Chapter 2: Don't Feed the Animals

"Hey you'd still be free to go," Kat told Stella. "So hey, bring me back some takeout would you?" When they reached Brunhilda though, Kat quickly shut up. "What's for lunch today?" she asked the cook, to which Brunhilda gave Kat her full attention. She may as well have attracted the attention of Godzilla; a tall, stocky woman of Eastern European descent, her gray hair was held in a hair net, smock hung over her front with stains that could have been blood or ketchup, no one was brave enough to ask. Thick arms held her instruments of feeding, skin partially loose yet somehow betraying the fact she had muscles in those arms. And eyes of granite gray rested first on Kat....then Stella. Then she spoke.

"Today," she said, in what could have been mistaken for an almost, grandmotherly tone of voice that carried a thick accent, "we have a choice of lamb chops or chicken parmesan. For a side we have either mashed potato or borscht soup."

Stella waited for her turn. "Lamb chops and mashed potatoes, ma'am." She asked politely.

"Acting, well I never thought. Where you running too?" She asked as she turned her own head to the destination she was jogging to..

"Where your looking is where I be going." Marcus said as he looked past her and towards the clearing. "Quite a bloody distance too." Marcus finished as he stood straight and held his chest out before letting it relax.

"I haven't heard that accent before." She said as she thought of the man, he seemed honest enough. Was nice too, be ashamed if she had to kill him.

"Arr that's just a memory that pop's up every once in a while, good old Australian." Marcus answered her question as he began to jog towards where he was going, the woman following suit.

"I saw what you did their." She said as she caught to him and then raced ahead, making the taller man have to work harder to keep up.

"Really? You saved her life and she fucked you? and she had a boyfriend?"

He had recounted the tale of what had transpired the night prior to Seeley. Telling him of the two thieves who got away and the strange teenager who had revealed herself as, in his words, "a mutant". Truth is and was, he doesn't truly know of her past, so he had just said the first thing that had sprung into his head.

"Yeah, it was all goin' so well too, until her old man showed up. Had to run like hell to get away from 'im. Sucker was pretty fast"

Seeley shakes his head a bit.

"So what are you going to do about the thieves?"

Dean replies with a shrug before continuing with "Let the cops handle 'em. Unless I find 'em first. My first act might be dealin' with them mutant beasts that caused a ruckus. Someone's gotta be behind that, right? I mean, unless some radioactive waste got flung into the sewers by accident."

"And how do you plan to figure all that out?" Seeley asks

"I dunno. I'd like to do one thing at a time. Got a date tonight and I'm lookin' into gettin' some cash."

"Will it be enough for you to pay your rent?" Seeley says half jokingly.

"Nah, with the rates my landlord has, I ain't gonna be able to pay it until I got at least twenty grand" He says in a fully joking matter. "Yeah, it'll be enough. Ya ain't got a thing to worry about."

In response, Brunhilda gave Stella's tray a pair of plates; one with a single yet meaty looking chop of lamb, the rib bone poking out from the end and meat seared and covered in a sauce. The other had mashed potatoes, the white mound of mash, wisps of steam curling from both. "Enjoy," the cook said, moving on to Kat who seemed to need no asking, her preference already known.

The two kept running for a while before the older man was almost out of it, slowing down to a walking speed and making the Flora slow down so he could catch up. "Come on old man, you can do better." She said with a small grin and in which Marcus replied

"I'm twenty one thank you. Not old." Which was true yet false seeing as shadows true age would be about thirty four now but his death kinda stopped that. making his current one what he was doe he wondered what it would have been like to be alive for the war, with his powers maybe he could have ended it sooner then it lasted for. maybe.

"Well sorry but you are too tall to be that old." Flora said as she ran ahead, she was beginning to act like a child almost Marcus thought. Maybe she was one of those sugar or too much excitement makes them childish people. Maybe.

James moved his hand to the first doors on the blueprint.
"We g-"

The door to the apartment burst open and Billy entered, swaggering as he always did.

"Oh, not again James. We've been over it six times now. It'll be fine."

James chewed his lip in response.

"Come on, lets get this show moving. Kerry will be here with the van zoo ."

Together the two jogged until both realized that their objectives were the same, soon enough they would be entering a small path that led to the construction site. "So, why this way?" Marcus asked as he stopped at the entrance to the dirt road.

"I could ask you the same thing." Flora said as she twirled her fingers, a vine producing from the Earth, she didn't want to kill this man. Sure soon enough he could show his true colors of any human being on this planet but now he was just this man. She hadn't even gotten his name.

"Guess you could. You a fan of what the workers do up their?" Marcus said to see something, he didn't want to be assumed correctly, no he didn't.

The trio talked for a bit more, before Chris' phone rang; it was her dad, and apparently he wanted both her and James home pronto. Having to leave so soon, it was obvious that Amy wasn't happy with the departure of her friends......well, friend and girlfriend. James was already out the door to give the two some privacy for a farewell kiss. Chris caught up with him though soon enough. "So uhm......when are we doing that pepper jelly thing?" he asked, to which she slapped herself. "Oh damn I forgot......well, we can get started later when we're back home."

James' phone began to rang, an unknown number not one from his contacts list. Meanwhile on the other end Lauren prayed that James would answer it.

The buzzing in his pocket derailed James' train of thought. He was going to ask Chris if this was really a smart move, mixing pepper jelly into a bully's food. But he saw the unknown number as he pulled the phone out, curiosity taking hold. Answering at the press of a button, he said "This is James, hello?"

Now that James finally answered, Lauren fell silent, her words caught in her throat. They had sort of started dating, then the kidnapping happened, her parents went crazy paranoid. She had barely managed to keep her band running through their concerned crazed paranoia.
This was the first time she had managed to get her hands on a mobile device in over a month, the first time that she had got close to speaking with him. Aware that time was running out before he put the phone down, Lauren tried to force herself to speak.
"James.." She began swallowing loudly her throat dry. "I... I..." Lauren stopped sighing, she just did not know what to say.

Immediately, James felt his heart leap into his throat. Lauren? he thought, amazed to hear her voice for the first time in little over a month. After she had been kidnapped, he hadn't heard from her and the silence gnawed at him. His only distraction had been in being Revenant, but now.....now he had to talk to her. "Lauren!" he blurted, and mentally smacked himself. First thing in a month, and he does what she did: say her name. "Lauren, holy cow where have you been? I haven't seen or heard from you in......are you alright?"

She couldn't help but smile at his words, James always brought a smile to her face. "At home or at shows mostly... My family want to move to another house because this one isn't secure." They feared someone might kidnap her again, well in all honesty it hadn't been her plan to get kidnapped. It wasn't something she particularly wanted to do.
"I'm okay... Been busy with the band, home schooling sucks by the way but I might be allowed back soon." She sighed quietly. "I've missed you James."

There was that small flutter in his stomach at the last few words of hers. Chris was eyeing James, looking at his body language and grinning at what she saw. Giving him some space, she walked ahead of him while he kept speaking. "Same here......I tried to find you that night. Hell, even after that, I tried finding you in the hospital when I heard you were alright." Standing still, he could have been rooted, literally, to that part of the sidewalk. "Can we meet? I just.....well for starters I'd like to know I'm not going crazy. But I'd like to see ya again, hang out like before."

"I heard but it is good to hear that you did." Lauren whispered her heart feeling warm and fuzzy at what he said. Maybe he did love her?
"I..." Lauren honestly had no idea if she would be able to meet him. "Er... Only if you come get me because my parents are paranoid now days they don't let me out the house without one of my band mates being there." It was nice that her friends tolerated that, it saved arguments with her parents later.

"Well......if I could come get you right now, I would," James said. "But.....Lauren, I've had an accident lately, and my godfather wants to keep me close. Not sure I can get away to swing by, at least not without pissing him off." Much as I'd like to, he thought. Right then, he wanted to see her again. "Maybe.....if I can convince him, there's a maybe. But a small one."

"You okay James?" She asked sitting up before her mother shouted from downstairs. "Lauren foods ready!" She sighed explosively, before covering the phone with her hand. "Okay Mom! I'll be down in a second!" She removed her hand from the phone and quickly spoke into it. "Sorry James I'll call you later but I've got to go now." Lauren paused for a moment before whispering. "Love you." With that she hung up.

He was about to tell her he wasn't really okay.....then the last two words. Would that he could have, he'd have somersaulted. But he was too stunned to move then. It was enough to make Gestalt speak up.

James, snap out of it. You're an easy target standing so still.

"No I disagree with them. It's.." At that moment her phone went off and she went for it. The name told her all she needed to know. "Look it was nice meeting you and all but I gotta go." With that she ran back the way she came. Dammit mother.

"It's Marcus." Marcus yelled as he watched her run back the way they came. Must have been something important but hey if exercise was in mind the run back would be horrendously what she wanted.. maybe. With that in mind he continued on though the woods. "Now I play the waiting game.. yay."

Yeah yeah, I'm cool, I'm cool, James said to the AI, pocketing the phone. Slowly, he made his way back to Chris, who he noted had a smug little smirk on her face. "So, how's Lauren doing?" she asked. Like she needed to though, the look on his face painting a very clear picture for her. "Fine," he said plainly, even though his flush cheeks said a different tale.

Lovely girl. Kinda reminds me of the last one, what was her name? Sarah wasn't it? Dark said in Marcus's mind as he brought back memory's from before.

three years ago: Australia.

Human. Human. I'm bored. Kill something. Dark was pestering as ever and Marcus just stared out into the night sky as he pondered on his next move.

"Where kill people we do. Where people be to kill is question." Marcus said in a quiet tone as he looked down to see a young woman walking the street. "Alone alone quite the fun. Heheheh." He finished as he stood up from his chair and followed from afar. "Screams I hear Screams their will be."

"If the color of your cheeks is saying anything," Chris teased, "I'd say things are more than fine. Come on, what's up?" As they walked, he sighed and said "She said she missed me, okay?" Chortling, Chris slapped James on the back and said "Hey, that's great man. Means she's into you. Now you've gotta make a move, show her you feel the same."

"Okay, have you just ignored how I am talking to girls I have a crush on?" James asked. "Like, for the past three years?" Giving him a small smile, she said "Maaaybe."

"Yea I remember Sarah." Marcus said as he looked around his surroundings, getting the tiniest bit annoyed with Dark.

Yes you were just a gentle teenager to her, until of course we ripped her apart limb by limb. Dark said joyfully at the memory's of the girl being ripped apart. How he missed the old Shadow, how this new one grew to become a human even with his influence on the humans mind.

"Maybe shes not coming." Marcus said as he allowed his eyes to close, not a sound beside the buzzing of insects. "Might catch a bit of rest."

"Oh, wonderful. Fan-freaking-tastic," James sourly replied, though it was half-hearted; like Chris, he also had a grin on his face, and a warm feeling in his chest. It was definitely one hell of a pick me up, at a time when it was sorely needed.

They got home soon enough, Michael waiting for them. Pizza was ordered, no one really willing to go out. James went up to his room....and was shocked at what he found. The window now had a lock, and not the kind with a switch. Any exposed outlets had been sealed up. He still had his shoes with the laces, but that was about it. While he had been gone, it seemed that Michael went to work making sure that James didn't try anything......even though he wasn't planning on it.

But hey, can't just say I've got a crazy lady in my head, can I?

Flora continued to jog for some time, not much she could do now. Not now that she called. Maybe she should have answered but now it was too late for such a thing, She would be pissed. Maybe a grounding for what she had done or maybe she won't have figured it out yet. She wouldn't know until she opened that damned door and met with her mother face to face.

Sitting alone in the room shouldn't have been so depressing for him. After all, he still had friends and....pseudo-family, so it's not like he was alone. A roof over his head. Hell, was even a super-hero. So why was he so glum? The answer was obvious and used so frequently the past few hours, it made him sick. He was viewed as suicidal by his adopted father, even his best friend to an extent. And the one who had backed him into a corner, that drove him to quite literally head banging, was being quiet. It made him question his own sanity in a way, if the voices had been real or not.....

Please don't start thinking like that James, Gestalt's voice quietly whispered from inside his head. She is still there, however she's grown......quiet. Unclear of why, but I will continue to monitor her.

Not like that'll do much good. You weren't able to stop her, were you? He could feel the AI bristle at the comment, but Gestalt kept his composure.

No, no I wasn't. And as you humans would say, that one is on me. But it's only serving to teach me how to fight her next. Every defeat is a lesson, James, and one of us if not both has to be the good student.

With the wall finished and Seeley gone from the apartment, Dean begins to slowly go through his liquor cabinet. First the scotch, then the whiskey. With nothing to actually do for a few more hours, he hopes to get drunk enough to pass out to make time go by quicker. The only sounds that can be heard are from his old radio, set to a country station, and the constant clicking of glass on wood. His vision slowly grows blurry and his goal is made. He passes out in a drunken heap on the floor. The words of on old Willie Nelson song aid in lulling him to the land of dreams.

Whiskey River take my mind,
Don't let her mem'ry torture me.
Whiskey River don't run dry,
You're all I've got, take care of me.

Yeah well......I'm tired of being given lessons then. James thought. There wasn't really much else left to say, so he sat there in his room, alone as the night wore on and a new wave of snow drifted in from on high.



--December 11th, Monday 5:30 P.M.--

The weekend had gone by at a sluggish pace for James; with Michael still thinking he was suicidal, his every move was being watched. At least, as much as he could anyway; when he was given some free time by Michael to hang with Chris, he used it to do what he did best. But that meant now also dodging Draco patrols, which were getting more frequent. There had yet to be any more mutants though it was probably because no new ones were made yet. He talked to Lauren a few more times, though they hadn't met up at all. Chris and Amy were helping him out as usual, still trying to track down Rebecca Cohen and her mutant lab. But so far......the only thing that really changed, was that the weather grew slightly colder, and there was more snow to go around. He tried helping Shadow out with the dead people, but it was....difficult.

[Saturday, 11 p.m.]

He had almost overslept. Waking up just thirty minutes before the agreed meeting time from a few alarms he had set up for himself. Forcing himself to go despite a slight headache that would only pound with each step he'd take, he'd find himself at the meeting point. He'd expected his target to show up, however, it appeared that her friend had other ideas. She stood before him. Looking near the same as the time they had separated, the only difference was that her hair was out of her bun and flowing past her shoulders. A briefcase in her hands and a look of determination about her. The two stood facing each other in the white park. A chilling wind and the feeling that death was slowly approaching one of them.

"I wasn't expectin' ya to show up" He calls out to her. "What happened to yer friend? She was the one who was gonna give me the money."

She moves some stray strands of hair from her eyes before responding with, "She's here"

Alarmed, he looks around "You've gotta be kiddin' me, right? Thought y'all were stand up people"

The ends of her mouth go up in a smile. "No, you're not at a disadvantage, hun. I'm standing in front of you."

He looks back at her, confused. "Nah, yer the other one. I might be a hick, but I ain't stupid, nor blind." Defying his own words, he takes a look at the hand with the mark on it, and sure enough, he can see the end of it. He gives a somewhat stupefied look before responding. "How? What's goin' on?"

She looks down before giving a solemn smile. "Anna... referred to me as "Reflections"" This is how she would start her story. What she would tell him were the most important bits and pieces of her story. She would tell him of the hunger, how her powers were and how she would escape. She would continue with how she would find Anna and she would end, "This is what lead to my escape from the government and the killing of possibly the only friend I had made."

Her story was heard and everything seemed plain and simple. She didn't look as if she was lying. Which means the person standing before him was a cannibal with the power to assume the role of whomever she would eat. Meaning she could become anyone. Anyone with the common connection of being a very dangerous person. This person who had run from the government. Run away from bastards who would use her for their own gain. This person standing in front of him had lived a life of pain while simultaneously dealing it. What she would ask of him next, would shock him.

"I want to cut straight to the chase. I want you to fulfill your contract." She taps a finger on the briefcase. "Inside is a little bit more than the agreed upon amount. I don't wan't you to find and kill the person who had set this bounty on me and before you ask, it isn't Nexus. I don't know who it is, maybe it was someone in one of the many lives I've led. Maybe they found me out and before they could tattle on me, I got away. I don't know. All I know is, I've killed my only connection and she knew nothing. The only way for me to gain any kind of peace, is for me to die."

Her words came at him like a truck, he hadn't planned on taking a life tonight. His heart would begin beating slightly faster and he would look around at the possible camera locations across the park. This gave him an out, something to protect himself.

"What about the cameras?" He says nodding in the direction of one. "I can't kill ya then expect to walk free."

She nods "I've taken those precautions, already, hun. Anna was proficient in computers. A blackout of this park's camera systems and other camera systems up and down a three block radius."

Taken aback he responds by putting his hand into his pocket. "You've got this planned to a "T" don't ya" He says somewhat shaken.

She nods again "Act as a passerby and call the police. The cameras have been out for some time and won't come back until the morning. It's night which means people should be asleep and the snow is up. It's the perfect conditions for a person in your line of work."

He sighs and takes a pack of cigarettes and his lighter out of his pocket. He'd light up and take a drag, blowing his smoke out into the air. "You got a way you wanna go? I really don't wanna use my gun. It'd attract too much attention."

"I don't care how you do me" She says in a very flirty tone, obviously sarcastic.

He takes a few steps forward, takes another drag and while blowing more smoke out into the cold air, takes his knife out of the haze. He takes one more step forward and jabs the knife into Reflections' stomach. A muffled cry of pain escapes her lips and he even winces for her. He would get some blood on him and his plan would be to act as if he were stopping the blood. That's what he would tell the police. He would remove the knife and jab it back into her body aiming for the heart. Another muffled cry as he could feel her life slipping. Her last words would thank him and he would proceed with the plans they had formed.

[Reflections - Deceased]

Zeru had spent his weekend working on some tweaking to his bunkers security and was currently in the kitchen deciding what to eat."wonder if feel like cake or pie"he wondered out loud while rummaging around.

Despite his efforts to prove to Michael he was not suicidal, he still found himself at the appointment for the therapist. The room was warm--given the weather outside it sorta had to be--with a few comfy chairs. He sat in one of them wrapped up in a cozy jacket and thick pants while his therapist wrote something on their note pad. He was curious to know what, but he couldn't just say 'Can I see what you're writing please?' So he sat there, in somewhat miserable silence while he waited for the next question.

Unless he was meant to say something.

James had, over the weekend, not improved. Dark circles were under his eyes, not enough sleep and constantly being exhausted. Nightmares were plaguing him, though he'd never admit it; the most constant dream was a memory, of when Avaelli took over and killed the puppy. It played in his mind over and over, and he just couldn't get it to stop.

[December 11th, Monday 5:30 P.M.]

"And now for the continuation of the developing story of the murder in Travers Park." The brand new television rang out through his apartment. A flat screen on the just repaired wall and in front of it, he sits on his newly acquired couch. Eating an early dinner. "The body of 32 year old Anna Marie was found late Saturday night by an anonymous passerby. The victim had been stabbed two times, once in the stomach and once more in the chest. The passerby noted that the victim had still been alive when he had found her. He would try to stop the blood until the police force came, but unfortunately, she would die before transport."

He sits and silently watches, bringing his salisbury steak into his mouth and chewing slowly.

"This is the same area that had caused a bit of a stir the night before when another woman was robbed and subsequently stabbed. The passerby attributes this attack on the first attackers, though this attack, as quoted by the police "Seems a bit more brutal than just a simple robbery". The police have been following the robbery case for some time with no following leads. This adds another case to their ever growing backlog of cases."

"Still doesn't sound like they've got it. That's good."

"The mutant attack from yesterday is still fresh in our minds. Though many of us managed to get out alright, many others perished in this unexplained att-"

He cuts the news off and switches it to some other channel playing some inane sitcom. He continues with his meal.

Razgriz wrote:

James had, over the weekend, not improved. Dark circles were under his eyes, not enough sleep and constantly being exhausted. Nightmares were plaguing him, though he'd never admit it; the most constant dream was a memory, of when Avaelli took over and killed the puppy. It played in his mind over and over, and he just couldn't get it to stop.

The therapist looked up from his notepad. His deep blue eyes looked straight into James' eyes. He was wearing a brown fitted suit and vest combo, without a tie. The vest and jacket were made of wool, and looked quite comfortable and non-threatening.

After the a moment of eye contact he wrote a few more things on his notepad and put the pen down. He looked James up and down from his chair. A kind of loosely analytical look, without judgement of character. The therapist was told by Michael, James' gaurdian, that he was suicidal, and had other issues. This had all been written down, but not on the notepad in his lap. The therapist scratched his head and sighed, thinking about a question to ask, thinking about what he was picking up from James' mind.

"How are you doing today, James?"

Looking back up at the therapist, James stared for a moment at the older man. A silent moment was between them, before he sighed and said "Alright, I guess. Feeling a little guilty...."

Marcus sat on top of a building's edge as he overlooked the streets, his weekend had been abyssal. The killer had stopped and even with help they weren't having any luck, Dark hadn't shut up about old times and it made Mark think of what Rev would think if he found out what really happened over in Australia. He remembered what he had told Him when they first met, that he had only killed at least ten to twenty people.. a sad lie to the true amount he had killed. Well just hope he never does. Or your role model might disown you. Marcus wished he could do something about Dark, but nothing could be done so far.

"Yea and I wished you could be disowned." Marcus would say with annoyance as he looked at the ground. How not even falling would truly kill him.

"Why are you feeling guilty?" the therapist asked.

"Guilty abut wasting your time," James said. He wasn't relaxed; the chair was comfy as hell and he'd normally have been reclining back in it, sinking into the cushions. But there he sat, elbows on his knees and hands twined together, muffled pops from his knuckles every other minute. As his wrists shifted, he'd check the digital watch he wore, a small thing he decided to buy on impulse over the weekend. "Since my godfather sent me here because he thinks I'm suicidal," James added. "Which I'm not."

"Alright, you're not suicidal. But why are you really feeling guilty? It's not because you're here with me, "wasting my time", as you put it." The therapist replied.

"Who say's there's another reason?" James asked.

"Fine, why do you think you're here, really?"

"I'm here so far because well.......I don't really know," James said. Aside from the lady in my head killing puppies in my hands and driving me to put my head in a wall of course. But he couldn't tell the therapist that, much as it was the truth. The truth, as it turned out, truly was stranger than fiction, enough to send him to an institution probably.

"Well, I think you do. When you're ready to admit it, you will. Now, why are their circles under your eyes, haven't been sleeping well?"

Blinking at that, the comment made James reflexively rub his eyes. "No, not really," he admitted. A little truth wouldn't hurt. "Hard for me to get to sleep......and then stay that way."

"Why's that?"

Again, his knuckles popped.....those of his left hand anyway. He would never be able to pop the knuckles of his right hand ever again, the robotic prosthesis incapable of such an act. James usually wore a glove over it, not for warmth but to avoid the stares it drew; today though the glove was off, exposing the white, hardened plastic frame and the soft gel layer that made up his palm and bottom parts of his fingers. It wasn't meant as a shock factor, no......he had a feeling the doctor didn't care in the slightest about the mechanical limb, so there was no point in hiding it.

"I keep......going back," James said quietly, barely loud enough for the doctor to hear him. "The car accident. All that fire and the pain that came with it. Some days when I close my eyes.....it feels like I'm back there in the car seat. Back in that car seat, burning with all that fire around me." Which wasn't a lie really; even months after, he still could not pull himself away from the pain of that day. He figured at some point, that pain like that never really ended.

Across town, at least from where James sat in the therapist's office, one Holly O'Neil was getting ready to torch a man. It wasn't an expression, as a small ball of fire hovered over her open palm and playfully drifted between her fingers, all at the bidding of her will. Around her neck, her birthmark glowed with a soft orange light, a sign her powers were active. Two of her gang held the man she intended to kill down on his knees between them, arms held up at uncomfortable angles to keep him still. Despite the cold around them in the vacant alley, the man was sweating bullets, eyes wide and fearful as he stared in terror at the redheaded teenager casually stepping towards him. Or perhaps his eyes were on the fire, she honestly didn't care. "For god's sake, I'm just a messenger!" he choked out, to which Holly smirked. "Correction: you're the message." With that, the fire over her hand went out and for a brief moment there was hope in the restrained man's eyes.

Then her hand shot out and her palm went flat against his forehead, the runes around her neck lighting up more intensely now. He cried out in pain as his forehead suddenly burned, as if her palm was scalding hot. But by her expression, one could have assumed she felt no heat. Drawing her hand back, she gestured for her cronies to let the man go, which they did. He didn't get up, consumed in too much pain to do more but scream. And scream he did as they walked away, while the fire she lit inside him burned and consumed him from within. Smoke came out of his mouth and nostrils, his skin blistering and charring under his clothes. And it blazed even more, until he was consumed from within by fire.

Torch's message was left in the alley, a horrifying message of her existence....and her intent.

"Tell me about the accident, James."

Marcus stood in place as he stared down at the drop, his foot had nothing but air below it as he extended it over the edge of the building but had returned it next to his other foot were they both rested safely on brick. "Not today." The words were not much to most ears but had a meaning to the man who had said them.

Marcus turned back and headed to the catwalk, his mind set on doing something but with this new Military group after the both of them it has made doing so quite difficult. Might have been way this new killer was taking a break, didn't want to be found out anytime soon by this group. "You know. They should check if crime rate has been going down lately. 'Vigilantes are bad, let the cops handle it.'" Marcus would mock as he walked down the stairs. "Were the cops able to kill those mutants, were they able to stop the robot man. We did, not them."

"What's there to tell?" James asked. "Gas line exploded, killed my sister, nearly killed me." Though as always, the truth was less believable; Gestalt, the alien nanomachines controlled by an AI, landed close enough to the car to cause the explosion and....well, tore James' whole world apart, while simultaneously opening the door to a whole new one. "I'm alive....and she's not," he muttered. "What else is there to explain?"

Urthus and Venere spent the last two days in Odin territory. They weren't ever allowed near anything that could REMOTELY be considered dangerous, but they were given temporary shelter until things could be decided on what to do with them, which eventually came to the conclusion of letting them go with a tracker. Urthus tried to explain about how the Void disintegrated almost everything from Earth but they were insistent. Eventually he caved in and convinced Venere to let them put it in. Whether it stayed implanted or not would ultimately be put down to testing and whatnot.

Urthus and Venere, while not really friendly, did spend most of their time together catching each other up to speed on most of everything. Venere updated Urthus on everything he could about the Void while Urthus tried to bring Venere up to speed on how humanity worked, or at least as much of it as the scientist could understand. Cars, language, money, buildings, all of it was...well new would be an understatement. Venere was struggling to take in an entirely new culture, a new way of life that he had been suddenly thrust into. He was...taking it well.

"Wait wait, so they just build their building out of the ground?" "Yes. They take the dirt and shape it, heating it and molding it into squares which eventually become the buildings and tunnels." "Well that's stupid! That's ruining the land and leaves little for artistry and expression!" The two were currently talking in Urthus' underground home, chatting in their alien tongue. "No wonder all of these humans seems so grim and focused, they can't show off who they are in where they live!" Venere laughed while Urthus chuckled. "They make due on the inside, but I agree. A standard cuboid is just...that's about as primitive as it gets besides pyramids and cones."