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After the bell Sarah jumps over to the store and picks up three extra bags of chips and extras of all the fixings.  She pays for her goodies and zaps back home.  Using what rudimentary culinary skills she has she chops up and cooks the chicken and sets everything out in bowls.  She had a few healthy toppings so that hopefully Sylvia would be able to eat something without being ill.  She popped the chicken into a bowl in the microwave to help trap some heat until everyone... anyone? showed up.  Mom got home a little bit later.  Dad wasn't going to be in until nearly nine.  He'd been working a few long nights recently.  Apparently his company were revising their local policies based on the sharp increase of supernatural activity in the area.  They were having to come up with all sorts of risk analysis.  Or something.  He'd been talking about it over dinner the other night and it had made Sarah's head ache. 
Martin was off with his giiirrrlfriennd.  He'd coast in just before curfew. 

She put all the toppings into little bowls and dug out napkins and so on.  chicken, cheddar cheese, jalapeños, onions, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes and olives.  She thought there should be some refried beans, which she didn't particularly care for, but she'd thought of this earlier today and that stuff was supposed to take a while to make.  She could probably buy some somewhere but they'd have to forgive her. 

"I cooked.  Sorta," says a Sarah fairly pleased with herself.  "Well I put a bunch of things in bowls anyway.  Baby steps." 

Diane Collins walks into the kitchen and stops dead in her tracks.  "I thought Marty was out tonight?"
Sarah gives her mother a slightly hurt look.  "He is.  I can manage to make food when I want to you know."
Diane grins in a fashion very much like her daughters and says, "I know but it is a very rare occurrence.  What's the occasion?"
Sarah shrugs, "No occasion.  Just having a few friends over to chat.  Uh, we're going to be talking about super stuff so if Marty gets home and we are still babbling can you give me a heads up?"
Diane asks, "Don't you usually have these little meetings somewhere else?  Your fortress of solitude or something?"
"I didn't feel like hanging out in a bomb shelter tonight.  Besides this will give you a chance to meet a couple of the new kids.  Jakob, a really polite farm kid whose built like a truck and Alicia.  She is... she's nice when she doesn't have her tail in a knot."
"She has a tail?"
"No!  It's an expression."
"Oh, sorry honey.  Just didn't want to be surprised."
"No tail, though to be fair she does have cats eyes."
"That sounds interesting.  Are all the boys ga ga over them?"
"They might be if she stopped wearing her sunglasses all the time."
"Is she self conscious about them?"
"I'm not exactly sure.  She's not the easiest person to get to know."
"Well it looks like you've got things under control so I'll leave you to it.  I'm going to head upstairs and get cleaned up a little and then do some grading."  Diane kisses Sarah on the head before heading for the stairs. 
"Thanks mom," says Sarah. 

Dave provides rides to all those who need them.

As usual, Colin arrives with utmost punctuality.

At the opening of the door he looks up from a book he was reading with a big smile. "Good evening, wondergirl."

Donnie pokes his head around the corner of the garage, looking at the front door. Less than a second later Pip does the same, about five inches above Donnie's head.

"We heard something about Nachos?"

A brief text message comes through from Alicia:


b l8 skl stuf

Sarah opens the door and smiles at Colin.  She starts to say, "Come on in..."  when Donnie's head pops around the corner, followed by Pip. 
"Good grief," she says quietly, "I forgot about the littlest food vacuum.  Maybe I should order some pizzas."

She opens the door wide to let both boys and the dragon in.  She speaks up so Donnie can hear,
"Come on in guys, Pip.  You can help yourselves.  Everything is set up in the kitchen and there is chicken in the microwave.  Pip, restrain yourselves until everybody gets some or I'm cutting off your cookies."

[OOC:  Then I suppose Sammy is holed up in a bathroom at home, altering the color of her hair to take it from light mousy blonde to a lighter blonde shade, and to make it glossier.] 

She meant to drive straight over after school.  She was delayed.

Laney now has a lock of hair at one side of her face which is shorter than the rest.  There is a faint scent of smoke clinging to her, and the fist which raps on the front door is ink stained and trembling from cold.    Her other arm is dangerously near dropping the case of cherry coke she’d brought.

As Sarah feeds the two bottomless stomaches, Colin, being nearer, goes at the door for her. Just in time to catch the falling case of cokes.

"Good evening, Laney. Come in, you look like you're freezing."

"Good um...Hi. Thanks. Um...Alright.  Oh! I asked Donnie about flying. Sortof.   He said - Did I tell you this already?"

He lets her in and closes the door behind her.

"Uhmm, I don't think so." he says, slightly confused. "What did he tell you? Oh, by the way, he's here too. In the kitchen with Sarah. And Pip. Have you seen Pip already?"

"He said he'd look into it and that it depended upon - Oh! He's here? Then he can tell you better than I."  She smiles timidly.  "Listen, sorry if I'm meddling where I shouldn't.  I mean you guys know what you're doing.  It's just that it's almost been a week.  John and I were really the only ones who got sick, and maybe it was just a one-time experiment - an unethical one without our permissions - and it won't happen again.   But um....Well, if someone gets hurt and I could've prevented it...I...I don't know if I could handle that.  Who's Pip?  Was he the drummer?"

"Tell me what?"


"Don't worry. I'm very happy you're here. And you're right, it wasn't something major, or we'd have left the police deal with it. We've faced worse. Still, it wasn't nice, and if we can look into it, we probably should. But you don't have to obsess about what we could do, what we could prevent, and so on. That way lies madness. We're not responsible of someone else's choices."


"Uhmm, no. I think you should better see for yourself."

He calls in the direction of the kitchen.

"Sarah, Donnie, Laney's here. And she'd like to meet Pip."

Sarah comes in from the kitchen and hands Laney a plastic bag filled with pie crust cookies.  The leftover dough from the pies crust covered with cinnamon, brown sugar, butter and some eggwhite and baked.  Some were rolled like cinnamon rolls and others folded over in little squares.  "Hi Laney, I'm glad you could make it.  You'll want these.  You will know what they're for.  Oh, just drop your coat on the chair over there and come on in."

In a louder voice she asks, "Does anyone want anything to drink?  There's milk and juice and water of course.  Some sodas in the cabinet next to the fridge and I can make coffee if anyone wants."

Jakob arrives something close to on time.

He's toting a box of homemade apple cider and a couple of pumpkin pies his aunt made earlier that day.  He shifts the burden over onto one arm and rings the doorbell.

Sarah opens the door and smiles at Jakob.  "Hey, I'm glad you made it.  Come on in.  Pies?  Awesome!  Let me help you with that."

She carefully reaches for the pies and heads into the kitchen with them. 

"He um..He said if Sammy generates her own oxygen, it's one thing. If she doesn't need to breath, then it's another solution. Allowing her to keep from vaporizing is more of a problem."


Laney obediently removes her coat as instructed.  There're a few minutes of confusion while she retrieves the lost baglet of cookie bits from within a coat sleeve.  Clutching the treats with both hands, she follows along, too dazed to ask questions.  She manages a mumbled, "Hi, Sarah.  Hi, Jakob."

Donnie is sitting in one of the kitchen chairs, scarfing nachos. As Laney comes in, Pip lifts his head from Donnie's neck, where he was snatching nachos from the plate whenever Donnie turned away.

His pale green eyes swirled in interest as Laney came into the room and he gives out a curious Meep? When he sees cookies in her hand.

"Hi, Donnie.  Have you - Oh."

Laney stops and stands still as a statue. 

Frowning, she makes a small whimper for she simply can't resolve this.  The thing perched on Donnie looks like a puppet.  It's not.  It should be.  It feels organic.  It doesn't fit at all.  Not here.  Why is it here?   It's causing an unpleasant pressure in her head, this conflict.  It will spike if she doesn't let go soon.   She could walk away, maybe.   No, she couldn't.   Not once she sees those eyes.   

And she drifts right away from the world.  Or the world parts from her.   Anyone's guess.  There is only the creature and a shadow of what was Donnie in her awareness.    Studying its form, the musculature beneath the strange skin, the wings, the eyes...  Laney would've stared helplessly at those shifting orbs for hours, like nothing she'd ever seen.   However, the creature itself is most definitely focused on something, so strongly that Laney has no choice but to follow its gaze.

The cookies? 

Blinking out of her trance, Laney giggles suddenly.  Pip looks like a mouse-eater, not a cookie-eater.  Cookie monster?    She opens the baggy in her hands.

"Um...Sarah said you...um..."

Donnie holds his arm out and Pip walks daintily down the length of it, wings flapping for balance. Once he reaches the end of Donnie's arm, he reaches delicately out to Laney's proffered bag of treasure and picks out three of the largest cookie chunks that remained in the bag of scraps. Nodding his thanks, he walks back up Donnie's arm and perches on his shoulder, nibbling like a squirrel.

Donnie watches his dragon's antics with an amused smile as he watches Laney for signs of panic or hysteria.

Not panicked precisely.   The girl looks like someone who just woke from a bizarre dream to find herself nearly strangled by her own bedsheets, trying to figure out how the alarm clock got wedged under her chin.  The first few sounds she makes are incomprehensible in any language. 

"Y-you're welcome.  Um...He doesn't like cherry coke, does he?"

Donnie pops the top from a can of Coke, flipping it in the air for Pip to catch. "No, but he loves the cans."

"Pip, Laney. Laney, Pip." Colin says making proper introductions.

"Pip can't talk our language, but that doesn't make him any less smart than a human. He understands us quite fine. He's part of Donnie's honor guard."

He turns to Donnie, with a look of mocking disapproval.

"You've talked about how to send Sammy into space, but not of the important things?" he says before breaking into a smile.

He looks in the direction of Jacob and his pies (plural!) and cider. Then at Jacob's size. It explains many things.

"Jacob, you're very welcome." he says chuckling.

"Pip.  Hi.  What important things?  Where'd he come from?"  She waggles her fingers in what she thought at first would be a friendly wave to Pip, until she realizes that might be interpreted as an invitation to eat said fingers.  Quickly lowering her hand, she clears her throat, asks, "Want another one?"  and offers the baggy of goodies again.

Donnie mutters "Might as well be in space for all that we've seen of her since last week. She's totally avoiding us."

He turns back to Laney. "He's smarter than most people I know. Sylvia and that Sammy person I once knew would probably say he's smarter than me."

"Yeah, but where did he - How did he - Um...What is he?  Sammy's not coming?"

'We make the odds against them more even.'
That’s what Sammy said my first day of school in the restroom: two weeks ago?  She was talking about protecting people and helping the police –

What am I? Blind?
No, just stupid.

Mumbling something about cherry coke, Laney stares miserably down at her shoes and apologizes.

Footsteps can be heard coming down the carpeted steps in the next room.  Diane Collins appears from the stairs and enters the kitchen.  "Hello everyone.  Don't mind me.  I've just come for a cup of tea and I'll be out of your way." 

Sarah smiles at her mom and says, "Mom, let me introduce you to one of our new friends.  This is Jakob Wy... this is Jakob.  Jakob, this is my mom, Diane."

Diane Collins is an attractive woman in her early forties, though she looks younger.  She has blonde shoulder length hair, currently pulled back in a hair tie and a smooth, nearly flawless, complexion.  She is dressed in faded jeans and a baggy sweatshirt, clearly comfortable house clothes. 
She extends her hand in greeting to Jakob.  "It's always nice to meet one of Sarah's friends.  It's also nice to see so many of you at once."

Sarah adds, "And this is Laney." before the girl can pull a disappearing act.  Sarah was actually surprised that the girl had come.  She was relieved, because she had been worrying that she had somehow spooked or offended the girl.  "She's newest.  Laney, my mom."

Laney makes her usual outstanding first impression.  Still holding up that baglet of munchies, she smiles crookedly and mumbles, "Hi, mom."   She looks from Pip to Diane and back again with growing amazement.  This is acceptable?

Diane smiles at Laney and looks in the direction she indicated.  The little dragon blinked endearingly at the woman and she winked in return.  "Is this your first time meeting Pip?" she asks Laney.  "He's quite a character.  I know he startled me the first time I met him.  I found him standing in the middle of a cake late one night."  She looked over at Donnie.  "Fortunately Sarah had talked so much about him before that I realized what I was looking at."  To Donnie she asks, "Does he often stray out at night for snacks?"

Sarah blushed and said, "That's my fault mom.  I've been spoiling him with cookies all year.  He probably followed me home one time or something.  Sorry."

Diane nodded at Sarah.  "It's okay honey," she says, "Just a little surprising to find a dragon in the kitchen.  Anyway, I gave Pip something a little more healthy to eat and sent him on his way.  He's been by a couple other times when you weren't home."

Turning back to Laney she says, "He's quite a gentleman actually.  He taps on the kitchen window."

Donnie looks mortified. Eyes wide, he turns to the dragonet on his shoulder. "You didn't. You disreputable conniving lizard.."

Pip rears his head back and primly hops off Donnie's shoulder, winging over to Sarah and plopping in her arms. Donnie's eyes narrow. "You little fink. We are going to have words you and I. Trust is a two way street, you flying iguana."

"Y-yes, ma'am."  Resisting the urge to duck for cover when Pip takes flight, Laney takes a few timid steps back.  It was all very well to have one cookie monster (He's awfully cute.), but she wonders what else will crawl out of the woodwork.  This inspires her to take measure of the room, the cabinetry, the exits...

She asks of the room in general, "Where'd he come from?" with a voice so low now, it's probable no one hears.

Sarah says, "I think he's a figment of Donnie's imagination.  Like Snuffleupagus.  Only little, green and with incredibly powerful digestive acids.  Though maybe Snuffie has those to, I mean it never came up on the show."

Donnie gets a serious look on his face and replies. "Another world, another parallel universe. One where humans are not the top of the food chain. But, they don't have nachos, the uncultured beasts."

Pip sticks out his long tongue in Donnie's direction and Sarah is sure the little dragon gave Donnie a raspberry.

A parallel universe in Donnie’s imagination.

“Oh.”

Laney had backed away until her heel caught on a wall, literally reconnecting her to the world.  It was as if someone hit a switch; tension eases out of her shoulders and she smiles. 

She finds her voice, “May I try some cider?” and shoves one of the mini cinnamon rolls into her mouth before she can say anything else.

Jakob smiles and shakes Mrs. Collins' hand.  He nods in greeting to Pip.  "I'm always glad to meet another chow hound."

He opens a bottle of cider and pours a glass for Laney.

"Here you go."

Colin gets near Laney and goes on explaining.

"There is a sort of peace treaty between our world and the Dragon Marches. To actually enforce it, a dragon and a human are picked to act as ambassadors and boundary police. Donnie is the human. As part of this assignment, he can summon into this world a few dragons who volunteered to be his bodyguards, sort of. The others are much bigger than Pip."

Donnie grins evilly. "Much bigger."

"Bigger?  Ooo, I'd love to see, though, Pip's the right size.  Thanks for the cider.  It's good.  Much nicer than huskies, I guess.  Is the crow an alien, too?"  Her eyes open so wide, they're almost perfectly round, Laney sips at her drink, watching Pip after being momentarily distracted by the pattern on the kitchen dishtowels.

"The crow?" Colin raises an eyebrow.

Laney nods.  Nods again, explaining, "Yes.  The one from the cafeteria last week.  When Sylvia ran off mentally.  They said it was your pet.  I was just asking.  I'm sorry.  It's alright if it's not an alien."  She offers the bag of Pip treats to Colin.

Colin looks around at the others in near shock. "My pet?!! Who said that?"

Turning back to Laney. "Ok, first things first. He's not a crow, he's a blackbird. Big difference here, especially personality-wise. And he's neither a pet nor an alien, he's a spirit. An incarnation of a concept, in an animal shape."

He takes one of the offered treats.

"Spirits tend to be several things at once, so if you're confused, it's because it is confusing."

"Several things but not an alien.  I got it."    One might almost believe Laney does understand; she has such a sincere expression on her face.  The eyes, however, are as empty as glass and just as reflective, currently mirroring Colin back at himself.

"Black Bird.  Sorry.  A parallel universe or your imagination?  What's the difference?"

Maybe it takes someone who can replay the whole conversation in his head like Colin to follow Laney around.

"Uhm. Philosophically or scientifically? In general or regarding the specific case of the blackbird and Donnie's dragons? He doesn't pull them out of his imagination. Sylvia could tell you that by looking in his head, and I can tell you because they've got distinct souls. The Dragon Marches are a real place, one that you could possibly visit. Though it might be unwise, at least without invitation. The blackbird is inherently more complicated, as he's not corporeal though he can be when he so desires. Proving he's real would be trickier. In that direction there are some things that probably can't be proved, and one has to rely on some degrees of faith."

Meanwhile, back at the high school, Alicia storms through the empty halls.

Her History teacher had "asked" for Alicia to stay after school to discuss her absence and current academic standing. Mindful of the requirement that she keep good grades to keep training with Jack, she hadaccepted, despite the urgency of the situation.

She had tried mightily to suppress the mounting impatience and anger as the woman patiently explained Alicia's need to focus on her studies. The ordeal finished, Alicia makes her her exit as swiftly as possible.

Now, free from attention, she gives her frustration full vent. Steam almost literally shoots from her ears as she treads quickly out of the school into the cold afrernoon.

She opens the door to find herself face-to-face with a grinning Rhys, who's obviously been waiting for her.

Her rage evaporates, leaving her confused, anxious, and somewhat guilty. "Oh! Er, Hi, Ree-is." Pause. "Were... were you waiting for me all this time?"

"Actually, yes," replies Rhys with a grin. "It's no big deal, don't worry about it. Ready to head over to Sarah's?"

Jakob takes a healthy swig of cider and stops himself just short of wiping his mouth on his shirt sleeve.  He finds a napkin and gets the job done.

"Colin, didn't I hear something about crime-fighting to be done?"

"Yes, but we're waiting for Sylvia and Alicia to arrive with the latest info. In the meanwhile, there should be nachos."

"I know a crow and a blackbird are two different species.  I guess one's real and one's not.  It looked real enough to me.  Crime fighting.  Right.  Was Cindy um...Did she have inhuman strength before she was exposed to that goo or just during?   Where did Sylvia and Alicia go?  I'd love to see other dragons."

Alicia stammers, as her brain tries to go in three different directions at the same time, "Ah, yeah, I'm late."

She starts walking fast, facing backwards to keep Rhys in sight. "Uh, can you keep up?"

"Keep up?" His grin becomes even bigger as he shifts to his angel-form. "I'll race you!" his deeper voice booms as he takes to the sky.

Alicia laughs, her mood once again shifting like sand.

"You're on!" she calls out, as she turns and breaks into a run. She proceeds to travel the distance in as straight a line as possible, leaping, climbing and twisting over or around each obstacle on the way. She uses the exhilaration of movement to, for at least some brief moments, escape the worries and fears that burden her.

About a block from Sarah's house, Alicia signals Rhys down. As soon as he touches ground, she grabs him in a fierce hug. "Thanks, amor," she says softly. She removes her shades to look at Rhys with her bare eyes. "I missed you."

He returns the hug, folding his wings around the both of them.

"I missed you, too."

He leans in for a quick kiss before shifting back to his normal shape.

"Being sick totally blows. I couldn't wait to get better."

Alicia bites her lip. "Um, about that, I wasn't sure you were going to get better in time, and Rob had asked me, and I kinda felt sorry for him, so I... told him I'd go to the dance with him.

"I'm sorry." She hunches her shoulders and looks contritely at the ground.

Rhys puts his arm around her shoulders as they start to walk toward Sarah's house.

"It's okay - I understand. I wasn't sure if I was going to get better in time myself."

He winks at her.

"But you realize, of course, we may have just found the absolutely perfect opportunity for me to be your dress..."

He throws a wicked grin her way.

Alicia punches him in the shoulder, just short of it being more than playlike. "Don't you dare. Mami's decided to make a project out of this. Something about finally getting to play dress-up with me. She's got something cooked up; I'm almost afraid of what I'll end up looking like."

She puts her head on his shoulder as they walk on. "I'll call Rob and ask him if it's all right. Maybe I can find him someone else to go with."

As they reach the walkway to Sarah's house, Alicia straightens up and takes a deep breath. "OK, no more goofing. This is serious stuff."

She tilts her head as she puts her shades back on and mutters, "Huh. Looney Laney's here, too. I guess she's decided to be part of the freakshow, after all."

She strides purposefully up to the door and rings the doorbell.

Impatient, Alicia mashes the doorbell button again.

"C'mon," she mutters. "I know you're in there."

OOC: Sorry. I couldn't help myself. ;D

She'd asked a question, one she thought was key to solving these tangled riddles.  At the very least, it would've helped her understand what had happened before she became involved and what this goo stuff really does to people.

They didn't wish to talk about Cindy?  Which crime did they think they were fighting, now? Rubbing her eyes with her knuckles didn't ease the growing pressure in her head, but she needed to focus, she thought.  Something wasn't working right.   

Laney opens her mouth to ask another question and hears the abused door bell.  Sweeping her hair back from her eyes, she raises her head, revealing the new ink smudge down her cheek.

"Um...That's probably Alicia."

Noticing that Sarah has her hands full, Colin goes at the door. Or at least he tries, but unfortunately stumbles on the living room table, overturning a bottle of water. He tries to make up for it improvising a dam of paper towels before the disaster spreads.

"Sorry. When John is around these things happen a lot less often." he says with an awkward smile, and finally opens the door.

"Good evening, Alicia. Oh, hi, Rhys. Come in. We were just talking about you. Have you got any fresh news?"

He turns to Laney with a slight frown, trying to replay the conversation in his head another time.

"I'm not sure what you mean with one's real and one isn't. But Cindy had her powers before the hate goo. At least that's the impression I've got from what I've seen, and from what Sylvia showed me."

"Hi, Colin. News? Like what? No, I haven't got- oh, cool! Nachos!"

Rhys makes a bee-line for the overloaded plates of nacho fixins' and digs in.

Laney pokes her head into the next room after Colin, to see if her guess was right.  She smiles a greeting at Dave and whoever else showed up. 

Then she dives to assist in the disaster recovery, fearing this must be her fault in some way.  She’d been worried her so-called luck would start spilling over other people, and her concern is rapidly approaching a neurosis. 

Alicia and Rhys earn a mumbled, “Hi,” from Laney during one of her treks to the kitchen with towels.  Followed by a very strange, "Real versus imagined.  I'm beginning to wonder if there's a difference or if we just pretend there is one.  Wait. That made no sense."

Alicia makes a beeline for the kitchen, but for different reasons. She barely acknowledges Laney, signals to Colin, "Come on, we'll need you on this one," and heads for where she knows the majority of the group is congregated.

"Sorry I'm late," she says, and leaves it at that. Once Colin joins them, she begins with no preamble.

"Sylvia and I found out that the AP Chemistry teacher, a Mr. Hamilton, has been sneaking in the girl's locker room through the air ducts and pumping some sort of mutagen gas into the pep squad." She uses the word "mutagen" in the tone of someone who's heard the word but has little knowledge what the hell it means.

She sits back to gauge the group's reactions.

Donnie pauses, nacho nearly to his mouth. His brow furrows. "The bastard." Pip takes advantage of his distraction to steal it from his fingers and consume it in a flash. Donnie responds by clamping his hand around the little dragon's snout, making it impossible to chew the nacho. Looking at Alicia, Donnie ignores the dragonette's scrabbling attampts to get free. "Bad Dragon. Am I going to have to get the spray bottle?"

"Seriously, we need to go all bad kharma on his ass. Let the air out of his tires. Steal his lunch from the Teacher's Lounge, infect his computer virus that causes his computer to flash the word Pedophile repeatedly every time he starts it up. Put super glue on his classroom chair. Or we could try and catch him in the act of something dastardly. Maybe get the school Ninjas to keep an eye on him."

Donnie relents and rleeases Pip, who meeps angrily at him and bites his hand. Donnie flicks him under the chin, then hands him a nacho. Instantly all is forgiven.

Alicia arches an eyebrow. "Unfortunately, none of those options give us a chance set whatever he did back right. Mind you, I'm all for kicking his fat hairy ass all over the school..." She deftly avoids mentioning she'd been seconds from doing that very thing.

"But we need a plan. And I'm not good with planning." She spreads her hands to include the group. "S'why you're here."

Her piece said, Alicia nabs a couple of nachos and chows down, keeping an eye for potential nacho-napping by the resident flying lizard.

"Oh, no, it makes a lot of sense. I've come to the conclusion, that there are many things we're simply not meant to know for sure."


Colin alarmed, turns towards Donnie.

"Where is Sylvia?"

Back to Alicia.

"Did this happen before or after Sylvia re-joined the squad? Has she noticed anything wrong in herself or someone else of the team?

He bites his lip and frowns.

"A plan. Well, the most important thing is to make sure they're all right. I need an excuse to touch each one of them. At least a handshake. If I can't pick anything from them, we've got to hack his computer, his notes, and maybe his mind as well to find out what that thing is supposed to do to them and how to reverse it."

"How long has this been going on? This explosion of paranormals in Oak Park, is it his fault?"

Alicia thinks it interesting that Colin is the one to pick up on that point.

She shrugs. "Not 100% sure, but, yeah, Syl was already in the squad when this went down. She acted like finding out confirmed something she'd seen, so I think some weird stuff may be already happening."


"Well, you could go around tomorrow night at the dance and 'bump' into them. Or maybe have it set up so people have to dance with as many other partners as possible. We could have Sammy drop that idea on Elrod." And I have a feeling she wouldn't mind the concept herself.

Alicia frowns as she tries to recollect as many of the mental images that Sylvia passed along. "Hamilton had this thought of how he was using the Gatorade to control the rate of mutation. Maybe he does have an antidote or something already made."


Alicia shrugs expressively. "Got no idea. He didn't think that far back. Wouldn't be surprised, though. He seemed like the kind of guy who'd have no problem doing that sort of thing." Her face and voice turn cold as she speaks, a clear testament of her opinion of Hamilton's attitude.

"There's another thing," she adds, as the recollection hits her. "When I talked with that Billy guy that Laney pointed out, he mentioned two friends of the Howell kid, Jerry and Harry or Harvey. For all I know, he only noticed them because he didn't like them; called them fags 'cause he thinks he caught them kissing. It might be worth checking them out just in case."

She looks concerned as she voices her suspicion, "Hamilton may not be the one responsible for the goo, which means we have more than one party using the students as guinea pigs." It's obvious the thought does not please her at all.

"I believe I would have known if Syl was in any real danger, but this is bad news, anyway."


"Uhm. Good idea. Not very Valentine-y, but it could work."


Colin turns to Sarah. "Do you think you could have him hand you a bottle of both mutagen and antidote?"


"I guess we need Dave here."


"Well, we hardly can expect from someone like him to teach his students proper ethics."

Colin cracks his fingers.

"It looks like we have a lot on our plate."

"Sorry.  I meant to remain scientific and got philosophical.  I would like to know the purpose, though.  For the blackbird and the boundary.  Sorry.  Crime fighting.  Another time, will you tell me, please?"



Laney joins the others in the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe holding a wet towel instead of the Pip treats.  She keeps wringing this in her hands much like she does with her lunch bag, and it's taking all over her limited focus to follow the conversation.

"I don't - They need to be watched, not bumped into.  This isn't - Was Howell the - Were they kissing because they wanted to or because they were test subjects for that love goo?  Infect his computer?  I don't see how revenge will help the girls, but if he's developed a formula, he'd have to have recorded it someplace, taken the time to make calculations, used a lab... Where?"

Dave comes back into the kitchen, "I heard my name?"  he says, grabbing some food.

Alicia mutters aloud what her mind had already stated, "Don't think Sammy'd have a problem with it."


Alicia frowns slightly. What? Does Sarah have some sort of whammy power, too? Great. All I get is cat eyes and B-cup tits. Life's just not fair.


Alicia looks up from the pile of snacks she's been accumulating on her plate with a "Who? Me?" look.


Alicia doesn't react at all to Laney's babbling. She states off-handedly, as she balances a stack of nachos on her plate, "Whatever we do, we're on a timetable. Hamilton was acting like he was expecting results already. He may try to hurry things up to get a reaction, maybe set up a situation that would trigger people's powers. Something big and loud, perhaps at a nice big public gathering."

Her head turns to stare at Colin. "Like a dance."


Alicia smiles. "Hey, Dave!" Her face falls as she asks, "Um, is Rob here too?"

Rhys looks at her with concern and rubs his hand across her back reassuringly. He says nothing, confident that if she wants to share, she will tell him when they have a little more privacy.

Dave shakes his head.  "He said something about getting a shirt and tie." 

Alicia winces and looks miserably towards Rhys.

"It's okay, really." He smiles at her, as reassuringly as he can manage, and continues stroking her back.

He leans in close. "We'll just have to figure out some way to make up for lost time," he whispers in her ear with a mischievous grin.

Alicia smiles gratefully at Rhys. "If we get Sammy to do the partner-swap thing, I could still get to dance with you some," she whispers back.

"Sure. Though it will be more like comparing notes. I know only so much. And the few answers I got are likely just my answers."


"Wherever Howell was involved, we might as well just assume the worst. We'll deal with Hamilton in time, The priority should be learning what he did to those girls, and how to reverse it if necessary."


"We kind of need a background check on a couple names." Colin explains.


"Wonderful" Colin says, his frown deepening.

Dave puts his plate down and takes out his phone, "Okay, who do we need to know what about?"

"Background check?  On wh- Oh. Yes.   Where does Hamilton live?  Is he married? Would he keep records at - Big and Loud.  If he tries that, it will call attention to what he's done.  Does he want that?  Still...no one would be able to trace it back to him...normally.  What could he do?  Either way, they should be watched.   I'll be at the dance, but I wouldn't know a mutation if it was right in front of me.  Sorry."  

It was less disorienting down here, sitting on the floor, her knees tucked up beneath her chin.  Apparently oblivious to how ridiculous she looks, Laney listens to her companions, now, from below.

Dave looks at Laney, watching her slide down the wall.  "Hamilton.  Got it."  He looks back up to the group.  "Anyone else?"

Alicia looks at Laney's antics too, with slight exasperation. "Howell had two buddies in Chem class. All I have are one and a half names. Jerry and Harry or Harvey. They would've been part of his posse or whatever geeks call their groups."

She thinks for a moment. "As for Hamilton, what we need to know is whether he has a private lab or work area. If not, I can check his house."

Some more thinking occurs. "Colin, I'm wondering... do we need to go covert in terms of the pep squad? At this point, maybe just giving them the straight skinny and working with them might be best. With everything else so weird around here, they might actually handle it without panicking. You could team up with Sylvia on it, even."

"But going covert on them would be so much fuuuuuuuuuun!" squeals the voice of a young girl right beside Alicia.

Rhys has shifted into a pretty girl dressed in an excessively revealing parody of the pep squad uniform. Complete with blond pigtails, she bobs up and down clapping in one of those displays of perkiness that makes you want to either puke, slap the girl, or both.

"There will be no dull Saturday nights in your future Rhys."  Dave says, then enters some stuff in his phone.

"Rhys, you do realize that Sylvia, our resident, mind-controlling cheerleader, known at times to pack a peculiar mean streak, can make herself invisible and see what happens even where she's not physically present, right?" Colin says with a smile, letting him do the calculation.

More seriously, at Alicia.
"I'm for whatever works. Do you think they will agree to let me hold their hands for a moment if we explain the situation? Will they believe us?"

Alicia is dumbstruck. While she was aware that Rhys could shift into anything, having the point demonstrated this blatantly causes her brain to go into momentary shock.

She attempts to overcome her loss of composure in her usual way. In a voice fairly dripping with sarcasm, she drawls, "Oh, nice, Ree-is. Like I don't have enough competition. I catch you sneaking into the girl's bathroom, you'll be walking funny for weeks."


Alicia uses the question as a way to focus away from troubling thoughts. Shrugging, she replies, "It worked with Cindy Capshaw. There's been enough crazy s**t going on at school that I think they'd be willing to at least consider, don't'cha think? From what I understand, Sylvia is in tight with them, too, so she should be able to back you up."

"All right. So we get them aside tomorrow at school and explain. This way if something happens and the dance, they'll already be informed."

"Has she no sense of humor?"

Rhys affects a melodramatic pout for a moment before shifting back into his normal form.


"I've no need to sneak into the girls' bathroom. Besides - what makes you think you'd catch me?" He winks at her.

Alicia leans forward with an ornithophagous feline look on her face. "What makes you think I'd tell you?" She pops a nacho into her mouth and crunches it loudly for emphasis.

A small sound comes from Laney below them.  She'd hidden her face behind her knees, so one can't see her expression, only the tension in her clasped hands.  A pity: she might've enjoyed Rhys' display.

The casual remarks about mind control disturbed her in a way the incident at the film festival had: that someone, anyone, would do that to another person without consent freely given.  

She is staring at the weave in the fabric of her long skirt.  An illusion of uniformity as each row is unique; she can see the imperfections with her face so close.  In a row.  All the way down.  All the way up.  Over to the seam.  I can't see the seam.  Every single row goes -  I can't see the seam.


"If you tell them they've been exposed, the first thing they'll want to do - if they believe you - is preserve their lives.  They'll tell their parents.   Second, go to the hospital.  The parents will demand to know how you got this information and will contact the police to protect their kids.  The police will want to talk to you and to Hamilton.  Are you ready for that?  Do you have enough proof?

"My point is..." She pauses when her low voice cracks. This is just wrong.  Are they going to force those girls to be bait?

"My point is: why are you telling them, if you're just going to... to limit their reactions?  If you want someone to confess that she's having issues to Hamilton, so he'll...He'll give us proof, make a mistake, allow us to trace him...

"...then why not Sylvia?"

Alicia finally deigns to address Laney. "They need to know, the sooner the better," she says, with an edge.

She relents after a moment. "We probably do want to make sure we can nail Hamiltion before blowing the lid on the whole mess. Especially if we need him to reverse the effects of his experiment."

Alicia turns to Colin. "You got a cop friend, don't'cha? You think you could lay this down on him, maybe get some help, without it blowing up all over the school?"

"Oh, she does." he grins "That's why you should be afraid."


"Proof is secondary. Hamilton might be deluded. We don't know for sure his mutagen works yet. And even if it works, it doesn't necessarily mean it's harmful. In either case, if I'm able to tell it's having some effect on them, I should be able to get it out of their system, like I did with Cindy. Really, I don't care about Hamilton. Even if it's not proof enough for the police, I bet it'll be much more than enough for the school council. The police know they can trust me, though. Sometimes they call me themselves when they need some help."


Colin is confused for a moment. Then he raises his eyebrows.

"Hamilton has no idea we know of him. When the story gets public, he'll have a lot of stuff to dispose of as quickly as he can. We just have to be there. Or have the police be there. Whatever. I don't care."


"I'd prefer the other way. The girls come first. Hamilton comes a distant second. I can call Chris though. I can have him come here too, if you prefer, so he can give us advice on how to deal with this."

Alicia nods at Colin's comments in agreement.

When he mentions having the police officer come over, she gives a little start that she quickly covers up with a casual, "If you think it'll help to have him here, sure."

"Get it out of their - You can cure them? I - If you have a means to ask advice from a professional, then you should."



If they cure the girls and tell them, we lose solid evidence and Hamilton is warned.  He can set up shop elsewhere.
If they cure the girls and don't tell them, Hamilton can be monitored and we could still get proof.  Do we need proof?  God, I need to study paranormal law or something.  Either way, Hamilton runs loose and could harm people.  When?  How much time do we have?

Laney raises her head long enough to glance at her watch, as if it would answer her.

Stop it.  Just stop. This is why I don't play chess.   I have the attention span of a gnat.   I - He could harm more people.  How many were exposed?

It feels better when she rests; so she does, lowering her head back down with her face turned away, staring vacantly at the wet towel and the water spots now drying on the floor beside her foot.

"The second you call your police friend in on this he's going to be obligated to do something about it, isn't he?"

Colin hesitates.

"I don't know. Why?"

Alicia contributes matter-of-factly. "Actually, no, he isn't. Unless he has enough evidence that a crime is being committed, he's under no official obligation to investigate. Cops don't stop crime; they just clean up after it."

The words are spoken as if reciting something heard. There is a strong whiff of bitterness in her voice.

"If he's a friend, yes, he will.
If there is probable cause to investigate, yes, he will.
Is this a bad thing?"

Alicia graces Laney with a withering glance. "Don't know about Colin's 'friend,' chica, but I know cops. They don't do anything they don't have to."

Laney's already rather withered; she doesn't have far to go.  As fate would have it, she'd been hearing such remarks her entire life from friends, classmates, hollywood, the media... It had become one of so many cliches about emergency services, both government and civil, that she only acknowledges the words with a shifting of her head.  Once again, her chin rests on her knees while she stares up at them.

"I didn't know you could cure that sort of thing.  Can you do it even after it's...altered them?  Did you cure Cindy's strength when you cured the goostuff?"






Edit:
I hate typos...

Colin frowns slightly.

"Chris is a good friend. And a sensible person. We've been through much tighter spots together. Calling him and asking for his advice usually solves problems, rather than creating new ones."



"I... I can cure things that are not meant to be. Sometimes a wound, a disease, a scar serve a purpose, and I can't cure them. Otherwise I can cure pretty much everything else, spending enough energy. Cindy's strength isn't an artificial mutation. It wasn't a disease to be cured. So, if the universe hasn't got secret plans for mutant cheerleaders, then yes, I can cure them. Or at least make the doctors' job much easier."

"I don't think it's a bad thing at all... just, once it becomes official police business where does that leave our investigation?"

"We investigate all the same and the police deals with us, well, me, usually, as they would an informer. A reliable one. Chris once told me that informally, they try to create a climate of collaboration with the young paranormals. It usually saves a lot of trouble later on. It's very unusual that they have to do it to such an extent. There is only one other case of such collective insurgence of paranormals in the last fifty years in the US."

"And what happened to them?" asks Alicia off-handedly, still intent on her Leaning Tower of Nacho.

"They grew up, and now are a big-time team. Ever heard of the Olympians? You can google them."

"Will you...Will you tell me, please?  If...I mean when they're alright?  Or..Or if they need help?   The ones he contaminated, I mean.  I don't need to be an Olympian or whatever.  I just...Um..."  Laney's voice trails off into silence.  It was scarcely audible to begin with.

"No s**t. That's them?" Alicia replies. "They started as a teen team? Huh."

Inspecting her creation critically, she leans back. "So you'll call your cop friend, we'll round up the pep squad for cootie inspection and see if we can catch Hamilton in the act. Is that the plan?"

"Yes. While we search for the substance on the girl, someone should keep watch on Hamilton. If we find proof, the police will question him, and if Sylvia is around, he's going to broadcast his secrets. Then we only have to give the police a nudge in the right direction."

Alicia considers the logistics as she launches a nacho in the air and catches it deftly in her mouth.

"You'll need Sylvia with you when meeting the squad; she's your ticket in. Sarah and I can take turns shadowing Hamilton in the meantime. Assuming you're willing to," she adds, looking at Sarah.

"Donnie's buddy," she indicates Pip by tossing him a chip, "can provide overwatch and put the call out if someone drops the dime."

Alicia looks to Colin for confirmation. "How's that?" It's hard to say whether she's referring to her comments or the precarious agglomeration of cheese-covered chips decorating her plate.

"The plan's ok." he says "but that is so gonna end up on your hips." he says, pointing to the mountain of food with a smirk.

Alicia makes a rude noise. "Not with my metabolism."

She proceeds to meticulously and fastidiously eat each nacho, making sure the structure remains stable throughout the process. She occasionally tosses a piece Pip's way, just to see the small dragon snap the flying food right out of the air.

"Pip wouldn't mind keeping an eye on the air ducts that Hamilton likes to use. He is quick as hell and pretty stealthy when he wants to be. Plus he can always have me pop him back to his home if he gets into a bad place or hamilton is about to discover him."  Donnie feeds half of his nachos to his dragon, on chip at a time. He also give the little dragon his empty coke can, which Pip meticulously rips apart and proceeds to eat. Donnie has a small smile on his face to watch the reactions of Alicia and Laney, who had not yet seen his little can-eating habits.

Alicia is suitably impressed. "Dude, he's like a goat on acid!" She nibbles on a chip, enjoying the show.

Laney looks sharply up at Alicia, for the snakes she'd seen once didn't remotely resemble that dragon-thing.  After a second of scrutiny, her vacant stare returns.  She's almost smiling, though, when Pip gets particularly noisy in his feasting.

"Shadowing?  I was going to take AP Chem with him next year.  That sucks.   Heep teaches it, doesn't he?  Where's Sylvia?"