Twhirtley

Ebonfort

And welcome to the family @Bladewolf!

I look forward to seeing your Were-gator in action.

Ebonfort

The Longest Night - Vera Persephone Woods has been created.

The Longest Night (Ebonfort)

@xxrhoo

The Longest Night (Ebonfort)

Starting Date and Time: Mauven 38, 300 DM, Evening

Starting Location: Stone Craft Entrance to the Underdark

CS URLs: Vera Persephone Woods

Stone Crest, the beast at the foot of the Chartric Mountains. It was late, as the sun was already slipping down behind the Valley of the Screamers, the sounds of hammers ringing out, chisels cutting stone, the smell of furnaces permeating through the air. Stone Crest was filled with the kings and queens of their crafts, only bested by the craftsmen in the capital, many of whom started out here. It was a village of pride, combining the best of three worlds, Ebonfort, the Chartric Mountains' denizens, and of course, the Underdark.

But known only to those who lived here, who had seen Stone Crest turn ugly, was the absolute worst of them. One that had a blind eye turned to it by the very Ebon Knights that protected the realm. Tonight was the night when the stones would change, and for those that weren't smart, careful, or vicious, it would be the longest of nights.

Anyone who paid attention, noticed that Stone Crest had many of the races that inhabited the mountains and the Underdark. But many of the key positions, best locations for workshops and stores, the wealthiest members of the village, were humans and deep dwarves. It was not always this way, but that was how it was currently. They controlled the trade in and out of the region, ensuring their allies got the best goods and lowest taxes. It could even be seen in the Knights that patrolled the surface village, as they were almost exclusively human or deep dwarves.

In the distance, along the road leading to Stone Crest from the mighty capital, a company of Knights could be seen, walking with their banners. This wasn't unusual, companies often rotated in and out of their posts. In other villages. In Stone Crest, this was the heralding of what was to come, and it also showed that the Knights were giving their blessing for this challenge to happen. As the company marched into the center of the village, the Captain led the way, awaiting for the residing captain to come and meet her. The drow woman was a bit shorter than most drow females, but she wore a vicious grin of confidence.

Captain Landish walked out of the Ebon Knight Barracks and Depot, axe in hand, feeling the eyes of his people on him. He hadn't expect this to come so soon, he thought he a few more seasons. Standing before the drow woman, he stuck out his hand, and she gave him the official Company Reassignment Order, stamped and signed by Warden Knight Belvik. She grinned, "You've got one stretch to get your Company and return to the capital. We shall wait here. Safe travels."

Many of the civilians knew what was going on, and shops began locking up, being barricaded. But others, those who didn't know, were talking amongst themselves, trying to figure out what exactly was happening. A young human man, a neighbor of Vera's, a glassworker, was found knocking on her door rapidly. "Vera, Vera, let me in, quickly, it's important!"

A Sky Torn Asunder (Ebonfort)

@Rekaigan@RomanAria@The Grey Dust - Haven't heard from yall in a while in this quest, just touchin base.

A Frumious Attraction (Ebonfort)

Trix looked over as she heard the woman rustling around for something. When she pulled out writing supplies, the herbalist felt a little bad about thinking the woman rude. She was a mute. That sounded really difficult to live with, she couldn't imagine the horror. She found herself wondering if she was born that way, or if something happened. She'd never heard of any one fixing a mute though. It was one of those things that was a lost cause, it seemed. As the woman wrote, Trix cast her eyes back to the critters watching them play and scamper now that the meat had been divvied up and consumed. They were much less like squirrels now and sort of like... dogs? They wrestled and played, chased and eluded, occasionally they quarreled, fierce little snarls coming out.

When she felt a tap on her shoulder, she looked over and took the note from the woman, smiling slightly apologetically for her previous thoughts. She read it aloud, sort of giving the woman a voice. The name, Bandersnatch, was cute. Definitely appropriate seeming. She said harmless, yet she could see the claws and teeth. Get enough of those and she suspected they could cause more damage than you might think. The woman was named Alya, and Trix looked over at her, "Pleasure to meet you Alya, and Echo. And you are quite welcome, thank you for the beautiful music."

She kept her food close, noting that the pups had already finished theirs. But the wind shifted suddenly, a breeze blowing the scent from both women's food toward the group. All of the bandersnatches stopped, sniffing at the air, then looked toward them hungrily. Remus and Remilia were instantly in front of Trix, standing, growling in warning. "Uh... Alya... I think they know..." They weren't moving, just staring hungrily, and Trix considered throwing what was left of the food. But that didn't remove the smell that covered all of them. She could practically feel the tension mounting, the calm before the storm.

Wooden Swords Won't Be Enough (Ebonfort)

The creature's head was snapped to the side, grooves scored up along the neck and face of it from the claws, a hiss of pain escaping it. A few of its teeth had been knocked free, falling to the ground. Its other head, though, found purchase with its jaws, biting hard into the bear's shoulder. At first, the level of pain would be normal, excruciating pain, but then the skin and fur around the teeth began to sizzle and smoke. This was what the creature was designed for, biting and holding on while its teeth did the work.

When the bear raised up, the creature was lifted bodily, but didn't let go, some of the fur around the bite actually on fire now. Its eyes sank into its head as the bear carved deep grooves into it. The other head snapped wildly, dangling just out of reach. The orc did not miss the opening the bear provided. He'd learned by now that slashing was useless, but he could easily distinguish the bony plates from skin now that it wasn't trying to eat his face. He rushed up behind it, and with his long sword, stabbed once, twice, over and over, guiding his blade between the plates, hoping to hit something vital from where he could reach.

The creature was hissing in pain from its open head as it felt the sharp sting of steel. Then, one struck something that wasn't just meat, and the creature finally dropped free of the bear, swinging hard with its tail. The orc just barely dodged it, managing to lop off another long section of it, that continued to wiggle on the ground. The creature tried to flee, back to the hole it came from, but found that both of its hind legs weren't working. It dragged itself slowly forward using only its forelegs, hissing in pain and fear, totally ignoring its attackers.

The man was still grinning as though he were invincible as he saw the foolish woman try and punch through his shield. He began to laugh, as he poured the last magic he could spare into the rift without passing out, bringing his arms down. Then with a pop, not one that was heard, but was felt by some sixth sense, the shield failed. The man's grin instantly dropped, when he realized he was unarmed. But he wasn't completely useless, punching upward as the woman fell, no longer being supported by the shield. His fist collided hard with her ribs, and he felt a couple give and break.

But he did not win in that blow, for the woman's blade was kept true, and sank where his neck met his shoulder, and her momentum sent him falling backwards. There was a bit of tumbling, the woman falling away from him, knife still embedded in him. He scrambled to his feet, and yanked the knife free. Now that it wasn't in his flesh though, nothing was stopping the blood from leaving his body. Realizing that he had very few options left, he leapt upward toward the rift, getting his upper body through it. And for a brief moment he hung through it, as if climbing over a wall, being supported by the magical edge of the portal. He pulled himself through and tumbled over the other side.

The squire that had been thrown earlier, rushed over to the portal, holding his own damaged ribs, looking down at Megumi, "I'm going through. The superiors will want the body, and any information we can get from the other side. If we're quick, we can get back before it closes, I think. Join me?" It was incredibly stupid, incredibly foolhardy, but the knights were the richest organization around. Who knew what they might pay handsomely for?

How Much is That Doggie in the Window? (Ebonfort RP)

Trix was fairly absentminded as she aided Rilana in her shopping. Trix browsed with her, but didn't buy anything, for she needed to keep a tighter grasp on her money, after purchasing her two little fuzzballs. Trix saw the wincing movement when Rilana purchased her honey, and knew it was likely worse than the woman had let on. She would definitely be following up on that, regardless if the woman wanted to keep it to herself. She was first and foremost, a healer, and wounded people tended to be stubborn. You couldn't just ask, you healed them no matter what, and sorted the rest out later.

Trix was quite pleased to see a decent, proper selection at the herbalist's stand. She was less so, however, when Rilana opened her medicine bag. Though, at least she had one, most people traveled without them, stupidly. Peering in it, "Oh, oh dear. That's no good," without asking permission she began plucking out a few things, sniffing them, feeling them, dumping them out if they were stale. She noted that a few of the things she had in bags should be kept in airtight containers. There was even a bag of useless oak twigs, which caused Trix to stare incredulously at the woman.

Once she'd sorted out all of the junk, she began picking through the vials, finding one that was cold. Curious, she picked it up, looking at it close, muttering, "Why's it cold? What is this?" She looked at Rilana a bit expectantly, giving her time to explain, as she put it back.

"Hmm... You're going to need things for fever and infection, we can elderberries and feverfew for that. Although... This time of year, elderberries are probably all picked clean by people and creature. Oh hey, he's got some here." She picked up a bag of them, dried, and set them to the side to be purchased. "We can definitely find feverfew. And if you're from up north, you're going to need something for frost bite and warmth. Hmm.." She pondered, as those were less needed herbs in Ruby Banks. "We can get petals from the velvet plant for frost bite, I can make a salve out of that. As for warmth, most of those are pretty rare, typically only found by fisherman on islands down by Azure Strand. But we do have one that grows around here. But its not in sea.. ah ha!" She plucked a small strand of garlic cloves out of a basket, setting it with the bag of elderberries. "We'll also look for some orangeroot while we're out and about... works great with the elderberries."

She then launched into discussing a few things with the other herbalist, exchanging notes. She pointed at that his purple coneflower needed to be either sold fresh or in a sealed salve, not dried. She learned a very interesting thing as well. Supposedly, fairy candle, which she'd used for old people's bone and muscle pains, could also be used for female pains during their moon cycles. That would be a big seller. She'd used monk's pepper for that, but it was only mildly relieving. Perhaps she could use both. They continued chitchatting for a while, after Lana made her purchases, until she saw what the white bird was doing.

She pulled Lana out of earshot of anyone, in a scared whisper, "You need to get rid of that stuff, now. Foreigners accused of stealing aren't protected by our laws. It doesn't even need to be true. This is very, very dangerous. We need to go before someone realizes."

Trix tugged gently on Lana's arm, trying to convey the weight of her words, trying to lead her out towards the ranches. "Please, they'll kill you."

A Knight's Scholar

Captain Theren nodded as he listened to the woman's history of the blade. She had definitely confirmed that her power was real, and he'd gotten to see it in action. He had to guess that it probably didn't work on people, their own innate magic keeping it out. He wondered if it would work on magical items, if any even existed. Would their innate magic keep it out? Would it fight back? Could they lie? He would find all of this out one day. But one thing was for certain, this woman would be joining his company, one way or another.

Grinning behind those crimson eyes, "Well done, Gianna, it seems your magic does find the truth. Very, very interesting, and useful." He made no move to collect his sword, knowing she was no danger with it, wondering if she might glean anymore from it. He moved around her, sitting across from her, a more somber look upon his face.

"I come to you with an offer for something... more than..." his hands spread to indicate what she was working on, "This. He didn't intend to sound insulting about her line of work, but he also didn't care as he continued, "I command a smaller company of Knights we've discovered have magic within them. We were purposefully created with the task of discovering magical people, recording their magic and its effects, recruiting them if possible, as well as dealing with problems of a magical nature, and ensure the empire is protect from magical threats. And while you are not... physically fit, just yet, to be a proper knight. However, we can employ you to help us discover more about these people and their lives, as needed, document the information, so on and so forth."

He could've easily bullied her, threatened her into joining, but he had a feeling that she longed for some excitement. She'd get a good wage, an interesting, albeit probably dangerous from time to time, life. But she would be an incredibly useful addition in their investigations, more so than a few of the others. He let her ponder his words for a bit, knowing they probably carried a heavy weight.

"So, are you interested? Because if you are, then there's a few things we will need to do, and should get started soon."

Sector X (Invite only)

Brandon Hearne, Autumn Page and Ben & Natasha Felds

Arlington Museum of Art

Nat pushed through the throngs of people, knocking them about with little regard, sprinting past a corridor of a Italian statues, when she caught a glimpse of that yellow hoodie she knew so well. Skidding to a stop on the slick floor, she turned back walking up behind her little brother, sitting on a bench before a statue, listening to the audio tape. She looked around, noticed no one looking at her for the moment, and popped back into the visual spectrum. She moved up behind him, plucking his headphones from his ears, causing him to turn around and look at her surprised. He stood up and she pulled him into a tight embrace, “Answer your phone next time twerp.” As he held her back, unsure of what exactly was going on, before she continued, “We need to go. They found us.”

His eyes widened, remembering the day after the fair, when the men had shown up, “Them?”

“Yes, they are called Sector X, and they are trying to get us. We need to go, now.”

He nodded, and the two walked together back toward the main corridor of that wing, looking around. Nat knew her ability had been draining her, so she was trying her best to conserve it, so for now, she remained fully noticeable by all senses.

Autumn walked into the museum, pumping out her pheromones at high speed. The effect was immediate, as usual. People who had been upset by the shoving were strangely calm and the guards stopped in their questioning. She looked around, hoping to get some kind of clue as to where their target had gone. Of course, it would help if she had more on the target than female.

So she started scanning the surface thoughts of those she was close to. As she walked she just picked up the small snippets of thoughts, mostly along the lines of how odd it had been to get shoved by nothing. ”This is not helping. Where would she go? What is here that is so important to her?”

She pulled out her phone and frowned. Still nothing from Brandon. Where was he? Was he even bothering with his phone?

A loud whistle sounded out from somewhere behind her. Brandon – looking slightly green and with a cup of coffee to go in his free hand – waved. His phone (was that an old Nokia?) glimmered in the overhead light in the museum corridor.

Autumn walked over and looked at him and raised an eyebrow. However, what came out of her mouth was: “What? No coffee for me?”

Brandon, whose lips had curled up infuriatingly into a smile as if in preparation for some onslaught, shrugged. “I don’t get paid enough to buy my co-workers coffee,” he said, a bare-faced lie considering how much rarer talents were worth to Sector X.

Autumn sighed, knowing it was lie, but shrugged. “Anyways, I have no idea where she went, but I’m hoping that she’ll start calming down once she gets anywhere near where I’ve been. I’ve been doing small scans, trying to see if I can pick up anything.”

Nat and Ben moved down the corridor, heading for the main entrance. She kept looking around nervously, not knowing exactly who she was looking for, excluding the blonde girl and dark man, whoever they were, whoever they represented. She just wanted out, with Ben, so they could leave this town behind. She hadn’t even cared that she’d dropped the bundle of money somewhere. That wasn’t important anymore. As she neared the doors, that were way at the end of the corridor, she found herself calming down, thinking more clearly. Her nervous glancing slowed, Ben asking, “So where are we going now?” He already knew they wouldn’t be going back to their hotel room.

“I don’t know, we’ll figure it out as we go.”

Not far away, Brandon looked over his shoulder and murmured, “We know what the person looks like?” He snuck glances at the two walking away whose own surreptitious looks around had calmed as soon as they reached a certain point in the corridor – presumably where Page had dropped her hormones, or whatever they were called.

“She’s blond… from what we’ve gotten off security cams. Probably early twenties. Beyond that, she’s made sure to not get captured on film. Getting any pings?” Autumn looked around, obviously still scanning people’s minds and then paused.

“I know a bank robber when I see one,” he said casually, nodding his head in their direction.

“Want me to take lead, or do you wanna give the pitch?”

“I hate pitches. Makes me feel dirty, like a salesman,” he said, but stalked forward, intent on taking the lead anyway. “Phone camera out, just in case. Mine doesn’t have one. “This is where we find out I’ve got the wrong person…” The latter came out as a grumble.

Autumn rolled her eyes and walked with Brandon over towards Natasha and Ben.

Nat was beginning to feel more confident as they neared the door. But then she saw two familiar faces enter the building. The blonde and the dark man, and a moment of panic set in, especially when she knew they’d seen her. Still finding herself surprisingly calm compared to what she would normally be, her paranoia increased as two people broke away from the standard throng, moving toward them with what could only be described as unknown intent. “Ben, they’re here. Get ready to run. Did you see any fire exits back that way? Just nod.” He did. Nat squeezed his arm, and the two turned and bolted back down the corridor, both from the Sector X members and the unknown others. Nat was trying to activate her power, but her emotions, a mix of calm and panic were distracting her, and coupled with having used up a lot of her power made it impossible to activate for the both of them.

“Wait!” Autumn saw their target, plus a young boy, run away. A boy? No reports of that. She then noticed two people walking in. “Brandon! I got this, can you get her?” Autumn turned to look at Brandon and fumbled with something in her bag.

The teleporter was already moving in the other direction. Brandon caught only the tail end of what Autumn said, taking off in the direction the two had with stealthy half-jumps, a saving a second or two of travelling. “Hey! Sector X, we’re good, they’re Shadow, they’re bad! Cliff’s notes! Cliff’s notes!”

The female Shadow smirked, stepping behind a crowd of people, out of sight before changing her form, blending in with everyone else. She then closed her eyes, knowing what was coming. The male smiled, knowing he didn’t have enough juice left to burn out everyone’s eyes as he’d done in the bank, but there would be distractions and migraines a plenty. He held up his hands, now glowing, and shot the blinding light out in all directions.

Autumn pulled a small orb out of her bag. “Well, Mr. Rivenridge. I hope this works…” She clicked something on the orb and a noise happened. Autumn clamped her ears and groaned. Psychic disrupter. However, it was affecting her as well at the two Shadow operatives coming after her.

Nat looked over her shoulder as her and Ben ran, seeing some man teleport menacingly toward them. He would catch up to them soon, and she found her calm quickly dissipating into pure fear. These people were incredibly determined to catch her and Ben. He was yelling something about Sector X, shadows, and something about a guy named Cliff. Clearly he was insane and trying to capture them, or worse. Unfortunately for Nat, she looked back just in time to be hit by the flash of light, sending daggers of pain through her eyes. She stumbled a bit, Ben stopping to try and help, “No! Just go!” It took her a few moments to get recovered, to stop seeing colored dots, and she found herself looking at where the teleporter had been, only to see empty space.

Brandon, sensing a chance, teleported ahead of them. He breathed in deeply through his nose, not out of breath at all. No chance of that. He hid it behind a sip of his Starbucks. “Right, thank God you stopped. Or Jesus. Or, whatever, you know what I mean.” He paused for another breath. “You know, I’m the good guy!”

Ben, taking heed of his sister’s order kept running, not caring about the man or his coffee that appeared in front of him. He saw the fire exit behind him, and clumsily tried to plow his way through. Nat realized the enemy had gotten to her brother first, and in full fledge panic, went completely dark, undetectable by any of the five major senses, already feeling the massive strain on her mind. She began rushing toward the teleporter, intent on taking him out one way or another, if even for just a moment.

“Not so fast, boy wonder, calm your tits and sit down,” he said, rushing over to the fire escape to try and hold it shut. When he looked back at where the girl was supposed to be, he would have – if he’d had a hand that wasn’t either carrying his phone or a coffee – covered his face with it. “If, you know, you and your girlfriend slash sister slash mother would just listen we’d be out of here and away from Shadow in about, hey, two seconds flat.”

Ben wasn’t listening to the perceived villain’s words, and barreled right past him. Nat on the other hand, wasn’t looking to get past him. She went straight for the coffee, unseen and unheard, smacking at it upwards, trying to at least disable the man long enough for them to get out. She heard the alarms go off as Ben finally made it through the fire exit, standing there holding it open, hoping his sister would catch up soon.

Brandon dropped the coffee, some of it spilling over his brand new white shirt and scalding his leg through his trousers. More than a few expletives were let off, more venting than pain. You’ve had worse, he told himself, scowling despite himself. When the alarms started off, and the kid stopped to hold open the door, Brandon flashed with hands outstretched – ignoring the pain of the burn and of the teleportation itself – to grab onto him from behind.

He looked in the direction he thought the crazy psycho coffee girl might be, keeping as tight a grip as possible on the kid. Brandon was even expecting a kick to the nuts and stood defensively against such a move. Then again, he wasn’t sure either of them were bright enough to consider something like that, given how they weren’t even listening, or hadn’t yet noticed his lack of a weapon, or… Whatever. “Right! God damn it, I don’t get paid enough for this. Listen up,”

Nat was getting dizzy as she rushed toward her brother, now seeing the man that had him in his grasp, looking pissed as all get out. She… she had to… save him. Her powers wavering, her form flicking in and out of sight as she neared. Just before getting to the door, she became fully visible, blood coming from her nose, before she fell to the floor unconscious. “NAT!” Ben struggled to try and break free of his captor, to get to his fallen sister.

Brandon loosed his grip, but kept a tight hold on the kid’s arm, moving closer to the sister because he wasn’t a monster. “Right, that is not good,” he said. First aid had never been his strong point, but he searched for a pulse with his free hand. He’d done that before. “Does this happen a lot, kid?”

Ben looked up at the man, fury and tears in his eyes, “This has never happened! Why couldn’t you just leave us alone?!”

“Because you’ll die if you’re left out here?” he asked, a question though more on the rhetorical side. “Or, you know, worse: be converted into one of those brainwashed Shadow c– bastards? And because Sector X doesn’t want any more psychics getting controlled by our enemies, or see kids used, or whatever? Honestly, it wouldn’t have happened if your sister had bothered to actually listen.”

Ben looked incredulously from his sister, “What are you even talking about? Are you insane? That’s comic book level bullshit. You just want to capture us I bet, thinking we’re bad people. Lock us up and throw away the key.”

Brandon managed something close to a fatherly glare of utter exasperation despite not having one himself. “Look, I’m not in the habit of telling kids they’re an idiot, but, you’re an idiot.” A pause. “Your sister has powers, and probably you too, yeah? And you’re complaining about ‘comic book level bullshit’? Also, the only people locking anyone up are Shadow. Sector X is more in the business of… freeing shady people and giving them proper jobs.”

Venom in his voice, “If you’re such a good person, why haven’t you helped my sister yet?” now screaming. Nat hadn’t moved since she fell, and Ben was fearing the worst.

“Do I look like a fucking doctor to you, kid? I’ve got possibly first degree burns and am seconds away from just knocking you out and porting you both back to base, but I’ll wait for my colleague to show up first – she’s ‘good cop’.”

Meanwhile, Autumn walked over to the two people who were covering their ears and then slapped dampener bracelets on them. “Well then, I guess we found some Shadows here. Not surprised to see either of you. The police are going to want to question you both for the bank job. Saw that, by the way. Real mess. Okay, bracelets on, so I can just…” She fumbled for a moment and turned the orb off and let out a sigh. “So much better.” She pulled out her phone and paused. She flagged over one of the museum security guards. “Can you keep an eye on these two? They are wanted in connection with the bank robbery from this morning.” The guard nodded, and Autumn dialed the director.

“Yes… I don’t know if we found her yet.. Brandon is on it… We found two Shadows… Yes the bracelets are working… Yes, I’m lucky I had them on hand… From last mission… I will submit a report… I will fully brief you later…”

The pair of Shadows were cursing, they didn’t know how, but Sector X had something that had dampened their powers, and now these cuffs. But they’d made one small mistake, leaving them with the guards. They had lost the chance to capture the woman, but they would at least be able to get free, once Eliah did his thing. The dark man smiled, knowing that unlike his partner, he didn’t fully rely on his powers. He strained his arms, his muscles bulging beneath his trim suit. An audible snap was heard as the connection between the bracelets broke. They still maintained their power, but his hands were free. And they quickly grabbed a guard, wrapping around his neck, “Back off Sector X, or I’ll leave more corpses.”

Autumn turned to look at the sound and her eyes went wide. She then narrowed her eyes and sent a rush of pheramones at the Shadow operative, but this time it wasn’t calming. She walked over and ran her hand along Eliah’s face. “Now… you don’t want to do that, do you? I mean, that would make me upset. And you’re not a bad guy. I know this. You’ve just been used. Listen to me, focus on me…” Autumn was straining a bit. She was overworking her power more than usual. It also took a lot of focus to do what she was doing.

Eliah could feel the change of mood taking over. He hated these hormone types. It reminded him of the days in interrogator training, where they’d pumped truth serums into them and forced them to lie or be tortured. A vein in his head was visibly throbbing as he focused on a single, simple thought. It was the only way to resist. He focused on the open door, his escape. His breathing was ragged, sweat poured down his face, but he was managing. One of his hands edge out toward the woman, for he knew if he could get a hold of her, he could break her, and they would be free. He just had to break her own concentration. It was a simple as cracking an egg.

“Please… just focus on me, and only on me… We can help you. We can help return you to who you use to be. Please, we’re not the bad guys here. We just want to help.” Autumn focused more, looking at the Shadow Operative. She couldn’t tell if it was working, yet, but if she could get him to drop the guard, it would be worth it.

It felt as if he were moving through quicksand, he could feel a ringing in his ears, the blood dripping from them, and his nose, but he was not giving up. “Fuck…. off…” His hand burst out, trying to get ahold of anything about the woman.

Autumn had a split second warning as his thoughts made themself clear for a moment and she ducked, but the concentration was broken. “NO!”

That moment was all he needed, as he snapped the guard’s neck, and pushed him toward the Sector X woman. He picked his partner up bodily, and bowled through the front doors. They may have failed this time, but they knew a bit more of their enemy now. Next time, they’d be ready.

Autumn dodged the body, but her powers were drained. Panic set in as the guard’s body fell to the ground, and people ran screaming from the museum. She slumped over on the floor, holding her head. “Autumn...AUTUMN!” The director was screaming over her phone. She had never hung up the call before. She picked it up.

“They… got away. I’m sorry Director.” Autumn hit the end call button, not wanting to hear the director yelling. Her head was pounding and she dragged herself off the floor. She dialed Brandon’s number and waited… hoping he’d had better luck.

He picked up. “Autumn, need your help. Woman is – er, unconscious. Nothing to do with me, of course, but that’s how it goes.”

“Brandon. They got away. And just murdered a man.” Autumn’s voice sounded hollow, empty.

“Oh.” After sounding appropriately upset for a moment, he asked, “Want to help me out now?”

There was a long pause before: “Sure. Where are you?”

“Ieuhhhh– kid, where would you say we are?”

Ben was still hovering over his sister, not sure if he had any choice but to help this man. He couldn’t carry her out and away from a teleporter, that much was obvious. “Fire exit, Renaissance Statues.”

“There we go, Fire Exit, Renaissance Statues,” Brandon parroted. He let go of the kid for a moment, untucking his own shirt with a wince and a few curses at the overheated flesh beneath.

“I’ll be there in a moment. Gotta fight the crowd of people fleeing in terror.” The phone clicked, and the dial tone buzzed. After a few minutes, a rather bedraggled Autumn appeared. “Care to… Oh my god! What the hell happened?!” She looked over the unconscious woman, and Brandon who was clearly covered in coffee.

“Her? Power overuse,” he informed her. “Me? Burn victim, hot coffee scandal, never getting Starbucks again. The Kid? Stupidity – it’s a terminal case, too.”

“Starbucks is overrated anyways. Don’t call him stupid Brandon. Hello sweetie, care to tell me your name?” Autumn said, going over to look at Nat. She checked for a pulse and let out a sigh of relief. “She’s going to be fine. Will need a good night’s sleep and some advil, but she’ll be fine tomorrow.”

Ben was still glaring daggers at the man, but then looked over at the new woman, “She’s… she’s alive? You’ve seen this before?”

“Yes sweetie. I’ve done it to myself on more than one occasion. If we overwork our powers it causes our brain to shut down for a bit. Almost just did it myself just now. So, what is your name? And what’s her name?” Autumn asked, looking at Ben. “I’m Autumn.”

Ben wasn’t really sure if Nat would want him to give their real names or not. She always erred on the side of caution. He knew that bad guys knew how to use honey and poison. “I’m Bobby, she’s Natalie.”

Autumn knew those were false names, but at the moment, that wasn’t the concern. “Well Bobby, is Natalie your sister?”

“Yes.”

“I’m guessing she’s been doing what she’s been doing to take care of you, am I right?”

Ben looked sheepishly down at the floor, knowing Nat had always been doing this because of what he’d done at the fair. He was what tore their family apart, forced them on the run. In more of a mutter now, “Yes.”

Brandon rolled his eyes, and promptly hid it by looking away, content to let Autumn handle it.

“Well, we’re not the police or even working with them. We just want to help. Now, I know you saw those people chasing us earlier right?”

Ben shook his head, “I didn’t even see them, just this asshole here,” glancing at Brandon.

Autumn had to suppress a giggle at that. “Brandon isn’t an asshole. He’s my partner. We’re part of a group called Sector X, and we help psychics like your sister.”

“Really? Sector X? Couldn’t have come up with a less lame of a name?” He then went on to mumble something about Brandon being more of a sidekick than a partner.

“I can teleport you into the sky and let you fall. Don’t think I won’t.”

“The name just stuck kid. Sadly. Brandon, don’t make threats. That’s not how we work.” Autumn glared at Brandon.

“Kids, Page. Kids. Hate ‘em with every fibre of my being.”

“Ignore Mr. Hearne. Listen Bobby, stupid name aside, we really just want to help. However, we want you to work with us, not against us. Your sister is wanted in a lot of places. Now, we can help with that. In a way. You and your sister will be able to have a place to call home, if you want. However, the choice is ultimately up to the two of you. But, since Natalie is out of it, do we have your permission to bring her back with us, and make sure she wakes up someplace safe that isn’t jail?”

Ben had read enough comic books to know that this was easily a tactic the bad guys would use. Rescue them, offer shelter, give them some easier things to do that seemed good and harmless. Then strike. But he had no other choice. He really didn’t. The mention of home brought pangs of loneliness and pain into the boy. He wanted nothing more than to go home to their parents. But Nat needed help right now. “Yes, but no cells, no handcuffs, and,” he added with extra venom in his voice, “Mister Hearne doesn’t come with us.”

“No cells. No handcuffs. I promise. However… Mister Hearne was my ‘ride’ here as it was. But how about this. He teleports us all back to Sector X and then you never have to see him again, alright?”

“Grand idea,” Brandon interrupted before Ben could agree, even though he looked sharply at Page when she called him her ‘ride’. There was a joke in there somewhere, he was sure. “This has put me off fieldwork for life. I’ll take the missions with normal psychics, thanks.”

Autumn sighed and looked at Ben. “Do we have a deal?”

Ben nodded at the woman’s offer, ignoring the teleporter. “Deal.”

Autumn straightened up and looked at Brandon. “I know this will suck. I owe you coffee, alright?” She said, and looked at Ben. “Do you have everything before we go?”

Ben saw that Nat had her bag, and he had his, and the stuff they left behind in the motel was just sundries. “Yes. Does it hurt? Teleporting?”

“Not for us, luckily. However, for Mr. Hearne…”

“In short, I’m aiming my projectile vomit at you, kid,” he said, not even bothering to use a fake name when he would only forget it in an hour or two anyway.

“...Brandon, be nice please. Can you pick up Natalie, or do you need help?” Autumn sighed. These two were never going to get along.

“I can do it, I’m a manly man. I feel no pain,” he said, leaning down to sling one of “Nat”’s arms over his shoulder and hauling her up. He took a deep breath. “Grab on, if you’re not already. Preferably not on a burn lest I drop you mid teleport.”

“I don’t doubt you for a moment. Just thought I’d offer” Autumn sighed, looking at at Brandon and then took ahold of his arm on the non-burnt side, and offered her hand to Bobby. “Just to make sure we don’t lose one another, alright sweetie?”

“This isn’t goddamn Charmed. Jesus, let’s just get going.”

Ben just rolled his eyes at the man’s pompousness, and readied himself. At the very least, this was going to be like one of his comics, and he didn’t want to miss a moment of it. He took ahold of Autumn’s hand, squeezing tight.

Brandon, skin prickling in anticipation, activated his ability. Fire prickled at every nerve ending, upended his stomach, stopped his heart (though not literally, thank God) and, when it was all over, the feeling lingered. His arms were practically dead from the strain of carrying the weight of four through whatever void he travelled through so dropping “Nat” was almost immediate.

Ben had felt the pressure, the odd embrace as they traveled. He struggled to keep his eyes open. All he saw was darkness, complete, empty darkness. Then suddenly a world appeared around them, filled with noise he hadn’t realized wasn’t there before. Ben flinched as the people began crowding around them, holding closer to Autumn.

Autumn immediately held up Brandon and gently looked at Ben. “We’re here.” A small crowd of people walked over, and took Nat from Brandon.

Brandon had the foresight to hold a hand over his mouth to hold in whatever bile threatened to rise up, and he took a few tentative steps towards his coworkers, dizzily. “Have you – seen these – urgh… War wounds?” He pointed to the coffee stain on his shirt as he addressed a pretty-ish female paper pusher.

He watched them take his sister away, looking up at Autumn, “Can we go with her? She might need me if she wakes up.”

“I insist you go with her. Wouldn’t want to split you guys up.”

Ben didn’t move, “You’re coming too right?”

“Only if you want me to.” Autumn said, watching as one co-worked simply walked up to Brandon, healed him and then walked off. Another pair of coworkers carried Nat.

Ben nodded, following after his sister and the people that carried her off, tugging at Autumn’s hand. Autumn followed her coworkers and kept a hold of Ben’s hand.

Brandon ducked into his office, and promptly staggered into the desk chair, putting reporting to the director off until later.