Finally got a chance to look up the Rules' commentary.
Generally, your teammates can determine whether they feel ignored or insulted by the selfish action, but the GM can push on it if it seems appropriate. Acting selfishly may save you when you can’t be helped by anybody else, but it has a cost you can’t avoid.
It's a little harder here in pbp land to "poll the audience team" quickly, so I'm going to need to make more judgment calls than I would otherwise have to at a table. But regardless, the "cost you can't avoid" feels to me the key.
Somberly, the team, minus Horizon, returns back to the skyscraper of the Praetorian. Upon arrival, Silver Shield is there, tapping her foot disapprovingly. The Judge, Angel, and Shane are also there in a cluster. The two adults are looking somber, while Kayla's brother is glaring at her harshly.
"Rory. Mattie. This way," their mentor says, drawing them off toward one corner of the room.
The Judge and Angel gesture for Kayla to join them. As she approaches, Shane says, "First Mom and Dad, and now you had to let them take Grammie? Who're you going to let--" He's cut off by a rebuke from both their aunt and uncle.
That leaves Kylie and Isaiah standing in the entryway without any immediate reprisals.
Silver Shield shakes her head, frowning. After a tense moment of silence, she finally sighs. "You've had a rough couple of days. I've been talking with Whippoorwill and the Taylors about what we need to do next with you. The current consensus is to take you off active duty for a while, provided circumstances allow it. Let things settle. Build a routine. Like you had before you became the Sentinels."
While Shane fumes, the Judge links your surface thoughts together so you can speak privately. You get the sense he is also actively screening the conversation from Psyche.
"I felt the psychic attack halfway across town. Going from that and what I've been able to gather from initial reports, whatever entity has possessed... the body... it's very powerful. I never trusted that 'church' though I hadn't had time to properly investigate it." Uncle Augustus says telepathically.
"Well, let's do it now!" Shane thinks urgently.
Angel shakes her head. "It's not that simple. It's still a legitimate organization."
"And within the last ten minutes, after the destruction of the mall, the Church has filed an injunction against the Taylor family, plus the Sentinels." Augustus adds. "This is actually for the best, as hard as it may be. We're too close. I've asked Gothic to take the lead in helping us get Grammie back. She'll let us know if she needs us."
As you fly back towards the Tower, Whippoorwill swoops in along side you. She looks at you steadily, her gaze clear that she knows about the Dusk gambit. "So, shall I be calling you Dusk now?" she asks in an admonishing tone.
She continues, obviously not interested in an answer to that question. "In my experience, pretending to be a villain is never worth it. I've been tempted to pretend to lapse back into villainy to gain some bad guy's trust for a temporary advantage, but it's messy. Do it poorly and you look inept. Do it too well, and your allies start to question you."
She eyes you harshly. "There's a line. Never cross it. It's best not to even approach it. Got it?"
While you're standing in the Praetor Tower foyer, Isaiah gets a communication from Mosaic. "Hey. I... oh, this is hard. I just got a pitch for the next season of Behind the Mask, and it's everything I've ever wanted in the story. It's just... I think this is going to be the best move for me right now. So... I'm going to see where this goes, which means I won't have time... you know... for the team... and for you."
"I'm sorry Isaiah. I know she really liked you
[B]I'm coming back now...think I need a medic... He tried thinking to Psyche. It felt abysmally slow, as he landed on the Tower and tried to stay steady on his feet.
He entered the living area, standing quietly. He could wait on treatment for now, right? Just had to apologize properly first.
"Shin? Oh my God, what are you doing flying when you're hurt like that?!"
She wrapped him up in a web of force, taking his weight from him and began floating him carefully but quickly down the hallways. "We're getting you help. Now."
Kayla enters the Tower somberly, her arms folded across her stomach almost as if she were feeling sick. And in a way, she was. When Shane smarted off to her, her jaw dropped almost as far as her heart.
Her eyes are already welling up with tears as she walks offf with her family, though she gives Rory a quick look as the two are led away from one another...
When he suggests the family step away from the situation due to their emotional involvement, Kayla furiously shakes her head. ”No! No way! How many more of us have to go missing before we call an ‘All Hands On Deck’ move and do whatever we have to do to find them!?!?”
At this point, tears are flowing steadily down her cheeks. ”You all keep expecting me to solve the families problems as if I were Dad and Mom. I may be as strong as dad, and fly as fast as mom, but I’m still just a KID! I...I can’t solve all of the families problems alone, and that’s what I’m starting to feel like you all expect! And when I can’t,” she gives her Aunt and brother a meaningful glare, ”You are sure quick to point it out!”
She crosses her arms across her chest and looks at her Uncle pleadingly. ”How about you guys actually give us a chance at something actually our caliber? You know, beginners? Not world ending monstrosities from other dimensions?”
When Shin comes in, still pinch drunk, Kayla’s first instinct is to go help him, but then she remembers the stunt he pulled to earn him this feeling from Rory, and she decides it may be best to give him some space while she still cooled off.
Shin's weak efforts to prevent Kylie from cradling him with her powers didn't yield much in the way of results, as he tries to speak up loudly. "I'm jush...just give me a minute," He slurs slightly. He looks and sees only Isaiah there. No Mosaic or Prae or Frost and Scorch or Gallowglass. "I was stupid. I was dumb and I did a stupid thing, and I'm sorry about it. I thought it would work, but I guess Eternia's really dead, because she didn't care about me," He admits insensate to Prae's feelings. "Just something wearing her body. I should apologize to...to, uh...Frostbite. Right. He thought I was a bad guy. Everyone did. I guess you're all still scared. That I'm a monster inside. I'm not. Don't treat me like a monster, okay?"
Shin was babbling a bit, his eyes unfocused on any one thing as he apologized, though it didn't seem like anyone heard him that needed to be apologized towards. "I'll be better. Got to be better now. Can't be the bad guy..." He struggles for a moment, before clasping his hand to his head and rubbing his eyes until he can see stars. He clears up enough to focus and look at Kylie. "...Sorry. I'm punch drunk. I should be fine. I just hope you are too. None of this is your fault, Kylie. You shouldn't blame yourself for that cult's activity."
Kylie was in his head enough to make sure he didn't fall asleep, but she did insist he at least close his eyes, gently massaging his temples while she responded.
"Shin... that's sweet, but it's entirely my fault. I should have either shut down the Church, or I should have actually led them! They just got so desperate! They wanted to be more like me, to help people, but I just turned my back on them. This Arch-Deacon never should have been able to trick them like that.
"I'll do it, Shin. I'll save Eternia, and I'll save all those people she's lying to."
Rory feels like he his walking through knee deep mud as he heads to receive his dressing down. When Silver Shield speaks Rory is cautiously optimistic about getting off so easy as after the s*%% show the day had been, he knows he messed up massively.
When Shin starts to display telltale signs of concussion, Whippoorwill switches from stern to concerned. She guides him to Praetor Tower and passes him off to Psyche as she levitates him to the medical suite within the building.
Whippoorwill stays in the tower, waiting for the adult heroes to finish discussing matters with their various charges. It's clear she isn't idle, however, given the way she taps the communicator in her ear and whispers into the mic in her glove.
As they are drawn off by The Silver Shield, Mattie can't help but hang her head. As the older woman begins to talk, however, her look of contrition changes to one of disbelief and then anger. "Take the Sentinels off active duty?" she bursts out in shocked disbelief. "No. You can't do that! It was my fault that everything went wrong. I was the one who lost control. Again. I started the fire not the others! You can't punish them when it was all my fault! Just take me off active duty, please? Not them, they don't deserve it."
Shin was doing his best to keep awake and clear headed, though he felt properly tired. Kylie was keeping him from falling asleep, which was probably a good thing. "You're too good for me," He muttered as they entered the medical suite.
Inside he let himself get scanned by the appropriate equipment. It wouldn't take long to confirm that he did have a concussion, probably from taking Rory's punch and then his head hitting the pavement afterwards. Shin couldn't read the diagnosis for some reason, as trying just flared up his headache. He had Kylie do it for him as he tried to keep calm. "Just need to rest for a bit. I'll be fine. Not being able to read sucks, but...Kylie, don't blame Rory for this. All he saw was Dusk attacking his girlfriend. I did this to myself," He affirms to her.
"...Should ask Isaiah to make me a helmet. Just in case," He suggests. "Tired. Gonna sleep for a bit. I'll be fine. Everyone else needs your expertise," He tells Kylie, keeping his eyes closed and trying to rest. Let his head heal from getting knocked around. Then he could...apologize...
Shin falls asleep dreamlessly in the medical suite bed, letting himself recover.
Psyche hadn't been listening in, but she could feel Scorch's sudden spike of confused anger.
She looked down at Shin's shiner, and his vague unfocused eyes.
As long as he knows I'm here, it's okay if I'm somewhere else too, right?
Kylie bent down to kiss his brow, and floated up onto the bed next to him to hold his hand, her presence a light hum in his mind.
But most of her was elsewhere.
"Mattie? What's wrong?"
Mattie stiffened a little as she 'heard' Kylie's question. "They want to take us off active duty!" she sent back, her message shot-through with guilt laced with internalised fear directed at herself. "beacuse of how things went with Eternia! Because I lost control again."
"What?! What would that even mean? That situation was already out of control, and you and Shin dealt with the fire."
They think we're too dangerous. Damnit! The team was supposed to stop that, not show it further!
"It'll be okay, Mattie. We'll make sure that doesn't happen." But the dread seeping through the link made it quite clear what Kylie really felt.
Sensing Mattie's mind going elsewhere Rory puts a hand on her shoulder, "hey, can you go check on Kylie and Shin, mostly Shin, for me? I want to make sure they are ok and they may not want to see me at the moment." Rory turns back to face his mentor and pleads with her, "This is all on me, I'm responsible for the snafu on the stakeout, I acquired the questionable tech without authorization, I should have gone to the church with Mattie, I ignored the suggestions of the Officer in charge at the bank, and I clocked a teammate without properly assessing what was going on, this isn't on the team this is all on me." Rory gets a bit chocked up at the end, swallows hard the wipes his eyes, "damn humidity."
Isaiah... wasn't really sure what to say in this situation. Everybody else had gone off into separate groups, and while he was listening in on the various conversations, none of them really seemed to involve him. Even Mosaic being away wasn't really a surprise, though he was surprised by the fact that he found it... bothersome. The situation here was generally starting to deteriorate a bit, wasn't it? Of course, even if they tried to come off active duty, Apotheosis was hardly likely to let them go that easily. It was days like these when Inquiry/Isaiah really wished they could go all out and fab up some solutions... but that wouldn't help the locals progress. Solve everyone's problems for them, and they became dependent.
The Archdeacon was an invader, though. Which meant non-interference didn't apply to it. Perhaps he'd have to cook something up for that...
Isaiah stood off to the side, caught up in internal thoughts as he listened to all the mess going on.
Mattie winced at the feeling of dread leaking through the psychic link. [i]"Its happened twice now, and I,... I think its getting worse. I feel like,.. like I'm losing control." At Rory's touch on her shoulder, she flinched and then shook her head at his words, staying right where she was, looking imploringly at the their mentor. "I don't know what happened at the stakeout. she says, after Rory's gush of words. "But the fire at the church was all my fault and hitting Shin,... That was his fault for acting so stupid! You didn't do anything wrong there. You thought he was attacking Kayla. You had no way of knowing he was pretending!."
"Then I'll help you. Do you want to try to get to the bottom of that tonight? I have a few ideas; they might not be much fun, but I think we'll get some answers at least."
"I think that might be a good idea." Mattie replies. "But first we've got to stop them taking you guys off active duty!"
Silver Shield draws her hand in a slashing motion, ordering both her charges to be quiet. "Listen to yourselves. Mattie, your powers are in flux? Rory, you're not making good command decisions. This isn't punishment! This is necessity! Why would I risk sending you out with both of you like this?"
She suddenly glares at Mattie more closely in the space after her mostly rhetorical question. "Are you talking telepathically with Psyche? Cut it out! I'm talking to you now!"
Angel looks taken aback after Kayla's tirade. Shane scoffs and rolls his eyes. The Judge folds his arms and looks stern.
"You might be right. You and your team took down Shard and the Chosen. You have the Regalia. We might have expected too much of you after a couple early victories."
Angel's mental voice is echoed through the link. "We are seriously considering giving you a break. To allow you and the others some time to regroup, though we're still mindful of Apotheosis and his interest in Psyche."
Shane's sullen voice comes in next. "Yeah, give some others a chance to shine, why don't ya?"
"Shane, have your powers manifested?" Angel looks at him expectantly.
Shane drops his gaze to the floor, thoroughly abashed. "No.
Whippoorwill materializes next to you. Odd, since your sensors should have registered her approach.
She passes a data chip to you. "Ordnance's orbital sensor sweeps recently detected a few anomalies at oh-nine-hundred. He said he detected Inquiry in low Earth orbit, and then a whole bunch of other strange phenomena. Chroniton particles through the roof; debris of what had to have been a destroyed non-Terran craft; and a temporal breach. You're not bringing a conflict to Earth, are you?" She doesn't sound exactly hostile, but definitely suspicious.
Horizon is put into the medical bay of Praetor Tower, and immediately the high-tech medical equipment gets to work on him.
Psyche stands over him, receiving waves of the emotions coming from the other room.
They're wrong. They can't just bench us because one mission went wrong. This is my mess. I have to be the one who fixes it, or I'm just the monster who let it happen.
Psyche didn't want to get Mattie in more trouble, so though she didn't leave her head, she did go quiet, trying to keep her frustration and anxiety from stoking Mattie's any further.
***
Meanwhile, unaware of Silver Shield's declaration, she watched Shin through the flurry of machines. Maybe I should just find Eternia alone. I can't let any of them get hurt for my mistakes.
The soft hum of Shin's mind went quiet as he lapsed into dreamless sleep for a quick cycle, and she couldn't help but shudder looking at his body while his mind was absent.
If I went back to Apotheosis's Hell, would my old body still be there? I've only ever traveled by moving myself, or at least the pieces of me before, but... there was no path for me to do that, for me to bring those pieces here.
Would they have hugged me and welcomed me back if they knew that it was the first time they'd seen this me? Or is this even all of me here now? Could I have split my mind without realizing it?
Am I still in Hell?
Mattie's eyes refocus on the siblings' mentor as she lets loose. At the older woman's words, her expression hardens and her eyes flare. "Yeah I'm speaking to her." she says, unconsciously balling her fists. "She's offered to help me. All you've done is try to stop the team from helping anyone! I told you something was going on with my powers, but you just didn't have 'time'. Again. Anyway, If we hadn't been there when the church was doing its weird thing with Kayla's grandma then things would've gone even worse. We'd still just be trying to find her and she'd be possessed by,.. whatever that thing was anyway! It's not like anyone else was doing anything useful!"
”Okay, don’t be mad...but I was curious and Horizon and Isaiah were already heading there so I wanted to give it a test run since mom and dad never would let me try it...but, um...I can go into space! Without a suit! It was awesome!”
Before anyone can think back at her their opinion, she continues on, telepathically rambling ”I don’t know what else this means...can I survive underwater? Do I even need to breath? I have no idea, but like, it opens all sorts of possibilities and questions, right!?!?”
Isaiah looks up at Whipporwhill, distracted for the moment from the drama of the rest of the team.
"Actually, I was just trying to test some things with Horizon and Praetoria somewhere it wouldn't cause collateral damage. But apparently bringing Horizon up there disturbed some dormant temporal anomaly. An old GSF interdictor from 80 Earth years ago, and some kind of alternate-reality Earth battleship. We shoved the latter back through the rift, which appears to have settled it. I'm still not sure what caused the former to be destroyed; it was way too thorough to have been anything that was there... Best idea I've got is that it had actually been destroyed some time ago, and that caught up to it. What really bothers me about it all is that the interdictor was apparently trying to enforce a quarantine, but I don't have any records of that having happened.
Also, it's apparently dangerous to take Horizon to places with dormant temporal anomalies. Which will be a pain considering how difficult those are to detect."
Isaiah/Inquiry was aware of the messes happening in various locations. While they could somewhat agree that there was some cause to possibly bench the team, they also knew that it wasn't going to work. Even if they became inactive, Apotheosis would continue hunting them. The Archdeacon would undoubtedly not forget them either. Psyche was far too easy to find to just hide her. And if previous events were any indication, trouble of some sort would find them one way or another.
And, of course, they'd have to try to chat with Psyche and Praetoria when the opportunity arose. Unfinished conversations. And perhaps it was time to tell them a little more.
Still, they didn't interrupt any conversations just yet. Though they sent a few nudges to their drones back at the Blockbuster base, tweaking construction priorities. And checking to see if running a covert line between there and the Tower was plausible.
Silver Shield shakes her head. "The church matter is being handed over to others to investigate. The loss of Eternia and the church's relationship to Psyche means you need to step away from it. You're all too close."
She takes a step closer to Scorch. "Mattie, if you're having issues with your powers, I know people who can help. We can go to the Dawkins facility. The equipment there is the best in the world."
Shane throws up his hands. "Okay, why don't you take ALL the powers, then!"
Angel shushes him. "You're exhibiting powers of not just your parents, but also other family members. I don't know why that is."
As you're taking in all the various information in Praetor Tower, you notice serious interference in the psychic communication of the Taylors.
Whippoorwill stares at Isaiah hard, processing his statements about what they found in the orbit and the potential issues with dormant temporal anomalies. It's clear from her expression she is weighing the possible threat to the Earth and humanity.
"Okay. I'd appreciate it if you shared any insights you might uncover regarding Horizon and these temporal anomalies."
Shane tries to bat away Kayla's finger in his face but his hand just recoils from her hand, his mundane strength unable to budge it.
"And I'm sick of you! Acting so high and mighty just 'cause you got Mom and Dad's powers! They're gone, but you've got their powers! Maybe you're keeping them gone!" He dashes away, racing past everyone to the bank of elevators and jumping into the first one down.
”Really? REALLY!?!? That’s what you think!” Kayla shouts as she storms after him, just a few paces behind. ”I’d GLADLY give up every drop of these powers if it’s bring mom and dad back! In a heartbeat! You haven’t even acted like you CARE they are gone! You are more pissed over being jealous of the powers I’ve got than over them being gone! And you STILL act like I had anything to do with getting my powers! Trust me, kid, if powers simply went to the ones who wanted it, you’d be the powered one here, not me. And if powers were given to the ones who whined about not having them the most, you’d be so strong you’d make Captain Stalwart jealous!”
Mattie slumps a little breathing heavily. Dawkins? Yeah, Maybe we should go there,.. I'm sorry It's like I get these waves of anger. It feels like its going to overwhelm me. And then it feels like,.. like something's changing. Inside me. And then I feel this wave of,.. power and it has to go somewhere. If it doesn't go out then it feels like it'll go,.. I don't know, into me or something. Sometimes it comes because i'm in a fight and sometimes its comes through the link with Kayla... Yeah Dawkins. That might be best."
Medical science certainly advanced greatly in the near century since his birth, as Shin's consciousness came back into being swiftly from the treatment of the medical machines. His eyes fluttered under the lids as his brain began to think again, a cascade of random thoughts before snapping into focus long enough for him to open his eyes and realize that he existed.
Should he feel this all right after having taken a rather sharp head injury? He didn't know, but he was certain that there was a possibility of lasting damage. Then again, whatever preserved his older self's body from deteriorating into old age might keep him from being permanently crippled from otherwise life-threatening injuries. Did that even make him human anymore?
He looked over at Kylie, managing a faint smile. "Sorry for worrying you," He tells her, looking uncomfortable as an arm comes close enough to take a picture of his eyes and analyze the image. "Maybe my powers include a very slow regeneration. Might be why my future self is only dad aged as opposed to great-grandfather aged."
He looks up at the ceiling from the bed, pondering something. "I feel like the team's hanging by a thread. We're this close to dissolving. I...did I apologize to Prae and Rory? I thought I did, but that probably was just rambling. And...damn, Whippoorwill must be angry at me. Has she come around yet? I hope she'll take the injury into consideration before tearing into me," He sighs.
"Hey." Kylie's mouth didn't so much as twitch, but the relief tickling at the edges of her sending was unmistakable. "Glad you're feeling a bit better. I guess we'll see if the medbay or your powers are more to blame."
Carefully she gathered her thoughts before letting them slide into Shin's mind. "I think the team will be okay, but Shin: Why on earth did you make a play like that without telling anyone? They thought maybe you'd been taken over, or you were seeing some kind of mental projection. And what if you'd hurt Kayla?
"I don't understand what you did. Can you help me?"
***
Pressure tightened briefly on Mattie's hand, before pulling back to a barely felt presence. "Dawkins or here. Whatever it takes, I'm here."
"Hmmm... Well, I'm pretty sure that Shin, and by extension Dusk and any other temporal clones running around, all derive their powers from contact with a rather dangerous piece of First Federation wreckage. But on its own that's less of a problem than the apparent ramifications of their being caught in an active time loop. More worrying is the implication that there's probably the rest of that thing lying around somewhere. Of course, that's probably old news somewhere by now, and may in fact be the origin of some of the supervillains already running around. So not much new to report, though I can keep in touch if you want."
"...Because I was frustrated." There was no point in lying to Kylie as she could see right through him. He wouldn't even if he could. "I felt useless there. You and Mattie, even Isaiah have this greater understanding of a world that I don't understand. I felt powerless, until I thought that Eternia might have imprinted on the Archdeacon. Why else would she try to save her flock? So I gambled I could draw her out into the open if I threatened her followers. Pretend to be the monster she probably thinks of Dusk. I wasn't trying to fool everyone. It was a ham performance just to get her attention. I'm honestly shocked that Prae and Rory actually thought I was trying to hurt those people."
Shin turned his head away from Kylie, shame filling him. "I wanted to be useful in a way that mattered. I just ended up causing everyone problems. I'm terrified about losing this place. There's not much else for me out in this crazy future world. And...I especially don't want to lose you, Kylie."
As the elevator doors closed on Shane’s smug face, Kayla growls ”Aaauuuggghhhh!” before storming off to her own room. She learned when her powers first manifested that slamming doors was a bad idea, so she just paced back and forth in her room like a lion in a cage. After a few moments, she did what she always resorted to to blow off steam: she changed into her gym clothes and stormed off to their workout room.
The others can hear the faint sound of heavy metal music start playing from the gym, and at this distance it is obvious the music is blaringly loud.
Kayla spent the next half-hour running at a sprint on the treadmill before transitioning to the weights. She laid back on the hydraulic bench press and cranked the dial over to a resistance she could bust a few hundred reps of, somewhere around 1,500 lbs.
"Maybe Eternia is trying to fight in there, but I think the Archdeacon saved those people because they're feeding her power. Relying on her goodwill sounds very dangerous."
Pysche's webs reformed into Kylie's leggings, faded tee and glasses. She looked tired.
"Either way, Shin, I hated seeing you act like that. If you don't want to lose me, or this team, be Horizon, not Dusk."[/b][/i]
After her frustration relieving workout, Kayla hit the shower in her room and changed into a high-crop sweater and a pair of loose shorts before walking back to the common area, her approach announced by the padding of her bare feet on the marble floor. She was in the process of fixing her hair back into a ponytail as she entered, saying ”So...looks like we’re off for the evening, night, who knows how long...” as she gave the adults a frustrated look. ”Anyone wanna watch a movie? Got a decent collection in the multimedia room. Any requests?”
"...I don't ever want to be him." But the fear that it was inevitable still echoed deep within Shin. He looked at Kylie's blurred image, trying not to imagine a future where he made such a mess that he couldn't repair his relationship with her and the team. He'd try his hardest to show them all he wasn't going to be eroded into the jaded adult history created.
"I'm sorry I scared you. Now...do you think that you can get the rest of the team in here? I feel I need to apologize to them. Also to show Rory I don't blame him for knocking me so hard I needed medical attention," He added, trying to make light of things. Trying not to be angry at Rory's immediate assault on him. Though he didn't remember the punch clearly.
"Also, if you could find my glasses for me, I'd appreciate it. They're the same ones I brought with me from the past. I think I left them in the room Prae loaned me here in the Tower."
"I'm not afraid Shin."
"I'll go get your glasses and let people know you're up for visitors."
***
"Isaiah. Shin's doing better :-)
He wants to apologize for how things went. Whenever you are free."
***
"Rory, sorry if I'm interrupting Silver Shield again. Shin's conscious, and he'd like to apologize to you.
***
"Hey Mattie, Shin'd like the chance to say sorry. Also, when we're done talking could you tell me that my body's not where I left it? I can't really hear my other shards."
***
**Pok**
A brief tap of psychic pressure presaged Psyche's presence in Kayla's mind. "Are you done with Judge and-" she withdrew from the spike of emotion. "Oh. Well, when you're up for it. Shin wants to say he's sorry. He's in the Med-Bay."
”228...229...300...yeah Psyche...301...that’s good...302...lemme just...303...finish here...304...and shower off...305...and then i’ll be right....306...there...”
There is a brief pause and more counting, and then as she heads to the showers, she adds ”Tell him to pick out a movie he wants to see. Anything he’s heard or read about that he wants to watch. His choice. I’m not...I’m not mad at him...I’m mad at what he tried...and what he said...he basically put the idea out for anyone who could hear that my powers could be drained! That’s supposed to be a secret!”
"I'll let you two talk that out. I don't disagree with you though. He made a boneheaded play. I'd have been harder on him if he hadn't gotten such immediate negative reinforcement. I do think the power draining part was more of a reference to his own abilities to absorb energy, but you're right, it was thoughtless."
Slightly relieved Rory puts his arm around his sister concerned by her confession about her powers being in a state of flux. "Sorry I didn't know what was going on or at least how serious it seems, been kind of distracted... speaking of which... so what I wanted to talk to the two of you about before the stakeout, Praetoria and I are seeing each other exclusively and the issue of the risk that posses to the people in my life if my identity became more public, but I'm not too concerned because both of you are supers but I thought I should at least discuss it with you guys since it could affect you..."
Shin thinks for a moment. "I was looking forward to seeing The Mark of Zorro before ending up here in the future. Maybe she can find a copy? It might be as flashy as the films you guys have now, but I could use a good example of how a hero should act, even if it's just a fantasy in film."
"The one with Antonio Banderas or Anthony Hopkins?"
When word reaches Kayla of the movie choice Shin has requested, she smiles excitedly. "Neither of them are in it, silly! And yes, of course I have it, it's a classic!" she says in reply to Rory before moving to the kitchen and making herself a strawberry smoothie. She then heads off towards the multimedia room, stopping by Isaiah as she sips at her frozen drink. "Hey. You okay? You've been a bit quiet, and we all took a bit of a whalloping from that...parasite that has my Grammie. I've never seen you like that before. Are your," she stops before checking to make sure no one was near enough to overhear, except maybe Psyche listening in mentally, "are your energy reserves okay? You haven't talked to me about our agreement since we made it, really, but I don't want you risking running low or anything..."
Kayla turns and looks up at Rory and says "Hey...so...how did your lecture from Shield go? About as good as- she stops when she sees Psyche and Shin make their way into the room. She sighs and stands, holding the selected movie in her hand. She gives a look to Rory before turning towards Shin and walking over too him.
"Are you okay?" she asks, her tone conveying both a concern and an icy chill of held back female fury.
Shin had Kylie support him as they went to the multimedia room. Shin didn't think that he could actually watch the movie without a splitting headache, but he could close his eyes and listen for a while probably. He'd been surprised to see Whippoorwill here. Even more surprised when she mentioned flying here with him. He didn't remember that at all.
As Kayla spoke to him and looked like she was doing her best to not shout at him, Shin looked down at the floor, counting carpet fibers. "...no. But I will be with time. Kayla, I'm so sorry. I didn't think that my acting would fool you and Rory. I was hamming it up just to get Eter...the Archdeacon's attention. She seemed to care about the cultists, so I thought threatening them would draw her out into the open..."
He laughs mirthlessly. "Kind of a bad sign if my teammates immediately think the worst when I pretend to go bad. Though I would have thought you'd realize there was no way I'd be shouting my nefarious plans aloud if that actually happened. Even Shard had to be prompted first before he went on a villainous monologue."
Giving Psyche a sideways look, Kayla replied ”You guys were in a cult of telepath worshippers. How were we to know you weren’t being controlled. But that isn’t what bothers me,” she pauses, and almost every bit of skin showing on Kayla’s body almost seems to be quivering with pent up anger. ”You chose to monologue about draining my powers. Draining my powers, Shin! The one thing I asked you to keep secret for my sake. For my families sake. Now, if there were any cameras, or hell, even a random passer by looking to get attention with a story to the tabloids, people have a way to know! And even if they take it as a b~!+&~$@ threat, it can put the idea into even more villains heads!”
Psyche doesn't call Shin out in front of Kayla and Rory, but privately she slips into his thoughts. "Shin, that's not an apology. You basically said you're sorry that they were fooled, and that they should feel bad that your ploy worked on them. Are you actually sorry about how this went down?"
"...Huh?" Shin looked completely confused about the accusation that Kayla was throwing at him. He remembered saying that he would drain the life from the cultists. He thought that's what he'd said about Praetoria when he doubled down. Had he slipped and said something else?
"Kayla, believe me when I say I didn't mean to broadcast any weakness of yours to the world. I was improvising, just trying to get her to come out. I'm sorry. It was a stupid ploy I shouldn't have done in the first place. I just didn't want to fail. I paid for it. Rory, I'm sorry I scared you I was attacking Prae. I did something...awful...and I'm scared you all hate me now...eh?"
His vision was blurring, his emotions overwhelming as he struggled to hold back tears of frustration. He was better than this, wasn't he? He wiped his eyes clear, rubbing them for a moment while waiting for Kayla's response.
Kayla takes a deep breath and let’s it out slowly. ”Shin! That’s not-“ she starts in an outburst, before looking him in the eye and seeing the emotion and anxiety he was feeling. She took another breath and continued more calmly, ”...that’s not what you said. Anyway...what’s done is done...I’ll just have to hope nothing comes of it.”
She steps up to him and gives him a hug, ”Okay? Just...just don’t do anything like that again...alright?”
At points when they don't seem to be doing much, Isaiah sent out quiet messages to Praetoria and Psyche.
"Hey, I was thinking it might be about time to show you two something. If you want to meet me back at the old base, now might be as good a time as any."