Issue #2

Ollie rubs at her eyes, not even registering the knocking sound until it comes a second time. She frowns; it was never a good sign when someone came to her sanctuary. She could ask P.I.L.O.T. to check who was outside for her, but she didn't want to interrupt him in an important part of analysis, if he was still busy with that.

Rising to her feet, still in a state of being half in casual clothing and half in her superhero outfit, she makes her way to the door. With a quick button press, and a satisfying ksssshhhhh sound, the door slides open.

Rama wakes to his alarm. He pops on his waterproof ear buds and cracks up Black Parade by My Chemical Romance way too loud. Shower, brush stuff, clean stuff, pretend like he needs to shave. Lastly, a delicate line of mascara to giver his eyes that gothy look.

In the kitchen, he dips a banana into hummus, and wraps in in naan. He had timed it to avoid his parents routine. Too many questions, too many expectations.

Sitting in the bus bench, he had switched to Adele, since nobody is nearby. An old lady walking her fat schnauser gets close, so her thumbs the mix over to 50 Cent, and cranks it. She hurries her shuffle.

Mondays in suburbia.

Grabbing her phone to check the time, Procyon sees that she has slept in...again. She also notices the missed calls icon blinking, and when she presses it she sees a long list with a single word repeated: "Rigel". She pulls her hair back in a pony-tail and pulls on some clothes with her typical morning litany, "Shit! Shitshitshitshitshit. Where is my...right, got it...crap I can't find...oh, there it is..." She grabs an oatmeal bar on her way out the door as she dials her mentor. When she hears him answer she begins, "Ok, so don't be mad..."

Konrad smiles and waves at the hovercraft as it leaves. He looks around at the nearly empty waterfront and shrugs. Alone again. "Hmmph," he grunts, and delights in the sound. "Hmmmmmahhhhmmmphhh." He stops suddenly, as he notices the annoyed and confused glare of a nearby fisherman. He smiles awkwardly at the man, turns toward the water, and starts to twiddle his thumbs vigorously.

After a couple moments he pulls out his cell phone and sends a message to Void Fist. "Greetings, friend. How are your feelings today?" He smiles proudly after hitting send.

Originally relieved to see that it was only Luke, Ollie was quickly reminded of how it was never good when someone came to see her at the sanctuary. Her eyes narrow a bit at the mention of trouble. "Yeah, come in." she says with a sigh, stepping to the side and shutting the door behind him. "Who's pissed? I was trying to do you guys a favor." She explains, looking around to see where her floating A.I. was.

Mimic fidgets slightly and pokes at the opposite hole. "I'm not wholly familiar with the structure of my, for lack of a better term, skull. But it would make sense that when I was built they wanted to keep the meaty parts of me from excessive trauma."

Ollie furrows her brow, "Well, it's out of the city while it's here, and it's not like we're obligated to tell Rigel everything." She groans, "Look, let P.I.L.O.T. finish up here, so that his time isn't wasted, and then I'll drop it off on Rigel's doorstep, if he wants." Not being so sure that this would fly with Luke, Ollie concentrates on subtly forming a barrier around the device so that the speedster couldn't pull it out from beneath her notice.

Mondays. Officially the worst day of the week. Weekend was over, and 5 horribly boring days of school ahead. It was an effort dragging herself out of bed, but Emma had mastered the art of 5-minute showers, snagging a waffle from the toaster and eating it without any butter or syrup as she ran out the door with her hair done up in a messy bun.

Now she was half-asleep on the morning school bus as it did its rounds, her bag on her lap. The girl had her phone out and was tapping out a text to Omen.

[Text] Any luck with that thingy?
[Text] Is it a doomsday device? Please say its not a doomsday device

Procyon is silent a moment as she struggles to control her temper. "Omen is not a threat to the planet," she intones flatly. "She's part of my team." She sighs and says, "Hang on a sec," as she switches to her helmet Bluetooth and pulls it on, stowing her phone in her jacket. She takes on a more conciliatory tone as she continues, "I'm sorry I didn't bring it right to you. I know that was breaking protocol. I was just...excited that we were working together for once." The roar of her motorcycle is heard dimly over the connection as she pulls into traffic, headed toward the university.

I'm sitting on the bus on the way to school, reading though my notes from last week and like 20 sticky notes in my Global Studies textbook that I meant to reference last night but completely forgot about when I passed out after 11pm. Stupid, stupid. At least I remembered to program the coffee maker. This cup is gonna get me through 5th period at least. I take a sip from my thermos before a bump in the road causes me to spill a good 1/3 of it onto my lap. ARGH so embarrassing! What are the chances no one will notice?

Void Fist's eyes flash open and he sits upright and looks around. The cool feeling of polished hard wood on his hands and the faint smell of incense fills his nose. A plume of smoke floods his senses as it's blown into his faith.

"Still pitiful as always..." the comment comes from above him with a clucking sound of a tongue before they puff on the pipe in their hand. Void Fist waves the smoke out of his face and coughs, "What do you expect you've been doing this longer than I have... Even your pipe's older than me!!!" he states trying to defend himself.

"That's a load and why you're pitiful! Innovation and enthusiasm of youth matches wisdom and experience of those older equally, you must learn, adapt, still techniques, and evolve or you will die and with it the clan dies!" the man stated tapping out his pipe on Void Fist who seemed to be lacking and complaining.

"Gah, Grandpa!" Void Fist exclaimed swatting the embers off him and rolling away.

Looking at his watch Void Fist's eyes got large rapidly, "It's this late already and you didn't wake me up!"

"But my cute little grandson was talking in his sleep, 'Aaah Grandpa! You're too strong and powerful, have mercy I'm so weak and you're so cool.'" the man teased his voice going high pitched before laughing, "Desperation is the best teacher Grandson. It will possibly motivate you do new levels of awareness." he reminded his grandson who was already stripping and headed to the shower.

A few minutes later Void Fist found himself rushing to latch onto the side of a delivery truck since he was too late to go to a bus stop he opted to latch onto something in traffic going the direction he needed to go before scurrying to the top of the truck. For a few minutes Void Fist stretched his neck upright letting the wind flow through his unkempt mess of hair. At least he was saving time trying his hair. Noticing the truck was moving off his path to school he opted to jump to another vehicle.

Around the corner from the school he pulled out his phone and adjusted his hair using a clip before pulling glasses out of a case and donning them. Eventually he found himself walking up and into the school proper through the gates. He sanctuary where the PE classes were normal, the food wasn't just fish and rice and smoking was only in specific areas. He sighed slightly happy that he didn't have to spend the days training his body and spirit but his mind, and that didn't involve current political discussion or games of Mah Jongg with his grandpa.

Konrad kicks a can down the street, lost in his own thoughts, until the cacophonous sound of a nearby clock tower wakes him from his reverie. "Ah crud! School! I forgot!" Konrad takes off at a brisk pace in the direction of the school, but stops suddenly in an alleyway. "Wait a minute, what am I thinking? I can fly."

He makes a serious, focused face before lifting slowing off of the ground. "Alright, here we go." Konrad bumps his head on a lamp post and recoils in agony before slowly and clumsily making his way through the air toward the school.

She opens her mouth to reply to Luke before she's distracted by her phone vibrating in her pocket. Ollie takes her phone out and can't help but smile. "One second," she mumbles the Luke as she taps away at the keys in a text to Emma:

Dunno yet. Rigel and Luke are trying to take it back now.

She slips her phone back into her pocket and looks back at her visitor, "School?" She quirks a brow, "Yeah, well.. don't tattle on me." After a moment, she huffs, "So what does it do, anyhow? Whose is it?"

Void Fist creeps into his class thankful for a chance for years of training sneaking around he blends into the background easily as not someone exceptional and becomes one with the background noise of the room. He reviews his notes and checks his calendar for any upcoming tests today.

You've been here the whole time, nothing to see here... he thinks to himself.

Konrad wildly swipes bird feathers off of his mismatched clothes, and makes his way through the sterile hallways of the high school. He nods politely at fellow students passing by, most of which do not reciprocate. Finally he makes his way into a classroom and looks for an empty seat. Preferably one next to a non-threatening individual.

Rama tries to sneak into the school, and avoid Tailor Ramirez and his cool-guy buddies. As usual, no such luck. The three baseball stars see him get off the public transit, and block his entrance into the school.

"Hey, there, it's Rammer, where you going Rammer?" Tailor is big, with a wide back and shoulders from too much exercise.

"Ha, ha, his name is Rammer cuz he rams!" taunts Kelsey McIntosh. He makes a head butting motion.

Rama looks at the roof. He could be there in a moment, could be anywhere but here really. Even here, you don't want to draw attention to yourself, papa-ji often chided him. People fear anything different.

"What's the smell? Rammer been eating sewer backwash?"

The taunting continues for awhile until Rama, utterly still and looking down, ceases to be fun. He continues inside. His cheeks burn as he sees the clique of hot girls whispering to each other as they watch him.

Yay, school! May be a good day to make yourself scarce.

Void Fist looks up from his notes and looks at the people looking at him. He makes sure he's in the right chair and cleans his glasses...

I wonder if the teacher is behind me...

Konrad takes a seat next to the slumped over student and sits upright, staring at the wall in silence.

"Any idea who it was we were fighting against, or what they were trying to accomplish?" Omen asks, looking somewhat unconvinced. She steps over toward the machine, looking around to see if P.I.L.O.T. is floating about anywhere.

I run directly from the bus to my locker and change into my emergency backup sweatpants. I won't be winning any fashion awards, but no one's paying attention to me anyway so I figure I'll be ok for now. Keeping my head down, I run to homeroom and find a seat front row center, my usual spot.

Jennifer pulls into an open space and pulls off her helmet as she runs to class, sliding into an empty seat just as the prof starts his PowerPoint. Why do they always have Physics at 8:30? This is some kinda torture.

"Well," Omen says, still distracted in her search for P.I.L.O.T., "She wasn't that good."

Eventually, growing frustrated, she calls out, "P.I.L.O.T.! Where are you? Are you done with this thing or what?!"

Looking back at Luke, she adds, "Real talk here. Are they more ticked that this machine isn't in their hands right now, or that the machine is in my hands right now? Here, in this ship, that is."

Void Fist adjusts his glasses and sees what the other student seems to have been staring at.

If there's a girl bending over behind me... so help me... he thinks to himself.

Konrad gasps as the student disappears. Suspicious... He tries to recall whether or not he's seen her somewhere before. He raises his hand. "May I use the restroom?"

I fix my glasses, then glance back towards the door. What was that?

With a wry look, Jen nods. She knows better than to speak out loud in class, but takes out her laptop so she can type her replies to Donna.

"Yeah, well, that goes both ways," Ollie grumbles about Rigel. "Is it alright if I drop it off to him?"

Konrad mouths What in the name of... on the way out and closes the door gently behind him. He cautiously makes his way to the restroom and runs the girl through his memory again to see if he recognizes her from somewhere.

Rama gets to class and just can't. He texts Void Fist: ::hEY, gonna ditch, wanna hang?::

With a small smile and quirk of an eyebrow Jen types: Everything is above my pay grade. I don't get paid. But yeah, Rigel tore into me this morning. Why is he so upset about Ollie? She could find us some answers. And she's a good person.

Locks of Ollie's hair lift as she strengthens her telekinetic grasp on the battery (since she no longer needed to keep it subtle). "I can take it to Rigel," she says stubbornly, "When our team is done with it."

She continues, frowning in concentration, "I know it's not you, Luke, but I'm not going to let our team get pushed around on this. We fought the villain, we found the battery, and we should be allowed to continue this investigation on our own terms. If Terabyte wants it back, then, well, give her my phone number and we can coordinate." Ollie furrows her brow, "And if Rigel doesn't want me to have it for a moment longer, then he can come here and talk to me himself."

Void Fist blinks and looks around and sees a lady with a syringe in front of him filled with something metal like. His eye twitches a few times realizing a few things as his stare goes from the lady to the tip of the needle when he gets a text.

Putting up an index finger he reads the text with a shakey hand as his mind unravels slightly.

::SOS been abducted by lady with syringe, Stranger Danger. Also going to likely miss my test. PS HELP PLZ THXBYE!:: He taps out quickly with his free hand. Putting away his phone away he adjusts his glasses and clears his throat.

"STRANGE DANGER!!! I NEED AN ADULT!!!!!" he screams out slightly high pitched for the second statement as he takes off running away from the lady with a syringe.

A needle!!!! Why'd she have to have a needle!!!! he thinks as he tries to move away and hide in a foreign unknown environment.

Konrad splashes some water on his face in the bathroom. Who was that girl? I can't remember her name for the life of me. He looks up and stares at his own face in the mirror. The face he puts on at least. Then an idea hits him. He looks around to make sure that the coast is clear, then looks back in the mirror and shapeshifts into the girl. Nodding to himself in approval, he exits the bathroom quietly and proceeds back to class as the girl, hoping someone will tell him who he is.

Mimic looks around at his new surroundings, visibly confused and suddenly oblivious to the hole in his face. "I do not believe this is part of the procedure."

Rama scoots from class, leaving an image of himself in place with an open textbook.

It of the room, he texts back ::OMW but where to?!::

"Excuse me, may I please use the bathroom pass? I don't feel well."

"You don't know that," Ollie says to Luke, sounding a bit harsher than she intended, "P.I.L.O.T. might find something you didn't, or wouldn't; something they did to it after stealing it from Terabyte."

Feeling a tightness in her chest, Ollie presses her point, "I'm not stealing it, Luke. I'm doing my job. It'll go back to where it's supposed to go after that."

Ah crap they already got Mimic! He's even got superpowers!!! Void Fist thinks his heart pounding in his chest seeing the bay doors drop.

Not good! Not good! Not good! Not good!!! Think think think!!! What's in the needle!!! I don't want to be a cyborg!!!! Remember your training. Void Fist thinks to himself looking around franticly.

Secret Technique Hide Void Fist invokes as he does not want the lady to get a hold of him.

Mimic slowly and awkwardly rises from the chair, looking around for the exit. "I think I'm in the wrong class, so I will just be going now..."

Aeon Crow stares at his phone, willing it to produce another text from VF. A syringe? The nurse's office! He bolts for the nurses office, trying to run as fast and as quiet as he can. No teachers, come on, no teachers in the hall! he silently pleas.

Konrad will transform back into himself before engaging the shadow. He looks around to make sure no one else is in the hallway and moves up to it inquisitively. "Um. Hello?"

I grab the hall pass and casually stride out of the classroom. Once the door closes, I look every which way for any trace of it. Where did it go?

Ollie tenses a bit, and she opens her mouth to speak, but can't find the words. She presses her lips into a thin line and begins to look rather upset. The barrier on the battery intensifies, and the metal flooring of the sanctuary makes a groaning sound under the telekinetic pressure.

"Just go, Luke," she says somewhat quietly, "You can tell Rigel I wouldn't give it up."

Konrad tenses up as the voices start and takes a step back. He stifles a pained cry. "What in Konrad are you?"

Void Fist looks around for a tarp or cloth cover and makes a break for it running at the window to jump out of this crazy murder room place.

Void Fist runs at a window finding an old tarp and grunts as he tries to dive through.

Rama approaches the child talking to the shadow. "Watcha talking to? Is that a trick? Love me some tricks."

I cross my arms and shuffle down the hallway, trying to find the source of the whispering.

Ollie, after a moment of hesitation and a bit of a stare-down with Luke, drops the telekinetic barrier. The strain had been enough that she is sweating lightly, and she inhales deeply to catch her breath. She stands her ground, albeit looking a tad shaky, but doesn't speak. Her angered expression is enough to remind Luke of her wishes.

Konrad is startled as Aeon Crow approaches. He struggles to properly communicate while the voices run through his head. "Uh, hello. I am Konrad. This is not my shadow." He narrows his eyes and focuses. "It's saying something. Can you hear it?"

Once he makes his way out into the hallway, Mimic just looks around for a couple minutes before wandering off, trying to find an office where they might tell him exactly where he's ended up.

"Hullo, I'm Rama. Yeah, I did hear some whispering. Look, if you're in danger, let me know, but I gotta jet."

Rama continues to the nurse's office, checking his phone for more texts.

Void Fist bolts off and brings up his phone looking for the closet police station and marks his current location and sends his route to everyone in a group text.

"Minor Crisis with Stanger Danger avoided kind of, Going to Police station, I think the lady may have gotten Mimic and I almost became a cyborg, lol wut? Also need a change of pants possibly, definitely need new underwear. T_T #AbducteeSurvivor T_T."

Rama checks the text from Void Fist when it comes in with a beep. "Guess I can help."

He stares at the shadow. "What. Do. You. Want?" he says slowly.

Ollie lifts a hand and rubs at her eyes, nodding to Luke. "Yeah. We're good. Just... yeah." She steps over and opens the door for him, standing beside it until he leaves.

I look down the hallway at everyone here before I address Rama. "Excuse me? Um, to whom are you speaking? What are you all up to? If this is some kind of prank, I'm going to call the hall monitor. This is so not cool."

Konrad blushes and becomes a flustered mess as Cammy walks up. "We're um. Nothing is going on. The situation is under control. Totally. How are you doing on this day?" He tries to suppress the disturbing whispered voices racing through his mind enough to do his best James Dean pose.

Rama shrugs and watches Konrad for a lead. "A trick?
Maybe?"

Konrad desperately tries to cover his ears as the shadow screeches. Its sonic waves cause him to lose control of his physical form. His body stretches out, and he flies backward before becoming extremely dense and crashing into the bathroom wall behind him, leaving a hole.

Ollie waits a bit, phone in hand, nervously biting her lip as she ponders what she should do. "P.I.L.O.T., how much longer on the scan?" She asks.

"Oh, no, you could've said someth-.." Ollie is interrupted as the power cuts out. She freezes. This sort of thing has never happened before. The tech of this sanctuary was always above and beyond, almost inexplicable to her understanding, and so to see it falter was... terrifying.

Ollie didn't show it, and instead she asked sternly, "Who are you?"

Oh, that'll really leave Rigel's knickers in a knot. Okay, I'll go talk to her.

"Huff huff huff, well at least I can show them the route I'm taking for PE class. This would be easier if I wasn't wearing loafrers." says aloud to himself as he follows directions to the police station not slowing down. He didn't have super speed or super stamina so a headstart on if there was a chase about to happen was a good thing for him.

I curl into a ball on the ground in a defensive position while attempting to absorb whatever it is emanating from the shadow thing. It's all too much. I'm overwhelmed with fear and insecurity as I figure out my next move.

Rama flings his hands up reflexively to protect himself from the explosion

"Yeah, well.. not until I have some proof of who you are." Ollie says, furrowing her brow and pointing a finger accusingly in the air, "And if you care about the safety of the device, and have good intentions, then I think you'd respect that I wouldn't give it away to the first person who tells me to."

Mimic lies motionless on the ground, lost in thought, wishing that he could have protected the others from whatever that thing was. But other than his current unfortunate position, Mimic felt a sense of helplessness that he had not experienced before, leaving him less than eager to face the creature again.

Ollie ponders this action for a moment. But, then - call it hubris or gullibility - she opens up the door.

Rama glances over the other three. One seems okay but with a nosebleed; the other seems alive but full of static energy??; he ducks through the hole in the wall to check on Konrad before deciding if he needs to de-shock the other one. "Are YOU OKAY?!" he says, ending it by yelling at the top of his lungs, since he can't hear anything.

Ollie frowns at the classification. She has always hated that system, assigning her into a letter and number category, like that's all anyone needs to know about her. "Yeah. Come in, it's all yours." She says, trying to appear casual as she leads her guests inside.

Void Fist eventually gets to the police station and walks in some what out of breath.

"Was at school... teleported into some scary lady's autoshop... needle... sharp needle... ran... here's my route... need an excuse before going back to school... not a truant... long walk... tired... water please... maybe nap...also good morning." Void Fist huffs out and wheezes putting his head on the counter to rest as he stood.

It felt so cool on his head.

"I know you. You're Mimic! What's going on here?? Oh god, I have such a headache..." I take some tissues out of my pocket and stuff them into my nose.

"Oh, it was so quiet I thought I had gone deaf." He helps Konrad out of the wreckage, then returns to Mimic.

"Hi, you are Mimic, right? I saw you at the thing in the square. With the Novas. That was some mess, glad you and your friends were there to save everyone." He gives Mimic a wink. Secret identities are hard!

Konrad dusts himself off. "Thanks." He takes a look around at the damaged bathroom. "Ah man this is not going to look good. I really don't want to end up in detention."

Still paralyzed, Mimic moves his eyes to those addressing him. "You are correct, I am Mimic, yes. I am unsure what is going on. I was having the hole in my face repaired and then suddenly I was here."

"Umm, like at a dentist?" He gingerly reaches out and touches the sparkling one with a fingertip, expecting a shock. "Can you move?"

A small spark does arc off of Mimic towards the boy, though it does no significant damage. "I suppose that would be the closest analog to the procedure. As for if I am able to move, it would not appear to be so. Just a moment." Mimic looks as though he is trying to concentrate and bands of light start forming around him, lifting him up and manipulating his limbs. After a moment, he is on his feet and seems to be strapped to a dolly, Hannibal Lecter- style. "Now, does anyone know what that creature what or where it came from?"

Rama points at Konrad. "Hey man, wanna help me shuttle this guy to the... um, mechanical room? Or physics lab? Where ya wanna go?" He examines the student. "I'm Rama. Right, I said that already didn't I, before everything got all X-Men on us. Anywoo, did you see where that shadow demon came from?"

Konrad snaps to action and grabs part of the dolly. "I have no idea what that thing was or where it came from.
I just happened upon it while on a bathroom break. It was definitely trying to tell us something though. It said something like 'rumor' I think. Whatever, let's get out of here quickly before somebody finds us and starts asking questions we can't answer. Right?"

As the professor drones to a close, Jennifer slams her laptop closed, and slides it into her backpack. With a casual wave goodbye at the empty seat beside her, she sets off to talk to her teammate, not knowing that the situation has already been resolved.

"Where to, Mimic? What do you need?" Rama and Konrad move the dolly, hoping to get out of sight of a main hallway before deciding on a final destination.

"Hold on, you're just going to carry him to Shop class? Shouldn't we alert the authorities or something? This seems, I dunno, a little out of our league wouldn't you say? Mimic, is there anyone else you can call for help or backup?"

"I am still unsure myself of the situation, and so I do not know the correct course of action. I may be able to contact my team and see if they can assist us, though they may be otherwise occupied." Mimic pauses for a moment. "Has anything else happened that you would consider strange? It has occurred to me that another student may be where I was before I appeared here."

Rama leans forward and whispers in Mimic's ear. "I'm Aeon Crow, in disguise."

In a louder voice, he says, "This team of yours... Those the others at that throw down yesterday?"

"..in return?" Ollie repeats, quizzically. As it dawns on her, she shakes her head emphatically and holds her hands out, "No. No, I wasn't holding it hostage or anything. At least.. I didn't mean to. Just... look, you could let us know about any developments in the situation, y'know? Keep us informed?" She looks around momentarily, eyeing the unknown person in the back, "Who's he?"

Ollie suddenly feels a bit uneasy with the telepath nearby. She trusted and liked Procyon and still felt a little uneasy about having her thoughts read. This guy, though, she did not necessarily like nor trust. She hoped none of that conveyed in her mind, however futile that hope was.

"I don't know overly much," Ollie replies at first, taking a few steps within her sanctuary and looking about. "P.I.L.O.T. has told me what he's meant to say, but I'm sure there's much more to it." She turns back and quirks a brow at T.B., "Why? What do you want to know?"

"Ok... uh could I get that note though?" Void Fist states trying to stay calm, although stealth is in his wheel house by trade he unstealthly slowly slides his phone up and extends his arm above his head as he turns trying to get a picture of himself in the forefront with A.R.G.U.S. in the back. He takes multiple pictures in case some of the hero's eyes were closed.

Void Fist is busy tagging the photo and uploading it before he realizes what A.R.G.U.S. states, "Seriously? Me? Uh can I use your restroom, I haven't mastered costume changes in public... eh heh..." he states a little surprised before he goes to the bathroom once directed and changes. Once out and about he looks for the quickest route back to the school before texting everyone, "I'm out of danger, heard you guys may be getting into it? Lol Is it dangerous? I got your back if it's not lethal on arrival, where we meeting up?"

Void Fist using his bus pass makes his way to the school economically and not really that much in style.

Ollie's eyes flip between TB and Gatekeeper, narrowing slightly. "If it's information you want, can't he just check my mind, and you check all the data in the ship?" She asks with a defeatist tone. "I don't know as much as I'd like," Ollie says, remaining vague.

Void Fist purses his lips and sidesteps to the wall before texting everyone.

"Hey guys, why's the school creepy quiet like I just walked into a slasher horror movie? Also if you guys are zombies don't eat me I have a Biology test today and I need my brain." he texts before sneaking down the side of the hallway to get a read on the closest classroom.

Opening a door marked Mechanical, Rama helps Konrad push the trolley inside, and closes the door behind. A catwalk overlooks the schools boilers and furnaces, with a metal stairway leading down.

"Okay, Mimic. You're hidden for now. Where can we take you and who can help you move again?"

"I don't really know much. Not as much as I'd like, anyway." Ollie certainly has her curiosity piqued, and she listens intently for TB to continue.

Void Fist silences his phone and the camera sound options and takes video of the room from the outside.

Void Fist tries to remember the girls name and texts everyone else, "Anyone else notice their classroom has been knocked out? Also anyone know the creep girl in my class? I don't think she's cute or anything she's just the only one still sitting in her chair."

After doing so he'll review the video as quietly as possible to try and figure things out without the creepy girl noticing.

"I have no reason to say no," Ollie says, looking and feeling somewhat hesitant - though she doesn't know why - despite her words. "You're welcome to look through what's here. I only know what P.I.L.O.T.'s told me, and he technically works for the Compiler, so it would probably be good to get a second opinion."

"For the record, winking and whispering to superheroes is behavior I would describe as less than ideal for avoiding suspicion. I do not believe I should leave the building until it has been determined what that creature was. As for myself moving again, Mimic pauses for a few seconds, concentrating. The dolley loses its form for a moment before reforming into a sort of exokeleton. "This should suffice for the time being, although I cannot guarantee that I will be able to move as well as I normally would." He reaches into his pocket for his phone, viewing the messages from Void Fist. "I believe we changed places. I hope you do not have metal injected into your face."

Jennifer nods and smiles. "I'm going to go visit Omen. I have an extra helmet...if you need one."

"It was like super close. #StrangerDanger Lady." Void Fist text back before going full Void Fist mode.

I am nothing, a hand in the void, no one can see me... I may or may not steal stuff but that's okay I'll bring it back if you're a good person and should have it... probably...

"Yeah," Ollie says simply, "I'll try not to." She closes the door after TB is done and then takes a slow, shaky breath.After a moment, she walks deeper into the ship and calls out for P.I.L.O.T., "Okay, tell me what you found on the device. Anything we didn't know already?"

Rama checks his phone, noticing that others phones all army off simultaneously. "Awkward!" he says in a sing song.

He texts everyone back:
:: We're holed up in a closet. Mimic is bricked.
Don't know what's going on.::

He turns to the others. "What's going on? I can get us out of here, but I'm flying blind. Where should we go? Roof?"

He texts Void Fist back. ::NEED HELp? Where r u::

I run to my locker, grab my gym bag and duck into a bathroom. While I get changed, I catch up on Void Fist and Crow's texts.

Where are you? Do you need backup?

Did I just knock that book over? Probably not. Void Fist thinks to himself before looking at texts.

Tapping away he replies, "Maybe, my class it out, hopefully just unconscious except for one girl who's kind of creepy. AC maybe that metal in the syringe is something Mimic might actually need, glad I didn't get it jabs in my eye."

Konrad turns to Aeon Crow "Seems like our friend is in trouble. Unfortunately I can't shift into my costume right now, and I don't want any normies catching onto me. I'll follow your lead, though."

"Hi! Well I can help with that."

Aeon Crow will use the power of illusion to convert the team into middle aged janitors, and Mimic into a rubbish trolley.

"Let's mop up!"

Konrad's illusory bushy moustache arcs up, revealing a smile. "My man." He makes a finger gun gesture at Aeon Crow before opening the door and assisting him in rolling Mimic out.

Ollie frowns, uncertain as to what to do with this (lack of) information. She reaches into her pocket to check her phone.

"What the..." Ollie mutters as she rapidly thumbs through her text messages. "What... what the hell?!" She shouts, her voice echoing through the sanctuary. Her thumbs rapidly tap out a message that she sends out to everyone on the team:

"OMW to the school."

Tucking her phone back into her pocket, Ollie is suited up in no time (since she was already halfway there). "Please work," she mutters. She bends her knees and focuses on a space ahead of her. Gritting her teeth, sweat beading on her brow, Omen reaches forward to grasp at something unseen. "Hnnggh-!" She grunts, the telekinetic strain nearly causing her to buckle. "Open, damn you!" She shouts as a space in front of her - space and time itself - rips wide open. An electrified, black void violently ripples in the air. Omen takes a deep breath and steps through before the portal closes behind her.

"Oh," is all Omen manages to say when she spots the unfamiliar janitors. "Uhm, excuse me," she murmurs with slight confusion. Her bleeding nose catches her off-guard, and she raises the back of her hand to catch it. Omen curses, looking around as she mutters to the janitors, "Got a paper towel? Also, have you seen, um.. other heroes around here?"

Mimic stands up to his full height, still in the garbage can. "Hello, Omen. I assume you are here to help figure out what is going on?"

"We're in disguise, because we didn't bring our outfits to school." says the chief janitor. Omen can tell he is the chief janitor because his name tag says: "Chief Janitor"

Konrad peers from behind his thick illusory sunglasses at his own name tag. "Janitor in Training? Hey, why do you get to be in charge?" He looks up at Omen's bloody nose. "Hey, are you alright?"

Omen startles as Mimic stands up in front of her. Her sudden gasp only causes her nosebleed to worsen, and she pinches it down a bit harder. "Shit. Well, what's the situation here? What's going on?"

To Konrad, Omen shrugs, "Yeah, I'm fine. I probably just developed a brain tumor, getting here as quick as I did. I really hope this is as serious as it sounded."

Quickly checking the hallway for any students, I wait until the coast is clear before I run out in my hero gear towards where I last saw the group with Mimic.

Void Fist inches towards his desk assuming he's a master of stealth and not being seen.

Void Fist gets his belongings and writes a note to excuse himself from class due to 'reasons' and leaves his desk... Once outside he'll check in with the rest of the team.

I turn towards the sound and glare. Who the hell keeps saying that?

Mimic steps out of the garbage can, ignoring Omen's bleeding nose. "Void Fist and I somehow had our places switched and I appeared in his classroom and he was about to have a nonexistant hole in his face filled. Then I met up withe these two and we met a creature that seemed to be made of shadow, which attacked us and fled. We are currently trying to meet up with Void Fist, who is watching another student who is the only one in the room who has retained consciousness. That said, I hope this is not something serious enough to risk a hypothetical brain tumor."

"Ohhhh, that makes sense, in the way that it doesn't. But we should get those two back together and smoosh them together, see if that works."

Omen smirks, "And I thought my day started out strange. Lead the way. Where's Void Fist at?"

"Presumably he is still back at his classroom. He was watching the girl he mentioned when we last heard from him." Mimic animates the construct around his body and starts walking in the direction of the classroom.

Jen finally checks her phone, which she turned off during the lecture, and curses in frustration. "Donna, I have to head to the highschool There is something seriously weird going on, and my whole team is there. Still want to come with?"

Still pinching her nose, Omen follows Mimic through the halls.

Void Fist walks the halls after going to his locker and getting what looks like a Hall Monitor's sash. Hopefully there wasn't a secret handshake since it was a fake prop.

"Where's everyone at? Going to the bathroom to change." He texts as he walks the halls looking around as he goes.

I follow the sound of the knocking, down the hallway while looking out for my teammates. They have to be around here somewhere.

Aeon Crow texts back ::On our way to you. Disguised as janitors.::

Void Fist wobbles out of the bathroom his legs as shaky as a newborn fawn.

"Noooooooo!" he cries out slowly falling to his knees tears welling up in his eyes cradling his phone. Although it was under warranty and it backed up every minute it was still warm as he rubbed it to his cheek... "Sleep well my old friend." he whispered to his phone giving it a soft kiss.

He stood squinting and listening and looking around his lips pursed.

"Hey hey hey! A young man can like Yuri on Ice for the storyline... that has nothing to do with my...I like bwa..." he defends before looking around and realizes there's no one around him just the voices.

"Yep this is that creepypasta stuff... main I have to write this down 'manually' later." he mutters to himself. Grabbing Ms. Murder's staff from his locker he looks for the others.

"Guys! Duude!" he whispers loudly... maybe a little higher than his normal voice.

As soon as he hears the explosion, Mimic freezes up and the construct around his body starts to fall apart before disappearing entirely, at which point he collapses to the floor. His eyes go completely blank.

What are you still doing here? You're a mess. You can't help them in this state, you're just going to get in their way. You don't deserve to have these powers.

After a few moments, a faint light shines from Mimic's eyes and a computer startup sound emits from his mouth. He slowly stands up and dusts himself off. "Is everyone unharmed?"

I run towards the sound of the explosion, looking around to see if there's any way to contain whatever that was or if we're better off running out of the building. This can't be good.

Aeon shoves the bricked phone through is illusory uniform and into his pocket. He brightens as he sees Void Fist is okay, and he stumbles over to him, only to be distracted by the Mimic/TrashCan falling over. "Dude!" he answers to VF, and then issues a questioning, "Dude?" to Mimic.

Intuiting that they may be under attack, he glances around. "No, that's not true..." he whispers to nothing in particular.

"Holy. Crap. Warn a girl next time." Jenn shakes her head to clear the buzzing, then heads toward the school.

"Dude...Kkch" Void Fist replies stifling back a sob and quiver lip breathing holding up his phone that's been KIA.

"Also all the kids in my class besides the creepy girl are passed out..." he adds.

Didn't I already say that on my phone... I just check... DAMN IT!!! Void Fist thinks reaching for his phone and ghost flicking to unlock and stares at a black dead screen.

Somebodies paying for an upgrade... Void Fist declares stashing his phone and holds the Ms Murder Stick menacingly like a lightsaber since he has no idea what he's doing.

Konrad spins around defensively, darting his eyes back and forth, searching for the source of the verbal assault.

"Konrad. Konrad, Konrad," he mutters back at the voice.

Mimic stands there's for a few seconds, stretching and moving around to check for any further damages. He attempts to make a small construct in his hand, only for it to flicker out after a second. Concerned, but staying focused, he turns to the group. "We should deal with one problem at a time. We need to make sure the other students are unharmed by what is happening here. Void Fist, lead us to the classroom with the girl."

"Okay but she might have a boyfriend... just sayin'" Void Fist warns.

Taking a deep breath, I attempt to take stock of the situation.

"Eerg, this is taking too long!" Omen shouts as she begins to hear the whispers. "I'm going to end this!"

Aeon peers at the shadowy figures, trying to determine if they are real, if they are related to the earlier shadow, and if they are causing any harm to the sleeping children.

"Well this is definitely a Nova puberty moment right..." Void Fist finally pops up looking around.

"Um dude you okay? Just chi- Err... remain calm... how about you sit up and tell me your name." Void Fist states trying to calm the only one moving and trying to stay away from his sparky personality.

Void Fist motions at the rest of the frozen students and then motions outside. Hopefully everyone was still alive if they thawed them out.

"Soo anyone else hearing that? I mean I didn't make a fan fiction theme song for myself... Weird..." Void Fists states meandering along behind the rest of the group still together.

"Shit!" Omen shouts as she crashes into Cammy.

"Chameleon?" She murmurs, rubbing at her temple. She grunts a quick apology, and looks around at the odd state of the gymnasium. "What is going on?" She speaks aloud. Soon she looks to the two figures and calls out, "Hey! What's going on here?!"

"Oww! Dammit! Oh, hey Omen." I rub the side of my arm that got crushed. "I'm not sure. I heard whispers. Something weird is going on, and I think it started here."

Procyon tries to use her powers to block out the whispers as she sets off at a jog to find her friends.

Void Fist follows Procyon since she seems to know what she's doing.

Aeon Crow will seek out eye contact with his friend, anxious about whether Void Fist is alright.

"I DON'T HAVE A AEON CROW BEACH TOWEL I USE AS A CAPE AFTER I TAKE BATHS!!!" he awkwardly defends suddenly a little too loudly before looking away.

"Oh someone dropped an eraser..." he mumbles looking at something on the ground.

Mimic closes his eyes as the creatures continue to whisper around him.
As the whispers continue, Mimic seems to get increasingly agitated. "Be quiet! He pushes his hands outward toward the shadows, attempting to push them back with a wall of light. This is probably the only time any of you have heard Mimic raise his voice to anything above monotone.

Procyon winces and clutches her head as the voices push back. She frowns in concentration as she rebuilds her mental defenses...unable to shut out the voices, but keeping them at bay.

"Hey, you there. Are you alright? What happened?" I take a few steps towards the sparking boy, not sure what to make of him.

Omen's eye twitches in frustration. She hated having to ask multiple times. She was about to raise her voice when cooler heads prevailed and she let Cammy do the talking.

"Get what to stop? Are you doing all of this?" Omen gestures around herself, taking a couple steps toward the kid. "Who are you?"

...5 minutes ago...

"Guys...are you okay? What's gong on here?"

"Alright," Omen says, taking on a bit of a calmer tone, "Tell me what happened. What happened to them?" She points the frozen one.

Void Fist reaches for his phone and sighs depressed. Reaching for a small flip notepad he starts scribbling.

"I was in class and saw something odd or people looking at me funny. I ended up in a creepy ladies mechanics shop that was trying to inject metal into my face, I escaped and didn't become a cyborg. I went to the police station for a pass to get back to school but they said they don't do that. Upon getting back I snuck back into my class to find all of them knocked out but one creepy girl, I got my stuff and meet up with the others in disguise, Mimic seemed the worse for wear and supposedly switched places with me. Super creepy voices tell people's secrets in whispers... I think most of it is lies though personally since I wasn't up last night trying to bid on merchandise and swag from the festival the other day I couldn't get with us all on it..."

Procyon puts a hand on his shoulder reassuringly, "It's a psychic attack, Void, the voices aren't real. We're all hearing our own secrets."

She stands straighter, "Now, let's go see this creepy girl."

Void Fist eyes go wide and blushes slightly hearing something embarrassing as Procyon reassures him it's single listener only.

Considering she doesn't raise an eyebrow at him he opts to point and show the way.

"I should probably try and remember her actual name..." Void Fist admits since calling her Creepy Girl is kind of rude.

"Alright. Just... just settle down." Omen says, trying to be as calm as she can. She slowly approaches him, holding her hands out to the sides a bit.

Aeon Crow watches Void Fist enter the room. The voices in his ear make him nervous, but he tries to concentrate in case his team needs help.

Omen, not exactly the most diplomatic of the group, struggles to come up with a non-violent solution. "Hey," she says with some uncertainty, "You need to calm down, alright?" Her tone may have come off a bit more aggressive or threatening than she had intended. She desperately looks over toward Cammy for help.

Void Fist slowly enters trying to get the girl's attention and be friendly, "Hey I see your class is on self study or nap time. You seem to be doing well in this situation, can you hear the voices? I'm not here to trouble you but are you okay?" Void Fist offers up trying to calm her down so she doesn't drop him off someplace worst than last time before asking too many questions.

"It's alright. You can't hurt us. I can help." I put the palms of my hands towards him in the hopes that I can nullify whatever energy he's bound to release.

Procyon watches Void Fist enter the room and looks around, trying to assess the situation, and to remember where she read about this before.

Void Fist moves in, "This is probably the dumbest idea I've had this hour but I'm going to wake her and find out what happened.".

Void Fist tries to stay out of being in front of her line of vision attempts to wake her.

Aeon watches Void Fist try to wake the girl. His shoulders bunch with tension and he wonders if he can teleport his teammate to safety if it all goes awry...

"She's got a blue sunburst tattoo on her neck... We can't have tattoos without written concent from a guardian... Why does the blue sunburst sound familiar???" Void Fist whispers loudly to the others before reaching for his phone to take a picture of her neck and shakes his phone since it's not turning on. He flails and puts it away before waving in the others while he sketches it out.

"Ah, not a tattoo. Well I guess that's okay then. In case this doesn't work go through my browser history, there's some very interesting documentaries on superhero origins." Void Fist explains fishing out a plastic baggy from his pouch to remove and bag the patch on her neck with.

Procyon snaps her fingers as it comes to her, "I remember now! A psychic attack that is distracting to Novas, but renders mundanes unconscious."

I take a deep breath. I hope this works.

Omen looks around, "What now? What else have you seen going on around here, kid?"

"Just wondering if you've seen anything else weird going on. If not, maybe we should get out of here? That is, if you're feeling ok?" I keep a reassuring hand by his shoulder, keeping the powers at bay for now.

Mimic pokes his head into the classroom, seeing that Void Fist has dealt with the girl, and approaches the other students, trying to shake a couple of them awake.

"Others are probably like this... we should find the others." Void Fist states sounding a bit concerned.

He scribbles his name under the note he wrote.

Procyon nods, "Give me the tattoo, though...I'll take it back to the lab later and analyze it."

"These kids are acting like Nova powers have been banging around. Something is afoot, but why target a school? Unless they're like, some kind of, I don't know, terrorists and their real target is political change."

Void Fist hands over the baggy, "Inside the school would be a controlled environment for testing if they didn't know the specifics and sideaffects." he offers up to Aeon Crow's question.

Procyon presumes this is Donna, but is careful in her reply, Not yet, but I have some leads. Things seem to be settling down.

She looks up to her compaions, "Let's find the others. I have a hunch that this isn't going to be the only weird thing going on in this school."

"We have a whole team of people looking into it." I give a look to Omen thinking that's probably true, right? "Anyway, it might be safer outside of the school, or at least we can meet up with the rest of the team and see what they've figured out so far."