[center]Lynn[/center]

Lynn stepped through the airlock, her hair a balefire of orange and gold and violet that her flickering eyes matched. Before the airlock was fully opened, a cigarette clenched between her teeth peeled back and ignited of its own accord, and Lynn enjoyed a few moments of nicotine as it visibly smoldered down to a butt in her mouth. The brief moment of melancholy and beauty floating in the stars had passed. It was not accurate to say Lynn was no longer afraid - Lynn did not, in a way, want to live past today, as living likely meant living in a cage up here. But the worst had passed. The collar was off, and no one on Earth or anywhere above it would put one on her again.

Archie was fucking with the doors when she came in, Denim looked like she was busy thinking Rain Man stuff, Leotard was probably rewatching hentai in his head or something, Denzel looked nervous but composed, and Spoons was doing her Spoons shit. Lynn walked ahead to the front of the group. It made logical sense that the member who could regenerate got hit by the Spire's security first, but it was something different than that. Lynn positioned herself as best she could to intercept anything on the far side and Archie, although there was perhaps a foot and a half of exposed Archie above Lynn's glimmering mane.

...the room was empty. Though no one could see it, something of relief and irritation flickered across Lynn's face. She was tired of the Promise blue balling her at every opportunity. As if on cue, Archie bumped into her as they walked into the room, and the old hardened instincts that had kept Lynn a step ahead of beat cops or merely anyone who knew a four foot and change girl with drugs to be an easy mark scanned the room. She saw no cameras or anywhere someone could jump out and ambush them, although Lynn was not foolish enough to let her guard fully drop for even a moment. The group began putting on lab coats, which made Lynn pause. She didn't really think that anyone would buy any of them, barring maybe Denzel, as being old enough to work here. Weren't scientists all really old and all dudes? Still, Archie tossed her a lab coat and she threw it on without much fuss, although Lynn's dragged on the floor behind her, closer to a ballroom gown than a lab-safe garment. Lynn rolled her sleeves up half a dozen times on each side to get them to hang above her wrists, cursing colorfully as she did so.

"We should keep moving," Lynn said, glancing around. "These look like those tubes at the bank that whoosh your money and I don't want to see what the fuck a withdrawal looks like up here." As Lynn spoke, the words trickled out her mouth. Archie's monitor was beating and she scrambled over, ready to try and climb up and choke him out from behind if she had to, or maybe - she could throw him in one of those tubes and hope it contained him or - 

- he wasn't turning. Lynn's own heart rate settled for a moment, and though admitting to fear was not something she was ever bound to do, a bit of fear subsided with it. By Lynn's counting, she had beaten the lizard soundly once, although saying she had survived it would perhaps be more accurate.

Lynn had to strain unceremoniously on her tiptoes to read what Archie read, and while it took her more time to process the words, her reaction was more visceral. Lynn's hair and eyes, before a mottled mixture of color, began to change once more. This time it was slow and gradual, a wave pushing up from her roots down to the braided tips of her hair. First red, then red gave way to blue, then blue to violet, then violet to white, glowing incandescent. The air around Lynn warmed noticeably, and her lab coat began to ripple and buffet as if it stood over an exhaust. The air shimmered near her, a mirage that matched the growing corona of heat.

"You're fucking right, Spoons," Lynn hissed. Only a few feeble spots of violet remained in her eyes. The rest burned white, and Lynn's skin shimmered with a furnace heat. "Which way?"