Awake in Prefeton (Superpowers Char RP|IC, Signup, Open)

[Dragos Bee]

Cecil Nevverling-Wijgaants
Falling Through

As the vehicle began to pick up speed, it became evident to Cecil that, even with his stretchy arms looping around the rigging, he wasn’t going to be able to hold on forever without either destroying part of his arms or letting go. So instead, he decided to take a gamble. He reared his body up, still clinging for dear life, and slammed himself into the roof again. Instead of hitting it, however, he managed to clip himself through the top of the car, as it wasn’t nearly as thick as the average wall of a building. He fell with his entire body into the van, grunting in pain as half of his gut hit the second seat row, while his legs fell onto whoever was in the middle back seat. He made a weird, almost squeaky noise as his shoulder hit Rashaad’s chair, and then his face hit the floor of the car. He quickly tugged his arms inward around his chest to try and cover it up as he winced and hissed in pain.

Eren Fritz

Oh, it was just Cecil. In his PJs and clearly without a binder. Thankfully, Eren had a jacket for the cold nights out, considering the fact that he had joined that Rider kid and Maurice's meeting. Taking it off - He had a long-sleeved shirt below just in case - And putting it around Cecil's head and shoulders, the young man's next words were, "Here. It's cold out - Hardly the best time to go out in PJs."

And by that, his jacket was no substitute for a binder, but it ought to cover up Cecil's chest long enough for the other boy to recover. Knowing Rashaad was of 'traditional sexual morals', Eren looked at him with lips pursed, watching for any transphobic expression, which can derail the group's progress especially when all of them had other things to be concerned about. After a long second, Eren looked back at Cecil and said, "Take some time to calm down - Mr. Pennel Senior here is going to go through his former comrades to get us some answers and we all need to be clear-headed here while he does so."

[Talchyon]

Driving off
Rashaad Pennel and Capt. John Pennel

The thump on the ceiling was unexpected to the driver. Capt. Pennel tensed up as he heard it, and then eased up slightly when no further noises continued. If this was one of them, the first sound would have been followed either by the screeches of metal being torn from the roof, or a large explosion. Since it was neither of the two, the soldier relaxed somewhat, while still wondering what the hell was going on. It didn't help that the teens he was driving were already hyped up on anxiety. To help, he began to slow down, getting under 30 mph and easing up on the gas even more.

When Atalia asked for a gun and Eren gave his loaned weapon to her. Capt. Pennel just shook his head. "Guys, I don't think that's what's needed here. Besides, shooting that gun inside this moving vehicle is stupid. None of you have ear protection. We'd all be deaf for awhile, and trust me, we're going to need our senses sharp. This isn't one of them. Trust me."

Rashaad was inclined to disbelieve his dad. Still weak from the chemicals the mysterious black eel had put into his bloodstream, and yet thankful that his head was roughly 80% clear now, Rashaad didn't know what to say. This crazy man driving didn't seem to be anything like the paper-pusher bureaucrat of a desk-job soldier that his dad had claimed to be. It was clear that the older Pennel had rescued Rashaad and his friends from the "less than men" and that black eel-thing. It was clear that the older Pennel knew useful information. What wasn't clear was how he knew, how much he knew, and how much they still had to learn. To put it bluntly, Rashaad and his friends seemed to know the equivalent of mathematical fractions and decimal places in how much they had put together about their powers, these purple beasty-things, and these un-soldiers. Capt. John Pennel, however, seemed to know the equivalent of advanced calculus about these dealies. And that gap in knowledge was still unsettling to him.

And then, there was another thump. Followed by the somewhat intangible / malleable form of Cecil! Just dropping through the roof! Rashaad's mouth gaped open at seeing the first person he had met in Prefeton somehow squeezing through his van roof! This was completely not what Rashaad had thought when he had met Cecil this year at that first meeting at the beach party before school - that somehow, they'd both be riding in his van away from rejects from the Twilight Zone, with his dad seemingly lost his mind driving them away. Rashaad finally gathered his thoughts and called out, "Cecil?! What in the world are you doing?! Did you just fall through the metal ceiling of my van?! Oh, and are you ok?"

Capt. Pennel kept his eyes on the road, while he glanced in the rear view mirror. It was all clear in this part of town. Nothing on the streets at all - which was good. As for their newest arrival, Capt. Pennel nodded to himself. He was right. It wasn't one of them. It was one of Rashaad's classmates. And from what Rashaad and the others in the van said, Pennel knew his name now. "Cecil, is it? Well, good to meet you. I'm Rashaad's dad. Capt. John Pennel. And from that unique move you just did getting in this van, let me say that we're on your side. You're with us. And we're blowing this joint."

After a beat, the older Pennel spoke again, this time with a big grin on his face. "But if you ever want a ride, next time, feel free to use the door..."

---

The beach
Kristen Lane

Kristen left the boat a different person than the one who had gotten on. They might have been biologically the same age, and had the same DNA and ribosomes and other basic biological trivialities. But the new Kristen seemed to have aged about 10 years, and the immature, self-centered girl who she had been just earlier that day before meeting Mr. Tefford's new persona - that girl was gone. It was a welcome change. Much-needed, from those who had grown up with her from before.

Now, the former track star was dead set on finding Tefford again - if they could. Otherwise, she knew that she especially couldn't just stay still. That cell phone of hers had crucial video and pictures of what the edge of their fake world looked like, and that information needed to get out. She wasn't quite sure yet who it should be given to, however, since clearly, nothing that seemed real truly was. From journalists to police officers to the military to her teachers, even to her parents who had easily been brainwashed and had proven it the night after the Fall dance when none of the parents remembered anything, absolutely no one could be trusted. Maybe Tefford could be trusted. Maybe. Of course, Kristen wondered if the seemingly psychotic man who once had posed as their school principal would take her phone and delete the information on it for reasons he hadn't shared yet.

Following the footsteps they had found seemed like a plan. Kristen offered to go ahead and scout things out. "I can run. Nobody will be able to slow me down." And with that, before anyone else could object, and before the voice of Rosalyn sounded, Kristen had turned on her jets and shot down the path, following whoever or whatever had left those tracks.

[Demencia]

Rosalind Llywelyn

Rosie backed up when one of the people approached her, and she assumed what might have been a defensive stance if she was formally trained in martial arts other than watching various martial arts gimmicked wrestlers. Before she could even speak again, someone jumped out of the boat and literally rocketed away, with actual rockets! "What the fuck is that!?" she yelled, almost tripping over herself as she backed up more. "Flesh and bone my ass! You're Terminators, aren't you? Explains why you can't drive a boat and why that one just had FUCKING ROCKETS!" She tightened her stance more, she knew she couldn't fight everyone that might be on the boat but she could at least maybe take out a couple before they got her. "You're not gonna get me, Skynet!" she insisted, starting to hop from leg to leg ready to deliver a devastating Superkick if needed.

[Bingellia]

Maurice took to the deck once the ship had beached, and felt a mixture of relief and confusion at the sight of Rosie alone on the beach. As far as he was aware, the girl hadn’t been empowered, but any attempt to recall anything about the girl was dashed when Kristen rocketed off the ship to find and Annie called him.

Annie!

“Thank god,” he spoke lowly to himself as the joy, of all things, and the massive wave of relief nearly brought the boy to tears on the deck. For the first time since the meeting had started, something went well for him, and he found it difficult to not smile in the moment as he hurried to the bow.

“Yes, it’s me!” Maurice answered with a wide wave to her car. She probably couldn’t see him that well, but he couldn’t help himself“[i]You have no idea how happy I am you’re okay, Annie, and I have a lot I need to tell you, but there’s another person we need to deal with first”

Turning his attention to Rosie, the boy quickly weighed his options. Telling the truth might just click with the girl, given that she had always struck him as eccentric enough to buy into it, but she was also likely dull enough to believe a lie.

“We have had one hell of a day,” Maurice called out to her as he got off the ship, though he was keen on keeping his distance from the girl. He decided to broadcast what he was about to say to Annie to explain things to her as well. “First we try to leave the island, and this damned kraken attacks us as we’re trying to leave,” He explained with levity, even forcing a chuckle or two to help keep things light. “Then we got far enough out that we hit a wall of screens that show the horizon and concrete or something that are keeping us from all from dying because we’re actually in space.”

Pausing briefly the lad took his breath before continuing, “And the absolute kicker is that we all have superpowers! Hell, you may have some! Have you noticed anything weird? Something you haven’t been able to do before that you can now?”

[Demencia]

Rosalind Llywelyn and Maurice
A cowrite by one great character and also Bingellia

Rosie thought for a second, wondering if she'd taken drugs earlier and just didn't remember. It would explain a lot of things, frankly. She didn't feel any drugs though, and that kinda seemed like the whole point of taking drugs. Maybe the short one took drugs with the rest of the group? That'd be a great reason for crashing a boat, sailing while intoxicated seemed serious. Though, if they were the ones that did drugs, why did Rocket Power just zoom off into the distance? Contact high maybe?

"Superpowers?" she asked, "You think I have a superpower?" Well, she definitely knew at least one of the people in this conversation was on drugs, but it never hurt to try just in case she developed superpowers naturally. "I haven't really tested, but maybe I should." She looked at the ocean and squinted really hard, trying to shoot lasers out of her eyes. After a few moments of effort she gave up, scratched her head, then tried to breathe out ice. She was surprised and almost ecstatic when it felt cold, but then her wintergreen gum flew out of her mouth and her hopes deflated. "Shit... not that. Oh! Maybe flight!" she said before jumping into the air and immediately landing back on the beach and almost falling on her face.

"Shit, think Rosie think..." She closed her eyes and focused really hard, then peeked one eye open to look at her hand. "Shit... still visible... Hmm...." she scratched her head again then suddenly had an idea. She pointed at the shorter kid that had spoke to her just now. "Punch me in the face! Maybe my bones are made of steel! Do it!" she said in a firm and somewhat frantic voice.

Maurice paused at the suggestion, and raised an eyebrow at the Rosie before shrugging. The twins were too traditional to indulge the woman, and after a second, he threw an awkward punch at her gut that managed to actually hit. Unsurprisingly, his hand hadn't broken from bones of steel, though his abysmally poor form likely wouldn't helped had there been bones od steel

It clearly wasn't bones of steel, because that hurt. The redhead bent over double and staggered a little as the wind got knocked out of her from the blow. She coughed once, muttered under her breath, and glanced upward at Maurice. She jumped upwards, corkscrewing her body in the air so she was parallel to the ground and reached upwards. She grabbed each side of his head and gravity pulled him forward as she fell back down, executing a flawless Diamond Cutter.

It was sudden, too sudden for Maurice at least. All the boy felt when his face smashed into the sand was pain, far more than what he would have expected from getting thrown into sand. Slowly, he rolled back over, trying to catch is own breath through the lingering pain.

"I think," he softly groaned, "I think that's from your powers. Whatever you just did." He'd still lay there, waiting for the pain to fade before slowly getting back up, but he knew enough about wrestling to know that those flashy moves weren't supposed to actually hurt like that.

Rosie landed supine, but one quick kip up later and she was standing on her feet with ease. "What? No, that's stupid. Anyone could do that, I was hitting Diamond Cutters on people when I was five years old. Man, this is bullshit. I knew superpowers weren't real. Oh! Unless!" she said, turning suddenly to the ocean and putting her hands around her mouth. "If you're a fish out there and you can understand me, fuck you!" she turned back to the still injured Maurice. "God I hate Aquaman, knowing my luck it'd be something stupid like that.

[Dragos Bee]

Ascot Rider

Ascot twitched, but then decided to ignore Rosie and her narcissism and her delusional personality lest he be tempted to actually use the ax he still held in his hand. He can’t do anything right now, he can’t say anything right now. He was just exasperated with the skeptics, and also himself for not getting enough evidence to show people and not even knowing how to gather proof. Ascot was tired of this, tired of trying to be the protagonist in a situation where there wasn’t supposed to be any, and even more tired of not knowing what to do. He may be fourteen, but he was supposed to be a prodigy, damnit! Why wasn’t his genius brain working?!

[Europa Undivided]

Madness!

"No, what?", Nikita frowned as Rosie accused him, no, them of being Terminators. Kristen speeding off with rocket feet probably didn't help a lot with convincing Rosie that none of them were time travelling robots intent in wiping out humanity, but this was just getting ridicolous. Ugh. Whatever. At least Maurice is here to-... oh, nevermind. He just got thrown around like a ragdoll by that ginger. A ginger, of all things!

"Hey! Quit it, Rosalind.", Nikita called to the redhead, keeping a safe distance between himself and the mad girl as he didn't want to end up in the sand like dear Maurice. Oh, the poor thing...

---

The first thing that Nikolai saw when he jumped out of the boat to land his boots upon the white sands of Prefeton Island was the sight of Maurice being... uh... beaten to death by a red headed gymnast. For all its worth, she was extremely nimble and kind of reminded him of Mystique's moves in the X-Men movies before that disgrace called Dark Phoenix killed the whole thing for good. Maurice was lying on the shifting sands, breathing out slowly due to the pain that had been apparently inflicted on him.

Nikolai's surroundings began to chill, the temperatures of the already cold air of midnight in the coast of Maine being forced down even further. A cold mist began to emanate from both of his hands, a tell tale sign of his cryokinetic powers beginning to work. Nikita and Erika alike had been too dumfounded with what had just had happened with Maurice and Rosie to notice, but Nikolai was preparing to fire. This girl had hurt Maurice, and for that, there will be retribution. A slight ghostly glint of white appeared in the edges of his iris for a moment as he fired his cryokinetic energies squarely towards Rosie's feet. If she didn't jump up, the ice would stick her to the ground. If she did, a floor of slippery ice would form instead and probably cause slipping.

"You need to chill, Missy.", he said as he ran to Maurice, where one hand of his still emanated cryokinetic mists. "Maurice, by God. Where does it hurt?" It was obvious that he will apply an impromptu cold compress, if he needed to.

At the meantime, though, Rosie would feel rainfall... not from the sky, but from the side. It was a light drizzle, but it was getting stronger.

"Girl, I'm not raining on your parade.", Erika chuckled with a jolly expression as the miniature rainclouds that were hovering a few feet above the ground were her doing. Sighing, she then continued, albeit with a dull tone this time. "Also, I think you went overboard.", she pointed at Maurice, who was too pained to even stand up.

[Nea Videssos]

Rei Fujiwara

As the chaos unfolded elsewhere, one individual had a different experience. Within the confines of his bedroom, Rei was sat in front of his computer, absent-mindedly clicking through the comments section on one of his most recently uploaded videos on YouTube. In the background he had been listening to Children of Bodom. Since he didn't have any plans to go out that day, he was wearing a baggy, oversized light blue hoodie that reached his thighs. Other than that, he had his underwear and socks, so he wasn't exactly dressed for wandering around outside in the cold. As always, a cherry-blossom themed hairpin with a red tassel was present on the left side of his hair, creating a certain contrast between the ornate hairpin and his casual clothing.

The din of Finnish melodic death metal blocked the sound at first, but half a minute later he began to hear a strange sort of hooting laughter in the distance. He saw movement at the edge of his vision, from the window to his right. Assuming it was a bird or something, he swivelled the chair towards the window, turning to take a proper look. Alas, what greeted him at the window were half a dozen small, red-eyed, furry purple monsters. Staring blankly for a moment, he blinked. What the fuck?

Unsurprisingly, given his general unsociableness, Rei had not been at the Harvest Dance. Accordingly, he had been spared the scenes of carnage that had ensued back there. He had, however, attended the assembly the following morning, and he had noticed the odd behaviour of some of the others. Of course, without being told by them, there was no way he could magically figure out what exactly had transpired. He had likewise been absent from the two meetings that had followed at the Rider Restaurant and Beaumont's creek. Whilst the others had been meeting and trying to figure out what to do, the Japanese teen had kept to himself. Though polite, he had always maintained a certain distance towards the others, and his decision at the time to avoid getting dragged into whatever schemes the others were up to, was linked to that innate distrust and wariness he had developed over the years. Rei also knew how prone to fuckups teenagers could be. He had sensed that the others were cooking up some outlandish ideas that were probably going to fail, so he had decided to leave them to make a mess of things without his help.

As such, the Japanese crossdresser had neither seen nor heard of the strange, gremlin-like abominations that were now gathering at his window. Still, one thing he could tell was that they didn't look friendly. Creepy red eyes and sharp fangs didn't exactly give them the image of docile herbivores. Even if they were just watching for the time being, what was to say they wouldn't smash open the window and treat themselves to a meal, with Rei being the main course? Once superpowers were on the table, and now these things were roaming around nearby, pretty much anything was on the table. For all he knew, this whole thing could be a simulation, some sort of experiment by aliens, or goodness knows what else. Rei had long since gotten over the ridiculousness of things ever since he had first manifested a power. The weirdness at the beach before, and some of the subsequent events that he was aware of had only cemented a certain acceptance of random shit happening. Of course, he could still be caught off guard, as he was now.

Quietly rising from the seat, Rei put his phone, headphones, wallet and keys in his hoodie's left pocket. Pausing for a brief moment, he also grabbed a utility knife from a compartment under the nearby desk, putting that in his other pocket (alongside a number of lollipops he kept there) before zipping both. Slowly heading towards his bedroom's door, he grabbed a black plaid skirt from the clothes cabinet, along with a pair of denim blue trainers. After surreptitiously donning said skirt and shoes, he suddenly sped round the corner and ran downstairs. Racing for the door, he darted outside, his gaze combing over the street in anticipation of those monsters. Sure enough, their weird Hyena-like call grew closer and closer. The ones from the window were moving around the side of the house, while it seemed a separate group were moving along the street. They soon sensed him and began congregating in his direction.

While it was dark, the streetlights illuminated things well enough. Accompanied by the glow of the moon shining down from on high, there were no problems making out the nearby houses across the street. Not hesitating any further, Rei turned his focus on the very furthest area he could see without any obstruction. Yellow-green light flashed, and the Japanese teen promptly flickered out of view, reappearing at the very end of the street. Briefly confused, the purple demon things took a moment to realise he had moved. As they reoriented themselves, Rei once more teleported, this time over to the balcony of a building on the other side of the road. He repeated this several times, making his way over to the outskirts of the town, flinching whenever he heard some of the creatures getting too close for comfort.

In the otherwise dark forest, there was a flicker of yellow-green light every second or so. As that light flashed, so too did the outline of a person. Anyone observant enough to notice would realise that the location they reappeared at would be at the very edge of a person's field of vision from where they were previously standing. Rei was glad that this teleportation of his did not have the same requirements as his invisibility. It was bad enough that he had to undress to be properly invisible. It would have been even worse if with every new power he unlocked, he had to get naked. It would be as if some mysterious being that granted powers had played a cruel prank on him. That would be too unfair. Not that the world was full of justice and fairness, but the point still stood.

After so much teleporting, it began to take its toll on him. He felt dizzy, tired, and a headache was beginning to make itself known. Plopping himself down next to a tree in the middle of the forest, he paid no heed to the dirt or damp on the ground. Nonetheless, Rei regretted not bringing a proper coat with him. Just wearing that baggy hoodie as a top made him a bit chilly. Still, he supposed, at least it was better than getting eaten by monsters. After a few minutes to rest and recuperate, he got up and carried on randomly wandering through the forest. All his current goal was, was to get away from the town while all those things were roaming around. Perhaps there were more elsewhere, but at the very least, he hadn't seen any after they lost his trail back in the outskirts of the town.

Now that he had some time to relax as he walked through the forest, Rei was better able to enjoy the peace and quiet one normally found in a forest. Though it was cold, the breeze that wound its way around the trees had a gentle, comforting feeling to it. As he walked, the crunch of frozen leaves underfoot served as a contrast to the background ambience stemming from the calls of owls, birds and insects. While advancing through the forest, he was able to calm down and relax after the frantic rush earlier. As Rei calmed down, he was able to look back and dissect recent events more clearly. Of course, given limitations in his knowledge, he was only able to make guesses, but it was a much better state of mind than blind panic.

After a few more minutes, Rei reached the edges of the forest. As the area opened up onto the beach, the now slightly dishevelled form of the Japanese teen emerged from amongst the trees and undergrowth. Pausing for a moment to wipe some dirt and leaves off his skirt, he turned his gaze towards the beach. It just so happened that he came to witness a boat run aground on the sandy shore of the island. So too, did he also bear witness to Kristen rocketing across the beach, along with Rosalind's strange antics with Maurice and the others.

Seeing Maurice get beaten up by Rosalind, and the subsequent summoning of ice and water by Nikolai and Erika, Rei muttered under his breath. "What am I getting myself into?"

Rei quickly recognised the inhabitants of the boat as they came ashore. It seemed like a bunch of the other teens had gone off to sea on that boat, only to return in a rather haphazard manner. The vibe he got from them was that of an army returning in defeat. Whatever had happened, it probably wasn't good. It was also probably worth knowing about. So far, he had only partially caught some of Maurice's ramblings about krakens and outer space, but these things had not fully registered with him yet. Sighing quietly, Rei knew that he couldn't just act as a silent spectator while the charade carried on. At the very least, he couldn't remain as ignorant of the situation as he currently was.

Once more, a yellow-green flash shone from his eyes, and the androgynous youth flickered for a moment, vanishing into thin air, before reappearing two metres away from Rosalind, Maurice and the others. Taking a deep breath, he interjected himself into their discussion in a calm as fashion as he currently could. "Um... can anyone tell me what's going on?"

[Demencia]

Rosalind Llywelyn

Without hesitation, Rosie did a backflip over the incoming beam of ice and landing on her feet, recalling how she'd seen people on television move across ice. "First off," she started "Rude. Doing things like that unprovoked to people minding their own business isn't a good way to make friends." she said without a trace of irony. "Second off, you should feel bad about those puns, you aren't Schwarzenegger and it's dumb and also bad." She glanced over at the person who addressed her by name "Third off, no one calls me that you creepy stalker. How many was that? Fourth? Fifth, I don't remember, he's fine" she said motioning towards Maurice. "It wasn't anything big he'll probably get up in a few seconds anyway."

Then someone else appeared nearby, and she recoiled a bit. "Jesus!" she exclaimed "Don't do that, the hell is wrong with you? Really not helping the whole 'we aren't Terminators' case here doing weird shit like that." she shook her head a little. "The nerve of some people, honestly."

[Dragos Bee]

Ascot Rider

Ignoring Rosie, Ascot went over to Rei and said, "Hey, Rei. As for what's going on, well, here goes: Many of us have manifested superpowers over the past few weeks, there was an attack of strange fuzzy creatures in the Harvest Ball, which was covered up by people who seem like military folk, and there were a couple more meetings you may have missed, with the latest involving our own John Tefford, who is actually a mind-wiped sleeper agent from a supposedly friendly faction named Tobias Scott. Tobias Scott led us to take a boat out of the island, but after going far enough away, we ran into an 'invisible wall', whicb turned out to be some sort of space-resistant 'concrete'. I say space-resistant because when we broke a hole in it, it led to a vaccuum, a vacuum filled with stars. Tefford/Tobias saw that coming and so fled back to the island instead of explaining and we have reason to believe he went to the Military Base to find answers."

A pause, "So we're breaking into said base as well."

[Nachfolgia]

Allison Clark


As soon as the boat hit the shoreline, Allison was just about to jump off with the others. She stopped when Nikolai stepped in front of her to halt her following them. She looked down at his hands as they took hold of hers, holding them like a lover would. She looked at the boy in confusion as she wasn't sure it was the right time to stop. They needed to get moving as soon as possible if they were going to get off the island.

"Allison.", he began, looking down at the floor for a second. "If... if in case, anything happens to me during our... next action... please watch out for my brother. Not that I think that anything will happen to me, but. uh, just in case, yeah. Okay?"

Allison didn't like what Nikolai had to say. A "dying wish" was not something that she wanted to hear from her boyfriend of 10 minutes. She didn't like thinking about the group dying in this trying situation and it showed. She glared angrily at Nikolai, grabbing onto his hands more firmly but not enough to hurt. Not even the loving kiss on her forehead eased her mood.

" Don't say that! We'll make it through this, all of us will. No one is going to die as long as I have anything to say about it."

With that off her chest, Allison followed the others off the boat and right into the arms of Rosie. She had apparently wandering nearby when they ran a ground. Allison's primary focus was Kristen who had pointed out several footprints in the sand leading away from the shore. It was obvious that they were Tefford's, but before anything could be said, Kristen took off after him. She kicked up a lot of sand as she rocketed away with her powers. Allison didn't think it was a good idea for her friend to run off on her own, but there wasn't much she could do to stop her. Allison, despite her muscle strength, could not out run Kristen.

[Khasinkonia]

Annie O’Cassidy
Worse than Children

Annie sat in her car and watched the altercation between the folks on the boat and this new redhead girl whose features she couldn’t quite make out from the distance she was at. She clasped the bridge of her nose thinking about their ill-fated voyage to what was apparently the edge of the world and sighed. She patted Gilligan’s head, slid out from under Moira-Lee, placed the girl in the passenger seat, and whispered, “Stay exactly where you are. Don’t move. I’ll be back in a minute. If you can, stay in the shadows.”

Annie patted across her cousin’s chest to make sure her cousin was still in the darkness of the shadows rather than actually physical, and then let go hesitantly. The shadow of a little girl was still there in the seat, and Annie sighed a breath of relief. She popped a now-sleeping Gilligan out of the baby sling and took the keys out of the car. Then, she slid through the shadows out of the car and slithered across the beach as a dark shape in the moonlight until she manifested from Maurice’s shadow. She knelt and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Maurice,” she said in a soft yet strained tone, “There’s no point in wasting any more time fighting with...her.”

Annie vaguely gestured at Rosie and then pointed to her car as she continued.

“I have my cousins. We need to leave.”

---

Cecil Nevverling-Wijgaants

Cecil accepted Eren’s jacket and muttered “Thank you” as he hurried to don it and both cover and warm himself. He sat up with a huff and let out a wheezing sigh as he gave Rashaad a thumbs-up and nodded with an awkward smile.

“Yes, I’m Cecil,” he verified.

He rubbed his arm in silence for a moment, and then continued.

“I do hope I didn’t dent your roof. I saw you ushering everyone into the house and of course one would be remiss in these times for barging in on someone working with the military. It’s hard to know who to trust indeed. I’m glad to know we can trust you; I just wasn’t really sure what to do about that grisly sight in the backyard, so one can imagine that panic doesn’t do well for reasoning.”

He smiled at Capt. Pennel’s joke and nodded.

“I think I’d much prefer it.”

[Talchyon]

Driving onward
Capt. John Pennel

Cecil Nevverling-Wijgaants

Cecil accepted Eren’s jacket and muttered “Thank you” as he hurried to don it and both cover and warm himself. He sat up with a huff and let out a wheezing sigh as he gave Rashaad a thumbs-up and nodded with an awkward smile.

“Yes, I’m Cecil,” he verified.

He rubbed his arm in silence for a moment, and then continued.

“I do hope I didn’t dent your roof. I saw you ushering everyone into the house and of course one would be remiss in these times for barging in on someone working with the military. It’s hard to know who to trust indeed. I’m glad to know we can trust you; I just wasn’t really sure what to do about that grisly sight in the backyard, so one can imagine that panic doesn’t do well for reasoning.”

He smiled at Capt. Pennel’s joke and nodded.

“I think I’d much prefer it.”

The new guy wasn't feeling the best after his little maneuver of melding through the van's roof. But at the least, he wasn't letting it get the best of him. Capt. Pennel chuckled to himself as Cecil spoke, though. "What an egghead," he thought to himself. Not because Cecil said anything that identified him as some kind of brainiac, but just the way he spoke.

"Yeah, what happened in the backyard is ramping up, too. That's why we're getting somewhere a lot safer." And as he turned a corner, driving more so out of town and down a less traveled, unpaved path, Capt. Pennel saw his destination looming ahead. "And we're almost there..."

---

Chasing footprints
Kristen Lane

The first part of the path bounded along the beach, so tracking the marks in the sand was a piece of cake. But along the way, the person started making his way less obvious. A few times, the tracks went into the more wooded areas, only to resurface back on the sand a hundred feet ahead. Sometimes, the person walked a ways in the sand, then redoubled back and then entered the woods, leaving two potential trails to follow, one of them a dummy trail. Kristen had tried the beach, then ran back when she saw the end of the trail. Picking up where she had left off, she then entered the wooded area following the path again. The person running had tried to cover his tracks somewhat, but the trail was still clear. Someone had gone through that brush.

Dodging the trees and running full blast was no issue for Kristen. It just brought her back to her training, her early morning runs that she had kept doing even after she discovered her speed, back when she was thinking there might still be a cross country season. So any time a tree came hurtling at her at 40 mph, it was no sweat. She dodged it and kept moving.

Up ahead was a small clearing. A figure was seated on the ground, taking a breather. Kristen slowed down, but the person heard her coming and looked up with an expression mixed with frustration and fury. It was Tefford! Or Tobias, however he called himself. When he saw Kristen, he loosened up. "So you guys came back." It wasn't much of a statement. Cards kept close to the vest.

Kristen looked at the man with a mix of emotions. This was the school bureaucrat who had taken his picture with her for the newspaper after she had made it to state. The guy who once had a talking with her when her grades were going lower, after her parents divorced. And the same man who had jumped out of a boat in the ocean after a fight with sea monsters, of all things. Kristen didn't know what to think about him, or what side he was on. But she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"You knew that there would be a barrier there? A barrier with outer space on the outside? And yeah, we all made it back, too."

When hearing that they had seen space, Tobias got a curious expression on his face. But all he said was, "There's a lot you guys don't know. We'll wait for the others, and then we have to leave right now."

"

[Theyra]

Connor Vale

Like the rest, Connor got off the boat once they reached the shore. Landing on the sand and hoped that no one would see them embark. However, it turned out that someone did see them, a girl named Rosie who was randomly walking on the bench. Also finding tracks on the ground that could be Tefford's. Before he could speak, Kristen bolted away from them, following the tracks. Frick, there goes her, Connor thought to himself, as he looked around. Catching the exchange between Rosie and Maurice. The last thing we need is this right now and oh she is accusing us of being Terminators. Really, teen sized Terminators...., who is this girl? Connor sighed, it should not matter to him right now. They needed to get off the island and that means going through a military base. Can't say that he is not nervous about it but, what choice do they have? Speak out loud to the group, "we do not have time for this, we need to go before something else happens".

[Demencia]

Rosalind Llywelyn

Rosie took another step when someone appeared out of nowhere in front of her. "Woah, jesus warn a person before you do that!" she chastised. "Not really helping the whole 'are you Terminators or super-villains' thing, especially since raiding a military base sounds exactly the sort of thing like a super-villain slash Terminator would want to do! If any of you start shapeshifting into metal I'm gonna be very upset. Oh! Shapeshifting!" she said, interrupting her own train of thought. She concentrated again and thrust her arm forward as she yelled, "Form of... grizzly bear!" When nothing happened, she tried again, "Form of... T.rex! Form of... water! Form of... a DeLorean?" all of those attempts failed and she patted her own thighs with a nervous anxiety. "Man, this is bullshit. Where was I when they were handing out cool superpowers? I miss out on all the cool shit. Well I guess it still technically could be the talking to animals thing since no fish popped up to confirm or deny whether or not it heard me telling them all to collectively fuck off." She paused and looked back at the ocean again. "If you're a fish and you can understand me, do something so I know you know what I mean when I said fuck off!"

Surprisingly to literally no one, that did absolutely nothing too. "Man I hate fish, they're the worst. I'm going to Long John Silver's after this and getting a fish buffet." she yelled back at the water "Learn to breathe air like a good animal, you jerks!" With zero hesitation or acknowledgement of just how odd her actions her, she kept talking to the party in general and no one in specifics "That's it I wanna find out who's in charge of this superpower distribution scheme and find out why I didn't get any, I'm talking to the CEO of Superpowers and lodging a formal complaint about this nonsense because I wanna do cool things that aren't talking to fish."

[Nea Videssos]

Rei Fujiwara

Rei quietly processed Ascot's words as he spoke, his expression unreadable. Needless to say, it was quite a bizarre picture the boy painted. By this point, though, he felt like was able to adjust to whatever happened, no matter how weird it was. It felt like the plot to some books or manga he'd read in the past, and he at least liked to consider himself somewhat-genre savvy. All he had to do was to loosen the barriers between his definition of 'real' and 'fiction', 'possible' and 'impossible'. Already with recent events Rei had begun to expect stuff straight out of science fiction, and at this stage he felt it was quite easy to stay relatively calm about it. At the very least, it was easier than before.

Ignoring Rosalind nearby, he murmured to himself as he mulled things over. "Breaking into a a military base? I guess you've got some sort of plan to deal with or slip past the guards?" Rei didn't know what the security of this place was like. The closest thing he could personally think of was what it was like sneaking into places owned by organised crime groups, be they minor gangs or actual Yakuza. Most of the stuff he'd been made to do in that regard involved spreading misinformation and framing people. He only imagined conventional military security would be on a higher level, with higher professional standards, more sophisticated technology, and so on.

Taking a deep breath, Rei spoke once again. "Well... I might be able to help. Invisibility, teleportation, and the ability to blind people... might be useful for this plan."

He gave a faint smile tinged with cynicism before adding, "That's provided I don't somehow mess things up, of course. Well, me or someone else. I imagine the liklihood of getting shot isn't small. Perhaps something worse, if whatever's at the base isn't human..."

To be honest, he'd rather not get involved in this mess, but he was aware he couldn't just keep pretending things were 'normal'. After the encounter with the purple monsters outside his house, Rei knew there was no ignoring things anymore. That included keeping his powers to himself, and leaving the others to concoct their dubious plans themselves. If he was going to get involved, he wanted to do things properly. Not that he had that much confidence in his ability to do so. Still, Rei wanted, at some level, to be seen as useful, perhaps even 'needed' by others. He wouldn't always admit it, but it was there. While wanting to prove himself useful to others, he didn't have any arrogant presumptions in that regard. There was another part of him that wanted to shed that bad habit of his and be more independent, but alas, old habits die hard.

With Annie showing up in a car, it seemed like they weren't going to hang around for long. As before, he continued to leave Rosie to babble to herself as long as she wasn't directly addressing him. He couldn't help but feel any effort to engage in a productive conversation with her would probably be a waste of time. She seemed to virtually be off in her own little world, going along on some delusion-based stream-of-consciousness as she spoke. Still, Rei knew he shouldn't be too judgemental, and that she wasn't the only person here with mental issues.

[Bingellia]

Annie O’Cassidy

“Maurice,” she said in a soft yet strained tone, “There’s no point in wasting any more time fighting with...her.”

Annie vaguely gestured at Rosie and then pointed to her car as she continued.

“I have my cousins. We need to leave.”

"We do," Maurice groaned as he pulled himself to his feet, "but I need a minute first."

There was plenty of chatter in the background as he reoriented himself and part of him wanted to explain things to the others, but, truth be told, Maurice's attention was solely on Annie in the moment. She was his best friend, his confidant, and his unrequited love, and she was right beside him after all the worry and anxiety he had felt on the boat. Without any conscious thought, he pulled around Annie and tightly hugged her. Perhaps it was too sudden and too public, but he didn't care. He had decided the kids, the base, the godforsaken superpowers, could all afford to wait a damned minute.

"I thought I lost you, Del." he quietly spoke. As he looked up at the hazel eyes and vivid hair he found so beautiful, his facade cracked and tears freely, albeit slowly started to pull then rolled down his cheeks. "Our friendship, it means the world to me. You mean the world to me! And the chance of losing you, the thought of having to continue on without you, is a hell that I can't endure."

"Please!" His voice cracked as he struggled to keep himself just above a whisper. "Promise me you won't leave me alone again."

[Grenartia]

Alyssa

The scene at the beach was quite hectic, from Rocket Girl taking off to chase down the maker of some mysterious footprints, to some new girl showing up and acting random, like she had just stepped through a time portal from 10 years ago, to that Japanese guy teleporting in, and then Annie showing up.

"Far be it for me to break up this touching reunion," she addressed Annie and Maurice, "but we really shouldn't let Kristen go off on her own without backup, and the longer we wait, the more likely something will happen to her."

"As for you," she said, turning to the new girl, "I don't see why you can't join us if you want to, but you should know we're probably going to be facing a life and death situation soon, and it won't be the first time we've faced one tonight, so factor that into your decisionmaking process. If you have a power, I hope you figure it out soon. If not, I hope you're confident enough in your karate movie skills to defend yourself, because I can't guarantee the rest of us will be able to."

[Europa Undivided]

When Annie had approached Maurice, Nikolai got up, the cold cryokinetic mists no longer smoking out of his hands as Maurice apparently didn't need a cold compress for the pain. It just seemed that he needed a moment for respite from Rosalind's... uh... totally not painful wrestling moves. That one aspect of that absolutely mad girl was the one thing that was very off. Maybe she had power over pain and was just so absorbed in her delusional fantasies to notice?

Taking his leave, he watched as Annie and Maurice had their reunion. He had always known that his brother's ex had a lot in her plate, especially those little cousins of hers.

"but we really shouldn't let Kristen go off on her own without backup, and the longer we wait, the more likely something will happen to her."

"We're on it.", Nikita answered to Alyssa as he walked on the sand, leaving deep imprints with each step. "Kolya?"

Nikolai nodded as he tore his focus away from Annie and Maurice's... tearful reunion. "Da."

Turning around, he called to Allison and Erika, beckoning for them to come now. "It's time. We just have to follow Tefford's footprints and Kristen's track, and then start from there."

He now had a solemn expression, one borne from the anticipation of terrible events. There was a reason he told Allison to care of his brother if anything happened. Nikolai was already expecting some bad things to happen, especially now that they were going to assault a military base. Hopefully these powers would be enough to grant them access to the real world.

Nikita would be quick to notice his brother's uncharacteristic brooding, and shook him just as they were about to follow the trail. "Hey. Everything will be alright. Have some faith, brother."

"I don't know.", came the reply. "It feels like I'm losing it."

The younger twin paused and then tapped his brother in the back. "Well, let's just hope for the best... You will always have me."

[Demencia]

Rosalind Llywelyn

Rosie scoffed at the mention of karate movies. "Ok first off, how dare you, I mean... pfft karate movies? The disrespect!" she said, before suddenly switching to a mocking tone, "I hOpE yOu FigUrE iT OuT. I dunno if you just haven't been paying attention for the last-" she raised her left arm and lifted her sleeve to stare at her wrist, despite not wearing a watch, "Five minutes, but it's clearly not been for a lack of trying! Not like I've been sitting over here with my dick in my hands!" she somewhat glanced down. "Nope, not that power either. Thankfully? Regrettably? Hmm..."

She shook her head, having sidetracked herself once again. "You know, assaulting a military base, aside from not really being something people that aren't the baddies do, generally doesn't go well." the redhead commented. "Yea you might have some weird power like meat vision or talking to plants, but they have the best powers of all: gun and bombs."

[Nachfolgia]

Allison Clark


Allison was completely dumbfounded by what she was just witnessing. This "Rosie" girl was bat shit crazy. She was constantly ranting about nonsense. First she was trying to figure out her powers by saying cliche lines from old 50s superhero cartoons and then she went off on a tangent about how much she hates fish. It was all meaningless bullshit from an unhinged girl. While others seemed to ignore her just fine, Allison had a much harder time.

The longer that Allison stood there, the more pissed off she was. She actually felt her eyebrow twitch in frustration, like it was about to fall off her face. She never thought she'd hate someone more than Jack back on the boat, but here she was literally about to punch someone yet again. Her fists were clinched tighter as Rosie did her mocking voice.

About to lose her shit, Allison took a step towards Rosie, but stopped when she heard Nikolai call out to her. Looking back at him, Nikolai wanted her and Erika to follow him to go get Kristen and Tefford. She glanced back and forth between him and Rose, contemplating what to do, her fists still clinched. Decided it to be the better option, Allison followed Nikolai and Erika. She was relieved to finally get away from the crazy girl.

" Thanks, Nikolai. I was about to lose it back there. That girl is fucking nuts." Allison muttered to Nikolai, opening and closing her fists in frustration.

[Europa Undivided]

" Thanks, Nikolai. I was about to lose it back there. That girl is fucking nuts."

Nikolai sighed as they began trudging towards where Kristen and Tefford went. "I know right.", he answered soberly. "It took everything in my power not to throw ice darts at her. She's an actual bloody moron!"

The cryokinetic was quicky met with a nudge of disapproval from his brother, who was totally not pleased with calling Rosie a moron. "Heeeeeeey. I wouldn't call her that... I'd say... um. If you ask me, Rosie has a severe neurotic disorder... actually... no, that's worse..."

Nikolai rolled his eyes. "Pfffft. She's so wierd..."

"Huh.", Nikita scoffed in return as they stepped into the treeline. "You've seen worse. You're my brother, after all. You've always had to deal with my shenanigans every night..."

Deciding not to pursue the topic of Rosie and her apparent madness, Nikolai changed the line of conversation as soon as his brother had said his piece. "Either way. We should wait for Maurice and the like before we continue on. Wouldn't want to be separated."

[Dyelli Beybi]

Tobias Scott (definitely Tobias Scott)

"You knew that there would be a barrier there? A barrier with outer space on the outside? And yeah, we all made it back, too."

When hearing that they had seen space, Tobias got a curious expression on his face. But all he said was, "There's a lot you guys don't know. We'll wait for the others, and then we have to leave right now."

"

Tobias made a small annoyed noise as the rest of the group failed to show up. Clearly he wanted to leave the rest of the kids behind, but for a moment the better part of him managed to get control, "Follow me Lane, I'm going to give them one last chance not to die," he paused, holding a hand up into the air, "Do you feel that breeze?" he asked.

There was a slight breeze that had began to build up, blowing in the direction the ship had come from, "Anyone the enemy don't get is going to suffocate when the air runs out. If your classmates are going to act like a troop of monkeys, none of us are getting out of here alive. The last Prefeton we got one person out: Newton, but that's only because she's fast... or so I've been told. The one before that there were three. Me, the Captain and a guy called Blackmore. There were dozens of people in each construct. The only way any of us get out of here is with a single minded determination to survive. I'm going to fight my way out of here and hopefully some of you will be behind me. Then I'm leaving. If you've decided to do your own thing though, I'm not going to endanger the people I'm with by going back."

He gave an exasperated growl then set off stomping back in the direction of the beach.

Rosalind Llywelyn

... She shook her head, having sidetracked herself once again. "You know, assaulting a military base, aside from not really being something people that aren't the baddies do, generally doesn't go well." the redhead commented. "Yea you might have some weird power like meat vision or talking to plants, but they have the best powers of all: gun and bombs."

Tobias arrived back on the beach in time to catch the end of what Rosie was saying, "You realise pissing around out here is putting yourselves in danger?" he asked the group, not expecting an answer, "Every second you waste increases your chances of being caught."

His gaze swivelled to Rosie. This wasn't the genial, bumbling Principal of the High School. Whomever this version of Tefford was was hard, calculating, "So she has no powers and doesn't want to go with you to the base?"

"If she had powers I'd say just leave her," he glowered at Rosie, taking a couple of menacing steps in her direction, "But since she's unpowered, that means she's either a drone or infected. She's probably out on this beach spying to see where you put the boat back... and now you've told her you're heading to the base which, coincidentally, was where I was going. The moment we leave here, she'll notify the base that we're coming and then none of us makes it out."

He looked at the children who had been under his care when he'd thought he was their Principal, giving them a long thoughtful stare then pointed in the direction he had just come. It seemed like a long time ago now, "Go that way," he ordered, "Now. Keep walking and don't look back. I'll clean up this mess."

Powered they might be, but they were still kids and, even if they had seen space, he doubted they fully understood what was going on yet. There wasn't time to explain.

[Dragos Bee]

Ascot Rider

Ascot gave a nod, knowing full well that Tefford's latest revelations about 'infected' and 'drones' have emotionally compromised Maurice and his girlfriend, a girlfriend who may have said something about trying to take unpowered people with her. But other than not waiting for Maurice and Annie to come with them, the young man won't betray the two - They can make their own mistakes. That, and he didn't want to burn his remaining bridges with them. So the boy was faced with a choice: Follow Tefford's instructions and go to the base and find the answers he wanted, or stay with Maurice and the others a few seconds longer and try and talk Tefford out of killing Rosie, while trying to hide the existence of Annie's cousins (yes, he overheard her talking about those just before Maurice's confession) from the guy.

"Alternatively," he piped up to Tefford, "Rosie here probably has powers, but is delusional enough to believe that she doesn't. She's demonstrated unusual physical skill similar to yours', but promptly denied any notion of it coming from powers of some sort. Try and land a blow on her and you'll see what I mean."

Then it came to him, now that Tefford's distracted with Rosie, Ascot had basically done his duty for Maurice and Annie, covering for them and preventing Tefford from murdering Annie's cousins at present. The ball was on their court now, and Ascot himself can leave the scene with a clear conseince. "Anyway, time for me to go," he said to Tefford. "I know you must be annoyed by my continued presence, so I'll be coming to the base for answers."

And with that, Ascot began running in the direction Tefford had come from, gesturing for Nikita, Nikolai, and anyone else who might want to follow him to, well, follow him.

[Demencia]

Rosalind Llywelyn

Now Principal T was here? This was beginning to look like one of those weird dreams you have and don't tell anyone about because they might think you need medication. He was talking all sorts of nonsense about her being a spy or infected with something? This was really weird now, and she didn't like it.

Of course, she liked it even less when he came at her with what definitely to her looked like ill intent. He was a lot bigger than she was, and this wasn't exactly a fight she could win fair. Running was an option, but Mama Llywelyn didn't raise no bitch, so she did the first idea that came to her mind and didn't give it a moment's consideration.

She jumped into the air, bringing her knees to her chest, and reached out to grab behind his head and pull his face down onto her knees as she fell. The Codebreaker had worked hundreds of times for Chris Jericho over the years, hopefully it wouldn't fail her now in this one instance...