on my Master's in Archaeology that I'm not lying."


He raises an eyebrow again when the girl purchases a pair of bolt-cutters.


"Why do we need those? Is that why the handicapped person sent us here?"


Jevel watches as the girl opens the package with wild abandon.


"A secret, eh? You can trust me. I'm the best at keeping secrets."
 
“So you’re like a switch” Robyn notes, considering him a moment, “You can turn people off…and on? Or did you ever tap somebody twice?” she asks him. “...Can you use their powers too?” is suddenly the next question that jumps to the forefront of her mind, suddenly worried. Then realizing he had answered her question about keeping a secret she pauses, and decides to take the plunge. Lifting her shirt sleeve with a wince, she shows him the tracker, which does have a low glow to the system, but it remains unset.


“This is my secret” she confides “I need you to cut it off...” is what follows, handing him the bolt cutters. “As you can probably tell, my friend back there was awfully paranoid, so she doesn’t need to know I got a tracker attached to me” she confessed. Once again, a situation pops to the forefront of her mind, “I tested positive in the medical tents…and if you made it back far enough you got one of these attached to you” is her explanation. Robyn realizes that this might, too, explain away the medical clothes “Please” is her final note, staring at the boy with a slight sheen in her eye. Like every other girl, she had a sad puppy-dog like stare that might help Jevel cave in to help her.


Her arm and wrist seem to whine more as her ignorance of them continues, which meant she needed to see the doctor soon.
 
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We have been instructed to keep you all detained here until further notice. Unfortunately we do not know more than that.


The crowd seemed somewhat placated by this explanation, many of them grumbled their dissatisfaction but they knew better than to push the subject. More complaints or struggle from this point on would be counter productive, that much at least was common knowledge. Yurev however was placated not in the least. He did not blame the police, their involvement was mandatory not voluntary. Still though, Yurev could not help but think that there was something more, something he was missing, there was a puzzle but he didn't have all the pieces. His attention however was broken by small aching pain in his right ankle. He looked down at his feet and noticed he was standing in some sort of human knot. This was strange to say the least but now that he thought about it, he realised he'd been moving about like a dancer since he started talking to the first police officer.


He realised his entire body was in fact twisted this way and that, his hands were placed playfully on his hips, his lips were pursed ever so slightly and his eyebrows were raised and different heights. He felt awfully stupid but when he took the time to look around, he saw a few people giving him strange yet intense looks, at first he thought they were looking at his ridiculously contorted body but at closer inspection he found something a little more disturbing?. He shook the thought from his mind and straightened himself out, he looked around for the woman who approached him earlier and found her standing behind him. He smiled at her and grabbed her hand, he was just about to kiss it when he realised what he was about to he abruptly dropped the stolen hand and instead gave her a winsome smile.


Question now, vhat do bwe do now? Thiz can't be last stop for us, there must be next step. What will government do to us next? Do bwe follow like sheep or escape like fox?
 
Emilyn nodded in response to bearded man and what she figured was pierced girl's voice telling her no, that they could not indeed fly. "hm, keeping all possibility's open at the moment." She called back. When he heard that the pierced girl was psychic she nodded again. "Wicked. I think I'm a plant whisperer or something... or Puddin' is." She sighed and looked down at her pug who was eating some gum off the side of the road. Puddin' looked up from his little duty to the streets of London, met eyes with his owner and gave a little dog fart before returning to said duty.


"Well, maybe not Puddin." She added.


She listened carefully as the other woman was saying something about being under the campus. "I-uh, yeah. I heard those rumors as well! Hell, I spread half of them back in High school." She chuckled and nonchalantly pulled a blunt from her large coat pocket, along with a lighter and decided to light up right there, next to the hole. Emilyn took a long drag of her joint. She held it for a few seconds and let it out before peering over the edge a little. "Want something to kill the pain?" She held out the rolled grass and gave a genuine smile of help down towards them.


While she awaited their response to her offer of influential substances, She looked around her. "Say, think we should carefully climb down and follow them or meet them on the other side? What if she's wrong and they get trapped down there?" She asked, thinking logically for once in this whole event. Her eye brows raised as the redness that was starting to fade from her blue eyes returned and she suddenly snorted a laugh. "Oh man, that would suck so much." She giggled, totally ruining her redeeming moment. She looked up where the bearded man used to be and gasped, believing, for a moment that she imagined him the whole time. Then she looked down and saw him climbing into the hole with the other two.


"Oh, hey! I am glad to see you're still real." She said with a smile as she peered over the hole. She looked behind her at Puddin who was now, peeing on a rock. "Looks like we're the only two left, time to descend into darkness with some strangers, Puddin'. Ya ready?" She asked her dog and without waiting fr a response she scooped up the little Pug and started to climb into the hole after the other three.


When she was down there, after losing the joint on the way, cursing at it from jumping out of her pursed lips and then accidentally stepping on it. She huffed and set Puddin' down so she could wipe dirt and dust from her jacket. "Well, lead the way." She smiled at the rest.
 
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Duncan was willing to allow the cab to make a few runs around the block, but in this traffic it was damned annoying. And he wasn’t really keen on staying at St Anne’s. The place was more for people in real need. He didn’t feel like they were there yet. Besides, churches always made him feel guilty.


So after the second trip around the block he asked the driver to stop in front of a cheap flat, the sort one paid for rent by the week or month in cash. It was more of a slum than a decent place. Lori had already handed the driver more than enough just in thee tip. And while he hated the idea of going through her purse, the wad of cash had been pretty obvious.


Duncan asked for the driver’s bottled water while handing over a few bills. “Stays off the books?” He didn’t know how much Lori would normally pay the man. But the driver nodded, but Duncan thought the man wasn’t quite satisfied and added a little more. That got the faint upwards curl in the corners of the man’s mouth. Then Duncan spritzed some water on Lori’s face and messed up her hair.


Duncan was a little surprised when the driver actually got out and helped with the chair. Duncan carried her getaway case and laptop - and of course Lori herself. The driver was even patient enough to lock his car out and help Duncan get her to a room. Clearly Lori had a rapport with the driver. Repeat customer that tipped very, very well. Duncan tried to tip again, but the driver shook his head and refused it. Yeah, Lori was a very good customer.


Duncan barely had time to get settled in the room when there was a knock on the door. He had laid Lori out on the bed looking like some strung out addict. And as it turned out that was exactly what the knocking at the door was all about. Duncan declined saying ‘his girl’ had had enough already. A little disgusted he closed the door.


A second set of knocks came less than a minute later. This time it was about Lori working on the turf of some pimp. Duncan gave it a moment’s thought but decided that if Lori was listening it might not be such a good idea to have a joke at her expense. Besides the pimp had a pair of goons with him. He put both goons down so fast the pimp scarcely had time to draw his gun. The pimp found himself stiff armed against a wall and his wrist nearly crushed. Duncan forced the pimp’s own hands over to put the pistol back on safety and forced him to put the gun away. Then he told the man she was his fiance, not a stray hooker.


The second interruption over, Duncan finally had a chance for a moment of peace.
 
Dusting himself off just a little, the hungover male dug around in his pants and finally produced a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, sparking one of the smokes alight and coughing a laugh at the stern woman's words. "Yea', I mean other than that a'course." When the gal was cut, however, he meant to reach forward and help her, but it looked like she had it under control, her aura flickering only for a moment before returning to it's usually spastic state. Rubbing his head at this, Gerry took another drag from the coffin nail and grimaced at the taste. It made him want to vom, but it was keeping his head clear and keeping him from dwelling on the madness of the situation much.


He was just about to ask where they thought the tunnels lead when the gal spoke up again about them maybe being beneath the school. It was interesting, but it was her mentioning a way out that caused Gerry to give a weak grin. "******* right," he said with a chuckle. "And that's too true. If possible, too, we should try and nab up some bevs. Like at least a water or something. I'm about to expire over here due to booze-dehydration."


Looking back to the pierced up chick, Gerry offered the smokes out to her, noticing her tears. "Shit, hey," he started, giving a strangely reassuring smile. "You good, luv?" His words were quiet, but genuine all the same. He knew what she had to be feeling. Well, maybe not exactly, but at least there was a bit of solace in knowing you weren't the only person that suddenly gained bleedin' superpowers.


Snapping back to reality, he found the gal talking about bandages or the chemist or something. "Yeah, probably a good idea in that too. And, if we can, grab up some extra stuff in case one of us gets even more busted up trying to run about like we've been and... er..." he said, trailing off awkwardly as he looked up and noticed something. He really had meant to continue his train of thought but, when his eye caught the ghost above them, it was hard to keep things in his head straight.


The cigarette in his mouth hung a bit slack, matching the motion of his jaw. Regaining at least enough composure to speak, he moved his strangely hued eyes back to his companions. "Okay, please tell me someone else sees the bloody person hovering up there above us," he started, not really expecting or paying attention to any response. At least, he thought it was a person. To him the figure was humanoid in shape, almost feminine even, but was made up of strange colored energy. Almost like a concentrated aura without the person it surrounded. Lifting a hand, he pointed first at it, then gave a wave. "That's just unreal," he murmured, still trying to get the thing's attention. At least if it reacted to him, he knew he wasn't completely crazy. Or hoped, anyhow.


"Oi!" he shouted up towards it, letting his cigarette fall to cup a hand over his mouth. "If you're not a figment of my bloody imagination and can hear me, you mind maybe trying to prove I'm not a ******* madman?" Giving a laugh at this, despite himself, he turned toward the others sheepishly. "Look, gimme a chance here. I'm not off my knob completely just yet."


 
"Look, gimme a chance here. I'm not off my knob completely just yet." That’s what the Bearded Man had said.


For a brief moment, Lori was a little shocked. The man was looking right at her. Then it struck her that he must not be able to hear her. He hadn’t responded to anything she said. She debated - only briefly having a little fun with the guy. Wistfully she cast the notion aside - though her face held a very mischievous grin.


The question was, how to let the guy know he wasn’t just seeing things. How much did he see? Was she merely a blur? Or could he see her clearly? She studied the group for a moment, appraising them for a general judgement of who was ‘normal’ and who was not. The most normal looking of the lot was a lady (Alani) that looked like she might be having a bad hair day - as if they all weren’t. Her face had an intelligent look to it - educated. At least she was dressed more upscale than the rest - like she had an ounce of self respect. Lori felt a bit of guilt at that for she wasn’t exactly dressed for the outdoors herself and probably shouldn’t have been judging anyone.


But Alani became her choice of props. Lori landed beside the woman and stuck her hands to the sides of Alani’s head and started waggling them at Gerry. Then she took her hands away and tried something a little different. She used gestures to count from 1 to 5. That done she look at Gerry expectantly.
 
It was probably not a good sign when one of the psychics (that may or may not have also been an alien) seemed surprised by what he saw. Regardless, however, Alani felt confident that the man saw something and so was more than willing to give him a chance to explain it. She again made her phone light up so that she could hold it up to see if the pale light would illuminate something that she had simply missed, but the faint glow illuminated nothing new in the tunnel. Noting this, she frowned a bit at her own normality. The slight flicker that ran over her phone’s screen drew her from such self-pitying foolishness and was followed a second later by a slightly chilled breeze that danced just over the sides of her face. What little color could still be seen through the layers of grime on her face vanished almost instantly as a wave of involuntary shivers surged through her.


The girl, responding on instinct more than conscious thought, pushed herself quickly away from the wall and landed hard on the floor. Her movements were frantic as she scuttled backwards and away from the man, her face a mask of betrayal and terror. “Dude … What the FUCK!?” she cried, her voice breaking for the first time since everything had begun. Breathing was difficult and she felt light-headed as her panic spiked beyond any point that she had ever encountered before. Admittedly, she had known that staying with this lot was dangerous, but her curiosity had blinded her to the fact that they might turn their abilities on her …


“Call it off!” she demanded hoarsely as she scanned the air in front of her wide eyed, her hands feeling about for anything that could be used as a weapon against her bearded assailant. “Call it off … call it off … call it the fuck off, you bearded piece of shit! What the fuck did I do …? I’ll fucking scream! I swear to Jesus fucking Christ …”


Finally her hand found a bit of loose stone, and she grabbed it as she scrambled to her feet. Holding this makeshift weapon in front of her, eyes betraying an almost manic level of terror, she stared him down coldly. Alani knew that she wasn’t about to go down without a fight … even so, however, she wasn’t ready to have blood on her hands. Shivering and immobile, the girl just glared at the man as though daring him to attack her again. As of now, she was so lost in her utter terror that she hadn’t even noticed the steady flow of tears streaking down her dust covered cheeks. “Fuck - please …”
 
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