Not in the metaphorical sense, Spirit reminisced, but it was literally Strength that had saved her. It was his brilliant plan that helped the lowly transfer scientist sneak him, her, and a couple more lucky people off that cursed island. The scientist who took pity on them was the key; without her, it wouldn't have worked. But Strength was the hand that guided the key into the lock. Spirit owed him her life. Granted, it was after coming back from the island that her depressive state caught up with her, but it was still Strength that contacted her once he learned she was in America, saving her again with his new Resistance.
Still, that didn't mean she couldn't be royally annoyed by him sometimes.
"We don't want a war, Strength," she stood up in the small assembly - the group of leaders of the organization. "It's not time for us to make ourselves known yet. We need to gather more people. Get more support, more money. We're not ready for a war."
Strength glared at her, his familiar - a small dung beetle named Leo - twitching on his shoulder in agitation. "Need I remind you, Spirit, that while we lay low, they still murder hundreds of us. We deserve a chance to fight back."
Across from him, Huntress scoffed. "You gotta learn how to fight back," she told Spirit with a pointed look.
With a steely resolve, Spirit faced them down. "Not yet. We lay lower. We infiltrate. The recruit I brought in yesterday - Symphony Jones - you know what she can do?" She stood up and began pacing a bit across the conference room. "She manipulates technology. She can be our key to destroying Mantis resources. Our hackers are excellent, but Symphony, or, Cyber, as I call her, can potentially get into Mantis' systems. She can do so much more than erase files on us. We don't want a war. We want to put Mantis at a disadvantage, and with Cyber, we can do that. But not if we attack now."
Britters
Level 72
The Eggstraordinaire
Joined: 8/25/2014
Threads: 167
Posts: 2,034
Posted: 1/25/2019 at 12:21 AM
Post #322
There were many different kinds of sleepers. Some people were heavy sleepers some light sleepers, some used eye masks, some slept on their backs, some slept onntheir sides. Symphony was...all of the above and more. A chaotic sleeper was the best way to describe it. She used an eye mask, strips on her nose for her snoring, a pillow between her legs, and usually she tossed and turned so much in her sleep that she could never remember exactly which position she'd started in. She would wake up fully rested, but there was never any telling what the state of the bed would be in in the morning.
The first morning Symphony woke up at the resistance headquarters was no different. One of her legs was hanging off the bed, the blankets were all askew, and when she lifted her head with a groggy grunt she had to spit a few of her dreads out of her mouth. She groaned as she pulled the mask off of her face, her eyes still resolutely shut to the world. She rubbed her face several times, stretched her arms over her head and yawned wide before she finally opened her eyes, blinking blearily.
The first thing Symphony noticed was that she had turned completely around on the bed last night so her head was at the foot of the bed...and the second thing she noticed was that there was a bright orange monkey sitting on her pillow, looking at her patiently.
"Holy crap!" she shouted, her arms and legs flailing as she tried to get out of bed, got tangled in the sheet, and fell to the floor in an undignified heap, "Ow..." She laid there for a moment, staring at the ceiling.
Maybe she hadn't really seen it, Symphony reasoned. She had just woken up, and while she was not one as a bat without her glasses she still knew it was poor enough that it could have been playing tricks on her. It was just as she had almost convinced herself that there had definitely not been a monkey on her pillow, that the little simian poked it's head over the side of the bed to peer down at her curiously. She screamed in surprise and scooted along the floor to put distance between her and the creature.
"There is a monkey in my bed," she said quietly to herself, her eyes wide, "What in the world is happening?" She wasn't even sure what to do at this point, so she just sat there...and the two of them stared at each other.
Creativity
Level 71
Cutely Creative
Joined: 3/4/2013
Threads: 253
Posts: 5,852
Posted: 1/25/2019 at 7:34 AM
Post #323
If you asked anyone who had known her for more than a week or two, they would agree that Spirit was not a violent person. She had had enough violence in her life, from growing up with five brothers - that was fun - to the godforsaken war that screwed her up so badly, to the escape of the island - something that, try as they might, did not go as smoothly as was planned - to her depressive state after. It had all become too much, and when she had taken on Hilmar's children as her own, that had changed her.
No longer could she be reckless. No longer could she look out only for herself. Just like with the Resistance. There were children involved - children of the members, being taken care of and protected at the Resistance. Mantis couldn't know about the organization, because if they did, they could drop a bomb on the headquarters, and all the children being taken care of in there while their parents were at work - they'd be killed.
She knew that some of the Council members weren't overly thrilled with how adamant she was that they not resort to violence, that they not let Mantis know of them. Huntress in particular was a spitfire of person, but Spirit would stand her ground, because every time she thought of a violent war, she thought of her children - her niece and nephews by technicality, but her children still.
After the meeting, she had decided to check up on Cyber. She had set the girl in an empty room last night on one of the upper floors. Upon walking up to the door, however, she heard the girl cry out, and then a small set of random thumps, and then a scream a few seconds later, and the suddenness of it caused her to jump and phase for a couple seconds.
"Cy?" she knocked on the door a few times, and then cautiously opened it. What she found was... a little hilarious, admittedly.
Cyber was almost quivering, on the floor, as a small bright orange monkey sat on the edge of her bed and lifted his head in curiosity when Spirit entered, Kraftaverk trailing behind.
"Awe, he's cute," Spirit laughed as she approached the bed and went to pet the monkey. "You know, I had completely forgotten you'd get your familiar today."
Britters
Level 72
The Eggstraordinaire
Joined: 8/25/2014
Threads: 167
Posts: 2,034
Posted: 1/25/2019 at 10:33 PM
Post #324
Five little monkeys jumping on the bed,
One fell off and bumped his head...
It was hard to say exactly why the silly, little song that her grandmother used to sing to her popped into Symphony's mind, except for the fact that...there was a monkey on her bed! She was still sitting on the floor of the room she had slept in last night. Her back was up against the far wall by the door and she was still just staring at the small orange creature which was still perched on her mattress, just quietly watching her. There was a moment of realization when she thought to herself just how little idea she had of what to do about any of this.
"Okay, little fella," she said softly and mostly to herself, her green eyes never leaving the monkey, "I'm gonna stand up, and you're going to stay right there okay?" Exactly what she was planning on doing once she was standing up she wasn't sure, but it seemed a good enough place to start.
Just as Symphony was about to stand up, the monkey moved to start cleaning himself, and she pressed her back harder against the wall. She probably still would have been sitting there come the apocalypse if it hadn't been for Spirit coming to check on her. As soon as the blonde woman entered the room she felt somewhat calmer. She knew Spirit would probably have some idea as to why there was a monkey in her room, and she wasn't disappointed. She just didn't feel any less confused when the other woman spoke with amusement.
"Familiar?" she said with exasperation, getting slowly to her feet, her back still against the wall, "Da heck is that? Like somes sorta witchy?" Her eyebrow arched as she watched Spirit scratch the monkey's head, and got close enough to at least be able to snatch her glasses up from the side table and shove them onto her face.
Creativity
Level 71
Cutely Creative
Joined: 3/4/2013
Threads: 253
Posts: 5,852
Posted: 1/25/2019 at 10:55 PM
Post #325
It was hilarious, seeing Cyber in this state. She was so terrified of this sweet little monkey! Thus far, Cyber had presented herself to Spirit as nothing less than fearless - except, perhaps, for that sweet, vulnerable moment when they had seen her sick nana. But was that fear? It didn't seem like such to Spirit. That was... Softness. Not fear. There was a difference.
But this, this was definitely fear. Cyber was struck against the wall, as far away from the curious primate as she could be. Laughing still at Cy's questions, Spirit gently picked up the small simian. Curiously, Kraftaverk lifted his head to sniff at the newcomer, and the monkey reached out and touched his nose.
"Yeah, your familiar. The mineral I brought five years ago kind of unlocks our familiars the midnight we first get near to it. We can't seem to figure out why, though." She brought the monkey over to Cyber and, with her hands around his body and his arms spread on either side of him, held him out to the New Yorker.
"You can imagine my own surprise when I woke up to my Kraftaverk, the morning after I got to the island," she grinned and gently nudged Krafty with her foot, since she didn't have a free hand to pet him. "I'd suggest you get used to your familiar, Cy. He's gonna be around for a long time. He's directly connected to your Ability, you know. We can't get rid of our familiars, even if we wanted to."
Still curious, Kraftaverk poked his long snout at the monkey again, and then turned his attention on Cyber. He whined a little and then reached up and licked her hand. Spirit couldn't help a small smile. Krafty understood. She didn't need to try to explain herself around him; he just understood. That's why she had named him Miracle (in Icelandic). Because he was.
Britters
Level 72
The Eggstraordinaire
Joined: 8/25/2014
Threads: 167
Posts: 2,034
Posted: 1/25/2019 at 11:23 PM
Post #326
Nothing made sense, but then again, when Symphony really thought about it, nothing had made much sense in her life since her Nana had gotten sick. Medical bills, her cousins finding second and third jobs, herself taking on more illegal hacking commissions just to keep the family afloat, and that didn't include the bank loan which had been taken out. No, things had been crazy for a while, but if you had asked her six months ago if she would find herself in a room at some hidden headquarters with an attractive one-eyed blonde, a strange looking dog, and a monkey on her bed she would have scoffed.
Serves me right for thinking this was gonna be a piece a cake..., she thought to herself as she watched Spirit pick the monkey up.
"Mineral?" she said unwittingly, standing there with her arms resolutely crossed in front of her, "I'm thinkin' mebbe I shoulda asked more questions in da car." She gave Spirit another pointed look with her eyebrow hiked up nearly to her hairline.
Familiars, minerals, islands...it all sounded like nonsense to Symphony still, but she at least understood some of what Spirit was saying. The little monkey was hers, a companion of some sort she was gathering. She had seen several odd animals here and there yesterday as Spirit was giving her the tour, but having grown up in the big city she had just assumed they were exotic pets. Now she realized that the creatures had something to do with their abilities, not that she had a clue how that worked, and so with only mild trepidation she heaved a resigned sigh.
"Never been much of an animal person," she said as she held her arm out cautiously, "My apologies, little guy." The monkey wasted no time hopping nimbly from Spirit's arm to hers, and she managed not to panic, though her body did tense. When the little primate made his way boldly to get perched comfortably on her shoulder, looking at her with a pair of warm brown eyes, she managed to smile.
Creativity
Level 71
Cutely Creative
Joined: 3/4/2013
Threads: 253
Posts: 5,852
Posted: 1/25/2019 at 11:39 PM
Post #327
It was a sudden jolt that woke Ziva. At first, she didn't remember last night. She just figured Diego was driving them home after the football game, and she had fallen asleep in the car. She had no intention of opening her eyes until they reached the apartment complex. Until she registered a dull ache on her left temple and gave a small groan. Another jolt.
She opened her eyes slowly, just to little slits, but when she saw daylight poking into the area from cracks and corners, and realized that she was not, in fact, in the passenger seat of Diego's car, but rather, in what appeared to be the cargo hold of a truck... Well, just like last Saturday morning, things went from zero to a hundred.
Her eyes flew open and she was sent into a panic mode of sorts. She looked around frantically, stumbling away from the wall of the vehicle. Her gaze landed on Diego, slumped against one of the walls, and she crawled over to him quickly.
"Diego?" she asked quietly, pressing two fingers to his throat. Her heart was racing in her chest, and when she felt the soft pulse, a wave of relief washed over her.
She knew it was her fault. They had been attacked and kidnapped, it seemed, and it was her fault. If she hadn't stumbled upon that file... Containment of Virus... They wouldn't be here. They'd be back home, probably still asleep in their own, respective beds. "I'm sorry..." she murmured, blinking back sudden tears.
No control. She had no control, and she was terrified. She shifted to sit against the wall next to Diego, leaning close to him, but certainly, not closer than two best friends should be. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Why would her God allow this to happen on Shabbat...?
Britters
Level 72
The Eggstraordinaire
Joined: 8/25/2014
Threads: 167
Posts: 2,034
Posted: 1/26/2019 at 3:37 PM
Post #328
Diego was dreaming. He had been tranquilized and thrown into the back of a can with Ziva, and he was dreaming. It wasn't much of a dream, but it was strange in that it was one of those dreams where it's like you're just floating in the air, a silent and unseen observer to the scenes below. He saw himself, sitting on a couch, a different couch than the one at their apartment, and he was focused intently on the video game he was playing. It was a normal scene, a boring scene...until she entered.
When, in the dream, Ziva came to sit by Diego, the him that was watching everything actually felt his own stomach do flip flops, which seemed a bit unfair. He watched as she sat down next to the other Diego after setting a plate of nachos down on the coffee table, and it pained him to see the two of them so easy and casual with each other. It was a reminder of how much things had changed in reality. They were both laughing and looking so happy. Then the Ziva in the dream reached down to pick up a chip loaded with nacho toppings and held it out for Diego to eat. He took the offered food happily, and it still wasn't that unusual of a scene...
Until the Diego and Ziva in his dream leaned together and kissed, briefly and sweetly.
"What?" he exclaimed, the shock seeming to propel him out of his drugged slumber in one jarring blow, "Ziva?" He was disoriented, and his head was killing him. He sat there, his head in his hands, trying to work past the pain.
For a brief second Diego panicked thinking he was reliving the morning after the graduation party, because he felt hungover. Right as the truck hit another large bump, he lifted his eyes just long enough to look around, and when he realized this was obviously not Felipe's house all of his memories of what had happened came back in a rush. His grey eyes shot wide open and he looked around for Ziva, only to discover that she had been sitting right next to him the whole time. She was alive though, and looked well enough from what he could see.
"Oh, Z," he said, his voice full of relief, and before he could really help himself (not that he really wanted to...) he threw his arms around her, "It's gonna be okay, we're gonna be okay." He had no idea where they were, why they had been taken, or what was about to happen to them, but he knew that he and Ziva were together in this and for the moment that made all the difference itln the world.
-----
Nothing was fine, and in fact it was Tox's humble opinion that things at this very moment were the exact opposite of fine. He was pacing back and forth like a caged animal. He had started with trying to distract himself by spinning a pencil in his fingers, but that hasn't been enough. Watching him with patient green eyes, Brain was still calmly seated at her usual table (their table now, really). His muscles were tensed, like a tiger ready to pounce. He knew he probably looked completely crazed, but you see...that alarm should not have gone off.
"I don't get it, Abigail," he murmured just loud enough for her to hear, running his hand through his vibrant hair as he kept pacing, "It doesn't make any sense. We're not due for new arrivals for another two months!" He sighed and stopped his to and fro motion temporarily so he could stand there and eyeball the entrance where the trucks usually came through. Nothing yet...
The alarm had gone off, though and it had brought the whole compound up to high alert. Almost everyone knew what that alarm meant. Tox was trying to remain as calm because he knew others were looking at him from all corners of the courtyard and trying to gauge his reaction to the situation. Some had seemingly written it off as nothing, an accident in the control room perhaps, but Tox had a bad feeling about all of this. There had just been too many out of the ordinary things happening lately.
It had only been a few days since Howl and Trace had gotten let out of quarantine. The panic which Tox had been hoping to avoid by keeping the incident under wraps for right now wad unleashed the moment Trace had told her closest friends what had happened. He'd had to do a good bit of damage control, with Wire's help thankfully, and things finally seemed like they were on their way back to normal. That was...until that blasted alarm had gone off today, the alarm which only went off to herald the arrival of newcomers to the compound.
"I don't like this," he said finally, turning back around to face Brain, gripping the back of his chair so tight that his knuckles paled, "I definitely don't like this." His vocabulary always seemed to start lacking when he got stressed.
Edited By Britters on 1/26/2019 at 5:08 PM.
Creativity
Level 71
Cutely Creative
Joined: 3/4/2013
Threads: 253
Posts: 5,852
Posted: 1/26/2019 at 6:06 PM
Post #329
Emotions were, by no means, Brain's forte. Let that be said, first and foremost. It was new, her relationship with Tox; new and strange and wonderful, she thought. But it had been a few weeks now, and already, it seemed as if she and Tox had always been meant to be together - if she was the type of person to believe such a sappy idea. Spoiler alert: she wasn't. But still, it felt nice. It felt... right.
As he paced before her, looking almost feral, she couldn't help but feel a little anxious herself. It upset her to see him in such a restless state. She sat at the table, watching him for a few minutes, trying to let him get it out.
The alarm itself was...unsettling. It had only been four months since the last batch of arrivals. Brain had been on this island for over three years now, and she knew that the scientists often didn't make mistakes. New batches only arrived every sixth months, like clockwork, without fail. The size of the batch itself would range from 9-12 people usually, but the timing... The timing had never been off before.
"Hey, hey. Ryuu," she grabbed Tox's arm suddenly, trying to get him to stop moving. He needed to breathe. He wasn't breathing enough. "Take a deep breath, okay? Maybe it was a m-mistake. Someone could have tripped the alarm, you know. Maybe it was T-Trace, getting into more trouble," she smiled encouragingly.
And then, the gates opened. A truck barreled in and then came to a screeching stop not two hundred feet later. Holding Tox's hand, Brain walked with him over towards the back of the truck, so they could have an idea of what they were dealing with. This definitely wasn't Trace...
-
Ziva jumped a little when Diego suddenly held her. She had had her eyes closed, trying to block out the world, trying to block out the truck and the confinement and the Containment of Virus. She had tried to pretend she was back home in the apartment, sitting on the couch and playing a video game, or she was in a pool, floating on her back as the water lapped at her ears and her hearing shifted between two different kinds of clarity and reality, relaxed with no concern in the world.
No truck. No kidnapping. No Containment of Virus. No vengeful God. No soreness behind her right ear or ache in her left temple. No last Friday night. No last Saturday morning. No worries.
When Diego hugged her, she let out a small gasp at first, but then relaxed in his arms. Biting her lip but still not opening her eyes, she leaned in closer to him. He was calming, and comforting... He was warm. In spite of the situation, of last Friday night and this Friday night and these four walls, he was still Diego. He still smelled and felt like Diego.
It was only when the pit of guilt in her stomach overcame her that she wriggled out of his grasp, sitting a foot away with her arms around her knees protectively and looking at him miserably. "I-I didn't mean to see it, Diego. Th-the Containment of Virus... I didn't mean to see it... I just misclicked!"
Before she had a chance to say anything more, the truck suddenly stopped, and Ziva's small weight was just about thrown across the cargo hold. She was able to sit back up in time before the doors to the cargo hold opened up.
Blinking against the sunlight, Ziva beheld perhaps one of the most terrifying sights she'd seen in a while. There were... dozens of people, gathered in a sort of crowd, a solid ten or twenty feet away from the truck. People dressed in guard-looking uniforms rushed around to the back, crawling inside and grabbing both her and Diego roughly. She didn't have a chance to process anything before the two of them were roughly tossed out into the little clearing the crowd left, and the truck almost immediately drove off.
Edited By Creativity on 1/26/2019 at 6:19 PM.
Britters
Level 72
The Eggstraordinaire
Joined: 8/25/2014
Threads: 167
Posts: 2,034
Posted: 1/26/2019 at 7:28 PM
Post #330
With no shame, no self-consciousness, no concerns regarding last Friday night, Diego held onto Ziva like his life depended on it. The only thing that mattered to him at this very moment was that she was safe and well, though he had a feeling that the very near future might change that. They had been abducted, that much was becoming more clear with every jolt of the truck they were trapped in. He had no idea where they were being taken, but it was unlikely to be somewhere pleasant.
"Z, what are you talking about?" he asked her confusedly, his hands already reaching for her again when she wrestled herself from his embrace to sit miserably by herself again, "Z, carina, I don't know what you're talking ab-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence when the truck came to a sudden halt.
The force of the abrupt stop threw both of them around, but Diego was able to prevent himself from being tossed too terribly. He started scrambling towards Ziva just as the back of the truck was opened up. He barely had time to register any of what he was seeing beyond the crowd of people all staring at the truck and the armed guards. It was the guards who pulled he and Ziva forcibly out of the truck and left the in a heap on the ground. They wasted no further time before getting back into the truck and driving off.
"Z, are you alright?" he murmured to her as he helped her to get feet, reaching up absently to straighten her glasses for her, "We're going to be okay." He glanced up at the crowd of people then, for the first time since they'd been dumped out of the truck.
The people gathering around them were all different ethnicities, body types, genders. There was one individual who stood slightly in front of the rest of them, an Asian male with vivid green hair and a red snake wrapped around his upper arm. Diego didn't need to be a genius to understand that this guy was a leader around here, and he looked pissed off. He carefully pushed Ziva slowly and gently so that she was behind him, placing him in between her and the crowd. He was not going to fail to protect her this time.
"Who are you people?" he spoke, his voice sounding a lot more loud and forceful than he really felt, his grey eyes shining with intensity, "Where are we?" His hands were balled into loose fists at his sides, and he knew without a doubt that if any of these people tried rushing them he'd have enough time to cover his hands with metal before his first blow landed. He would just have to explain himself to Ziva later...
-----
If it weren't for Brain, Tox would be lost. That much he knew without question. Their relationship was what kept him afloat now, was the barrier between his anger, his sorrow, a d the rest of the world. She helped him to laugh and to smile, she held him at night when the nightmares were bad. The sun rose and set with her in his eyes. She was flawed, but those flaws made her perfect to him. Her touch on his arms right now anchored him in a way that nothing else could, and he relented to taking a deep, steadying breath.
"There is no way it was a mistake," he said to her, his voice sounding calmer at least, and less strained, "And the last thing I want to hear about right now is Tr-" He stopped suddenly in mid-sentence as the gates opened and the trucks arrived.
Moving with purpose, and with Brain beside him, Tox are his way out into the middle of the courtyard. The other people joined them, forming a restless crowd, their voices a low, curious murmur. He let his eyes wander all the way around the group, making it clear that he was there and he was going to handle this. No one protested...yet, and he watched as the truck stopped at its usual spot and the usual guards climbed out holding their usual guns. He tensed as they made their way to the back and opened
the cargo hold and they all got to see who had arrived.
Two people...that was it...just two. Tox was so stunned that he didn't even have time to try and get any answers out if the guards, not that they were likely to know anything anyway. They drove off without a word just like they always did, leaving him to deal with these two people who were obviously as scared and confused as everyone usually was. They were both very young, Tox noted, and it was with a smirk and light scoffing chuckle that he noticed the boy push the girl behind him to protect her.
So either they know each other, Tox thought to himself, Or he just has an unusual sense of chivalry.
"Alright," he said out loud, taking a few more steps forward, but not enough to spook the kid he hoped, "Welcome to the compound. Think of us as your new roommates. I have no idea where we are exactly or why you were brought here besides the fact that you have some sort of special ability. You are unscheduled and I don't know what that means either, but you're going to have to wait while we sort out what to do with you." He stopped and glanced at Brain at this point, desperate for some sort of guidance.
Edited By Britters on 1/26/2019 at 8:03 PM.
Go to Page:
1, 2, 3... 32, 33, 34... 52, 53, 54
Confirm Action
Are you sure you wish to delete this post?
Confirm Action
Are you sure you wish to restore this post?
Confirm Action
Are you sure you wish to report this post?
Go to Top
This Page loaded in 0.018 seconds.
Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | Credits | Job Opportunities
