Post by Ixtlilton on Dec 18, 2010 3:34:41 GMT -5
Dragon came slinking out of the shadows with a yawn.
“Oy, finally awake, midget?” It was Alexa...
“Alexa... Why are you in my room?” Dragon said groggily, starting to rub the sleep out of her eyes.
“Someone has to make sure you get up,” the girl said with a smirk. Well... woman really. Alexa was sturdy and small chested, but her choppy blonde hair and bright, round, orange eyes identified her as female pretty easily in most cases. She was almost a good ten years older than Dragon, who was somewhere around eleven, probably, but she was still Dragon's “partner.”
“We don't have anything important today, do we?” Dragon asked, smothering another yawn behind small hands.
“Nothing I know of, baring any emergency runs. The older ones have a meeting with Nova today, though,” Alexa replied, going into Dragon's closet and pulling out a pair of pants. “Everything you own is black, Dragon. If I'm telling you to get a better wardrobe, that's pretty sad.”
“What're you, channeling Phoenix for us? Let him nag me about my nails, I get enough from him,” Dragon said, slightly grumpily, but with more affection than anything. Her next thought was cut off by a pair of her black pants hitting her gently in the face. “Mmph.”
“C'mon, get dressed. You're going to miss breakfast again, and Nova's going to scold me for it.”
“Ahright, ahright... I'm comin',” Dragon grumbled as she pulled her pants on. “Throw me a tank? Mmph!” She pulled the grey tank top out of her face. “I didn't mean liter'lly.” She pulled the tank on over her head. “So, you, Phoenix, and Simon are all going?”
“Yeah,” said Alexa, holding the door open for Dragon then closing it behind her. “We need you and Knuckles to watch the wee ones.”
Dragon rolled her eyes as the two of them strolled down the hall. “Knuckles is an ass. He thinks he's awesome just because he's older and a good pilot. Stupid fox.”
“Oh, play nice. He's just at that age.”
“You say that like he's gonna turn magically wonderful once he gets to Phoenix's age.”
“Well, I dunno if he'll be that fabulous, but...”
“I hope not... We couldn't handle two of them.”
Their giggles echoed down the metallic hallway, warm despite it's location. They continued on, chuckling and joking until they arrived to their destination.
The hallway opened up into a huge room that Dragon imagined could shame the world's biggest mall. Little robotic planes and shifting toys flitted through the air, their controllers in the hands of many of the small children who ran around the wide open space. Teens and adults lounged in chairs and on couches at various heights, several of which were hanging from the high, high ceiling or various overhangs. Some were attached to lifts. Most had ways to adjust the height, whether electric rope and pully systems or just plain old electric lifs. Important looking people with important looking documents in important looking briefcases bustled from A to B, scooting their way between tropical plants and running children, jumping over the occasional rabbit shifter or sudden burst of sparkly glue from a toddler as if rehearsed.
Those late for breakfast, like Dragon and Alexa, headed past the flowering half walls and dodged around chairs, tables, and people with trays to get into the cafeteria, which was just as much a part of the huge room as the hanging chairs were. Impossible to ignore was the huge glass wall which rounded off the far wall of the room, showing nothing but the snowy peaks of the surrounding mountains above, below, and everywhere the eye could see.
This was Nova Technology's secret headcorders, were the unusal gathered to live their unusual lives and do the unusal business. This was Dragon's home.
“Hey slow pokes!” A pleasant, effeminate voice rang out above the others, and sure enough, a quick glance caught a slender man in a sweater vest and horn-rimmed glasses over his rainbow eyes.
“Phoenix, your eyes are changing again,” Alexa said, rolling her eyes, but with a bit of a smile. “And couldn't you pick a more normal hair color?”
Phoenix ran a hand through his yellow and orange streaks. “I like it. And I'm doing them on purpose; don't you think they're pretty?”
“Nova will scold,” Dragon interjected with a giggle of her own. “He always does.” She puffed up her chest and pushed imaginary glasses up her nose. “'Phoenix, you have to practice looking like a regular person! Your job is to fit in, remember?'” Her immitation sparked not only chuckles with her friends, but rippled out into nearby people as well. They all knew how Nova could preach sometimes. Enjoying the laughter, she kept it up, doing a little march towards the cafe line as the three of them walked together to get food. “'Alexa, you have to remember your contacts! And don't go out snowboarding without permission, you'll get hurt! What will you do if you forget your nPhone? Dragon, stop slipping halfway away, and attend your classes!'” Less giggles, but she wasn't paying attention. “'And don't forget--'”
“To do your homework?” Came a mild-voiced suggestion from behind her.
The three giggling goons froze like someone had shot electricity up their spines. Phoenix was the first to respond, his constant happy buzz making them all feel innocent just by association. “Oh, hey, Doctor Nova!” the shifting man said cheerfully. “Didn't expect to see you in the cafe right before a meeting!”
“I thought I'd stop by,” Dr. Nova replied, his face carefully neutral. But those that knew him knew which neutral was a smile and which wasn't. It was all written in his warm blue eyes. “Dragon, I trust you'll help Knuckles watch the children?”
“Aw,” Dragon said, looking down in her tray and scuffling her foot along the ground. “Sure, Dr. Nova. But I ain't gonna enjoy it.”
“I am not going to enjoy it,” he corrected her, pausing to adjust her croocked top and run a hand through her mussed bedhead hair. “You look like you just rolled out of bed.”
“She did,” interjected Alexa, ignoring the glare and the foot stomp from Dragon it earned her.
“Shush, Alexa,” Dragon said with a pout. “I was gettin' up, you didn't have to come get me.”
“I'm just as glad she did. Thank you, Alexa, for continuing to keep an eye on Dragon.”
“Aw, it's nothing Dr. Nova, you know that. She's like my little sis.”
“It warms my heart,” he said, face still neutral. “Eat quickly, now, Alexa, Phoenix. You wouldn't want to be late for the meeting.” And with that, he turned on his heel and exited the cafeteria, the bustling crowds automatically parting for him.
“An' there goes the cyborg,” Alexa joked with a laugh. “He's right, though, let's get some food in our stomachs.”
Phoenix had already eaten, but he got another mocha and kept them company while they wolfed down pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Dragon tried for a sip again, but Alexa still insisted she was too young for coffee.
Too quickly, they had to go. Large portions of the crowd were trickling off now, the specials that worked closely with Nova. Dragon would be in that crowd too, when she was older. All of the people at these headquarters were mutant friendly, but Nova still favored those with special abilities to assist him with certain matters. Dragon didn't think the humans minded... People like her were just better at some things.
She was finishing her breakfast at a more leisurely pace than the adults that had needed to leave, glaring down at her fruit salad, which seemed to mock her. No one was here to see if she just threw it away, right? She'd finished off her bacon first, so she didn't even have anything to interupt the stupid fruit with. She knew better though... Nova always found out about these things somehow, and he would always scold kids who didn't eat right. How he manged to baby so many kids she'd never know, but it just seemed normal somehow.
She was choking down her fruit when Knuckles approached. She managed to glare at him between difficult swallows as the ginger boy plopped down across from her, sitting in the chair on the other side of the table rather than next to her on the cushioned bench. “Hurry up, slowpoke,” he chided. “I don't wanna have to watch the little ones on my own.”
“I gotta finish my fruit,” she said shortly, giving him no shortage of glares. “Part of a balanced breakfast.”
Knuckles rolled his eyes at her, which made her want to deck him. Not that she really knew how, and she knew way better than to start a fight, even with Nova in a meeting. But it allowed her imagination a nice diversion as she gagged down the rest of her fruit salad and stood, taking her tray over to the recycle bins to quickly sort her various wastes away.
Watching the children was as boring as ever. They got into stupid little kid fights about stupid little kid stuff, and before half an hour had passed, Dragon was aching for escape. Thankfully, escape was the one thing she did best.
“I gotta go to the restroom,” she declared.
Knuckles glared at her, his fox tail, long since summoned out of irritation and distraction, flicked about sourly. “Take someone with you.”
“I ain't a baby!”
“You aren't a baby,” Knuckles corrected automatically.
“Glad you agree!” Dragon said cheerfully. “See ya!” She quickly ran off, slipping into the shadow of the first person walking by she found.
No one could keep tabs on her if she didn't want them too. Nova was pretty good at finding her, and Alexa knew all of her favorite hiding spots, but she was certain she was a ninja master. The person who's shadow she was hiding in was walking briskly enough to keep her satisfied. Once her shadow brushed another interesting one, Dragon would hop, then maybe she'd spend the day avoiding the lecture she was bound to catch from Nova for skipping out on her job. She'd have to face the music eventually, but prolonging the inevitable was one of her hobbies.
She found herself becoming more interested in where the woman was going, however. She was headed somewhere fast, and with purpose. Maybe she was in that secret Nova meeting. Nova'd know somehow if she stayed in the woman's shadow around him, and he kept his meeting rooms well lit, so chances were heading that way was a bad idea. But Dragon was eleven and full to the brim with bad ideas, so she went along with the ride.
She heard Simon's familiar drone before recognizing anything else. If he was there, that had to be the meeting. She glaned around the metal hallway frantically, looking for a place to jump too. Nova was bound to be in there! She frantically slipped into the shadow under the door as the woman she'd been riding with entered the room. She took a glance around, most of her vision blocked by door. The woman was just in and out, apparently only stopping by to drop off some files.
When the talking started up again, Dragon found she recognized all of the voices.
“So we've finally located him, then?” asked what had to be Phoenix, is effeminate voice light and hopeful.
“Yes,” came Nova's soft, calm voice. “He's been sent over to Sagolin Labs for some... outsourcing work.”
“Those bastards,” echoed Alexa's loud, angry growl. “Experimenting on him like he's some rare animal!”
“Yes, well, now that we know where he is, it's only a matter of waiting until--”
“Waiting?” exclaimed Alexa in one of the rare moments where someone interupted Nova. “We should just storm in there and take them. Gods only know what those bastards are doing to that poor--”
“As much as I might be exasperated with Miss Alexa's normal way of doing things,” came Simon's accented voice—he was from London, like her. “I'm afraid I must agree on some level. We really need to get this boy out of there as soon as possible.”
“We will,” said Nova, his voice still neutral after the interjections. “As you can see here...” There was a whir of a projector. “Their defense is air tight. On normal conditions, even with Phoenix's help, it would be all but impossible to sneak in.”
“So we break in violently?” asked Alexa, her voice hopeful.
“No, not this time, Alexa,” he said, his tone of voice the kind of neutral that made Dragon suspect his eyes were smiling. “There's an unusual hole this time... by the name of Wesley Snipes.” Another whir... probably his photo coming up. “He's a mutant, 'working' for AMMO that was sent in to oversee the subcontracting done by Sagolin. AMMO is so pushy that he has extra clearance and not much screening. So, Phoenix is once again our ace.”
Dragon could almost HEAR Phoenix beaming.
“From there, it becomes simple. We've procurred photographs, retina scans, and finger prints for Wesley Snipes. Phoenix, you will immitate him, enter the premesis, cause a suitable distraction, and release the boy. This is too dangerous for the younger ones, so only our older members will be standing by for support.”
“Sir, what will we do about AMMOs information network this time? They're starting to pressure us rather hard...” That was Simon.
“That won't be the case this time, Simon. Wesley Snipes gives us the perfect opportunity in more than one way. We will allow AMMO and Sagolin to believe he released the boy of his own volition out of a sort of mutant commradare. They will believe it without a second doubt. They will not even think to look for us.”
The words were continuing, but Dragon had stopped listening. Her head spun for a few minutes. Eh... What? AMMO was vicious, they all knew that. This Wesley man would most certainly be put to death, most likely tortured first, for information he wouldn't know. Certainly Nova would never suggest...
But the chatter continued. Not only was that the plan, none of the others... Not Simon, Alexa, even gentle Phoenix... seemed to have any sort of issue with it. Was this normal for them? Did they think that Wesley Snipes deserved it for being captured by AMMO in the first place?
Dragon's world was in chaos. Everything she had believed, the way she had seen the world. Had she been foolish? Nova had always been a saviour, to her, to the other mutants. Why wouldn't he save both the boy and the man? They were both mutants. They were all supposed to be better than humans, better than the monsters who had no issue with killing those that didn't matter to them. They were supposed to be better. Nova was supposed to be the best.
Dragon was moving before she could think about it. With no shadow to leap into, she simply exitted, no longer caring if Nova or the others heard her footsteps. And if they did, what? Would they just kill her to, since she was no longer fooled? Was this what they were hoping to mold her and the children into? People who could kill other mutants, just because it was more convenient?
They did hear her. The squeaking sound of sneakers against metal echoed too-loudly through the hallway. There was a pause in the meeting room, but Dragon was no longer listening. She was headed out. Alexa was the first one to slam open the door, and she was the one who got the full view of Dragon's fleeing back as the child broke into a run.
Dragon could hear Alexa's feet pounding against the ground as she gave chase. Maybe she was hoping to explain. Or maybe she just wanted to know how much Dragon had heard. Dragon would never find out. Alexa was faster, but no one could keep up with Dragon once she was in the shadows. She darted in and out of them, each lapse of darkness putting more and more space between her and the yelling voices behind her.
Through the main lobby she tore, ignoring the sounds of surprise and confusion. No one could catch her if she didn't want to be caught. She paid no mind to the confused stares of her friends, of Knuckles yelled questions, to the papers that flew when she almost ran into people only to dart into their shadows and back out the other side. She only saw where she was headed...
Out.
It was too easy to burst past the security, slipping into the shadow on the wall and spiraling up onto the roof. Coming out, jumping off the top of the metal detector. Out the door, out the door...
The others had to wrestle with sirens and locking doors and alarmed guards. The only one who got through was Nova. The only one who was there when she finally turned to give acknowledgement to her past friends, present pursuers... was Nova. And he was the only one who didn't move as she fell backwards off the cliff.
“Oy, finally awake, midget?” It was Alexa...
“Alexa... Why are you in my room?” Dragon said groggily, starting to rub the sleep out of her eyes.
“Someone has to make sure you get up,” the girl said with a smirk. Well... woman really. Alexa was sturdy and small chested, but her choppy blonde hair and bright, round, orange eyes identified her as female pretty easily in most cases. She was almost a good ten years older than Dragon, who was somewhere around eleven, probably, but she was still Dragon's “partner.”
“We don't have anything important today, do we?” Dragon asked, smothering another yawn behind small hands.
“Nothing I know of, baring any emergency runs. The older ones have a meeting with Nova today, though,” Alexa replied, going into Dragon's closet and pulling out a pair of pants. “Everything you own is black, Dragon. If I'm telling you to get a better wardrobe, that's pretty sad.”
“What're you, channeling Phoenix for us? Let him nag me about my nails, I get enough from him,” Dragon said, slightly grumpily, but with more affection than anything. Her next thought was cut off by a pair of her black pants hitting her gently in the face. “Mmph.”
“C'mon, get dressed. You're going to miss breakfast again, and Nova's going to scold me for it.”
“Ahright, ahright... I'm comin',” Dragon grumbled as she pulled her pants on. “Throw me a tank? Mmph!” She pulled the grey tank top out of her face. “I didn't mean liter'lly.” She pulled the tank on over her head. “So, you, Phoenix, and Simon are all going?”
“Yeah,” said Alexa, holding the door open for Dragon then closing it behind her. “We need you and Knuckles to watch the wee ones.”
Dragon rolled her eyes as the two of them strolled down the hall. “Knuckles is an ass. He thinks he's awesome just because he's older and a good pilot. Stupid fox.”
“Oh, play nice. He's just at that age.”
“You say that like he's gonna turn magically wonderful once he gets to Phoenix's age.”
“Well, I dunno if he'll be that fabulous, but...”
“I hope not... We couldn't handle two of them.”
Their giggles echoed down the metallic hallway, warm despite it's location. They continued on, chuckling and joking until they arrived to their destination.
The hallway opened up into a huge room that Dragon imagined could shame the world's biggest mall. Little robotic planes and shifting toys flitted through the air, their controllers in the hands of many of the small children who ran around the wide open space. Teens and adults lounged in chairs and on couches at various heights, several of which were hanging from the high, high ceiling or various overhangs. Some were attached to lifts. Most had ways to adjust the height, whether electric rope and pully systems or just plain old electric lifs. Important looking people with important looking documents in important looking briefcases bustled from A to B, scooting their way between tropical plants and running children, jumping over the occasional rabbit shifter or sudden burst of sparkly glue from a toddler as if rehearsed.
Those late for breakfast, like Dragon and Alexa, headed past the flowering half walls and dodged around chairs, tables, and people with trays to get into the cafeteria, which was just as much a part of the huge room as the hanging chairs were. Impossible to ignore was the huge glass wall which rounded off the far wall of the room, showing nothing but the snowy peaks of the surrounding mountains above, below, and everywhere the eye could see.
This was Nova Technology's secret headcorders, were the unusal gathered to live their unusual lives and do the unusal business. This was Dragon's home.
“Hey slow pokes!” A pleasant, effeminate voice rang out above the others, and sure enough, a quick glance caught a slender man in a sweater vest and horn-rimmed glasses over his rainbow eyes.
“Phoenix, your eyes are changing again,” Alexa said, rolling her eyes, but with a bit of a smile. “And couldn't you pick a more normal hair color?”
Phoenix ran a hand through his yellow and orange streaks. “I like it. And I'm doing them on purpose; don't you think they're pretty?”
“Nova will scold,” Dragon interjected with a giggle of her own. “He always does.” She puffed up her chest and pushed imaginary glasses up her nose. “'Phoenix, you have to practice looking like a regular person! Your job is to fit in, remember?'” Her immitation sparked not only chuckles with her friends, but rippled out into nearby people as well. They all knew how Nova could preach sometimes. Enjoying the laughter, she kept it up, doing a little march towards the cafe line as the three of them walked together to get food. “'Alexa, you have to remember your contacts! And don't go out snowboarding without permission, you'll get hurt! What will you do if you forget your nPhone? Dragon, stop slipping halfway away, and attend your classes!'” Less giggles, but she wasn't paying attention. “'And don't forget--'”
“To do your homework?” Came a mild-voiced suggestion from behind her.
The three giggling goons froze like someone had shot electricity up their spines. Phoenix was the first to respond, his constant happy buzz making them all feel innocent just by association. “Oh, hey, Doctor Nova!” the shifting man said cheerfully. “Didn't expect to see you in the cafe right before a meeting!”
“I thought I'd stop by,” Dr. Nova replied, his face carefully neutral. But those that knew him knew which neutral was a smile and which wasn't. It was all written in his warm blue eyes. “Dragon, I trust you'll help Knuckles watch the children?”
“Aw,” Dragon said, looking down in her tray and scuffling her foot along the ground. “Sure, Dr. Nova. But I ain't gonna enjoy it.”
“I am not going to enjoy it,” he corrected her, pausing to adjust her croocked top and run a hand through her mussed bedhead hair. “You look like you just rolled out of bed.”
“She did,” interjected Alexa, ignoring the glare and the foot stomp from Dragon it earned her.
“Shush, Alexa,” Dragon said with a pout. “I was gettin' up, you didn't have to come get me.”
“I'm just as glad she did. Thank you, Alexa, for continuing to keep an eye on Dragon.”
“Aw, it's nothing Dr. Nova, you know that. She's like my little sis.”
“It warms my heart,” he said, face still neutral. “Eat quickly, now, Alexa, Phoenix. You wouldn't want to be late for the meeting.” And with that, he turned on his heel and exited the cafeteria, the bustling crowds automatically parting for him.
“An' there goes the cyborg,” Alexa joked with a laugh. “He's right, though, let's get some food in our stomachs.”
Phoenix had already eaten, but he got another mocha and kept them company while they wolfed down pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Dragon tried for a sip again, but Alexa still insisted she was too young for coffee.
Too quickly, they had to go. Large portions of the crowd were trickling off now, the specials that worked closely with Nova. Dragon would be in that crowd too, when she was older. All of the people at these headquarters were mutant friendly, but Nova still favored those with special abilities to assist him with certain matters. Dragon didn't think the humans minded... People like her were just better at some things.
She was finishing her breakfast at a more leisurely pace than the adults that had needed to leave, glaring down at her fruit salad, which seemed to mock her. No one was here to see if she just threw it away, right? She'd finished off her bacon first, so she didn't even have anything to interupt the stupid fruit with. She knew better though... Nova always found out about these things somehow, and he would always scold kids who didn't eat right. How he manged to baby so many kids she'd never know, but it just seemed normal somehow.
She was choking down her fruit when Knuckles approached. She managed to glare at him between difficult swallows as the ginger boy plopped down across from her, sitting in the chair on the other side of the table rather than next to her on the cushioned bench. “Hurry up, slowpoke,” he chided. “I don't wanna have to watch the little ones on my own.”
“I gotta finish my fruit,” she said shortly, giving him no shortage of glares. “Part of a balanced breakfast.”
Knuckles rolled his eyes at her, which made her want to deck him. Not that she really knew how, and she knew way better than to start a fight, even with Nova in a meeting. But it allowed her imagination a nice diversion as she gagged down the rest of her fruit salad and stood, taking her tray over to the recycle bins to quickly sort her various wastes away.
Watching the children was as boring as ever. They got into stupid little kid fights about stupid little kid stuff, and before half an hour had passed, Dragon was aching for escape. Thankfully, escape was the one thing she did best.
“I gotta go to the restroom,” she declared.
Knuckles glared at her, his fox tail, long since summoned out of irritation and distraction, flicked about sourly. “Take someone with you.”
“I ain't a baby!”
“You aren't a baby,” Knuckles corrected automatically.
“Glad you agree!” Dragon said cheerfully. “See ya!” She quickly ran off, slipping into the shadow of the first person walking by she found.
No one could keep tabs on her if she didn't want them too. Nova was pretty good at finding her, and Alexa knew all of her favorite hiding spots, but she was certain she was a ninja master. The person who's shadow she was hiding in was walking briskly enough to keep her satisfied. Once her shadow brushed another interesting one, Dragon would hop, then maybe she'd spend the day avoiding the lecture she was bound to catch from Nova for skipping out on her job. She'd have to face the music eventually, but prolonging the inevitable was one of her hobbies.
She found herself becoming more interested in where the woman was going, however. She was headed somewhere fast, and with purpose. Maybe she was in that secret Nova meeting. Nova'd know somehow if she stayed in the woman's shadow around him, and he kept his meeting rooms well lit, so chances were heading that way was a bad idea. But Dragon was eleven and full to the brim with bad ideas, so she went along with the ride.
She heard Simon's familiar drone before recognizing anything else. If he was there, that had to be the meeting. She glaned around the metal hallway frantically, looking for a place to jump too. Nova was bound to be in there! She frantically slipped into the shadow under the door as the woman she'd been riding with entered the room. She took a glance around, most of her vision blocked by door. The woman was just in and out, apparently only stopping by to drop off some files.
When the talking started up again, Dragon found she recognized all of the voices.
“So we've finally located him, then?” asked what had to be Phoenix, is effeminate voice light and hopeful.
“Yes,” came Nova's soft, calm voice. “He's been sent over to Sagolin Labs for some... outsourcing work.”
“Those bastards,” echoed Alexa's loud, angry growl. “Experimenting on him like he's some rare animal!”
“Yes, well, now that we know where he is, it's only a matter of waiting until--”
“Waiting?” exclaimed Alexa in one of the rare moments where someone interupted Nova. “We should just storm in there and take them. Gods only know what those bastards are doing to that poor--”
“As much as I might be exasperated with Miss Alexa's normal way of doing things,” came Simon's accented voice—he was from London, like her. “I'm afraid I must agree on some level. We really need to get this boy out of there as soon as possible.”
“We will,” said Nova, his voice still neutral after the interjections. “As you can see here...” There was a whir of a projector. “Their defense is air tight. On normal conditions, even with Phoenix's help, it would be all but impossible to sneak in.”
“So we break in violently?” asked Alexa, her voice hopeful.
“No, not this time, Alexa,” he said, his tone of voice the kind of neutral that made Dragon suspect his eyes were smiling. “There's an unusual hole this time... by the name of Wesley Snipes.” Another whir... probably his photo coming up. “He's a mutant, 'working' for AMMO that was sent in to oversee the subcontracting done by Sagolin. AMMO is so pushy that he has extra clearance and not much screening. So, Phoenix is once again our ace.”
Dragon could almost HEAR Phoenix beaming.
“From there, it becomes simple. We've procurred photographs, retina scans, and finger prints for Wesley Snipes. Phoenix, you will immitate him, enter the premesis, cause a suitable distraction, and release the boy. This is too dangerous for the younger ones, so only our older members will be standing by for support.”
“Sir, what will we do about AMMOs information network this time? They're starting to pressure us rather hard...” That was Simon.
“That won't be the case this time, Simon. Wesley Snipes gives us the perfect opportunity in more than one way. We will allow AMMO and Sagolin to believe he released the boy of his own volition out of a sort of mutant commradare. They will believe it without a second doubt. They will not even think to look for us.”
The words were continuing, but Dragon had stopped listening. Her head spun for a few minutes. Eh... What? AMMO was vicious, they all knew that. This Wesley man would most certainly be put to death, most likely tortured first, for information he wouldn't know. Certainly Nova would never suggest...
But the chatter continued. Not only was that the plan, none of the others... Not Simon, Alexa, even gentle Phoenix... seemed to have any sort of issue with it. Was this normal for them? Did they think that Wesley Snipes deserved it for being captured by AMMO in the first place?
Dragon's world was in chaos. Everything she had believed, the way she had seen the world. Had she been foolish? Nova had always been a saviour, to her, to the other mutants. Why wouldn't he save both the boy and the man? They were both mutants. They were all supposed to be better than humans, better than the monsters who had no issue with killing those that didn't matter to them. They were supposed to be better. Nova was supposed to be the best.
Dragon was moving before she could think about it. With no shadow to leap into, she simply exitted, no longer caring if Nova or the others heard her footsteps. And if they did, what? Would they just kill her to, since she was no longer fooled? Was this what they were hoping to mold her and the children into? People who could kill other mutants, just because it was more convenient?
They did hear her. The squeaking sound of sneakers against metal echoed too-loudly through the hallway. There was a pause in the meeting room, but Dragon was no longer listening. She was headed out. Alexa was the first one to slam open the door, and she was the one who got the full view of Dragon's fleeing back as the child broke into a run.
Dragon could hear Alexa's feet pounding against the ground as she gave chase. Maybe she was hoping to explain. Or maybe she just wanted to know how much Dragon had heard. Dragon would never find out. Alexa was faster, but no one could keep up with Dragon once she was in the shadows. She darted in and out of them, each lapse of darkness putting more and more space between her and the yelling voices behind her.
Through the main lobby she tore, ignoring the sounds of surprise and confusion. No one could catch her if she didn't want to be caught. She paid no mind to the confused stares of her friends, of Knuckles yelled questions, to the papers that flew when she almost ran into people only to dart into their shadows and back out the other side. She only saw where she was headed...
Out.
It was too easy to burst past the security, slipping into the shadow on the wall and spiraling up onto the roof. Coming out, jumping off the top of the metal detector. Out the door, out the door...
The others had to wrestle with sirens and locking doors and alarmed guards. The only one who got through was Nova. The only one who was there when she finally turned to give acknowledgement to her past friends, present pursuers... was Nova. And he was the only one who didn't move as she fell backwards off the cliff.
