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Within an hour the Vango arrives at Greg's place and everyone slips into the bomb shelter unseen.  Katie is there, with Velocity and Greg.

"So, shooting?  You guys don't look too much the worse for wear though."  Greg introduces Katie to the group, waiting for each person to give her their name, or super name, before moving onto the next.  He gets everyone some drinks and Kel some ice for his hands and assorted bruises.

At the sound of people starting down the ladder into the bomb shelter, Megan is up and over near Katie.  Her gloves were still off, but the burn marks on her right arm and stomach were very much evident on her costume (as well as across her back when others have the right angle for that.). 

She gives everyone a blurred wave as they get down, noting that several had put together costumes for themselves since the meeting with the Banners.  “Hey all.”  She says, once again using her Velocity voice.

"Hello, Velocity. Good job tonight. But you're hurt! You met Comet Biotech's thugs too?"

"And you must be Katie." Colin squats down so he's at eye level with her, and offers her his hand "Nice to meet you, Katie. I am Colin. Do you remember seeing me? I have seen you. We helped Charlie, and now he's fine." he tells her with a smile.

Things have been quite rushed this evening, and he's quite tired, so he gladly takes the drinks Greg offered, and lets himself fall on a seat. That's when he finally realizes something. He looks first at Velocity, then at Greg.
"How do you know each other?" he asks with a mild frown.

Velocity glanced at the burn marks on her arm.  “Oh this, I’ll live, already got some ointment on it, with Greg helping with the back.”   She gave a quick turn so that the scorch marks across the back of her costume were visible to everyone before facing square once more.  “But Comet Biotech thugs?  Oh, you mean the goons after Katie.  Yeah, I met some, reached Katie as they were hot on her heels again.  They took, a couple of shots at me, but no biggy.”

“This was the work of that jerk Spark I told you abut the night we met with the Banners.  I ran into him while scouring the suburbs for Katie.  Seems he was behind those Speed Freak imposters that were rolling drug dealers for their money, taking a cut from their take.  Guess he was unhappy about my helping disrupt his little get rich quick scheme, so he decided to make himself feel better by electrocuting me some.  He is able to surround himself with electricity,” she held up her right arm to show the scorch marks on it, “so punching him is rather counter productive.  I got up on a rooftop and when he hit me in the midsection with a bolt, I feel back out of sight and tried to make him think he had knocked me out on the rooftop, hoping he would climb up and I might be able to get a jump on him or something.  After a few minutes of waiting, I ran back down the wall to see if he was still around but he had left, so I just resumed my search for Katie.”

(OCC will answer Colin's last, and more pointed question :), after more people have a chance to post ;))

Sarah smiles at Katie, "Hey Katie.  I'm Sarah... but that's a secret outside of here okay?  I haven't come up with a clever supername yet.. or even a mask.  I'm glad Velocity found you.  So what's it like zooming down the streets with her?"

"You're Colin?"  Katie says, looking at the other people in the room.  "I imagined you'd be taller, and have a tattoo.  That's great about Charlie though, He's going to do good works."


"It was really cool.  She's really fast."  Katie touches Sarah's cheek, "You don't have to be scared.  You'll be fine.  You'll always have good teachers."

Katie's awfully self-possessed for a little girl with a teddy bear, and Sylvia, who hasn't had spirits or disembodied mentors talking to her (never mind the imaginary friend), regards her as if Katie were a talking cat.  "Sorry, how old are you?"

"I'm ten.  I celebrate my birthday on December 1st, that's when I was found."

Colin’s question about how she and Greg knew each slightly took Velocity off guard, but that hesitation was only momentary, but enough time for her mind to rush through how to answer at speeds far faster than a normal person’s mind worked.  She thought of a few ways of just blowing it off, but decided against it in the end.  She glanced around at the others, all of whom she pretty much recognized or could guess at after the meeting at the Banners, all but the boy that looked like he was out of the Matrix, though there almost seemed something slightly familiar about him as well. 

They all seemed pretty comfortable together, and obviously were working together on things, such as tonight looking for Katie, and that witch problem they had mentioned before and that Greg had passed along the list about.  She was the outsider, and while there was something she liked about being anonymous, being on the outside was not a feeling she liked.  Add to that the fact that Greg was her only real connection to them at the moment and was annoying her, she figured she might as well just level with them.  “Well, pretty much all of you know me, to some small degree or another.”  She replied as she walked over to sit down next to Katie.

As she sat down, she reached up and took off her goggles and mask, the brown ponytail of the wig coming off as well as it was attached to the mask.  Shaking out her long blond hair, she reached up to pick up and look at two twisted strands as she spoke in her normal voice.  “Aw man!  As if this dumb mask didn’t mess my hair up enough, that asshole’s electricity had to make it like ten times worse!  Look at all these split ends!”  She let the strands of hair fall down and then blew them out of her face.  “I hope my stylist can clear a spot in her schedule tomorrow evening to get me in to fix this mess.”

Looking over towards Sarah, she adds.  “Well Sarah, it looks like I will be sewing again far sooner than I expected, if you want, you can come over Thursday night and we can work on something for you as well.  Though we will need to get some materials first.”

Megan then glances at Katie as she asks, “found?”

"I was left on the steps of a church.  They turned me over to social services."

Kel has settled himself in, peeling off his mask, propping one of his legs up and laying some ice over it, and another across his face where a shiner is already starting to form.  He arches an eyebrow at the Spark story, filing away that there is some crazy guy who shoots lightning wandering around somewhere.  Of course he is about to say something on it when the bombshell is dropped.  His mouth lols open as he stares at the amazing Velocity remove her mask, something he had been hoping to see one day, to find that it was none other than Megan.  His eyes kind of bulge out for a brief moment, and he closes and opens his mouth several different times before just blurting out, "Megan? Velocity?...What?!"

Donnie was shocked at Megan's reveal. He looks to Sylvia. "Did you know this, being on the cheerleader squad and everything?"

Pip hisses smugly.

Donnie looks to his shoulder. "No, you did not know. No way."

Colin thinks of a way to help Velocity get rid of her Spark problem, but no one of them is resistant to electricity, and he can't really find him with so little elements.

"You think he'll be after you again?"


Colin shrugs, painfully conscious of his not exactly towering height.
But daddy was quite tall! Ok, taking from mom I should average less than him, but I'm not done growing!

"I'm sorry to let you down. Any chance you could have seen me as I'll be in a couple years?"
He considers asking about what kind of good works Charlie is going to do, but then he decides not. He's fine with the future keeping some of its secrets.
"Maybe I'll have something to ask you later. I have a problem and there's a chance you could give me some advice."


Colin wonders what Sarah, who just mopped the floor with an armed man twice her size, is afraid of. He'll ask her later. He also smiles in her direction. With her at his side, he isn't afraid of anything.


After the big revelation Colin frowns and remains open mouthed for a few moments, putting everything together. The tingle and the vibration in her hand at the labs, she knowing about the meeting with the Banners, she saying she knew how to find him... Now everything made perfect sense. He really thought she was older.

"So that day, when I came to warn you you could have powers..."

He stops in mid-sentence, as another thought rushes to his brain.

"So all four of us that were at the lab that day, with the waterman incident... mmm, but I had the episode with Bruce at the Tasty Dog before, so I don't count... mmm... Cause and effect. Which is what? We ended up together, because we are all special, or we are all special because we ended up together?"

And yet another thought elbows his way to his brain, this one coming from a bit farther, and he stares at Greg for a moment.
You helped her putting ointment on her back? In that costume? I wonder how close is their friendship. I never noticed anything, but maybe now that Cal isn't around anymore...

"Well, welcome to the club then. You have everything you need to join. How... did you find out?"


The first of December is an awfully cold day to leave a child outside of church. Poor Katie, her story has never been a happy one. Megan has been really kind to bring her another bear. At least I hope the federals will treat her well, and that they'll find her a nice family when everything will be over.

Sarah completely forgets Katie's somewhat spooky message and 'whoops' when Megan takes off her mask and runs over to give her a quick hug.  "This is fantastic!  Do you have any idea how bad I wanted to tell you I had this power and there you were sitting knowing everything while you watch me squirm.  Ahh!"

She looks at Megan, "Do you think it happened from the lab?  Do you have any proof?"

Sylvia shakes her head.  "I'm in the back row, usually.  I might have recognized the back of her head if she hadn't worn a wig."

Sammy had been quietly poking around the shelter, looking at posters on the wall and at whatever decorated the shelves, when Velocity made her big reveal.  That's the cheerleader who was in the locker room when the ice girl attacked.  She smiles at Megan, pulls off her own mask, and says "Thanks for not telling anybody that you saw me fly in the locker room.  I didn't tell anybody about you and the ball cart."

Before the revel

“Oh, I am sure he will be, he seemed pretty pissed off when he thought he had knocked me out on the roof where he couldn’t get to me.”  Velocity replied.

After

Megan looked over at Kel with a grin.  “Yeah, surprising isn’t it?”


Megan looked over at Donnie and Sylvia as she quickly replied.  “Your kidding right?  Telling anything to the other girl’s is like telling half the school.  They knew when Cal and I went on our first date, the Monday after that weekend the rumor we we’re going steady was already all over school.”  She then notices Donnie’s dragon for the first time.  “Umm, is that what I think it is?”  She asks.


Megan gave Colin an apologetic smile.  “yeah, I knew then already, sorry for blowing you off.  It was just I was so unsure what to think about it all then, and wasn’t really ready for some support group or anything.”


“All four of us?  Cal didn’t have…”  Megan trails off as she remembered the weird snake thing at Lisa’s party, and how she had used him as an anchor to stay on her feet when everyone else was knocked off it by that bust of wind or whatever and then how he had tackled it and other things.  “Oh!  That snake thing at Lisa’s party!   God, I should have known.  The way his arms felt like being gently held in a vice...”  That was cut off as Sarah jumped over and hugged her.


“Oww!  Sarah, I said we put ointment on, not that these burns weren’t tender.”  Megan replied with a smile to her old friend.  She then gave her a mischievous grin.  “Yeah, that was kinda fun, though most of the discussion was Friday night on the phone so I couldn’t really 'watch' you squirm.  Had thought about bringing up things again when we went to lunch and the movie on Sunday, but figured that would seem a bit odd.”


Megan looks back over to Colin as she smiles.  “Thanks, so is there a secret handshake or anything?  As for how I found out, the first time I knew something was up was when that ice girl attacked the girl’s locker room and I shoved a ball cart into her at high speed.  I wasn’t totally sure till I went out that night to try again.  Sure enough I was really fast, and I even stopped a purse snatcher from taking an old woman’s purse, though I did that without using my full speed.”


Looking back as Sarah who was next to her now, Megan shrugged.  “I think it was, seems that this all started happening after those chemicals got doused on me there.”  She then paused a second as she continued.  “But I might know more soon I guess.  We are finalizing the settlement with the lab, part of it is coverage for any medical conditions that might possible arise from the accident and exposure, but that will require full physicals each year.”  Megan felt a slight chill as she realized that her powers might be detected if they did any blood work.


Megan looked over to Sammy as the other girl took off her mask and talked about the incident in the locker room.  She thought that might have been her, but had not been one hundred percent sure.  Smiling, she replied.  “Your welcome, I guess we both just kept each other’s secret without really needing to be told to.”

Kel nods dumbfounded when Megan responds to him.  He still grips the ice to his head, but he really isn't sure what to say.  He had been wondering about Velocity since he had first seen her really.  Now, here she was, a girl who sat on his hand on at least a weekly basis for cheerleading practice.  He shakes his head, it seems like a cheap victory in a lot of ways, and at the same time it's no victory at all.  Kel just gazes at Megan in the Velocity outfit and sighs.

"No, there's nothing to feel sorry about, Megan. you had every right to privacy and to take time to figure things out on your own. I'm glad you're here now though. Together we're stronger."

"We have no secret handshakes but we're a bit worried about witches' infiltration, so it may happen that someone randomly asks you a question to see if you know the right answer. You are entitled to do the same."

Colin takes a sip from his drink and takes a look around the room.

"Now that we're in mood for confessions though, who else has hit the streets as a vigilante, without telling us?" he asks with a smirk.

Sylvia merely coughs and gives Kel an accusing look.

Kel gives a goofy grin as he continues to hold the ice bag against his face, "I'd figure the costume would be quite the obvious way of telling you."  His eyes trail over Megan but he lets them pass over as soon as he can, letting them find focus with Colin.

"Yep. Pip's a dragon. Cheeky little bastard too." Pip slaps his tail against the side of Donnie's head, but he just smiles in response. "I have been working on uh, spells to use against the witches, who are responsible for far more than the incident at the Janush party."

Sammy's glance passes quickly over Sylvia and Kel, then moves to Pip.  She raises an eyebrow and mouths the words "I told you so."  Like a little dragon can lip read, but she feels better venting about it to someone, even if he is green and scaly and highly  improbable.

A bit defensively, Sammy says "We -- Kel, Sylvia, and I -- all went out superman hunting a few nights ago.  Its the only way we're going to learn how to work with each other and trust each other.   It's not like we can just go to the athletic fields after school and practice.  At least I can't.  What I do can be seen."   The little brunette  crosses her gloved arms across her body and continues, muttering, "And its a whole lot less stressful than sitting around waiting for bees or whatever to attack your friends."

Donnie looks over at Sylvia. "You went out vigilante with Kel and Sammy? Geez. Is there any- ah nevermind. None of my business I guess."

“Cute”  Megan replies, chuckling at the little dragon’s response to Donnie’s teasing.  “Yeah, you all mentioned some more of what they had done that night with the Banners.  Greg got me the list of them earlier today and I have looked it over, only one I know is Laura Lizzie.  We were in grade school together the last couple of years.”  She stopped a moment, and then remembered her early trip to the mall with Lisa.  “But the first week of school when Lisa and I were out clothes shopping, we saw her and I think Lisa said Sara, one of the seniors there, they had a swarm of boys around them from some other school.  Lisa had seemed surprised that Sara was suddenly so popular, and I hadn’t remembered Laura being overly popular in Eight Grade either.”


Megan then looked over at the others as Sammy added this last bit of clarification about her, Kel and Sylvia’s little outing.  She caught the way Donnie reacted to the news, but felt there were was something a bit more important about such activity she should probably bring up.  “Believe me, I am not one for sitting around myself, only reason I am feeling so lazy right now is because I must have run like two hundred miles or more tonight. But as far as ‘vigilante’ activity goes, I think we need to be careful as we can about that.  I am glad to be working with Kevin and the PCD and Colin has Chris there as a connection, but if we start doing things that are in a grey area….well, a week ago tonight I went with my parents to a dinner in the city my dad was the key note speaker at.  Pretty much anyone who is anyone in business in this state was there, not to mention a good many local and state political leaders.”

“It seemed the most popular conversation over cocktails was the crazy stuff that has been happening in the area, what with paranormals and Superman.  There was discussion about possibly seeing a revival to get a paranormal registration act passed for the state, sort of a test for the rest of the nation.”

Sylvia gives him a funny look.  "Is there any what?  Room for one more?"  She shrugs.  "Yeah, I guess so, but I kinda figured it wouldn't be your thing."

After Sammy's words, Colin eyes go from her, to Kel, to Sylvia and then down. There's a frown on his forehead, and he waits for a few moments to calm down a bit. He doesn't want to speak to his friends in anger. No, it's not really anger, more like... disappointment. He takes a deep breath and finally his frown softens.

"I have to confess I am a bit disappointed. Far from me to tell you what to do, but if the purpose was to learn how to work with each other, and most importantly trust each other, why not tell us? I mean, why only the three of you? Sarah and I think T.J. too can hold their ground against a superman junkie. Sammy, you've seen how resourceful Donnie and Pip can be. And I... well, I can't put up much of a fight, but after you've dealt with them I could try to see if they met Vandross and finally give that-" he stops just in time, looking at Katie in the same room with them "And finally give him  a face. Now I understand that all together we stick out like a sore thumb, but still... you should have told us. Maybe some of us would have just loved to go with you, but hadn't yet gathered courage enough to ask." and here it takes him all his force of will not to look at Sarah. "I... I like to think of us as a team. And there shouldn't be this kind of secrets among us."

There, he said it, and hopes not to have offended anyone. He drinks the rest of his glass.

"Megan there are several things that you should know about the witches, but..." he makes a slight gesture towards Katie "...not tonight."

He doesn't comment on the registration thing. It doesn't matter for him. His friends know, and his enemies too. His family, the principal, and even the police know too. It makes little difference for him who else knows.

"Sylvia, can I talk with you for a moment? In private." He gestures towards the bunker's exit.

If Sylvia follows him outside:

Not wanting a fight either, Sammy very carefully replies to Colin's statement.  "To be fair, I had really only talked to Kel and not to any of you when this thing was set up;  he wanted to go out hunting, and he asked me to go along, saying there might be some others.  Maybe he was trying to keep the rest of you safe from me in case I turned out to be something other than what I claimed to be."  She looks down at the floor.  "Sorry."

"No, Sammy I..." Colin brings a hand to his face to rub his eyes and focus on what to say "There's no need to be sorry. I just... Just please think of it next time, ok? That's all."

He thinks for a moment, then he adds "I trust you. Each one of you. You've given me plenty of reason for that. I think that what we have here is important so sorry if I am... passionate about it."

Megan listened to the little discussion about Kel, Sammy and Sylvia’s little outing before she spoke up again.  “I know I’m the new girl and all, but I think the issue is sort of what each of us can do, least from what little I have seen.  Like anything else in life, we are not all going to be the same.  Colin, it was amazing to watch you Friday night when you used the shot up police car and Katie’s old bear to find out things about where she might be, in fact that is what got us on the trail to finding her.  But you have no idea how I was about ready to bounce off the walls just watching, wanting to act.”

“Being out there and seeing what’s going on is what I do.  It’s how I met Katie in the first place.”  Megan rubs the younger girl’s head as she mentions their first meeting, giving her a quick smile.  “Tonight is another great example, it was busier than normal, though probably because I covered more ground and was out longer.  Besides my fight with Spark and finding Katie, I pulled a cute guy from Glenview High out of the way of a speeding car.”  Megan then adds at a rather quick pace, but still likely understandable, “man, I should have taken a couple extra seconds and tried to get his number.”  Without missing a beat, she continues at a more normal pace.  “I scarred off a mugger just by stopping so he could see me and helped direct an ambulance to a man having chest pains in a park.”

“I guess what I am saying is I will be out and about as Velocity still.  I fully intend to help you guys with this witch thing and whatever else comes, up, I wouldn’t have let you know who I am if I didn’t plan to.  But I’m not trying to exclude anyone or be dishonest going forward, its just I can’t help people like this if I am not out there where I can come across the situations.”

Sylvia rolls her eyes a little and murmurs something like, "You're not the boss of me," but it's said without rancor, only exasperation.  Aloud she says, "It wasn't about excluding anyone.  It was just . . . a little excursion, a little trial.  I mean, really, Colin.  If you think everyone should always be invited to everything, then maybe the next time you and Sarah go out, we should all tag along."

Donnie looks at the wall, stiff backed. "No, it's not really my thing I guess." He slumps a little, chin in hand as he listens to the conversations around him.

"Megan, what you do as Velocity is just great. I'd be stupid to ever ask you anything else. I just meant that When we can help each other out, we should."


Colin recoils as if she slapped him across his face. He stares at her in disbelief just for a moment, then he lets himself fall back on his chair, without a word. His eyebrows twitch a couple time, either in anger or embarassment and he seems on the point of answering, but he says nothing.

Kel's face loses the goofy grin when the discussion of the actual vigilantism is taken up, his face has shifted to one of simple stark emotions and anyone looking at him knows he isn't going to apologize or be ashamed of what he did.  Then he speaks, "It was not meant to be a moment of exclusion.  We're still gauging our own powers, but I had to face the fact that my powers aren't there to be used in investigation or research.  I can't see the past or anything like that.  So I felt it would be best if I began putting mine to use, I decided on a small group for the purpose of the night: it was a hunt.  If I were out to gather information, I'd certainly bring you along Colin, but I wasn't, this was about apprehending criminals.  Plus, from a standpoint of practicing the use of our powers, we cannot always make the assumption that we will all be together like we were today, we have to be prepared for small group coordinations as well as larger battles.  I didn't say that I would always keep it a secret, but for that night I felt it important that we talk of it as little as possible, because of these witches if they found out a few of us were out alone they could've taken advantage of it which we can't let happen."  He then looks over at Donnie who is slumped against the wall in defeat and says, "I didn't ask you not because I didn't figure it would be something you weren't interested in, but because I feel that you are much better suited at preparing our attack against these witches.  As I understand it, the more you research the better chance we have of getting them, and in a lot of ways these witches are more important than any drug dealer."
With the mention of the paranormal registry, he arches an eyebrow and says, "They can't actually be serious about getting that to pass right?  I mean, it'd be insanity."

Donnie can't help himself. "Wow Kel, I think that's the most you've ever said in one siting." He see's Kel's face darken in anger and amends "Sorry, man. That was uncalled for. You're right. Beating up drug-dealers isn't my thing. I have been concentrating on witchery-stuff more than anything else."

He wonders what Colin and Sylvia were discussiing outside.

Kel laughs, his face switching out of the darker mode and closer to its usual state, "Only say things when it matters Donnie, and that needed to be said and I couldn't leave anything to be misinterpreted.  Don't want to piss off my friends, ya know?"

For a moment, Sammy would have gone to the bank with a bet that Kel and Donnie were about to come to blows, but the tension eased off -- well, sort of.  Sammy moves between the two boys, not blocking them from each other, but making it harder for one to do anything to the other without the risk of hurting her too.  She reaches down into the space between her outer dress and the ski underwear.  A more optimistic girl might call that area 'cleavage', but Sammy isn't that delusional.   She pulls out a wadded napkin, slightly the worse for wear, flattens it out and shows it to Donnie.  It is the napkin he handed to her in the lunch line.

"Hey, Donnie, I hate to interrupt the fun, but what do these symbols mean?"
Please get distracted, please, please, please...

Donnie looks away from Kel, his frowning beetled brows loosening. "Just protective symbols. Angelic script and the like. These witches have me very paranoid."

Megan just remains silent while some of the tension in the group begins to unfold.  It just tended to prove the point that pretty much every social grouping came with its own problems, and that often they were of similar nature.  The comment Sylvia made about Colin and Sarah going out was interesting, considering her conversation with Sarah just Friday night, it would seem Colin was the boy that she had mentioned and that she had taken the blond teen’s advice. 

Donnie seemed to have something against Kel, and Megan was laying good odds it might have something to do with Sylvia, who was now outside talking with Colin.  Kel, though, as was almost typical of him, seemed rather unbothered by it.  As Sammy moved over to Donnie and distracted him by asking about something the took out from the front of her costume.

Megan looked back at Kel as she answered his question about the paranormal registration act.  “Right now it is nothing but talk.  But if things keep getting worse, that talk could turn to action.  The real trick would be for supporters of it to come up with a draft that they think would be able to stand up as constitutional.  My dad once told me how older versions of similar attempts, both here and elsewhere, all ran into problems with being unconstitutional on Due Process and Right to Privacy grounds.  But if you get enough clever minds together, along with enough popular support, and they might get something together that might even get passed.  Then it would have to be challenged in courts and make it either to the State or US Supreme Court to be overturned as unconstitutional.”

Kel nods, it seems like some sort of relief passes over his face, "So this would take a few years?  I mean, this couldn't happen by january or something right, even if things got really bad?"

OOC: For the sake of my sanity, let's say that Colin and Sylvia went out just after the comment about him and Sarah, and came back just before Kel's reply, ok?


Colin comes back from the talk with Sylvia with a sad expression of defeat in his face. He listens to Kel's point of view, but it's as if it really doesn't matter anymore for him.

"Kel, that is all good and well." he says wearily "Just remember that one of the Banner's rules to good super-heroing was 'learn to communicate', ok? So, what would happen even if we had to register?"

Kel ignores the communication comment, shrugs and says, "Well I believe it pretty much would mean there would be public records of who we are.  At the very least, it'd mean anyone would be able to find out about us and what we can do..."

Colin raises an eyebrow.

"Why? Firearms records aren't public. Why should paranormal records be?"

Megan looks over at Colin as he speaks up at the further discussion regarding the possibility of a registration act.  “Well, it actually depends upon what all is required in the act.  It could just be that they will have record that we are paranormal, but it could also be that they know what we can do.  And just because that information is gathered does not mean it will be public, though it could be.”

“But the real problem will be that those that don’t register will be committing a crime.  Of course, people like Spark, the ones most likely to commit crimes with their powers, won’t be registering anyway.  Which creates other problems.  Say there is someone else out there that can shoot electricity and they of course have no record of Spark.  Who do you think will have to go through the hassle of proving they where they were when Spark commits a crime?  What if that person can’t?  And what about people that shoot up with a drug like Superman or that stuff the Speed Freaks were using and duplicate someone’s powers?”

Looking back at Kel, Megan shrugs.  “As for how fast it can be enacted, don’t underestimate the power of public sentiment and how fast something can get pushed through if everyone wants it to.  They could have lawyers draft something in a day and have it passed and signed into law in a month, possible even less.  Or it could take years, or never even emerge beyond just talk.”

Pleasantly surprised, she smiles.  "You're protecting me?  I thought it was the other way around; I saved your life so I'm supposed to take responsibility for you.  Then again, Pip saved me, and you called Pip, so maybe we're even.  Thanks!"  She pushes it back down into the bodice of her dress for safekeeping.  "I was afraid it was some sort of coded message telling me something very important, and was feeling stupid because I couldn't figure it out. "


Sammy's head turns sharply at the words "public record".    "But they'd have to keep it sort of private!  Wouldn't records like that be kind of dangerous to  our friends or for people in our families who might not be paranormal, or to paras don't use their powers and pretend to be normal?"

Colin listens to Megan making some very good points.

"So basically you have just proven that such a record would be quite useless if they didn't test the whole population for an R-factor to begin with, so that even Spark would have no chance of escaping registration. Now I'm not an expert, but the costs of that alone would scare any politician away from the idea. Not to mention all the other information one would get from blood that the government has no right to ask. This would never get done.
Maybe what would make sense is something like fingerprint or dna records. You commit a crime, you get registered in that. If another, similar crime is committed, we go bother you, not the innocent citizen who has a similar power and never used it against the law. But since fingerprints can't be duplicated while powers effects can, it'd be a much less convincing proof in court. 'Your honor, the murderer is one of those 23 people, or anyone who has taken these pills.' Please.
Really, in the end, what would such a record accomplish? Why would anyone sane want it done?"

“Yes, they would most likely be private, though they make certain information about certain sexual offenders public, there could be a strong argument for public safety that those with dangerous powers have their information public as well, or maybe just paranormals convicted of using their powers in crimes.  But just because something is private, does not mean it can’t get out.  Just remember the scare last year when the Veteran’s Administration had lost all those Veteran’s sensitive information in that stolen external drive.”

When Colin makes counter arguments against what she had said, Megan considers them a brief moment, at least, to what everyone else can see, though her mind was actually working at ten times the speed of a normal persons’.  “Actually, the cost might not be as much of a problem as you expect, at least going forward.  States already require genetic screening of newborns for certain diseases, its in the Health Codes.  They could easily add a requirement for R-factor testing along with that.  The cost would fall to the parents or their health insurance carrier, just like with the genetic screening.”

“It would not be surprising at all if they create some registration requirement for convicted paranormals, particularly ones that used their powers in their crimes, after all, when you’re a convicted felon, it gets very easy to take rights away from you.  And your are right of course, the information might not be specific enough to stand up alone in court like DNA would or something, but it is a starting point to focus an investigation.  Besides, you forget that the majority of individuals charged with a crime these days never go to trial, they plea bargain.  Perhaps individuals with paranormal abilities on average might have more resources to fight a criminal charge, but they still have to go up against the state, with all its resources.”

“As to what it all would accomplish, perhaps two very important things, it would be a symbol to voters that their elected officials are doing something, and it would provide those voters with an increased sense of security, even if that is false.  Over all, it would work on the basic assumption that most people are law abiding, and will register.  For those that don’t, well, if they go out and break the law with their powers, they will eventually be caught, and then there will be yet another thing to charge them with.’

Megan leaned back on the sofa she was sitting on with Katie and Sarah, wincing slightly at the tenderness in her back from her burns.  “Now I am way to tired to keep having to think so much, bad enough the first Con Debate team meeting is tomorrow.”  She let out a sigh.  “Darn these burns, a dip in the hot tub at home sounds so inviting.”

Sarah has been ignoring the tense conversation and quietly feeding Pip scooby-snack gram-crackers when Donnie isn't looking.  The little dragon is almost as cute as the Golden retriever puppies and far more clever.  "Whose a little cutey then?  Does the great powerful dragon like his tummy rubbed?"

She picks up Megan's last comments, "Oh great.  A register for us and the sex offenders.  People could track us to our homes and either force us to leave because they fear for their lives or blame us for every little accident that happens.  It would probably be even worse for someone like Colin.  With his powers... I don't think there would be a place on Earth he'd be left alone.  Does Canada need any superheroes?"

Sylvia takes a minute to get over the urge to throw something at Colin and his refusal to believe that she had nothing to do with the inclusion or exclusion of anyone.  How did she wind up taking the heat for this?  Kel gets off scot-free, and she's an evil witch for pointing out that Colin can't expect them to act as a single mind every night of the week.

And why is Colin telling her she's treating Donnie badly?  Has Colin been talking to Donnie behind her back?  Has Donnie been saying she hasn't been treating him right?  She's been doing her best to advertise interest.  She's asked him out and gone over to his house and brought him cookies, for Christ's sake.  How much clearer does it have to be?  And this Kel thing!  Kel's cute, but why does Colin think she's flirting?  She's just doing, you know, Kel stuff--fighting and prowling and looking bad-ass.  Why can't she hang with him same as she's done all summer?

"Stupid boys," she says, gritting her teeth, and decides suddenly that, whatever the Usual Suspects are doing, they can do without her for the rest of the evening.  She shoves her hands in the pockets of her coat, gives her scarf another twist around her neck, and stalks away toward home.

Megan sighs as she rolls her head over to look at Sarah.  “Its all just talk right now.  No need to skip the country just yet.  I just thought you all might want to know that the possibility was out there, that what we do could have the potential to tip the scales in the early debate.”

Seth finally emerges from the bathroom, where he had been vomiting up that ciggarette as well as most of the contents of his stomach.  That's what an 8 month old ciggarette, headaches, and to much adrenilin will do for you.

He had just spent the last several seconds making himself look presentable, but his breath still tasted awful to him, and he decided to keep his mouth as closed as possible when speaking.

He went out into the main room

"Hey. I feel a little bet.." his words trailed off as he saw Velocity sitting without her mask off. He hadn't said anything, but he kinda had a small crush on Megan. The way she looked, the way she moved etc. There was just something about her. He had even snuck into one of the football games to watch her routiene, not that he normally would be caught dead at a sporting event.  But he had never imagined she had powers too. It was a lot to take in. His first thought was to the way he looked and he panicked a little. He ran his tongue along his teeth one last time.

"I apparently missed an announcement. I'm Seth."  His hand runs through his hair, dislodgeing it, so it falls in his face a little. "I think we've met. But it's been awhile. So you're Velocity. You're who everyone is talking about these days."

the ends of his lips curl up in a bemused, almost Mona Lisa like, smile. "Hi"  He kinda turns to everyone else. "So did i miss anything else earthshattering?"

Megan looks up at the new voice to see the boy in the black leather duster, now without his mask and recognizes him.  She had met him a few times before, most recently at a fundraiser for a local homeless shelter her father had hosted, Seth had been there with his parents, his dad another lawyer who her father had worked on deals with in the past and had made campaign contributions to her father’s campaign for mayor.  His mother was a really beautiful model, even though she sometimes was a bit over the top.  She also remember that the first day of school her and the other cheerleaders had just arrived at the Tasty Dog in time to hear him play an incredibly amazing song.

Megan smiled at him as he mentioned having missed her announcement and reintroduced himself.  “Yeah, sorry, hadn’t realized someone had stepped away.  No worries, I’m still here, so now you know.  And we have met, though only oh so briefly last month, almost didn’t recognize you without your tux.”

“But yeah, amazingly enough I am Velocity, able to strike fear into the hearts of criminals, well, some of them anyway.  If they all only knew the truth.”  She grins slightly as she recalled the mugger from earlier tonight and how quickly he had started running when he saw her appear. 

She then shrugged as Seth asked if they had talked about anything else earthshattering while he was gone.  “Oh, just the usual, crazy electricity hurling creeps, the pros and cons of vigilantism and about the socio-political impact that would result from the passing of a paranormal registration act.”

Still lounging back, she looked around as she grinned slightly.  “So, this superteen club, when you all run out of meetings with retired superheroes and discussion about witches that are hexing people at school, what else do you do?  Play spin the bottle or something?”  She playfully nudged Katie next to her as she added.  “You can’t play Katie.”  Not that she really expected the answer to be yes.

Donnie notices Colin come back in, an inscrutable look on his face.

I wonder if this had to do with whatever he was supposed to email me about. Hmm. Sylvia hasn't come back in.

He reaches over to where Pip was lounging next to Sarah, consuming cookies contently, and tugs his tail. "C'mon fatty." Pip scrambled up and managed to nip his hand as he withdrew it, hissing at Donnie. The blonde boy just smiled as Pip gave a quick snakes-tongue touch of affection to Sarah, who was indulging the greedy little dragon. Pip snatched the cellophane interior bag and leaped to Donnie's shoulder, where he began consuming the last of the cookies, bag and all.

"I need some frsh air, and I'm gonna check on Sylvia."

Coming out of the bomb shelter, he looked around and saw no sign of Sylvia. Well, her house is thataway, so... "Find her please, my friend."

Donnie trudged up the street, following the flight of his familiar. Maybe it is time for a little honesty of my own. But first.. Donnie pauses and speaks in a high, singsong voice, tracing symbols in the air. A faint glittering follows his fingertips, and there is a bell-like note as he completes the last mystic pass. Witches of Oak Park High, not gonna find me tonight..

It does not take long for Pip to find Sylvia, and he lands on a mailbox a couple of houses in front of her, standing primly until she draws near. His head is cocked, and he lets out a small "Meep?"

Sylvia's hardened stare at the sidewalk almost keeps her from seeing Pip, but the meep breaks through her growly inner monologue and forces her to look.  She looks oddly concerned for a moment, oddly worried.  Then it's as if she retreats behind her bullheaded facade, and she sounds a little tart when she talks to the dragon.  She relies on the fact that a little cat-sized guy, with his little cat-sized brain, will be about as smart as Bell Jar is.  "What?" she asks, without fear of offending.  "Spying for the enemy?"

The words are harsh, and the tone is sulky, but she offers Pip a mollifying rub under the chin.

After hearing her spin the bottle jab Seth momentarily put his hand up to his mouth and scrapped his tongue across his teeth. He realized he was being stupid. But, damn it, his mouth tasted awful. And even the thought of kissing made him panic with an intense desire for peppermints.

Taking his hand away 'I just joined, so i don't know. Is there superteen spin the bottle? "  that last question is almost optimistic, but not with any sense of immediacy behind it.


He looks back at Megan. "You're outfit is a little different too. Not that this look isn't nice, but you were born to wear formalware."  The line is delivered without his characteristic shyness, but as soon as he realizes it, his eyes retreat behind his hair.

Donnie hears in his head that Pip has found her and smiles, though his smile falters when he is relayed her words.  Huh. How did I become the enemy all of the sudden? He jogs to try and catch up and is out of breath when he sees Syvlia standing near Pip. "Sylvia! *huh*Waita sec *huh*."

He catches up to her and ;eans over, face red. "You really move when you walk like that.."

Sylvia's face takes on that unreadable aspect again.  Then her features set into a kind of firm, strictly-business look again.  She tries not to take it out on poor Donnie--she really does--but she can't dismiss the paranoid suspicion that he and Colin have been talking behind her back about how she's stringing boys along or whatever slander seems to come part and parcel with the cheerleader skirt.  "I needed the exercise.  The bomb shelter's a little stuffy."  She tries harder to bring her temper down.  "I guess they're not designed for good ventilation."

"Not really. More for surviving german bomb strikes. Mind if I walk with you?" Donnie's heart continued to beat rapidly, and it was not from jogging anymore. He was nervous. He so did not want to screw this up. Sometimes Sylvia drove him nuts with her unfathomable ways, other times she seemed interested in him; leaning close, bringing him cookies and the like.

Kel gets a mischevious grin when Megan makes the comment about spin the bottle, "We don't normally, but there's no better time to start than the present."

Sammy watched Donnie exit the shelter, probably in search of Sylvia, and mentally wished him luck.  She'd watched her sister play the same game with a couple of boys just last summer, and it had turned out really ugly.  He seemed like an okay guy who deserved better than that.

Sammy panics.  "We could put on some music or something!  That could be fun.  Or..."  She smiles at Katie.  "Seth is a really good singer.  I bet he can sing any song you name.  We could bet m&m's on if we think he'll know something or not.  Ya know... my mom told everybody else at home that I was out babysitting tonight.  I bet I could take Katie home with me.  She'd be safe there.  We could say her parents got stuck somewhere and weren't going to get home until real late, so we thought it was a better idea for her to come to my house for the rest of the night.  Maybe I should call my Mom?"

Sylvia doesn't, actually, mind, and as much as she'd like to huff and puff and blow him away, she's glad it was he who came after her, even if it was Colin who put him up to it.  She shakes her head and goes on, subdued, then nods back in the direction of Greg's house.  "Is the meeting over?"

“Thanks.”  Megan says with a smile.  “It has always such a pain to get ready for one of those events though, but now, it isn’t so bad.  I think I set a record last week in getting ready for the dinner, superspeed is such fun.”  She then picks up a strand of hair again and looks at it disappointedly.  “Except for this of course, still takes forever to blow dry.”  She had heard the bit of optimism in Seth’s voice when he had responded to the idea of possibly playing spin the bottle, but did not comment on it.


Letting the strand drop off to the side of her face, she looked over at Kel, not surprised to see the mischievous grin he had.  She was sure that some of the “accidental” gropes that he or Dallas made on her during cheerleading practice were anything but “accidental”, but as they did sometimes keep her from falling on her head when a stunt went wrong, she figured it was best not to complain.


Before she could respond though, Sammy quickly spoke up, giving some alternate suggestions and then setting out a pretty good plan on what to do with Katie for the night.  It sure sounded better than leaving her here, as that might require either Megan to remain all night, or them to take shifts or something.  She also got a sense of fear from the other girl about the possibility of playing spin the bottle and decided to be nice and not try to push the idea forward.  “Well, another time perhaps.”  She said as she sat up.  “But I guess it is time to talk about the ‘official’ business for tonight.  We do need to figure out some place for Katie to stay tonight and that sounds like it might be a good idea if your mom would be willing to go along with it.  About the only other thing would be for her to stay here I guess, but we would likely want some to help watch her, and I am not so sure I am ready to bite the bullet for staying out all night this early in my high school years.  You really think your mom would go for this?”

"I don't think so. After Colin came in and you didn't follow, I decided to check on you. Colin looked pissed, so I figured you two had a disagreement. Looks like I wasn't off the mark. I don't know why he would be giving you crap about the vigilante thing, especially since it was Kel's idea." His face clouds for a moment, and then he sighs. He looks up into the clear night sky, watching as Pip makes stars wink out as he passes overhead, chasing moths and bats.

"Sylvia, I need to be truthful with you. It's not fair for me to be pissed off about you going out with Kel and not telling me. You've known him a while, I gather, by the way he seemed pretty comfortable at your house the other night. Maybe you are friends, maybe more. I don't know. I do know that the way you look at him sometimes makes be cringe inside, telling myself 'I haven't got a chance against him when trying for your affection.' I don't know girls very well, beyond this new group of friends. Except Sarah, but she's just, uh, Sarah, y'know?" he seemed to be struggling to make sense. They were nearing Sylvia's house, and he screwed up his courage to take the plunge.

"I like you. Alot. And I want to see you, outside lunch, outside this group of super-friends. You've learned more about me in the last month than Greg, Dave, Sarah, and Rob, who I have known for over a year.  But I want to know if I am going to be a second choice for you, after Kel. I don't want to be someone's second choice, y'know? Maybe that's just the romantic side of me, but I don't want to wrap my heart up in someone who is pining for someone else. I don't want to open my heart for someone who will walk away if another, specific, muscular and self confident ninja-fighter suddenly wants her too." They stop outside her house, and Pip lands in the tree that Sylvia uses for her nightly escapes and rendevouxs with Kel for chatting or drug dealer busting (though he doesn't know that).

"I'm sorry if all this is too much for you to absorb now." Donnie blinks rapidly, and clears his throat, hands jammed deep in his jacket. He glances at Sylvia's face, and then looks down at the grass, kicking a few fallen leaves with his sneakered foot.

Sarah considers the suggestion.. the real ones, not spin the bottle.  "Sammy's might be a really good place to hide.  The thugs didn't see her and she doesn't hang out very often at the US table.  Plus if something happens she could probably fly Katie out of there in an emergency.  Well I don't know.. could you fly Katie out?  Oh and maybe even one of the girls could stay over for a sleepover if we wanted extra protection?"  

Her mouth pulls to one side, but she ameliorates what might have popped out of her mouth if she'd been talking to Pip.  "Colin just wants us to give over to the hive mind.  He's under the mistaken impression that everything we do should involve everybody."


"My affection?"  See, now, that's a completely different thing from butt obsession.  He has her complete attention now.


Sylvia's right eye squinches a little.  He was doing so well until he told her he thought she was likely to ditch him for Kel.  Still, she holds back a sudden fit of pique and hopes there's an invitation to homecoming somewhere in there.  Or a flower.  Or a kiss.  But of course here they are in front of her home where Carolyn could glance out the window and see.  She's not sure what Momda would do to Donnie, but she knows that Carolyn's a capable woman who's good with power tools and who regularly oversees the pouring of concrete foundations.


"Too much?"  She's not sure if it's too much or not enough, but without any meaningful handbook she finds herself saying, "No."  Pause.  She's not sure how to go on, but it seems important to tell him one thing--so important that she blurts it out without any preamble, just the facts, with extreme journalistic integrity.  "Kel and I aren't dating or anything.  And I want you to ask me to homecoming."  She shrugs, not sure where she's going with this, not sure how she feels about him, or boys, or her new, weird responsibility to a world much bigger than she is.

But she knows he looks nervous, or embarrassed.  And she knows she likes the way he smells, the color of his eyes, and the way he smiles when he talks about his drawings and his stories and his games.  She likes his jokes, and she likes the way his tongue changes colors from all that Jell-O he eats.  She leans in, considers planting a kiss on his lips or perhaps the corner of his mouth--and then a stray thought zips through her head like a mad, malicious streaker at a sweet sixteen party.  She frowns.  "You're not. . . .  I mean, could you possibly be. . . ."  She studies his face, worried.  "Are you sure?  I mean, are you sure it's you?  Are you sure it's me?  Are you sure I'm not. . . ."

Her voice drops to a small, haunted whisper.  She's close enough that it carries to his ears even with the brisk breeze rustling through the leaves of the old oak overhead.  It's weird:  this should be the point at which she kisses him, but instead she's telling him what Colin refused to hear and what she's been afraid to tell her parents.  "I could make you.  I could make you fall in love with me."

Donnie stares into her eyes as she closes in on him, and he feels like he is filled with helium at her words, floating a foot off the ground. At her nervous glance towards her darkened house, he comes back to himself a little bit, but this was his chance. This is his opportunity. "None of the witches can affect me right now. This is me, and you are you."  He reaches out with a hand, cupping the side of her face. She looks so...vulnerable. Like I have never seen her before.

"I like you. We have plenty of time for love, and it's not a word to be tossed around thoughtlessly."

Then he kisses her.

Megan looks over at Sarah as she speaks up about the plan involving Sammy hiding Katie and thinks a moment.  “Then it does sound like a really great plan.  But as for another of us there as well as a ‘sleepover’, well, I really doubt I can pull that off, unless I lied to my mom and said I was at other girl from the squad’s house, but on a school night it would just seem to wrong.  There is also the point that it would seem odd to the rest of Sammy’s parents if her mom knows what’s going on but they don’t, don’t you think?” 

She then focused back on Sammy.  “But this really turns on if you think your mom would go for it.”

"I think she'll be okay with it, even with some others staying the night there, but I need to ask to be sure.  One thing though, if this happens, we CANNOT talk about having powers or any of that in front of anybody but her.  She has powers too, but she quit using them years ago.  Nobody else in my family knows about me yet;  Mom thought it might be better to keep it quiet for a while.  And yeah, I can fly Katie out to a safe place if I have to; I airlifted Kel once, and she doesn't weigh anything near what he does.  Let me call home."

Megan smiled.  "Don't worry, I have no intention about talking about having powers in front of anyone.  I dont' even have any intention of talking about having powers at school or most anywhere really."  She then waits for Sammy to call her mom.

The kiss takes her off guard.  She might have said something about how it wasn't the witches or the love slime she meant, but her own curious talent for cranking the wheels of the human heart.  But then his lips are on hers, and it's such a strange thing, this kissing.  That something so curious and awkward and tender could send a zing of some intense, unnamed sensation through her completely blows away her gnawing fear.  She doesn't shy away from it.  On the contrary, she finds a visceral comfort in his kiss that leads her to lean further into him, to prolong the moment.  This first kiss--a sort of eager, innocent, urgent exploration of new terrain--has an uncommon edge of hunger to it.

Kel is slightly dissappointed when the conversation turns away from spin the bottle.  Still, he can't lie and say that protecting Katie wasn't important.  He interjected, "If Sammy's mom isn't willing, my house would be fairly safe.  I'd be there, and both my father and grandfather are pretty good in bad situations.  Not sure if they'd be up for it though..."  He then corrects himself, "Not sure if my dad would be up for it."

“That’s a nice offer Kel but…” Megan began before she stopped herself mid sentence.  “Ohh, I am so tired my brain hasn’t been thinking straight!”  Looking over towards Sammy, she called out, “wait Sammy, don’t call your mom yet.”

“You guys are both awesome, volunteering to take Katie, but these guys are serious, really serious.  Just because your mom might be willing to help out, it is far more serious than just needing you to be able to fly Katie out of there if trouble came.”  In a flash, Megan’s hands covered Katie’s ears, and she dropped her voice a bit as she went on.  “When they first came after her in Kansas, they killed everyone at her foster home!  They badly wounded two Kansas police when they were taking her home.  I don’t think I could live with myself if something happened to you and your families because you helped with this.”

Letting go of Katie’s ears, she looked over at Greg.  “We should probably just rest up here a bit and then Katie and I head back out for the rest of the night.  I think I know a place those jerks can’t get to us at, would just need some sleeping bags or something to help us stay warm.”  Megan said as she thought about the fallout that would happen when she stayed out all night.  She would easily be grounded for a month, which meant no Homecoming and no going to Elrod’s Halloween party, but letting Sammy or Kel put their families lives in danger was too much.

Sammy presses on with her own argument.  "My mom can handle it if she wants to.  She has powers like mine.  Difference is, she knows how to use them.  There's also a deserted little island out in the middle of the  lake where she takes me for target practice; we could hide there.  Heck, she might even come over here and stand guard.  She can't stand to see a kid being threatened; she says it reminds her too much of when she was a little girl."  She looks at Katie consideringly.  "If she finds out Katie is a foster kid, who knows what she'd try to do."

Megan gives Sammy a smile as she holds up her hands.  “Okay Sammy, calm down.  It will be great if your mom does want to help out, I just wanted you to be able to tell her all the facts so she could consider how dangerous this could potentially be in making her decision.  But that island sounds like it might be a great idea.” 

The blond teen paused as she looked down at Katie.  “As for what will happen next, as Kevin is getting the feds involved, it wouldn’t be surprising for Katie to disappear into protective custody.  Which is kinda sucks, cause I’ll miss her.”  She then gives the younger girl a hug with her right arm.  “After all, we have had some pretty good times cruising the streets of Chicago together.”

"I had fun too.  I have other places that I have to be though, so we may not see each other again after tomorrow.  You never know though, things change."  Katie smiles and gives Megan a hug.

Megan has a slightly sad look on her face at Katie’s words, and gives her a full hug back.  “Yeah, I kind of figured that might be the case.  I am just glad your safe now Katie, hoping to find a way to help you has been the driving thing in my life the last week and thanks to Colin, the PCD got a lead that helped, and of course, you got away again.  But believe me, if you ever are in trouble again and I hear about it, I will do whatever I can to help you.”

"Thatnk you.  You don't have to worry about me though."  Katie looks around at everyone in the bomb shelter.  "I'll be fine."

Sammy gives her mom a call, on the chance that Katie might actually want to come with her instead of stay with Velocity, and that Mom will approve.

"Hi Mom -- I wound up babysitting a 10 year old girl tonight.  She was in a bad situation, and there still might be some bad men looking for her.  She needs a safe place to sleep; for some reason her guardians can't get to her tonight, and they can't set up anything else until tomorrow morning.  I was wondering if it'd be okay if she came back home with me.  I don't think that anybody would be able to figure out that she was with us before she leaves again in the morning.  Would it be okay?  If not, I'm going to have to stay out all night to keep an eye on her."

"Sure sweetheart.  Do you need me to come get you?"

"That would probably be a good idea.  Thanks Mom!"

She turns to Katie with a grin.  "Want to sleep on the bed or the sleeping bag?"

OOC: Any objections to closing this thread here?  We can move onto the next chapter.

(OOC- None)

OOC: I have one, sorry, I'd like to talk a moment with Katie before she goes away with Sammyand her mom.


"Katie, can I ask you a little question? We are... a little bit alike you and me, and I think you may be th eonly one that can help me."

He kneels and whisper into her ear.

"When you look at what could happen in the future, how do you know what you can do to... make it right? Like when you showed me the way to help Charlie."

"I don't try to make it right.  You can't see what will happen, only what can happen.  And, that's not always bad, even if it looks bad."  Katie looks at her new bear for a second, then looks back at Colin.  "You'll be sad a lot.  It's because you'll take every failure too personally, and you'll forget your victories too easily.  You'lkl always be looking toward tomorrow, and not being in today."

Katie's words shock Colin.

But... if it's not bad, why show it to me that way, right then? So I don't get attached to her? Is it some kind of big perverse test to see how I react? Why show me anything at all, if I have no way to tell if it's good or bad? I guess it must be real funny to see fumbling in the dark from up there. I wonder why the hell he chose me, since I'm so wrong for this job. It must really be one hell of a joke, and I'm the only on that can't see it.

He hugs the girl tenderly, as if she was his little sister, as tears well up in his eyes.

"Take care, Katie. I hope you'll find soon a really nice home. I... have to go." he says, getting up. "I've done enough damage for this night." He looks at Sarah for just a moment, with despair in his eyes, then he runs away.

OOC: You can lock it here for me.

Katie touches Sarah's hand as Colin exits.  "Tell him that I'm only ten.  I'm still learning."

Megan looked at Sammy as she asked about where Katie would like to sleep.  “I would rather she got to sleep in a bed too, I just was not wanting you and your mom to volunteer to take her in without fully knowing the danger that it could involve.  But it sounds like it’s Sammy’s house then.  I’ll take you out to meet her mom and come by early tomorrow morning to get you and take you to the police and feds.”

Sammy looks at Megan with a bemused look on her face.  "How old are you again?"  She clarifies to Katie,  "We can sleep in my room, which has twin beds, or in the family room on sleeping bags so its like a sleepover party.  I was trying to give you a choice."

"Oooh" Katie says, "Sleeping bags sounds fun.  It'll be like camping."

OOC: So I'll officially close it at this point then.  You guys take Katie to the Jameson house and early the next morning you meet up with Inspector Kiernan, who takes her to meet Eagle Force.

Sarah nods to little Katie.  "So the drama."

Sarah waves and heads out after Colin, running to catch up to him somewhere down the street. 

Megan waved to Sarah as she got up to go after Colin.  That the other girl was worried about him was not a big surprise, as Sarah had told the blond teen about how she had taken her advice and started letting things happened with Colin when they had gone to lunch on Sunday.  She had also asked several questions about where things were or should go next.  After the two were gone, Megan got ready to help get Katie to Sammy’s mother and things taken care of for the night so she could get back home and get some rest before having to take Katie to Kevin in the morning.