How the [i]hell[/i] was she going to handle this?

If Black Canary was right, maybe just talking about this whole thing was enough to make it worse for all three of them. But still, Cora was really fucking glad that Metamorph was back. There were three different ways she was thinking this could go. Kila would probably just give it to her straight, Ja was Ja… She wasn’t familiar with the third guy yet.

For the first time in a few days, Cora floated instead of walked, making her way down a hall where their room was. That was deliberate, so if they were actually down here, they’d hopefully notice that Cora was around and [i]not[/i] get startled. She didn’t want that, even if she wasn’t giving off as much energy after that day with Static.

And she hovered outside his door for a moment, before knocking.

[color=00ffff]”Hey… Anyone home?”[/color]

[color=goldenrod]”Not in there,”[/color] His voice came from several feet behind her. The young lion walked down the hall with a guitar case slung over his shoulder. His expression was calm and alert, though his mind still seemed to be elsewhere as his brown eyes regarded her. 

[color=goldenrod]”Do you need my help with something?”[/color]

[color=00ffff]”Nope. Sorta the opposite,”[/color] She answered. [color=00ffff]”I’ve been pretty worried about everyone lately, and I just wanted to talk. If you’re not busy.”[/color]

He eyed his door for a moment, debating with himself…or at least this currently in control version of himself. He’d been doing his best to keep his emotions at bay, and for the most part it has been successful. The base had many distractions, and Kassy helped move miniature mountains of tension. 

Still, it wouldn’t help to keep it away from the others indefinitely. From prior memory, he remembered Cora to be an empathetic soul, if not kind. There surely wouldn’t be an undercurrent of confrontation in talking to her. With the decision made, he shook his head.

[color=goldenrod]”It’s fine, I am not busy.”[/color] Was his answer, though waving his hand to follow past his room to the lounge area. 

He opted for a more open area as, really, he was trying to avoid the narrative of being some sort of problematic enigma to the newer members of their squad. Granted, the savannah son didn’t anticipate any of the others coming to interject on their conversation anyway. He found a chair nearest to one of the windows and set his case beside him. 

[color=goldenrod]”You have questions…?”[/color]

[color=00ffff]”Yeah.”[/color] She floated to the ground and tilted backwards, rocking back and forth on her feet. [color=00ffff]”Are you guys okay?”[/color] She asked as if all three of them were standing next to each other, in separate bodies.

Kila’s head leaned to the side in contemplation. [color=goldenrod]”Honestly, I am not sure. I feel physically healthy, but I’m sure that’s not what you’re asking.”[/color] He started, but paused to open his guitar case. Inside was…what looked like the framework of a guitar to the untrained eye. Though one simple question would lead to the answer of it being a Yamaha ‘silent’ guitar. His nails tapped a few of the strings before he continued.

[color=goldenrod]”My mind is more or less scattered. It is as though my thoughts are like the stars in the sky; right there where I could see them, but almost impossible to reach. Between my DID discovery, and how to address a certain betrayal, I’ve simply been trying to exist…How are you recovering?”[/color]

[color=00ffff]”Getting there. I can fly without feeling like I’m being rotated in a microwave again,”[/color] Cora answered. [color=00ffff]”Not sitting still helps, makes it harder to stand back if I sit around too long.”[/color]

The young lion nodded, beginning to play along to a song that had been stuck in his head for several days. [color=goldenrod]”I haven’t exactly gotten around to everyone to apologize for putting you all at risk during that mission. If I didn’t take the bait, perhaps they wouldn’t have engaged the way that they did.”[/color]

[color=00ffff]”I think everyone was about as pissed at each other as they were at you, really. Everyone was mad for one reason or another, but you did what you had to do, Kila. If you weren’t gonna fall for it, it wasn’t gonna happen. And you wouldn’t have gone if you didn’t have some plan in mind for getting back, right?”[/color]

[color=goldenrod]”For once…I didn’t. As ironic as this now sounds, I’d say that I wasn’t really in my right mind. I wasn’t sure who they were sending, and part of me feared that I was already too late. Where I come from, we were trained to hunt other metahumans…I was originally going to just warn you all and get out. But then I saw you knocked out and Vincent getting overwhelmed.—“[/color] He misplayed a few notes, retracting his strumming fingers to recompose himself and begin again.

[color=00ffff]”...Can’t be prepared for everything.”[/color] It complicated things when she went nuclear out there. They had to retrieve her, they didn’t know what was wrong. She could’ve helped Vincent if she found another way to get free.

[color=00ffff]”No one’s dead, we’re all back together. We know better now. We can make sure it happens less in the future.”[/color]

[color=goldenrod]”That’s true…Failure is our greatest teacher. We would just have to be willing students…”[/color]

Cora nodded in a sagely way. [color=00ffff]”Speaking of that, do you remember hearing anything weird back at the bank mission? The third guy came out near the end and- We were all talking and I noticed it might have had something to do with a sound gun I picked up after it was over.”[/color]

That seemed to give him pause, even pressing his palm against the strings to mute them. Did he hear anything strange? Not necessarily. But the sound gun that she mentioned gave him an indication of something. This ‘third guy’, referring to this side of himself that was not ‘Ja’, possibly having something to do with a sound gun…a trigger perhaps? He hadn’t considered it, but it was feasible…but why—?

[color=goldenrod]”I did not…Though I was shot with one of the sound weapons, except, I don’t recall being hit with concussive force. I thought that I knocked out the thief that held the hostages but then I suddenly felt a pain in my head and blacked out.”[/color] 

[color=00ffff]”That’s… Yeah. He was found, you weren’t at the wheel anymore. He went off on those guys, and none of them were killed but it wasn’t pretty. That sound gun was found near him. I don’t think he likes me after I flashbanged him at the harbor.”[/color]

She fidgeted. [color=00ffff]”Ja, the one we all actually know, he has animal powers if you didn’t know that yet. He can pick one and do something it does. He runs real fast like a horse, hears things humans can’t but dogs can… The frequency on that gun’s high enough we can’t hear it. But you were able to, which- I didn’t know you [i]could[/i] do stuff like that.”[/color]

Kila rested his wrist against the frame thoughtfully. 

[color=goldenrod]”I am aware of that at least. All my life I have grown up hearing about what I should be capable of…even after that mission. Despite having some odd lucid dream sort of influence to keep from killing them, Pei still saw to it that I was scolded for my actions…

Though from what you are explaining to me, this occurrence wasn’t a natural reaction from my instinctive side. I saw what happened when those weapons fired at the others, the destroyed infrastructure and your, albeit small, injuries…It would mean it was a provocation…but…”[/color] He gripped the guitar frame a little more tightly, staring a hole into the floor.

[color=goldenrod]”I was never free…They…[i]she[/i] never stopped hunting me…”[/color]

[color=00ffff]”She? Who’s she?”[/color]

The young lion blinked, silently shifting in place to recompose himself. With a deep breath, he shook his head. 

[color=goldenrod]”Someone that used to look after me. I have one mother but many aunts, is how I will phrase it…There was a tracking device from Buredunia that I found and destroyed before I came to warn you all on the last mission. It was how I figured out that the mission was a trap. What I fear is how long it was there.”[/color]

That didn’t sound good. [color=00ffff]”…There probably isn't a way to tell if it’s destroyed, yeah. You could [i]maybe[/i] trace its signal back to where it was transmitted to, and then break into a system on that end. But- Yeah.”[/color]

Unless… [color=00ffff]”Well, actually, I haven’t been able to put a lid on the interference stuff I give off until recently. So… If you found the tracker in a place I walk past a lot, maybe that means it wasn’t there for long?”[/color] She suggested. It was a stretch, but she was spitballing. [color=00ffff]”Since I haven’t been here that long, and if I didn’t fry it, that means it was pretty sturdy. I know that probably sounds ridiculous, but that’s about all I can think of. Where’d you find it?”[/color]

Kila looked out the window. [color=goldenrod]”The strains of promethium used by Buredunia vary with the equipment they give us. Most typically the trackers, from what I understand, don’t transmit a constant signal, but more of a radar every so often. Otherwise, it is off, so as to keep from arousing suspicion. 

It is less likely that you would have blown it just from your presence, as it is designed to endure surges up to a certain limit. It was designed with meta-humans in mind…The only reason I discovered it was because it was attached to Iwi—“[/color] He cut himself off and paused. Not now. Saying her name hurt, now that he knew what he knew… Breathe, try again. He looked at his fingers against the guitar’s frets and started playing again.

[color=goldenrod]”…the gold colored bands of promethium that I wear as part of my uniform. They mean a lot to me, so I maintain them as best as I can…With that said, I threw the tracker into the ocean while I was on my way to all of you.[/color]

[color=00ffff]”Promethium… Yeah, I dunno,”[/color] she admitted. [color=00ffff]”It’s in the past now. It’s not your fault for falling for it. I would’ve fallen for it too, if I was stuck here and all of you were in danger. That’s not being weak, that's just being human.”[/color]

Kila nodded his head appreciatively. For a little while, he kept quiet while playing, occasionally swaying his head to the melody. 

Cora listened quietly for a bit. He was good at that.

[color=00ffff]”…If you want, I think I remember where I put that sound gun,”[/color] Cora suggested. [color=00ffff]”You don’t have to, but if we ever run into something like that again, I figured you’d maybe wanna know what it is so you aren’t surprised again. I’ve been meaning to take it apart, anyway.”[/color]

As the song reached its conclusion, his eyes wandered from left to right across the floor contemplatively. At first there was unease, but Kila’s music paired with talking through all of those suspicions and musings helped to recenter him. It was more weight lifted from his shoulders, which prompted him to look up to the one to help him lift it. A corner of his lip became a smile and he put his guitar back into his case.

[color=goldenrod]”I think it is about time I see it…and, so it is not lost, I’m grateful for this talk you came to have with me.”[/color]