Mystlings IC (Mature Possible)

Well he saw her now, no point in continuing ignoring him. Growling, she grabbed her drink and marched over to him. "What the fuck are you doing here?" she growled.

The bartender put a glass of whiskey down in front of him as she sat down. "Having a drink. Do you have a problem with that?" He gripped his glass tightly and took a gulp.

"Yeah I do. What, doesn't your precious Alpha Site have a bar? You have to come out here with us normal people?" She tossed back her drink, her fourth this evening, and waved the bartender over for another.

The glass exploded in his hand, sending whiskey and glass fragments in different directions. "There is nobody here to hold me back now Val. If you are looking for a fight, you've found one."

"A fight? You? That's a good one coming from the guy who ran away instead of standing and fighting." Val snorted, taking the bottle before the bartender could leave with it and taking a swig.

He rose from his seat, the table flipping away from him. "I didn't fight because I didn't want to hurt regular people! But I've gotten over that." He was on the verge of losing control.

"Well guess what! You ended up hurting at least one of them anyways!" Val was standing now, too, glaring at Brock, the anger back again.

Brock stared at her, trembling with anger, then closed his eyes, partially to hold back a tear he had felt welling up, and to try to keep control of himself. He couldn't afford to have an incident in the city. Then he felt it, a tremor shake through the floor. "Val...don't make me do this...innocent people will get hurt...I can't change what happened that day."

"Innocent people?" Val glanced over at the bar's patrons, most of them staring at the shouting match taking place. There was a rat-faced man in a coat too large for him, subtlety trying to hide the notebook he held in his left hand. A bookie, obviously. Another was a woman who had been talking to a nervous looking man when Val had walked in and who was now a bit richer. Another, a tall, blond rail of a man returned from the back room, a slight bit of white powder around his nostrils. The bartender himself had track marks and callouses, testaments to his failed music career.

Val snorted. "You're not gonna find innocents in this part of town. So fucking man up for once."

A tremor followed her words immediately, like he had just been waiting on her to finish talking. A picture fell off the wall and a few bottles fell to the floor. Everyone in the bar stood up immediately, trying to discover the cause of the sudden quake. "Val...please. I don't want to hurt people..." He was breathing heavy, his chest heaving up and down. He couldn't take her pushing and prodding much more. But an accidental use of his power would surely cause a dangerous counter attack on the Alpha Site. And he couldn't endanger his own people.

"Well too fucking late for that." Val's voice was filled with barely suppressed bitterness. She took a drink from the bottle still in her hand, barely tasting the alcohol as it burned it's way down her throat. She ignored the people who were starting to think hanging around to watch was a bad idea as they made their way to the exit.

Jeremy felt the ground shake, a brief and dulled tremor that skittered his heel across the concrete as he stepped forwards. "Brock." The name was a question, a statement, and very nearly a swear as he tore off to get to the bar. It was just around the corner... He crashed headfirst into someone fleeing the scene, barely catching the scent of cheap liqueur as he bounced to his feet and kept running.

Brock can't take it anymore. His skin flashes suddenly bright and metallic, followed by a much larger quake shaking through the building. Anyone that had not decided to leave at this point ran as fast as they could towards the exit now. Nobody wanted to stick around to see how this played out. "You ruined my life Val! My life is lead in secrecy from everyone I use to know and love because of YOU!" Another violent shake, along with a few cracks in the floor synchronized with his last word.

"Because of me?!" Val shot back at him. "I'm not the one who never even tried to come back! The whole secrecy thing is on your head, not mine!" She was breathing heavily now, her vision blurring slightly as she flashed back to the time following the 'incident,' when she waited by the spot in the park nearly every day for his return. "I can't believe I wasted all that time waiting for you."

"Your lack of response when I needed you was enough to make me never want to come back and see you again! And you know what! I'm glad I didn't! CUZ I'D PROBABLY BE STUCK WITH YOU!" Now the floor between them completely split apart and bits of the roof began to fall in around them. The building was coming down all around them.

Val opened her mouth to respond, but words failed her. She blinked a few times, hoping to avoid the tears, but a few escaped and rolled down her cheek. She shook her head in frustration, then, that not enough, threw her bottle to the ground. She got little satisfaction from the shattering glass. She had no response still, and instead, with a muttered "bastard," just stared her former friend down.

The ground began buckling and tearing, and Jeremy knew this was the end of it. No normal human in the city would hold back now, the Alpha Site was compromised. He tore into the concrete, racing at a breakneck pace across the splintering concrete, and weaved through and even over the crowd in his haste. This needed to end before there were any casualties...

He burst into the doorway, the aged wooden door already splintered and laying off to the side with a single hinge holding it more or less near the entrance. "Brock! Snap out of it! We have to move!"

Pieces of ceiling landed around him...some on him. But not the metal TING's of wreckage bouncing from his skin, nor the shaking of the building, or at first even the sound of Jeremy yelling in his ear could seem to snap him out of his trance. The tremors were becoming worse and worse by the second, but his stare at Val never broke a single time.

Finally, a voice deep inside him told him to move. He blinked once, then again, and realized it was still Jeremy shouting in his ear and tugging on his arm. He almost turned to run, but then looked back at Val who was still stuck in the building. He snatched her around the waist and ran towards the exit. He saw Jeremy slip out of the doorway, and then, CCCRRRRAAAAAAASSSSHHHHHHHHH.

The building came down all around them. For a moment, it seemed as though nobody could have lived. Then suddenly, the rubble began to shift and fall away, and Brock emerged clutching Val still. He had pushed her under him and let the building fall on himself. He dropped her on the grass in front of the building. "Tell our lack of compassion to your leaders." He looked at her in disgust, then turned back to Jeremy and nodded, and they both ran towards Alpha Site.

(Sorry for kind of controlling ya'lls chars...it just seemed like a good way to end the situation and move on.)

What the fuck just happened? Val asked herself, staring in the direction Brock had run off in. She was rather shocked. He had saved her? When it would of been easier to just let her get crushed by the building?

In the distance, the sounds of sirens could be heard, but Val took no notice of them. She was to focused on trying to figure out his motives for saving her. It was obvious by what he said he didn't care about her in the slightest. Well that was just fine, she didn't care abut him either. In fact, were their positions reversed, Val wouldn't of lifted a finger to help him. (She ignored the little voice in the back of her head that said, no, she'd do anything she could to protect him if she had to.)

So why did he help her? Val absently noted her heart was still pounding slightly. She put it down to adrenaline, because what else could it be? It certainly had nothing to do with the way she was protected from the falling building. Val also noticed, to her extreme surprise, she was crying, and had been doing that for a little while now. She furiously wiped away the tears. What the fuck was she crying for anyways?

Her phone buzzed, shaking her from her thoughts. She put it to her ear, not bothering to see who it was.

"You're being discharged," the voice on the other end said, not waiting for Val to speak.

"...What?" she asked. Her breathing began to quicken. This couldn't be happening.

"You are to report to the base immediately, where you will turn in your firearm, uniform, and identification," the voice continued like she hadn't said anything. "If you do not, a team will be dispatched to take you in. We suggest you cooperate."

There was a click, the voice having disconnected.Val was left staring at her phone. This didn't just happen. How could it? She'd wake up and find out this whole day was a dream. What else could it be? The person she hated (tried to hate) helped her and the thing she believed in (tried to believe in) left her high and dry. It was like some sick joke.

She shakily got to her feet and started heading home, hurrying so she could get out of the area before the emergency services could show up. She wasn't sure what she was going to do next, but she knew for sure it would not involve going back to base. Like hell she was going to turn her stuff in. No, she'd get some things together and get out. Where she'd go next, she didn't know. But Val knew where ever it was she'd have to figure it out fast. They wouldn't wait long before going after her.

Shuanna had walked around the site with Orik, a little nervous when going back into the crowds, but happy that her feet were vibrant with feeling.
Pushing or rather slinking passed them, in the distance she saw that the people were actually parting a way. Like how moses parted the great sea, they had saw that Brock was very upset.
Shuanna did what everyone else did. She stood aside, staring at him.
And like everyone else, fear welled up inside her with a teaspoon of sympathy and loss of hope for the leader of the mystlings.

Jeremy followed behind Brock, wondering just quickly this would bring a response to the Alpha Site. His best guess gave them hours, maybe less, before news spread enough for Mystlings in the city to be attacked by mobs openly. Days, probably not even that, before the search for the Alpha Site itself became a priority... A week before they were found, and eradicated. The match had been struck, and now the keg was about to go off.

"Brock, we need to go to the press. If our side isn't told, this will be the moment that sets off the war."

His feet pounded dully into the pavement as he waited for Brock's response.

Brock shook his head as they came to a stop. They had ended in the Site's main square. Everyone seemed to know something important was going on. "It's to late for all that...I leveled a building in plain site. If we tried to go to the press, we wouldn't make it to main street before military personnel snatched us up. If this is the time of war, then so be it..."

He moved a table into the middle of the square and stood up on it, making him the center of attention, although it seemed he already was. "My fellow Mystlings...I have grave news...."

Captain Chuck Briggs always knew that Ford would get herself in serious trouble one day. Ever since he first encountered her he knew she had way too much anger to last on the Mystie Patrol, as it was commonly referred to. He just didn't know how much trouble she'd cause at the same time.

But cause trouble she did, and now it was time to discuss what to do about it. Which is why Captain Briggs was in a meeting room with the officers in charge of this branch of the military.

"We need to strike now, before they get the chance to prepare themselves."

"We don't have the manpower for a strike right away. We need to gather our forces soon."

"They can't have that many defenses. We should wait until we can get one of our people in there. Get some intel."

"They'll be on the lookout for that now, after Ford's screwup. An immediate strike is the only way we can catch them off guard. A small strike team to find and attack their leaders shouldn't take too long to organize."

"That's assuming they have any. Ford said nothing about leadership in her report."

"It'll take close to 36 hours to organize a full-scale attack. Maybe less. That should be soon enough to catch them off guard."

It took a fair amount of arguing, but eventually the final option was decided on. In 36 hours, the first major attack on the Alpha Site would begin.

------------------

Elsewhere in the city, a woman named Alex walked.

A long skirt, it's edges in need of hemming, swished around the woman's ankles as she made her way around the streets of New York City. Her feet were covered by worn combat boots, a faded gray as opposed to it's original black. She had on an overcoat, one that was missing a good number of buttons, and had at least one pocket rendered useless by a hole. Her t-shirt proclaimed the main character of a short-lived TV show that had ended almost a decade ago.

Her hair was in a short, practical style, although the edges were rather uneven. It covered her ears, which was all that mattered to her. Her skin was a little dirty, the kind of dirty you get from living on the very edges of society for most of your life. Her eyes, however, were bright and curious, taking in the sights of the city.

One such sight was the woman sitting in the alley, clutching a gym bag in one hand and a handgun in the other. She looked like she was in trouble, something Alex knew a little about.

"Need some help?" Alex asked, approaching the woman cautiously.

The woman snorted. "Not the kind you could provide. Unless you have a safe house somewhere."

Alex chewed her lip. The woman was most likely human, and Alex could get in trouble for taking her into the Alpha Site. But she looked like she needed help, and Alex could probably keep her hidden... "Actually, funny you should mention that."

The woman looked interested. "You have a place? Safe from all kinds of people?"

"I do. Safe from gangs, ex-boyfriends, cops, everyone."

The woman looked around quickly before getting up. "Sounds great, how quickly can we get there?"

"Fifteen minutes." Alex suddenly thought of something. "Um, you're gonna have to wear a blindfold. Is that okay?"

The woman was silent, considering it. "I don't care, I just need a place to hide out."

Alex tore a strip of cloth from her skirt, making sure it was thick enough to block out any light from the woman's eyes. With a reassuring smile, she began to tie it around the woman's head. "I'm Alex, by the way."

"Val," the woman said, showing no emotion.

It took a little longer for Alex to get Val to her place then she though, having to dodge a few groups of mystlings once she got to the Alpha Site. Seemed like there was something going on in the main square. She made a note to head over there once Val was settled.

The blindfold was not removed until the two were in Alex's lab, one of the few places in the Alpha Site that was quiet enough to hide a human. "You'll be safe as long as you stay here," Alex said, before quickly taking her leave. Time to see what was going on in the main square.

Brock stared out at the crowd, all eyes up on him. He wasn't sure how to begin, so he just spoke from the heart. "I don't know how I should tell you this, so I'm just going to say it. Our homes...and our lives...are in danger. Alpha Site has been discovered, and due to an incident, which I take full responsibility for, the military is going to inevitably attack. I knew this day would come eventually, I just had always hoped I'd be dead when it came. But it is time for our ways of peace to come to an end. You all have been blessed, not cursed, with amazing gifts. No, we might not be entirely human. We are better. And in a few days time...max, the humans are going to burst through our door, guns blazing. Now I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to keel over and let them take us all, or worse, wipe us out. I know that some of you out there don't have it in you to fight, or just don't want to, because I know I've always taught to not use our gifts against anyone. But for those of you among us, that are willing to protect what little we have, then I beg you stand at my side and help me fight back. Let us stop being mistreated, and abused, and forced to live as we do. Let us..become...MYSTLINGS!" He pumped his fist into the air and prayed that his words drove everyone around him to join the cause.