Seeds 01
Upper City
As the sirens blared and the shock wave shook the Upper City, from within the Rice Institute the lights flickered and then went out. The Institute had their own generator that would kick in soon enough, but until it did the doctors and personnel would be frantic to keep the children in line and experiments from going wrong; most importantly, to keep generation nine from dying as they were still in stasis. One boy of age 11 bore a sinister grin as the lights went out. His whole face smiled and he began using his ability to ‘blink’ into others’ rooms and begin causing havoc. He loved scaring the other children, and the doctors as well. He popped into a gen. 8’s room. He knew Ezi was afraid of the dark, and could not wait to exploit this fact. He blinked in and, in a sadistic voice muttered into the darkness, “Look out Ezi, or the monsters will get you. Heh.”
"Bruce?" Ezi looked to his plant, confused. It was eminating a strange sensation. He didn't quite understand it. Then the lights left, and all was dark. Ezi ran to his bed, frantic. The lights never went out, and when they did, he always had his night light come on. Why didn't it come on?! Ezi heard an evil voice sound from in front of him somewhere, and screamed, unleashing an uncontrolled blast to issue from him instinctually. It slammed into the metal wall next to the door, harmlessly. Ezi jumped off his bed after the initial scare, and huddled on the side opposite the door, next to the window.
Many rooms away, the monsters subsided for a but a moment, as Eeonus was distracted by the change in atmosphere. But that merely gave rise to an all to familiar terror to arise. He hadn't been given his medication yet, and was facing his schizophrenic hallucinations full force. "Your all alone, there is no one to help you. You are all, ours..." Was a prominently deep voice, coming from the darkness, as though his mind pictured it as one, living entity. He shook in his corner of the room, glaring in the darkness as though he could possibly discern a form in the room in front of him. He let out a scream as he felt claws slide down his left arm, and began to swat at the air in front of him. "Meds, give me the FUCKING MED'S!!" He began to scream, slamming his hands on the metal walls around him. He didn't care that the institution was having problems left and right. He tried to yell loud enough to over shadow the voices that surrounded him.
Lenna looked up curiously, tilting her head as she stood from her desk and crossed to the window, hands resting gently on the windowsill as she looked out, the darkness encompassed all, and she could hear screaming from down below. Her calm face reflected the light as she remained still in the moonlight, thinking and watching silently before her hand itched. Crossing silently to her desk she picked up a piece of paper and crossed back to the window, pencil starting to sketch this scene in her mind's eye; the teenager at the window, smooth pale hands and vague shapes of a dark city with the moonlight sliding over soft curves.
Alexander looked up from his desk, dropping the pen that he was using to jot notes. He stood up quickly, knowing that this would mean trouble with many of the Seeds. "Shit..." He said quietly to no one in particularly, walking out of the room and toward the holding areas for the Seeds. He was happy that he had walked down these halls so many times, otherwise he would be completely lost in the darkness. He thought of the panic that would be surely ensuring between the various Seeds and sped up, having meds, tranquilizers and shots ready to be used if needed. He hoped that they were still within their rooms, otherwise this would be a lot harder than he cared to deal with.
Puck blinked out of Ezi’s room before his psy blast could even be executed. Speed was his ability. He blinked his way into another room, a gen five who was screaming about medications. He was gone again before he could be noticed and back with a bottle of pink pills. He shook the bottle like an owner does to a dog or cat. He didn’t know what the pills were, nor did he care. He just wanted to play. “Eeonus… I have something you want.” He shook the bottle again, his Cheshire cat-like grin beaming from his entire expression. He just kept blinking around the dark room. In front of Eeonus shaking the bottle, then behind him, doing the same action, he wanted to torment while he could, before the power was to return. Within arm’s reach, then across the small room in a flash. He loved using his ability.
Arriving at the holding area, Alexander sighed in exasperation. He could hear the screaming coming from the holding room where Eeonus was and other sounds where the other seeds were at. He knew this would be a lot more work than he wanted it to be, and he wasn't even sure where to start. He thought for a moment before taking out a PDA and looking up the information about Eeonus.
Lenna laid the drawing down carefully, admiring its lovely lines before putting it carefully back into her file for pictures she had made, the doctors liked to examine them, and Lenna thought they needed a bit of beauty in their life. She seemed to be the only one round here who could see the beauty in all of her surroundings. With a thought she transferred the drawing into the file of things to be coloured, it would look lovely in pale blue tones, just one pencil though, all the lights and darks in that one pencil...
She did wonder how the others were doing though, she could hear screams, and she never liked to hear people scream, especially not when they were her brothers and sisters, or as good as family.
Sadui had been painting her nails when she heard the unfamiliar sound of an explosion. Seconds later, the lights went out and she heard the crackling of flames and the many secondary explosions as somewhere in the distance a building began to burn. She froze, dropping the marker she had been using to the floor, as the sounds assailed her. With her white noise machine no longer working, the sounds rushed in on her beating her eardrums. She gasped as the screaming began. Her mouth opened in a silent scream of physical pain as the racket grew louder and louder. Tears streamed down her face and she lept into her bed, pressing the cloth against her ears and writhing as her eardrums protested the amplified din.
When Ezi realized that he was gone. He sat against his bed and concentrated. Leaving his body behind he flew through the complex inspecting everything he could as to what was going on. Watching several separate sets of people reacting or not in there own ways. Watching the doctors run around in circles frantically this and that. He couldn't reach the experiment room where the 9th generation was,...growing
. However, he knew of it from his espionage. He could hear screaming, but ignored it, as it had nothing to do with him in the least. He continued on, and went to find his watcher, to see what it was that he was up to. Would he come to see me? Will he be concerned enough to tell me and make sure I was fine? Ezi only wondered pessimistically, until he finally did locate him.
Eeonus lept for the vanishing boy with a savage look upon his face. The voices temporarily sileneced as his mind moved on to more real matters. He missed as he lept towards the vanishing child. But focused again upon him as he heard the sweet sound of pills clacking in a bottle. He lept yet again, yelling in desperate rage.
Diana Cambel ran to Puck's room, only to discover that he was gone. She swore loudly, and slammed the door shut. Running through the halls, she would peer in every room she came across for but seconds trying to find him. She had heavily laced candy, as well as a dart gun containing sedatives. She found puck for but mere seconds within Eeonus's room before he vanished. "It's so fucking dark, I can't see well in general, let alone to find this brat!" She resumed her search.
Lenna hesitated as she heard screams properly from down below, poor seeds... they needed someone to treat them like something more than an experiment, she was sure it would help... Crossing swiftly to her desk she got another piece of paper she closed her eyes to concentrate. Start with one at a time. That boy, that one who'd taken one of her pill-bottles that she used to hold water to wash her brushes, his face was framed in her mind's eye as her pencil once more returned the paper, a quick sketch on one side before she flipped it over and started to write a letter on the other side.
-I am sorry that I do not know your name, but the picture should do,- she wrote, wondering what to put next, how to start a friendship? -do you remember when you took an empty pill bottle from someone? That was me. Don't worry,- she realised as she wrote what that must sound like, -I'm not asking for it back, I just wanted to know who you were because I'm a Seed, just like you, and you seemed- she paused again, how to phrase this so that he didn't think she was pitying him?
- like someone who could become a friend here. Would you write a letter back to me? I'd appreciate it. Lenna.-
Underneath the picture of the recipiant Lenna's own portrait grew, with a friendly smile on it's face.
Puck continued his torment of Eeonus for a few more moments before his ADD kicked in and he blinked out of the room and into the hallway. He laughed loudly to himself as the lights flickered and the back-up generators finally kicked in. Light was restored to the institute, with it the hope of order. Puck watched the lights come on as he staired at the ceiling. He dropped the pill bottle as, from the corner of his eye, saw his watcher coming down the hall. He blinked again and in a flash was gone.
Ezi would find his watcher with a candle still in his hand staring at a fuse box as the lights finally returned. He looked up and blinked as his eyes adjusted. Smiling he blew out the candle and shut the small door on the box. He got up and went to go check on his charge, Ezi.
Sadui didn't notice the lights come on, she was still huddled beneath her blankets with her eyes tightly shut. However, she did hear the familiar background hum of the generators, soothing her ears as the din slowly began to subside. She stopped shaking as the screams became fewer and quieter. She didn't stop crying yet, but at least now she could try and focus on the generators, a trick she had learned to keep from being overwhelmed by the background noise. With the electricity, her white noise machines kicked in as well, masking the cries that she could still hear in the background. She stayed in her bed, hoping desperately someone would come to comfort her. Her ears ached as tears continued to stream silently down her face.
Ezi returned to his physical body to discover that the lights had returned to him as well. He then moved back to his bed, and sat on top of it. He sighed inwardly, and looked to Bruce for comforting. He was apathetic once more, and seemingly oblivious to that which was around him. Ezi wondered what was going on, and looked outside to see that the rest of the institute had power as well. Did something happen to that city? Full of those unknown people he may never meet or see? He wondered. He also pondered if there would be lessons tomorrow. He couldn't remember if he had lecture or practice tomorrow, they were both ample opportunities to excel.
General Steele stormed in through the front doors of the institute. To say he was pissed would have been the understatement of the century. He walked right up to the first person he saw and demanded to speak to Dr. Gill. The nervous janitor pointed in the general direction of the good Doctor's office and the imposing and threatening man stormed down the hall. He knocked loudly on the door three times, but there was no answer. He tried the door, it was locked. Dr. Gill clearly was not in, and Steele was not pleased. He walked to Dr. Vanesa Ross' office. She was working hard, with recently blown out candles right next to her. The lack of power didn't slow her for a second. "Dr. Ross, where could I find the good Doctor Gil?" Without looking up from her notebook she gave a flat answer, "If he's not in his office, then he probably went home when the power went out. A lot of people did." She went continued scribbling. Steele turned around and walked back out. Damn blackout, makes people think they can just quit for the day. We need more people like Ross. Gil, you'll hear from me in the morning.
Alexander sighed in relief when the light came back on thanking his luck for not having to to deal with the panicked Seeds. He considered the various things that needed to be done, such as checking in on the ninth generation Seeds or giving Eeonus his much needed medicine. He knew that the other researchers would already be on their way to the ninth generation, and he was closer, so he decided that the best course of action was to administer the medication to Eeonus. He entered Eeonus's room, trying not to scare him even more as Alexander knew that with all the outages Eeonus must be a wreck and it would not do to scare him even more than he already was. If he was too panicked he'd make a bad research. "Eeonus, I have your medicine." He said in his flat voice, not showing any hint of emotion.
Eeonus was huddled in the corner. The doctor could see nothing but what appeared to be floating clothing, hanging loosely in the air. They then began to to get up and walk towards the doctor circling to one angle slowly. It couldn't be seen, but Eeonus was staring at the bottle quite intently. He slowly started to move in closer to the doctor. Wondering how long he had before the doc tranqed him or ran. If neither, then Eeonus would not stop before he had gotten the bottle, or most importantly it's contents.
Alexander knew that he had to be cautious. "Eeonus, stop playing games. If you want your meds, then stop it." Alexander was slightly annoyed with this, but he also knew that this could possibly mean some trouble unless Eeonus listened to him. He could always sedate Eeonus if worse came to worse though.
Eeonus halted for a moment as the doctor spoke. If he was tranquilized, he would wake up with a headache and un-medicated. Voices in the background began to yell at his indecision, telling him to attack the doctor and escape. That only motivated Eeonus to restrain himself further. He backed away into his corner of the room, and sat down once more. He could hardly believe he was letting go of this chance to steal so much medication.
David walked into Ezi's room soon enough with a pocketfull of medications and seditives, just in case. "Ezi, how are you feeling? Are you okay?"
Puck flashed back into his room, the lights back on and as blinding as ever. In his room the lights almost never went off so he could always be watched with ease. His room was completely padded, and empty, save for the bed in the corner and a clear case mounted on the wall which housed his gun. He stroked the case and smiled sadistically. "Hi my love. I'm sorry I went away. The lights went out, I had to take advantage of the situation and those other disgusting seeds." He pet the case again, "Yes, I know. I am the only flawless one. I am perfection. Those humans just can't see it yet. They see flaws so often that they can no longer see perfection, even when it stares them right in their fucking faces." His eyes narrowed and his nails scraped against the plexy-glass as his hand turned to a fist.
Lower City
The sirens blared as fire trucks and ambulances sped across the city. All was black and panic ensued. Lowers broke into the upper city and began looting left and right. The Uppers were causing just as much chaos, looting and fighting with the Lowers. The rain had started up again; lightning lit up the dark city in brief flashes as the thunder cracked overhead. The blaze that was once the Thanatopsis Power Plant raged, sparks flying, flames licking at the sky. Feet splashed in the puddles that had accumulated on the street as three figures fled from the mayhem. Led by a man wrapped from head to toe in bandages and a dirty red hoodie they slid down a manhole and into the sewers. Through the labyrinth the three would travel, hearts pounding, adrenaline rushing. The man in red suddenly grasped at his chest as his breath failed him. The other two stopped, but he signaled for them to continue. They did as instructed after a short hesitation. He reached for the holster on his leg and pulled out a syringe. With an unsteady hand he jammed the tip of the needle into his neck and injected the serum. His teeth clenched tight as he tried to hold back the burning sensation flowing through his body. Then, he heard the faint sound of buzzing. His one visible eye went wide. He looked behind him and saw a mechanical bug whizzing toward him. “SHIT!” He got to his feet and ran. He did not follow his comrades, but instead led the beetle away from them. He ran as fast as he could, weaving in and out of the rancid sewers. Finally he saw an opportunity in a broken grate. He fell into the hole and under some filth. Holding his breath in anticipation, the beetle flew over him. A sign of relief escaped his chest, as it seemed not to notice him. That was too close, he thought to himself as he pushed the garbage off of his body. He did one more quick scan before heading back to the rendezvoused point discussed earlier. All of the Locusts, even though none but those two knew of what Dryson had planned, were to meet at Myles’ shop. The two who accompanied him walked into the shop, minus Dryson.
Addy looked up at the ceiling of her little cellar as the building shook. She sat up, with effort, and took another long pull from her bottle. She could feel a slow wash of panic seep over her frame as the city went into chaos. She smiled visciously as she pictured Dryson and his team blowing things up. The lightbulb that hung bare from the cieling swung as more dust filtered down from the ceiling. She took a shaking step towards the huge rack of booze. She opened the sack at her side, checked its contents and then turned back to the wall. She selected two bottles of Jose Cuervo Black Medalian and stuck them into the bag. After making sure her stash of salt and limes was still intact, she walked unsteadily from the basement of the building, making sure to replace the boards so that no one could tell she had been there. She smiled to herself again as her metabolism kicked in and she felt herself start to sober up. The combinations of glee from looters, terror from the Uppers, and confusion from everyone was an almost intoxicating mix. She would have to be careful to not get too sober unless she wanted to colapse again. She winced at the thought of Dryson having to catch her. She was getting weak. Have to do something about that... she thought. She walked down the street and into the pitch darkness. She used the blackness to hide the malicious grin and the tightened look of pain around her eyes. This was far too good. The war was on, and the institute was finally going to pay. She just had to stay drunk enough to not feel any of it.
Myles sat on a stool at his workbench, calmly cleaning a gun. His large hands wrapped lovingly around the grip and thrust a peg with an oiled cloth tied to one end up and down the inside of the barrel. He smiled faintly to himself as he muttered through various equations for a new model of mobile explosive he was working on. There was a large pad of paper sitting next to his cleaning cloths, oils, and disassembled gun parts which he would turn to every so often and jot down a few notes before returning to clean his gun. When the blast went off, his lights flickered, went out, and almost immediately came back on as his generator kicked in. He signed to himself and shook his head faintly. He reached across the table to turn on the surveillance system he had just retrofitted from old televisions and some fresh wires and an elaborate concoction involving VCR parts and mirrors. He watched the others come in ones and twos into the main portion of his shop. He had cleaned it all out so that it was just a bunch of tables, some metal chairs, and two doors. He had taken all of his supplies and locked them into this shelter with him so that they could gather without touching anything. As two men walked in looking dirty and out of breath, he stood up and stretched his massive arms over his head. He cracked his neck and unzipped the front of his coveralls a bit more. He slipped the now clean and reassembled gun back into its holster under his arm and smiled as he patted it. He grabbed his notes, a few prototypes and a few packs of C4 and headed out of his shelter. This room had only one light, small enough that the generators could be diverted with little extra effort to cover it while still lighting his workroom/shelter like a Christmas tree. He knew this meeting had to happen, he just didn't know why. But he would make himself usefully. He locked the shelter behind him and turned to the gathering crowd: "well, who all is missing? And why do you two smell like molding flesh?"
Addy walked into the building warrily. She hated these meetings, but Dryson had told her to meet the others here in case something happened. She knew the mechanic didn't like her much, but then agian, she didn't like anyone, so she called it even. She walked in, sat down in a dimmer corner, and started laying out her tequilla drinking supplies. She did not want to be sober when Dryson walked in all full of pain and stress.
Aeola was, as ever, looking at everything around her, though it was mostly the machines that she was focussing on with the kind of love only a mechanic or engineer can fully empathise with. She had no trouble admitting he was a skilled craftsman at all... "Dryson's still out there somewhere, or he should be as he's not lurking round here."
Myles looked at the woman wandering around his shop. She was standing next to the wall that had most of his prototypes mounted on it. He had set the wall up so that he could have easy access to the tools that they would need most during this meeting. He didn't know what the plans were, but he knew how to be prepared. He watched the skinny girl move around his space and he started to get nervous that she might touch something. He forced himself to sit down and stop paying her anymind. He knew she was a machanic too, she should know how to respect his loves. He started writing furiously as an idea for a closed curcuit explosive devise exploded into his imagination. He muttered to himself, "If I cross the main wires and wire in a trip system, they would be effectively trapped..... there would have to be a catch, a latch, the curcuit....oh and a safety, can't forget the safety..." When the little woman spoke he glanced up, vaguely dazed from the creative process, "Well then we wait, unless someone else has something to say?" He glanced pointedly at the drunk sitting in the corner of the room. He knew she had a big mouth. He smiled smugly when she only shook her head and continued drinking. "Good, then we wait for Dryson to explain what the hell happened today."
"Well the power supply certainly blew up," the tall blonde mechanic said, shooting a sideways glance at the man scribbling hastily and nearly oblivious to the world, "I bet you that as soon as I open up my workshop I'll get people asking me to fix it or make them coffee... Mind you that would certainly bring the gossips running so we can hear them try to coverup the 'accident', explosion you think?"
Dryson trudged through the muck and filth, purposefully going out of his way and taking the most indirect route possible just in case another beetle was following him. He walked under one of the grates that looked into the upper city. He looked up and saw the darkness above. Some water trickled down and he lifted his arm to stop it from going onto his face. He heard a noise and quickly turned his head. He sighed, Only a rat… He placed his hand onto the cold wet bricks of the sewer walls to guide him the rest of the way back to the Lower City. True, he could make this walk blind, as no one knew the sewers better then he, but he loved the texture and the icy chill of the stone against his flesh. It was numbing his finger tips, and that was comforting. A few more turns and he came upon a large grate that lead behind an abandoned building in the Lower City. He moved the old pieces of wood and rusted metal to walk through, then promptly placed it all back exactly as it was. He felt sick, and so took his time walking back, occasionally stopping to catch his breath and take a quick rest. He recalled less then a week ago, when last he saw his ‘father’, Dr. Gill. The older man constantly lectured him on his condition and even gave him a mere few months to live, if that. That was why he had decided on this major act of terrorism.
From inside the shop, the two Locusts members that had accompanied Dryson fidgeted in their places. One finally spoke up, a boy who could be no more then eighteen. “Maybe he’s dead…”, his voice and mannerisms were somber. He didn’t speak this to anyone in particular, but it was said loud enough so all would hear. He hadn’t been listening to the others, but the other man had. The same age as their leader, he decided to take the initiative and explain. “It didn’t just blow up, we blew it up.”
Addy looked at the woman pacing the room with a vague, glazed expression. Shaking her head, she poured herself another shot of Black Medallion. "So, what does coffee have to do with an explosion or a power outage?" She leaned back in the chair, slouching with one arm slung over the back her feet wide apart and the bottle of tequila dangling loosely from her fingers between them, the shot glass abandoned. She looked over at the mechanic and blinked lazily. She was drunken enough that the tension in the room was just a weight on her senses. Her mind felt heavy with the concern of the others.
When the two others spoke about blowing up the complex, she only smirked, "it's about fucking time."
Myles rose from the chair and moved towards the smaller woman standing near his wall of prototypes. He hovered near her, hoping to make her uncomfortable enough so that she would stop breathing on his stuff. When the other two men spoke, he whipped around, shock registering on his haggard face. "You...YOU blew it up? Well, now that's a good way to stir the hornets up! Way to waste valuable explosives! It’s ridiculous that you used them for terrorist purposes!” His face reddens with anger at the needless violence. “The least you could have done is go in shooting! Those explosives are expensive, and you’ve only gained us a few weeks before they retaliate! I don’t know if I can come up with enough firepower to keep us from being annihilated in the first encounter. I mean, I’m good but fuck!” He started pacing the room, his hands twitching at his sides as he began contemplating exactly how much power he would need to be able to offer them. “If I do it as a massive strike… maybe, but there’s no way, unless I go into production now, that I can get us enough weapons to respond to the counterattack.” He stopped suddenly and glared at the men before whirling to walk back into his shelter and retrieving a stock of weapons in a large duffel bag. He up-ended the bag over the large table and began sorting them by strength, range, and size. He sighed with a tiny smile spreading across his lips at the realization of exactly how many guns he would have to modify and outright create.
"Hey, did they see you?" Aeola asked the two men, "Because if not they won't know who did it, and that means they can't get the names," She turned to look at the man sorting through guns, "They'll know it was the Locusts certainly, but they don't know who the Locusts are and if they don't know that, they can't retaliate can they?" Aeola reasoned, palm upwards and spread as she spoke as she presented the argument, almost with a physical gesture. "Who came up with the plan anyway?" she asked, "If it was Dryson then no doubt he has a plan up his sleeve, he rarely does anything without the next step in mind."
In response to Myles, the younger of the two piped up, "Hey, it wasn't just us! Dryson said he was tired of playing games and that we were going to start being serious." As if on cue Dryson walked in through the door. He looked like shit to say the least, covered in crap and wreking of sewers. "Sorry I'm late, I was being tailed," he looked to Addy, "And don't bother commenting on my appearance. No, I don't know what I've been rolling in, nor do I want to know." He pulled up a chair and sat down. He looked over the ones in the room. "I take it they," referring to the other two men, "informed you it was us who caused the black out?" He did very well to hide his pain, his single eye showing focus and his demenor serious as always.
Addy took a long drag off the bottle of tequilla in her hand, slouching further into the chair and tryng hard to keep the pain lines from showing as Dryson walked in. The agony that washed over her was enough to make her sick. She planted her feet agaisnt the floor and shoved the chair back as far as it would go into the corner. She needed to be as far away from him as possible before her raised blood pressure started her metabolism going fast enough to difuse the alcohol in her system. She closed her eyes for a moment and managed a drunken and weak smile, "It's ok hon, you've got me buzzing like a live wire; I don't need to smell you too! So what happened?" With that she took a longer pull off the bottle and began to listen to the ebb and flow of the emotions of the others, she hoped to be able to discern the validity and truth of what they might say.
Myles narrowed his eyes as the tal man entered his shop. He brushed the young one's comments off in favor of talking to Dryson, simply because if one wanted answers, go to the top first. "So now we've got to get a plan going for when they figure out who we are? I think I might have something in the works that might ocver it... but this," he gestured to the guns strew in six neat piles on the table in front of him, "this is all I have for now... and it ain't much!" He scratched his head nervously and reached for the pencil and pad again. "How many people are we talking here? What are the numbers? I need to get a head start."
"There's not a need as such to worry yet." That voice was Aeola's, "At a guess it will take a few days for them to get some secret police into the Lower city and into the society so they blend in, that adds up to about a week. After that we have to be really careful about seeing each other, if the same group of people keep meeting it looks suspicious." The tall woman looked up with a grin from her nails that she had been studying, "However everyone goes to a mechanics shop every so often, even other mechanics, so we can talk and pass on messages that way as long as we don't look too suspicious."
Dryson eyed Aeola, "You should worry. What we did tonight caused one hell of a explosion and an even bigger scene. I'm sure its already on the news. And you should know that the Uppers already have secret police here. Don't you see the beetles around? They have eyes everywhere. Myles has the right idea, but we also need to be extra careful of what we do and say, as well as how often we meet." He shifted slightly in his seat and looked over some of the items Myles had placed on the table. He picked up one of the guns and looked it over. He placed it back down exactly as it was and then he pulled his out of its holster. "Myles, I want you to make a new gun for me."
"Oh what those things that get a really bad signal when there's a generator nearby due to the magnetic field it uses?" Aeola grinned, "The beetles in my shop have to contend with a lot of noise from the various engines that I have to fix and use anyway, they never think of the low-tech stuff that can hinder them." Aeola shrugged, "I intend to carry on my life as normal, but meeting in pairs or threes would make it look more like a friendly chat."
Addy nearly dropped her bottle in shock as the small woman spoke. "You? You're a fucking mechanic? I thought you ran a coffee shop or something... christ! And you let those bugs in your shop? Fucking Damnation! Dryson, what the fuck kind of screenings are you running on these idiots?" She pushed up out of the chair and reeled as the adrenaline processed the liquor in rapid succession. Suddenly she is filled with the emotions and sensations of those around her. She could feel the larger mechanics love of his weapons and creations, she could feel the weight of the gun in Dryson's hand, she could sence her own voice echoing in the room, taste the fear of the others as she swiftly reached for her shot gun behind her shoulder. She set the bottle down with a solid thunk on the table and smacked the gun into her free hand, aiming it steadily at the small woman. "She could be a fucking plant! How can we trust her when she's got those.... things... in her place? Shit... I think she deserves to die before she has the chance to let her fucking mouth go off! Look at her... she could barely lift a fucking hammer, nevermind use it! She doesn't look like any mechanic I've ever seen..." Addy turned to the small woman and glared angrilly, her powers swiftly obliterating any reading she might have gotten off her, "Who the fuck are you bitch?"
Myles looked askance at Dryson and moved to take the gun from him. He took Dryson's gun in his own hand and began taking it apart systematicall. He removed the magazine, clicked the slide off and then removed the fireing pin mechanism before laying the casing to one side. He examined each piece carefully, and ran a soft cloth over it and a pipe cleaner up inside the barrel before putting it back together. With a snap he slid the magazine home and handed it back to Dryson, grip first, "what do you want? Give me your specs and we'll see what we can do."
When the smaller woman spoke, he stared at her wide eyed. Then, when the crazy seed drew her shotgun, he marveled at its construction and mourned for it being cut off, but as it leveled out at the other mechanic, all he could say was "My God woman... are you crazed? They will hear that report for miles around!"
"Hey wait a minute!" Aeola raised her hands, "Don't go making accusations before you know the whole story, if you don't know I'm a mechanic how can you say I couldn't lift a hammer! Don't judge when you haven't seen. Not only that, but those things happen to be in virtually every shop and house near me, they've been cropping up everywhere and so I've been even more careful, but tell me; if they put up a little bug in every house, and one house keeps getting rid of them what do you think they'll do? They're going to smell a rat and think they've something to hide so they'll come investigate in person. However all you have to do is scramble the signal with perfectly ordinary things then they're stuffed! They can't do anything to make the bug report better and they've got the shop marked."
Aeola met Addy's glare with her own calm one, "They can't have got to this part of town then if there are so few around, but mark my words, they'll get them here, don't know how, but they'll be trying to cover all the gaps in their net to get us, so I advise against threatening anyone who has a useless bug in their house with a gun, they'll definitely try to hunt you if you do."
Dryson watched calmly as everything unfolded and Myles cleaned his gun. The second the gun was placed back in his hand, he fired. The bullet whizzing by Aeola's face, more then likely taking a few strand of hair off her head. His chest hurt, so he stayed seated, but his gun remained on the smaller woman. "Addy, lower your weapon." His single eye was focused intently on Aeola. "Myles, you will go to this one's shop, and you will make sure those damn bugs are, in fact, jammed or destroyed." He slowly lowered his gun. "Accidents happen, and bugs get destroyed everyday. They will more then likely overlook this. However, if they do come, then you are to act normally, as though you do not know who they are. Random customers even. However you wish to play it."
There was a soft knock at the door.
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