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It's not hard for people to get to the Howell home.  A time is arranged and people arrive and are shown to where John and Megan are studying.

As people arrive, Megan leads them down to the furnished recreation room that is in the basement she has taken over from her brother on Sunday evenings.  A huge screen TV is against one wall, with several sofas gathered around it.  Her and John’s books and typed out notes are laid out on one of the coffee tables there.  In addition to the surround sound system for the entertainment system, there was a Playstation 3 and a Wii.  Behind the area with the sofas was a pool table as well as a foosball and airhockey table. 

After Sammy had said she was on the way, the blonde teen had gone upstairs and gathered a bunch of snacks to bring down.  She had set them up on a bar that was along one of the walls near the pool table.  There were some healthy snacks, like carrots, broccoli and celery as well as less healthy, such as several types of chips and dips for them.

“Plenty of places to sit.”  She said as people came in.  “Have some snacks set out and there are drinks in the fridge behind the bar if anyone wants anything.  Water, various sodas, orange and cranberry juice and lemonade.” 

Sammy deposits the boxes of nuts and gourmet chocolates onto the table.  "Gifts from California for everybody," she explains.  She shrugs out of Elrod's leather motorcycle jacket and drapes it next to her as she takes a seat on one of the sofas.  "Hey, Megan, John."  It appears that she spent a good amount of time  in the sun and ocean air.  Her skin is slightly darker and her hair is slightly lighter.  "I could have called you back sooner but it was pointed out to me that I was there to rest and relax.  Everything else needed to wait."   She looks around.  "Nice place."

She says hello to people as they filter in.

“Thanks Sammy, they look good.”  Megan said as the other girl set out the nuts and gourmet chocolates she had brought back from California. 

When Sammy mentioned that she should have called back sooner, but things needed to wait, Megan just waved her hand dismissively.  “That’s okay.  I was concerned that I couldn’t reach you, till I learned you were in California.  I hope the trip was relaxing, you look like you got some good sun.  Did you all go out to much of the sights?  Or just relax on the beach?”

When Sammy commented on the recreation room, Megan smiled.  “Thanks, it’s mainly used by my brother and his friends, but I steal it sometimes for things.  John and I have usurped it for Sunday study sessions.”

"We stayed at the Janush house in Santa Monica, right on the beach.  It was luverly.  We did the whole LA/Hollywood tourist thing during the day and hung around on the beach a lot in the evening.  It was nice to be normal again for a little while.  How about you guys?  Did you have a nice couple of days off?"

Megan listened intently to Sammy as she talked about California.  “That’s cool, I’ve only been to LA once, and that was a couple of years ago.  Normally we go out to the Hamptons or Martha’s Vineyard in the summer and the Caribbean in the winter.”

“Yeah, we had a pretty good time.”  Megan replied to the question if they had a nice time off.  “We caught a couple of movies, got John more familiar with the city, ate at some places he wanted to try and went out for the first Thursday open houses many of the art galleries in the city have.  I try and attend those every month as I am part owner of a couple galleries along with my parents and brother and sister.”

As she ran down some of the things her and John had done, it dawned on her that Sammy might not know about what had happened at the hospital with the witches.  “Oh yeah, and late Wednesday night we dealt with the witches.  They had woken up from their comas, well, all but one, and had tried to steal Colin’s power.  We got in a big fight with them at the hospital, but Sylvia managed to get them to take each other out with a trick they had tried on us.  They have all been arrested now and are in a heap of trouble I think.  Colin might know more details.”

"You do look more relaxed." John said.  "Looks like the beach and sun did you some good."

"Thanks, John,  I do feel more relaxed.  I guess everybody is okay then? Colin is okay?  The bwitches didn't win, right?"

“Yeah, everyone is fine, Colin’s powers are back and the witches are in jail, well, except the one that didn’t wake up.”  Megan looked a bit remorseful at the mention of the witch that had died in the coma.  “Sarah even got to beat up Jane Spofford.”

Sarah snaps off a loud bite of carrot with a grin.  "I wish I'd had a camera.  The look on her face was priceless!"  She stops and considers.  "Okay I wish Colin had a camera because I don't think Jane would have held still while I took the photo and then whacked her."

I've got a secret... well okay I think Colin knows... do I wait?  Do I tell them?  Heck do I show them?  Slow down... remember you're still getting the hang of this.  It wouldn't look to cool if you teleported and landed on your head or something. 

She moves over to give Sammy a hug and a smile.  "Still hate you for going to California without me but that's okay.  You smell all sunshiney."

“I am sure it was.”  Megan replied to Sarah’s comment about the look on Jane’s face when she smacked her. 

A corner of Sammy's mouth quirks up in a half suppressed smile at the mention of Sarah beating up Jane.  "She's been wanting to do that for a long time.  Don't mess with Sarah's man!  She'll hurt you!"

Sarah gets hugged back.  "California was awesome.  I wish I could have stayed there."

"And how!" Colin says with a grin, stepping into the room.

"Sammy, welcome back." he rummages in his pocket, and finally gets out her phone. "Your cellphone, I presume."

"You'll have to catch up a bit, I guess. It's been an eventful week. I hope the world is not all crazy like Oak Park."

Sammy takes the phone.  "Thanks, Colin.  I didn't expect to see this again."

"No, the  world is kind of normal away from here.  I never thought I'd say that Hollywood was sane compared to this place, but..."  she shrugs.  "I guess its all a matter of perspective.".

“Well, we have been filling her in a bit about the witches.”  Megan replied as she looked over at Colin with a smile as he came down the stairs. 

With a blur of movement, she was back behind the bar.  “Drinks anyone?”  She runs down the list of what she had, and delivers whatever anyone orders at superspeed before taking her seat next to John once more.

“I was waiting till more people got here to go into Sammy’s new friend, but,” she looked over at Sammy, “if you want us to start talking about it now we can.  After all, it is you that could be in danger.”

"How dangerous can he really be?" Sammy quips.  "After all, I have a rich boyfriend and run around with a bunch of superheroes.  At least that's the line Elrod tried to feed to me.  Why don't you start from the beginning -- how did you find out about this person in the first place?  Was he standing outside of my house holding a boombox over his head, playing the song "In Your Eyes" over and over again until my dad chased him away with a garden hose?"

“It’s the guy behind the bees Sammy.”  Megan replied.  “John and I went down to the basement of the school Wednesday and looked around.  We found a bunch of stuff left by the witches, including what John figured out where plans for airflow in the school showing where the smoke would go, which turned out to be where the bees were kept.  When we managed to get there, there were lots of pictures of you on the walls with all sorts of creepy notes, like how he forgave you for killing ‘them’, or how you had stung him and he hoped to sting you.  There were pictures of you and Elrod together, and Elrod’s face was violently scribbled over, and there were notes about how this guy thinks you pretend to like Elrod.”

The blonde teen paused, then said, “I think your interfering with this guy’s previous attacks on your friend and the guy that asked her out to Homecoming has caused his fixation to shift to you.”

"Which is sort of a good thing."  John says, "Heather and Jim are probably safe now."

A suddenly paler Sammy gives John a weak little smile.  Heather's safe.  There is that...  She pulls Elrod's jacket into her lap, a leather security blanket.

"So.  Bee Guy.  Pictures?  What kind of pictu..."  She stops abruptly and visibly shudders.  "That's so wrong."   Looking around at the others there, she asks "Did you tell anyone else about this?  The school?  The police?  My dad?"

"We let the police know.  They'll eventuall notify your folks but that may take a day or two."  John says.  "In my experience it's best to let the authorities pass on this stuff, and let your folks tell you.  It helps them feel more in control.  Even though you already know.  Make sense?"

Megan gave Sammy a sympathetic look.  She remembered the creepy feeling when she had known that the invisible photographer was in her bedroom and taking pictures of her.  But at least she had know he was there, and had allowed herself to be put in that situation.  Sammy had not. 

“They were pictures of you around school, or practicing with the trombone, or with the band.  I don’t really recall any that were at your home or anything like that.”  She replied, hoping to make Sammy a bit less creeped out. 

"No, not really.  I'll take your word for it though because I'm not sure how I'd tell them anyhow." 

She pulls the jacket up so it covers her torso as she listens to Megan describe the photos.  "And the ones with El?  His face all scratched out?  Oh my god... I was joking with him about getting him into some self defense lessons with Jack.  This settles that question.  Do you think this clown will try to hurt El the same as when he went after that other boy?"  She looks grim.  "You guys will help me to keep an eye on El, right?  Try to make sure he doesn't get hurt because he has the bad luck to like me?"

Sarah nods.  "Any guy who treats you as nice as El is aces in my book.  I'll watch his back even if he goes all the way out to California again.  Or some tropical island or London or Paris or wherever." 

She adds a bit hopefully, "He wouldn't be planning on any trips like that soon would he?"

"Listen Sam."  John said, moving to sit next to her, "It's not bad luck to like you.  This guy isn't like everyone else.  He has trouble expressing himself the way other people do, that's not your fault.  He could have fixated on anyone, at least this way we have a chance to stop him, since we know who he likes.  I know it's rotten, but this is the way these sorts of things go when you have super powers.  Things just tend to come at you, like we're trouble magnets.  You've got plenty of friends, and we know plenty of poeple.  There is no place att hat school Elrod can go and not be under someone's watchful eye.  It'll be okay, you just have to have faith."

Megan nodded in agreement with Sarah.  “Sarah and John are right Sammy, we know about this guy now, and know the two likely people he might try to strike against.  We can keep an eye on both of you.”

Sarah's subtle as a baseball bat to the nose comments actually make Sammy smile a little bit.  "I'll be sure to let you know.  I might need somebody to carry my luggage, and since Steph went with me last time, its somebody else's turn now.  That's only fair, right?"


Sammy nods.  "I'll try to keep it together.  There's nothing else I can do except make myself into a big fat easy target and hope Bee guy comes close enough for me to swat him."

Kel arrives, and settles himself in the corner after being filled in on what everyone is talking about.  Thinking.

Megan gave Sammy a reassuring smile, moving over by her as well and putting her hand on one of Sammy’s.  “I know its not easy playing unsuspecting target, but I know you’ll do fine.  And hopefully you’ll get the chance to put an end to this yourself.”

"Besides,"  John begins, "This guy only seems to strike at school for some reason.  Some element of his personality, he only seems to have the resolve to do anything there."

Sarah is about to suggest Sammy get a yellow and black striped sweater but she decides she's been unhelpful enough already.  "You know, you could just leave a message for him.  'Dear Bee Guy, we should talk.  Meet me at such and such a place.'  Would that work?  Should we stay out of it until the police get a clue or what?"

Sarah fires ideas from the hip cause thinking things through is fer sissies. 


"Would that be because he had his hive at school?  I mean maybe he can't get his bees to travel that far from their home.  Now that they've been smoked out I wonder what he'll do?"

Kel says, "Well he's got two options.  He might bide his time till he can 'make' more bees or he might go crazy and try to go after Sammy on his own.  Problem is, I can't figure out which of those is worse, more bees, or a crazed desperate stalker." Kel shudders at the thought of it.

"I'm not sure.  He didn't seem to have any problem getting more after Sammy drowned teh first batch in a car wash."  John says.  "That was only a few weeks ago.  We might have a window when he doesn't have many."


"No.  This guy is too fragile to do that.  He sees Sammy as too beautiful to touch right now.  Besides, this bee thing has me confused.  Males are drones, right.  Maybe he needs a queen, and he wouldn't dare go after her himself, not without his bees."

"So you think he sees himself like a bee?"  Kel asks.

Sammy hears Kel say 'stalker' and remembers.  "How's Breanna, Kel?  Have you seen her?  Did anybody find who hit her on the head?"


"Unless he's a she and is her own Queen, but I don't want to think about that.  Besides, a Queen wouldn't need me.  I'd be competition, so it has to be a guy."   Sammy thinks for a moment.  "Its getting colder.  Normal bees aren't out anymore.  If he's building up another swarm, it'll have to be somewhere inside, but it can't be where it was if that place has been disturbed by the police or by the smoke.  The one time they took Heather, they left her on the roof by some air handlers for the schools heating and cooling system.  If I hadn't come along, he would have had to show up and move her himself, sooner or later.  He might have more than one secret place.  How many ways are there to access the roof?  How far can a normal guy carry a girl?  That's where we should look."

“Well, the place we found was in a very maze like part of the basement, really hard to find without having an idea of where your going, or being able to see through walls.”  She smiled over at John.  “But if the police have taken all his stuff, he likely won’t use that space again.  So who knows where he will set up next, or where he might raise more bees.”

"Maybe we ought to volunteer to set up for Homecoming then, just in case Bee guy decides that I need to be the Queen.  I want to know where the good hiding spots are."  Sammy looks at Megan, the most socially connected member of the group.  "Do you know who's in charge of that?"

Kel when asked of Breanna just says flatly, "It's been dealt with."  He then continues on to the matter at hand, "Megan, John, would you guys be able to explore the roof in the same way you did the basement?  I mean within the next week or so, 'cause he probably doesn't have any more now.  But if he did, well...it's the next best place I guess.  Also, should we try learning his name?"

"We can check out the roof."  John says to Kel.  "The only other building on campus is the gym, and it's probably got some good hiding spots too.  It's also where they'll have the Homecoming dance, so knowing it will be helpful."

“Yeah, Laura Chapman, the Captain of the Con Debate team is organizing Homecoming this year, and probably one of the top runners for being Homecoming Queen as well.”  Megan replied to Sammy’s question if she knew who was organizing the dance.  “The squad has a lot of involvement with things, so I am already involved, I am sure Laura would always love more volunteers.”

"It's always nice to know the name of the villain who's plan you're thwarting," says Sarah.  "I could check out the gym with some people.  I think it's a good idea if we at least travel in pairs if not teams.  I know it's not totally heroic like the comic books but I personally don't have a problem with overwhelming odds in our favor on a regular basis."

Kel nods at Sarah's idea, "It'd be a very good idea."

"OK, I'll just show up this week and provide some surprise free labor.  She'll probably be glad to get somebody who isn't afraid of heights."

Then dip me in school spirit and call me a Musky Husky.  El is gonna laugh...

Sammy continues.  "I can show you all the exact spot on the roof where I found Heather.  It was above the gym.  She was taken out of the girl's locker room."   She smiles and adds.  "Another chance to fly if you want it, Sarah.  Genie Taxi, at your service."

Sarah grins and says, "Awesome.  I'll come along just for the ride if nothing else.  I am never going to be able to take a jet if you get me spoiled with Air Sammy."

Megan nods as John and Kel talk about scouting out the rooftop of the school and then the gym building.  “Well, sounds like we have some exploring to do.”  She says to John with a grin.

When Sammy said she would show up to volunteer, Megan nodded with a smile.  “That sounds good.”   She then looked at the others as she added, “so we have a plan for learning more, are we going to try to set up some sort of schedule for some of us to be around Sammy and El through the week when we are at school?  Or just all be together as much as we can?”

Sarah says, "We can just write down our schedules and see who's closest to Sammy and El throughout the day.  There may be a few gaps, especially for El.  He's a senior so his classes my be totally away from ours most of the time." 

OOC:
Sammy & Colin have home room and the class after lunch together.  Kel was down the hall a few from the class after lunch. 
Sarah and Sammy were near each other in the class before last period. 
--- I think this is info thevshi pieced together a while ago but I can't recall---

"Well.  I don't like relying on other people too much, but what about Dave.  He seems to have an army at his disposal.  We can give him Sammy and El's schedule and he can fill in the gaps."

Sammy says "El  and Dave can probably work something out between them.  I'll just make sure they both understand that doing it for real will help me to worry less.  Between band practice and the gym decorating gig I should always be around a crowd of people after school.  That just leaves getting there and going home again.  Since Bee guy has only attacked at school, I should be safe enough at home.  He's probably going to need time to build up his forces again anyhow, unless he's always had a couple of hives going.  Maybe the cops will figure out who he is before he gets that chance."

“Well, we can hope they can.”  Megan said in reply to Sammy’s comments about the cops figuring out who he was before he could do anything.  “But you know we don’t want to just hope for that.  Not when we can try to stop him as well.”

“So, sounds like we have things covered with keeping an eye on you and El at school, assuming you can get El to agree to have people looking out for him.”  Megan said, though she really did not doubt that Sammy could convince Elrod to do that, as she had said, it would help her worry less, and El did not seem like he would want her to worry needlessly.  “Should we see about arranging for some of us to meet up with you on the way to and from school for this week?”

"Sure.  El can probably drive me around, unless you all think that would antagonize Bee guy too much?  If we're going to stir him up, it might be better to have it happen where there are more of us around."

“Well, I am not sure how it could antagonize him more than he probably already is.”  Megan said.  “Your call really, we are here to back you up with whatever you decide.”

"Well, I wasn't riding to school with him before, so it would be something new on top of going away to California with him.  California might be so big that nothing else matters."

Donnie shows up finally. He looks flushed, either out of anger or embarrassment. Sylvia immediately picks up gnawing, depressive anger from him.

"Sorry I am so late guys. I thought my mom could bring me, but she.. couldn't. I got a cab instead. Hey Sam. Glad you got to go to California.  You look tan."

He sits on the floor next to Sylvia, a grateful smile for Megan as he pops the tab on a cold coke. Sylvia fills him in on what's been discussed.

"Hi Donnie."  Sammy waits for Sylvia to give him a quick recap.  "That's where we are.  Anybody have any other ideas?"