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[Other FULL] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]

Wyatt Cale - Syndicate HQ, Birmingham, England


Never before had Wyatt handled a gun, nor was exactly willing to jump right in and start carrying one around now. He liked his bow, he enjoyed how comfortable it felt in his hands and he was more than adept at using it. Drawing an arrow from the quiver slung across his shoulder, he notched it on the string of the bow, drawing it back to fire at the target. As soon as he drew the straight taunt, he felt a burning pain erupt in his shoulder where he had been shot and, in a cry of pain, let the arrow fly into the wall. Clutching his shoulder with his free hand, he bit back the urge to curse, swear and cry at the pain he was now feeling.

"The doctor believes it'll be months, even years before you heal enough to draw you bow properly." Pyrrha had talked to the doctor multiple times during Wyatt's brief stay in their hospital floor but she didn't understand why, despite knowing he couldn't draw a bow, why he would try anyways. Unclipping the pistol from her belt, Pyrrha handed it handle first for Wyatt to use.

Once he recovered, Wyatt waved the gun away; he didn't want it. He wondered if they were simply trying to push him to kill someone. To have that kind of burden on his hands at such a young age, Wyatt wasn't exactly ready to deal with something that grave just yet. Even during his brief stint as Birmingham's Archer and even on the boat when they rescued the ARF students, he had aimed to maim, not kill. With a bow, it was easy enough for him to deduce just how much he needed to draw the string, where he needed to aim, how far his arrows would fly. A gun would throw all that out the window.

"Pyrrha, I don't want it!" he growled at her as he pushed another attempt away to hand him the gun.

"You can't use your bow, just try it." It was easy for her to say, he ability allowed her to pick up anything that could be considered a weapon and use it as such. However, it didn't quite extend to the use of fists or general items.

"I can do this!" he drew his bow again, this time only getting less further drawn than he had before when his shoulder flared up again and the pain began to spread around now. Panting heavily, he could feel patches where the stitches had ripped and blood was beginning to seep out of the wound and soak into his shirt.

Something inside him told him he deserved the pain for being stupid enough to get shot, while the other part of it blamed him for Jeremy being caught. He had messed up big time on the last mission and now he was paying the price. The only way he saw to redeem himself was to practice at both his archery and Atlantean ability so that next time he wouldn't be inclined to mess up as he had.

She didn't like the way he was beating himself up, but neither did she know him well enough to step in and say anything. "Stop it, stop hurting yourself. You can't use the bow. Use the gun instead." Again she handed him the pistol handed first, glaring back at him in the same fashion as he glared down at her.

Wyatt shivered as his fingers wrapped around the cold metal handle, almost dropping it as Pyrrha let go. It was a lot heavier than he had anticipated and felt almost menacing in his grip. Even holding it he felt like he had already killed someone; the feeling striking deep into his gut making him feel sick. Taking it in one hand, he held it has far from his body as he could and aimed it at the targets sitting at the other end. He squeezed his eyes shot as he squeezed the trigger, wincing as the gun kicked several times and three loud bands echoed between the walls. The smell of gun powder filled his nostrils as he opened his eyes to see how he had fared.

His ability activated and zoomed straight into where the three shells lay on the ground; looking at the target he could see no bullet holes marring its surface. "You hit the wall, silly, the target is there," Pyrrha giggled a bit as she pointed to the unmarked target.

"I know, it's just," Wyatt had to stop and think for a moment, his heart was beating quickly as if he had been the one shot at, "a gun feels different to an bow."

"Yes, because they are both different. For an archer you have a bad aim." Despite Wyatt's sour look, Pyrrha couldn't help but smile at the boy. Even annoyed he looked cute. She knew that not everyone could pick up a pistol and use it correctly on the first go. No one else was a freak like her.

Wyatt couldn't help but smile, as bad as her English was, Pyrrha had a point. "Fine then smarty-pants, show me how to use this gun."

Gladly, she pushed herself off from the table of guns she had been leaning on. At first she got Wyatt to hold the gun out as she walked around him trying to gauge what she needed him to change in order to use a gun properly. "Bend your knees, don't stand so stiff. Hold with both hands. Look forward. Don't close eyes."

Each time he corrected something it seemed like something else cropped up that she needed to get him to fix. After correcting a couple of things she would get him to take a shot. They did this over and over again until she didn't have anything to nit-pick and all he needed to do was to work on his aim. Sometimes he would get frustrated and swear and curse, other times he would ask her what he needed to do. They worked for an hour or so before taking a quick break and then resuming for another hour. After two hours, he was able to shoot the target with a pistol, not necessarily well but able to empty a clip and have all shots hit.

Once he had this down they spent an hour going over the mechanisms that made up a gun; Pyrrha's proficiency going beyond being able to use any weapon but understanding how they worked in most cases. The more she taught him, the more Wyatt begun to feel invaluably in debt to her. However he couldn't shake the fact that he was beginning to develop feelings for her. While she talked he couldn't help but notice just how beautiful her eyes were, or how much he liked it when she pronounced certain words. He hadn't felt this way about someone in a long time, and he didn't really want to either.

After the lecture Wyatt began trialling the various types of guns the Syndicate had laid out for him. He couldn't help but wonder just how they managed to get their hands on such a wide array of guns at their disposal when their front was a banking company. Regardless he tried gun after gun; from pistols to shotguns, automatic rifles to submachine gun. Finally they made their way to the back of the table where a lone sniper rifle lay unused.

It was heavy, much heavy than any of the other weapons Wyatt had trialled almost causing Wyatt to topple over. Setting up a low bearing wall, Pyrrha set up the sniper and fired off a couple of shots before showing Wyatt just how to use it. Handling a gun was weirdly beginning to feel comfortable to him as he lay flat on his stomach and gripped the gun tightly. Lining it up to rest against his good shoulder, he lowered his head to peer through the scope at the target Pyrrha had lined up for him. Pulling the trigger he felt the powerful kick the gun go off as it launched backwards into his shoulder. The shock of the kick made it hurt more than it actually did, but afterwards Wyatt found himself strangely comfortable with it.

"Maybe we should give up for today," Pyrrha offered after looking at the bullet now imbedded in the far wall.

"No, I can do this. I just need to make…. A few adjustments," Wyatt unattached the scope and immediately his ability kicked in. His vision raced all over the shotgun as he picked out certain points and began altering the gun only slightly despite only knowing what Pyrrha had taught him about it. Once finished he lowered his head, this time closing his left eye and substituting his right for a scope and took in a deep breath.

Everyone stopped after Wyatt's last shot. Even Seamus and Daemon who had gone back to squaring off after a long break of watching Wyatt and Pyrrha stopped their fighting to look in awe. From behind him, Pyrrha clapped slowly before racing to grab the target. Dropping to her knees she held the paper in front of him so he could see the bullet hole ripping cleanly through the centre target.

"You did it!" She congratulated before embracing him in a tight hug.

Wyatt didn't really know what to do and simply let her hug him like he was a stuffed animal. He was in even greater shock that the rest of them that he had managed to shoot the middle target.

"Well done, Wyatt." The Directive's deep voice echoed from the PA system.​

Daniel Cain


He really didn't like being called to the Boss' office, not just because of Rose whom seemed like she had sworn a vendetta to make his life as miserable as possible, but mainly because he felt threatened. Usually when he was dealing with other people, he was the one in the position of power. Now with the tables turned, he felt too uncomfortable.

"You're doing good, Daniel," this time when the chair turned around, it wasn't Darren Stagg sitting in the chair, but rather the Blind Prophet. "Wyatt is just where we want him and soon, we'll have the others too." He couldn't help but shiver as the Blind Prophet looked at him with those milky white eyes of his as if he was looking straight at him.

"Thank you, I do what I can." Daniel replied simply, not know how exactly to answer. "Where is the Boss?" he asked having never seen the man outside his office much less the Blind Prophet taking up resident at his desk.

"He's in a board meeting."

"Do you know when he'll be back?"

"When the meeting is finished. Any reason why?"

"Just business. I'll come back later." Daniel hated how blunt the man was; it was like talking to a computer that only knew its pre-set responses. Leaving the office, he returned to the labs to talk with Meier about his latest project. In the back of his mind he wondered just how much the Blind Prophet knew and if he was even guiding them towards the future or towards his own ideal future. As far as Daniel was concerned he didn't trust the guy, but the man seemed too familiar like he had knew him. Not being able to place his finger on it just made him dislike the man even more.​
 
Delta Mayor -
- Lindholm, Sweden, New Atlantis


It was for the best, someone had to put Thayne in his place. Whatever it took for Delta to be seen as on top whether that was fear, respect, or anger. Others would call it what they wished, but for Delta it was one step closer, however small, toward what she ultimately craved: power. The higher ups usually kept to themselves no one had spoken to her about what happened in Paris and, as Delta expected, the boat situation had been the same. Hell, she helped tamed Emil's beast of a son it wasn't as if he had a leg to stand on to talk down on her actions. The rest of the ride went smoothly. There were a few, selective comments made to Dom other than that Delta kept to mostly to herself. Nausea firmly settled in causing her stomach to feel as it was a Ferris wheel. Time went by until the plane landed, which brought a smile to Delta's otherwise neutral face. It was promptly gone by the time Delta stepped off the plane into the bitter cold. A dozen curses were let loose seeing as she was only wearing her regular attire, skinny jeans, a tank top, a leather jacket, and a nice pair of heels, all of it in black. As the cold nipped at her exposed skin Delta couldn't help but pull her limbs and jacket in closer until they arrived at the car.

A need for questions wasn't required seeing as Oakley had happily taken up obnoxiously asking every one that came to her. New Atlantis was essentially a safe haven for those who had lost what they had in Paris or weren't accepted in society. Atticus went into the usual spiel and Delta had already begun tuning him out by taking her money and leaving before he had finished. She didn't bother with goodbyes or any notifications that would've lead anyone to believe she cared whether or not they noticed. To feign interest at this point was beneath her. If they were stuck here then she'd make the most of it by seeking out something, Delta just wasn't sure what that something was. Snow pelted her from every direction and for brief moments at a time let her see a few meters ahead. It was plain bothersome walking through with each step made into its own personal battle.

Crystallization was the only method in which reliefed her of feeling the cold. Every few minutes she would switch the places of her body. The numbness of the crystallization felt pleasantly soothing it was as if those limbs no longer existed in terms of sensory, but she could still move it. The day would come when – a mound of snow landed on her chest interrupting her mid-thought. Two more joined it before Delta instinctively relied on her training to seek out her prey. Whoever had thrown it was utilizing the large piles of snow as cover. A snowball whizzed over her left shoulder and the next one came from behind. This meant at the very least there were two opponents and Delta would happily kill them all.

Somewhere to her left something disturbed the snow, quick to follow Delta ran after the blur. Where they zagged she zigged it reminded her how she used to play in the snow back home with Nathan… She pondered if he was okay and if he was keeping her Baba safe. Delta pushed those thoughts aside and lunged forward, the only thing keeping her from catching the culprit was her choice of shoe. Slipping a finger into the straps she pulled them off in a flash whilst crystallizing her feet leaving little room for her target to get away. The distance between them shrunk until Delta was literally on top of the person, they both fell to the ground, rolled around in the snow until Delta had the person's arms pinned with her legs and her arm pressed into the person's neck.

Out of breath Delta finally got a look at the person in a white, heavy coat, polka-dotted scarf, and a knitted cap. She was a girl with curly, dark red hair that was messy due to the struggle. There was also her high cheekbones, blue eyes, and memorizing smile that drew anyone foolish enough to look at it in.

"You're good," the girl laughed, it was clear she was having a lot of fun with this. Delta nodded in agreement then noted how her eyes flicked to the left of where Delta was only to look up to in time to receive a snowball to the face. At that moment the girl beneath her threw enough of her weight to push Delta off and flip their positions. "But, not good enough."

"What's your name, stranger?" The more the girl spoke the more Delta identified the accent as Northern Irish. Another person stood behind the girl whoever it was eager to introduce him or herself as they crept forward. "That's Simon, my header brother. I'm Aoife."

How they had bested her was an absolute embarrassment. Delta didn't even bother to struggle from under the body of Aoife it… wasn't uncomfortable. Aoife maintained the bright smile on her face basking in her glory. "Let me up and I'll think about telling you," Delta responded with her usual amount of attitude.

The boy, who wasn't much of a boy when Delta got a better look at him, lowered his body down next to his sister and hers. He had the same color hair, but lacked the beauty or grace that his sister had. His eyes traveled down her body investigating her as if he was looking for something that one wouldn't notice right away. Simon must of spotted whatever he was looking for because his eyes widen and he sported a doltish smile, "She's Atlantean, she must be with the AUP!"

Aoife lifted herself up and stretched out a hand to Delta almost as if AUP was a magic acronym that held a lot power to it. Angered by the whole ordeal Delta slapped Aoife's gloved hand away and got up on her own accord. Help wasn't necessary and certainly not from the likes of these two. By the time Delta returned her gaze to the siblings they were looking elsewhere, her feet. It was then that it clicked what Simon had been searching for, a tattoo to signify she was one of them, but instead he saw her crystallized feet. Tired of their staring Delta turned around and started walking in the opposite direction toward where she flung off her shoes in haste.

"You'll never find them in this weather," the voice, which belonged to Aoife, was a lot closer than she wanted it to be. Against her better judgment Delta turned around to face Aoife and Simon who stood a little further back, the look on her face seemed sincere. "I'll lend you a pair of my boots and Simon will find them later. It's cold, we live nearby."

She was being given an invitation to their house when she had only just met them? It was a bit too trusting, however the temperature didn't look like it wanted to transition into warmer weather any time soon. The duo flanked both sides of Delta even though she hadn't accepted the invite. Out of spite there was a part of her that was going to turn them down. Perhaps they had more information on this place.

"Is the AUP well-known around here?" Delta asked aloud, wondering who would be the first to answer.

There was a look of contemplation on Aoife's face, as if she were deciding what was the best thing to say in this moment and which parts to leave out. Clearing her throat she met Delta's gaze and spoke quietly, "Yes and no. Emil's pretty nice, and that one guy... I never caught his name, but they're both obsessed with the Atlantean crystals."

"MISHA'S MY FAVORITE!" Simon chimed in with a roar of excitement and flailing arm gestures; he seemed more like a fan boy than anything else. Delta couldn't help but roll her eyes it was absurd that anyone thought that highly of Misha or any of the AUP higher ups.

They were a lot closer to the buildings than Delta had been before and a lot of the city was like Poland, though there were a plenty of houses going under renovation. A city that was being revived by the AUP yet what was the purpose? Was it to become the beacon for lost and abandoned Atlanteans? Before Delta knew it they were crossing the threshold of one of the many two-story houses on the block. Warmth hit Delta mitigating the numbness from the cold. Both Simon and Aoife began to strip out of their winter wear and Delta kept a lingering glance, her inquisitive eyes slowly examined every section of Aoife's body.

Detecting how her dampen clothes clung to her pale skin and also how the clothes she wore underneath were extremely form fitting. Only then did Delta look up and discern Aoife's piercing blue irises had locked onto her own. Delta who in shame tilted her head further up as if she was looking at the surrounding walls and ceilings the entire time. Hope was what she clung onto praying that Aoife hadn't caught on to what she had done. It was a rash decision, completely out of character. She wasn't like that, in her heart knew that had to be the truth. Both Simon and Aoife had hung their coats on a rack that led Delta to do the same with her jacket.

"If you want to stand at the door all day, be my guest. We're going to the kitchen," Simon jeered. He was one of those guys that thought everything he said was golden and hilarious.

Delta was developing a huge dislike for him but that soften when he handed her a beer as she entered the kitchen. Unable to hold the curiosity back any longer Delta let loose, "Are you both Atlanteans?"

In response Simon lifted up his t-shirt with a big grin, mostly to show off his well-defined six-pack but there was also his tattoo on his side. "You can touch them if you'd –" Simon started but was soon interrupted by his sister.

"Ignore him, pretty ladies take the air right out of his head. We both are, yes."

The corners of her mouth turned upwards when she realized that Aoife (and Simon, though he was less important) thought of her as pretty. The last person who had called her, and meant it, was Nathan. An unavoidable sensation came over her, warmness flooded her body signaling that she was pleased, but something else gnawed at her telling it wasn't right to feel this way. The closeness between the Aoife and Simon was evident by the way they exchanged glares and grins at each other like they were communicating in their own secret language. It sparked a feeling of jealousy deep within Delta that she had swallowed down every time she saw siblings interacting.

"Abilities?" Delta inquired while flickering her eyes about the kitchen and taking a sip of her beer. It was like any normal kitchen she supposed, all the tabletops were made out of, what Delta assumed, was marble. There was a sink with a couple of bowls in it, a dishwasher, plenty of cabinets (some were opened and full of this and that), and a refrigerator, all of it was very mundane.

A devilish grin spread speedily across Simon's face, but Aoife was much too late when she reached out to grab a hold of his departing body. When he returned the Irish lad was halfway into Delta's leather jacket that she left hanging up next to the door. An odd sight indeed and an eyebrow was slowly raised in response to these actions because if he ripped it he would pay the ultimate price. Delta couldn't help but notice the mixture of submission and annoyance that was displayed in Aoife's facial expression and body language.

Once his body had contorted to get enough of the jacket on Simon wore a solemn expression. Was this how it was always going to be? She asked that question when all she wanted was an answer but would receive a display. Stifling a yawn Delta stood there patiently, a small twitch in Simon's face caught her attention. Gradually the twitch became more than that, a spasm that took control of his entire body.

Anguish had stricken Aoife, she hastily moved to her brother's side, only having been a few meters away, cupping his head in her hands while speaking words of comfort to him. The vigorous shakes came down to a mere tremble before long. Amused, Delta waited for the punch line or for something more to happen, like fireworks.

Coughs erupted from the Atlantean male, his eyes, which were a deeper shade than Aoife's, fluttered open and narrowed as they landed on Delta. "You! You murdered those men," he yelled accusingly, his breathing was heavy and conveyed immense anger. His fingers gripped the edges of the counter Simon was reclining on then continued, "You, you… so much blood and violence. Those kids!"

"How did you know that?" Delta matched his tone, one moment he was having a seizure the next he knew more information than he should. Clearly it must have been linked to the jacket though exactly how Delta wasn't sure.

"Psychometry is the ability to sense, access, and feel a person's memories, emotion, and being through their belongings, specifically clothing for us," Aoife explained without missing a beat, she checked over Simon whose trembles had ceased. His shortness of breath was noticeable due to the amount of air Simon was trying to intake. Aoife's shoulders dropped as she sighed distressingly and let her brother go after he swatted her hands away, "Simon can sense a person's being, access and feel their memories that leaves me who can sense and feel the emotions."

"Sensing a person's being," Delta repeated softly mostly to herself. That meant… Delta breathed in sharply her mind started to race and reality started to slip away. Would she finally know? One of Delta's hands moved outward to steady herself on the counter and the other moved up her body at a creeping pace until it wrapped around the set of keys that hung around her neck clutching it instantly before ripping it off. Her head was spinning so much it ached, but it wasn't enough of a distraction to stop Delta from going right up to Simon, "You can find people, right? That's what it means to sense a person's being. Find this person. See if you can do it," the words had leaked out of Delta's mouth so suddenly she wasn't sure if she yelled or mumbled them, though it didn't matter as long as he heard her. She waved the key with the faded pink paint on it then practically shoved it in Simon's face.

"NO!" Aoife stepped between Delta and Simon in a protective manner. She guarded her brother's body like a lioness would if her cubs were in danger. They shared the same fierceness as well, "Can't you see what he just went through He's not doing that again, he's not!"

Simon had plans of his it seemed, "Only if you tell me more about the AUP and what happened on that boat." Aoife whipped her head around in utter shock and completely speechlessness. "I need to know what I'm getting into when I join the AUP," Simon grinned and took the lanyard, "We got a deal?"

"Yeah, yeah whatever just do it," Delta rushed through her words.

The psychometric had already begun before Delta finished her sentence his eyes were closed tightly. "I-I can sense them, her. She's alive," Delta wasn't sure if Simon's words were quiet but she could barely hear them. "In one of the Americas, I think," the more Delta heard the more her heartbeat slowed down in relief. Simon's deep blue eyes opened and he extended his hand to give back the lanyard, then he stated, "Her residue is so faded that I only captured one memory: a pair of hands lifting her up from ground, she was sitting in some red… liquid."

Delta hadn't even noticed that he looked away prior to saying the last word or that he was trying to hand her back the keys, she was much too preoccupied with what was going on in her own head. "Is she…" There were so many endings to that sentence Delta wanted to ask. Happy? Healthy? Atlantean? Hell, there were so many questions she wanted to ask period. All of it was surreal, for thirteen years she had thought, no, believed wholeheartedly she was dead. The ending that meant to most to Delta came forth, "Safe?"

Simon shrugged his shoulders, "I… don't know. That's Aoife's field."

"Who is she?" The redheaded girl questioned, it was evident to her that this person meant much to the girl standing in front of her whose name she still didn't know.

"She's… my sister."

Aoife nodded before taking the key out of Simon's hand she used her power very sparsely, after all there wasn't much use for it unlike Simon's. She delved into the key's history; wading through each wave of emotions was difficult. Each time they hit her she had to pull them apart and dissect them. There were so many feelings but they were all recently from the girl in front of her. Simon had said the residue was faded but that was putting it mildly Aoife could barely acknowledge a trance of it. A rush of anger overcame Aoife then passed away quickly. It wasn't like the other feelings, no, it was from a different person completely. She reached out for the anger holding onto it for a bit longer and opened her eyes after she let it go, "She's angry at someone, well, more like a group of people." Aoife didn't divulge the specifics she thought it would be best not to. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," she stated before handing the keys back to the girl's whose emotions she had also read.

Eager to change the topic because Simon like Aoife was hiding his own secrets about the reading he had given, "Tell us about the AUP."

Thankful for the information to process Delta decided to keep her end of the deal. Where would she start? Most of it she was still trying to figure out. It had been almost two weeks since she had joined the AUP and yet it felt a lot longer. Simon gave her another beer when he realized she had finished her first one. She started from the beginning with Tomasz, then briefly spoke of Paris, went into more detail about the boat situation, and finished it with them arriving here. She described each person she came across Agnes, Oakley, Will, James Hazen, Devon, Dom, Ice Boy, Lumokinesis guy, Wyatt and co., the higher ups in the AUP, and even Thayne. Once she finished Delta could hardly believe all the things she went and lived through, the world truly was changing.

Simon had crossed his arms and ate up every word that Delta fed them, "I want to know more about this Oakley. Total babe, my type of girleen."

How he reached this conclusion based on Delta's description she hadn't a clue. "She's like a child," Delta said bluntly. His smile persisted so she added, "Like 15." That did the trick, his smile faded fast.

Simon paused and coughed into his hand and when he pulled it away there was blood. He quickly wiped it on his pants not wanting his sister to see and headed towards the door, "Well, I'm going to go see if Emil will officially accept me as a new member!" He turned back around when he noticed he was still wearing Delta's jacket, "I believe that this is yours."

"I should get going too," Delta grabbed her jacket, set down her finished beer, and put the lanyard on so that it returned to its original place around her neck. She moved towards the door, which had just closed from Simon walking out of it.

"Wait!" Aoife called out, which stopped Delta in her tracks. "Maybe you could stay here," she supplied further, but not enough to convince Delta.

It was an odd request since there wasn't any reason for Delta to stick around; she just wanted to digest what she learned alone. The entrance to the kitchen was a wooden frame and Delta leaned against it, "Why?"

Intertwining her fingers Aoife looked at the ground then lifted her eyes to meet Delta's curious ones. "You'll be accepted, y'know?" She smiled hoping that would take away any of the awkwardness.

"No... I don't know what you're talking about," answered Delta perplexed. Was she talking about her sister accepting her now that Delta was Atlantean? That was one thing she wasn't worried about in fact her mind hadn't even made that concern a problem.

"I'm sorry, but I felt your emotions too. I know what you're going through," Aoife stepped forward as she tried to clarify.

Holy hell, Delta thought, was she referring to what she thought? No, no that wasn't possible. Those feelings didn't exist. It was a trick of the mind so Delta decided to play it cool, "I still have no clue what you're talking about"

"You don't?" The amount of space between them was rapidly reduced as Aoife bought herself closer and closer to Delta. Placing a hand to the side of Delta's head, she leaned in so intimately that her light breathing could be felt on Delta's skin. Strands of her curly, red hair fell forward, their cheeks touching slightly, and Aoife whispered in Delta's ear, "What about now?"

Their closeness only made Delta more aware of Aoife than anyone she had previously met, of the way the light highlighted the freckles on her face, of the cherry scent that wafted off her body, and of the precision she had to get the lipstick so that it hadn't even touched her skin. Delta guided her hand over Aoife's cheek, hesitation caused it to hover right above it. Using her own hand Aoife placed it on Delta's pushing it down onto her skin where she was finally able to feel the softness of it with her thumb. Aoife lowered her head in order to plant her lips on the right side of Delta's neck, giving it an innocent kiss and she kept giving them on the right side then switched to the left side, working upwards each time. A nearly inaudible gasp left Delta's lips as she relaxed into it. This continued until Aoife had reached the facial region. Aoife pulled back and Delta looked at her as she searched Delta's eyes to make sure everything she was doing had been okay prior to moving her lips forward again. Delta felt Aoife's lips brushed across hers, teasing her, doing just enough to give away her intentions. It was a light kiss yet somehow it felt better than all the other kisses combined. Aoife's hand slid down from its position on the wall and stroked Delta's cheek ever so gently, her other one went through Delta's hair.

Aoife was a passionate kisser; each kiss held for longer and for once Delta was happily being led. Aoife broke away to give quicker, deeper kisses that were just as intimate to Delta's lips, neck, and body. Her hands wandered and Delta let hers mimic the actions of Aoife's. This time Delta had gone with the flow; she didn't fight it or try to escape it.

It was nice, but nice didn't stop the feeling in her stomach that it wasn't right, "I-I-I can't do this. I'm not…" Delta couldn't help but liberate herself from her current position and backed up until she reached the door. Hands on her face she shook her head and whispered, "I'm not."

"Why don't you stop pretending? Why don't you just let yourself feel good for once!" Aoife couldn't help but huff in her rage. Delta couldn't help but think she was lovely even when she was upset. "You're afraid I get that. You don't want to have these feelings, well, too bad because you have them. They aren't going away, no matter how much you try to will them away. Giving in doesn't make you weak." Small steps were taken toward Delta, but she had already yanked the door open and closed and fled out onto the street before Aoife reached her.

All of it was too much to handle she just wanted to run and run and run. Flee from the feelings, pain, and the baggage she had collected on the way. Halfway down the street Delta halted. Maybe it was the alcohol coursing through her that was allowing her to make such a bold decision or perhaps Delta was ready to embrace herself for who she was and not run blindly away this time. Regardless they both led her back towards the door. When Aoife answered it was Delta who took the initiative and parted Aoife's lips with her own. The door was closed by Aoife's hand, which she then used to push Delta against it. After a few moments their bodies parted and Aoife led Delta through the kitchen, twin smiles were plastered on both of their faces.

​
 
Atlantis Christmas Special: The ARF

Leo Cabrillo – ARF Mansion, Boston, England

December 24th, 2005

Winter was well and truly underway as snow blanketed the grounds surrounding the Atlantean Mansion. From his bedroom window, Leo gazed out at the white lawn. With his head in his hands, he wished to be spirited away back to their family residence in Braga with its wide fields he could sprint across. He hated the dull grey weather of England which made everything miserable. Even the small space of grass they called a field felt as much of a cage as the mansion did. All he wanted to do was revert to his lion form and roam for hours on end, but his parents refused him that solace. They constantly reinforced the idea that Andre and himself were here with the others to learn how to become the next generation of leaders and control his ability.

"Cheer up, brother," Andre dropped to the seat next to Leo, rubbing his stubbly face up against his brother, "I'll have a beard before you soon enough." He joked with his brother. The two were only separated by a couple of years yet many either called them twins or thought Andre was the eldest.

"Why, Andre? Our parents just want to cage us in with the rest of these miserable freaks." Leo cautiously glanced at the door, waiting for one of the others to come bursting through and call him out on his dislike.

Andre sometimes wondered if his brother had actually been born first, "Stop being so miserable, they are good people. Plus, we're the ones who'll lead them when it's our turn." Andre was yet to get out of his teens and couldn't fathom leading a group of people just yet.

It was a constant reminder from his parents. No one lived forever so they figured Andre and himself were old enough to learn the 'family business'. Sure, he was in his twenties, but his parents had years before they should even start to consider retirement. Couldn't he just learn how to lead when the time came instead of wasting his younger years?

"Come on you cub," Andre grabbed Leo in a headlock, scratching his older brother's head with his fist, "Rose is throwing a party in the rec room and everyone's going to be there!"

"You're the younger brother, cub." Leo laughed as he tackled his brother to his bed causing Andre to break his hold.

"Not until you grow a mane!" Andre laughed as he vaulted up from the bed and ran to the door, beckoning Leo to come get him.

"What about the parents?" Leo asked as he sauntered through the door, fixing up his ruffled clothes.

"Off on a mission. They're not due back till tomorrow so we've got alcohol, music and maybe a little something extra." Andre gave a wink as Leo groaned. Ever since they had arrived at the Mansion, Andre had become obsessed with herbal highs. While Leo sat miserably looking out the window, Andre was busy lighting up with a couple of the others.

Down in the recreation room, the few students that resided at the mansion were already getting into the alcohol and generally having a good time. "And the Lioncest brothers join us, ladies and gentlemen!" A hearty cheer erupted from everyone as Edward Trent announced their arrival. "Fill their cups and continue the merry celebrations. It's Christmas Eve, b*tches!" Another cheer followed as Edward skulled his drink back before jumping into the middle of the room to dance crazily with another student.

"Nice to see Moaning Lisa and Andre have joined us at last," A tall, handsome man with dark hair and a brooding look spoke. He accompanied River who handed the boys their drinks and she paraded him around like a new toy.

"Shut up, Daniel," River punched the man on his chest before he wrapped his arms around her, planting a kiss on her cheek. "So glad you two decided to join us, Edward is acting like a maniac." She blushed as Edward blew her a kiss from the dance floor, Daniel glaring at him.

"Nice to meet you, Daniel…?" Leo held out his hand to shake the slightly taller man's hand.

"Cain. Daniel Cain. The pleasure is mine." He responded simply, taking Leo's hand and shaking it strongly.

"I'm so sorry. I met Daniel back in Yunnan before I returned, convinced him to join me here." She cuddled affectionately into his chest. "This is Andre, Leo's younger brother," she motioned to Andre who was just heading off to join the festivities. "The dancing maniac is Edward Trent, the Russians partying with him over there are Katerina I-can't-pronounce-her-last-name and Natalia Something-something. The young boy drinking with Edward is Justin Evans, his sister is Rose, the one smoking 'herbal remedies' with Andre…" River continued to list off the names of each and every one at the party knowing full well that they were barely registering in Daniel's head. "I'll help you out if you forget." she telepathically spoke to him.

"I hope you enjoy it here, Daniel." Leo didn't really know what to talk to the guy about. He was so used to his solo life and only having to deal with his brothers and sisters back home that it made it difficult for him to talk with others. His parents had even told him it was rude to ask someone about their abilities so he couldn't even ask the one thing he really wanted to know.

"Hey boys, want to try some?" Rose was perhaps the youngest of them here yet by far the most stoner like, "I grew it this morning." She started to giggle uncontrollably before Andre walked over and whisked her away from them.

The festivities continued late into the night as the Royal Family members slowly became increasingly drunk. The more inebriated they became the less worried they became about keeping their abilities under wraps. The first to crack was Edward pulled out a pack of cards and showed just how lucky he was at calling out the following cards. Natalia walked through furniture like it wasn't there; even Andre began changing back and forth between his lynx form and leaping around the room like a crazed animal. It slowly became more wild as all the students were gathered in the large room. They had the entire mansion to themselves and partied on like they had no cares. It was really the first time most of them had in which they could relate to being normal teenagers.

It was well into the early hours of the morning by the time most of them had fallen asleep. Either comatose on the couches and chairs or sprawled out on the ground like Andre. Even Edward fell asleep with a grin on his face as he had a Russian girl tucked under each arm as they lay half under the pool table.

A slap echoed in the halls above as Daniel gingerly rubbed his cheek, "I saw you kiss her! Why did you do that?" River angrily asked him.

"She kissed me, I was not the instigator!" He snapped back. He wasn't even quite sure about where their relationship stood, but by the sounds of it any remnants of a relationship between them was out the window.

"You sure as hell enjoyed your moment with Natalia." River spat the name like it was a foul tasted in her mouth.

"I'm sorry,"

"Cut the bullsh*t, I don't want to hear it." Pushing away his advancement to kiss her, she stormed off back to her room where she quickly buried her tears into her pillow. She had only know Daniel for little over a week, but they had hit it off so well that she couldn't help but feel something for him. He was Atlantean too; it was so hard to find a decent guy that was Atlantean these days and she felt like Natalia had snatched him away from her.

Leo was the first to wake when he heard the sound of tires on gravel. No one aside from people within the Royal Family knew of the location of the mansion, so it could only mean that their parents were home a few hours early. As he listened, he could tell that the car was driving quite quickly up the driveway, skidding to a halt outside the front door. Jumping to his feet, Leo bounded up the stairs; bolting towards the front door as he sensed something wrong.

The first to get out of the sleek black ca was Leo's father, Benedito. The tall, olive skinned man towered over everyone as his weather face usually full of stoicism showed nothing but grim. Only Leo's father was an Atlantean; his human mother stayed at home in Braga with their seemingly human younger siblings while Andre and Leo studied and practiced at the mansion. Leo's father rushed inside without so much as a greeting to his son and Leo immediately felt his stomach drop. Next to come were Cindy and Mark; River's parents. Cindy was a short Asian woman in contrast to her husband who was a taller British man. Between them hung the limp form of a lanky, beautiful blonde woman known as Eva; Katerina's mother.

Eva clung to a wound on her side that not only seeped blood from between the bandages, but also seemed to be discolouring the skin around it. They hurried her inside, supporting one arm each as they headed for the medical room. Leo could only stare in awe as their seemingly indestructible parents were struck by this injury.

Behind them Janet, a slightly pudgy Irish woman whom the students referred to as 'Mother', pulled up behind the other car and came running over to Leo. He was frozen in shock at what he had seen yet as she embraced him, he could feel himself slowly slip out of the shock.

"My dear, where are the others?" She asked him, her voice the sweetest and softest he had ever heard.

"They're all sleeping in the Rec Room, should I wake them?"

"No dear, I want you to bring Katerina here quickly." She turned him around and pushed him towards the Recreation Room as she headed in the opposite direction; following the path of blood droplets.

Leo bounded towards the Rec Room, his heart now beating rapidly. His head was in as much panic as his heart was and he didn't quite know what he was going to say to Katerina to get her to come with him. He quietly snuck down the stairs, picking his way through the mess of students and discarded alcohol bottles as he made his way across the Rec Room to the pool table.

He crouched down and tapped Katerina on the shoulder, "Kat, wake up!" He whispered at her, tapping her repetitively afterwards.

"What is it, Leo?" She half groaned half mumbled while rubbing her eyes.

"The parents are home. Your mum's ben hurt, come with me!" He tugged on her arm, trying to pull her up off the ground.

"If this is joke, I will murder you." She said aggressively as she let him lead her upstairs and onto the Medical Bay. Once inside, Katerina became wide awake as the blood stemming from her mother almost made her vomit. The wound was foul and festering at an uncontrollable rate.

River's mother, Cindy, waved her hands around in the air above Eva's wound, trying to cleanse it with the globule of water she controlled while her husband worked feverously to cut out the infect bits of flesh and repair the tear in her waist. When Janet saw the two standing in the doorway with their mouths open, she ushered them outside and away from the horrible sight.

"What happened, mum?" Leo asked her.

"We were trying to subdue a rather dangerous Atlantean who broke out in New Zealand. It all went horribly wrong and Eva ended up being bitten by an infected individual." Leo was speechless as Janet then turned to Katerina, "Go dear, hold your mother's hand; I don't think she'll last much longer."

Without a second thought Katerina rushed into the room and sat by her mother's side as tears threatened to cascade down her soft cheeks. Leo watched from outside as Katerina buried her face into her arm as she quietly pleaded in Russian for her mother's safe recovery.

"Now Leo darling, I want you to return to the others. Keep them in the Rec Room until we have things under control."

Leo simply nodded before returning to the room to find River back downstairs and the only other one awake. With everyone else still out for the count, he shut the door behind them and began whispering with River.

"I heard everything," she whispered to him, "is Eva really going to die?"

"I don't know, River, but it looks horrible. We just have to keep the others down here." River gripped Leo in a tight hug while he was speaking. He didn't know what to do, he never knew what to do; so all he did was comfort her in his own grip. Suddenly the world felt like it was closing in on him, as if the burden that his parents shared was now beginning to fall on his shoulders. He was not a leader, he felt too young to have to be the one calling the shots.

After a couple of minutes embracing they returned inside to find a couple of the others gradually waking up. As they closed the door behind them, a few of the students grew worried like they were being locked up in here. "Something has happened, guys, the parents want us to stay down here until they have it sorted."

There was a lot of disgruntled mumbling going around as people just wanted to return to their beds or have a shower, but no one seemed too overly fussed about staying down here a little longer. Soon enough curiosity got the better of them and they all sat near River who began relaying what the parents were saying upstairs. Much of it was arguing about what to do and how to remedy the situation. Cindy and Mark just seemed to mutter to each other about how to repair the damaged tissue, what to cleanse and what to cut away. This carried on for hours as the students started to become restless the more serious it became.
Everyone took in a huge breath and stopped when River let out a piercing scream. "She… she bit him." Was all she stammered after she cut off telepathic connection to them. Everyone watched in anticipation as hurried footsteps were heard overhead followed by the crashing of medical utensils upon the ground. It went quiet until there was a sharp rapping at the door and someone jerked the handle violently.

"Let me in!" Katerina all but screamed from the other side as Leo leapt up to let her in and then lock the door once she was safely inside. "Mum…mum…tried to bit me…." Katerina stammered as she showed them the indentations on her now metallic arm. Natalia wrapped her arm around Katerina and began consoling the girl.

It wasn't long before there was another bang at the door, this time followed by a gargling growl. Everyone took a step back as the banging refused to cease and only got louder and more violent. Leo instinctively put himself in front of everyone else, splaying his hands wide as if he was forming a protective barrier. The door didn't last long before a drooling Mark burst through the door. His ability looked like it had been half activated as one arm was significantly bigger than the other and his lower jaw seemed to hang low. His eyes were the most frightening as they were rolled into the back of his head with only the whites showing; ravaged my atrophied veins.

"M-Mark?" Leo called out cautiously, the Zombie Mark rapidly turning its head to Leo's voice and growling. Scared, Leo reverted to his Lion form, stepping forward and letting out a mighty roar at the Zombie.

Zombie Mark threw himself forward as Leo let go of his control and let the beast within him strike blow after blow. His claws tore at the rapidly rotting flesh of Mark's as River cried and yelled for him to stop behind him. The fight barely lasted a minute as Leo reverted to his human form; naked and splattered with blood from the now unidentifiable remains of Mark.

"I'm sorry, River," he choked out as he put on the remains of his pants. She was bawling into her hands, with Daniel's arm wrapped around her in comfort.

Andre took lead from Leo, "Okay guys, we have a zombie survival scenario going on. We can only assume the rest of the parents are sick as well so we need to contain this virus. Try not to let them bite you. Leo and I will take on our father who is most likely to get away quickly. Justin, you and Rose check the outside grounds while Katerina, Edward and Natalia scour the house. Everyone else will stay here and pile the furniture up against the door. We'll let you know when it's safe to come out."

Watching his brother as the boy spoke, Leo couldn't help but feel slightly inferior as Andre took charge of the situation that Leo could not. Facing up to a zombie version of his father was going to be tough and he wasn't sure if he could really kill him.

Andre couldn't believe this was actually happening. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind he laughed at the idea of zombie versions of their parents, yet was it as hard to believe as having supernatural powers in the first place? He continually questioned his thought process as he transformed alongside his brother; watching his brother's larger Lion form dwarf his own Lynx form. The two leapt up the stairs, bounding down the hallway before bursting through a window and out into the courtyard. With noses high in the air, it didn't take them long to catch onto the putrid scent their father was trailing behind. They looked at each other, communicating via their animalistic ways before both running off past the boundary fence to catch up to their escaping father.

It didn't take them long to catch up to the half animalistic, rotting form that was their father. His larger paws and even larger fangs dwarfed both Leo and Andre yet parts if his body including an arm and much of his face remained human while the rest had converted into the man's Sabre-tooth appearance. They leapt on him simultaneous with fangs and teeth bared but even in his half state, he batted them away as if they were simply cubs. It was enough to gain his attention as he stopped running and instead turned to face to two of them. They both knew that one bite and either one would take out the other. The two continued to leap at their father, and yet again he batted them away which only prolonged the fight.

Confirming with one another, Leo charged in, meeting his father face on with sharp claws as he chanced death. On more than one occasion his father's enlarged teeth came close to biting now on his neck as his claws left scars on his skin. But Leo forged on as he stared death in the face all to distract his father. Andre circled around back. They both knew not to bite and tear into their father's flesh as, yet it was all too tempting. Half their attacks were utilising their strong teeth and jaws but for now, they relegated to claws. Andre leapt at his father's midsection, clawing in every which direction while Leo dug his claws into the man's neck. A strangled roar-scream erupted from the man's throat causing Leo to almost let go; but the thing before him was no longer the father he knew. Digging deeper Leo managed to overthrown his father and cast the thing to the ground.

Without a second thought he mindlessly leapt at the helpless form, his front paws tearing over and over again at the thing's throat. When it ceased to move, Leo sat back on his hindquarters, letting loose a strangled roar-cry as tears glistened down his golden fur. Andre joined in as they said their farewells to their father's spirit. They now held both themselves and each other responsible for the death of their father. A burden they would never let go of.

When they returned to the mansion dragging their father's mangled corpse behind them, they noticed the rest of the students congregated on the lawn. In front of the students were the four rotting bodies of their leaders.

December 28th, 2005

They had spent much of Christmas Day digging the five graves at the edge of the field that would house their parent's bodies. It wasn't until three days later that the tombstones arrived and they officially held a funeral. Leo's mum flew all the way over from Braga for the closed funeral and was the only parent to attend. Justin and Rose's father had skipped out on them when they were a lot younger and Katerina never talked to her father back home in Russia. So there they sat silently mourning their loses. Each child came up and said something about their parent, but only enough before their words were choked back down with tears. It wasn't a long procession, but each minute seemed to drag on as they all stood as the snow cascaded gently to the ground.

When they were about to finish, two figures came strutting across the lawn; both much older than any of the students. Leo met them as they approached the back of the group of students before taking off their hats, holding them to their hearts.

"My name is Emilio Bernot, and this is Cooper. We used to be students here and have come to pay our respect." Leo had heard mentioning of Emilio from his father, but nothing too substantial to base his character on. Cooper on the other hand, was a complete mystery.

"I am Leo Cabrillo. Thank you for coming." Leo took a slight bow, never taking his eyes off the pair whom seemed friendly enough.

"Your father was a good man." He spoke to Leo before addressing the rest of the students, "Your parents were all fine men and woman. It is so sad to see them go." His eyes grew solemn and Leo soon felt a tad less cautious around them. "You are all young, much too young to run the Royal Family. I would like to offer a hand, to anyone who wishes to seek safety and security with me. Your parents taught me and I would like to repay my debt to them by teaching you."

Leo suddenly felt threatened, how could this man do such a thing at the funeral of the parents they were mourning. He realised why the man sounded so familiar; Emilio ran the AUP. They had a disagreement when Leo was much younger as his father believed that Emilio had his head in the clouds. He wanted to unify all Atlanteans, including the dormant ones, whereas Leo's father was simply continuing the tradition of staying out of sight and out of mind.

"No, you're not splitting us up." Leo growled, Andre quickly took his side.

"We'll run the Royal Family if we have to." Andre had his brother's back. They had been through thick and thin together and weren't about to let someone take away their father's work.

"You two'll run it into the ground. We're all Atlantean, we should be living and working together for a brighter future. Not hiding away in a mansion in the middle of nowhere." Emilio talked as if he was a preacher, and many of the students agreed with what he was saying.

"We'll show you. Make that three!" River placed her hand on Leo's shoulder in support of his leadership.

"I see. Well, for those of you who wish to join, follow Cooper and I to our vehicle parked out front." The two men nodded and replaced their hats before turning around and returning to the mansion.

Around them, what little students that lived at the mansion gave their farewells as they followed Emilio and Cooper. Leo couldn't blame them for thinking about their own safety; it was a natural human response. After a couple of minutes, the last of the students had left and Leo heard the sound of tires crunching against the loose gravel driveway.

"Looks like it's our lucky day," Edward chimed in from behind them, wrapping his arms around the three of them.

"The gang is all here. We can do this guys, I know we can." Justin hugged his teary sister close to his body as he joined them.

"We'll just have to recruit new students." Katerina smiled from under her hat as Daniel silently joined them in agreement.

The eight of them now stood in the drifting snow as they looked back at the empty mansion. Not one of them knew nor had time to learn how their parents had run things, but they would figure it out one way or another. They were young, like the rest of their age group they should have been going out to parties and staying up late. Experimenting with drugs, s*x and alcohol. However they weren't like the others, they were the Atlantean Royal Family.​
 
Dominique Bisset-- New Atlantis, Lindholm, Sweden

Dom took a deep breath of the cold, Swedish air. He was happy to be out of the car and finally with his feet on the ground. He hadn't had much fun, but looking at the beautiful town, he thought maybe he could start. Snow covered the ground, the roofs of buildings, and decorated the tops of trees and fountains. He dressed warmly today and was glad he had the foresight to do so. Some of them (Del) hadn't, which was a shame. It didn't do much for them anyhow. Everyone was dressed... Decently he could say. Del was in her normal all-black-all-day attire, Devon was trying, and Thayne was struggling. Oakley dressed with her usual flair, something that Dom could appreciate though not applaud. It was lucky for Dom that the quiet beauty of New Atlantis was enough to overshadow their life choices.

Everything he needed to know about New Atlantis had already been explained, so Dom was more than ready to leave. His eagerness came not just from wanting to have time to relax, but also because of the mention of Paris. Atlanteans from Paris? The idea gave him hope. It was completely possible they had been Atlantean, he had been after all. They would have had to show signs before, but Dom didn't remember either of his parents having trouble with a growing tattoo or a power that went a little haywire. Maybe they weren't Atlantean or maybe they just had an easy time. Either way, they had been in Paris. If the AUP had found them, they would have helped them, right? Right? Of course... Dom's attention returned to Atticus when he was given a little spending money for around town.

"We're only just meant to be here, so you can hang out here at the town hall, or go into town... do what you want," Atticus said to their group. "If you need a car or a bike or something, just come in and ask. Just please don't fight with anyone, okay? This place is about peace." Dom frowned at that. What was he? Some kind of super powered bully? What reason would he have to fight with someone? When the group dispersed, Dom left with them, a little irked, but as cool as he had been before. Lindholm as a whole was a pretty nice place. Just as Atticus had said it was a peaceful town that was satisfyingly quaint. He couldn't help but smile in a place like this. Dom could feel himself relax in the atmosphere. It felt like forever since he'd been truly calm. Still, he had two someone's he needed to be looking for. There was no time to just enjoy things. That kind of silliness and goofing off was just the sort of thing he would expect Lucien to do. The thought of him made Dom annoyed but more-so happy. Before this, things had been simpler. To think how much his life had changed in the past couple of days. To think how much life had changed in the last week! Not just for him, but for everyone here. People who had become Atlantean and family who had not. Friends who could fly and neighbors who could walk on water. It was incredible to think about. All of it was happening all at once and all over the world! Some of it was here even with him now. Atlanteans, some obvious and some not, talked with each other quietly as they walked the town or simply enjoyed their time alone. Not too far from him a group of teens played cards at a cafe table and a happy couple walked together, mitten hand in mitten hand. A group of small kids huddled around together near the entrance to a cafe. They all stood in awe as a little girl made bubbles appear from her hands. Blue, purple, green, and gold spheres drifted into the peaceful air and dispersed slowly above the town. The kids suddenly broke into laughter when one of the bubbles popped in a little boy's face. They were all too happy. Everyone was happy.

Why couldn't things have been like this? Where everything was fine and there was nothing to worry about? The Atlantidote signs came to his mind, but he shoved them away. He didn't ask for this, none of them had asked for this. It was that damn Royal Family and their bright ideas. Their decision, unprompted and unprovoked, had caused three disasters and possibly more to come. Berlin, London, and... And... And their own damn issue. They had started this mess and they couldn't stop a bunch of men in dark clothing from rushing into their own home. Of course the Royal Family had nothing to say then either. They had burdened the world with too much power, too much destruction, and too much to deal with all in one week. Yet they would say nothing and show nothing for it, save a few more registration buildings in high-risk areas. Dom hated it, but as angry as it made him feel he didn't get the same heat he had when he last considered them. It was odd, but also calming. He had hardly ever noticed it before anyways, but it was a comfort to know he wouldn't burst in the flames every time something got on his nerves. All it had caused him so far was burnt marble and less clothes. Besides that, it was dangerous. Before he had wanted to burn that electric-*sshole to a crisp. Now that he had actually done it he was hesitant to use his power again. Dom shuddered when the smell of charred flesh and the image of the guard's faceless form returned to him. It was already bad enough when he caught on fire himself. He was afraid every time that he would burn to death--quickly, slowly, whatever it chose to do. But to do that to someone else? How the hell could he? Don't worry, the second time is always better. For the--god he didn't know how many times!--he could see that goddamn grin. Stop it! Stop! He had relived that scene and heard that phrase over and over and over again. It had repeated itself all throughout the night and continued into the day. He would say sleep gave him relief, but he couldn't remember doing any of that last night.

The words, the images, they kept flying around Dom's head. He took a deep breath and looked around. He had to sit down. It didn't take Dom long to find a place for him to stop and rest for a moment. Just forget about it, Dom, he said to himself like he had countless times before. The incident was only yesterday, but he was determined to get this out of his head. He had to think of better things, calmer things. It would be a shame to meet his parents all bent up over nothing. None of that was his fault. What was he supposed to do? They were going to kill him! Or worse! It was a justified death. Anyways, his parents. He could already see his mother fussing over him if he didn't find them with a smile on his face. She would already be frisking him for injuries, but that would just make it worse. His father meanwhile would be making jokes about how the GPS broke on the way to Lindholm. "How inconvenient with the bad weather we had in Paris, huh?" He'd say, giving them a grin too big for the quality of his joke. His mom would be a little miffed, but she would endure it, if only for them. They would find the nearest cafe and talk over coffee and snacks about Paris and, of course, what to do next. Would they stay in Lindholm? Would they go back to France? And after being apart for what felt like so long how soon would he go back to the AUP, if at all? Something told him it wasn't time to leave the AUP yet. But then what would he do? Likely Dom would never get to that answer before his dad took him away from it. "You know, you should have convinced me to go to Singapore!" Yeah, he should have, but who was he arguing with? When his dad had his mind set it couldn't be changed.

It was only a day or two after River Beleren revealed the Atlanteans that Dom talked to his dad on the phone about the upcoming anniversary. That day, his parents would have been married twenty-four years. As it was every year, it was a big day and just like every year his father waited until the last second. Dom and his dad talked about where the anniversary would be held. No restaurants! His father had declared that immediately. A restaurant for his wife? That was too tacky. Everything had been last minute and his dad didn't want to try to arrange a plane and living arrangements with only a few days preparation. It might not have come up if Dom had never mentioned Singapore. It was his mom's favorite place and there wasn't a day that went by when she wasn't talking about how she'd love to go back. It was perfect! But once his dad was set on something, well… He didn't want to go out of France either--didn't even want to go out of Paris! (It was a terrible idea, Dom had said. They had been all over Paris! They lived there! What was there to see?) His dad just continued his stubbornness until Dom finally conceded and picked a place for them. What was more romantic (and as close-by) than the Eiffel Tower? Sure, they had already been there, but it was the best place with the least effort and his dad had taken it. The next night Dom was packing his bags and the following morning he was off on the short trip to Paris. He had arrived that Monday.

November 8th was a day he'd now never forget. As always it was his parents anniversary and as always he was in Paris to save his father's ass. He had gotten up early, washed, dressed, eaten, and gone to the book store. That particular day a disgruntled cashier dressed up like Steve Burns ran his purchase for him. He had bought the book, Before the Lakspur Blooms, a story about two long-separated possible lovers solving crimes together. Now that he thought about it, he had left the book in the passenger seat of his car. Could he go back and get it? Probably not. It had burned with the rest of Paris or been crushed under the body of a meteor like the first car. Dom could see in his mind's eye the way it had so easily been smashed and become nothing. The sound of metal bending and breaking brought a chill down his spine. Had someone been in there? Or did they escape only long enough to prolong their death? Dom tapped his foot under the table and his nerves shook. C'mon Dom, stop, stop! Fire crept on all sides of him, taking over trees, swallowing buildings. Glass shattered, dirt and concrete flew into the air with each impact, monuments--the Tower! It crumbled. The sky roared as meteor after meteor ripped and slammed through it, crushing and killing millions! Residents, tourists, children! No one had been safe from the the wrath that fell from the heavens. The first one had been the worst. The light from its fire had been so blinding, the explosion so loud. The screams arose all over as the meteor rushed into the Earth. Louder and louder they came as more terror struck Paris. As he ran towards the Tower, hundreds ran away from it. Above him two meteors fell towards the Earth together, one with a steady decline while the other dipped drastically. Their impact was inevitable. When the second hit the first it knocked the meteor off-course. Instead of landing in a building or hitting the ground the meteor was sent spiraling in their direction. It soared through the legs of the Eiffel Tower and crashed about nine meters away from him. Just like that more people were screaming, more people were scattering, and more lives were lost. A woman screamed by the meteor, her voice laced in agony. She called out for help from somebody, anybody! Her son! He was stuck! Someone please help! The woman screamed again and called out her son's name--

"THAYNE!" Dom flinched when the shrill voice pierced the air. His mind was snatched out of Paris and slammed back into Lindholm. It didn't matter though, even here the town was falling apart. He could feel it all at once. His heart beat rapidly, his body trembled, and he felt like he was burning from the inside out. What the hell was this!? What the hell was happening!? He could feel huge walls of fire close in all around him, burning his skin, and suffocating him with the intensity of the heat. It felt like the longer he stayed there, the closer the walls came, and the closer he got to burning alive. Dom got up from his seat and escaped from the cafe, running at full speed. Each step was a struggle to keep his cool, to keep whatever this damn thing was out of him! The walls that chased behind him spelled doom. He had to find a doctor, anybody! But the more he was outside with others the worse he felt, the hotter he became. Dom was in terror and in agony all at once. He had to escape! He had to find somewhere--anywhere!--that he could be alone! Dom ran past people of all shapes and sizes. He couldn't see them all, could hardly register them at all. Their words sounded muffled against the roar of the fire walls and besides, the sound of their voices only made his condition worse. He may not have understood what they said, but it came in jarringly loud. Over and over Dom looked into the sky, unable to shake the feeling that at any moment meteors would erupt out of the atmosphere and lay waste to everything in sight. Dom took the first place he could get. He burst into a nearby store and went immediately into the bathroom. He slammed the door shut and his body shook. More and more Dom felt like he was losing control. He leaned with one hand on the doorframe and the other over his eyes.

"Je peux pas respirer! Je peux pas respirer…!" The choking heat left Dom struggling to breathe and his voice came out only as whispers. The room swayed, his vision was getting blurry, and his heart was beating faster. Things were only getting worse! He jolted away from the door when someone knocked on it. The voice on the other side said something he could barely understand. "Arrêtes…!" There was more talking, but he couldn't understand any of it. Dom covered his ears to cut the noise out, to make things easier, but that hardly helped. The walls closed in quickly and desperately Dom looked for something to keep him grounded. It was then he remembered the one item that always done just that. He lifted his arm and looked at the rose gold watch on his wrist. Time and time again it had brought him the strength to pull through conflict or at least comfort him. Now it was different, now it seemed strange. It wasn't the same. Just yesterday the watch he'd cherished for years had been altered and he'd done nothing to stop it. Why? Why then? Why now!? The walls hit him.

…​

It had been an hour. Throughout his… Whatever that was, Dom had felt sick and nauseous. Mostly he had just been in pain. Even though fire never consumed him he could feel himself burning, at least on the inside. Why hadn't he caught on fire like he always had before? Dom kept asking himself that, but by now he was exhausted and didn't want to think about much of anything. It took five people to get that door open; a few to try and one to actually get the job done. Apparently the door had welded to part of the frame when he touched it, but Dom didn't remember any of that. Just the pain that still lingered in him. By then he had cooled down considerably and the hottest thing in the bathroom was the steam that had formed from boiling tears. Even that was relieved when the door was opened. Though he had calmed, his hand still trembled and the pressure of something terrible happening loomed behind him. Their voices still sounded loud, but Dom still took the questions and concerns of those who had tried to help. He declined any offer of further assistance and said he would pay for the damages to whatever he'd melted in the bathroom as well as the door. Someone had contacted AUP's Lindholm headquarters not too long before he'd gotten out, but Dom didn't have the patience or the interest to wait for somebody. Now he was back out on the street and in the cool air, which he was thankful for. His body still felt hot and he wanted nothing more than to cool down.

"Dominique?" What? "Dominique Bisset!?" Who? Dom looked around before his eyes finally landed on the person across the street. It was Henri Martel, an old friend from France.

"Henri?"

"Mon Dieu! It's Dom!" Henri ran across the street with a little girl in tow, a little girl Dom guessed was his sister. Like Lucien, Henri had been a childhood friend in Paris, but because of age differences they weren't nearly as close. Henri was about three years older than him and for much of their time together Henri had been the insider on "big kid things". He was cooler than them then, but only because he was older. Dom and Lucien had followed his advice until Henri moved away five years ago. When Henri crossed the street they shared a hug, faire la bise, and went to talking.

"When did you get here, Dom? What are you doing? Why didn't you come see me?"

"I knew you moved to Sweden, but here? How was I supposed to know?"

"You could have called!"

"My phone is dead," Dom answered quickly. "Besides, I just flew in about an hour ago."

"Don't tell me. With the AUP?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"I showed some magic tricks to one earlier today!" That was… Interesting? Dom wondered when his friend had become a magician, but he had better questions to ask.

"So you're an Atlantean?" Dom asked, gesturing to the tattoo on his neck. "Thanks for telling me." Henri laughed then.

"You say that like you tried to let me know about you too!" Henri grinned then. "So what do you do, Dom?"

Dom shrugged his shoulders. "You know, fire stuff." He matched, Henri's widening grin.

"And you're not showing me, because…?" Dom took that as his cue. He had only used his fire recreationally a couple of times. Recently all he had done was big, dangerous flames. Nothing good for this moment. Hopefully he could make a small one now. He concentrated on bringing up a small flame with his fingers and--surprisingly--it worked without much effort. Maybe he was getting better?

Henri gasped. "This is the best one I've seen all week!"

"Hey!" Henri's sister said from below them. She frowned up at her brother, clearly offended by what he'd said.

"Sorry, sorry. The second best. Julie's tops yours every time." Julie nodded, satisfied by her brother's correction. "You remember Julie, don't you, Dom?"

"Of course I do," Dom answered. She had only been three when Henri and his family left, but Dom wasn't going to forget her that quickly. Her goofiness had been a charm in the family. "And I think I've already seen her today." Dom immediately recognized the light blue jacket, striped blue and white hat and the striped shirt she wore underneath. The curly, blonde hair and mittens weren't hard to remember either. "You make bubbles don't you?"

"Yeah!" Julie shouted, grinning wide with one missing tooth. "Henri I'm famous!"

Henri laughed at her antics. "Don't let it go to your head." And then to Dom. "Where did you see her? At a cafe?"

"Yeah, I was sitting over there earlier." The mention of the cafe gave him a small shudder. The nausea tried to creep back in his stomach, but he forced it down. He'd already thrown up once today. He didn't want anything else from that bathroom incident lingering. He did his best to ignore the aches he had now.

"My parents own that cafe."

"Do they?"

"Yeah! My sister's actually down there right now." Henri's looked at his watch and then smiled. "My parents will be down there in about an hour if you wanted to see them?" Dom agreed to go, eager to see old faces after running into so many new ones. They all started walking, making their way at a leisurely pace back to the cafe. It reminded Dom of how relaxed Lindholm was. "Oh, what was I thinking?" Henri stopped in his tracks. "We can't go without your parents! Where are they anyways?" At the mention of his parents, Dom's heart sank and his eyes went downcast. In the excitement of the past hour, he'd scarcely remembered what he'd been doing before this.

"They're uh…"

"Sh*t. Paris…?"

"We got separated. Someone said there were people from Paris here so I decided to look around." Henri's smile had disappeared and he looked concerned. The both of them looked out in front of them. Around them, people talked with each other quietly or simply enjoyed their time alone. Not too far from them a group of teens laughed loudly together and a couple walked out of a nearby store with new things and big grins. Everyone seemed happy. Like them, Henri smiled.

"All the more reason to go to the cafe," he said finally. "We can make a search party! Twelve eyes are better than two, non?" Dom laughed, he guess he couldn't argue with that.

"So..." Dom smiled. "About that power of yours." The two of them talked and laughed together on their way to the cafe. Every now and again Julie would chime in with her own two cents, a comment that would leave the both of them laughing. The sun had already begun its descent out of the sky by the time they reached the cafe. As they approached, a raven-haired girl emerged from their glass doors, purse in hand.

"Oh, hey!" Henri yelled out to catch her attention. "Leaving so soon?"

"Henri, Julie!" The girl exclaimed, looking towards them. "We actually just left, but I had forgotten my purse. You guys just getting back?"

"Yes! I'm sorry we missed you, I would have loved to have more fun. Tell Ron Weasley I promise free coffee and cake the next time he makes me laugh like that, ok?"

She gave a laugh in response. "I sure will. Hopefully, he'll begin to listen to warnings. I'll see you guys later!" With a wave, the girl made her departure down the sidewalk.

"Ron Weasley?" Dom asked when the girl left.

"It was hilarious, I'll tell you all about it inside." All three of them entered the cafe and after reintroductions Henri started right in on the story. The time Dom spent in that cafe turned quickly into one of the best times he had in what felt like forever. Since the previous week, it had been one bad thing on top of another. Until this afternoon he didn't think it would ever stop. With familiar faces and old memories, Dom felt like he had been removed from the growing disaster. He was reluctant to come to Lindholm earlier today, but now that he was here he forgot that feeling. Despite what had happened, today was exactly what he needed.
 
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Thayne Clarke - Lindholm a.k.a. "New Atlantis," Sweden


Despite the confrontation with Dom and Delta, the rest of the trip went along smoothly albeit the fact that it was rather long. There had been several points where he had thought he had heard Delta say something, though if any of it was about him, he hadn't really noticed. It was almost as if time had begun to slow down as the plane carried on with its seemingly never ending flight. The seconds turned to minutes and then to hours before any sort of warning of arrival. That is, until a loud yell came from the cabin, notifying the group of the plane's eventual descent. The plane landed soon enough and before long, the group was forced to walk through the cold and to a van just off the landing strip. Luckily enough, Thayne had brought his jacket and scarf to combat the cool wind that seemed to creep up on the group. It looked as if Delta was the only one not to think ahead.

The second trip went by faster as an onslaught of questions were asked by the girl named Oakley. For the most part, it seemed to cover most of the things they needed to know and after parking at the town hall, the teens were turned loose with about twenty dollars each (in Swedish currency of course). It seemed as if everyone quickly dispersed after that, each of them going their own way without even a simple hint to where they were heading off to. The AUP is pretty laid back, Thayne thought. They just let us walk off and trust us not to cause a mess… It was definitely different to the methods of the Royal Family. There, it seemed as if he had been under constant surveillance, but no more. He couldn't help but smile at the new found freedom he seemed to possess. I guess I had made the right choice in staying.

But for the fact that snow seemed to cover any visible spot, Lindholm looked to be comprised of a mixture of modern and classic buildings, yet at the same time, they all had the same feel to them. New Atlantis was the beacon of peace and prosperity and absolutely no one would be able to deny it. It was a place of sanctity for all the refugees that had been forced away from their homes. Whether they were here because of the persecution, or even to escape the ruins of what was left of Paris, it was ultimately to be safe. Giving another smile of satisfaction, Thayne trudged through the snow and farther into the town. With each step, more and more sights came into view. More fountains, each with their own assortment of Atlantite, the snow-covered trees, and even groups of people doing their own things. Some were throwing snowballs or building snowmen, while other people were merely conversing. Others simply sat around to bask in the cool light. There was even one girl in front of one of the cafes who was forming bubbles in her hands to show off to others.

The main street seemed to be filled with a bunch of different stores, the likes of which ranging anywhere from a tiny cafe to a small, quaint bookstore on the corner. When Atticus said Emil was restoring the town, he wasn't joking. It was being brought back to what it was, so they weren't exactly modernizing it. Thayne enjoyed it. It wasn't everyday someone from a big city would come to a place like this.This quiet and odd place was like another, somehow completely bizarre world to where he had been for more reasons than one.

Thayne was used to city life. He had grown up where cars and buses flooded past,where noise after noise after noise could be heard from the subways that had been beneath his feet, or even from the alley ways beside the orphanage and his multitude of foster homes. He could remember the music from the clubs and his work, and even though he missed all of it, he didn't feel like leaving New Atlantis.

Nonetheless, it didn't stop him from remembering the times back in Seattle. It didn't stop him from thinking about the people he left behind. Sure, he was an orphan. He didn't have what most people considered 'family,' but he had friends and if they weren't family to him, then who would ever would be? Hell, Nick was probably still waiting for him to come home. He had basically been the only one Thayne had told the complete truth to. There hadn't been any stopping it. He knew what he was and he honestly didn't care. To Nick, Thayne wasn't an Atlantean. He was just Thayne. Even Mel, the girl who he had known forever (being another orphan), knew and acted in the same matter. (Granted, she seemed to deduce his heritage on her own.) He hadn't even told her anything, yet it was as if she knew after just one look. And of course, there were still others. Thayne had honestly tried to tell them. He dropped hints to everyone. He thought Jeff might've known, but there hadn't been any reaction. Carrie had just seemed completely oblivious. He laughed at the thought.

I wish they were here to see - he began to think before being cut off by a shrill call of his name. He turned in confusion, having no clue as to why any of the AUP members would be calling for him, only to meet face to face with a black blur before hitting the ground.

"I can't believe it's you," said his attacker, her feminine voice sounding way too familiar. Thayne opened his eyes and ended up surprised to see a raven-haired girl who's bangs were blocking her dark brown eyes. It can't be.

"Melissa?!" He questioned as she laid on top of him. "What are you doing here?" He couldn't help but stare in disbelief as she smiled, showing the dimples he had always thought to be adorable. It should've been impossible for him to meet her here. Shouldn't it have been?

"Now, you know that's no way to greet me, is it?" Her smile turned to a smirk as she moved to stand. Her large, black overcoat swayed in the cool breeze as she put her hands down to help him. "Especially if I've been here longer than you have been."

"You know what I mean," he replied to her. "It's not everyday that I turn around to see someone I know. At least, not anymore." It was just how it was, no one could deny it. Thayne's attention was taken away from his old friend for only a moment as he watched Dom seemingly run from the cafe that the bubble girl was stationed at. Is he OK?

"That's sort of your fault!" She said, jarring him from his thoughts with a push. She may have been happy to see him, but that didn't stop her from being angry with his absence. "It wasn't me that got up and left without any warning. I've had no idea if you were okay."

Thayne simply looked away. She was right. One day he had gone to the Atlantean Center, and the next he was in England. Of course, he was only there for a few days before the boat incident as well. "I've…Just been caught up in things… Lots of things."

"Like what? Atlantean stuff?" She gave a small, slightly mocking laugh before holding up her wrist. Thayne's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the ball shaped tattoo, its face covered in an intricate assortment of lines and shapes. "You aren't the only one."

"I...I didn't know. You never told me."

"I was embarrassed! I had gotten the damn tattoo and I didn't think I had a power!"

"What do you mean?" he asked in disbelief. From what he had seen, an Atlantean without a power was impossible. It could have been anything from kinetics to psychological to a morphology, but nothing? "What do you mean you don't have a power?"

"Well, I do," she said, covering her face. Her face was bright red from the cold, or maybe it was her anger, and she seemed to struggle to find the words. "I… Just didn't realize it til after you had disappeared. It wasn't exactly as obvious an ability as yours…"

"What are you talking about? How could it have been obvious?" He looked at her, confused about what was going on. "I thought I only dropped hints to being an Atlantean at the most."

"That's the thing though. You never told me directly, but I saw it and I just knew. It was your shadow. I don't think you realized it, but it was moving by itself, it kinda even lifted off the ground at one point. I saw it and it was like, I just knew. I knew what your power was and how it worked." She gave a sigh before continuing. Her face seemed to get more flustered as she went on. It was almost as if she was getting stressed out having to explain. "I didn't realize it til later, but it was happening constantly. I saw or touched anything and I knew how it worked.

"I had picked up a watch and in seconds I figured out how each individual piece functioned. I knew how the balance wheel oscillated back and forth, and I knew it was what kept the time." Her hands moved in an attempt to demonstrate what she was saying. " I even knew the ticking was caused by the escapement stopping the gear train. I learned so much about things. H*ll, I can probably walk up to that car over there and tell you exactly what was wrong without even opening the hood."

"No, I think I get the point." He answered, taken aback. "But why are you here? You're supposed to be in Seattle."

"I should ask you the same question."

"Fine, but let's at least go inside first. You look like you're gonna freeze to death."

"Don't you dare try and joke with me. Making me smile or something isn't going to help your case at all." As if to make her point, she turned dismissively towards the buildings in order to make her way through the snow and to the small cafe Dom had run from. With one last look at Thayne, she opened the shop's door. "Well?" She exclaimed questioningly. "Are you coming with or not?"

Sighing, Thayne followed apprehensively. She was only ever like this when something was completely wrong, and well, Thayne knew it was his fault. The inside of the cafe didn't do anything to ease up the anxiety from building despite its almost ancient appearance, mostly because they were the only two in the shop excluding the barista, a young blonde with blue eyes who seemed slightly appalled to see him. "'Ello, what can I do for you two today?" She asked after putting on a small smile. It obviously wasn't genuine. It was almost as if she already disliked him for reasons he didn't know.

"Just get my usual," replied Mel casually. "He'll have the House Special." The girl nodded in reply before disappearing through the back. "That's Rosa by the way. Her family, the Martels, own the building."

"Is there any reason as to why she's so...Dismal towards me? Did you tell her how horrid I was or something?"

"Ha, ha." Mel answered jokingly. "I shouldn't really say, but she has a bit of a problem. Or, I guess thats what you could call it." The girl moved to sit down, motioning for Thayne to sit across from her before seeing if Rosa was coming. Moving in to whisper, she began the explanation. "She's kinda the only one in her family without a power. She doesn't even have a tattoo. From what I could tell, the genes just kinda...Skipped her."

Thayne nodded in understanding as Rosa came from the back with the warm drinks in hand, her eyes going from them to window and back again. "'Ere you two go. Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to go get Juliette from outside. She seems to be bubbling it up out zere." And with that said, she walked out the door.

"I guess I can understand why she'd be grumpy," Thayne said before taking a small sip of the coffee, it's taste surprisingly sweet. "Anyways, what are you doing here? I mean, if you've been here long enough to learn something like that, it's probably been awhile."

The girl merely gave a smirk as she dropped two sugar cubes in her drink. "Do you really not know why? Haven't you seen what's been happening to Atlanteans?"

The young man looked away at the thought, knowing he wouldn't be able to look her in the eyes. He knew of the death tolls that seemed to be constantly rising all over the world. He knew about Russia's 'solution' to the problem. There was even the work laws being passed back in the states and the rioting in Canada. It was almost as if it was a second Holocaust.

"You remember Ronny from down the street. Just after you left he started bragging about his tattoo and his ability to read people's minds. He had a tattoo and the papers, but you could tell it wasn't really his power, especially since that one girl in the Royal Family has it. He was always avoiding people questions about it. Well, he disappeared about two days later. They found his beaten body the next day, saying he was drowned." She looked away as a tear seemed to form, only to blink it away. "I was afraid the same thing had happened to you."

"Mel, I'm sorry that I--"

His apology was interrupted by the ringing of the door as Rosa came in with her little sister and a man, whom Thayne presumed was her brother, following close behind.

"Thayne," Mel said, catching his attention. "You've met Rosa, but these two are Juliette and Henri. They're her siblings."

Thayne nodded as he looked at the two. It was obvious Juliette seemed to be around eight or so while Henri looked to be somewhere in his early-twenties. They both seemed to be wearing matching blue jackets. "Hey there, I'm Thayne," he said, introducing himself to the two.

"I'm Julie! Watch zis!" The little girl piped in without giving Henri a chance to speak. She opened her hands up and out of her palms formed a clear bubble between them. She held it as carefully as possible and presented it to Thayne and Mel. "Ta-da!" She sung. "Zat'll be six bucks, please!"

"Now, now, Julie settle down," Henri said, laughing at her antics. He wrapped his arm around Juliette's head and gave her a noogie.

"I'll pop one in your eye!" She threatened, but that only made him laugh more.

"Nice to meet you, Zayne," Henri said after he let his sister go. "You must have just got here if I hadn't seen you yet, huh?"

"Yeah," Thayne nodded, smiling at the pair. He didn't care how old either of them were. They were both adorable in his book. "I'm here as a member of the AUP." Mel looked towards him with a questioning glance. He knew she would ask about it soon enough.

"Ah--! Ze A-U-P! I love zose guys!" Henri walked across the cafe and let himself in behind the bar. He grabbed a cup and started pouring himself some coffee. "I joined zem as well. Zey 'ave a place in France, non? I decided to stay up 'ere for a while so I 'aven't been yet." Henri put down the pitcher and turned to face Thayne and Mel. "Is zat why you just got 'ere, are you from France?"

"The AUP is based out of Toulouse," Thayne replied as his eyes followed the man's movements. "About seven of us arrived sometime this afternoon. They kinda just let us go on our own from there." Stopping only to drink the last of his coffee, the teen looked at the older man with a sense of amusement. "Since you joined the AUP, what kind of power do you have?"

"Ohhh…" A mischievous grin formed on Henri's face and he placed his cup down onto the bar table. "You want to know what my power is?" He folded his arms, the grin never leaving his face.

"You might not want to let zat 'appen," spoke up Rosa as she eyed her brother. Of course, she knew there was no stopping it. As soon as Henri got his mind up to something, he wouldn't back down 'til it was over.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Juliette threw her hands in the air and chanted excitedly before running over to one of the barstools and climbing up on it. "Do ze zing! Do ze zing!" She said when she finally got on it.

"She wants me to do ze zing are you sure?" Henri asked again.

"You should probably say no," added Melissa. She could barely keep a straight face.

"Do it! Do it!"

"Look at 'er she insists I must!" Henry said, looking hopeless. "You 'ave a chance to turn back now, Zayne. 'Ear your friends, zey are warning you!"

Giving a small smile, Thayne eyed all of them suspiciously before looking at the little girl. If she wanted to see it, it couldn't be too bad, right? Right? "Go ahead."

"You idiot," sighed Mel, digging her face into her hands. She knew exactly what was coming.

"Did you 'ear zat? 'E said 'go ahead'!" Henri picked his cup off of the bar while Juliette cheered in her seat. "Rosa! Get your mop ready! Everyone else, stand back!" At the call, Juliette jumped from one barstool from another, a safe distance away from Thayne. Henri himself took one big step back. "Julie! What are ze magic words?"

"Wait, what do you mean by mop?" Thayne interjected.

"A-bara ca-dabara!" Julie yelled.

"Bingo!" Henri snapped his fingers and pointed directly at Thayne.

Thayne looked in confusion as Henri pointed at him, the only sign of something happening being a small rumble in his stomach. "Is that reall--" Thayne attempted to say before beginning to cough. He could already tell this wasn't going to be good. He puked straight onto the floor, barely missing the cup he had attempted to position in front of him. The thing was, it wasn't even a regular puke. It didn't consist of any familiar food or liquid, just slime and one large...slug? "What the hell was that man!?" He exclaimed in disgust, coughing out a little bit of slime. "That was a d*mn slug!"

By that time both Henri and Juliette were howling with laughter. "Yes it's a slug! I make slugs! We warned you didn't we?" He continued to laugh, clearly finding this whole situation absolutely hilarious. "I'm not so perfect, so sometimes the slugs are snails, but you were lucky zis time, eh?" Henri turned to his sister. "'Urry up, Rosa! We 'ave to clean zis up before anyone else shows up!" As they laughed, the large, black snail on the floor began to disappear. Its slime, however, was there to stay. "So now zat you've asked me, 'ow about you show me what you can do, 'uh?"

Both Rosa and Mel seemed to be holding back laughs of their own as Thayne wiped his mouth. "Do you really want to see my power?" If anything, it would be perfect practice, especially since Henri was across the room. No fear would play a role in hindering his abilities.

"Yes, yes! Why else would I ask? Show us!"

"Show us! Show us!" Juliette chimed in.

Thayne gave a small smile in response before looking directly at Henri. Raising his hand, Thayne watched as a small wall of black energy seemed to circumvent halfway around his target. In seconds, Henri was obscured from sight by the shadowy barrier, the darkness' density becoming thicker and thicker the longer it stayed.

"Intéressant!" Henri cried from behind the wall. He stepped out from behind it, a big grin on his face. "So what number do I call to get you for 'Alloween?"

"Oh, if you're apart of the AUP, I'm sure you can just talk to me directly." Satisfied with the use of his ability, Thayne dissipated the construct before turning to Rosa. "I can clean up the slime if you want me too."

"Oh no, anybody who can show up Henri is good in my book. I'll get it for you so don't worry about zis." She gave him a smile before disappearing through the back once again.

"Show up? Show up!?" Henri put on a look of shock. "Rosa just a few days ago you said I couldn't be topped. 'Ave I already lost my charm?" His eyes went downcast, like a shamed actor.

"Don't worry, Henri!" Juliette encouraged. "I'm still cool!" With her little announcement, Juliette started making bubbles fly from her palms and into the air.

"Upstaged by a child! 'Ow will I ever get my fame back now?" Henri looked as though he were at a loss. Suddenly his expression changed and a dark smile crept onto his features. He slipped over to Juliette and bent down towards the counter and lowered his voice. "Quels sont les mots magiques?" Juliette gasped and her eyes brightened.

"A-bara ca-dabara!" She whispered excitedly.

"Bingo!" Henri snapped his fingers and pointed directly at his sister.

"Don't you dare," began Rosa, changing her course towards her brother. "Is zat --" she stopped halfway, clutching her throat as a slug formed. Almost immediately she upchucked and sent another black slug, this one slightly larger, to the ground. The slime began to form in a puddle at her feet as she looked back up at him. "Je vais tu tuer!" She yelled at him before going into the back room. She may not have a power, but she could still hit him with something.

"Oh no! She's getting the frying pan! Julie! Quick! Run for your life!" Julie hopped off her stool and ran towards the door, laughing hysterically. "I 'ave to get going now," Henri said quickly to Thayne and Mel. "Don't tell anyone about the slugs, oui?" He grabbed his coffee and rushed out from behind the counter. "Enjoy your stay! And ze food! If you can still stomach it, you know?" Henri went out the door with Julie, but stopped short before he left. "''Ave fun in Lindholm!" After that, he was gone.

The friends watched as the two siblings ran out the door without giving either of them a chance to say good bye. Their sister eventually came back out with the frying pan. "Did zey leave?" She asked, looking out the window. "Just once I 'ope to be able to 'it 'im upside the 'ead." She gave a little smirk and turned to head for a mop, stepping in one of the puddles of slime. Her smirk disappeared instantaneously and muttered a string of French curses before going about her task.

Mel gave a smile. "You see this is the difference. Out there, Atlanteans are being rounded up. They're being beaten and killed. Here, they're running around as if none of that is happening. I mean," She added with a small laugh. "They're puking slugs. They're playing with bubbles. They're living as much of a normal life as they can. This place is perfect for people like us. We have freedom. We can live. But we have what I'm doing here figured out, what about you? You're apart of the AUP?"

"It's…a long story." Thayne said hesitantly.

"We have time."

Thayne gave a sigh but nodded. If it he was going to tell her, he might as well tell her everything, starting with the request of the Royal Family to join them after leaving the registering. He told her of the small amount of training he had in the few days he was there, and the eventual kidnapping by the mysterious men in black. He recounted the torture, leaving out some more gruesome parts, and the rescue by the Unification Project, or at least what Julian had told him of it. Even the events of the infirmary and the plane ride were shared. He shared what he knew about its members, including both the higher ups and the recruits. Before long, he had been talking for about an hour. Mel had been silent nearly the whole time, using her power to understand everything fairly quickly without question. The recount had even caught the attention of Rosa who seemed to stop in the middle of cleaning to listen in.

Mel remained quiet after he had finished, her thoughts close to home but farther away at the same time. Rosa had already gotten the two more coffee before leaving through the back once more. The silence seemed to continue longer and longer with the two doing nothing else but enjoying the company.

"Do you think the AUP is the way to go?" Mel asked, looking directly into Thayne's eyes. "Do you think it's safe?"

"I'm...Honestly not sure," he replied hesitantly. "They… Just seemed to have it figured out. They haven't let anyone be kidnapped from what I've seen. They started this place." Thayne sighed, taking another drink. "They're just better than the other Atlanteans groups. To be honest, I'm still trying to figure it all out."

Mel nodded in understanding. "I guess I get what you're saying." Her cheeks flushed a bright red before she continued. "I guess it would be a no if I asked you to stay… Wouldn't it?" Without giving Thayne the time to answer, she stood up and made her way to the counter, dropping a few bills as a tip. She then proceeded to walk out the door, leaving Thayne behind.

He immediately followed her as soon as the door shut, catching up to her quickly. "Mel. What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" She repeated, stopping in her tracks. "I just found out my best friend was alive, only to find out he's apart of some secret organization that fights armed mercenaries and could possibly get blown up by some stupid kid or some other sh*t… You're just going to leave me again and… I can't lose you. Not again…" She sighed and looked down at the ground, her breathing heavy and her tears freezing almost instantly. "I'm sorry. I know I'm overreacting but --"

"But no, you're not," interrupted Thayne as he wiped a tear from her face. "It honestly could happen. The thing is it could happen here too. No one knows if Russia or the United States know about this place. For all we know, they could be planning to bomb this island right now." He let out a sigh. "We can't know everything. We could be normal and we still wouldn't know. It's bad for both sides and everyone will just need to get through it."

"I missed you Thayne. That's all it is. I wished so much to know you were alive, but I saw you, and it was like seeing a ghost."

"I missed you too Mel. Just… Mel, will you come back with me? To the AUP?"

The pair went quiet again once the question was asked, their faces flushed for more than one reason. "I.." She stammered, thinking about how to answer. Thayne couldn't do much more than wait for the answer. "I don't know yet… I…" She lost track of her words as she looked back up at Thayne. Out of nowhere, she moved to kiss him, planting her lips on his own just before pulling away. The kiss had been fast, but her feeling was evident. "I forgot my purse in the cafe. Just wait here, ok?"

He nodded and watched as she walked off and back into the small shop. He didn't quite realize until then her feelings for him, but he knew he felt the same way about her. The girl had been his best friend before everyone else since she had grown up with him in the same orphanage. She had been the one person who was always there for him, no matter what. After all that, could he really not have something for her.

His thoughts were cut short when Melissa returned once again, a large, humorous smile on her face. "Henri asked me to tell Ron Weasley that the next time he's in, he gets free coffee and cake."

"Ron Weasley, huh?" He said to himself, remembering the movie. "I guess the name would fit." The pair laughed before the girl took his hand in her's. Meeting Mel here and making new friends was definitely a different outlook for what he expected today, but he honestly wouldn't change it for the world. With a smile on both of their faces, they began to walk down the street. "Any idea where we're going?"

"You'll see."​
 

Nora Draveiga - London, England


The police cordon outside the front of the club was of little problem to Nora and James. She could only attribute it to the same feeling one would have of swatting pesky flies. Signalling for James to take out the vehicles on the right, Nora focussed her ability and let out bolts of hot, neon infused energy on the rest. In a matter of seconds the road was littered with debris from the cars and policemen as the two left the awning of the club and walked across the road. On the other side of the road the path disappeared into a dimly lit park which Nora led James into. She was well aware of the recent death in the suburb over of an Atlantean kid whom had walked through a park late at night only to be mugged; but the two of them stood a far greater chance than he had.

As they ran through the park it reminded her of the last time she had been running from the cops prior to being found. Her parents often told her that she hung around the wrong crowd of people yet she always felt right being around them. Punks, social rejects and outcasts were just some of the names people called them but they didn't care; they refused to conform to social standing. He learnt a lot of tricks from these people that would get her far; from picking a lock to credit card fraud. It all became a game after she dropped out of school and begun hanging out with them. Just over three months ago, they began pulling off a two week heist that would land them either in jail or in fame.

Removing her piercings and dressing up nice, she printed off photoshopped credentials that lead to her being hired at the Smithsonian Museum. Here she worked as a curator and took people on guided tours around the museum all the while mapping the place out for their big heist. Recently NASA had gifted the museum a rather large piece of moon rock that they had found after it crashed to earth thousands of years ago. The rock would fetch them millions and set them up with enough money to get started somewhere new.

Eight days into her job and things were going pretty smoothly. They had plans drawn up and ready to execute as Nora's intel had proved to be very useful. In another four days they would hit the museum and eventually take off with the large chunk of moon rock. On the day of the heist, she had been taking a tour group when a rather attractive and tall lady joined their group. The lady seemed to stick out of the group to Nora as if she didn't quite belong with the rest of them, but she simply chalked it up to feeling anxious about the heist they would pull that night.

The heist went off without a hitch. It didn't take them long to get in, take the rock, and then vanish before the cops had even started making their way to the museum. Laughing and congratulating each other, they began making their way away from the museum and to Central Park where they would meet up with a contact whom their leader, Nick, had set up to pay them for the rock. Once there, Nora was surprised to see the strikingly beautiful lady from earlier on in the day waiting for them. She accepted the bag, checking that the right stone was inside before handing them the envelope of cash in payment. Before they left, the lady stopped them and asked Nora if she wished to join here. At first, she declined the lady, happy enough with how it was now. However something ate at her insides over the coming days as she remembered the lady's words offering her a greater sense of purpose.

Contacting her through Nick, she was able to talk to the lady again, asking her if the offer still stood. Within a day, she joined the rest of the lady's rag-tag band of Atlanteans and started learning of her own abilities and what she wanted to achieve. She felt indebted to the lady named Raguel for giving her a greater sense of purpose. She had finally felt the one thing that felt truly right and was ready to do whatever it took to make it happen.

Above them Nora could hear the thumping of rotor blades as a helicopter flew over their heads heading no doubt towards the club. Regardless they forged ahead, Nora pulling James along behind her as to not slow herself down. It only took them a minute for the path they were on to lead right to a car park nestled near the edge of the park.

"Over here, James," she beckoned to him as she reached a dark blue, two-door Mazda. She unlocked the car, getting in and opening the passenger's side door for James. When he was in she turned on the ignition and began driving out of the park.

Nora knew that their only chance of getting out past he cordon was making it out the other side of the park. Foregoing the traditional cement driveway out of the park, she opted instead to go off-road and began driving down the pedestrian walkway. It was a wonder how she made it through the park without hitting anyone much less anything but soon found them back on solid cement. Skirting the cordon, they now began rocketing through the late night traffic on their way. The drive back was pretty tame, with Nora making sure to drive to the speed limit and to not single them out in anyway.

"So, is there anything you wanted to know before we head to where we'll be staying?" Nora asked James without taking her eyes off the road. She was ready to answer him just about anything provided she knew the answer. If he was anything like herself then he would probably like to know what exactly he was getting into.​

Dekun 'Nix' Bai - London, England


The DJ was kind enough to lend the half-naked Nix a shirt and pair of pants; all the while staring at the boy he had seen being shocked to death. It didn't take Nix long to get changed; ducking behind a dumpster to quickly get changed before walking ahead of the other two. He remained silent while he led them through the alleyways and backstreets of London; not wanting to talk about his ability. Of course the others would want to know how exactly he had survived James' attack, and could probably deduce it was due to his ability, but they had both seen him die and he wasn't prepared to answer questions.

It had been a month since River had made her way to Yunnan Province for Nix's funeral. Only a couple of days previously he had been flight training in the People's Army; testing out a new series of aeroplanes the People's Republic had bought from Russia. He had been one of the younger recruits in the air force but had quickly excelled ahead past many of the older recruits. Flying was his passion and he enjoyed how free and powerful he felt as he sped through the sky at high speed. On the day Nix was flying on the right at the back of his squadron's formation as they flew over the Outer Mongolian desert.

Out the window he watched the sandy plateau race by below him as ahead; the rest of his squadron flew through the sky. Their squadron was made up of the more advanced members of recruits this year and were lucky enough to test fly the new series of aircraft. Over their communications they chattered amongst themselves in rapid fire Mandarin as they dove and turn in almost synchronised fashion. Nix remained radio silent during the mission, save for the occasional '对' in confirmation to orders from their squadron leader. It seemed like they could easily fly on into the horizon and never land but he knew eventually the respite would end and they would have to return to base.

From his pocket he drew the small charm his boyfriend had gifted to him this morning. It was meant to be some sort of Daoist or Buddhist charm of protection but Nix didn't quite believe in that stuff. The smooth, wooden charm had the Traditional Chinese character for protection engraved on it; attached to a looped string with a couple of blue crystals. Despite his non-belief, Nix still enjoyed the gesture and kept it in the front pocket of his jacket.

As he turned the charm over in his hand he started to get an annoying itch on his shoulder blades. He moved his shoulder to and fro, trying to shift the itch by scratching it against the back of his chair, but the itch only seemed to grow over a large area. Across the communications his squadron checked to see if he was alright as his plane faltered in the air slightly. Still radio silent, he endured silently as it started to become too much. It now felt like his shoulders were on fire. When the sharp stab of pain struck his shoulder, the plane took a nose dive. It was all over in a matter of seconds as the plane plummeted nose first into the shifting sands below.

They said there was a lot of damage to his body. Someone even said it was hard to see what was machine and what were body parts as the two seemed to blend into one. They took hours to cut his torn body from the wreckage and managed to salvage most of it for his family. He was given a Confucian funeral only a couple of days after, before his remains were cremated and given to the family. His family had a shrine made in their house where his ashes sat and incense burned for their departed son, grandson and nephew. Even River managed to put her grievances aside with her family to make it over in time to pay her respects.

That was when Nix woke up. He was naked and confused, as he found himself lying on the concrete floor of the crematorium; shattered pottery seemingly blown apart and scattered all over the floor. Somehow he managed to find his way out of the dark place and into a back alley where he managed to find some clothes hanging from a line draped between both walls. He wasn't well versed with his hometown but managed to eventually find his way home where he quickly changed into some of his own clothes before venturing out again. His first stop took him to his boyfriends whom he explained everything to before breaking it off. Nix was special now and he needed to escape before people started asking about him. Next he withdrew all his funds from the bank before purchasing a one way plane ticket to England in the following days. He knew a friend working in the British Embassy who would be able to get him a visa quickly; whom he visited next. It was on the plane that he bumped into his Aunt River and after explaining to her what happened, she explained to him what was going on and he returned to the Atlantean Mansion with her.

Back in the present day, Nix came across a car he knew how to hotwire. Breaking into it, he was quick to get it started and soon they were taking a detour around the city; heading for Heathrow. He didn't know what to say to Nate, so sat there silently until he could fathom the words in English.

"Please not tell my power." Was all he could say at the current time.
​

Jules Bancroft - Austin, Texas


Jules was a faithful Christian. He went to church every Sunday, prayed every night before bed and lived a good, wholesome life. Jules lived in suburban Austin, Texas and was well known amongst his neighbours and fellow church-goers as a good man. Not one of them could really fault his for anything he did aside from being faithful to his belief. He had a lovely wife who was just a devout as him and two young children that both attended the local Christian school as well as church with him and his wife. All in all, Jules was happy with the life he lived.

Then Atlanteans came along.

"For people to possess God like abilities and not be Him is blasphemy." His pastor started with as their sermon began its proceedings, "These Atlanteans are nothing but demon spawn and children of the Devil himself. If you know of anyone possessed by these demons, they should be exorcised before they can spread their demonic seed."

At first Jules thought it strange that his pastor would spit such hate towards other people, but as the man spoke on, Jules slowly began buying into the words he spoke. Around him, parishioners also nodded their heads in agreement and Jules soon felt relieved that he wasn't the only one nodding in agreement. As he became enchanted by the words of the man, he missed as his wife scratched at her arm. With sweaty hands she quickly pulled her sleeve down further to hide the tattoo that had suddenly appeared on her skin.

When the sermon was over, Jules told his wife to meet him in the car while he went to talk to the pastor about today's sermon. The man was surrounded by Jules' neighbours and fellow church-goes and it was a while before he could get in a word in with the pastor. "Thank you for your sermon today, it was very interesting."

"Well thank you Jules, I feel that it is up to us to keep His earth clean of the Devil's forces. These Atlanteans are nothing more than a trial sent to us by Him to keep us faithful. We must not waiver!" The man practically spat the words out like a bad taste in his mouth, sounding so confident in God's will.

"But, how can we be sure this is His will? These were once people like you and I?" Jules asked.

"They were never people like you and I, they were always the spawn of the Devil. Now He has shown us their true form so we can rid them off of His earth and purify the land. If you still do not believe, meet me here tonight at eight. I will show you what we must do." The pastor finished talking to him and moved on to talking to another parishioner.

Returning to his family in the car, they drove home in silence as Jules pondered the offer. He wasn't exactly sure what his Pastor had been talking about nor was he entirely sure he wanted to find out. But curiosity got the better of him and by the time they arrived home, he had already made the decision to return later that night. The day seemed to tick on slowly as he helped his wife with the gardening out in the brilliant sun while his children went off to play with the neighbours. Later he retreated to his study to look up and further expand his knowledge on these devil spawn while his wife cooked dinner.

At first he found the gruesome images and horrible destruction surrounding the Berlin Bombing and the Parisian Meteor Storm. He couldn't fathom how it was possible for people along to do this without the work of some supernatural force. As he scrolled down to more hits like the attack in London, he started to realise that these monsters even attacked their own kind. It was pure chaos and posed a real threat to their world. A man turned his boss into pure gold, a boy caused his school to collapse with only his mind, and a wife murdered her entire family in the blink of an eye. These people were truly horrible and Jules began feeling a twisting in his gut at the disgust he felt towards these outrageous acts.

Over dinner they talked little. Normally Jules would ask his children about their studies, the neighbourhood children and if their future plans had changed. Now, he kept glancing at the clock, waiting for it to tick closer and closer to eight o'clock. His wife picked up on this but refused to acknowledge it as she was lost deep in her own thoughts as well.

Without a word, Jules left his house just before eight and headed down to the church. As he pulled into the church parking lot, he saw several other cars belonging to fellow parishioners and wondered if they were here for the same thing. Pulling up beside one, he took a couple of deep breaths in his car before getting out to head into the church.

As he walked in, the first thing he noticed was that the pews had all been pushed out to the side instead of in their neat rows facing the pulpit. As he go further in he could see why; around a figure bound to a miniature cross were many of the parishioners whose cars Jules had seen parked outside the church. He stood in shock; startled at the scene in front of him as the boy on the cross seemed only a little older than his teenage daughter.

"How-how could you do something like this?" He exclaimed as several of the church-goers turned around to acknowledge his presence.

Parting the crowd like Moses, Jules' pastor made his way over to him, placing a wrinkled hand on his shoulder. "Jules, welcome. This is what I was talking about before. This boy before us is one of them, we are here tonight to return his soul to Him."

"This is… this is wrong. This is madness." Jules turned around to leave; he wasn't about to kill a man for a reason that started to seem ridiculous.

"Jules, this man has done horrible and unspeakable things. All we can do is try to preserve his soul and expel the demon within." The Pastor's eyes seemed to ring with truth and Jules could see the man was adamant in his own belief.

"But he is just a child!"

"A child that given the chance, would do unspeakable things to you wife and children while you watched. He is a child no more so we must do what we can. Join us, Jules. Just watch this one time then you can make your mind up whether you join us or leave."

His hands were shaking now, his heart beating a thousand miles per hour as he tossed up what he was going to do. Curiosity gnawed at his brain as he wondered just what the Pastor had in mind for the boy. Then again, could his soul really be saved now? A hundred thoughts raced through his head as he struggled to make his mind up. In the end, it was the danger to his wife and children that made him stay. If he could learn how to exorcise these monsters, he would be able to protect his family from their destructive influence. "Okay," was the only response he could muster.

"Excellent!" The Pastor wrapping his arm around Jules' shoulder and lead him back to the group. He left Jules' between two of the church members while he walked back into the middle of the circle, standing next to the crucified figure.

"Atlantean Demon, answer me this: what is your name?" The Pastor every so often looked over to make sure Jules' was still standing there.

"Screw off you Christian weirdo!" the boy screamed as he continued to struggle against the ropes that bound his hands and legs.

"Demon, what is your name?" The Pastor asked again, his voice scarily calm.

"I will kill you all if you don't let me go! This is crazy! You're all crazy freaks!" He continued to scream.

"No, it is you who is the freak, Demon. Pray to Him for forgiveness and relinquish your sins."

"Burn in hell!" The boy screamed before locking eyes with Jules.

The boys' eyes were wild like a crazed animal, but what really made Jules' spine crawl was the red iris' that started back at him. As he stood there, rooted to the spot, he found it difficult to drawn his gaze away from the boys' as a numbing sensation filled his body. Soon, the boy smirked an evil smile a Jules' let out a cry as his body began to move of its own accord. His arms jolted twice before reaching out and grasping the neck of the man standing beside him. In a flash, the other parishioners were on him, pulling Jules back off of the man he was currently strangling.

"Hold on, Brothers." Everyone stopped as the Pastor addressed them all before striking the boy.

Jules felt his body return to his own control as the boy on the cross screamed out in agony after being struck. He quickly apologised to his friend who brushed it off as the two helped each other to their feet to resume. After that he kept his eyes cast down like the rest of his fellow church-goers, whispering a prayer to god for not only his own soul but also the soul of the boy on the cross. These Atlanteans were a dangerous force; Jules had just felt the brunt of that and now understood what his Pastor had said this morning. In the end he hadn't heeded his Pastor's warning and this strange event was God's way of reminding Jules of his faith.

"Join me, Brothers, as we send this Demon back to the depths of Hell and rescue this poor boys' soul." Jules soon sound himself repeating scripture with the men around him as their chanting began to fill the halls. The boy seemed to be going crazy, telling them to shut up and yelling all manner of vile profanities at them, but nothing would make them let up. They continued to repeat, even as their Pastor brought a small dagger Jules had seen sitting in the holy water in the foyer of the church.

"God, cast this Demon down and raise this innocent soul to your Kingdom. Amen." Everyone called together as the Pastor struck the blade into the boy's chest; right over top his heart.

The boys' eyes widened as he took in two sharp breaths before he stopped struggling against the ropes. His head hung down as a small trickle of blood dropped from his mouth and a stain began forming on his clothes where the blade had struck. He was well and truly dead and Jules could do nothing but pray that his soul had been saved.

He stayed behind to help the Pastor clean up the mess and return the pews to their positions. Now he was surer than ever after having experienced being possessed by the boy that what they were doing was the right thing. If they were going to rid the planet of the Devil's foul spawn, then Jules would be there as another hand to help them. With God on their side, they could achieve a lot.​
 
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Atticus Forsberg - New Atlantis, Lindholm, Sweden

The inside of the "Town Hall" was a lot warmer than inside, but colder than he wanted. He had grown up in the warmer parts of America; first Florida, then California. The winters were shorter and less... Sweden-like. He tugged at his coat, rubbing his arms as the indoor heating began to kick in. It seemed nobody had been in the town hall for a few days now, and saving electricity was something that was important for a small town like this.

And not only did the cold bother him, but the fact it was Sweden. This place did not hold the best of his memories. Sweden reminded him of his dad, then his family, his mother and sister... It was not something he liked to think about.

Misha, on the other hand, embraced the cold like it was his mother. He loved it. It reminded him of home, of Russia and his own family. And of the binge drinking and parties. Oh, the parties. That was surely the life. But, Atticus' mood had become slightly contagious and that was not something that Misha planned on keeping this entire trip.

"Aww, cheer up Atticus. I vill make vaffles and vodka sunrises and you vill feel as good as new."

"Aren't vodka sunrises a little too... teenage party girl for you?" Atticus frowned, dumping luggage in the main foyer. Misha followed, his load triple the size. Making two trips was for wimps.

"Nozing completes morning like glaz of vodka to keep you going and dash of great American orange juice and grenadine to keep you bright and smiley."

Atticus gave a laugh. He wasn't sure you were meant to make the majority of it vodka, but the Russians usually did drinking right so he shrugged and nodded, letting Misha almost skip his large body off into the kitchen area. Atticus began hauling luggage up, placing it all into upstairs common room. The common room had several doors leading into other rooms, each fit with two single beds. Atticus just left the luggage in the common room, not planning on choosing their rooms for them. That would surely cause some kind of argument if he chose the 'wrong couple'. When he had chosen his own room (bunked with Freddie), he headed back downstairs, with the delicious aroma of pastry wafting from the kitchen. His nose led him to Misha, dressed to cook in a silly, pink apron. Did he bring that?

"Vaffles?" It was amazing how fast he had made them, holding out the plate for Atticus coated with strawberry jam. Atticus took the plate, smirking.

"That's very Swedish of you."

"Swedish food for Swedish man! Doesn't zis place remind you of zah nice breakfast you had wiss your family?" Atticus' face immediately went sour, the strawberry now tarty in his mouth than the sweetness he was used to. Misha realised he had hit a sweet spot, not realising Atticus' past and was brave enough to ask. "Your breakfasts vere not happy?"

"They were happy, yeah." He took a bite of the waffles. They were nice, he could admit that. Misha was a great cook, it seemed, among other things. "That was a while ago though. A lot of things have changed since then."

"Like zis?" Misha gestured to himself, Atticus and then everything in general. Atticus let out a small sigh.

"Yeah. Like that." Atticus swallowed a mouthful, and narrowed his eyes at Misha. "Have you ever wondered what life would be like without... 'this?'"

"Da. I vould be author vriting mystery and romance novels! Or maybe I vould travel vorld. Explorer! Mountaineer! Animal doctor! Perhaps stewardess or vork in bank. Dessert chef!" He gestured to his waffles, chuckling. "It does not matter vat I vould be doingk, only zat I vould be good man and good friend. Zat is life motto. Da?"

"That's a nice motto to have. I guess I've never thought about it like that. It seems like forever since I found out I was this. And whenever I think about what life was life before, all I can think of is Mom and Dad and my sister. And I hate that it seems like the only memory I have of them."

"Vat... Vat happened, may I ask?" Atticus gave a slow shrugg in reply.

"I got caught up with the wrong people. And my family suffered the consequences. It's not complicated, just... awful. Really, really awful. That's all."

"Vell," Misha started, placing another waffle on Atticus' plate, "if you ever vant to talk about it, I am here to listen." He gave Atticus a hearty slap on the back. "Guilt is heavy bag to take wiss you everywhere."

"Mm." Atticus nodded, poking the waffle with his fork. "Well, it kind of started when--" he was cut off by the loud knocking on the front door. Atticus raised an eyebrow and got up to go check who it was, Misha following behind him. He opened the main door to see a man, probably the same age as him, panting at the front door. "Hi? Are you okay?"

"Hey." He wheezed, bent over with his hands on his knees. He looked up to see the two confused faces at the door. "Oh my god. Misha, hello. And... you. Atticus, yeah. Wow. Okay, uh, yes. There's a problem."​



Oakley North - New Atlantis, Lindholm, Sweden

After the group had disbanded, Oakley turned to the two remaining. Devon didn't say anything, only sniffed and turned into town. Oakley was about to ask where he was going but he seemed to disappear into the snow as he headed off, not really interested in company. So instead, Oakley turned to Freddie, pulling her peacoat closer to her as she smiled at him.

"What did you want to do, Freddie?"

"Im n-not sure." He looked to the direction that Devon had gone. "M-maybe we should look th-through t-town? I think I n-need a scarf." Oakley laughed a little bit. It was true, his neck was exposed, but surely his strange goat hair would keep him warm. Oakley also noticed that Freddie wasn't wearing any shoes, his hooves out from the bottom of his pants.

"Alright." She nodded and the two walked (with one stumbling a bit) into town. It was quiet, yet the people she passed seemed happy and content with this new life. Many were openly using their abilities about town, a girl creating bubbles and showing off to everyone else. She gave a laugh, feeling so at home with the atmosphere in Lindholm. Freddie pointed at a small clothes shop and Oakley followed him inside. It was much warmer inside, so much so she pulled her coat off and hung it over her arms as they browsed inside.

"How about th-this one?" He pulled up a turquoise polka-dotted scarf. Oakley laughed and shook her head. That shade of blue definitely was not his colour. He picked up a few others, a purple one, a rainbow one, a murky brown... they weren't bad, but they weren't him either. Oakley looked inside the basket and pulled out something a little more classic.

"How about this?" It was a deep red and looked nice against his mousy, sandy brown hair. She threw it over his neck (throw was very literal, he was quite a bit taller than her, much like most people were to her. Now that he was more comfortable on his feet/hooves, he didn't have to slouch anymore) and he turned around to look in a mirror.

"This is n-nice." He nodded and checked the price tag. With a nod, he took it to the counter and paid for it with the money Atticus had given him. The lady took the money, but her face became a little frantic as she searched for something. "What's wrong, miss?"

"My key, my key for the till. I can't find it." She picked up some papers and pushed things aside, before she sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, I can't give you any change."

"It's alright." He handed her all of his money anyway. "You c-can k-keep the change. D-did you n-need help finding your k-key?"

"Oh, thank-you so much. I'll find a way to repay you, I promise. And no, it's alright. I'll find it soon. Thank-you very much." She gave them a wave as they left.

Freddie wrapped his new scarf back around his neck, pulling off the price tag. He beamed at Oakley, now cosy and warm.

"It looks good!" She smiled back at him, only for his to then dim. "What's wrong?"

"D-do you know much about... Julian? Dr. Morales?"

"No?" Oakley frowned at him. Well, she knew a little, but not much. He was a doctor and he had been with her and Devon for that short time while they were on the boat before... well, he did that thing. "Why?"

"N-n-no reason! Hey, l-let's check out these other places!" He pointed at another store front, and proceeded to walk in. Oakley followed him, browsing each store, ranging from general goods to hardware to sweets and lollies and even computers. Some seemed to follow the clothes store's unlucky trend of losing things, like a paperclip to put paper together or sticky tape to put up a poster but perhaps there was a town curse (Oakley chuckled to herself for thinking such a thing). There weren't a great deal of shops, though and there was one more to browse. A cute cafe. Oakley managed to see Dom and a few others leaving it together and went to call out his name, but changed her mind after seeing that a) he seemed rather comfortable with his company and b) he wasn't with Delta. She smiled and turned into the door, only to slam into someone.

She stepped back a bit, but immediately apologise.

"Sorry! I didn't see you there!" She said, giving them man a nervous smile. He shook his head.

"Sorry, no, that's okay." He gave her a nod and proceeded on his way, heading out towards the residential error.

Oakley was shoved again as a small girl pushed her out of the way, shouting a sorry as she chased the man, yelling something about leaving his bag behind. Oakley shrugged, this time heading inside without any interruptions.

The cafe, like all the shops, was warm on the inside and smelled of coffee and baked goods. Her mouth watered as she leered at the small cakes and tarts and sweet buns. They all looked so delicious! And Frederick looked interested too, so after she had a good and long look (like ten minutes long) she pulled out her own money and handed it to the lady at the counter.

"Hello!" Oakley said cheerfully. "May I get two cappucinos and two of those small cakes there, please."

The lady nodded, a little sour looking but not enough to bother Oakley immensly. She put the two cakes on a plate each and began to make the coffes, but like the lady, noticed something was missing.

"My necklace!" Her hands touched her neck, noticing something was missing. She peered over the counter, looking past Oakley and Freddie. "Julie? Have you got my necklace?" When there were no response, she apologised to Oakley and Frederick as she left the counter to poke her head around the back. "Mother? Is Julie with you?" There was a no for a response, the lady poked her head out the front door, looking for "Julie". "Julie? Julie? Simon, have you seen Julie?" she asked a boy, older than Oakley, passing the front. Oakley, curious, peered out the front window.

"Nooope. She's not with Henri?"

"No, she stayed here, with me and mother. She went to give that man's bag back, then..." she looked around as she was joined by her mother. "Where could she have gone?"

"Excuse me," Oakley piped up, "but a girl passed me and Freddie as we came inside."

"That must have been her! How long have you been here?"

Oakley looked at Freddie. He glanced at his watch. "M-maybe 15, 20 minutes?"

The lady flipped out her phone, quickly ringing someone. After a few short words, she flipped it back shut. "She's not with Henri or Dad. She wouldn't have gone home, would she?"

Her mother shook her head, but turned to the man called Simon, who had his hand held out. They seemed to be thinking on the same page. She disappeared for a moment inside and returned with a beanie. Simon grabbed it, pulling it over his head. It barely fit, but he closed his eyes and started to twitch, which then led to a spasm. Oakley frowned, looking to the others to see if they would help him, but they stood there and watched. Had he done this before? Was this his ability? The mother actually disappeared for a second and reappeared with a glass of water.

His trembles subsided and he began to breathe heavily, handing the beanie back to the lady's mother. He held onto a nearby chair to support his weight and started to shake his head and look rather worried.

"She gave this... bag back to this man. Then he took something from her, I'm not sure what." Simon took the glass of water and drank half of it in one go. "And she put bubbles in his face and then he ran away and she followed him and... it gets really hazy then. I think they headed further into old town. I think she... he lost her and she got lost."

"I think he was new too, that man," the mother shook her head, her face growing more and more worried. She poked her head inside to grab her coat, suddenly looking fierce. "Simon, please go tell AUP up at town hall what's happened. They might know what to do. Rosa, ring Henri, tell him to come back and look."

"I'll call Mel as well, she was just here. What are you going to do?" Rosa asked her mother, pulling her phone out of her pocket, already punching in the number.

"I'll go start looking."

"We're part of the AUP too." Oakley piped up again, gesturing to herself and Freddie. "We'll come with you."

"Y-Yeah."

"And I'll ring Aoife. We live towards old town, she might meet you on your way." Simon also pulled out his phone, already recuperated and starting to run back towards town hall.

"Thank-you, everyone."​
 

James Hazen and Nora Draveiga - Suburban London, England


James knew that Nora meant her question in regard to the group she was representing. He recalled Henry mention the three groups, and figured that she most likely represented the one that he hadn't run into before. Although there might be a possibility that she was with the AUP as well. Either way, he figured he would find out more about the organization from whoever was in charge rather than from a foot soldier, which is what he assumed Nora was. At the moment, he was more interested in her.

"So you're an Atlantean, huh?" He remarked cooly. His demeanor was a stark contrast to their current situation. There they were skidding across London causing all sorts of mayhem and he couldn't be any more at ease. This was his equilibrium. "How long have you had your powers?"

"Longer than you, hot shot. I've just managed to keep outta the papers is all." She wasn't at all surprised by James' change of subject, she figured she would probably have done the same if she were in his shoes. It isn't often you meet someone again; especially in these sort of circumstances. In the back of her mind she wondered if he was still the innocent James she remembered from so long ago.

"...did you have it back then?" He asked as he turned his head from the road to have a look at her driving.

"Nah, that's what, like three years ago now?" She lifted one hand off the wheel and began playing with the misty substance she had seemed to excrete from her hand, "I've had this gem for little under a year. Didn't even fathom I could do such things until I was shown how to." Nora returned her hand to the staring wheel, reminiscing on some of the more brutal trainings she had gone through.

There was a slight breath of relief from James when she first began to speak, but it was quickly followed by a churning that began deep in his stomach and travelled across his chest. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, but tried to keep his cool as he averted his gazed from Nora and instead chose to momentarily take in the scenery. He was jealous. Envious that she, and others like her, had a chance to experiment and use such powers for so long and he for so little. It was unfair in his eyes. He could have been away from that stupid island years ago. He should have been. Instead, he was left to that annoyance he had to call home.

James took a deep breath, calming down and returning his gaze to Nora. "That thing you did in there, with your tattoo. Is that something every Atlantean can do or is that just a part of your power?"

"What thing with my tattoo?" she asked him, not quite sure what he was talking about. As far as she knew the flower remained static on her shoulder and didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Then again, how had he seen her tattoo? "Oh, when I went Super Saiyan, yeah? Is that what you're talking about?"

"Yeah, you went all golden and your tattoo spread across your body," As he said this, he suddenly felt the urged to touch his own tattoo positioned on his neck. He rubbed it softly, feeling a slight chill go across his spine as he did so, or perhaps it was the cold wind rushing past him in the slightly opened window. "Is that something everyone can do?"

"Of course. Geez, what have they been teaching you?" She asked him sarcastically, tucking her hair behind her ear and revealing several grey strands of hair. "It takes a while to achieve; God Mode that is. Certain objectives met. The usual this and that. But as great of a power as it is, it does have it's own side effects." She suddenly became slightly anxious, pulling her hair back around to cover her ears.

"Usually the best things do," He remarked, turning down to his own hand and examining it. He made a few fists with it, trying to see if full feeling had returned to it. Parts of it were still numb. It seemed every time he used his power now, the tingling-followed-by-numbing sensation would linger a bit longer, especially if he used too much at once. "I'm going to find out how to do it." He declared, both out loud to himself and to Nora.

She simply scoffed, "Why don'tcha just ask?" Nora wondered just how exactly that brain of James' ticked. He didn't seem like the brightest lightbulb. She even wondered if his mother still dressed him in the morning like a special little boy.

"Then it wouldn't be mine," He muttered under his breath. This he said mostly to himself. He didn't know how exactly to explain his reasoning. "I think I could pick it up if we go at it a few more times."

Nora slammed on the breaks as a car pulled out in front of her. "You useless piece of sh*t!" she began cursing violently at the driver in front, "go drive off a cliff you blind w*nker!" She finished screaming despite the driver not being able to hear her violent rant. "I'm sorry, you were saying?" She asked him as she planted boot, swerving onto the other side of the road and giving the finger to the guy as they passed him.

James snapped up as Nora began to shout, watching her maneuver around the other driver and give him the bird. As she did so, he looked over to see the other guy's reaction, chuckling as he seemed to curse also from his own vehicle. He glanced from the other driver back to Nora, examining her revealing clothing that flaunted her body. "I guess I'll just practice a few times. You look like you've had the experience working for the...?" He trailed off, expecting her to answer exactly what organization she was a part of.

"Practice?" She scoffed then laughed at him, "Honey, this isn't some dance you can learn by a few tutorials. You gotta jump through hoops and really know yourself before you can use it freely." Thinking back to her own training, if you could call it that, she knew that James could not fathom what was instore for him. On more than one occasion she had found herself in tears and wanting to give up; it wasn't as much the toll on your body as it was on your soul or being. "It changes you." She said softly.

"We're not like the others; we don't have some silly acronym. Most just call us Renegades and so it's kinda stuck. You'll see when we get there," she addressed James' question; they didn't work for some half-secret organization with goals of peace and prosperity. They were here to really mess everything up. By now they had properly left the central city and were driving through the quiet suburbs lining it.

"Renegades..." He repeated softly to himself. The name struck a fairly acceptable tone within James. The idea of being in line with a group of individuals in opposition to everything else was something he could get on board with. Though he decided internally not to get too familiar with them this time. He wasn't officially joining anything anymore. "So what exactly are the Renegades trying to do? Do you have a goal or a plan or some sh*t like that?"

"Raguel, she's the one that runs us. We don't really see much of her, only when she wants us to do something like rescue you or blow sh*t up." Nora giggled to herself as she thought about being James' saviour. She meant it as demeaningly as she had said it. "Otherwise it's hang about, train, do whatever we want, really." Their style went well with the name; they were outcasts from both sides and only wanted to mess things up for both humans and Atlanteans. "If you're asking about a long term goal, Raguel's the one to talk to."

"Hmm...alright," James stated, content with the answer he received. He didn't much care for whatever long term plan they had cooked up in their ranks. He was more interested in the types of restrictions they would have among them. It was a definite improvement from the ARF and the Librarian. He could focus more on what he wanted to do instead. He exhaled and closed his eyes, leaning back in the seat and getting more comfortable. "Lead on. I'll stick around as long as I like what's happening."

Nora nodded at him as she pulled up outside a three storey house that seemed to be joined to either house sitting next to it. It didn't seem very large, but Nora assured James that the backyard was fairly big. As they walked up to the house they could hear yelling from the inside and the sound of something glass shattering against the wall. "Time to meet your new friends!" she spoke with sarcastic excitement as she tried not to keep them standing on the small porch for too long. As she fiddled with the lock, she could feel James' presence close to her, and she eye'd him from the corner of her eye. She couldn't help but skip a beat as she remembered just how much she had enjoyed their last meeting; from his captivating eyes, to his muscular physique and even further down. She could help but be impressed how much more attractive he had become.​
 

Nathaniel Calaway, Hayden Prosper and Nix Bai - London, England


There was a deafening silence for some time with not as much as a whisper breaking it between the three men. Hayden was understandably quiet, probably to figure out what just happened at the club. Nix, meanwhile, went about his business without giving Nathaniel as much as a double take. Nathaniel followed in equal silence, giving Hayden the space he needed and Nix the space he wanted.

The silence unfortunately caused Nathaniel to sit awkwardly in the car when Nix finally forced himself into one. Of course, Nathaniel did not want to steal a car and place themselves further into trouble with the law, but with his throbbing head and swollen features he was incapable of formulating anything better than "run" as an idea to get out of London. Nathaniel's eyes wandered the vehicle, disgruntled at the silent exchange amongst the men. He knew that if it continued he would think about what had just transpired. He didn't want to. He didn't want to think about how Nix "died." He didn't want to think about how his past came back to haunt him. He didn't want to think about how he failed. For once, Nathaniel didn't want to think. He didn't want to conceive some elaborate theory to explain everything. He didn't want to do any of this. Not now. Maybe not ever. If anything, Nathaniel wanted just to accept it and move on. Find a distraction too. That would be nice.

Nix finally broke the silence with a stiff request for Nathaniel to keep the ability he had just presented a secret. "Sure," Nathaniel said. "Though, shouldn't most of the Royal Family already know that you can come back from the dead? I am sure your secret is safe enough as it is."

"Only River knows. Everyone think I have no power." He replied, struggling to speak English and very much wanting to return to Mandarin. "Where James go?"

"I...I don't know. I didn't recognize the woman that walked in after you...died. I can only assume that she convinced him to join her. Whatever group she is apart of," Nathaniel sighed. In hindsight, it was a fair question but one that Nathaniel was hoping to avoid. Inevitably, James' disappearance would be a hot topic that Nathaniel would have to speak about to anyone and everyone back at the mansion. People would expect Nathaniel to have answers, or at least cling on to some degree of hope that he had some. But for once, Nathaniel was absolutely clueless. There was no well constructed conspiracy theory. No plausible idea. There was nothing.

Nix returned his focus to the driving, threading them through the late night traffic and on towards Heathrow Airport. "Who the boy pinned to wall?" he asked as he took a tight turn, easing up on the accelerator before planting his foot back down.

Nathaniel tightened up, clenching his fist. Nix was asking all the wrong questions. Of course, he didn't know that so Nathaniel couldn't blame him. He looked solemnly forward into the traffic until he could figure out what to say. "The boy is part of some terrorist group that attacked the London Atlantean Center a few weeks ago. I was there when it happened. In the attack, I defended a room of people and I...I killed one of his friends in the process," Nathaniel paused. "He wanted revenge and I wasn't going to let him have it. Not yet." But then a lightbulb flickered in his head. "How did they know we were going to be there? The girl and the boy. Both had their reasons for seeking James and I. I tend not to believe in coincidence. So who told them?"

Nix furrowed his brow, it was indeed worrying that these two people had both come at the same point in time as James and Nate. Obviously they were working together; otherwise it would have been too much of a coincidence. Like Nate, Nix didn't believe in coincidences either; everything happened for a reason. "You know I not psychic. I do not know. Perhaps powerful someone?" he offered as a possibility as they turned into the carpark at Heathrow.

The only ones that knew about the mission to Nathaniel's knowledge where James, Leo, the Librarian, Nix and himself. Obviously, Nathaniel and James lacked any connections to the outside, pardoning the Librarian. Nix, considering he was murdered by James probably wasn't associated with it. Did Leo leak the information to get rid of the three of them? Nathaniel believed otherwise, giving Leo the benefit of the doubt. "Yeah, someone very powerful," he said as Nix parked the car. "Take us to the heli-"

"Uh, hey. Look, I appreciate you guys helping me out, but, um, I don't even know you guys," Hayden protested. Nathaniel turned in his seat to face the hesitant Atlantean. Caught up in the chaos of fleeing the scene, Nathaniel forgot to address the elephant in the room of Hayden's recruitment, dragging the DJ around while Nix and he discussed everything that flew over Hayden's clueless head.

"My name is Nathaniel Calaway and this is Nix Bai. We represent the Atlantean Royal Family, an organization dedicated to helping Atlanteans control and develop their abilities," Nathaniel said, as if he memorized a script. Deep down, he was simply recalling vague details that Austin shared with him while he recovered from Oakley's beatdown in the break room. Remembering the moment made Nathaniel wince in pain as old injuries acted up. "We have been sent to recruit you and bring you back to the safe haven that is the Atlantean Royal Family Mansion, which is up north in Boston."

"And if I don't want to?" Hayden persisted.

"You can try your luck out there," Nathaniel said, motioning towards the window. "But between the cops hunting you and other Atlantean organization looking for fresh recruits, it's a rough world out there. Who knows what the cops will do with you once they discover you are an Atlantean? And that group that attacked us...I can assure you that they are far from the last one there. Who knows how dangerous they are? But I can promise you one thing. The Royal Family...they have good intentions. They offer something that is hard to find these days: hope."

"...okay. Let's go," Hayden finally said. Nathaniel only smiled and then nodded to Nix. Leading the way, Nix prepped the helicopter and without much hassle took off and flew to their new home at the mansion. Compared to the last trip, it was quiet and uneventful. It was hard to imagine that mere hours ago, Nathaniel was going in the opposite direction with James across him dressed in his typical smug, belligerent expression. Now across from him was a stranger. Now Nathaniel understood what a pyrrhic victory was. He accomplished the mission but at what cost? And the lingering thoughts that dwelled in his mind following his discussion with Nix worried him further. The entire flight he stared out the window with his arms crossed trying his best to hide the pain from his injuries.

In a matter of a few hours, Nix landed the helicopter and the light bump of the landing stirred Nathaniel awake. I must of fell asleep, he thought to himself. Nathaniel stumbled of the helicopter soon after Hayden. Nix motioned Hayden to follow him, most likely to get him orientated with the mansion and his new home. Nathaniel limped indoors and a wave of pain flooded him. He could feel his face swelling, his nose throb, his back crack and his chest tighten. Every injury he endured in the past 72 hours had struck at once. Without as much as a second thought, Nathaniel forced himself to the infirmary. "I always hated the doctor," he heard himself say.

As soon as Nathaniel practically crawled through the doors, the doctor on shift gasped at the sight of Nathaniel's bruised face and hunched stature, shoving him on to the nearest bed as he tended to the injuries that coated Nathaniel. Luckily enough, the doctor neglected to ask him any questions, possibly understanding that all of them were from the precarious nature of his newfound profession.

Nix waited outside the room patiently, hearing the occasional 'ouch' or yelp from Nate as the doctor tended to his rather broken face. When he was finished, Nix let himself into the room; Nate's face looking worse underneath the layers of bandages and stitches than it had before. "Nate, come, we have debriefing." He waited for Nate to receive the Doctor's nod of approval before the two left, heading towards Leo's office.
 

Austin Tseng – Atlantean Royal Mansion Dining Hall

(In which he self narrates in italics)

Day off

"You're crazy." Garrett and Kaido stared, unable to comprehend what Austin had just said.

"Crazy? You…are calling me crazy. You're crazy!" Garrett managed to blurt out in his confusion, "and who the hell is Number Eight?"

"'Austin Number Eight,' explained Austin as if it were basic knowledge, narrated Austin subconsciously 'he's the one who told me what was going on.'" Garrett facepalm'd and Kaido shook his head.

"Austin, he's not real!"

"Of course he's real, I saw him-"

"He's a figment of your imagination!"

"But he's really a real figment of my imagination. Just because he's not a real human doesn't mean he's not real."

"HE'S FAKE."

"Who's fake?"

"All of them are!"

"And who are "them"?"

"I DON'T KNOW?"

"Then if you don't know them how can you be sure they aren't real?" Garret closed his agape mouth. He put his hands near his face, like he did when he was frustrated.

"Garrett, suppose they're real."

"THEY ARENT REA-"

"SUPPOSE, they're real. Why would what they say be false? Just because I MAY have imagined it doesn't mean it isn't true."


"Austin, SUPPOSING your imaginary friends are real, they thing they tell you are farfetched and asinine!"

"But how asinine could they really be? A month ago you thought Superpowers were asinine, what's to say that this is not a real threat?"

"Austin, you're saying that they're trying to kill you, why would they do that?"

"Depends on who they are."

"Nobody's trying to kill you!"

"Then why did they kidnap me?"

"They tried to kidnap everybody! They're trying to kill everyone."

"So how am I not in danger here? Someone is trying to kill me!" Garrett picked at his brunch.

"…Nobody is specifically trying to kill you."

"Yes, they are."

"Who?"

"All of them!"

"AND WHO ARE THEY!"

"I don't know specifically, just in general people who kidnap me or shoot sonic waves at my face."

"Shut the hell up, Austin," someone yelled from another table.

"'Shut the hell up, Austin!'" "…Austin mimicked," muttered Austin under his breath.

"Do you f*cking hear yourself?!" Garrett's expression reached new levels of suspicion, "Kaido, did you hear that? He's NARRATING HIS OWN LIFE IN THE THIRD PERSON!"

"'So?', Austin said."

"Garrett and Kaido froze. They both gave him blank expressions." Kaido stood up.

"Kaido was the first to leave. Garrett followed shortly after shaking his head."

"Good luck finding any new friends, Austin," Garrett said as he left.



"…Austin continued eating his brunch. He's sad that his friends left him."

Austin #17 appeared, sitting beside him in the table.

"Bro, you gotta stop talking to yourself, or you might actually start going crazy." Austin 17 grabbed an invisible drink and slurped on it loudly.

"Shut the f*ck up, the reason people think I'm crazy is you!" Austin said a little too loudly. People around him stared again.

"'Shut the f*ck up. Mer merr merr its your fault.'" Austin 17 mocked in a singsong voice, "Jesus Christ get over yourself. I'm no more guilty than OJ Simpson."

"OJ WAS GUILTY!" Austin roared, not quite seeing Austin 17's sarcasm or irony.

"That's the point, dumb*ss," 17 replied, "that's what makes it funny."

Austin fumed in his chair and turned away from his ghostly friend. But behind him was #8, staring him in the face.

"You kinda are crazy, bro," said #8. 17 grunted in agreement.

"Austin is getting awfully tired of you two," muttered Austin to himself without realizing. He turned to his food and began picking at it absentmindedly.

"…piece of sh*t torture room ruining all my brains and sh*t."​
 

James Hazen and Nora Draveiga - Renegade Flat, London, England


Nora ducked when she entered the house as a shot glass went whizzing over her head only to shatter against the opposite wall. She let James in quickly as a respite from the cold winter winds outside before shutting the door loudly to alert the others of her presence. Immediately, the shouting and glass-smashing subsided as someone whispered "oooh, Nora's back," in the intervening silence. Sighing heavily, she began giving James a tour of the house, pointing to each location.

"To our right is the lounge; the TV doesn't work so well," a single figure sat huddled on the frayed couch staring at the static, with James silently examining him for a few seconds, before moving on with Nora as she continued the tour, "to our left is the dining room and adjacent kitchen; the pantry is always somewhat stocked. Down the hall is the laundry and downstairs bathroom. Up the stairs on the other two floors are bedrooms and more bathrooms." Nora walked through the doorway with James following close behind and into the Dining Room where two boys looked horrified as if they had committed a murder while a girl stood fuming in the kitchen.

"These… these monsters! Nora, can I kill them already?" The dark Cajun girl asked, not letting her gaze slip from the boys who were pinned against the wall by some invisible force. Luciana's dark curly hair fell down to her shoulders, only just touching the top of her chest which was easily bigger than Nora's. Luciana was taller and wider than Nora, but looked a lot younger.

"That's Luciana, she's usually sweet, but maybe a little hot headed."

"Medusa is more than a little hot headed, eh chica?" the taller, Hispanic boy spoke before he seemed to be choking as Luciana glared even more angrily at him. He had a think chinstrap running down the sides of his cheeks, joining to a thin, almost stubbly moustache and tuft of hair that resembled a goatee. Beneath his chocolate brown hair, ice-blue eyes seemed out of place, yet inviting.

"And that's Enrique, he's suave, but his mouth just doesn't know when to stop." She couldn't help but add in, "We think he looks like a Hispanic Robin Thicke. What have they done now?" she asked Luciana.

She simply pointed to the wall behind Nora and James. Turning around, she saw what looked like an upside down Anarchy sign spray painted between the two windows. "Nora'll love it, he said. It can be our symbol, he said. I will kill you, I said."

"Woah, Enrique did this?" Nora asked surprised at Enrique having done such a stupid action.

"No, his stupid partner in crime!" Luciana nodded over to the other, smaller boy frozen to the wall.

"The name's Scott. Just Scott, but sometimes people call me Scotty and I don't know if I like the name or not. I thought you might like it, Nora. I copied it from one of your shirts," he nodded albeit slightly at a shirt lying on the table, "its like hey, 'A' for Anarchy, 'A' for Atlantean, fits us nicely don't you think?" His mouth seemed to run at a thousand miles per hour for someone so short and pale. Nora often wondered if the boy ever saw daylight between his constant thievery and hyperactivity.

"But, it's upside down," she shook her head disapprovingly.

"Blame it on the ADD, baby. And maybe the Dsylexia too." He smiled weakly as if it somehow got him off the hook.

"Or just your stupidity. Luciana, let them go, I'll deal to them later." Both boys faces turned immediately to shock and horror as a twisted smile crept onto Luciana's face. As much as she hated taking charge, Nora seemed to be the one always taking charge when Raguel wasn't around.

"Fine then," Luciana turned around, returning to the pile of dishes that sat soaking in the sink. After a while she began humming a soft song to herself as she washed the dishes before stacking them nicely to the side. James stared blankly as Luciana did this, finding it strangely odd that even with so much power inside of them, they still needed to do mundane chores like these. The boys were suddenly released from their paralyzed stance and began exercising out their limbs.

"So, you're the infamous James Hazen," Enrique held his hand out for James to shake it, "welcome to the island of misfits and renegades. Nora's told us a lot about you." He smirked in Nora's direction which she quickly wiped off his face with a slap.

James extended his own hand and shook Enrique's. His eyes darted between the two boys, then back to Luciana, then to Nora, and afterward to the house itself, from the painted on symbol to everything else. When he was called away by Nora, this wasn't at all what he was expecting on the other side. It was remarkably plain, which for James felt strangely...refreshing. Now that he was here, he actually did want to know more.

"Misfits and renegades, huh? I have to say, you're nothing like the other Atlanteans I was with."

"Who was that?" Enrique asked; like Nora he had been picked up by Raguel around the same time and only knew of the factions through the media.

James shrugged, figuring how much he should divulge to a new group of random strangers. However, he didn't have any love for those he was with before, so he didn't feel all too guilty when he began the explanation. "I was with a man named Henry first, who also goes by the Librarian," He explained, using air quotes when saying the man's title. "He picked me up from ho-...from Hawaii. Then I went with the Atlantean Royal Family after Paris."

A shatter came from the kitchen as Luciana stood back from the sink, the remains of a plate lying shattered on the floor. Even the boys were surprised as if James had just sworn in front of them. "The Royal Family are a bag of di-" Enrique started.

"I would refrain from telling Raguel you were with the Librarian, the two have... history." Nora carefully looked around and over her shoulder, letting out a sigh of relief as she couldn't see any sign of the other woman.

"Yeah, sure whatever," James replied with a shrug. From the reactions of the others, he had a feeling they all had a problem with one or another Atlantean group. That was probably a reason they were all here in the first place. He decided to switch the topic. "So I'm guessing you know my power. But besides Nora, I don't know yours."

Enrique threw his thumb over his shoulder, "Medusa back there can paralyze you with her gaze and Scotty here, well, I think he wants to show you." Next to Enrique, Scott began fiddling with a black marker pen; one of many he kept in his pants pocket. Luciana sighed and shook her head from the kitchen as Scott took this as a cue.

Moving over to a large, spare space on the wall, he began ferverantly drawing. If one hand wasn't fast enough, Scott soon had markers in both hands as he began working away at something larger. Each hand seemed to have a mind of it's own as he drew differing parts of an intricate and detailed door; even including light and wood fading into it. "Done," he said triumphantly, standing proud next to his masterpiece.

Gripping the handle of the picture, it seemed to have materialized into a fully functioning door. Through the wall they could see the end of a short alleyway with bright lights and large, neon signs in Japanese characters blazing in the air. "Do you eat sushi, James?"

James widened his eyes and peaked through the door. "Oh sh*t," He muttered under his breath. He stepped forward and examined the doorway more closely, before taking one step inside to confirm that it was real, before stepping away. His was definitely an ability James thought would be useful, especially for escaping. "Nice," He remarked, nodding his head in approval. No wonder they didn't live in some extravagant place. With an ability like that, it looked like they could go anywhere they wanted to.

"And you can go anywhere with this?" He asked curiously.

"Within reason. And depending on how much ink I have left." He waved the now empty markers in his hands before tossing them through the doorway and into a dumpster.

"Pretty cool," He commented again. Before, motioning with his head at Enrique and darting his eyes at the other figure back on the couch. "What about the rest?"

"Back home, they call me El Huracán," Enrique let the shadows s play across his face like he was some mysterious hero in the Wild West, casting his head down so his fringe almost covered his eyes. "With the wind as my stead I leave only destruction in my wake." He finished by casting his face up into the light as if he was burdened with glorious purpose.

"He controls the wind," Luciana called from the kitchen as she finished washing the dishes, "and dries the dishes." She smirked handing him the towel as she proceeded out to the dining room to formally meet James.

"Someone mentioned the Royal Family?" The figure lying on the couch decided to show his face; or what was left of it. Leaning against the doorframe, the figure wrapped in a blanket was slightly shorter than James but taller than the other boys. His head was bald and half his face looked like it had been melted off. Hand shaking, he offered his 'good' hand to shake James', "Andre, I believe you've met my brother, Leo."

Social etiquette would tell James not to stare, but he couldn't help but do so anyway. He took the man's hand and shook it firmly, his eyes wandering around him as he examined the extent of his injuries. "Yeah, I'm familiar with him. What the hell happened to you?" He asked, a bit bluntly, but he let his curiousity get the best of him.

Nora punched James in the shoulder for not caring more, but Andre simply waved it off. "Berlin happened," he replied, "casualties of war."

"Ugh," James grunted, rubbing his shoulder and glaring at Nora, before turning his attention back to Andre. "Berlin...Berlin...I heard something about that somewhere..."

"Okay guys, that's enough introductions for today." She frantically waved everyone away to disperse them; Enrique sulking back to 'blow dry' the dishes while Luciana and Scott traversed through the door to go eat. "James, come with me and I'll show you the rest of the house." She grabbed his hand and began proceeding towards the stairs. She would show him as much of the house as he had shown her of Hawaii.
 
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Nathaniel Calaway and Nix Bai - Atlantean Royal Family Mansion, Boston, England


Nathaniel followed Nix to Leo's office. Despite the pressure of meeting Leo following the events of the past mission, he did not tremble. He did not stare at the ground pondering everything. In fact, his mind was...quiet. Nathaniel felt calm. For some reason, he felt in control, confident. Nathaniel knew what he had to do. He knew what he wanted to do. And all he had to do was focus on the task on hand, play his cards right and see what life would throw at him next. He was ready as he will ever be. As Nathaniel and Nix reached Leo's door, Nathaniel gently knocked on the door, waiting a little murmur for him to enter. Nathaniel stood before Leo's desk, standing as straight as he could. "Sir. I am happy to report that Hayden Prosper has been brought to the mansion. The mission was a relative success."

"Thank you, Nathaniel," he spoke, not getting up from his chair and motioning for Nix to close the door. "Where is Mr. Hazen?" Leo asked curiously, relaxing more into his chair, "How did your first mission go?"

Nathaniel averted his gaze from Leo before beginning to speak: "We encountered some complications...no, it would be more fitting to say we were attacked. Two unknown Atlanteans confronted James, Nix and myself at the club. I do not know their affiliation, nor do I know their intentions. However, they appeared to know us. James engaged a female Atlantean, appearing to have some history with her. Meanwhile, I was confronted by a male Atlantean who sought to kill me seeking revenge for an incident that occurred at the London Atlantean Center when a group of Atlanteans attacked the center. I was able to subdue the male Atlantean, however by the time I was able to James was nowhere to be seen. I have to assume he had left with the other Atlantean for some reason. Therefore, sir, I am lead to believe we have a leak. Someone told this group that James and myself were going to be there."

All through this exchange, Nix kept quiet. After what had transpired he wasn't really ready to talk to other people aside from Nate and his teammates. Even more so he didn't want to slip up and reveal his ability to Leo; It was bad enough that people knew about it now. Why was he the one who had to gain this ability?

"That's... interesting to hear," Leo brought his hands to his mouth, thinking for a bit before leaning forward to rest his elbows on the desk while he rest his chin on his closed fists. "Is that all?" He asked, giving Nate a wary eye before shifting his gaze to the silent Nix hiding in the shadows.

"Well, no. The male Atlantean that fought me had multiple abilities at his disposal. He countered every move as if he was prepared to fight me. Additionally, the female Atlantean seemed more interested in alluring James than fighting him...at least in the brief moments that I could listen in to. Whatever intel they have is good. Very good. And whoever is supporting them is even better," Nathaniel elaborated, remembering the details he left out. As he pondered everything, things were falling into place. His instincts may be wrong, but they sure didn't feel like it.

"Multiple abilities? This is troublesome." Rummaging around in his top desk draw, Leo eventually produced a manilla folder filled to the brim of paper. Opening the folder he flicked through a couple of pages before turning it around and sliding it across the desk. The folder slid till the brink of the desk, Leo motioning for Nate to pick it up. "The only other case we've seen of someone having two abilities is him." Leo seemed to almost force the last word from his mouth as if it caused him pain.

Nathaniel grabbed the folder and carefully opened it up, only to have his eyes widen. "Andre...Cabrillo?" The folder contained an extensive file on this Andre, confirming Nathaniel's initial suspicion that Andre is Leo's brother. Nathaniel skimmed through the contents, such as birthplace, height, weight, and age. There was a brief outline of his history such as schools attended and other things that occurred through the man's life. However, a turn of the page detailed his first ability: Felinae Morphology. So he can turn into a cat? Nathaniel read the finer details and presumed it was the initial ability he had. He flipped to the next page. Glass manipulation. That's...radically different. The ability intrigued Nathaniel more, mostly because the ability reminded Nathaniel of his. The file continued to define the known aspects of the ability as performed by Andre, though Nathaniel assumed it function much his own and could perform comparable feats. Of course, Andre was probably more skilled than he was. "Do you have any idea how he acquired two abilities?"

"We have our guesses. What he found out, he didn't inform us about; even I as his brother didn't know he had this second ability till recently. Last we saw of him, his life had been taken in the Berlin Incident." Leo choked a bit as he remembered the funeral devoid of his brother's body. "If there's any relation, then this guy with multiple abilities was in contact with the same people Andre was." A hundred options raced through Leo's head as his heart started to beat faster but he wasn't going to sink into the same thought patterns that had plagued his teenage years.

"Nate, if I could trouble you for a moment, would you follow me?" Leo got up from his desk; the first time he had all day and opened the door, motioning for Nate to follow him out.

"Of course, sir," Nathaniel said with a slight nod of the head. He followed Leo, keeping is stride in pace. Nathaniel closed the door for Leo and followed Leo down the hall. It wasn't too much of a walk at all, though perhaps he was distracted by the thought of more Atlanteans with multiple abilities. It was scary to think how hard one was to control, much less master. But more than one? The thought scared Nathaniel. It made him realize how powerful the Librarian truly was. That worried him even more. Finally, Leo and Nathaniel reached a door with a strange set of runes decorating the door. Nathaniel couldn't make out the language or much of anything, but then again he hardly had a mind for languages or art. It looked old. Ancient even. Atlantean maybe? That, of course, assumed they had their own language.

Courteously, Leo knocked on the door a couple of times before opening it to let himself, Nix and Nathaniel through. Once they were inside, he closed the door behind them as they delved deeper into the low-lit, almost musty smelling room. Devoid of furniture, the sole inhabitant of the room was a frail old lady whom looked well into her old age; almost as if she was at the end of her lifespan. She wheezed heavily but stayed still as she sat down on the large cushion in the middle of the floor as spoke gibberish beneath her breath like she was in some sort of trance like state.

"This is the Oracle, the Royal Family has been tasked with guarding her since the destruction of Atlantis. Her precognitive ability keeps her in a trance like state, so she is very rarely lucid." He took a step back, "At times she has spoken about future matters, and if you're the 'Frozen Vanguard' she's mentioned, then I think you might want to hear what she has to say." Leo motioned for Nate to step forward, "That's only provided you want to."

Nathaniel looked at Leo intently, trying to grasp every word he said. Frozen..Vanguard? Those words lingered longer than the rest. Nathaniel was hardly one to buy into fate or destiny. He firmly believed in free will, so in any normal situation he would back out and shove all the crap in her face. But this wasn't normal. If anything in the past few weeks has taught him, it is that logic has been tossed aside. A "new normal" has been established. One where superpowers were expected of the person next to you. Where few people could be trusted. Where your life is in constant peril. Where every waking moment the world around is changing because you can't fully grasp what you can do. All because some ancient civilization showed itself. So no, Nathaniel couldn't listen to his old self. The self that believed that logic dictated everything and that his mind fully mastering deduction could rationalize each and every bit of information to formulate the best solution without fail. The old self wouldn't last two minutes in this world. That Nathaniel died alongside Nix. He had to learn a lot more he could before he dared think that way again.

"I want to," he finally said with a weak breath. He inched closer to the Oracle and sat down in front of her, taking another deep breath. For some reason, he feared what she would say.

As soon as Nathaniel sat down the Oracle seemed to sense his presence in front of her. Her eyelids flew open revealing the clouded eyes that constantly shifted pale colours as if the world outside wasn't the one this woman saw. "From the ashes, the cold shall rise." Her body seemed to sway as her rasped voice filled up the room as if she inhabited the entire space, "A new vanguard, a Frozen Vanguard shall pave the way. Havoc and pain shall follow but Paradise awaits. Follow your heart, Nathaniel of Calaway." The Oracle's body seemed to shudder as if she was having some sort of attack, only to end anti-climatically with her shutting her eyes.

Leo offered a hand for Nate to take, helping the lad to his feet. "Are you okay?" he grabbed Nate by the shoulders, turning the boy to face him.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine," Nathaniel shook his head. For whatever reason, he felt woozy. Was it her power or just the words she said, Nathaniel couldn't begin to grasp. "Does that happen a lot? The visions she gets?"

He began leading Nate back to the door, "All the time, she sees all that ever was and will be. The last time she spoke this lucidly however was when she told us to announce Atlanteans to the world." He remembered that time, watching Andre storm out the door as they all agreed to blindly follow the Oracle's orders. Once outside, Leo had to shield his eyes as the bright hall lights contrasted to the low lights of the Oracle's room.

"Thank you, Nate, your help has been most appreciated." If the Oracle was this sure Nathaniel was the Vanguard, then that only meant hope for their future. With James on the loose however, he couldn't help but worry about what trouble the kid could be getting into. "Is there anything I can help you with?" He asked Nate, as he began heading back to his study.

"No. Thank you sir. If you need anything, let me know right away," Nathaniel said with a smile.

While the two had been in the Oracle's room, Nix was waiting near the foyer. As they left, he watched Leo return to his office as Nate began walking down the hall. When he reach him, Nix gently tapped him on the shoulder. "Thank you. For not telling Leo my power. You are true leader. True Hero." He smiled widely at Nate; something of a rare occurrence before disappearing off into the shadows of the mansion.

"You're welcome."
 
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Samuel Park
Wimbledon, London​


Two weeks later

"You can't back out now, Sam..."

"I know Tess, I know, but I can't stop thinking about how he'll react… he hasn't even mentioned the Atlantean business to me once. Seems like he's trying to avoid the subject or something, which only makes this worse."

"Look, Sam, if you didn't want to tell him then what was the point of you pleading on the phone yesterday asking for my help? If you're gonna back out fine, but think before you do. You can't hide your identity forever."

"...*sigh* I guess you're right."

Biting his right thumb while scratching the back of his head, Sam anxiously eyed the door to his father's office, his mind in all sorts of places. Tess stepped forward a little to place her hand on Sam's shoulder.

"He'll understand, Sam. Your father is a good man, he'll probably know what to do. Just go talk to him."

Sam gave a quick look at Tess, and with a nod and a composed puff of air later he twisted the door knob to enter his father's office. The Korean man was in middle of drawing for a project when he noticed his son walking in, and so put down his pencil to face him.

"Hey, dad, erm... I need to tell you something."

His son had an almost guilty look on his face, as if he had done something bad and came to him to apologise. "Yes Sam, what did you need to tell me?" Ji-hun, or "Jon" as he is more commonly known, peered at Sam over his glasses, his fingers intertwined as he rest his chin on them.

Sam cleared his throat, flicked his nose once, and tried beginning his kind of prepared speech.

"Do you remember the news, dad? About the Atlanteans?"

He raised an eyebrow at his son, though only slightly. "Yes son, I'm aware. Go on."

"Well... maybe it's better to show you first." With that Sam slowly slid his hands to the bottom of his t-shirt, his nervous fingers pulling up the fabric all the way till the tattoo could be fully seen. While still flashing his marked chest, and being slightly embarrassed with his new position, Sam muttered with as much force as possible, "I'm one of them, dad. I'm an Atlantean."

"Oh, that's not bad," his father returned to the stack of papers he had been sifting through, quickly signing off on a couple of lines before turning back to his son. "So what's your ability?"
"M-my ability?" Sam's eyes widened in surprise at the question, his hands still up and his chest still being flashed. He had expected more of a shock-and-long-silence kinda situation, so the abrupt question and laid-back nature in his father's voice seemed out of place. "This may seem strange, dad, but I found out that I can climb walls. It's like as if there's a inner mechanism inside of me which I can trigger on or off, and when I do turn it on my hands and feet suddenly develop some kind of stick surface onto my skin which allows me to climb stuff really, really easily. If I was to describe it… I'm like a lizard. When I want to be."

Taking all this in led Jon to shift the last of his papers to a pile, clearing his desk from any material and finally bringing his laptop onto his workspace. Sam lowered his t-shirt but stood firm on his place. He wasn't quite sure what to do, and so just stayed in silence. After a few clicks and taps on the keyboard his father returned to his son, who clearly looked confused and unsure. He opened to speak; "Ok, so besides your new found ability is there anything else that you noticed that has changed in you? Do you feel somehow stronger, faster...?"

"Yes, definitely faster, though I haven't really tested out my strength y- wait, how do you know so much about this stuff? And what are you even doing in your laptop? What's going on?"

"Shh, Sam. I'll explain in a minute, while I finalise this- and sent. Ok," Jon shut his laptop lid and proceeded to fully turn and meet Sam's eyes, who he could see had so many questions to ask. "Sam, first of all thank you for telling me that. I can understand your situation more than anyone here, and I know how difficult it must be to come out as an Atlantean, seeming as the mystery surrounding them is massive right now. Rest assured son, everything will be fine. Now, I have proposition to make to you, so listen carefully-

"I want you to come work with me. We'll be going to Birmingham, and it will be a good chance for you to meet other Atlanteans and find out more about yourself. Don't worry about school, we'll either head off in the weekend or I can just call in that you were sick. Sound good to you?"

Sam was even more and more perplexed on his dad's actions, and his request confused him even more than answer anything. What was his dad talking about? Why did he say he worked in Birmingham? They lived in London; it didn't make any sense. But he managed to keep the questions to himself, and just said, "Sure, I guess it would be good."

"Right answer, son. Just don't tell anyone, not even Tess."
 

Daniel Cain – Syndicate HQ, Birmingham, England


After seeing the kids display their talents, Daniel left partway through their training. Returning to his office and conjoining bedroom, he reclined in his leather swivel chair as he enjoyed a few moments of rest. After the Portsmouth affair, he had been singing papers, answering emails and swept of his feet trying to keep his job as the higher ups learnt of an injury. He calmed his mind and blanked out every thought that tried to surface in his mind. He was calm. He was collected. He was at peace.

"You have one new message." His yellow smart-phone chimed as it vibrated against the hard wood of his desk.

Letting out a huge sigh as his concentration unravelled, Daniel picked up his phone and read the message he had received. His brow furrowed as it took him too tries to really understand the message he had been sent. Daniel had no children of his own, so maybe he didn't fully understand why a parent would do something like this to their child.

"Unless He has something to do with it, he thought as he pushed himself out of the chair and began tidying up in front of the mirror. With tie straight and jacket looking fresh, he left his small office apartment and descended down the stairs to meet his guest and new charge.

"Jon Park, nice to see you again," Daniel shook the man's hand once they had parked the car and made their way over to where he was standing.

"Likewise," Jon's grip was firm and solid; like a man who was here to do business. "This is my son, say hello, Sam." Jon moved out of the way so Daniel could see the young man standing behind his father.

"Nice to meet you, Sam, I'm Daniel, Daniel Cain," he shook Sam's hand noting how much the boy seemed to take after his father. "I manage the Atlanteans who work for us. We have others here around our age, so let's go meet them." Daniel smiled as he gestured for Sam and Jon to follow him over to the open elevator. He waited for them all to get in before hitting the floor number.

It was a short ride up, but one spent in relative silence. Daniel was worried for the boy as Jon was more aware of the situation than Sam was. He assumed Jon had told him about their weekend trip and how they would see if Sam was up to joining them and further explore his abilities. When the door opened, all the others at the table turned around to see who had arrived. For a second they all sat there unsure of what to do before all turning to look at Adrian.

"Everyone, this is Samuel Park, he's an Atlantean like you all so I want you to make him feel welcome." After the introduction, Daniel and Jon retreated to the elevator and headed up a couple more floors to talk business. They were all good kids and Daniel was sure they would make Sam feel like he was at home.

Rolling his eyes at the fact no one else was going to do anything, Adrian pushed himself up from the table, lumbering over to meet them. "Hi Sam, I'm Adrian," he left his two right hands out for Sam to shake, before noticing the boys' face, "sorry," he said as he withdrew one. After a quick shake he motioned for Sam to follow him to the table. "Grab a plate and some food from the middle; we've only just started eating. A quick introduction: This is October," flicking her hair over her shoulder, October gave a weak smiled and even weaker wave, "Then we have Seamus, Daemon, Pyrrha and Wyatt," Adrian pointed to each one as he introduced them; Seamus sitting directly opposite Adrian and sporting a wide, friendly smile, Pyrrha and Daemon both saying 'hi' and Wyatt nodding his head.

"Fletcher is our youngest member, but he's not feeling too good. You'll see him around." Adrian took his seat back at the table. Soon the table erupted with banter and questions, most of them directed at Sam about his ability while they each talked about their own abilities. Aside from Sam, the rest of them were either estranged from their families, or had none to speak of. But to Adrian, dinner always made him feel like they were a part of a family despite their differences and grievances.​
 

Garrett Flynn – Atlantean Royal Mansion, Boston, England


"Okay, so let's start the first official meeting of the Royal Guard." Garrett stood in front of the few people gathered in his rather small room. Ever since the kidnapping, people were too scared to sleep and so Garrett decided to hold a meeting for them all. Among the attendees were Marilyn and Nix; lacking their teammate Antonia who was probably busy with Nate, Kaido and Jessie; Garrett's best friends, Ruby; a short, red-headed girl who was only a year or two older than Garrett and Oliver.

"That isn't going to be our name, is it?" Marilyn asked from the back, Nix hiding in the shadows behind her. Nix looked like he didn't want to be there, but Marilyn had insisted that he join her to see what was going on.

Sighing heavily, Garrett replied, "No, but until someone comes up with something better, it's all we've got to work with." A couple of people sighed, some looked like they wanted to leave already, but Garrett was far from finished talking. "After the other night's terrible events, it seems like the Royal Family can't protect us. Don't get me wrong, I would probably be a lot worse off if it weren't for them. But we need to do something. I don't know about you guys but I can't stand around doing nothing." He looked at everyone individually, but couldn't really see any sense of unity in their eyes. They all seemed like they wanted to help, but not really sure of how to.

Oliver folded his arms over his chest, "I understand what you're saying Garrett, but none of us are soldiers." A couple of the others nodded their heads in agreement, "the best we can do is to continue training and get all our abilities under control. There is no point starting up a secret club like we're in Harry Potter." Jessie snickered at this remark, but everyone felt like they were in the same boat.

"I'm not saying let's go out and fight the ultimate evil," Garrett had to stop and think of what he was going to say next, "I just think we should be prepared to help. This last event showed us that the Royal Family can't do everything. If someone had been on lookout that night, things could have been different. If we had been more organised, we could have saved others."

"And these are all possibilities." Ruby chimed in, "There are many things that could have been different, but it happened. Sh*t happens. Doesn't mean we should create a group to deal with this kind of stuff; it's not our place to interfere. If the Royal Family wanted a private army or thought we were in trouble, they would do something about it." She was a little bit angry that Garrett had decided to play the 'possibilities' card. She didn't exactly feel safe under their guide, but something had got them this far so they obviously knew what they were doing. Who could have predicted an invasion in the first place?

"But are they really doing all they can?" Oliver proposed, "Leo's been under stress with the passing of his younger brother and everyone else is busy with the reveal and organising things with governments. They've got a lot on their plate. Can they really run this place and do all the political stuff?"

"Exactly." Garrett smiled, happy that someone else was thinking along the same line as himself; "Why not help them out without letting them know? We could organise lookouts, train against each other and prepare to do what we need to."

"So then how many sleepless nights do we take without anything happening? How much do we beat each other up until we get sick of it. I'm not saying this is a bad idea, it's just, you're asking a lot for what, unrequited security?" Ruby's brow was furrowed, she was always happy to play the devil's advocate, and Garrett was fine with it, but tonight she seemed to be even more annoying.

"I agree," Jessie had stayed quiet while the others had dominated the discussion, "why do we have to give up our beds for a job the Royal Family should be doing?"

"Because we cannoto trusto zem to save us." Kaido was sitting on his bed next to Garrett; Garrett had talked to him prior about it and Kaido was in full agreement. The Royal Family seemed like it was slowly crumbling; Leo and the others struggling to keep up. "Royalu Family already mess up. What to stopu zem furom mess up again?" Despite his broken English, the others understood what he was saying; the Royal Family had already stuffed up after swearing to protect them, what was there to stop the same thing from happening.

"As long as it keeps Rebecca safe, I'm in." Oliver lazing raised two fingers.

Nix and Marilyn had a little rushed discussion before Marilyn took the liberty of speaking for them both, "We too, will help out." Nix had told Marilyn about his distrust of Leo, Marilyn had her own reservations about their so called leaders.

"Have fun playing your little games," Ruby pushed her chair back, making her way for the door, "but I'm not going to push myself in case some pessimistic possibility happens.

Kaido had already made his decision prior to the meeting; he was faithful to Garrett's cause and believed in his friend. And so all eyes turned to Jessie who seemed under pressure. Her eyes darted back and forth as her chin rested on her closed fist; trying to deduce the positives and negatives of the situation. "I'm hesitant, but I'll see what happens."

"I'll take that as a yes!" Garrett was pleased despite Ruby clicking her tongue at their stupidity as she left. He was sure there were others out there who thought the same as them; it wouldn't take long for their numbers to grow. And best of all, the Royal Family never needed to know about it. They would seem like diligent students, but would be looking out for the others.​
 
The AUP in....! The Kidnapping!​

Henri searched like a mad dog through the town in the desperate search for his sister. Where could she be? He had been asking himself that over and over again. How could Rosa just let her leave like that? He'd been asking himself that too. Henri was frustrated, extremely so. He had been up and down this town so many times before--there weren't even that many people here!--and he couldn't even find one little girl! He looked at the townspeople for a kidnapper and looked in the sky for bubbles. This day had gone so good, what happened?

He was at least glad he wasn't alone in his search. His friends, Simon, Aoife, Mel, and Dominique (who had actually just shown up today), and a few others were helping him. They weren't the only search party either, going outside of town was another one consisting of his parents and AUP officials. The biggest problem he had (other than the whole Julie's missing thing) was remembering some people's names. He had Thayne's name down (though he just called him Weasley), he kind of remembered the arm-girl's name but he forgot so much that he just called her "Oaks" (and sometimes "Oats"), and he completely forgot the Polish girl's name every time. He called her "Roll-y Poll-y" once, but that didn't go so well so he tried to remember her name, which was also a doozy (apparently it wasn't Diane). Dom told him her name over and over again and thinking about it now Henri still couldn't remember. It had something to do with a deli, but he didn't think calling her a sub sandwich was the way to go. He was a little tempted to. She didn't have the nicest responses, but Henri liked her attitude. It made him more willing to talk to her.

Anyways, this was a serious time and a serious matter. He couldn't goof off and as such he had to refrain from making jokes no matter how great the opportunity was. He had to search like a hound and he was going to do so dammit! Julie was counting on him.

Mel glanced around frantically as she searched for the younger girl. Despite having been in this town long enough to know its layout, it was as if there was hundreds of hiding places for Julie to be. Where is she? Julie and the rest of the Martels were like family to her and just imagining something to have happened to Julie caused her to shiver. Things had gone great throughout the day and this seemed to blow everything else away in the wind. How could she finally have Thayne back just to lose Julie? They were lucky enough to have everyone looking, whether they had known Julie or not. Hell, three of them she herself had never met, although it didn't stop them from being familiar with any of her other friends.

"Aoife! Have you seen anything?" She called, turning towards the small group of Aoife, Simon, and the girl named...Was it Del? The group was lucky to have the Irish siblings with them. If anything, their powers would come in handy in the search.

All of the events had transpired so quickly and consecutively that Aoife had a hard time wrapping her head around reality. A few hours ago Simon and her were just playing in the snow, then they stumbled or, as Simon would call it, ambushed Del, and got to know her, Aoife more so than Simon. Now they were looking for Henri's sister, which was a situation Aoife was sure that would never occur in a peaceful place like New Atlantis, Happytown was Simon's nickname for it. The entire event was very surreal, she hadn't time to even think of how to properly introduce Del to the rest of the gang. An anger was growing inside of Del everytime Henri said her name wrong and Aoife didn't even need her powers to see that. If there was one thing she wanted to do it was to reach over and slid her hands into Del's, but that would surely make her the one to die.

"No, we haven't," Aoife said with a sigh, it was frustrating that they hadn't found Julie yet. God, she couldn't imagine what was racing through Henri's mind, how could Rosa be so careless? "We'll find her Henri!" She spoke with confidence, although Aoife felt like she was reassuring herself more than him.

"Just look for the bubbles I'm sure we're bound to see them," Simon chimed in, his chipper attitude was the most physically obvious with his wide grin and the pep in his step. After all he had gotten to meet his idol, Misha, and he was looking forward to spending lots more time with him.

There was Mel, Simon noticed how smitten she was with Thayne, sickening. Aoife, well, Simon knew something beyond friendship went down between her and Del just by the look on Aoife's face, was that a twin thing? Henri and some other AUP member, Simon convinced himself it was Devon (the wolf pup from Del's story), no, Don, whoever he was still at Henri's side. A place that was rightfully his and if Donny Boy (who gave off a strange amount of heat) was trying to take his spot in the bromance Simon would make him pay.

The search for the missing girl went on and Simon per usual mind kept drifting then that led to his tendencies of voicing his thoughts, "You should train your snails like dogs! Wait, can snails smell?"

"Snails?" Oakley made a face, rather confused. She also had been hastily introduced to the others in this group, discovering that a few were long lost friends. There was one missing from the group that Oakley was a little sad about, and the bad jokes in her head about him being able to sniff out Julie were not helping. Where had Devon gone to anyway? It didn't matter that much since he obviously wanted to be alone, but she hoped he was okay. "I heard once that they have four noses."

"Their sense of smell is actually really good," Dom commented.

"You know what, I think we're on to something!" Henri said with a snap. It was perfect! The snails would catch the scent and lead them right to Julie! "Simon you're a genius!"

"Uh... Henri..."

"No time, Dom!" They couldn't discuss things now, they had to act act act! He threw out his arms and in a second three arm-sized snails appeared in front of them like perfect hounds. Oakley, unaware of Henri's ability, yelped in disgust. "Quick, go! Find Julie!" Henri waved for them to go, shooed them even, but they didn't go anywhere. "Why aren't they moving? Still getting the scent?" Simon took the opportunity to get a closer look at the snails, they were fascinating, maybe he could keep one as a pet!

"Henri," Dom started, a few steps back from where he was before, "snails aren't very fast." The realization hit Henri like a ton of bricks.

"Dammit!" Henri exclaimed. Did that really just happen? "Goddammit, Dom! What the heck?" Dom was incredulous. "Let's just keep looking."

"This is all very disgusting," Delta couldn't help but mumble. This group was a disaster and if there was anything she planned on doing it was to stay as far away from that Henri kid as possible. If he called her one more name that wasn't her own she would be calling the morgue. The only thing this search was doing was letting them get a nice view of the town. The shops, the houses, and an extremely creepy abandoned... church? It looked untouched, as if no one had stepped into it in years, Delta guessed the Atlanteans weren't religious folks now. "Maybe we should go get our prayers answered in that church?" She said half-jokingly, what she really wanted to do was snap the neck of this so-called thief.

Upon hearing her, Mel turned to eye the old chapel; its old and broken down structure sticking out like a sore thumb against the rest of the town. How did we not think to look there? Mel thought, slightly angry at herself. It should have been obvious to check there, yet no one even seemed to notice it until then. Was it because of the story? "It may not be the best place to make any prayers," she answered back half-heartedly. "All that place is is bad news."

"Why do you say that?" Asked Thayne. She could see he was just as worried as she was.

"It's haunted." She said quickly. Before all of this, no one would have probably believed her, let alone herself, but if it came to Atlanteans, anything was possible now. "An Atlantean was killed there back when Mr. Bernot first started restoring the Island. One of the workers decided to explore the old town and never came back.

"Haunted!?" Henri exclaimed, looking over at the old church. "He wouldn't bring a little girl in there, would he?" He could already see Julie crying and asking the spirits for a ride home. What if they weren't nice people? "They're nice ghosts aren't they?"

Dom, on the other hand, had a brow raised. He never took scary stories and haunted mansions as anything worth heeding. Still, he liked a good story, might as well entertain it. "How did this guy die anyways?" He hoped it wouldn't be something tragic that would get Henri worked up. It was hard to get him un-worked up.

Mel took a deep breath before turning towards the Frenchman, an anxious look in her eyes. She didn't know if it was true or not, but what if it was? What would be in store for Julie? "He was murdered. One of the man's coworkers came looking for him the next day and found him in the church's entrance hall. They say he was completely torn apart. They thought an animal might've done it, but nobody knows for sure..."

"Mel, that is not how you tell a story, let me," Simon walked forward and faced the group before he began. "That man's coworker found the body by following a trail of blood, each drop got bigger in size. Once the man got to the church's entrance he found his friend alright, he was just in pieces." Simon paused for dramatic effect, he just loved telling this story it was a classic. He cleared his throat before beginning again, "The guy screamed so loud you could hear it clear across town. They say his body parts were arranged to say 'DIE', as a message to all Atlanteans that they were not welcomed into that church or any other church. Whoever did it actually used his eyeballs to dot the i." The look on the majority of their faces, especially Henri's, was absolutely priceless to Simon. He figured this entire thing was made up, but a small thing such as that wasn't going to stop him from finishing his story, "Also, his soul haunts this place waiting for someone to put his body back together again."

"Who are we looking for? Devon?" Dom started, looking very skeptical. "That whole story was ridic--"

"JULIE!" Henri's cry cut Dom off mid-sentence and before they knew it (including Henri himself) he was inside the church. It was definitely as old and decrepit as it looked from the outside and after Simon's story it's already eerie aura became worse. He wouldn't be stopped by some ghost who was too lazy to put his own body together, no! He had a mission, and like he said before, he was going to find his sister. "Julie!?" He called again.

"Well, there goes the element of surprise," Dom said from behind him.

"Does that mean she's here!?" Henri said, turning around.

"We don't know that, but if she is here they both know we've just arrived."

"Oh." Henri put on a sheepish grin, but in a moment it turned into a stronger one. "Since they know we're here we can unleash Hell!"

"Hey guys?" Oakley called out to them, standing at a doorway to what seemed like a spare room of sorts. The light from the outside shone in to reveal the inside of the room; amongst the floor were assorted... things. Things that one might consider useful, others might consider junk. Like jewelry, keys, shoes, cutlery, pencils, even hair ties and paper clips. "Do you think this is a clue?"

Mel looked past Oakley in awe at the amount of lost items strewn across the room's wooden floor, the objects ranging in size from a paper clip to what looked to be...Her wallet? "How the hell did that get there?" She exclaimed as she began to start for it.

"Maybe this man... is a thief?" Oakley said, recalling today how a few of the people she had spoken to had expressed that they had lost something of a sort. Like the clothes lady and her key to her till. Or Rosa and her necklace. Oakley had been lucky to hang on to her own possessions, though she didn't have many. Her hand went to her neck to grip on to her necklace when... what? She pulled open the top of her jacket, only to see that there was no necklace. She scanned the ground beneath her and quickly frisked the ground for it but it was nowhere to be seen. Oh, right! The man had bumped into her today. Had he taken it then? She looked to her right hand, her crystal no longer helping her control it (and her mind no longer thinking it was controlling it), to see the silver plates of armour covering it. Of course, it wasn't going to go too far out of control. She had learned a few things with the Librarian and the AUP. But that didn't mean she didn't wanted it back. "My necklace! He must have taken my necklace! He must still have it!"

"WHOA! WHAT IS THIS?" Simon shoved Mel and Oakley (the latter he gave a grin to) out of the way before putting his hands on a bejeweled crown of some sort. Without thinking, another one of his tendencies, Simon but on the regal jewelry and shouted, "I am your king! Wow, ghost steal some coo--" A loud thud was made as Simon fell backwards.

Aoife groaned, sometimes Simon forgot about his ability and how he didn't have control over it yet. Putting on other's people's clothing and jewelry was a nightmare for them, especially items from a long, long time ago. She kneeled at his side to check his pulse, luckily he was still alive, but his body started to spasm. Aoife moved herself so that Simon's head was in her lap.

Henri's interest was piqued at the sight of Simon's crown. While he was concerned for his now in spasm friend, the room caught more of his interest. "'Whoa, what is this indeed!" Henri said as he went over to the room. He slipped by the girls (and Simon) to scrutinize the pile of treasures hidden in the room. "Here it is!" He exclaimed when he picked up a wallet off of the floor. "Not even a scratch on it."

"That's not your wallet," Dom said from behind him.

"Who says?" Henri opened up the wallet and put whatever money he found in his back pocket. "Besides," he began as he threw the wallet away, "what's a ghost gonna use this for anyways? Rent?" He looked around at the pile again and then picked up something else: a small doll. "We can make these into great reunion gifts." Dom groaned behind him, but Henri ignored it. "I'll take this, and this...And--" Henri took a last look around before his eyes landed on Simon. "--this!" Snatching up the crown, he placed it neatly on his head and grinned. "Pretty regal, huh?"

Mel stifled a laugh as she watched the boy fall back. She knew Simon couldn't help it, but it didn't stop it from being funny sometimes. "How long do you guys think this has been going on? Since New Atlantis first started?" It seemed as if there was no end to the thief's loot. Could it possibly transcend this room?

Oakley went to open her mouth to say something about that they should return the lost items but closed it, not sure if the others were joking or not. She stole a look at her right hand again, the armour now covering up to her wrist. She wasn't too worried about it (she knew that slow growth meant no pain and she had nothing to be anxious about at the moment) but still wanted her necklace back. It was like the tap that held the flow of her power had a leak and it was dripping faster and faster. She turned around, stepping outside the door and back out into the main part of the church, only for her eye to catch on something blocking the light from the outside door. A man, one she recognised, stood rooted on the spot. His face was hard to make out but what he was wearing was definitely recognisable.

"H-hey! You!" She called out at him, not really thinking what would happen if she did. The colour seemed to drain from his face (as if it wasn't enough already from the cold) and turned away from her, making a dash for the door. "Hey! Stop!!"

Aoife managed to see the same guy as Oakley before he decided to vanish. There wasn't a chance in hell she was going to leave her brother when he was this condition. If this guy could provide answers on the whereabouts of Julie they had to catch him, "Maybe he saw where Julie went, I'll stay here with Simon, just go find that guy."

Half-expecting Del to run off at first chance it left Aoife a bit surprised that she was lingering close, but not too close. "You're not waiting for my permission, are you?" Aoife said coyly, and just by her voice alone you could tell she was smiling. The look on Del's face was adorable and priceless, they would need to have the talk soon.

Mel turned in response to Oakley's yell, her eyes falling on a man's fading silhouette as he ran through a door. "Wait!" She called after him. "Someone do something!" She felt horrible to know she couldn't do anything. Unlike the others, she didn't have an ability that could do something right off the bat.

Running towards the door, she spotted the man still making his way through what appeared to be the chapel, its shattered stained glass windows letting in streams of light here and there. "He's still in here guys-" she began before Thayne appeared beside her.

With a swift flick of his hand, a small crash was heard as the the thief fell. "There's at least one thing that the darkness is good for," Thayne said with a smirk.

"Good job, Weasley!" Henri exclaimed, moving Thayne out of the way and walking into the chapel. "Alright, where's Julie!?" There wasn't a doubt in Henri's mind that this... Guy, whoever he was, knew where his sister is. No one who's innocent runs. By the look on Dom's face, Henri could say he was in full agreement. "And don't give me any bullsh*t either!"

"D-don't hurt me! Please!" The man said, holding his hands up to his face for some kind of protection. His tattoo became obvious, twirling around his palms. "I don't know any Julie. Please! Take the things I stole, I won't steal again!" Oakley blinked at the man, confused on why he was so quick to submit. Nobody had really hurt him. Not yet, at least.

A clicking in the distance was Delta strolling into the chapel; she had murmured something to Aoife before she left her alone with Simon. A hand lingered in her pockets fiddling with the items inside. The boy was dumb, but extremely useful, something Delta would keep in mind. The chapel was filthy, the pews were covered in spiderwebs, and abandoned items, such as hymnbooks and pencils, littered the aisles. Candles scattered the room, however, the source of light was from the stained glass windows on each of the four walls surrounding them. The dust on the ground had been kicked up making it almost too easy to track the movements that anyone had made. With only having been around them for such a short period of time Delta already knew none of them had what it took to get the information if this guy wasn't forthcoming.

"She was a little girl and you stole from her," Delta said angrily, as if Julie was her own sister. Walking right up to the man, anyone who was in her way was aggressively shoved aside, a simple move to assert her dominance. "About ye high," Delta demonstrated her height by putting her hand a little lower than her hip even though she had never laid eyes on the girl. Delta circled around the guy as she went on, occasionally leaning in his ear to make it feel that much more personal, "you went into the cafe, left your bag, and when she returned it you stole from her. You were the last person to see her and don't lie about it."

A magazine was located and pulled out from her pocket of her jacket, next was the gun itself, she loaded the magazine into the gun, and pulled back the barrel of the gun. All of this was done fast and efficient, and behind the man so all he heard was the sound effects. "Look, I'm not a nice person, I've done bad things, bad things I'm willing to replicate on you if you don't tell us what you know." She held nudged the gun into his rib cage to prove her point. "I'm not even the girl's sibling, I'd be more scared of him, honestly."

"P-please, don't hurt me!" he stuttered out, holding his hands in the air now in submission, but not before slipping a clump of material out of his coat. A clump of material that might look familiar to some. "Yes, I t-took the girl's hat and sh-she chased me t-to get it back, b-but I lost her and I thought sh-she went back to town, I'm s-sorry I d-d-don't know where she is."

"You took her hat!?" Henri shouted, clenching his fists. The first thing that came to his mind was the image of the thief grabbing his sister and snatching the hat right off of her blonde head. Now she was nowhere to be found, scared, and distressed over her stolen hat. "She tried to help you and you stole her hat!?"

"B-b-but--"

"ABRACADABRA!"

The man's eyes went wide and his face went red, like he had swallowed something wrong and choked and spluttered. Oakley stepped forward as he doubled over in pain, about to try and help him before a rather large slug slipped out of his mouth and onto the floor. Dom shrieked, Thayne shivered, and Oakley stopped, going wide eyed herself exchanging looks with a few, finally determining that this must be Henri's ability. The man drooled out a bit of slime (just missing Delta's shoes), before coughing some more and crying out a response in a raspy voice. "I can help you f-f-find her! My ability! M-my Atlantean ability! P-p-please don't hurt me! Please!" His face was now wet and eyes looking sore and red. Oakley wasn't sure if the man was crying out of fear or panic or trying to regurgitate a slug was a bit too much for him.

Henri opened his mouth to do more, but Dom had to stop his livid friend. He couldn't take seeing more of... Whatever just happened. "Wait, Henri, wait!" Dom said, keeping his distance from the slug and slime. "He said he could help. Let's try and solve this diplomatically."

Henri grunted. "Fine," he said folding his arms. He didn't like the idea now, but he had to admit it made sense. "What's your power then?"

"I-I-I," he coughed up another bit of slime, "I c-can t-tell what is m-m-most important to you. At that time. L-like a sc-scarf if you're c-c-cold or a n-necklace if y-y-you're remembering someone. O-or a person y-you miss. And I c-can s-sense where it is. Th-th-that's my ability."

"Perfect. Start talkin'."

The man held out his hand towards Henri. When met with confused looks, he explained, "T-touch m-makes the s-s-sense stronger. P-please." Reluctantly and with a little suspicion, Henri reached his hand out and grabbed the thief's hand. The man went wide eyed for a second then let go, slowly getting to his feet with his hands in the air. "She's not f-f-far. I can t-take you to her." The man gestured to the door, awaiting the lady with the gun's approval.

The thought of what really happened in this church, or rather in front of it, was it some completely made up story? There were clearly psychotic Atlanteans, but surely that story had to be fiction. Who knew what they would say about the events in Paris in five years, how many horror tales would come from that? How many would involve her? Would the truth disappear completely?

The sound of liquid hitting the ground caused Delta to look up and observe the man almost vomiting up on her shoes, which was almost enough for her to pull the trigger. She sighed, but ultimately consented, "Yes, that would be wise."

The man nodded and started to walk, his eyes moving between the path in front of him and the gun at his rib. He was physically shaking, either from the cold or fear, but didn't try to make a run for it. Anyone who was smart enough to keep their life knew that guns could shoot bullets faster than legs could run. On the way out Aoife and Simon, who had finally awoken from his unconscious state, joined the rest of the group.

He led them a little back towards town, making a turn into a small spit of forest. It was easy to see what was on the other side of the forest; a skinny river, with the majority of it frozen. The banks of the river were clear of trees with clear vision of up and down the river. The man turned down the river and there were two figures playing with the ice and snow along the riverbank. The sudden appearance of those familiar colourful bubbles in the air made it obvious who one of the figures was, but who was the other? Henri, not waiting for anyone's permission, sprinted down to them, getting close enough to see the other figure's face.

"JULIETTE!" Henri shouted as he scooped his sister off of her feet. A surprised scream from Julie quickly turned to excited laughs and giggles. "Où avez-vous été?! We've been looking all over for you!" He didn't give her time to answer before a barrage of cheek-kissing and hugs began.

"I was playing with Evo!" Julie answered loudly, pointing one gloved hand at Devon.

"Evo?" In his excitement over seeing his sister again, Henri hadn't noticed Devon standing right next to them the entire time. "Evo! Have you been with her this whole time?"

"Uh," Devon exchanged looks with the newcomers, noticing the gun in the man's rib, looking quite confused, "a few hours, I guess. Did something happen?"

"We've been looking for her," Dom answered this time. He looked relieved, but also like something was bothering him. "But you didn't even need us, did you Julie?"

"Of course I did!" She piped up quickly. "Now we can play tag! Who wants to be it?"

"I just found you!" Henri said with his usual drama. "You want us to go looking for you again?" Julie grinned and shrugged without remorse.

"Them's the breaks!"
​
 

Nathaniel Calaway and Antonia Costa- Atlantean Royal Family Mansion, Boston, England


The walk to his room was not a long one. At least any time that had transpired made the walk seem almost recreational. His head was still spinning. Was it stress? It certainly could of been considering what happened. Was it a side effect of the Oracle's strange ability? It was the first time he dealt with anything remotely telepathic, so that was possible. Perhaps, it was something entirely different. Nathaniel tried to shake it off. Whatever it was that lingered in his mind was not going to be fixed but senselessly pondering. "Follow your heart," Nathaniel repeated in his head. That is what she said.

As he crept ever closer to his room, he soon rose his head. Normally one of great posture, Nathaniel found himself staring at his boots more than the passing students as he lingered through the hallways of the mansion, trying to find his way back to his room. I still find a way to get lost. London was easier to navigate than this. Nathaniel firmly resisted asking for directions insisting to himself that he will find the way to his room. In due time he found his room only because Antonia stood outside it leaning on his door. Normally, this would be a pleasant surprise, but Nathaniel could feel tension in the air. If fear would ever be legitimately present in his eyes, it would be now. The last time he saw such an expression on a woman's face, it was an ex-girlfriend of his.

"You never called back," Antonia said, not making eye contact with Nathaniel he approached, probably hearing his loud footsteps.

"Uh, yeah…sorry about that," Nathaniel clumsily mumbled.

"I was worr- What happened to your face?!" She dropped her other thought completely, glaring at Nathaniel's swollen, bandaged face. Antonia leaned closer, her face glaring at the damage.

"Well, remember that trouble I mentioned…he got a few good hits in," Nathaniel said, gesturing to his face as he tried to laugh it off. He looked down, feeling that she deserved a more complete story. "Nix and I got into a big mess. We got separated and I panicked and called you, but then Nix came back and saved the day," he finished with a shrug.

"It looks like he got more than 'a few good hits'," Antonia said with more than a tinge of doubt at Nathaniel's story. "I trained you better than that."

"To be fair, we only trained for an hour," Nathaniel reminded her with a smirk.

Antonia smiled. "Still…this doesn't suit you," she said pointing at his bandages. "Looks like we will have to train twice as hard now."

Nathaniel couldn't help but chuckle: "Yeah, sure."

"I'll see you tomorrow then. Bright and early. Good night."

"Good night," he said. Antonia began to walk away for about a step or two before Nathaniel perked up rather abruptly. "Hey, uh, what do you know about Oracle?" He could hope she would spin around. And she did.

"I... don't believe what she says," Antonia turned her head away, almost as if she had said something wrong. "From what I've heard, the Oracle sees all possibilities and tells what is the most likely." She had to take a moment to think of how she was going to word her next sentences, "I think that it is the choices we choose to make that dictate our future; not the words of an old woman." She felt a pang of regret after saying it, knowing that the Royal Family was as much about protecting her as it was protecting them. She felt as if she had betrayed the Royal Family in some sense after they had done so much for her. It wasn't that she simply didn't' believe in the woman's precognitive ability, but more she didn't quite fully understand how it worked.

Nathaniel nodded as she spoke, grunting in agreement. All she said lined up with Leo either explicitly or implicitly mentioned. He wanted to say anything but Antonia seemed to be sorting out her own thoughts. He decided to just wait and see what else she could tell him about her.

"The only ones who get called to her room are the Atlanteans who are apparently important." Antonia bit her lip, casting her mind back to the moment she decided to sneak into the Oracle's room. "She said to me: 'A single deer does not change much; it plays it's part and leaves.'" Antonia mimicked the old woman's raspy voice as best she could to which Nathaniel quietly laughed to. It sounded like her at least from he could remember. His head still hurt.

"I-" she was about to tell Nathaniel the final line what was meant to be her prophecy, but caught herself. She couldn't bring herself to let him know what it was, much less speak the words herself. "I'm sure everything will work out fine," she recovered, running her fingers across the back of Nathaniel's hand.

Nathaniel blushed and jumped back a bit, his nervousness getting the better of him. "You're right. But hey, you are important then!" He said with enthusiasm. But that meant, he was important too. And that for some reason did not sit well with him. Did he want to be important? He wanted to make a difference. Were those intertwined? Such a train of thought made him weary and he felt his balance waver.

"Nate, are you okay?" Antonia said as she supported the large man almost catching him.

Nathaniel felt his head become heavy and fatigue creep upon him. "Yeah," he barely managed to say. "I'm just tired I guess." That was an understatement when he finally entertained the thought. He hadn't gotten a good night's sleep since he arrived at the mansion. On top of it, the injuries have piled up. Rest would be a nice escape from the stress of the past few days. Weeks even.

"We better get you to bed then," Antonia insisted, throwing one of his arms around her to give Nathaniel more support. "You're heavy," she said half complaining, half joking.

"Excuse me, princess," Nathaniel said, as she guided him into his room. It was like he remembered, being bare and as plain ever. At least Antonia couldn't judge him or anything, so a small sigh of relief overcame him. Doing her best to carry the lumbering Nathaniel to his bed, he was eventually thrown on to the bed. His body almost melted on contact, despite his face being buried in the pillows and the rest of him twisted in knots. Surprisingly Nathaniel found the bed actually comfortable for once.

"That doesn't look comfortable," Antonia chuckled.

"You'd be surprised," Nathaniel said in a muffled voice.

"Oh really?" She raised an eyebrow before leaping into the bed herself. She nudged Nathaniel till he finally shifted his position, allowing the two to share the bed. "You're right. I am surprised." Nathaniel only smiled as he made himself comfortable. Antonia dug herself into Nathaniel's side. "You aren't cold," she said contently.

"That's because I have a reason to be warm."
 

Nora Draveiga and James Hazen - Renegade Flat, London, England


November 12th, 2012

Nora stretched her arms and legs out as she woke up; her mouth open wide as she took in a big yawn before cuddling back up against James' warm body. Intially she hadn't intended to fall into the same routine as had befallen them during their first encounter, but as soon as she had seen him, all she wanted to do was rip his clothes off. She wasn't overly upset about breaking her intentions though, since last night had been one of the better nights of her life. drawing back the covers, she slowly and carefully traced her fingernail around the outline of his abs; weaving in and out while she waited for him to awaken.

James meanwhile was snoring loudly without a care in the world. Tonight he had slept better than any of the previous nights with the other Atlantean groups, and it wasn't just because he had the company of an old flame either. Although waking up beside her certainly helped. Beyond that, he had felt more connected in a single evening with this ragtag group of strangers in this crummy house than he did with the Librarian and all of his fancy cars or the Royal Family in their fancy mansion. Maybe it was a simple feeling that would pass, though James hoped that it was something that would continue to grow on him. Maybe now he had finally found a place to call home.

James turned his head to face Nora, staring at her silently as he thought on this. Even in the mornings he found her features appealing, mostly because she went against the usual norms of what it meant to be attractive. He yawned, then spoke to her. "Hey."

"Hey yourself," she replied sarcastically, looking back at his murky green eyes, "did you sleep well last night?" She stopped outlining his abs with her finger and instead laid it flat against his chest; feeling it rise and fall with each breath.

"Didn't do much sleeping," He replied with a grin. He closed his eyes as he felt her trace along his chest. It felt nice to have her slender fingers along his skin. He opened them back up and looked at her again, still grinning. "But I enjoyed the little I did."

"You're welcome," she laughed, giving him a wink. "So when did you find out you were Atlantean?" Nora asked him curiously.

"Damn," James turned from Nora and looked up at the ceiling, as he thought back to when he first got his power. It felt like such a long time ago now, maybe months ago, when in reality it had been only a couple of weeks. "Not long ago." He responded with a sigh. He thought about if he should say what was on his mind next, and decided to just go for it, mostly because of the pretty nice night they spent together. "Kinda jealous of you to be honest."

Nora tried to imagine the first couple of weeks she had of her ability, but they seemed like a lifetime ago now. She blushed slightly as he blurted out his jealousy of her. She knew he was talking about her having had her abilities for so long, but she kind of wished that they were still new to her. It felt too normal to her now; the enjoyment of learning what knew things she could do had gone many months ago. "Why? Because I've had this power for so long? In all honesty, I miss only having just discovered my abilities."

"Well, yeah," James commented. He thought he understood what she was talking about. There was nothing like the thrill of trying something for the first time. Or maybe there was, James supposed he didn't know enough to think that way yet. He sat up on the bed, leaning on his side as he looked at her and continued to speak. "But at least you had them. It's more than that though. At least you were doing something. At least you were doing whatever the f*ck you wanted. Where the f*ck was I?"

Nora grabbed the covers from around her, wrapping her upper body within the folds of the duvet and leaving James nothing but the sheet. "I've done some pretty messed up stuff; it's not all pretty flowers and anarchy signs. What about the Royal Family? How come you didn't do what you wanted while you were with them? Pretty sure nothing was stopping you from doing what you wanted while you were lazing about at their place; if you really wanted to. Or maybe you enjoyed being told what to do." She flicked a small, purple spark of Neon energy at his chest. She wasn't really angry at him, although her words could have easily been taken that way, but she was enjoying the banter slightly.

James grunted a bit at the stinging impact of the slight spark of her ability. He grinned at first, contemplating getting her back with a slight bit of his own electricity as well. He tried to infuse a bit of it in their activities last night with a bit success. Yet even though she was only teasing him, her words did make him wonder why he didn't ever do what he wanted with them. He certainly had the opportunity, and he was fairly certain none of the leaders really had much influence in telling him what to do. So, what was left?

The realization hit him quite suddenly and surprisingly, causing him to chuckle at his revelation, an unexpected one to say the least. "Nate," He muttered under his breath.

She watched him laughing to himself like a maniac, lifting her eyebrow up at him. "Nate?" she quizically asked him, "whose Nate? Your secret boyfriend or something?" Reaching down to the floor beside her bed, she picked up one of the cigarettes she had rolled the previous day and lit it up. After she had taken an initial deep inhale of smoke, she offered the butt end to James.

James took the cigarette without realizing he did so, still thinking about Nate. He held it in his hands, examining it. "He's...a friend. Tall f*cker. Principled, but stuck up. You'd totally hate him. But...he'll make something big of himself someday." James placed the cigarette into his mouth and inhaled sharply. By the time the smoke filled his lungs, he realized what exactly he was doing and began coughing. This was the first time he had ever smoked. He handed back the cigarette to Nora in displeasure, still coughing.

Chuckling to herself, Nora happily accepted the cigarette back, tapping the ash over the side of her bed as not to drop any between her sheets. Nora was surprised at the way James talked about the guy, if she hadn't know better then she would have assumed they were gay lovers or something. She had never heard him talk about someone like that; not that they had often talked in the past. "So is he still back at the Royal Family's place then?"

"Yeah, I guess he is," He replied, thinking back on the last time he saw him at the club. He never got to say a real goodbye to him too. That was probably the only thing he regretted about leaving. Well that, and not being able to convince him to come along. James shook his head, snapping his thoughts away from Nate at the moment and back to the current situation. "So..what's going on now?"

"Well, when the boys get up we can go get breakfast." Nora stretched herself backwards, peering out of her door at the one close opposite her. Most likely the boys were still asleep, but a quick look at her alarm clock told her that it was 10 am. The boys would be up soon enough. She looked back at him and was about to speak until the door across the hall flew open and a breeze buffeted them.

"Oi! tortolitos, stop the sexes and get up!" Enrique called out from down the hall before Nora heard two pairs of feet begin to clammer down the stairs loudly. As was every morning, Enrique and Scott would take a couple of minutes to retrieve breakfast for the rest of them.

"Let's go." Nora said smiling as she chucked James' clothes at him before slipping into the same clothes she had yesterday. "I'll meet you downstairs," she said, winking at James as she made her way out of the bedroom and downstairs.

James grabbed the clothes that Nora tossed at him as he smirked at her. Admiring her one more time as she left the room, he stood up and began to put them on. His surprisingly good mood carried him off his feet, into his clothes and out of the room. He walked quietly down the stairs toward the kitchen where the others were located.

As Nora descended the stairs, she looked around but could see no trace of the boys anywhere. In the kitchen to her left, Luciana began gathering the leftover plates, bowls, cutlery and glasses she hadn't hurled at the boys during the previous night. She was about to ask Luciana where they were, but the cajun girl had already anticipated this, and pointed at the door that swung out from the wall. It took her a little longer than normal to register that the door in the wall didn't open into the hallway, but rather into a room full of sleepy eyed people gazing curiously from their tables.

She was about to close it when a few patrons jumped out of their seats in shock as a loud noise slowly grew louder as it reached the door. "All aboard the Hogwarts express!" Scott's unmistakeable voice echoed from the other side of the doorway, "Quickly Enrique, they're after us!" He almost squeaked as he ran through the doorway.

"Adios, mi compadres," Nora could now hear Enrique puffing yet still could not see him, "you have entertained me well!" He called as he pushed a rather large buffet table laden with varying breafasts, on wheels through the door. "Close it, mi partner in crime!" He yelled at Scott who slammed the door shut just as two security guards pelted for the entrance.

As soon as the door closed, it returned to a mere ink drawing on the wall as Scott and Enrique, looking rather exhausted, stood triumphantly beside their latest heist. "We'll pay for it later," Scott added to the surprise of both Nora and Luciana. Taking a plate and cutlery from the bench, the two began ladening their plates up with food ranging from bacon and eggs, to sausages and croissants. They both looked at each other with triumphant smiles on their faces; it had been one of their better heists yet.

James finished descending down the stairs just as Enrique and Scott burst through the door pushing what appeared to be a buffet table, most likely acquired from a restaurant or hotel of some sort. He watched the boys begin to gather food from the buffet table they had heisted and soon found himself joining Nora and the gang as they ate at the table. If this was how they gathered food, he couldn't wait to see what other crazy shenanigans they would whip up.

"Sup," James announced as he sat down beside Nora at the table. He quickly dug in to the food, grabbing a fork and piercing it into a sausage, before adding it onto his plate. He repeated this a few times with more sausages and other foods around the table, gathering enough until he had a full plate, before digging in. "Nice haul you got here." He commented with a partially full mouth.

"Tis but our job, as soldados del anarquía," Enrique spoke from across the table after finishing a mouth full of bacon. "so are you just a booty call for mi hermana or are you here to help create some alboroto?" he asked, taking a glare from both Luciana and Nora.

James chewed with a full mouth as he cocked an eyebrow at Enrique. His eyes went from Enrique to Nora, then back to Enrique. He swallowed his food. "Uh...Alboroto?"

"Mayhem, riot, anarchy," Nora spoke monotonously, her eyes not wavering from the glare she was sending at Enrique.

"Anarchy," James repeated. He placed his fork down on the table and leaned back in the seat, crossing his arms and looking at the symbol Scott drew yesterday. "Is that what you guys are doing?" He asked, with a smile appearing on his face. "Sounds cool." They were very much unlike any of the other groups of Atlanteans he had encountered. Theirs didn't seem like an organization with some large, convoluted plan. It was more simple. Less noise and words and more action. At least, that was the impression James was getting.

"Of course!" Enrique put down his knife and fork as the others groaned, they knew exactly what he was about to do next. "Last week I was in Barcelona; beautiful city and the girls were muy caliente!" with this he gave James a wink, "mi reina said 'Enrique, show the humans your ability.' and so I did, tore through Barcelona upon my valiant stead!" He proudly finished off by raising his right arm into the air as if holding a sword in some famous pose.

"Long story short; he rode a hurricane through the city of Madrid. Messed it up big time." Luciana spoke from the opposing end of the table, having sat silently eating while the others had been talking. She almost scoffed at Enrique's convulted style of speech and storytelling.

James on the other hand found Enrique's flashy behaviour entertaining and refreshing. He couldn't help but smirk when he imagined him holding a sword up in some gallant pose. What interested him even more was the story behind it. "Wait, so you caused a hurricane in a city?" He asked, impressed. "Oh ****! How did that go?"

"It was muuy magnifico, I had a blast and really showed the humans what I was capable of. I am El Huracán after all." Enrique spoke proudly about his adventure.

Luciana dropped her cutlery, making a loud noise as they resounded off of her plate, "10,000 injured, some even dead." Nora wasn't sure what was wrong with Luciana today, but she was being particularly passive aggressive towards the boys.

"It was quite a sight. Like one of those things you go, 'wow, I will probably never see that again in my life time' sorta things, but kinda like you never want to see it again but it was still pretty awesome to watch." Scott jeered from next to Enrique, giving his partner in crime a loud high-five.

"Heh...I bet it was," James remarked, his eyes momentarily gazing at Luciana, then down to his plate of food. "Wish I could have seen it."

"Why see it when you can make it happen?" Enrique asked James, having finished eating.

Instantly, James' eyes shot up from his place to Enrique. He stared at him with a serious expression, almost unbelieving how he responded. It was almost too good to be true, with James secretly hoping this wasn't some stupid joke they were playing. "Wh-...are you serious?"

"Dead serious, mi amigo," Enrique looked from Nora to Andre, to Luciana then back to James; they were all thinking the same thing. If he was going to be a part of their group, then he definitely needed to be on their level. The only problem was, would James end up surviving enough to join them. "How would you like to become a God?"​
 
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[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]

[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]

[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]

[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]

[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]

[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]

[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]


Atlantean Royal Mansion, Boston, England

November 12th, 2012


Garrett had the others up earlier than usual to begin the day's training. Bleary eyed, they all sat around the same table slowly munching on their breakfasts without as much as a word spoken. Garrett seemed like the only one who was genuinely eager to be up so early; everyone was on the same page that no doubt Garrett's ability had something to do with it. Smiling, he greedily fed himself spoonfuls of cereal and yoghurt as he looked around triumphantly at the group he had assembled. He hadn't thought that so many people would have joined him initially, but after the last hectic week, it seemed like they were more interested to join.

"Eat up, Champs," he spoke between mouthfuls, "we have a big day ahead of us."

"So remind me why we're doing this again?" Oliver said through a mouthful of toast, only to receive a jab from Rebecca sitting right next to him. His eyes remained closed while he ate his food as if he was still sleeping.

"We're doing extra training--" Garrett started.

"I know what it's about, it was a rhetorical question!" Oliver grumbled as he shoved another piece of toast in his mouth. Rebecca patted Oliver's shoulder condescendingly before rubbing it with the palm of her hand as if she was soothing him. She knew more than others that he wasn't quite a morning person.

Unlike the others who seemed to be casually eating their way through their breakfast, Jessie simply sat in her seat, pushing the egg around her plate with her fork. She wasn't overly hungry and still slightly tired, but most of all she was still unsure about what they were doing. "I don't know guys," she started, keeping her eyes cast down at the plate, "should we really be doing this without telling the Royal Family?"

"My Auntie probably knows already." Nix said rather quietly, but the others still heard him. River had often reinforced the idea to them that she wasn't the one to pry into their minds as her ability allowed her to. However there was no definitive way they could tell if she was doing so or not.

"Its fine," Garrett said as he sat waiting patiently for the others to finish, "they'll just assume we're doing extra training for classes." As he said this he wasn't entirely sure he believed what he said, much less if the others believed it.

"Sure" was the only verbal response he received from Oliver, the rest just seemed to nod their heads as if it were too early in the morning for them to reply. Garrett smiled weakly at the others, he wasn't necessarily the leading type, nor did he actually know how to lead. He nervously swallowed as he wondered if he could get the others to follow him.

When everyone had finished, they headed downstairs to the large, indoor basketball court. Garrett had risen earlier than the others to set up for their morning exercise. When they arrived downstairs, there was a large array of differing balls lying discarded at the back of the court. "Alright guys, the first exercise for today is dodgeball!" he announced excitedly.

The others seemed to look at him as if he was crazy, "I'm sorry, what? I thought we were training?" Rebecca asked sarcastically.

"We are! Listen, the aim of dodgeball is not to get hit, right? Well it's the same principle in a fight. Marilyn will stand at one end and fire the balls at us on the other end of the court. Without using powers, we need to dodge the balls and dodge each other. If you get hit, you're out." Garrett now began sweating nervously, the rules were simply enough, but he wasn't sure if they actually believed he was serious. "Oh, and no using abilities." He added.

Grudgingly, the others agreed, not entirely sure about this training session Garrett had planned for them. All of them were thinking of something more intensive, but then again they were happy to play a game of dodgeball. Already the guys were taking bets on which of the girls would be knocked out first. Rebecca even gave Oliver the stare that said 'if you bet against me, you'll die.' Marilyn split herself from the rest of the group as they headed to their side of the court. Breathing steadily, she started to concentrate on what she had to do. She hadn't specifically training this facet of her ability before, and while she could lift singular things off of the ground, she wasn't too confident in her ability to do so for multiple items.

"All right guys," Garrett seemed like the most energetic and excited of the bunch, "let's do this! Marilyn, are you ready?" He asked her, emphasising each word singularly before holding up his thumb. Two soccer balls, a football and a tennis ball rose in to the air before Marilyn shakily brought her thumb up too. "Go!" he shouted as everyone around him erupted in chaos as balls began flying through the air at them.

First Garrett dodged a tennis ball aiming for his head, only to jump as a rugby ball went flying towards his feet. To his right Kaido sunk to the floor as a soccer ball flew over his head while Jessie jumped quickly to the side as two tennis balls seemed to fire in rapid succession at her body. To his right Oliver shielded Rebecca from two incoming soccer balls and a football before pulling her aside so that the both of them could dodge the balls safely. Nix seemed to be skulking around everyone else, using them as temporary body shields and moving in motion with them so he didn't get hit; a tactic Garrett admired, and would have adopted if he wasn't in the front. From out of the corner of his eye, he could see Marilyn pulling the already thrown balls telekinetically down the sides of the court and back to the rest of the arsenal behind her.

The training game only lasted an hour before the seven of them retreated to the benches to skull back bottles of water and wipe the sweat beading down their foreheads with towels. It had been a fun but rather difficult challenge as Marilyn began upping the speed and number of balls she was throwing at the rest of them. It didn't take much longer for the others to get out; Oliver and Kaido being the first, followed by Nix and Garrett. Both Rebecca and Jessie managed to stay on the court for a while after, Jessie eventually being left solely before a tennis ball caught her ankle and she was out. Both girls smirked and high-fived each other as they poked fun at the boys for having gotten out before them.

Garrett smiled as everyone kept talking about the game; people's great saves and near misses, the best outings and of course Oliver defending himself for 'protecting' Rebecca from getting hit. It was the first time that he had actually spent with these people, Kaido aside, and was glad that they were all getting along. During the exercise he noticed particularly Kaido and Jessie almost working with each other to dodge the projectiles as well as Oliver helping to protect others aside from Rebecca. He couldn't help but feel pride for bringing this group of strangers together. He still wasn't entirely sure that they could react accordingly to defend the mansion if there were another attack, but the group was still in it's early stages; they were all a little fresh. He continued to smile at the others as he wondered if they could actually pull something like this off.

"Another round?" Marilyn asked the group as she pushed herself off of the benches, bouncing on the balls of her feet like a little energizer bunny. She didn't look too physically exhausted since her ability utilised her brain, but Garrett didn't want her to over exert herself.

"I'll help you, Marilyn, better yet, how about girls versus boys?" Rebecca proposed as she unstuck herself from her boyfriend and joined Marilyn in front of the group. "Losers have to clean the winner's bedrooms for a week!"

Jessie hopped off the benches and stood beside her femme fatales, "sounds good to me," she breathed in deep and stuck her chest out, trying to look more intimidating.

"We acceputo!" Kaido spoke for the rest of the boys; Oliver in particular looking betrayed as he knew Rebecca would single him out from the others and most likely get the girls to target him most of all. Garrett and Nix nodded in agreement; the girls were outnumbered nearly two to one, so it wouldn't be too hard to hit them with a ball.

The two sides stood at each side of the court, balls of varying shapes and sizes lying at their feet as everyone prepared to grab and toss. While the boys started crouching, the girls on the other hand stood strongly. "On the count of three.... one... two..." everyone crouched down, tensing up and readying for the fight, "THREE!" they all yelled together. As the boys threw their first volley their smirks of triumph soon turned shock as not only did Marilyn telekinetically pick up multiple balls and fire them in rapid succession at the boys, but Rebecca too used her prehensility to hurl multiple balls. Kaido was the first to react, morphing into full on Shiba dog mode while the others accepted their fates.
​
 
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[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]

[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]

[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]

[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]

[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]

[PokeCommunity.com] Λtlantis Λwakening [IC] [M]


New Atlantis (Lindholm), Sweden

November 11th, 2012


The groups were round back up and Julie was reunited with her mother and a rather flustered Rosa, who apologised quite a few times for her mistakes and was more than glad her sister had come back to them unharmed. As for the thief, Misha had taken him into 'custody', keeping a firm hand on his shoulder and a glint in his eye. The man had finally introduced himself as Emery Baumann, a German man and suffering kleptomaniac who was unable to purchase any more medication for himself and let his condition (and his ability) get the better of him. The items in the church turned out to be collections of his favourite stolen items over the years, as well as assorted items from the residents in town. Atticus wasn't sure how he got them into town, but assured everyone they would all return to their rightful owners.

"I'm proud of you. All of you," Atticus said to his young audience (though, honestly, not much younger than himself). "You were given a situation and you dealt with it without violence, especially with the disappearance of a loved one. And that's what we need to see more of when it comes to Atlantean conflict. Peace. No matter how dire of a situation, whether it be the fight for our... existence or fighting over which channel to watch on TV. This behaviour sets an example to those who look up to us. So, uh, yeah. Good job. All of you."

"We have caught culprit and nobody was hurt! Hurrah!" Misha added, tightening his grip on Emery's shoulder (much to his discomfort) as he used his other hand to punch a fist into the air. Atticus gave the large Russian man a smile, and continued on.

"So, uh, yeah. The rest of the afternoon is still yours. If you head back here around nine or ten o'clock, we'll have dinner ready for you. And, uh, yeah. Thanks." And with that, Atticus and Misha disappeared through a door, taking Emery with them into the main room, a pair of handcuffs now visible around his hands.

Frederick took his leave, following Atticus and Misha through the door. Devon was next to excuse himself, but instead of giving him peace, Oakley followed.

"Hey!" Oakley caught up with him, holding a silver necklace out to him. It was her own, the heart shaped locket, given to her by the Librarian. "Can you... give me a hand? I can't open the clasp with my fingers like this." She let out a small laugh, gesturing to her obviously armoured right hand. Devon furrowed his brow and quickly took the necklace, stepping behind her to link it behind her neck.

"There." He said hastily, shoving his hands back in his pockets and moved on, trudging past Oakley and in towards town.
Oakley frowned, catching back up to him and keeping his pace next to him. When he realised what he was doing, he quickened his pace, to which Oakley followed. He scoffed loudly, and broke into a run, heading back into old town. Oakley, a little shorter and a lot less atheletic than Devon, tried to keep up but lagged behind him. She persisted though, following him deep into old town, back into the small spit of forest and to the frozen river. Thinking she had caught him, Oakley slowed down but Devon jumped, landing safely on the other bank. Oakley went to jump after him but soon realised the river was too wide for her and landed in the middle, a loud crunch as the ice beneath her caught her fall. Devon, about to keep going, doubled back, sighing heavily, staring at her from the bank. Oakley went to stand, but a shout from Devon interrupted her.

"Don't move. You'll break the ice." He said sternly, but didn't step across the ice to help her. Instead, he stuck on his side of the bank, his brown eyes glued to her own.

"What are you doing?" She shouted back at him, repositioning herself back to what she was when she fell. "Why are you running away?"

"What are you doing? Why are you following me? Are you making it your personal mission to irritate me as much as possible?" He seemed angry, or at least frustrated. Oakley shook her head, frowning herself.

"No, I want to talk to you! I haven't talked to you at all since we got back from the boat! I want to talk to you!" Oakley, both hands now free of armour, used them to push back a little, sliding back towards the other bank. There was another crack underneath her and Devon took a step forward, holding his hand to stop her.

"I said don't move. Talk to me about what? What happened? Do you want to make fun of me too? Because honestly, I get enough of it from those other two jerk offs." He scowled, obviously referring to the other two junior members.

"Dom and Del aren't jerk offs. And that's not very nice! They're meant to be our friends!"

"So what?!" He took another step forward his foot now on the ice. "I'm sick of them. Sick of their crap. But I'm not allowed to stop it, oh no. Because if I get angry, I might accidently rip their throats out. Them and anyone else in the building. All I can do is take 'anger management' class," mocking the word anger management in a high pitched voice, "and pretend it doesn't affect me. Pretend I don't care and just push it down with the rest of my feelings. But it's not like anyone cares about that." His scowl became a look of disgust, turning around to punch the cliff bank behind him. The dirt crunched and cracked beneath his fist. Oakley gasped, surprised by his sudden movement and by instinct, pushed herself away from Devon, again, the ice cracking beneath her. He flicked his head around, narrowing his eyes at her. She went wide eyed as he began to step across the ice, it snapping and cracking underneath his feet. She clampered back, the ice beneath her not cracking as ominously as Devon's was, until he was right at her face. He looked rather mad, that was for sure, and Oakley could swear she could hear a rumble - like a growl - in his throat. Her lip quivered, obviously frightened, and she stared back at him for a moment before he spoke.

"Are you scared?"

"...Yes." He scoffed in disgust and pulled away from her throwing his hands into the air.

"See, this is why I never told anybody anything. Because everyone would either ridicule me or flat out avoid me. Even Julian treats me like a kid with some kind of disorder. My father hasn't even spoken to me properly since yesterday, since he's obviously scared of me too. Probably thinks I'll rip him to shreds if he makes me mad. Nobody seems to take into consideration how long I've kept it under wraps since I've known about it." He rambled on for a moment angrily before trailing off, turning back to Oakley.

"I'm scared," Oakley said quietly, "because you're being scary."

"Well, good." He said, huffing and turning away. "You should be scared of me. Because I could snap at any time. I could kill you."

Oakley looked back up at him and frowned. Suddenly, armour was cased around her right arm and before Devon could say a word, she skittered to her feet and punched the ice beneath Devon. It immediately crumbled beneath his weight, the freezing cold water beneath the ice swallowing Devon whole. The small current started to pull him downstream, his face now caught under the ice and unable to surface. Before the river could drag him away, Oakley punched the ice where he was and dragged him up, throwing him to her side of the bank. He coughed and spluttered up water, the punch taking him by surprise and obviously, he hadn't taken a breath of air.

"What the hell was that for?!" he wheezed out, his lungs now full of oxygen. Oakley carefully stepped back over to the riverbank, grabbing Devon with her large, armoured hand and holding him in the air.

"You could kill me? Well guess what Devon, I could kill you too." Her other arm was now encased in armour, and went for his neck, tightening her grip ever so slightly before Devon got the point. "I mean, my armour makes me pretty strong, I guess. I could probably break some of your ribs without trying. On the boat, I threw you into the ocean. Imagine if I did that when you were like you?" She put him down on the ground, her armour slowly shrinking back into her skin. It hurt, yeah it hurt to do this but something Dom had told her rung through her ears and she was going to do her best to pass this wisdom on. "With everything that's going on, I don't think anyone is worse off than anyone else. And everyone is capable of killing each other. Dom would probably burn you alive. Del could cut a hole straight through you. Thayne... uh, I'm not sure what he does exactly, but he did trap that man today. He could probably do something. But... that's what separates us from those people. Like that man in Paris. Or those people in London. If we learn to control... this," she gestured to her arms, "and use our powers to help people, maybe we'll be okay, y'know? Maybe we can still be us."

Devon, shivering in his wet clothes, nodded as best he could. "You didn't have to put me into the river."

"I was making a point! You'll be okay. Besides, now you have to come back with me to get changed. You don't wanna catch pneumonia, do you?" She gave him a little laugh. Maybe she was a little rash, but at least he understood.

"Yeah." He peeled off his coat and took Oakley's as she was offering it. Provided, the sleeves had ripped from her spontaneous armour combustion, but it kept him slightly less cold. "Yeah, okay."

"Did you want me to throw you the rest of the way? I think I could get a career as an American football player or something with my arm." Oakley said, giggling.

"Yeah, maybe." He sighed, releasing the tension off his shoulders. He didn't know what to think anymore. "Thanks." He added quietly.

"What?"

"Nothing."
​
 
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