Violet lets the others do the talking, as she is still very very nauseous from the trip.
Everyone thinks "Oh, it must be great for you to have a chance to shut out all the voices," but I bet they've never tried going without ambient noise for an hour...
The group will find her on the loading ramp, which is where she bolts as soon as it's mentioned, sipping a bottle of water and looking like she's trying very hard not to lose her breakfast.
Aegis would head to load up as soon as the priest was done talking making sure she got shotgun.
"If we're going to be living here I'm not staying in some run down rental, we need to find a real place."
Her smile dies when she sees the priest's stern look. She coughs lightly as she accepts the keys. Muttering a brief thanks, she moves out to the van and drops the keys in Aegis' hands.
She shakes her head to Hotaru. "No, I'm not that worried about what others would think of my wings. People aren't likely to run screaming from them, you know. But there's this whole 'secret of the metas' that will get blown wide open if I'm obvious about it. Kinda sucks, since I'd love to get in a little day flying."
She thinks about visiting the gaming conventions and shudders. "I don't know about that."
Hotaru begins to hum Kryptonite by Three Doors Down as she follows the others along. She adjusts the knobs on the speaker, having discovered gloves worked well enough to keep her from vitally nuking anything as long as she didn't panic. And the Radio starts playing along with her humming.
"So... out of town seems good for Whip and Goo... but in town seems better for everything else, right?"
Whippoorwill grunts in frustration at the thought of being "put out to pasture."
"You know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't see much in the way of other options. Why not go all out here? Screw secrecy, and let's just throw on some costumes. Give ourselves some sort of goofy team name and let the chips fall where they may? You know, just be superheroes?"
"Thanks, Father. Hopefully... we won't need to see you anytime soon." she says, offering an awkward smile.
"Errr... okay, you maybe missed some of the stuff. Or I forgot to share bits and pieces. But... the government looks for people like us, and sends out strike teams designed to take us down if they think we're there. There are other Metas that are going to target us if they can find us as well. I don't think we're... resilient enough for that." Hotaru explains. "Like, maybe some day... but it'll be once I have a clue how to protect you guys and not just be good for not being put on the ground."
Briana shakes her head. "Then why are we even in the States? There's lots of places in the world we can hole up, do some good, and not have to worry about the arguably most powerful military showing up on our front door?"
Violet sighs and nods at the exchange between Hotaru and Briana.
"Japan is on its way to becoming the first truly post-modern society in the world," she offers. "Canada has laws against media broadcasts that aren't truthful and based in reality, so we wouldn't have to worry about talking heads spinning us. Mexico would probably welcome us openly if we did something about the drugs and corruption... And oh man, I need tamales right now. Where can we get tamales around here?"
Violet offers Ty/Goo her empty water bottle, in case he's thirsty.
No use worrying over something you can't control Goo thinks to himself as he listens to the conversation his companions are having. When Violet offers him the water bottle he happily accepts it. Thank yOU, he manages before quickly consuming the bottle.
Hotaru sighs softly, and shifts the station to R&B for Goo. "You heard them; this city needs us. Yes, we'll have to be secretive about it, but as far as we know, this is exactly where we need to be." She was fairly sure she understood... that Whip was trying to find another 'out'. Hotaru wasn't sure what she'd be doing in her position, to be honest. "You can drive, right, Aegis?"
Aegis glares at Pulse from her shotgun seat before stepping out with a sigh to change seats so she could drive.
"Are we just going to drive around looking for real estate?"
"Can there be tamales in there somewhere?" Violet asks, looking at her phone. "What about this 'Lily's' place? Are we near Kingshighway road? Four stars!"
Seeing the glare on Saffron's face, she adds: "I suppose one of us could spring for a private condo on AirBNB, but do we really want to? And wouldn't it have made sense for them to offer us these options before shoving us out into the world? Let us have some time to get set up? The 'toss the baby bird out of the nest' method doesn't work in a crappy housing market."
Violet begins looking at internet-based temporary housing options, after rebooting her phone twice to ensure she's got legitimate time and GPS data.
Hotaru laughs. "One day... I'll have a smart phone. And I'll know exactly all of the wonders you have discovered. Until that day, I'll just avoid being too sparky near yours. Google Maps it?"
Violet grins. "We just need to find a way to make you some anti conductive gloves, you'll be fine. Also, do you have any idea how hard it is to get a phone when you don't exist? Ennnh."
She finds a convenient route to the farm, the outmoded warehouse, and the remote house - all of the routes take them by this "Lily's" Mexican restaurant.
I want to fly. I want out. I need to fly, Briana repeats over and over in her head as she jostles and bounces in the back of the truck. Usually used to traveling in the backs of trucks, she felt strangely cramped and uncomfortable cooped up this time. "Not loving this," she voices.
"We better get u. Goo says matter of factly to Whip.
Whippoorwill gives Goo a smile as she tries to force away her feelings of frustration. "I still don't understand everything's that happened to me, but I'm sure of one thing: I'm built for flying. And that's the one thing I'm not allowed to do."
Goo awkwardly pats Whip on the back and lamely offers, "SorRY."
Actually... if we buy a few drones and fly them around the farm, it'll make it look like we have a lot of hobbies along those lines. That'll give you a chance to swoop around when we're sure there's no air traffic... and with the right tools, I may be able to reroute air traffic from over the farm. Thus letting you fly freely." Hotaru suggests.
Whippoorwill gets a playful smile. "That... could work. Get a department store mannequin with some costume wings on it, you don't even have to get it to fly. Just strap it to the drone, and show it off to anyone who thinks they saw something."
Violet looks from Whippoorwill to Rocket and back.
"I could always White Queen them and convince them they saw a flock of birds. That's the right one, right? Emma Frost, yeah? Okay, I've been reading comics to know what you and Pulse are talking about. Oh man, please tell me I'm right?"
Violet tells Aegis to turn at the next light, because there are tamales nearby. She then mutters something about being in a van full of weirdos in a strange town and how she's not going to be the one to lose her glasses.
Edited!
"Yup. Emma Frost does mind control shenanigans. Also, turns to diamond, among other things." she says with a grin.
"So, what do you think about the farm idea, Aegis?" she says, then frowns slightly, "Side note... we need to come up with names -other- than our code names to use. Calling each other by our superhero names in public doesn't seem wise."
Aegis drives as she instructed and listens to everyone discuss plans for living in the area until she's directly addressed. "Farms are notoriously disgusting but with Maverick around we really don't have much an option, staying in the city would make her pretty useless."
Briana gives Aegis a sour look. "You could always leave me in the van. I can make a pretty good getaway driver."
She shrugs at Pulse. "I've gone by Bree before. And Laney, briefly. Honestly, with me, I don't think it will matter what you call me."
"Kind of defeats the purpose of having wings doesn't it?" Aegis shrugs."Maybe I'll get my own place in the city later on."
Briana gives Aegis an, Aha! She gets it! golf clap.
"Just being honest, inside the city you're going to be at a huge disadvantage even when we aren't hiding you're going to be a huge spotlight. Leaving you in the van might be a good idea even during fights no matter how ironic."
As Violet starts to read Pride and Prejudice to Zach, he strains until his jaw aches and his head is throbbing, trying to shut her out...with no effect whatsoever. Eventually he tires himself from the effort and falls asleep to the sound of Violet’s telepathic ‘voice’.
Over the next few nights, he continues to try. At one point he thinks perhaps he’s made her voice fade slightly...and then it’s back at full volume. Sheepishly, a few days in he realizes that he’s gotten a bit hooked by the lives and intrigues of the Bennett sisters. On night four, when Vi says that she’s tired needs to end the ‘lesson’, Zach has to fight the impulse to ask if she’ll just finish the chapter.
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Rocket’s eyes go wide as the world turns to shadow. He holds back a bit until the priest asks him to pull the Rickshaw. When Aegis refers to him as ‘pony boy’, he smirks and then makes an exaggerated bow. ”Alright, golden girl, your chariot awaits. I hope you don’t mind a bumpy ride!”
After more than a week of nowhere to run but indoors, Rocket enjoys getting to move fast (and has to restrain himself from running too fast for his passengers). Breathing in this shadow-realm feels...weird, but running in it is like running anywhere: a joy.
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As soon as he’s done running, Zach opens his backpack and begins to pull out food: the last of his peanut butter sandwiches, followed by some hummus and carrot sticks, followed by a bag of chips. In the end he’s satisfied...but his bag is nearly empty.
He polishes off the last of it just as Vi is talking about tamales and suddenly he’s reengaged. ”Tamales it is then. Settled! We should definitely see if they’re good before deciding where to set up our base. No point in being near Lily’s if it’s not great Mexican food...and honestly, in St. Louis, how much hope should we have of that?” With that, Zach starts reading reviews on his phone, muttering occasionally in response to particularly positive or negative ones.
Pulse’s question about code names pulls Zach back out of his phone. ”Oooh, good point. If we want fake civilian names, why don’t we call Vi ‘Emma’? We can call me ‘Barry’ and Goo ‘Reed’. As for Whippoorwill…‘Warrenna?’ Nah, howabout just ‘Angela’? Taru, what do you think? I guess you’re not too much like anyone from the comics but maybe as close to Dazzler as to anyone. Do you remember her name? I think maybe it’s ‘Ali’.
“And of course Aegis will be ‘Blanche’, from the Golden Girls.” Zach smiles, clearly pleased with himself.
Running on the river was weird, it was spongy, you're not used to that. Also, you spent several hours running back and forth and didn't get hungry.
"Hotaru, Taru... or Lee. Lee works well, I think. Don't forget I do the sparky thing and break your toys like Jubilee. And those are pretty easy to remember, I think. Definitely works." she responds. "Except Blanche. I have no idea who or what that is."
"Illy, Nicole, or Alex all work. That's Collosus's sister's name. Not at all what -she- does, but calling you Pete is gonna turn heads." Hotaru grins.
Briana stares blankly at Rocket. "I have no idea who those people are." Her lips press tight at the suggestion of Angela as a name, but she says nothing about it.
She turns her head to Pulse. "Yeah, I get it. Blanche. She might be a little obvious, though, you might want to go with Rose or Sophie. Maybe Bea?" She looks around and a bit of color touches her cheeks. "Carlisle was a fan. Had the show running all the time."
When Hotaru mentions calling her "Lee," Violet immediately chimes in with "That's a common name here in the Fire Nation!" then sinks into her seat, hoping no one heard her.
Violet is surprised and a little pleased by the development, and will happily finish the novel with him. She starts working on the concept of his thoughts being so very, very fast, and suggests that a good way of blocking things out might be to instantly start reciting the novel when he feels someone pinging his brain. His thoughts are ridiculously fast, and hard to keep up with. His speed should be his strength.
Violet chuckles. "I read an article once on how the quality of Mexican food in the world is directly related to the distance from Mexico the restaurant is. If you think it's bad here, try upstate New York. And do not try anything in Finland."
"Definitely not hopeless." Hotaru grins, looking back to Violet. "And I see you're starting with some of the more recent good stuff." Hotaru says with a grin. "Favorite character?" she says, lofting a brow.
"As for Mexican food... the only kind I've ever had was in Tennessee. I wonder if there's good Mexican in New Orleans...
Violet shrugs. "I used to watch it in my room at the black site. I don't mean to sound all Freudian, but Zuko's relationship with his father, and his Uncle-As-Father, always struck me."
She points excitedly out the window. "There it is! Saffr... Aegis, pull over! Everyone give me your orders."
With a dramatic lilt to her voice, she adds: "I'm going in. Cover me, Zack!"
I have absolutely no Idea what they are talking about. I have never felt so out of touch, Goo thinks to himself. He tries to look out the window to see what Violet is pointing at but reconsiders as he doesn't want to get spotted by anyone outside the vehicle.
Briana rolls her eyes at Violet's theatrics. "Just get me whatever Rocket's having. Only, you know, a tenth of it."
"I'm a huge fan of enchiladas. Cheese sauce instead of red sauce, though. Unusual stuffing prefered." Hotaru says with a smile.
If Aegis heard Violet start to call her Saffron she didn't react to it as she pulled in. "Surprise me." She puts the car in park and takes a quick drink from her flask while waiting for everyone to say their order."Going to make a call about a place we might be able to stay, something better than a farm." Aegis would hop out of the car to make a private call.
Whippoorwill shrugs. "Our options are going to be limited. I have some offshore accounts that I have to be very careful about accessing, but presently I'm penniless. Ace and his crew seem to plead poverty themselves, so I don't know what we'd be able to afford."
"I've got nothing." Hotaru says from her seat. "Honestly, I have some debt. But it's student loans. As long as I die soon, they'll leave me alone." she says with a shrug. "Might think about getting jobs, but a job in the outskirts sounds... like the opposite of fun."
Aegis arranges for a small cluster of secluded business apartments for a couple of months. These are pre-furnished apartments, all opening up onto a courtyard. Aegis get's all 8 apartments in one cluster, even though she doesn't need that many, for privacy.
Over the next few weeks, Aegis is busy, mostly leaving the others to their own devices as she looks at properties, and makes arrangements to move her start up to St. Louis. None of her staff (some of which had left due to her long absence) wish to move to St. Louis, so she'll need to find new staff to work the start up, but she arranges for her research equipment to be moved to St. Louis.
Also during that time, she leaves for 3 days with Shimmer, and returns 3 days later, puking, but carrying a backpack with something in it she keeps to herself.
Finally, after two months, she picks everyone up late one night in a fancy new bus with comfy seats and a massive radio installation in the back.
She drives the group down town, near the university, and drives the bus up to the back of a truly large building, and into a pair of large heavy doors that open onto the back of a partially renovated theater. The doors close, controlled by remote control.
Aegis's new purchase as been set up so the first six floors are public, other than the theater, and set up for a research company. The upper 8 floors (all much smaller) are set up for living quarters and empty space to be expanded upon later.
The apartments worked for a short term settlement until she found a real home for them while she worked on moving her company to St. Louis. After she returned with Shimmer she'd move a lot of her focus into getting her company to a mostly self-sustaining position and moving it and her friends into their new more permanent home.
Hotaru looked confused at first, then raised one brow, looking over the place, across the street, as they pulled in... and then at the legitimate theater that they had just pulled in next to.
Next, her eyes went to the wide, swooping ceilings, and then to Aegis. "I know you can turn into gold, but this must have cost you an arm and a leg."
"Yea it was costly but It will pay for itself later on. First six floors are public, other than the theater, and set up for the research company. The upper 8 floors are smaller but are set up for living quarters that we expanded upon later."
"Dibs on the 7th floor. We're right across the street from the college." Hotaru grins, as she climbs out of the bus to go exploring. "We're gonna need a game room... and a freight elevator for Barry's food." she calls back.
Briana tries to be a good sport about staying in the city. She tries to stay polite and appreciative for the various trips out to remote areas so she can stretch her wings. She doesn't comment on how she feels caged, brought out by her keepers for exercise.
Briana will try to get in touch with Whet -- not to make full contact, but to let him know she's alive and to hopefully get confirmation that he's alive. If there's any means of giving him warning that he might be sought by Ace and Co., she will.
Yeah great, pretty nice for a prison, Goo thinks sarcastically. He stays away from his companions not wanting to ruin the moment for them.
Briana leaves a message on a blog that doesn't really say much at all. It's just the fact she posted with that alias tells Whet you're alive. You do leave the code word that means 'you may be being hunted' in the message, but can't leave much detail.
He posts a return message a week later. His response contains an affirmative code, meaning he's being actively hunted.
One fair amount of tension is relieved, knowing that he was alive and still out there, but the fact that he's hunted gives her a new set of anxiety. She has to confront Sanction and Ace about the Cadre again.
The new place is, well, incredible. The theater allows for ample indoor flying space, and the building is high enough that she might be able to sneak out for some night flying.
"I'll take any floor that's got a balcony or skylight," she grins when the others start staking their claims on parts of the building.