Alpha/Omega: Restless

[herodofcows]

It's that time of night that doesn't have the decency to decide whether or not it wants to turn into morning, and that kind of time can give different people some very similar thoughts. Let us, for a moment, examine how two very different people react to this early-morning malaise.

Sam and Liz both toss and turn in their beds, fighting off a barrage of thoughts that dance through their minds and keep them from sleep. Their heads won't clear, their eyes won't stay shut, and the creeping warmth of the Atlanta night distracts more than it soothes.

Bitter are the thoughts that pass through their minds. They contemplate the injustice of such a night as this, the torment of arrested sleep. They feel like they must be the only ones awake, which in some way accentuates the pain of it all.

In perfect synch, separated though they are by several blocks, they sigh, swing off their beds, and start to get up. Maybe a glass of water . . .

FOOM

Twin gasps. Twin sprints to twin windows. Twin incredulous glances.

Equidistant from both, a small impact crater unceremoniously has appeared in an otherwise-vacant lot. Something is glowing, burning maybe.

Both spring into action, adrenaline stopping them from noticing one pertinent detail: whatever's glowing, it's glowing . . . green?

[JohnTheSavage]

Son of a bitch, what the hell just happened down there?

Sam hastily got dressed and made sure to put his trusty pistol in his jacket.

I'm not going to find out up here, better get down there before the first responders cordon off the place. No rest for the wicked...

Ignoring the pounding headache from last night's patrol, (The tall one sure knew how to throw a punch!) Sam rushed down the stairs of his apartment complex, out the front door and started running for the mysterious crater.

[Business Scrub]

Many miles above the earth, what resembles a large, beaten up tin can drifts slowly towards the blue planet. What was at one point the pride of an entire species was being torn to shreds by a rounding error.

Inside the shuttle, hundreds of lights blink haphazardly: most of them signifying the end of the shuttle's journey: engine loss. Steering loss. Containment Pressurization loss. To Ke'era, one of the creatures inside, it was astonishing there were so many things that even could go wrong. But her worries were more immediate. The young Ra'Shathasan scrambled across the deck towards lights that signaled to escape, to safety, but the unpredictable tilting of the shuttle made it impossible! In one moment everything was tilted back, then suddenly she was standing on the wall.
Up ahead, she could see her companions having just as much trouble as her, if not more, as they loaded into pods. As she dashed madly to the other end, she noticed the metal in between them begin to bulge and bend: who knows how many seconds before this deathtrap ripped itself apart? She stumbled to the pod room just as some of the insect-like Kirque began deploying. All the pods began shooting out of the shuttle except two: her own stood open an waiting, the doors of safety beckoning to her. But the last pod...
Ke'era hadn't known Se'sesha before the journey, but spend a great many weeks confined to a ship and you begin to grow attached to your companions. As she watched, Se'sesha struggled in vain with the pod door, but the cursed thing was stuck from her side, and she'd be damned if she was going to leave him here. She gave the door a hard shove, and watched it slam shut. His scent of panic was drawn away quickly as the pod left, and he could see him signal her to run as he dropped.
As she reached her own, Ke'era heard the screaming sound of metal tearing ad turned to see a gaping hole in the ship, revealing the small blue planet below. Suddenly the vacuum ripped at her, wrenching the shuttle apart and pulling the door out of her grasp. With a scream, Ke'era was sucked out and sent hurtling into space.
As the cold set in, Ke'era's eyes began to droop. At least she could see the pods falling away happily. There was some solace in that. She watched the blue planet grow bigger and bigger and, somewhere between the rush of speed and the cold airlessness, Ke'era passed out.

Wham!

Several minutes later, Ke'era landed with a sickening crunch, as her bones shattered against the hard ground. The morning sun glowed lightly on the crater she had made, and sent a flock of birds scattering in panic. Of course, Ke'era knew none of this, as she was... the scientists of this planet would have called her dead, but they would have been ignorant. They wouldn't have noticed the root-like tendrils growing slowly into the ground. Yet they did and slowly, inch by inch, Ke'era's body began to reform in the crater: an entirely new body forming out of the remnants of the old one. To an onlooker it would appear horrifying, if not mesmerizing, as stalks of white began to grow and form bone, over that muscle and nerves, and, after a very long time, skin, hair, eyes: the features of a person of some kind.

[A'den]

Ben checked his itinerary again in the middle of Hartsfield, ATL's only international airport. His smartphone's Outlook calendar told him his flight was on a civilian airliner AA8427 and he had thirty minutes to board. Hartsfield, a gigantic airport, had long open corridors in the flight terminal floors thirty feet wide and ceilings almost as high, even at the early hour of the morning the place had life. Barristas rubbing sleep from their eyes prepared espresso for the rest of the business travelers in an array of business casual, suits, and professional garb. Early morning greetings were exchanged all in all it was business as usual.

Ben plucked again at the cuff of his three button black suit, the fine material swished slightly with each step he took. The loafers were a far cry from the sturdy boots he was used too. His haircut was freshly cut short and he had a clean shave this morning. All of it necessary after his most recent assignment involving a metahuman who had a grotesque aptitude for swamp and sewage in the outlying judlands a few miles south of the city. The meta had been practicing his powers on underprivileged youths, experimenting... Ben crushed the memories before they could surface. He had saved the few capable of living and disposed of the rogue meta after he refused to submit. Another Alpha agent would see to their long term healing and memory modification. It wasn't his job to stick around for long, it wasn't really how Grash, his mentor, would of done things but it was a new era. Digital cameras, smartphone cams, Youtube, and a thousand other sites meant staying to protocol. Protocol said his job was to deal with rogues, it was someone else's job to handle the clean up, the cover story, the victims. Grash would of made sure everyone got treated well before leaving but the old man was dead and gone and the world was still a more dangerous place.

A bead of swept ran down his temple and Ben swiped it away. The only thing he would miss less than the swamp was the humidity. The wet sticky heat that made it seem like he had been walking in a wet blanket since he had stepped out the cold shower he took at a hotel during the night.

He stopped in line at the barrista's counter, "Drip, please, and room for creme."

After parting with two dollars and some change he stood by the counter and pulled his smartphone out of his pocket to check the morning headlines. As he tapped open an app for news headlines his calendar chirped an update, he swiped it open and looked at it confused.

For a second nothing changed then his flight itinerary disappeared. Then the rest of the day's items cleared. Then the entire week was an empty book. His text message box, empty, filled with one new message.

K, Code Gray: 17RVF345749

Ben put the phone back in his pocket and walked away from the coffee counter at a brisk pace. He was going to have to rent a car again.

[NineOfSpades]

Liz's night was not going well, which was fairly typical for her actually. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Most nights she slept like a baby, but every once in a while, she would find herself with a restless itch to go out into the night. Maybe it was just her excessive energy, maybe it was something to do with the way the moonlight would shimmer through the buildings in the middle of the night. Maybe it was that plump looking owl that liked to perch on the power line across the street. Who could say?

The explosion, as unexpected as it was, proved itself to be a tremendous boon for Liz. See, now she had an excuse to go out. And an excuse was all she needed to fling herself out of bed, toss open the window, and jump out into the night. She landed softly at street level, pausing a moment. Something didn't feel right. "Oh no...forgot to change out of my jemmies" she mumbled to herself, upon realizing that the reason for the unexpected chill was that she had left her bedroom wearing nothing more than a oversize T-shirt and her pink panties. Brr!

Climbing back up to the second story was no sweat, and after tossing on a pair of short-shorts, she was off again, for real this time. From street level to fire escape, then up onto the rooftops, she bounded effortless through the night, towards the scene of the strange green glow. Upon arrival at the strange irridescent glow, she reflected upon this once-in-a-lifetime sight with reverence and awe.

No, not really. She whipped out her Cell phone and took a selfie over the crash site.

[JohnTheSavage]

Sam sprinted through the streets at the fastest speed he could muster, ducking into side alleys, jumping over fences, cutting through backyards and using every possible shortcut he knew to get to that vacant lot first. Panting, sweating and exhausted, Sam arrived at the vacant lot and beheld a most wondrous sight. He saw the girl he knew as that ditz who's always missing school, what was her name again? Lucy? Lucina? It started with an L, I know that leap down from a 2-storey-high building, silhouetted against the early morning light and...

She's taking a selfie. You have GOT to kidding me.

Withdrawing his palm from his face and shaking off the shock of what he had just seen, Sam's decade of police experience reasserted itself, galvanising Sam into action. Preserve the scene of the crime and question or detain potential witnesses and suspects as appropriate.

"HEY! YOU WITH THE PHONE! STOP RIGHT THERE!"

The girl seemed to not notice Sam's shouting and continued about her business (such that it was).

Typical, always takes two doesn't it?

Sam walked closer, along the edge of the crater so he still couldn't properly see into it and tapped Liz on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Hey, Lisa, right? Did you see what happened here?"

LIZ! That was her name! Dammit!

"Hello, I'm Sam" - Colour with quotation marks used for direct speech. Emphasis and volume indicated by use of caps, bold and/or font size as appropriate. Colour indicates the speaker, Sam's colour is blue
And I thought things couldn't get any stranger - Blue and Italic used for Sam's thoughts and inner monologues.
Sam facepalmed. Again. - Normal font is normal

EDIT: added "You with the phone" to make it less ambiguous who Sam's talking to and reduced the font size, it came off as louder than I intended.
EDIT2: Extended Sam's dialogue. Realized I gave very little to go on dialogue-wise and thought you might have been waiting for me to continue and say something more. Edited to avoid a double post.

[NineOfSpades]

" GYAAH!" Liz yelped in surprised, having been shouted at. This was to be expected, given that among her list of least favorite things, 'being shouted at' was probably close to the top. She dropped her phone, but thankfully, had no real difficulty in catching it before it hit the ground. Turning to see who was being so rude as to yell at her, she saw a familiar looking gentleman, though she couldn't place where she'd seen him from. He smelled like salt and metal.

Walking up towards the man, Liz held her finger up to her lips and gave a forceful "SHHHHH!" , her face in a prominent pouting position "Keep your voice down, people are sleeping! And My name's not Lisa, but I did see what happened. Well, sort of. See, I was laying in my bed and then this big light was all like WHAAAAAAMBOOM! Kerplow. It was wicked crazy, everything shook. I thought it was an earthquake. But earthquakes arn't ususally green and glowy, right? I mean, I think they would have covered that in geology class or something...maybe call them greenquakes instead"

[JohnTheSavage]

"Hang on, did you say green and glo-"

Sam finally directed his eyes into the crater to see just what it was Liz was babbling on about. Sam had never been described as a coward, but the mere sight of what was in that crater terrified him, infected him with that freezing fear that stops you dead in your tracks.

In the centre of the crater was a torn-up mangle of flesh, bone, skin and organs, more gruesome than anything Sam had seen while walking the beat (Except for maybe the Bankhead Baker, nasty business that.) , but it wasn't the gruesomeness of the human? remains that terrified Sam. It was the fact the this pile of person was still moving. Shards of bone fusing together, sinew and muscle weaving and twisting over it, and skin stretching and growing to cover it all. The idea that someone had the power to survive an explosion like that was enough to stun Sam with sheer terror. But only for a moment. His head cleared, his thoughts became rational again.
Answers! This could be my chance to get answers about my condition! I have to get...it?...somewhere safe to regenerate, the cops can't get their hands on this!
"Excuse me, I need to make a call."

Sam walked out of what he thought was Liz's earshot, pulled out his phone, dialled the number and prayed that Alex would pick up and that he wasn't too late.

"Hello, this is-"
"Alex, it's Sam."
"Oh! Look, It's great to hear from you again but I have to get to this report down in-"
"The explosion, right? I'm already there."
"WHAT!? What the hell did you do Sam!?"
"Nothing. Look, I need to ask a favour..."
"I really don't have time Sam, and I already stuck out my neck for you when I smuggled you that equipment, we can talk lat-"
"I need you to delay the other cops."
Silence. Thick and filled with tension.
"No. I'm an officer of the law and I refuse to betray the trust placed in me by subverting my own people. How can you even ask me that?"
"Alex. You know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."
"Do I? Because this whole situation is seeming pretty suspicious to me. What. Did. You. DO?"
"You know me better than that, Alex."
"No, I don't. You disappear for months then the first thing you ask for is weapons? Then we get reports of some kind of gang war, where one side SOMEHOW got their hands on police gear, THEN YOU JUST HAPPEN TO BE NEARBY WHEN THERE'S AN EXPLOSION!? WHAT THE HELL HAVE YO-"
"You owe me. I'm calling in that debt."
Another silence. Thicker, Angier.
"Say that again."
"I'm calling in what you owe me. I know you remember."
"Don't. Don't do this, Sam. Don't make me do this."
"You owe me, Alexandra. You owe me this."
Silence again.
"You're lucky I'm loyal enough to honour that debt. More loyal than you, you cowardly piece of s***."
*Click*

We really have been apart too long. Damn it all.

Sam put his phone away and walked back over to Liz.

"Okay, I need you to help me move the body in there somewhere safe and secret. I'll take the feet, you take the head, sound good?"

Red text is Alex's dialogue and

Sam walked out of what he thought was Liz's earshot...
Yeah, Liz totally heard the whole thing (Just Sam's side of the convo, I assume her hearing isn't THAT good). Must be great to have super-senses.

Then we get reports of some kind of gang war, where one side SOMEHOW got their hands on police gear...
To clarify, this is misinformation. No thug is going to say: "Yeah, one dude in police gear who could shoot blinding light out of his hands kicked my entire gang's ass". They're going to say: "Yeah, six dudes in police gear attacked us. Six from each side that is. Including from above and below. With a lot of flashbangs."

[NineOfSpades]

For Liz, it wasn't all that difficult to overhear the conversation. Not that she paid it much mind, anyhow. Partially, that was simply due to good manners, not eavesdropping. Mostly, it was because she was busy poking her nose around the site and looking at all the odd bits of metal and fragments."So this is what a weather balloon looks like" she said, mostly to herself. Because obviously that is what this whole thing had to be. Big metal object falls out of the sky? Weather balloon.


When the police-guy finished his little chat, he started telling Liz to help him move this weird, fleshy mass that was located in the epicenter of the vacant lot. Liz took one look at the mushed up body sitting in the crater, and came to what was probably the easiest decision she'd had to make since the time she ditched out on her history mid-term to spend the afternoon at the beach. "Um...Yeah...no. It looks majorly icky and there is no way I'm getting my hands all gross by touching it"

[A'den]

Ben had been on the road a few minutes when his phone chirped again. This time is was a blurred photo.

They must of really been stretching to get a picture if they retasked a satellite...

He looked at the photo a second longer it seemed like there were people milling around the crash site but it was impossible to tell really the photo's resolution was so bad it just seemed to light thermal blurs were vertical and standing near the big thermal blur that was the crash site...

Ben looked up and swerved out of the way of a car stopped.

"Gahhh," He half shouted, "I hate driving."

He was pretty sure the little black credit card in his pocket would cover anything, but he also knew that even the Alphas had a budget and trashing property on their budget wouldn't endear him to anyone at headquarters. His pulse accelerated a little and and he had to ease his grip on the steering wheel lest he left a gloved hand print firmly embedded in the plastic.

The GPS coordinates were close only a few blocks or so, he pulled over to the curb and turned the car off and shut the lights off as well. He could see smoke trailing up into the sky. Emergency services should of been here a full fifteen minutes ago but no doubt they were being diverted by a rash of other calls being phoned in at the moment.

He got out of the car and looked momentarily at the trunk. He didn't want things to get loud too quickly so he left his equipment in the trunk and started walking down the middle of the street toward the crash site. It seemed to be between a row of houses so he crept up the last few dozen yards and circled around until he was upwind of the crash site. He paused and took a deep breath to clear and his mind and listened...


Ben is attempting to listen to anyone's immediate surface thoughts or emotions to the scene before entering the scene, he's sorta stealthy for a human and a trained tracker but supernatural or super powered senses should pick him up this close pretty easily.

[Business Scrub]

From across the small crowd, as tiny nerve-like tendrils begin to grow, Ben senses the new-comer's feelings.
Pain... Incredible pain...

[A'den]

"Ahhh!!!!!" Ben dropped to a knee as he cried out the expected and intensity of the pain he felt only for a second caused him to drop his guard.

[NineOfSpades]

Liz's ears perked up at the dim sounds of rubber soled shoes scraping on asphalt. Odd, how many people were up and about at this hour. Well, that's not entirely fair, there was a big object that probably woke a bunch of people up. From the smell, you could tell it was a guy sneaking about from the smell. She was about to go be negiborly and say hello, when he suddenly doubled over screaming. The shock was enough to make Liz jump with fright. Which would have been fine, except she jumped literally ten feet in the air, landing on all fours atop a nearby lamp post. In the dim lighting, a careful viewer might notice the light reflecting off her eyes like tiny mirrored lenses. But that was hard to say. "Oh man, that was not cool!" Another leap carried her through the air, and she landed near the shouting man "Whats the big idea, sneaking around and then screaming at people!? You some kinda crazy hobo?!" she asked, letting the question sound more like an accusation.

[A'den]

Ben put a hand to his head still dazed a little when a girl just dropped from ten feet into the air and landed lightly in front of him. Trained instincts instantly took over as he stood took a step back and almost dropped into a fighting stance before he noticed her age. Her bubbly presence had been cloaked by the intense pain. He straightened his tie, hobo? This suit is at least $1500 dollars.

He wasn't sure if teenagers these day considered shorts and a top like that as underwear or fully clothed. Still young, inquisitive, perky, and just made a jump that should of twisted an ankle on a normal person.

Omega?

No she wasn't attacking him.

New type?

Probably.

"Sorry I was surprised by something, we should probably try to aid whomever is in the crash site. Miss? Sorry what was your name?" He started to step around her and head toward the crash site.

[Business Scrub]

When looking into the crash site, Ben sees a small crater in the abandoned parking lot, with some sparse bits of metal stabbing into the ground at odd angles or lying about. In the center of the crash site is what appears to be a body the broken body of a young woman, the only immediate abnormality being her nakedness and green hair. Perhaps more upsetting is the two white stalks that appear to be growing out of it, each about a foot and a half tall and growing just fast enough to be visible.

[A'den]

Ben paused at the top of the crash site after he brushed past the girl and the other man, his attention captured by the woman... plant?... Her shape lead him to believe whatever it was could be female, the mass was moving, he could not tell at first if it was the wreathing shock of near death or something else. In the moment it took him to consider he took step into the crater using small stepping stones of telekinetic force to avoid any danger from the heat. He crouched down next to the woman and took her hand or branch he would figure out the anatomy later he supposed.

Telepathically he opened his mind briefly and simply said, you are not alone.

He could do nothing for the being until whatever was happening finished but if anything he hoped his gesture was at least accepted similar to tucking a pillow and a warm blanket around a feverish patient and waiting to see if the fever would break. The amount of pain she was in made him set his teeth on edge, he could share some of it, lighten the burden a little at least, too much would likely kill him but he offered anyway to the alien being.

[JohnTheSavage]

Sam intently watched the new arrival to the crash site with equal parts suspicion and caution, his thoughts moving a mile a minute.

He's no local, not with that suit and I know near everyone around here anyway, which begs the question, how did he know about this? Is he just passing by? Unlikely, no one with a suit like that would be caught dead in this neighbourhood. He had to have already known, but how? Did he cause this explosion? Does he have powers too? Okay, Sam, think. This woman's clearly very difficult to kill, and someone was trying to kill her. They wouldn't take any chances that she'd be able to survive and regenerate. A bomb. A bomb wouldn't exactly be subtle but it would get the job done. Hell, he could have blown her up with his powers if he has any. Could he be checking to see if she's really dead? Trying to sweep up evidence and loose ends before the cops show up? He's too suspicious to not question, but if he does have powers, maybe I shouldn't provoke him.

No. This is too important to ignore.

Sam reached into his jacket, drew his trusty pistol and levelled it at the newcomer.

"Maybe it's time you told us just who you are, friend."

[A'den]

Ben had most of his attention on the alien that he hardly noticed the man drawing a gun until he felt the decidedly hostile intent focus on him. He grinned a little.

"I'm trying to help, unless you can do something put that thing away before you get hurt."

[JohnTheSavage]

I've heard more than my fair share of lies, that definitely wasn't one. That or he's a damn good liar.

Sam lowered the pistol to his side but kept in his hands.

"Well, now that I have your attention, would you mind introducing yourself?"

[Business Scrub]

Ima shanae sum nar rak ima. Shappen less-tae famir kriumfar arra Shappen? Say na essum na say...
The response comes back to Ben across the mental channel almost immediately. The sounds are regular enough to be some sort of language, though it's not one Ben has heard before. A pair of emotions come with the words.
Confusion. Worry?

[A'den]

The outside world faded away as the being responds, surprising Ben that even in the amount of pain it, no she, was in that she was capable of cognitive responses. Outwardly he turns in his head down and to the side as if straining to hear a whisper. The emotions were strong confusion along with the foreign language.

He had studied multiple languages, he could at least identify the pauses in sentences and the slight variation in the pauses between words. Shappen... She said it twice. Shappen linked with an emotion? Worry?

Shappen is a noun? He tried to convey the thought back and tied her word Shappen with the three images a broad expanse of plane, a plane flying through the air, or a person looking over his shoulder? The difficulty of conveying the images and tying each image with the idea of a thing.

As to her sense of confusion he tried to allay that with his own memory of walking up to the scene of the crash except for her body he purposely shadowed the image of her own mangled body as it was unlikely to help her calm down.

Help? How can I help? He tied the sentence to an emotion of nuturing, like drinking water, eating food, or basking in the sun.

Ben thoughts were tied up so with trying to translate what the being was saying that he almost didn't hear.

"Wait... She's communicating." Ben's tone was utterly emotionless and detached with his attention focused inward and on the plant-woman.

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era had never regrown before. She had been told it was an unpleasant experience, and she had assumed it was painful. There was some pain, but the worst of it seemed to be over. No, the experience was maddening: it was as if someone had cut off her limbs and closed her eyes and ears. Just herself trapped in her own head. But this other voice was something to latch on to. It was a bit of sunlight in an otherwise dark world. Granted a baffling, strange light that was hardly making any sense, but it was better than nothing. And it seemed to be at least somewhat intelligent.

Shappen...
She conveyed an image of herself, sitting alone on a grassy hill in the sunlight. Shep
Then she shifted the image to the same hill, with her in the same place, but with many creatures that looked like her, sitting beside her. Shap'se
Finally she showed the same hill with the same creatures, but without her in the image. Shappen

She focused on the sounds coming across to her. They had to mean something. It made the same sound twice. Help. The emotions it was tied to were nonsense, but she understood the last one. Maybe that was it?
Help? The image of almost blindingly bright sunlight.
Help? The image of an unusual looking tree in the sunlight that is small, slowly growing larger.

[A'den]

Sunlight... sunlight would help. He opened his eyes and glanced at his watch an expensive looking Omega, sunrise would be in minutes. He momentarily had to think about how to convey the image of time. The early morning light was already starting to brighten the eastern sky.

He pictured the stars as they were above then a second image where they had moved slightly toward the western horizon then sunlight rising from the eastern horizon. He was not very confident in the image but in minutes he would find out if he was right or wrong anyways.

Shep.. He used the picture she sent him to represent her, then pictured himself as best he could in the moment and added K. His moniker.

[Business Scrub]

Most of the new images simply confused Ke'era. It looked like he was showing her... Space? Then some sort of dark star?

Confusion.

The next part, however, she understood. It sounded like a child talking but at least he was trying. Apparently he didn't understand... How could he? He was a different species on a different planet. Gently, she tried correcting him, so he didn't butcher the whole thing. She returned the same picture of him, think-speaking slowly, trying to make her message clear.

K usum se'shap K.

[A'den]

Ben felt like he was grasping at straws. She knew his name at least but he could recognize the structure of noun verb adjective verb but without any frame of reference he had no clue what she was trying to say about him.

K usum se'shap K.

He wasn't skilled in this department, this was something for the egg heads at headquarters to figure out, but he was the only one here it seemed who could do anything.

He tried repeating what she said: K usum se'shap K.

I am K, from Earth.

You are Shep, from Shappen.

[Business Scrub]

Inwardly, she smiled at him as he repeated his introduction, correctly this time.
Content.

Then he started thinking other words. Who knew what they were... but she recognized his name in there. But then, Shep and Shappen? He must have introduced himself in their language. And that would mean...

She laughed across their mental conversation, a laugh that sounded like the shaking of a Fir tree.
K usuit shappet K. She sent the same image of him again.
Hlat... She struggled to find a word.
Hlat Yak usuit shappet hlat. She sent the same image of him once more, but this time Ben's colors were wrong, as if the image was a negative.
Hlat Shep usum se'shap Hlat.

[A'den]

Ben chuckled as he heard rustling of tree branches in his head the emotion behind it came through easily he understood that well enough, somehow it made the whole bizarre scene a little more humane than tragic. Okay I've done something right now to try again. He tried translating the bizarre negative image so the opposite of K usum se'shap K was hlat Shep usum se'shap Hlat.? Maybe the difficult word was whatever the opposite his name was?

He tried thinking for a moment, then sent the image of himself K then changed the named K to Hlat, then he sent an image of the other man fresh in his memory and the young teenager, Hlat and Hlat?

He disregarded the idea of trying to teach her any more English and focused on tackling the monumental task of learning her language. So Hlat was another verb and usum seemed to be a verb such as is or are.

Se'shap? He spoke the word with a question.

[Business Scrub]

The new images were surprising. So there were other creatures near her as well... That was good and bad. Why was it only K that was talking to her then? She thought-spoke gently, getting the feeling that he was way off the mark, but didn't want to dissuade him.

She sent back the image of K. K usuit shappet K.
Hlat... She sent back the image of the teenager and left a pause where there should be a word. usuit shappet Hlat.
Then, she did the same thing again, but with the image of the young man.

She thought back on his words a second ago, but there was no good way to describe the word he asked about without being endlessly confusing.

Se'shap... She sent an image of herself again, this time on an endless white background.

[A'den]

Hlat must mean name...

The last image left him utterly confused, he had thought it might be some sort of predicate term but then again if it were she would have no way of visually representing. So maybe it was but she couldn't explain? He paused and opened his eyes.

"She wants to know your names?" He said this time his voice come closer to the terse professional demeanor he had initially used with the teenaged girl. He directed his attention up and back at gun man.

"You can call me K, I represent an organization of people that more or less allow the status quo of humanity to continue in the presence of the bizarre and strange."

[JohnTheSavage]

He asks for our names but withholds his own. And he "allows the status quo of humanity to continue in the presence of the bizarre and strange". The plot thickens.

Sam stepped forward, put away his gun and motioned to himself.

"My name's Davis."

If you can hear my thoughts, my real name is Samuel. Sam to my friends. Don't come into my head again.

[A'den]

"Right Mr. Davis, well I think our friend here will be alright when the sun finally comes up."

Ben looked toward the teenaged girl expectantly.

[Business Scrub]

As soon as it had arrived, the voice in her head suddenly dissipated. Ke'era thought back on their confusing discussion, if you could call it that: She probably hadn't been as clear as she could have been... But damn, this deprivation of her senses was maddening, especially knowing someone was out there. She had to try again. Maybe a different tactic.

You are K you?

[A'den]

Ben was taken unexpectedly as he was still kneeling next to the alien woman but was not as focused on the psychic link. When English suddenly came back in thoughts from her he was surprised.

Heh figure out intergalactic travel, English must not be too had.

Oops I said that out loud, crap.

Yes I am, K.

You are Shep? He projected a slight image of her.

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era was glad she could call the voice back, as selfish as it might be. It occurred idly to her that she could be going crazy. ... Ah well, better hope not.

His funny language made more sense now. He thought Shep was her name... but how were you supposed to respond?

She sent back the picture of herself. You are Shep?

[A'den]

Ben found the dual conversations a little complicated but he felt like he could at least carry on parts of both without his brain frying though a beer later sounded pretty amazing.

Puzzling over her replied he tried to start again.

Shep, He showed the alien, Shep'se he showed multiple copies of the alien woman like a group.

Human He showed himself, People he tried showing a crowd of humans together.

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era took a mental breath. He was closer.

Content.

She showed the picture of just him. Shep.
Then the picture of just her. Shep.
Then she put the both of them in the same picture. Shap'se
Finally, she sent the image of just the other two humans. Shappen.

[A'den]

Ben felt a thrill of excitement like he actually caught for a moment.

Shep, an individual. Person.

Shep'se, a group or together maybe? People?

Shappen, it looked to excluded her from the group but coming from her idiom he tried offering his own word, Foreigners? He tried another, Aliens?

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era brightened up at his confidence. Apparently he got it!

Elated.
Tessum.

He offered more words in his language, but she had no idea what they meant. Uncertainty.

Alien? She offered back the picture of the two other creatures.

[A'den]

Tessum.

Ben was surprised when she translated it directly perhaps she had stronger telepathy than his if she pick up words from him.

He tried first to allay the confusion about the last question he asked. He showed a picture of her world he assumed with her then inserted an image of himself into the picture. Shappen.

Then he picture the scene around him here on his own world with the three images then added the alien's picture of herself, Alien, shappen?

[Business Scrub]

I haven't been very clear about when Ke'era sends an emotion versus a word. I'll make that more obvious.

Bah, he was so close! She needed a different tactic: they needed some words they knew for certain. She tried to get him to share his language again.

You are Shep? She thought to him boldly, as if expecting an answer she already knew.

[A'den]

Ben almost tossed up his hands at that point but he saw the route she was going and tried to help.

I am a Shep.

He briefly imagined the other two. They are Shep'se?

[Business Scrub]

Ugh... She was getting nowhere with this. Time to try again.

You are K?

[A'den]

Ben gritted his teeth.

Yes.

You are...?

Shep didn't seem to be her name so he tried slowing down instead of repeatedly jumping ahead too fast.

[Business Scrub]

Yes!

Her relief was palpable. There we go.

Yes, tessum. Tessum, yes.

She showed him again the picture of him. Shep. Person. Yes.

[A'den]

Okay, got that part down at least.

Using the same phrasing as, You are Shep. He sent another new sentence.

He is Davis. Ben sent a picture of the man with him, and the girl with her name.

"Still trying to figure out her name, but she's pretty curious about us. Doesn't speak a lick of English."

[Business Scrub]

As the four beings, human or otherwise, converse in the abandoned lot, the Sun crawls overhead. By just past noon, the Georgia sun is beating down on the tarmac. It's astonishing how private a 'public' place can be when you have an ex-cop calling in favors and the agent of a secret organization pulling strings.

As the hours passed on and the sun began to beam in earnest, the small plant in the crater began growing more and more quickly. Soon it became recognizably human-like, with bones and muscles forming into a body and limbs from the inside out. Eventually a bundle of fine white nerves began spiraling out of the neck, blossoming and weaving into a brain that was quickly enveloped by bone. Bone was covered by muscle and skin, forming into an attractive face that was almost unnervingly almost-human. Quite suddenly, a waterfall of dark green hair shot out of her head, that seemed to glow very faintly in the sunlight.

There was a quiet moment of stillness, then Ke'era suddenly began moving. She pulled the dead roots around her feet out of the dirt with an earthy crunch, and blinked several times as her eyes adjusted to the sunlight. Trying to take a step and fumbling, she fell onto her knees on the pavement. With a bit more confidence, she stood up and looked around at this strange new world.

[A'den]

After several hours of trying to learn each others languages the sudden moment when the alien regrew for lack of a better word took his breath away. This could change everything... He would of normally been the the type to strip off his jacket but he didn't want to unease Davis anymore by showing off his shoulder rig.

His phone started ringing and it was the agency. He looked down at it then hung up without answering.

"Well, welcome to Earth."

[JohnTheSavage]

Sam took off his jacket, making sure he removed the gun from the pocket as he did so and offered to the alien now standing before him.

It's not much, but it's better than nothing.

It suddenly dawned on him that he was offering his jacket to a regrown alien while in the presence of teenage girl who he had seen leap off a two storey building and some illuminati-looking stranger, who may or may not be telepathic.

I need a drink.

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era looked around for a long moment, the wonder clear on her face. So many questions and no way to ask them yet...
Wait, the creatures were talking to her. One of them held something out. What was it..?

Oh my God! She thought to her self, a look of humor spreading over her face. The Kirque were right! They do wear big leaf things! I thought they were joking!
She started laughing again, the same high rustling noise that went on for a long moment before quieting down.

Wait, he's still holding it out. What do I do? Oh no, they must be expecting me to do something. Am I supposed to do something with this? Maybe it's some kind of greeting ritual, where you give someone your leaf. The other one has his on his shoulders.

She took the jacket from Sam with a hesitant hand and, after a moment of studying it, put it over her shoulders like the other man was doing, but without putting her arms in the sleeves. Instead she pulled her hair out from under the jacket and spoke.

"Vela marat fuissum sum na vela."

[A'den]

Ben looked at the plant-woman and shrugged with a puzzled expression while the syntax sounded similar to the sentence structure he had tried to puzzle out earlier her words still held no meaning he could relate to.

"Uh shappen to shappen." He gestured with his hands together from left to right in arc sorta like he was lifting a plate and moving it to another spot.

Ben felt his phone start vibrating again in his hand and resisted the urge to smash it to pieces in his hand. He did have superiors to report too but he needed to contain the situation at the same time. There wasn't much to be done about the crater...

"Look we have probably pushed our limit at this location do either of you have somewhere close by we can get out of the public eye. Otherwise Miss E.T. is going to end up locked in laboratory somewhere for the rest of her natural life. There's also Omegas to watch out for their intelligence is slower but even this shouldn't of gone unnoticed."

Ben taps a quick message into the phone and sends it.

[JohnTheSavage]

Sam stepped forward to answer K's question.
"My apartment's near here, we could use that. I live alone, the neighbours keep to themselves and the landlord doesn't ask questions, so it should provide us with the privacy we need for as long as we need it."

Omegas, eh? I don't know who they are but I know this "K" is going to have a lot of questions to answer when we get to the apartment. Today just keeps getting weirder.

"K, do you have a car we can use? Not sure if we can keep our extraterrestrial friend here hidden out in the open."

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era looked around, starting to ignore the others as they talked in a different language. Her eyes fell on a large object sitting in the lot, shining blue in the sunlight. It was an odd thing, about her height, and sitting on four black circles. She walked up close to it, and looked through one of the glass portions. What was it..? It almost looked like her shuttle, on a very small scale, but there was no hatch on the top. She touched one of the silver things on the side, and found to her surprise she could pull it!
Suddenly a strange, loud noise began blaring from it, startling her and making her stumble back a few steps. She looked at it warily. Was it creature made out of metal, like the Kirque had on their planet? It wasn't moving, but the little lights were blinking in rhythm. Maybe it was a trinket, like the kind the Kirque crafted.

[A'den]

"Quickly, quickly, this way."

Ben hastily followed Ke'era to the curb and winced as she set off a car alarm he gently took her arm and pointed to the black sedan a few cars down the street.

"My cars over there." He pulled out the rental key fob and beeped it making the lights flash as he tried to smile at the alien and point her in the direction of the car he gestured at and opened walked over opening the back door before he sat down in inside the driver's seat.

"Let's go Davis and whatsityourname?!" Ben called over to Davis and the teenager.

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era looks over at the other metal thing as K pulls her lightly away. They had used that word a couple times now. She made a small gesture touching a finger to the bridge of her nose.
"He is car, yes, he?"
Regardless she eyes it warily, as if it might decide to start shouting like the other one.
This language isn't so hard. It seems like it might be simpler than Ra'Shathasan.

Ke'era gets in the car all the same.

[JohnTheSavage]

Sam followed K to his black sedan, all the while watching for people. He sighed inwardly as the alien set off a car alarm and redoubled his alertness. Upon reaching the car, Sam sat down next to K in the passenger seat and began giving him directions to his apartment.

[A'den]

Ben drove to Davis' apartment following the man's instructions, he parked in the alley checking both ends before shutting the car off. "Do you live alone Mr. Davis?"

[Business Scrub]

During the drive, Ke'era's face is all but glued to the window, staring out at the scrolling scenery. After about a minute she's figured out how to roll the window down, and lets her hair be pulled in the breeze. If the whole scene is odd, she seems rather unperturbed by it, merely content to take in the sights of Earth.

Once the car stops and she sees the others getting out, Ke'era wrestles with the handle for a moment before getting the door open herself. She looks up at the building as if she doesn't trust it. After a moment of thought, she crouches and scribbles a strange looking symbol on the ground outside, surrounds it in a circle, and looks up at the others to follow their lead.

[JohnTheSavage]

"Yes, I live alone."

Sam takes the lead and guides the the group up to his apartment. The apartment building is far from the epitome of cleanliness and on the way up the stairs to the fourth floor, there are few actual signs that people live here. Sam's earlier statement that the neighbours mostly kept to themselves seems to be right on the money. Upon reaching the fourth floor, Sam leads the group to one of the two apartments on the floor, the one labelled 4B. After a brief moment fumbling with the keys, the door is open.

Sam's apartment is significantly cleaner than the rest of the building that you've seen and thankfully is clear of the strong smell of urine and desperation that seems to characterise this apartment complex. Stepping in the front door, the first thing a visitor notes is the mess. Sam's apartment looks like a hurricane has passed through it, leaving Sam's meager possessions scattered chaotically around the place. The second thing a visitor notices is the domination of surfaces enforced by empty liquor bottles, mostly beer but with some whiskey and scotch bottles here and there.

The front door, flanked on the inside by some cardboard boxes, opens in the apartment's central area. To the left lies the kitchen, with a simple stove, sink, cupboards and an expensive looking fridge that seems rather out of place surrounded by the simple kitchen. A thin layer of dust on the stove and counter reflect a lack of culinary effort on Sam's part. Ahead, there's a plain, round wooden table with 4 equally plain chairs set around it. However, the table is covered with a small mountain of manilla folders, papers and photographs so that there's only room on the table in front of one chair. Behind the table, a visitor can see a small balcony through the flyscreen doors with some clothes hung out to dry on the railing. To the right, there is a short corridor with two closed doors, presumably the bedroom and bathroom.

Sam walks in first and sits down at the clear spot at the table before turning to the rest.

"Come in, make yourselves at home."

[A'den]

Ben enters the apartment and runs a trained eye around the place taking in the empty liquor bottles, cardboard boxes and the newer looking appliances he gathers a few assumptions one that Davis recently lost something maybe his day job or was recently divorced. He also eyes the ceiling, growing up camping out under the stars most nights and with few luxuries of his own the place looks nice if not a little cramped.

"I've got to make a phone call real quick." He steps out onto the balcony through the sliding door closing it behind him. He takes a minute to pull a small package and pulls out a small wad of dried leaves and puts a pinch in his lower lip. Satisfied he raised the cellphone to his ear.



"This is K. Code Gray is First Contact, not apparently hostile. Need a clean up crew and memory modification squad at specified grid coordinates. Fragments at crash site, no apparent sign of the Code Gray vessel. Update to follow in next 24. K, out.

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era follows the others inside with a bit of apprehension. But they didn't appear too dangerous, and the worst had already happened today and she had survived.

The first thing Ke'era notices entering the apartment is a mosaic of scents. Without a natural breeze to air the place out, it was pungent with all sorts of mysterious things, even if the others didn't seem to think so. There was the scent of the man, Davis, certainly. The smell of paper was everywhere: that was one she recognized. There was a sharp, acidic smell that wrinkled her nose, and a musty scent that reminded her of the mold found in old felled trees. She also couldn't help but notice the urine smell outside. Davis lives here? Perhaps humans mark their homes with urine, like some animals...

She picks up a bottle of scotch and sniffs it experimentally, jumping back a bit at the same acidic smell. She gives Davis a surprised look. "You live here?"
She tries to match the human's increased volume that she was beginning to think showed emphasis.

[JohnTheSavage]

Hmmmm. How can I say this in a way she can understand?

"Yes, I live here but..."

He paused for a moment, searching for the right words.

"...I'd live away from here if I could."
He said, pointing and making gestures out to the rest of the city to emphasise the "away" in the sentence.

Where's K when you need him?

[A'den]

Ben hung the phone up and slid back into his pocket, he leaned briefly over the edge and spat a wad of something over the edge before coming back through the sliding door. He goes to walk past the table and paused momentarily glancing down at a stack of papers held down by an empty whiskey bottle before looking up at the others.

Catching the trail end of the sentence Ben brightens, "That's great, interested in a job?"

He looks at the empty bottle in Ke'ra's hand he frowns, "That may react negatively with your biology."

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era looked at Davis a little sadly. She understood his meaning, but not why. For her it was simple: you live where you want to live.

"Then... live away?" She asks kindly, as if it was a simple thing.

When K returns from whatever he was doing, she looks from him to the bottle he was frowning at. She brushes a hand on the front of her shoulder in what is apparently a conscious gesture, then holds it out to him.

[JohnTheSavage]

Sam answered Ke'era with just a little shrug, not wanting to continue talking about that particular topic, then turned to answer K's question.

"Depends, what do you have in mind?"

[herodofcows]

Ben's phone vibrates quietly in his pocket, a brief buzz indicating a text message.

We receive. Ensure secrecy above all else. Recruit as close second priority. Technopaths show Omega chatter. Possible agent inbound (refer henceforth as: Rainfall). Will try to clarify. Defend Code Gray above all else, be ready to frame Rainfall as antagonist in any confrontation.

[A'den]

Ben takes the bottle from Ke'era and sits it the on coffee table he eye's sitting down on the sofa for a moment then seems to think better of it as he smoothes the front of his suit and checks his phone again reading a text message.

"Protection, and localization." He perks an eyebrow and nods his head at Ke'era. He thinks about how to speak in simple terms so Ke'era can listen along though she would probably get lost as he went into history.

"Roughly around the start WWII the first generation of augmented humans began to appear. Kinda funny first super hero comics come out, first super humans with super strength, super speed, well their all legends in some regard. They banded together and agreed that humanity would be best served by a policy of non-interference and agreed non-aggression. The Cold War brewing and the threat of nuclear Armageddon hanging over their heads the thought of metahumans fighting for their individual nations could of tipped the world into chaos beyond reassembling so this agreement became the core of the organization later to be known as the Alphas. Then about twenty years later the second generation came along, not as strong as the first generation but more variety people with rather obscure abilities, the organization expanded into a global entity dedicated to protecting metahumans, and protecting humanity from metahumans." He pauses thinking about the teenaged girl then continued.

"About fourteen years ago just after the attack on New York a First Generation superhuman broke away from the Alphas, a radical advocating change. This group became the Omegas, their leader called for public integration and later his message advocated metahuman supremacy. Irrevocable differences became a violent conflict, his message resonated with many who believed their gifts should come with all the trappings of wealth and power they believe they deserve. Suffice to say the conflict lasted almost a decade before the deaths of a small group of ringleaders lead to a period of armistice. Now they have reorganized and are coming out again except instead of taking us head on they are trying to recruit the undecided and unaware to their cause, taking those that join of their own accord or resorting to kidnapping and threats against those that simply want to live their lives in peace. The Alphas work toward policing the metahuman community so that those who want to live their lives in peace can, and those that turn their powers toward exploitative purposes against their fellow humans... well those metas get to meet me then."

He walked around the room once more checking the windows and keeping an eye out, "Normally I don't do the welcoming party committee but I was in the area when Miss Green decided to come down and visit. So now you know what's going on..."

Ben paused and pulled a bill off the table and read the envelope, "Mr. Sam Stevens?"

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era poked around the room absentmindedly while K talks. Though she couldn't understand most of what he said, her mind was used to picking up on social cues, and each sentence shed a little light on their language.
She picks up a manilla folder idly and looks through it, stoping for a while to stare at a picture, then looking intently at the sigils on the page, as if reading them.

[JohnTheSavage]

Well, cat's out of the bag now.

"Trust is a two-way street K. You held back your name, so I held back mine. Now that you've volunteered some information, I'll return the favour. I'm Samuel M. Stevens, ten-year police veteran and according to what you've told us..."

Sam opened his hand in front of him, palm facing upward. The lighting in the room seems to flicker very slightly and suddenly, there's a small globe of light in Sam's hand, glowing like a miniature sun.

"...I'm a metahuman."

[A'den]

Ben stops with supernatural stillness when Sam manifests his powers Ben's stance tensing for a moment and his eyes momentarily contracting against the light. He blew out a breath through his nose and seems to relax again for a split second the room had been thick with the tension of imminent violence.

"Well, that makes things a little easier. You'll forgive me for keeping my name to myself, you still have a choice at living a normal life if you choose so but I left that behind a long time ago. Well you would of likely been contacted by a recruiter eventually their a little more diplomatic about this sort of thing but with the possibility of hostile metahumans coming... How strong are you? Pyromancer?"

[JohnTheSavage]

"I'm no pyromancer, my powers only seem to extend to light, not heat. I can move light around, amplify light that's already there or suppress light to create darkness. What you just saw was me gathering light from around the room into a ball. From what I've been able to figure out from testing my powers, it looks like there are limits to how much I can amplify and suppress light, I couldn't just turn off the sun, for example."

Sam paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"You said I still had a chance at a normal life. Look around. Do you think this is what I want? If you're still offering that job, I'm in."

[A'den]

Ben shrugged and looked at the place, "Just giving you the option slick, there's no going back once you get involved."

He looks at Ke'era, "She's probably the most important thing that's happened since they discovered an actual Precognitive meta a few years ago."

He frowned for a moment his eyes going ice hard, "Ever read Dune? It was kinda like that except with a twelve year old girl."

"I'll charter us a flight we just have to survive the drive to the airport." He pulled out his phone and started texting again.


Gray coming out of the cold, one Samaritan tagging along, need a charter flight out of ATL.

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era looks astonished when Sam creates light in his hand. She makes a complicated gesture on the back of her hand but says nothing, not knowing the words to describe what she's thinking. Instead she wanders around the apartment a bit as the two men talk. Deciding not to cause any more mischief, she merely contents herself to look around, and listening to their speech. If there was one thing she was good at, it was communication.
"Airport?" She says the word slowly, as if considering it. "We are going away?" She makes a walking motion with her fingers.

[herodofcows]

Flight in 2 hrs from Gwinnet County airport. ~40 minute drive. Rainfall tricky to pin down, coming in broadly south. Will have escort formed up at Gwinnet. Code Gray conspicuous?

[JohnTheSavage]

Sam gave Ke'era a quick nod in response to her question before continuing with K.

"Survive the drive" huh?

"K, how much danger are we going to be in on our way to the airport?"

[A'den]

Plant woman with root feet... not exactly... as long as we avoid sandals. .

K shut his phone and put it back in his pocket. "Yes, possibly more than one metahuman from the organization I mentioned might be zeroing in on our position. Don't know how much experience you have but your probably in more danger right now than you have ever been in your entire life. Grab anything that you can't live with out or put in a duffel bag. We're wheels up in forty, so we need to be out the door in sixty seconds."

With a practiced action he rolls his wrist and glances at his watch on the second hand and starts counting in his head. K pauses then looks at Ke'era.

"I don't suppose you have any young female clothing lying around here Sam?"

[JohnTheSavage]

"No, but I'll see if I can find something that'll fit."

Sam hurried to his bedroom to grab what he'd need, closing the door behind him. The bedroom, in stark contrast to the rest of apartment, was both neat and clean, though there were still several empty bottles about. The bed was a simple single, no frills, neatly made. The bedside table, a handsome mahogany affair, was like the fridge in that it looked too expensive in its surroundings. Sitting atop this bedside table was a swarm of framed pictures, some featuring Sam, some not, but all of them were of people. Some were easily identifiable as police workmates of Sam's but most were from outside work and one, towards the front, was left face down.

Okay Sam, what are you going to need? Standard kit, obviously, but what else?

Sam opened up his wardrobe, taking out a dark longcoat that wouldn't be too out of place in a matrix movie, a pair of dark cargo pants and unpacked a small box containing his equipment.

Shirt on the bottom, vest over that and coat over that. Done. Next...

Sam changed into the cargo pants as well, put on his tactical sunglasses and tucked away his pistol and tazer into his coat. He checked the pockets of the cargo pants for something, eventually being satisfied after checking one of the pockets.

Can't forget that, can we? Now what here can I give to our strange friend?

Any request or prefrences or am I playing pretty princess dress-up?

[Business Scrub]

Nope. Your call with the weird human leaf-covers.

Ke'era watches the others begin to leave and looks around. She grabs one of the manilla folders full of paper and a pencil: apparently, a tool she understands. While waiting, she flips one of the pages over and begins copying the symbols she sees over. In her list, she includes punctuation as well. She taps the pencil against her temple idly, looking at the paper.

[A'den]

Ben nodded as Sam went to his room he took a moment to go to the kitchen and pour himself a glass of water and drink it. He didn't how the next twelve hours would go but he felt a little hydration couldn't help but keep him sharp. He fills the empty glass after he drains it and goes back out to the room looking over Ke'era's shoulder curious to see what she was doing as he sipped a few more gulps.

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era looks up when she notices K over her shoulder. She looks up, seemingly coming up with an idea. She draws a line under the symbols to separate parts of the page. Under the line, she draws a circle and draws lines in the circle that become recognizable as Asia. She draws the Moon close to Earth, and the Sun further away. She draws an arrow that points to Earth, then hands the paper and pencil to K.

[A'den]

Ben looks at her drawing briefly again then takes the pencil, "So you want to know where we are?"

He paused then set the glass down on the coffee table before taking the pencil and sketching a circle beneath her globe then sketches the right most portion of her Asia on the left edge of the circle trying to show how the Earth was rotated then sketched the Americas and drew a thin line and arrow pointing out there location... Of course on his sketch it was hard to tell if the arrow was pointing at Georgia or southern Virginia.

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era makes a gesture with her hands. "Where we are. Yes."
She points to the map of Earth again.
"And where we are going to..."

[JohnTheSavage]

Let's see...My jacket's thick enough so no one'll notice the glow, so that just leaves...

Sam takes a moment and takes out a pair of jeans and a pair of boots.

No one's going to see her root-feet in these.

Finally ready, Sam grabs his mobile on the way out of his room, noticing that the K's appear to be writing all over one of his files. He frowns for a moment before walking over to see what they're doing.

[A'den]

"Yes."
Ben looks at the map then shrugs at Ke'era. "Sorry its a secret but you'll know when we get there, that we're there. Now get changed quickly."

He takes a moment to become overly interested in his cell phone while Sam brought out clothes. The jacket had been easy enough but pants seemed... awkward.

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era takes a second to look at the clothes Sam hands her, figuring out pretty simply how they are supposed to go. She shuffles into them, taking a moment to fiddle with them. Apparently satisfied, she shoves on the boots with a clearly uncomfortable expression. Then she gives K a long look, unhappy with his answer.

"Secret. If it is danger..." She makes an aggressive motion with her hand on the back of her head, as if cutting through her hair with it. "It will be no danger."

[A'den]

Ben floundered for words for a moment, "Its a location but I won't know where until we get on the plane and get more orders."

He checked the windows again with a nervous glance. "Alright, let's get out of here."

He keyed the fob to his car starting the motor from inside the apartment and opened the front door heading out.

[Business Scrub]

Ke'era goes quiet, apparently not wanting to push the situation further. She zips up the jacket like the others have, and follows K to the car. Before she leaves, however, she is sure to take the paper she had been writing on and pencil.

[JohnTheSavage]

Sam brings up the rear, closing and locking the door behind him and following the others down to the car. When the group pass the front desk, Sam leaves a small note and the keys to his apartment.

[herodofcows]

The drive to the airport is moderately slow going. Atlanta traffic is rarely kind, and heading west at this time of morning tends to be even less so. Luckily, it clears up as you approach the periphery of the city. K occasionally has a sneaking feeling that some car or another is following them, but nothing ever seems to pan out.

For Ke'era, the drive is (naturally) both fascinating and a little archaic. The sights! The sounds! The smells coming from those sights and sounds! And all wrapped into a technological package so branch-acheingly clumsy that you can scarcely believes these walking sacks of meat function!

Eventually, your escort meets up with you. K cannot repress a small sigh of relief as he recognizes the beat-up green Camaro that falls into step two car lengths behind you guys as you leave the city limits. Looks like Christie and Jakina have assumed guard duty for you guys. Between their telekine-assisted acrobatics and inhumanly perfect hand-eye coordination, respectively . . . well, you feel pretty safe.

As you pull up to the airport, a man in an orange vest waves you off to the side towards an open gate in the fence. The Camaro pulls in behind you as you head towards one of the far private hangers, where you see an old-style mail plane waiting for you.

[JohnTheSavage]

Sam steps out of the car and stares for a moment at their apparent new means of transportation (Where did they even find that old relic? A museum?). Sam then turns his attention to the Camaro and the unfamiliar occupants within.

"Friends of yours?" He asks K.