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The knock on the door wasn't a welcome noise to Zoe, especially as she noted similar noises coming from further down the hall. So they were fetching the class again, no doubt because something had gone wrong somewhere and throwing kids at it was the best solution. Sometimes Zoe wondered if they'd considered just making better guns instead and letting her get her goddamned sleep.

[color=palevioletred]"You can stop knocking now."[/color] She groaned, rolling out of bed. At this rate she'd have to just give up on having a sleep schedule. Maybe she could just learn to get up earlier in the mornings, but that somehow felt like giving in. Part of her wanted time to get dressed, but if they were going to be fighting then it didn't seem worth it all things considered. She sighed as she glanced out of the window, grabbing her phone, and after a second's consideration, her knife.

It was the kind of day where the freedom to put on a few extra layers would have been appreciated, really. Zoe had gotten over the actual 'running around in her underwear' issue by now, 'cause there were way more important concerns at this stage and if anything she figured some of the others were probably more embarrassed about it than she was herself. Honestly, she found it kind of funny looking back, but when conditions were like this, the irritation more than outweighed any entertainment she'd get from her situation.

As she opened the door, slightly groggy from her rude awakening, she couldn't help but notice the umbrella. On the one hand it was actually kind of helpful, but on the other she genuinely couldn't tell if they were making fun of the group at this point. Like, some of them were probably about to be sent to their deaths but the guys in charge were worried they might get [i]rained[/i] on? What were the priorities in this place? Seemed dumb.

Heading out into the corridor, she glanced around. The others were being taken out of their rooms too, which at reassured Zoe that it was a group problem and not anything specific to her. Nothing unexpected seemed to be happening, at the very--

[quote][i]Like the stars. A shower of stars, crashing together. Seemed as logical as these things ever were. There was an ocean and now stars. Made sense as much as this place ever would.

It was far away. She couldn't tell what it was, couldn't quite understand but it was [b]something[/b]. Too far for her to hope of touching it. But it was desperate to touch, and she didn't know why. Trying so very hard to get a hold.

There was strength here, endless strength, holding back the ocean as well. Keeping it back. How much power did that take? How long before it wasn't enough?

And as always, something approached. Tainted sparks of power she had no choice but to take, yet somehow less tainted this time.

For all of her doubts, it still didn't make her afraid.[/i][/quote]

Zoe stumbled as she came back to herself, disoriented by the suddenness of the vision. It felt... Odd. Like something was off, something she couldn't quite put a finger on. Forcing a chuckle at her own apparent clumsiness, she looked at the guard. [color=palevioletred]"Guess I'm not really awake yet, huh?"[/color]

He didn't reply. Apparently he wasn't the talkative type.

[hr]
The walk itself was uneventful to say the least. Not even a single explosion to liven things up. In a way, it was almost disappointing.

As for the briefing, Zoe had planned to pay full attention to everything said. Really, really planned on it, but as the construct showed up on the screen her eyes remained fixed there. One key fact about the image had caught her attention, and what she picked up on from the commander's words in the background seemingly confirmed it. The things were metal. 

Metal. A one hundred percent non-living substance. Which made her certain of at least one thing.

[color=palevioletred][i]This is [b]bullshit[/b].[/i][/color]

Zoe scowled, frustration clear as day from her expression as her attention turned back to the commander. It felt like the whole thing was the universe conspiring to mess with her, leave her useless. Twice in a row, she was stuck with fighting in a situation where her power couldn't do shit. First time it was 'too lethal', and now they were up against [i]robots[/i]? How was having her power grow so much supposed to help when she was never in a place to use it? How was she supposed to be strong when she was apparently gonna be the most useless person here?

She was with a healer group. Made sense that she wasn't on the frontline this time, she supposed, considering there was every chance she'd be defenceless against these things. Of course there was always the chance of an unexpected threat, but none they were aware of unless you counted the subnatural responsible for all this. That was another thing that concerned her.

Powerful though the strikers were, you could never be sure they were capable of carrying out the kill order on a real person, or dealing with it afterwards. There didn't seem to be much Zoe could do about it though - her job was to look after the healer and keep the others informed. Her, Christmas and Ernie. Ernie had been on the other team in the game, which made Christmas the healer. Didn't know much about the pair, but they had several hours, so she'd have time to figure out a plan. Hopefully a plan where she could actually help, though the odds were stacked against it working out that way.

First priority was dealing with her stigma and clearing her head, making sure she wouldn't be a liability. She'd been at Ground Zero yesterday, of course, but the vision meant she wanted to play it safe. There was that underlying strangeness to it, a feeling that she couldn't quite place yet. Maybe it wouldn't affect her Stigma too badly, but if she had to look after people then that wasn't a risk worth taking.

Once they had permission to leave, she was quick to do so. Five to seven hours sounded like a long while in theory, but there wasn't any time to waste.