The City

Rapid looked over at Gabriel, panting hard, he was shaking all over, he hated guns, he hated violence, but Gabriel was right. He was ok. He sighed out raggedly and let the block fall behind him with a heavy thud and he stumbled back shakily to sit down on it and push his fingers through his hair. He'd been so sure Gabe was dead, or dying. He'd almost killed someone too, and that terrified him. He couldn't look at either of them, and he was so shaken he didn't think he had the strength to stand up at the moment either. He heard the sirens creeping up three blocks away.

Emery followed them into the kitchen and sat down at the counter and rested his cheek on his folded arms, he was so tired. With Molly talking gently with Leon and Piper and the tinking sounds of dishes in the background, he let his guard down and slipped off to sleep again.

"Its too hot..." Leon said worriedly, looking at the steam curling off his mug.

"Piper can cool it off for you." Molly promised.

"No tooooo cold." Leon lifted his mug up to her gratefully.

Rapid looked up, his eyes were shining and he was blinking a lot but the sirens were getting louder. He stood up shakily and made his way back to the bench just as an armored Commando tank pulled out of a nearby ally. 'HALT!' the radio voiced loudly. Rapid gasped. "Go go go go go!" he pointed down the street and kicked the collumn he'd stepped over earlier to block the street off from the tank. He hurried after them, trying to keep the bag from splitting. He heard the van door open and something whizzed passed his head and struck the wall, a black, tar-like substance started to spread along the bricks. "Don't let the stuff tough you!" he called to Gabriel and Ren. Tar Darts, he'd had experience with too. The nasty hot substance was shot out of a hand-blaster, it was infused with paralyzing toxins and was as painful as a jellyfish sting. He took ages to wash out and throbbed for days afterwards. He rounded the corner and shoved a dumpster behind them in the allyway. "Just keep running and head towards downtown." he panted as he caught up with them.

Emery groaned and buried his face in the crook of his arm. Molly smirked and set Leon on the counter with his drink before pulling up a still beside Piper. "He's such a grump, I'm gonna tell captain he needs a few days RnR. I think being underground is wearing him out." she arched a brow as the spoon on the counter in front of Piper started to float upwards, like it was defying gravity, the cocoa power box started to rise off the counter too, papers, napkins, everything was starting to leave its place. Emery's hair was starting to lift and sway like he was underwater, he he wined and made a tight fist in his sleep.

"What's going on?" Leon asked as the knives in the cutlery block next to him started to shake.

Emery's head shot up, his eyes were black but a few blinks and they turned normal brown and he gasped out, the items fell to the ground and he jumped at the noises they made. He massaged his throat and sat up quickly. "I'm going above ground." he said shakily.

"Emery you can't go above ground without orders, what's going on?" Molly asked. Emery waved her off aggressively and hurried into the hallway. He rolled his sleeves up and looked at the veins on his arms, just as he feared, they were standing out black against his skin, but fading away. He hurried to his dorm and shut the door hard. He looked around and things were floating around his room, pens, report sheets, socks. He growled and stomped his foot on the ground. "DOWN!" he shouted, everything fell to the floor and he groaned, sitting down. He practiced the breathing he learned at the academy. His hair stopped floating a rested messily on top of his head. He rested his head back against the door. He couldn't afford a relapse, this job was too important! He couldn't louse this up too! Once his commander found out he was losing control of his telekinesis he'd boot him out for sure. No. He had to concentrate and calm down. That damn dream! He shook his head and concentrated on keeping him, and everything around him, grounded.

Leon stared at the door and heard the shout from down the hall. "Is he mad?" he asked Molly.

"I don't know, you don't worry about him though, alright? You've got us. I'll take you back to your room, Piper, you go find out what the he----eck, just happened." he eyes flashed to a violet-colored Leon before leading him out into the hall in the opposite direction back to the room he shared with Haruka and two others.

Rapid slowed his running and looked around. "Ok, three blocks that way." he panted and kept to the edge of the street. "I think we lost them..." he looked around nervously. He stopped after a moment. "Are you ok, Gabriel?" he asked. "And... Gabriel's friend?" he asked after an awkward moment of not knowing Ren's name.

"Its not a good idea to get me riled right now." Emery growled, staying sitting on the ground. "I'm trying to concentrate so it doesn't happen again so sit down and keep your mouth shut for two measley minutes." he said through gritted teeth and he tried to concentrate. Images. Bodies, the rope, the pain. Sirens and black bags. He shook his head. No, he needed positive things. Why was he having such a hard time picturing positive things?? He felt like a moron, or he was in some Peter Pan skit, 'think happy thoughts!' hard to think about when his head was full of images of death and his powers were slowly slipping out of his control. He frowned. The sun. He wasnted to see the sun again, think sun. sun... sun... he sighed out slow. Sun...

Rapid looked around and listening. "Unless they have a flier I think we can walk. The base is just ahead." he headed down the street. He pushed his free hand through his hair. "Do... you two try to kill each other and scare the daylights out of others often?" he arched a thick brow.

Rapid nodded. "Yeah well..." he rubbed the back of his neck self-conciously. "I know something about that." he glanced at his hands. "I'm not so good at controlling mine either... if you haven't noticed. I just don't want to hurt anyone, so I try not to touch people, I've broken too many bones without trying." he stopped at the entrance to an old Thai Food restaurant and knocked on the door. "Its Rapid, I've got supplies and two others that need a safe space." The door opened and older looking Asian lady stepped out. "Bring them inside! Hurry!" she hissed and ushered them in, shutting the door quickly.

Rapid set down the huge bag and opened it up, pulling out 20 gallon containers of drinking water and setting them on the ground as if they were soda cans. He took out bread and canned goods as well as some blankets, soaps and medicines. "I couldn't find any meats, the Alliance still has a hold on the butcher shops and the meat deliveries. But there's lots of canned chile... some protien in that."

"What about milk?? There's children here!" a mother called from the back as the small crowd gathered to see the goods.

"I'm sorry," Rapid said warily, "I'm trying, I am, but its getting too dangerous to go further from our haven. I saw a dead... a dead Commando captain on the street when I was out. The Rebels were int he area hours before I was, I can't fight them..."

"We understand, we'll share what you've brought, and we'll find some space for your companions." the old lady tottered away and shouted something in Thai to people in the back.


Emery sighed at long last and opened his eyes. He felt he had more control now. He glanced up, Piper was there, he felt relieved she stuck around, then he felt embarrassed and angry at himself for letting himself slip. He frowned and looked away bitterly, not sure what he was going to say when she asked him again for an explanation. He wasn't sure he was ready to relive that pain.

"Nonsense." Rapid assured them. "These people are like family, and they know times are hard, they take in people all the time, they won't turn you away as long as your aren't a threat to them." he let them into a small room. "That being said, no looting from them. Inside here we share all our provisions, we take turns going out and getting them. I usually volunteer because most people here have families that need them, kids too." He sat down on a mat on the ground and looked up at them. "I usually sleep in here alone, but you two can stay here too, I'm usually out wandering around so it won't always be so cramped.

Emery nodded. "You don't have to worry, you can depend on me to do my job." he shook his head. "I was just having an off day, I never should have let things get to me this bad. If I jeopardize those kids again though I'm turning myself in to the commander." he folded his arms. "I can't risk their lives because of my own incompetence." he muttered.