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 Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 1:30 pm
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[Age: TBD]
Topher was getting off work and headed home but got side tracked. He had been well, dating Tonya for quite a while now so he was looking at rings. He knew he was going to pop the question and of course every time he looked the jewelers knew who he was so he had to go out of his way to avoid ones that Tonya would most likely know. So it was here when he noticed he was being followed, actually followed in front and backed. Not followed, they wanted him in a specific location then, they were being blatant about it. ”Ok. They do realize I’m a cop right?” So most likely some military f*ckheads or government types that wanted to talk to him. He flashed his lights and the lead car started to go a bit quicker and Topher followed only after sending a text to Chris and his Mother (A group text for things like this) through his Bluetooth. ”Some idiots are tailing me, as well as leading me, could just be to talk, could be a trap, just wanted you to know.” He hit send on the steering wheel knowing that they’d at least know.
He blinked as his phone beeped “message failed” they were in a little off area now heading towards the rural farms. Cell blocker? A*s… He didn’t finish the though as the lead car suddenly braked and everyone got out aiming weapons at his. He slammed on his breaks barely managing to not hit their car. The SUV behind them pinned his car in so he couldn’t maneuver out. ”s**t…. Distraction.” He slowly opened his door. ”SLOWLY! TOSS YOUR GUN TOWARDS US!” Yeah not likely a*sholes. ”We know you yourself can shield against bullets but your car cant dodge a RPG Topher.” He looked back at that speaker and sure enough they had not one but three aimed at him. ”Well ******** me.” He had another way, between he and James they had rigged the built in GPS in his car to send a signal if he presses a certain key combination on the steering long enough which he did before getting out.
His dad had rigged a older army GPS unit to one of the computer servers they owned (Which was probably illegal but for their purpose Frederick didn’t care. It hooked into all their devices and would send him and a few a signal if certain things were pressed. Jack set it up, Topher and James worked on a few cars to rig them that way, Topher working on a chip and program, James helping with wiring into the cars. They could block cell and most communications but GPS especially military grade which all their vehicles ran was harder to block. He tossed his work Glock out since he had just gotten done with a shift and stepped out with his hands in the air. He stepped into the field knowing that’s where they wanted him to go. A large group of them followed him, but a few others moved the vehicles off the main road so they wouldn’t be in the way and to probably avoid suspicion from regular drivers. Like the RPG guys wouldn’t? But no, they were staying in the dark vans doors opened to face him, clever.
”You are one arrogant little son of a b***h you know that?” A guy already in the field came towards them and Topher recognized him. Frederick had given him a file on Alberdine’s associates and he knew this man to be his second in command. ”Summers, figures its you, Alberdine wont show his own face to me?” Summers glared, ”No I believe you showed him a bit too much, he’s worried.” ”He sho…” Summers pulled a M9 Pistol and Topher was about to dodge the attack but everyone around them aimed at him, he’d be dead before he could put up his shields, possibly. The gun came up to his forehead. ”See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about, that cocky attitude. Need to reign it in a bit, maybe we’ll go pay your girlfriend, soon to be fiancé from the looks of it a little visit after this.” Topher took a step forward and Summers stance changed pushing the gun harder into his head. ”Summers, I’m warning you now, Rule one, back the ******** off.” Summers laughed and shook his head, ”No see we know you’ve been doing a little shady s**t yourself, Tonya wouldn’t like that now would she?” Topher gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, Chris had warned him that taking those actions would come back to bite him in the a*s one day.
”Going to blackmail me and force me to work for you, on what? Two possible connections? You’d be better off walking away, cause if you don’t and kill me, you’ll start a mother f*cking war with some powerful people. Alberdine doesn’t f*cking know what he’s doing or who he’s messing with.” Summers sighed and backed off lowering his gun. ”Our seer said you wouldn’t though for some reason they couldn’t clearly see you, just said our plans wont work.” Topher smirked, ”Should’ve listened to them.” Summers started to walk off and spoke loudly before he was out of range. ”KILL HIM.” He could sense it even with Summers’ block and had already put up a double shield. The RPGs that hit though still sent him stumbling back as he turned to face the others. He used the force and flames from the explosion sending it back at the men in the vehicles avoiding his own using precise kinetic energy. He had mentally stopped Summers from moving and turned and smirked at Summers shocked face.
”Alberdine took too long to try this. See I’m a tad bit stronger now.” Topher calmly walked up to Summers and took the pistol from the man and then turned to shoot the men that were in the field with them in the head putting them out of their misery. He then turned back to Summers as more SUVs showed up, those he recognized, they were Fredericks men. ”See, now would be a good time to flee, because Frederick is a by the book guy. Meaning he FOLLOWS the rules. Seeing as how you and Alberdine didn’t follow Paul’s suggestion I would think Frederick would want you two court-marshalled, and this black bag operation is good evidence. I’m letting you go, so you can tell Alberdine to back off, if I see he or you ever again, I wont play nicely.” He mentally let Summers go and the man blinked at him. ”Go, don’t try to talk your way out, you LOST. You lost all your men, I could easily kill you in self defense and get away with it, using RPGs against a civilian, really? You were sent to assassinate me, my mother will be told, and Chris will. Alberdine will be watched carefully, so you get to go.”
Summers fled as Frederick and his men came up and Topher put a hand up and sighed. ”Let him go.” He could hear Frederick curse under his breath a few of the men were putting out small fires with fire extinguishers and Topher turned around to face Frederick. ”They broke rule one. I let him go so he could tell Alberdine to not do it again.” ”Topher I…” Topher lowered his hands and also handed the pistol to Frederick. It was military issued and the serial would match to Summers. ”Summers can be, I want him to tell Alberdine to back off first. Use that to match up the bullets to the men. Here, I used a small kinetic body shield so my fingerprints aren’t anywhere on it.” Topher smirked at Frederick’s glare. ”I never promised him he wouldn’t get in trouble, plus he just f*cking used RPGs against me and also threatened Tonya.” At that he pulled out his phone but Frederick waved a hand. ”She was at the house waiting for you to get home when I got the alert, I called Jack to check and he said you weren’t home so I let him know of the alert on our way out.”
By now Topher had moved out so Tonya would be at his house then. So being on their property she was probably in one of the safest places to be. ”Good. I’m going home then.” ”I’ll leave a clean up crew here, but we’re escorting you back.” ”Of course.” He would’ve fought against that but it was standard procedure for Frederick after something like this. And to be honest he would rather have the added security at the moment.
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Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2019 6:59 pm
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Nate's Big Valentines Day Plans
"Hey Chris, Is it just me or has Nate been acting a bit weird lately?" Chris looked over at her friend and tilted her head in thought. "Maybe?" She paused and Kensie thought she was done when she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh! Right! He gets super excited around Valentines day. Always trying to find a date and do the most for them. You'll see what I mean soon." Kensie frowned. "Wait didn't the two of you start dating recently." "Yep." "And you know this plan of his already don't you..." "A bit. I'm trying to let it be as much of a surprise as possible. Like I said, You'll see what I mean soon." Kensie was still unsure but she dropped it for now. If Chris wasn't worried about him, then she would just have to put it out of her mind.
On Valentines day itself, Kensie found she was more curious than anything to find out what Chris meant that she would "see soon". Obviously that meant there would be some spetical element to whatever it was Nate was doing. She actually got to class early, hoping to hear something from Chris. Maybe his plan started early? But Chris came into class like normal. She wasn't even dressed up. Though she noticed, the girl had her extra large coffee mug this morning so she probably wasn't even coherent enough to ask. Still she was going to anyway.
"Chris. Chriiiiissss..." As she suspected, Chris pretty much ignored her and took her seat. Well so much for finding out if he had done anything special before she got to school as the Teacher came in and started class already. It would just have to wait. Unfortunately for Kensie, she was impatient and distracted now so she only vaguely payed attention, mostly doodling and trying to figure out what was going to happen. She wasn't even sure why she was so interested! It wasn't as if this really involved her or anything!
Kensie was still technically being paid to "keep watch" over Chris but it was mostly unnecessary for several reasons. The girl could take care of herself of course but then this year Nate moved into the apartment. So she technically had a bodyguard. It helped that the two were dating now, it was almost impossible not to just smack Nate and tell him herself once she realized what was going on. (She tried. Many times. But Chris knows too much so she never succeeded.) Pretty much at this point Kensie was being paid to be Chris's friend. Thought if she was being honest, Chris was probably stuck with her, even if they stopped paying her to do this.
After class, Kensie almost bounced over to Chris. Almost. She could tell Chris was grinning, obviously she could tell Kensie was curious even without looking at her and it amused her. "You are going to have to wait." "He didn't do anything special this morning? I could have swore he would have started whatever he's doing early this morning." Chris laughed at that, standing from her desk. "Nope he was asleep when I left this morning. Oh but as a warning, he's been planning this for a while now so please be nice." That puzzled Kensie even more. "You...you aren't even dressed all nice or anything. Is he going to surprise you here? I'm so confused." Chris just smirked and didn't say anything else on the subject which, in all honesty, infuriated Kensie.
They made it to their next class. Kensie couldn't help but speculate what it could possibly be that he was going to do. She half expected something to happen during class but it didn't. And it didn't during the next class either. Finally it was the end of the day and so far Kensie hadn't seen any indication that anything was going to happen.
Kensie was still trying to get Chris to tell her what was happening while they were walking towards the front of the school to leave for the day. And that's when Kensie started to see what Chris meant. As they rounded the corner, there stood Nate, looking slightly uncomfortable in a suit, absolutely surrounded by balloons. Chris smirked, obviously she already knew what was coming but Kensie almost stopped in her tracks. How the ******** did he even set this up.
Nate spotted the two of them and seemed to relax a bit for a second before seeming to realize that there was also a crowd gathering around. Too late to back out now, he walked forwards a couple of steps and opened his arms wide. "For you, fifty balloons of your favorite colors. If you come close..." He grabbed the closest balloon from its perch and held it out as the two of them got closer. "I wrote a reason I love you on each one." Kensie almost gagged but felt her emotions lift a bit and knew Chris was trying to keep her from discouraging Nate. It wasn't that this wasn't cute, it was. But it was also very cheesy.
Chris took her time looking over each balloon. By now the majority of the group had left but there were always some who stuck around. Those who wanted to know what else was going on and those who were just seeing all of this for the first time who were trying to find out what was going on. Kensie stood awkwardly to the side, curious what else was going to happen. Finally when Chris turned to Nate he seemed a bit more unsure of himself. Kensie didn't blame him, she still held that same soft neutral smile she always held. "Nate..." She seemed to start and then stop, waiting instead for him to continue. He grabbed a box that was sitting nearby and held it out for her. "I got this for you." He held the box as she opened it and lifted the top of a beautiful dress out of the box. She broke out into a smile and looked up at Nate. Kensie tried once again not to gag.
"It's beautiful Nate." "I want to take you out to dinner, I already have reservations. Would you wear it for me?" She chuckled and grinned. "Of course." Kensie made a face then snuck forward a bit and coughed. "This is adorable s**t and all, but I think I'm going to take off now. I'll see you tomorrow Chris? Take care of her Nate. She's in your hands now." Chris nodded in answer to her question, silently thanking her for bearing with all that. Nate nodded as well to their usual hand off greeting. "Till next time Kensie, I promise." It was a strange thing Kensie started as a joke but had become more of a ritual at these 'hand off' times. Chris probably realized it too but made a point not to say anything because it was easier than the two of them arguing like Kensie and Topher.
Nate let Chris get changed and they headed out to dinner. Of course it was busy everywhere but Nate had been planning all of this for long enough and of course because the place he picked (with some help of course) had a special place just for them because of their connections to Jenny. Chris didn't mind it though, because it gave them a bit more privacy. The food was delicious and eventually they went back to the apartment. Nate had been a little quite during the drive home so once they got inside she stopped him just inside the door.
"What's wrong Nate?" He was feeling kind of unhappy. Worried about something maybe? Did she do something wrong? Did she miss something? "You just don't seem like you were having a good time is all. I... I wanted to do something special for you but it kinda feels like you weren't interested." Chris shook her head and almost laughed. He was confused again, there was that adorable look on his face when she did something he didn't expect. Which to be fair was often.
"Nate I had a wonderful time. But to be honest, I don't need all of this. The dress is beautiful, the dinner was great but we could have just sat here on the couch and ate fast food and watched a stupid movie and it would have been just fine." Nate frowned a little. "You mean I didn't have to embarrass myself in front of the whole school..." This time she did laugh. "Of course not! Listen it was great and I loved it, but you didn't have to do that. You always go out and find someone to spend Valentines day with and try to do these grand things, but you never have to do that. Now, I'm going to change out of this dress. Go find a stupid movie to watch and we can pop some popcorn and cuddle. That's really how I want to spend the rest of my day." And so they did.
By the end of the movie, as the credits were rolling, Chris had fallen asleep leaning against him. She looked so peaceful as she slept and he started to get it. He didn't have to do anything other than be here for her. He kissed the top of her head gently and maneuvered to pick her up and get her to bed. By now he knew she probably wasn't going to wake up so he didn't have to be too careful but he was still as gentle as he could be. He carried her to the room and set her down on the bed, covering her and watching her settle into her place for the night. As he turned to leave her room she grabbed his hand and muttered "I love you Nate." He leaned down and kissed the top of her forehead. "Love you too."
Of course after this, he would never live down the most embarrassing Valentines Day ever. They would tell the kids about this in the future for sure.
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 1:59 am
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Topher and Tonya had been out taking Salem and Saline for a walk, while the two were old enough to walk and Salem kept making that comment even at the young age they were both starting to talk already Tonya made sure they were in the double stroller. So when Topher’s senses went on alert he was glad that she was that picky. ”We’re not alone.” ”No sh*t, we’re in public.” Tonya stopped as Topher grabbed her arm. ”No someone… something is tripping my precog and I’m on alert.” ”Here? NOW?” She glared at him and he blanched, yes it was his fault but he couldn’t predict what people would do. ”We have the twins for f*cks sake.” She shoved him back and by now people were staring at them. Stop making a scene He sent mentally, they had finally connected enough that she opened up to him and ALLOWED him to do that though he still got a death glare in response but at the same time Saline started to cry at something so she turned around and got her settled them moved back to walking back to the Tower.
They were perceptive little ones Salem usually went quiet when Topher went on alert and if Tonya was angry Saline started to cry. He was sure she had Empathy which was going to be just… lovely. It was bad enough that during the pregnancy Toni’s went up so she was a tad stronger but not as much as Chris he wasn’t sure how Saline would be and didn’t really want to be around three of them, well technically four, though Lexa’s was different, thank god. ”Your mother is going to let you go anywhere after this.” ”Don’t remind me…” It had been fine for a while. A LONG WHILE. Long enough that he had gotten so bored that THEY demanded he do something so Chris sent him to school, yes school. The first day was hell, Nate and James showed up AS STUDENTS. They had tested in just like everyone else so he didn’t feel bad, he was just accepted, apparently having a standing offer still. As they turned a corner his senses perked even more and he saw what made them go haywire, Tonya did too.
Across the street from them a ways down were two unmarked obvious government type SUVs though he was sure they weren’t government. Tonya quickly glanced over at them and was in his view and he just gave a quick nod. ”Go home, they want m…” ”Christopher Mizuki no. You can’t make me do that.” He winced at the full name and just shook his head. ”Any other time, if the twins weren’t with us I’d say we’d take them and set the trap. Don’t MAKE me Make you… please.” She stopped and glared at him. Before she could protest he kissed her. ”Besides what could go wrong?” He crossed the street and heard her respond but keep going the direction to the tower. ”China…I’m texting the group.” Usually that meant Chris, their mom and Frederick. Anything out of the ordinary like this would be good to have them in the loop at least. He waved at her as he made his way over to the two SUVs.
As he neared he waited till Tonya was well away and around the next corner before stepping up. Once doing that all the doors opened and he could tell they were armed. He was glad they didn’t go after Tonya even though she was a easy target for them to distract him with grabbing, they probably knew better than to mess with her and the grandkids, that’d be a instant death wish, at the moment they were still alive. ”Morning, what can I do for you fine gentleman… and lady.” There was one woman with them and she’s the one who spoke. ”You’re to come with us.” ”Sorry no. You aren’t government, Paul would be here. You’re most likely mercenaries and considering you didn’t take obvious bate for me to follow you into a trap, you know my… violent tendencies.” ”No, and quite. Get in the vehicle and we’ll make this easy on you and your family.” Topher noticed that people had started to avoid the little area, the other men had kind of cordoned off it anyway. He shook his head at her and sighed, ”You people never learn do you. I don’t care who you’re with. I’m not active anymore. Let me live a life.” ”A life you don’t deserve. You’ve killed what, over forty at once mentally, a group of a dozen, five in cold blood while you were a cop before the government blackmailed you into working for them. And over a dozen for Uncle Sam contracted or not.”
Topher blinked then glared, ”You’re suspicially well informed, who the ******** do you work for?” She stepped forward and smirked. ”We’re a small splinter group contracted by Melina.” Topher would’ve took a step back but he was surrounded by that point. IDIOT… let her distract you with small talk while they surround you. He got into a fighting stance and she smirked. ”You know she’s dead right?” ”Yes Chris killed her. We would get her but her clairvoyance is a tad strong, you on the other hand.” Topher blinked, how the ******** did she…”You have time tech…f*ck me.” She was about to smirk but he rushed her, well tried to. The instant he did he disappeared and popped, somewhere else.
--
[[About a day and a half later]]
Topher popped in and was instantly freezing. He wasn’t sure where he was other than on a freezing a*s snow covered mountain in the middle of a blizzard without snow gear. ”Fu…” He was about to curse but his phone went nuts. Somehow he still had signal and he was getting a call from well the Tower, one of the offices or conferences. ”Hel…o?” His teeth had started to shake in the cold and he was sure he wouldn’t be able to talk well at the moment. ”TOPHER WHERE ARE YOU?!” ”Use the GPS on my phone old man, cause I don’t fu…” ”DAD! ARE Y…” ”Hey Toni, yeah I’m well…alive” He had put up a kinetic shield bubble and it was keeping out some of the cold at least but not all. ”Mom came back without you, Frederick and James went right away after getting the text from her but by the time they were there the trucks you saw were gone and you weren’t… anywhere.” Topher looked at the day and time on the phone which updated and cursed. ”I got time jumped and relocated, to…”
”Somewhere near Everest. Thank god your ok.” He heard Tonya in the background, he was pretty sure he could hear his mother swearing at Frederick or someone, something probably both as well. ”Aunt Chris is furious and stormed right into Paul’s office demanding help since he’s trying to get back on Gran’s good side.”
Topher paused and looked up hearing something and sure enough at the moment he looked up the mountain their was an explosion which started a land slide headed straight for him. ”The hell was that?” He heard Tonya clearly but was pretty sure everyone in that room had asked. The explosion and following crack of ice and snow was pretty damn loud. ”Just the people trying to kill me setting off a explosion which set off a landslide.” ”WHAT?!” That time he heard everyone audibly, he was curious as to who was all there since he had to move the phone away from his ear when they yelled that. Another explosion was set off and this time he felt the ground underneath him start to move. ”Sh*t…” Someone, probably mom or Toni or even dad had forced his phone into video mode so now he saw all of them staring at him as he started to flail about as he lost footing from the ground breaking underneath him.
”DAD!” Was all he heard before the rest of the snow from the previous explosion caught up and tried to bury him. He had put up A shield but when he heard the secondary his sub conscious had put up a second and when he started to loose balance he went max power and put out a third and being tossed about put in a two more inner shields making five total between him and the snow tossing him about. He wasn’t sure how exactly he had managed to make that many but when everything settled and the slight glow from his phone screen wasn’t the only thing glowing white he knew exactly what happened. He looked back at the phone and saw his mothers eyes narrow a bit but she shook it off, at least under this particular circumstance he had used it to protect himself. He felt bruised and banged up a bit but ok for the most part until a sharp pain hit his leg. ”OWww… f*ck.” He looked down and the way he had landed his leg was not meant to bend that way.
Chris had conferenced into the call on her way back when s**t started going bad the minute she had sensed him apparently and he was trying to reassure. ”I’ll be… fine…” By now Toby had walked into the conference room and actually looked worried. Topher was sure he was training by the way he was sweating. Seemed that’s all that boy did these days. Another shot of pain went through him and he winced. Jack glared at him and he nodded going into a meditation so he could departmentalize the pain to some other part of himself and focus. ”Paul has a group from the Everest team on their way by helicopter, they barely heard the explosion there but with the location its not far.” ”Good.” ”You’re going to be home in no time.” Topher nodded and could feel himself blacking out and turned to where Jenny and Tonya were. ”I’m sorry… for everything. I’m promise to be better…” Was the last thing he said before he passed out from the pain and partial blood loss.
[[ooc: Ps… ken can keep the shield up even if HE is unconscious so he lives they get him out quickly after, Paul made sure of that XD…
Ken: Wimp…]]
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Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 7:16 pm
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“M-Mrs. Chris? Do you have a min-nute to talk?” Chris has just been passing by the research lab, not really meaning to stop in. She watched carefully as the younger boy approached her, he was not much older than Liam. She recognized him as one of the interns the recently hired. ”“Thomas, right? Can we walk and talk? I’ve got to get back to my office for this stupid phone call…” “S-S-Sure.” He nodded and scrambled to catch up with her as she had been moving the whole time. ”How are you liking it here? Are things going well?” ”Y-yes ma’am. Th-the team has been very w-welcoming. Thank y-you. B-but...” ”But that’s not what you wanted to discuss…” Chris held her hand out to him and he handed her a piece of paper. ”R-right. W-we were filing away s-some old schematics and I n-noticed a security flaw on t-the drones, ma’am.”
Chris took a moment to look over the paper he gave her before handing it back. ”That sounds like a Liam question then.” ”L-liam?...” She stopped and turned to face him. ”Surely you’ve met my son Liam already. He works pretty closely with the tech division but he’s over the IT department. Those are his designs so he’d be the one to talk with about it.” Thomas was quiet for a moment. ”Is that all you needed? Don’t want to rush you but…” He snapped out of his thoughts. ”O-oh of course! Sorry to b-bother you…” He bent his head down and turned to walk off. Chris grinned. ”Cute kid…”
Of course Thomas had ‘met’ Liam in passing. Mostly watching the younger boy from afar. He wasn’t quite sure what to think about him based on what he’d seen so far, his only hope was that the boy wouldn’t take offence to Thomas’s discovery. He was nervous but he held his head high and took a deep breath before knocking on the door that led into Liam’s “office”. It was just a small space with a computer in it and as far as Thomas knew, he didn’t tend to stay in it very often. It was just luck that Liam was there when Thomas was walking by.
Liam looked up from his computer and Thomas couldn’t tell if he looked angry or if that was his normal face. ”Yes?” Well he didn’t sound angry at least. Thomas stepped inside the opened door. ”W-well… W-while we were going through s-some old schematics to f-file them away, I-I noticed there is a s-security flaw with th-this one.” Liam held out his hand and beckoned the male forward. Thomas came forward and handed him the paper the same as he did with Chris, only this time he pointed to a spot on it. ”T-there you see. A-anyone could get a-ahold of one of the d-drones a-and…” He stopped because Liam made a ”humph” sound. Now he knew he’d upset him. ”Very interesting observation. You are right, of course. But this is an older design. See here?” Liam pointed up towards the top where there was a series of dates written. Most of them were in fact several years old by now. ”I intentionally left some of these older files like this when I updated the design to see if anyone noticed. Good job.”
Liam handed the paper back and Thomas blinked. So he wasn’t upset? ”However next time, make sure you look and see if its the most recent design before coming to waste my time with design flaws that have already been fixed.” Thomas bowed his head slightly. ”O-of course.” As he started his exit, he almost ran right into Lexa. ”Liam! Oh! Sorry, didn’t mean to bump you there. Liam isn’t giving you are hard time is he?” Thomas shook his head. ”N-no ma’am, I was just leaving.” And he hurried off to be anywhere but there.
Lexa watched him run off, amusement written all over her face. ”How utterly adorable.” ”Lexa, don’t play with the interns. Besides, don’t you have a boyfriend right now.” Lexa glared harshly in Liam’s direction. ”That is none of your business, but I’ll have you know, I’m swearing off boys for now. Nothing but a hassle.” ”So he dumped you then.” ”I’m not having this conversation with you Liam! That is not the reason I came in here! Look at this!” She handed him some sketches and he sighed. ”Wha..” ”You got mad the last time I approached the team with ideas for the game without your permission so I’m asking first this time. Despite your current apathy towards it.” This time it was Liam who glared at Lexa. ”I just want to work on something else is all.” ”Whatever, we are still keeping it going until the fans stop demanding things.” ”And by fans you mean you…”
Lexa rolled her eyes. They still had a huge fan base and there were still requests that came in all the time. But most of the time the one screaming about new content was Lexa. ”Same difference, now looook at iiiitt Liaaaammm…” Liam took his time looking it over. Lexa’s sketches were always rather detailed and she was, even now, pretty good. Good enough that the official artists always approached her about new concepts before they implemented them. And detailed enough that even the most novice artist on the team could replicate her work with all the notes she put on them. ”A new content update will give everyone something to be happy about. And maybe you’ll even play again.” ”We’ll see. Is that all you wanted to bother me about…” Lexa sighed and snatched her sketches back from her brother. ”For now…” As she walked out though, Liam had to have one last jab. ”Oh I know now. He noticed you staring at his sister didn’t he…” Lexa flipped him off without turning around. ”Well... she did have a nice a**.”
Several months later
”Lexa!” Lexa turned from the punching bag to see Thomas bent over close by, out of breath. ”You… Are… Hard… To track… Down…” ”Breathe sunshine… Did… Did you run here or something?” The boy stood up straight, slightly flushed though she couldn’t tell if it was from the run or something else. ”S-sort of… S-sorry… I had a question to ask.” ”And that required you to… You know what, ask away little bird.” She smirked, curious what question could be so important that the boy would be running around to find her. Curiously she took a peek at his colors. Thomas lit up a fairly bright yellow color, edges tinged with a bright pink. Oh was this about love? His face was definitely flush from something other than his run to find her.
”W-well… I… uh…” ”Thomas, hun, just tell me already so I can crush your dreams and we can move on from your embarrassment. I am definitely not into you…” His face seemed to fall for a second and she waited for the sad blue color to creep into his colors on for him to shake out his head. ”No, t-that’s not what I was going to say at all. I’m… Uh…” He smacked his cheeks with his hands lightly. ”Just got to come out and say it…” He whispered the last part to himself, probably for confidence. ”I LIKE YOUR BROTHER LIAM….” He squeezed his eyes shut as he shouted it and Lexa doubled over laughing. He peered through his eyelashes at her confused. Was it really all that funny that Thomas found him attractive? Or was he already with someone. Oh no… Now he was starting to think he made a mistake. Lexa inhaled deeply, standing straight again and placing a hand on his shoulder. She was trying to hold back her laughter but Thomas knew she was still enjoying this way too much.
”Of all the people!” She started to laugh again and Thomas could feel the tears stinging the back of his eyes. ”I… I should go.” He half turned towards the dojo door but Lexa squeezed his shoulder and held him in place. ”Wait no! Just… give me a second.” She wiped a tear from her eyes and started to calm. ”I just never expected anyone to be interested in my loser of a brother so this is a bit of a shock for me.” ”I just wanted to ask if you thought I had a chance… i-i-if I asked him out… on a d-date or something.” Lexa ruffled his hair. ”Listen, Liam isn’t really good with the whole feelings thing. I’ll be entirely honest, I don’t know what he’d say. But it wouldn’t hurt to try. All else fails, he’ll think of it as just doing friend things. And Boy Golly, does that boy need more friends.” Thomas contemplated that for a moment before nodding. ”Ah… Thanks Lexa. I-I appreciate it. ”Think nothing of it, kiddo. Just go have fun.” She waved as he left, waiting to laugh some more until after he’d walked out of the room.
A week or two later
Lexa had pretty much forgotten that conversation with Thomas. Things got busy and honestly her brother’s love life wasn’t a priority in her mind. That meant she had no idea why in the world Liam invited her out of lunch. So of course when she arrived a few minutes later than their designated meeting time, she only had quips to give. ”Finally, Liam is going to pay me back for all those time’s he owes me lunch.” Liam glared at her from the driver's seat. ”Just get in the car before I leave without you…” Lexa shrugged but did as he asked. They lightly talked in jest on the way to the restaurant, Lexa ever the oblivious to the real reasons Liam was taking her out.
It wasn’t until they had ordered and were waiting on their food did Liam approach the topic. ”So Lexa… I wanted to ask for something.” ”Don’t you owe me enough.” ”Trust me, you owe me more than you remember at this point Lexa. Just… Hear me out okay.” Lexa dropped whatever silly comment she was about to make. Liam was actually being serious. ”Okay… What is it?” ”I… How do you know when you like someone?” Lexa, who had decided to take this moment to sip on her drink, almost spat it back out. Coughing, it took her a minute to answer. ”W-What the ******** Liam!” ”Well you end up in and out of relationships so much, I figured you had this down to a science by now. Fine, don’t answer my question.” Lexa blinked, checking his colors. Damn, still just a clear as normal.
”Are you trying to decide if you have a crush, Liam?” He was still looking off to the side, head propped up on his hand. ”Liam?” He sighed and looked back over at her with a slight nod. ”I think so…” Lexa squealed slightly, bouncing up and down in her chair. ”Oh my god! Tell me who!!!!” His colors flashed a quick light transparent pink around the edges just for half a second and she knew he was thinking of the person right now. ”Oh! You really do have a crush! Holy Hell I never expected the day I’d see the emotionless Liam Jones fall in love!” Liam glared at her but nothing was going to bring down her glee now. ”Okay, okay. I’ll chill. It's just so exciting okay.” ”Its just… I can’t stop thinking about them. Like, there is this thing they do that… well its irritating when I think about it logically but every time they do it, its not so bad? And we’ve been talking a lot lately. H… They asked me something I had never though of before and… Lexa will you please sit still while I speak…” Lexa had gone back to bouncing up and down excitely. Her eyes were sparkling with glee too.
”Sounds like a crush all right. Do I know them? Just tell me all ready!” Liam looked away again, unsure. ”Thomas” Lexa leaned forward just a little. ”Say that one more time… You were mumbling a bit there.” ”Its Thomas!” Lexa swore she saw a blush cross Liam’s cheek. Or maybe she still had her Empathy working. Either way, she couldn’t help but let out another squeal. ”So? What do I do?” ”What do you mean ‘What do I do’? You ******** play this out! All this time, you might as well see just what this could mean. Who knows, maybe you two end up together forever. Maybe it burns down in flames in a week or two. But you have got to see where this ends up!” ”How?” ”H-how… For someone really smart, you are pretty dumb aren’t you. Do exactly what you are doing now! Think about him! Does he bring warm fuzzy feelings to your chest and happy thoughts to your mind? Do more things that help that. Spend time with him, find out things he likes. Take him to do things you like. Figure out things you two might like to do together. Tell him how you feel!” ”And if he doesn’t… isn’t… ”Boy asked you out on a date didn’t he?” ”That was a friendly… wait… That was a date? Going to the movies was a date? How did you know we did that?”
This time Lexa was the one that looked away. ”He… May have come to ask me something similar to what you are asking now…” ”So… that means he does…” ”Yep. Gonna be honest, I laughed right in his face. Never expected someone to fall for your dumb face, let alone come tell me about it first!” ”You knew and you could have told me and saved me all this trouble?!?” ”And miss out on this perfect moment right here? No ******** thanks.” ”I hate you…” ”I know.”
The next day
Chris was sitting on the couch reading a book, trying her hardest to relax on one of her few days off when Liam entered the apartment. Nate greated him from the kitchen and Chris looked up as he made his way towards her. She gently closed the book and set it in her lap. With a smile she reached out her arms and Liam leaned down for a hug. ”Not complaining but a surprise visit isn’t very like you Liam… Everything okay?” He pulled back and nodded, not looking her in the eye. Another sign that something was bugging him. She patted the space next to her on the couch, beckoning him to sit for a minute. ”I’m only here for a minute or two. I… I wanted to tell you something.” Nate paused in his cooking for a second to listen, bringing the skillet over to the island that divided the kitchen and livingroom and leaning against it. ”Okay, go ahead. What’s bothering you Liam?” ”I… Not bothering per se… I just wanted you to know that I…” He stopped again and Chris had to wonder just what was so important that he was having such difficulties saying it. Nate seemed less concerened than she was, turning back towards the stove to put the skillet back and continue his cooking. ”Go on Liam.” Liam nodded and took a deep breath to steady himself. ”I like someone.”
Chris thought her heart was going to stop. ”Wh-what? Who? How? Oh my god…” Her mind was jumping around to the worst possible scenarios. Liam nervously sighed and rubbed the back of his head. ”Its one of the interns…” In her head, Chris was naming off all the interns she could think of. Did something happen? Was this about to be another Toni situation? What was she going to do, she didn’t want to be a grandmother already… Liam seemed to sense her inner turmoil though because his next words were, ”Mom, chill. Its Thomas…” All thoughts stopped. Wait… What? Chris heard Nate laugh from the kitchen. She must have said that last bit out loud. ”Are you telling me, the S ranked Seer and A ranked Empath didn’t see this coming! Chris!” ”Are you saying you expected something like this Nate?” She sounded a lot calmer than she felt. Nate shrugged. ”I’m more shocked to hear he’s got a crush than knowing who it is. Besides look at Lexa.” Chris shook those thoughts from her head. Finding out Lexa had a girlfriend that way was… worse than this for sure.
Chris stood, pulling Liam into a hug. ”My baby… All grown up.” ”Mom… you are squishing me. Please stop.” ”Fine, but promise me you’ll be safe…” Liam pulled away and made a face. ”Can we just get through this weird awkward moment without that talk again… Please. I’m not that interested but if it does get that far, I promise…” Chris smiled. ”Good.” Liam expertly dodged another hug, hurrying towards the door. ”Sorry, I have to get to the lab now. Thanks for understanding.” And with that he disappeared behind the door. Chris tilted her head towards Nate. ”You seriously saw that coming?” ”No but I’ve learned to just let things happen with this family.” Chris flopped back onto the couch. ”You are lucky I love you…”
Words: 2875
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Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:27 pm
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Roughly two years later
They were at lunch when Liam asked something Lexa had pointed out to him recently. ”Thomas… You are constantly surrounded by my family, but I haven’t ever heard you say anything about your own. Why is that?” Thomas didn’t meet his gaze, staring down at his food instead. ”Thomas?” The older male looked up slowly, still somehow smiling, though even Liam could tell it was wrong. ”I-I don’t keep in touch with them currently…” Sadness… That was what that smile was trying to hide. It was strange, in all the time Liam had known him, he’d never seen Thomas sad. Nervous as hell and stuttering up a storm, yes. Scared, once or twice. But never sad. Thomas almost always had a smile and despite everything Liam’s family might have tried, the boy was still always positive and cheerful. It was almost terrifying to be honest.
But now… ”Oh… It's not because of us is it?” Liam was smart, obviously, so it wasn’t as if he didn’t see the problems that still happened outside of their little bubble in the Tower. Psychic’s had come a long way but there were still groups that hated them and everything they stood for. Thomas let his shoulders sink. ”Sort of… but i-its more than that. They don’t really approve of… w-well anything I do.” Thomas pushed some of his food around his plate. ”Don’t get me wrong! They probably love me in their own way. But they sure have a funny way of showing it.” The last bit was so full of venom that Liam set down his fork and propped his elbows on the table, crossing his hands under his chin. ”If you don’t want to talk about it, I’m not going to force you to say anything. I shouldn’t have asked.” Thomas shook his head, a small smile returning to his face.
”No, you deserve to know. I-I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now, but c-couldn’t figure out h-how so I guess this w-will do.” He took a deep breath to prepare himself for what Liam assumed would be something difficult for him to talk about. ”I-I guess I should start with my dad. He was an athlete in High School with plans to play professionally if he could but a-an injury ruined that plan. S-so he’s always tried to push me towards sports and while he’s big and buff and made for it I am…” He gestured to his small, thin frame, ”Not so much. I didn’t want to play. I like to tinker and create t-things.”
Thomas exhaled slowly, taking a drink of his water while collecting his thoughts. ”M-my mom i-is not really… pleasant… to be around.” Thomas fiddled with his napkin on the table and Liam reached out and placed his hands on Thomas’s in support. ”S-s-she likes to d-drink… a lot. S-she’s always disappointed in everything, a-and argues with my dad a-all the time. I-I don’t t-think they would really… a-a-approve of… I-I applied to the internship w-with your family b-because it gave me the best c-chance to get out and away a-and closer to what I want.”
Thomas sighed softly, squeezing Liam’s hand. ”I-I’ve never heard m-my dad say o-one positive thing about p-psychics and… I t-tried to explain to my mom o-once that I didn’t like girls. I h-have a scar on my back from that encounter.” He looked like he was going to cry. ”Hey now, you are here aren’t you. Don’t bother with them. My family is more than willing to accept you.” Thomas’s smile was still less than normal but at least it was back. ”R-right. I-I’m sorry for b-bringing down the mood at lunch…” Liam shook his head. ”It was hard to speak about, I know, but everything will be okay. I promise.” He was going to make sure of that.
Sometime later
”Why am I doing this again?” Toni sighed, looking up at Liam. ”Because, it looks suspicious if I do it.” ”Liam, you have access to like 15 different accounts, including admin ranks over my head. Why not just use one of those to find out yourself?” ”Its only 5 and only one of them is admin. Please… Just find that address for me.” ”And what are you going to do when you have it? By your own account, he said he didn’t want anything to do with them, just let it be.” ”I just want to talk.” Toni sighed. ”Somehow I don’t believe you.”
Both turned towards the door as it opened and Lexa rushed inside. ”Toni do you… F*ck! There you are, Liam. You aren’t answering your phone... Wai… What are you two even doing?” ”None of your business, now what do you want.” Liam started to turn the monitor from Lexa’s prying eyes but Toni smacked his hand away. Lexa shook her head, focusing on Liam. ”It’s Thomas. The hospital downtown called the office to lets us know they are wheeling him back for surgery. He apparently checked himself in with a broken arm and several cracked ribs… Listed you are the emergency contact but wouldn’t let them call you until he went under. ”WHAT!” ”And it took me so long to find you, he’s probably out by now.” Liam patted his pockets, looking for his phone and keys. God damn it, he’d left them upstairs. He quickly made his way towards the door but poked his head back in just for a second. ”Get me that address Toni!” Toni just waved in a ‘yea yea’ fashion as he rushed off.
”Address?” ”Yea… Apparently Liam ‘just wants to talk’ to Thomas’s parents.” ”But without Thomas knowing… Classic.” Lexa came to stand behind Toni’s chair, leaning against it while she watched the girl work. It was quiet for a few minutes before Lexa’s phone beeped. ”F*cking finally, I thought we employed people here who could work fast…” She checked the message and subsequent video. ”Fast for what?” At the same time her computer dinged to let her know it finally found what she was looking for, Lexa cursed loudly.
”I asked Jordan to retrace Thomas’s steps and see if he could pull up something about why he’s in the hospital with a broken arm… Check this out.” Lexa played the video for Toni, curiously looking at Toni’s screen while she waited. An image of two people was displayed side by side and Lexa almost dropped her phone. ”F*cking hell.” ”Oh my god. His parents did this?” Lexa could feel her heart racing now and a very, very bad feeling spread through her whole body. She started backing up towards the door. ”Liam can’t get that address. Toni, stay here. Do whatever the f*ck you have to but stay as far from Liam as you can right now.” Toni nodded in agreement. ”Good luck…” Lexa rushed out the room, off to stop her idiot brother from doing something very, very stupid.
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Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:27 pm
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Liam arrived at the hospital probably much faster than he should have. He had barely put the car in park and turned it off before he was rushing out of it to go find Thomas. He was in a panic. Lexa had said broken arm and ribs and if he’d checked himself in then it probably wasn’t life threatening but he couldn’t help but worry. He had to get there. He had to be with Thomas as fast as possible.
He didn’t even bother slowing down as he entered the building, scaring the poor lady at the front desk as he approached. ”C-Can I help you?” She recognized him, of course who wouldn’t at this point, but that just made this all the more terrifying for her. ”Thomas Castello. I need to know where he is.” She shook her head, finally getting herself together. ”I’m sorry, sir, but you should probably calm down before I can get you that information…” Liam’s eyes flashed a glowy red for a second. ”Just get me that damned room number.” He commanded without a second thought. Wordlessly the nurse nodded and searched for the info he needed. Liam rushed off towards the elevators without waiting for her to actually respond, by now just pulling it from her head when she found it.
Leaving the elevator, Liam was much slower in his pace. He ran his hand through his hair, knowing that appearances were everything here and he would rather not spook anyone into calling security at this point. He found Thomas’s room easily and gently closed the door behind him. Liam sighed softly at the sight of his boyfriend. Even with broken bones, he still looked peaceful when he slept. His face also had several bruises and Liam suspected there would be more other places as well. He approached quietly, his own expression softening and a feeling his eyes tear up a little. He placed a soft hand on Thomas’s face. ”I’m sorry Thomas… I should have been there with you. But I can do the next best thing. I’ll be gentle, I promise.”
-----
Lexa pulled into the hospital and got out almost as quickly as Liam had before her. The bad feeling in her chest hadn’t left which meant Liam was definitely here and something bad was probably going to happen. She was more deliberate in her movements, only pausing outside the door of the hospital for a moment to take a deep breath. Hospitals always gave her a headache and this time would be no exception. She approached the nurse at the front desk much calmer than she felt at the moment. ”Hi. I’m looking for my brother, Liam Jones. He’s supposed to be finding Thomas for us.” She smiled softly, hoping that being nice would cover for whatever Liam had already done before she got here. The building wasn’t shaking at least so that was a good sign.
Once she too had the number and made it to the floor they were on, she only felt that bad feeling worsen. She quickened her step to the room and got there to find Liam pulling back his touch from Thomas. His colors were bright red all the way through, similar to what she was used to with Jenny. Upon hearing her enter, he turned quickly towards her. Well there was no use trying to keep what she knew from him, she could already tell he knew. ”Liam, you need to calm down. You aren’t doing anyone any favors by thinking irrationally about this.” She kept her voice calm and even.
”They did this to him Lexa. I can’t just stand by and let them get away with this.” She shook her head. ”They won’t, I promise. But Liam, this isn’t like you. You can’t turn yourself into Uncle Topher just to go after them. Let Aunt Tonya and the police handle this. Just stay here with him.” ”NO! I can’t do that. I won’t do that. And you aren’t going to stop me.” Lexa held out her arms to block his way. ”Liam, if you walk out this door, you will be making a huge, irreversible mistake. One we won’t be able to get you out of. Those are normies Liam. If you go after them. If you hurt them or even worse, if you kill them, then you really are going to end up just like Uncle Topher. Headlines read: Another A-Ranked Telepath loses control and goes on a rampage. That’s not you Liam.”
Liam seemed to pause for only a moment at that. ”Do you have the address Lexa? You were with Toni, did you see it? I swear to god I will force it out of you if I have to.” Lexa was about to protest that in fact she hadn’t seen it when she realized, she had. Her expression was serious, if this became a fight, a mental battle, she knew she wasn’t going to win. But hell if she wasn’t going to go down fighting anyway.
-----
It had been Chris’s day off. She had forced Topher to go out with her, mostly to get his mopey a** out of the Tower for a little bit. And besides, the two of them didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time together these days anyway so it was nice. At least until she got the first text from Lexa. And then the phone call from Toni. And then a second from Tonya. They were already in the car so Chris just directed Topher to head to the hospital instead of their original destination. And as much as Chris hated it, she was glad Topher was driving because they got there fast.
Chris’s face was serious as they got out of the car. Her minds eye was working through all the ways this could go horribly wrong. And that wasn’t even half of them she could see. As they entered the building Chris waved at the nurse. ”We know where we are going.” If the nurse thought her day was bad before, seeing Judge Jones and the unlucky Topher Mizuki just after seeing the Jones kids made it worse.
As they made their way to the room, Chris laid out her plan. Topher was her back up. ”Don’t interfere unless things go south. He’s in a very unique state right now, I’m pretty sure Empathy won’t touch him. I… I also have a feeling he might be strong enough to overpower us so just stay back and wait. Please just do this one thing for me.” She mostly just had to stall. There was one person who could actually stop him, Chris just had to hope her timing was right.
They made it to the room without much issue, aside from a few stares. Chris held her hand up to get Topher to stop and she entered the room. ”Liam…” Both he and Lexa were currently at a standoff. It was easy enough to tell he was trying to force his way into Lexa’s mind but she was holding him off, just barely. Liam’s concentration slipped just enough and Lexa back up as Chris came forward. ”Liam, it's time to stop now.” There were tears streaking down his face and he shook his head. ”I can’t. Mom, they have to pay for this.” She took another step closer, within arms reach of him now. She reached out and cupped his face with her hand. ”I know, hun. And they will. But not like this.”
He was struggling between what he felt and what he knew as true. However that didn’t matter when a sound from behind him made him turn to see Thomas, groggily staring at the crew in his room. ”Are we having a meeting or something?” Liam rushes over to him and Chris exhales softly. Crisis averted. Lexa slides her phone out of her pocket, ready to take a picture of Liam’s crying face, but Thomas notices and gently shakes his head no, so she just pouts and pockets the phone again. It would have made great blackmail material for later.
After a bit of nurses coming in and fussing, finally they are all allowed to stay for a little bit and everyone kind of gathers around. Thomas is a bit more alert now, still all smiles like normal. There is a point in the conversation that Thomas just straight up holds his hand out to Lexa. ”It seems you owe me money, my dear Lexa.” ”For what?” ”Our bet. I told you I could make Liam cry without any effort on my part.” Lexa’s mouth hangs open and Liam doesn’t look either of them in the face. He’s still not happy by any of this but even more knowing they were betting who could make him cry. ”Oh. My. God… You devious little s**t. I take back every last good thing I have ever said about you.” There was some laughter at that. Thomas laughed a bit louder than everyone before complaining about how laughing hurt.
Then he’s face becomes serious. ”I-i went to tell them I wasn’t coming back home.” His voice was barely a whisper. They had met up for lunch just so Thomas could say his goodbyes one last time but after parting and making his way back towards the car, they ambushed him. His mom had taken charge and did most of the beating with a baseball bat. At some point during Thomas’s story, Topher stepped out to take a call from Tonya. She wasn’t involved, but they had picked up Thomas’s parents and holding them.
There was a knock on the door and a doctor pokes his head in. He blinks softly, noticing all the people in the room. ”Wow, you have a lot of visitors today Thomas. Who are all of you?” Chris was the first to answer. ”We are his family.” She didn’t miss the look Thomas gave her, nor the Doctor for that matter. Liam, who is sitting next to the bed holding Thomas’s free hand, looks over at Thomas. ”Well, I guess now you are stuck with us Thomas.” He smiled his normal bright smile. ”I don’t mind.”
The doctor pulls Chris out of the room for a minute to talk. He tells her what he knows of Thomas’s past, including that he’d seen Thomas in the hospital many times over but no matter how many times he came in, he always had that same bright smile. He explains the extent of Thomas’s injuries and how they are going to keep him overnight for observation. Liam volunteers to stay with him as the other leave.
”W-were you r-really going to go after th-them Liam?” After everyone else was gone, he finally asked, looking Liam right in the eyes. Liam didn’t look away. ”Of course. I can’t stand to think of something happening to you. Don’t ever go and scare me like that again.” Thomas smiles but its soft and loving. ”I’m sorry. I won’t ever do it again intentionally. But Liam, please don’t lose yourself over something dumb like this. Okay?” Liam planted a kiss on the back of Thomas’s hand. ”Deal…”
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Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:35 am
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Topher hadn’t expected Chris to pull him along on her day off much more for her to do something with Nate. Though he knew she probably wanted some family bonding time anyway, and he could tell without even reading surface thoughts people were talking about him behind his back. Sure he had retired and didn’t want to take up other work right now, it wasn’t like he HAD to. He helped out with security when he needed and helped out with the kids, what did they want him to do? Sure he kept getting bugged by schools to come teach but that was the last thing he wanted to do. So when Chris got a call about Liam and she told him to get to the hospital fast he didn’t hesitate. They knew which one and oddly, the crew had yet to decommission his car as a cop car so it still had the lights. Well Tonya still used it from time to time so they made it there really quickly. He got the jist of what was going on from her and was half tempted to say he should be helping Liam, not stopping him but knew she’d just throw it at him. But the thought of him actually caring for Thomas made him glare at Chris when they got to the room. ”I have a feeling you’re to blame for this but I… actually don’t care, they’re happy. I’m used to it now.” He had been the last to adjust to it, everyone else seemed to just go with it openly, Chris did talk to him a few times, not that he really cared, it just threw him off since Liam NORMALLY didn’t show emotions.
Whatever it wasn’t his problem or a problem as his father told him when they talked about it and after a while he agreed. He stepped out as Chris started to talk to the two and took a call from Tonya. ”My Uncles Squad mates handled it, they’re in custody and under questioning right now. The doctor already forwarded us a copy of the file for evidence.” ”Wish I coul…” ”Having my Uncle’s team do it is still too risky. They’re family Topher, even to Nate and Liam, could be construed as personal conflict and thrown about but Chris got all the paperwork from another judge signed and everything was documented fully so we should be good. We just need to stay on the other side from this.” Topher sighed and leaned on the wall, ”I know…” ”We’ve both seen cases li…” ”I KNOW… just…” Topher took a deep breath to calm himself noticing some of the familiar nurses glaring at him, it had been a while since they’d been at that hospital considering they have their own pretty much in house now. Speaking of which he saw Zain waltzing in just as he thought that. ”Just never thought it’d hit home. I got to go, Zain just walked in, for some reason.” ”To make sure you stay calm. And to remind Thomas he can come to him most likely. Love you, stay calm.”
Zain smirked as Topher hung up and pocketed the phone ”She’s right to both.” Topher blinked, ”There’s no way you heard that.” ”No but she’s the one who sent me.” Zain patted Topher’s shoulder in a friendly manner and motioned for the door and they both entered behind the other doctor. ”Just so you know that was Tonya, it was taken care of.” He said that to Chris knowing she’d know to tell Liam not to go after the parent’s that they were already in custody. ”Thomas, glad you are feeling better. Doc, glad he’s getting good care.” The Doc turned a glare at Zain and Zain just smiled, ”Oh hey, my old boss, even better, best of care.” ”I thought he looked familiar…” ”Why he never met you that I know of.” ”I wanted to file a complaint when I was in a b***h mood about you trying to be a psychiatrist when you’re not and he actually pulled out your file and showed me you have like five f*cking degrees and that is one of them…” ”Blame my mother, she was… actually your fathers if I recall.” ”Whatever, I think we need to go before his boss or Liam punches one of us.” ”He can punch me since I no longer work here, and if Liam wants I can punch you.” Topher just glared then flipped off Zain and nodded at Liam and Thomas then walked out since the room was getting a bit TOO crowded. "Oh Thomas before I get knocked out, if you'd like I can take over your care in the Tower facility. That's up to you it'd be closer if you're going to stay with Liam. This hospital is a fine one and well kept up so at least you've picked a good one." Zain smiled at his old boss who was glaring and then followed Topher out as well
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Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 4:44 pm
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This particular mission, Genny found herself captured by whoever it is she was researching. She couldn’t just jump out because they took her “fancy wrist accessory” and while she didn’t particularly need it to get back home, she also was very keen not to leave it behind. One of the rules was not to change anything and a super futuristic watch that helped them control time tech would very much be a “change”. So there she is sitting tied up on the ground, puzzling her way to get out of this situation and get her watch back, she heard a noise from close by.
Suddenly there are hands working to free her binds. “Who the…” “Shhh, I’m trying to get you out.” Genny recognized that voice anywhere. “Cici,” she hissed, “What the hell are you doing here. You aren’t authorized to make jumps.” “Shhhhhhhh.” Cici worked quickly to untie her sister. Genny whipped around, rubbing her wrists. ”How did you even get here?” “Salem showed me…” “Cici, go home now.” “A thank you would be nice…” “Now…” “Fine!” Her sister popped back to their time and Genny snuck around to get her watch back before doing the same.
Of course she ended back just seconds after Cici returned. “Now can I get a thank you?” “No! Cici that was a very reckless thing to do! I had it under control.” By now, Lexa had made her way into the room, having been looking for Cici this whole time. “Ciara Foster what is the meaning of this?” “Mom! You were just going to let her die back there! I wasn’t about to let that happen. I ******** saved you Genny, you owe me one.” Genny glared at her younger sister. Lexa sighed, ready to yell at Cici for her actions when a familiar whirr sound approached and Chris entered the room. “Grandma!” Cici exclaimed before rushing over to Chris and giving her a hug. “Oh my! What seems to be going on here?” Chris asked, though Lexa suspected she knew exactly what was going on here. “Mom, you aren’t supposed to be in the lab. Doctors told you to rest…”
Chris laughed it off. “Lexa you worry too much. I’m plenty rested. Besides, this is still my lab and I’ll stop by whenever I please.” Lexa didn’t miss the glare her mother threw her direction and she sighed again. “Where is Dad at least?” “Probably looking for me, but you know your father. Slow in his old age. He’ll make his way down eventually to drag me back. Now, What seems to be the problem here Cici?” Cici pouted and Lexa thought she saw a gleam of a tear. Gigantic faker. “Mom was just going to let Genny die in the past Grandma! I went back to help her and neither one of them will say thank you for it.”
“Cici, you aren’t authorized to make jumps! Its been what? Two days since the last episode. You can’t push yourself this hard. Besides, I can take care of myself.” Cici pouted at Genny’s words. Chris took Cici’s hands into her own. Cici bendt down and their faces are kind of close. “Cici that was a brave thing you did, going back because you thought your sister was in trouble,” “She was!” “Listen here now. She would have gotten out of it just fine.” “Mother! You aren’t supposed to use your abilities.” Chris just waved her off. Technically she hadn’t used them just then… but earlier before Genny ever took off on her mission. “Like I said, she would have been just fine without your help. So while it was brave, it was also a very reckless thing to do.” Cici looked down, finally starting to see what they were saying. “I… I just want to help. Everyone treats me like I’m fragile, and I hate it. I’m perfectly fine… right?” She looked back into Chris’s eyes looking like she was going to cry for real this time. “Of course you are sweetheart. But doing an unscheduled jump like that, especially untrained, anything bad could have happened. So, how about this. We get Salem or Genny to train you, get you up to speed. Then if you feel like you can handle it, we’ll go from there. Sound fair?” Cici nodded, eyes shining bright again. “Thank you Grandma! But what about my thank you…”
Cici looked straight at Genny at this point. Genny frowned, not wanting to give her the wrong idea. Chris’s look from behind cici told her she wasn’t getting out of this one. “Fine… Thank you Cici for coming to help me. Even though I didn’t need it.” Cici grinned and hugged Genny. “You are welcome! Now, I have a date with music to attend to…” And with that she rushed off for her vocal lesson. Lexa glared at Chris. “Mom, was that really the smart thing to do?” Chris shrugged. “Maybe not, but she’s going to try again anyway even if we don’t allow her to. Besides, she’s the kind to get pretty bored of things quickly so I think a few weeks of training and maybe a solo mission or two and she’ll have it out of her system. She just doesn’t want to be seen as the weak one in the family.” Chris said the last part sadly, knowing that was her place in the family right now. Genny decided it was time to excuse herself. She had a report to write. Of course she gave both her mom and grandmother a hug before heading off to her room to write.
“Mom, you know that’s not true,” Lexa commented on Chris’s feelings more than her words. “Lexa… We don’t know how long I do have. Cici is the only other A rank Seer and the more familiar she is with the time travel aspect of the family, the more likely she can take my place to make sure things go okay. I don’t want to force her into that but that’s the reality right now Lexa.” Lexa sighed. “But she hasn’t even mentioned that she can see family like you can Mom. Her whole condition make that hard for her…” “I know but it never hurts to try.”
Nate walked in at that moment. “********! There you are! I’ve been chasing you all over the Tower. You know I can’t keep up when you drive that thing so fast!” Chris stuck her tongue out at Nate. “Maybe if you weren’t so slow.” “Chris, That is unfair when you literally had the research team make your chair go faster than most everyone in this building can walk.” She shrugged. “Whatever. I’m going back to the apartment to lay down. Maybe this time you can keep up…” She left before he could even follow her, making it impossible. Besides, Lexa had some things to talk to him about.
“Dad… Has she mentioned anything about ‘seeing’ it?” Nate looked at her confused at first, but caught on quickly. He shook his head. “Not yet, but I’m not sure she’d tell me if she did. Besides, technically she already has. That’s her burden, Lexa. She has seen all of us die over and over and over again. She tries to pick the best possible course of action so no one will get hurt but…” Lexa reached out and touched Nate’s shoulder. His grip tightened on his cane. “We’ll do something for her. I’ll talk to Uncle Topher. We’ll do something to cheer her up. It’ll be okay Dad. I promise.” She hugged him tightly and he hugged her back. Neither were sure it would help in the long run but even just a little bit of a smile from Chris would be worth it.
((This would be in Mystic Cici's recent past))
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Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 9:59 pm
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((There is no real timeline for this... Liam is 16+))
”Uuuuuuuugggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh” Announcing her arrival home in the most ceremonious way, Lexa made her way to the couch, dropped her stuff and flopped very unceremoniously onto the couch. Liam was sitting in his normal spot at the edge of the coffee table, between the table and the couch. ”uuuuggghhh” She exclaimed again as she reached out to touch Liam on the head. He dodged without even looking and her hand dropped down missing him completely. ”Is there a reason you have to be so loud when you come home?” She didn’t even take time to answer him with words, only huffing at his implications.
Thomas peered around the corner from the hallway. ”Ah! L-l-lexa! We-we-welcome home!” Lexa waved half heartedly in his direction, still dramatically splayed out across the couch. ”I-i-i-is there something w-wrong?” For a moment there was silence. Thomas almost thought she hadn’t heard him and he looked over to Liam for help. He didn’t even look up from his book, so used to Lexa and her shenanigans that he really didn’t care. Thomas approached slowly, curious if she had fallen asleep or something when she made that god awful noise again ”Uuuuuuugggggggg… cough, cough … WHAT THE HELL LIAM!” Liam had taken the moment to smack her across the back rather hard, effectively winding her. She pushed herself up off the couch and almost looked like she was going to pounce on her brother but noticed Thomas’s concerned face instead and dropped back down to the couch. ”I hate men…” ”Not true. Try that again.”
Chin propped up on the armrest of the couch, Lexa tossed a glare at the back of Liam’s head. ”What the hell do you know anyway Liam. You found the perfect man…” She didn’t have to use her empathy to see the blush that instantly crossed Thomas’s face. ”Did s-so-something happen Lexa?” He approached slowly again, kneeling at the other end of the coffee table facing Lexa. She flipped over, dramatically placing her hand over her forehead.
”Of course!!” And then she went quiet again. ”Lexa, please stop trying to make this crisis more than it is. Either tell us what you obviously want to say or get over yourself and take your moping to your bedroom…” ”a*****e… Can’t you see your sister is in pain.” ”No and I honestly don’t care.” She would have made an offended noise but Thomas’s disappointed look seemed to soften him up a bit. ”I mean, What ever could be the matter dear sister of mine? How may we help in this plight of yours? How can we enlighten you with our wisdom of relationship prowess?”
”You know you are the most pretentious a*****e right?” ”I know.. Now the plight of your soul? Before we all wither and die?” Thomas sighed and hit his face in his palm. He knew these two would probably never stop their bickering. ”Fine… There is this boy.” ”Oh finally…” ”Liam…” Thomas shot Liam a look and the younger boy shut up. ”I swear he only exists to make my life difficult. Since day one of class, he has done nothing but do his best to show me up! Not just that but because its a debate class, he intentionally picks the side opposite of me, even if he doesn’t agree with it!!! And then his comments afterwards just…. PISS ME OFF…” ”And?” ”What do you mean And? What reason does this a*****e have to be an… a*****e!!!”
Thomas cleared his throat to stop Liam’s next comment before he started. ”W-w-well have you a-asked him a-about it?” Lexa frown deepened. ”And what possible reason would I have to do that for?” ”It sounds like he wants to get to know you better and piss you off on purpose. And here I thought you were smarter than Toby…” This time Lexa did get to smack Liam across the back of the head, thought she suspected he was going to get her back for it later. ”I-I sort of agree. You s-should probably t-t-talk to him and at least a-ask or t-tell him to stop.” Lexa let out another exaggerated sigh. ”I guessssssss.”
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Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2020 3:48 pm
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Salem a bit older and just newly finished with his doctorate, one of the youngest in the field. His professor, or Doctor though she preferred professor since she wasn’t a snob like most was letting him guide one of her other classes in a discussion that he had written his thesis partially on. Well at least until it was rudely interrupted five minutes in by a loud knock and men in suites walking in. ”Salem Mizuki?” Of course his father let them keep the family name, like Aunt Chris it kept things simple. ”If you have to ask you’re obviously not informed.” His Professor tilted her head to hide a snort then shook it at him. ”Also as of this morning its Doctor Mizuki.” ”Doctor of what?” ”Physics, and Computer Science.” The guy was trying to be smug but as he mentioned not one but two he just sighed and pulled out a badge. ”Could you kindly come with us?” ”Maybe?” The guy was really getting annoyed and his Professor gave him a cut it out look along with looking at her phone. Salem shook his head knowing what she meant, no need to call Aunt Chris for legal s**t, half her own staff’s students were in this class and likely already alerted them, or his mother for that matter.
As they walked out Salem noticed the Dean on the phone and nodded at him. Likely he was already talking to their own legal team, which was the same. ”So mind telling me what this is about?” He turned to the one who he could tell was the psychic blocking him from reading them hence why he didn’t feel them coming. ”Do you know where your Uncle is?” The one who was apparently in charge that did all the talking asked handing him a photo of some building that had been heavily damaged. Salem was about to stop when the guy behind him pushed him along. ”Toby? No, last I saw him was yesterday and as usual he was his ping pong emotional self, why? Did he do that?” Did seem like Uncle Toby’s style, he usually would just piss people off and have them to the damage unless someone royally pissed him off lately he didn’t do s**t like that. ”Seems so, though your Grand…” Salem shook his head, ”Hell no, the building wouldn’t be standing still, plus he’s in D.C. you morons, call your boss to verify.” The man handed him another photo of a younger Toby in front of another building. ”That was taken the night that…”
Salem sighed, ”Stop with the show and just ask it.” ”How is it your Uncle is there, at that age when he wasn’t even born yet? When did your family discover time travel?” They were at government vehicles now and they were about to guide Salem in when a man coughed loudly behind them to clear his throat. ”That’s a matter of national security and you fine gentleman don’t have the god damn clearance, nor cleared this little questioning act with your superior’s superior who would’ve told him bluntly to ******** off in our terms as this matter doesn’t pertain to you. The whereabouts of Toby are known, in layman’s terms yes he traveled back to another time, tried to kill someone got caught and sent to Genesis before it was terminated. We know where he is, you do not need to know.” ”The woman?’ ”Melina? Again above your pay grade but being dealt with. Now unless you want the unholy wrath of not only his Grandfather who is a god damn Senator, and deals with the annoyance of that in other ways, now as well as his Aunt who may I remind you is still a Judge to come down on you back the ******** off.” Salem noted at the “other ways” that James winked at them and grinned madly, they knew Topher had issues with a*****e politicians and wasn’t kind to hide any information he got from them telepathically if they so much as crossed him.
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Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2020 7:47 pm
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((I don't know where else to put this but here it is))
Shopping was always the most entertaining part of Noah’s week. Most of the time he and his sister were stuck in their tiny apartment. It would be a hindrance to the plan if they were spotted more often and ID’d in any way. Though he did leave more than once a week for his “job”, it was always at night time while shopping trips were always in the day so he had a chance to go out and actually interact with other people. Though Ceceil often disapproved of how long he was out running errands. She just wasn’t the social butterfly her brother was.
No matter, this week would be no different. Noah was looking forward to going down to the market. He knew they were having a special on Ceily’s favorite cake so he was going to use it as leverage to soften her up later. The boy shielded his eyes as he walked out of the building.The sun was bright today which would have made it the perfect time to actually wear the sunglasses his sister insisted he use but he didn’t like them. So what he had different colored eyes! He could just vanish out of people's minds so it wasn’t worth all the trouble to hide his identity anyway.
Walking towards the market cleared his head a little. Ceily was technically right though and he knew she was just being protective of him. Though he wished she’d be more concerned about herself. Even though they had been here on a permanent basis for a few years or so, she still had troubles with her sickness. An unfortunate side effect of being outside of their own time. Noah rolled his eyes slightly as he walked. She should have just stayed home like Mother told her. Of course the girl would never listen. Noah was sure if they were sending Ceily out instead of him and told him to stay behind… He was sure he’d also tag along.
His expression was dark and brooding and he wasn’t watching exactly where he was going so it wasn’t much of a surprise that he bumped shoulders with someone. ”Sorry…” He muttered only to pause at the voice of the one who did the same as him. He turned slowly, coming face to face with the one person he didn’t expect to see so far from the Tower at this time of morning. Liam ******** Jones. Oh he was going to kill his sister for this. Ceily knew, of course she did! How could she have not seen this coming. His silent fuming was broken by the voice asking for the second time if he was alright.
”Ah yes, sorry to bother you. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” He was sure there was a soft blush on his face as he squinted and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. He was going to strangle her… ”Alright… If you say so.” Liam turned to continue walking the direction he was headed when Noah reached out towards him only to let his arm fall without touching him. There was no need to bother him now. They would have all the time in the world for catch up later. He frowned and turned on his heel, heading the direction of the Market again when the idea hit him. He could have a little bit of fun right? It wouldn’t be that hard to get any one of these normies to go talk to Liam for him. Wouldn’t even have to reveal his identity. Smirking, he turned back around and quickly spotted the back of Liam’s head again.
Noah walked quickly towards the alley way close by, keeping tabs on Liam though the minds of the normies around him who could see him. He skid to a stop in the alley and closed his eyes, focusing on his target. He would have to be careful how he weaved into the normie’s mind. Normally he had more time to work his way in and leave no trace but this was just a quick happenstance. The man was walking in the opposite direction as Liam, which meant that it wouldn’t be suspicious until the man was right on top of him.
The man stopped right in Liam’s path. However the boy was more alert to his surroundings this time and sidestepped to avoid collision with him. Of course because the man was being controlled, Noah easily maneuvered him to block his path. Able to see through the man’s eyes, he noticed a small flash of annoyance cross the boy’s features. However before Liam could say anything to the man, Noah made the first move.
”I had to make sure it was you. I honestly didn’t expect to run into you here of all places, Liam.” The boy had his guard up but he hadn’t quite figured it out yet. The man let out an unsettling laugh. ”For someone so smart, I figured it wouldn’t be difficult to figure out who I am.” Liam narrowed his gaze. Though he wasn’t quite sure, it was beginning to sound like that voice from Cadence’s head. He couldn’t read the man which almost confirmed it but he had to at least try to poke through.
Noah noticed immediately. ”No, no Liam. That’s not nice. Besides, I just happened to be checking up on some of my lackies and noticed you. Consider this a check up to see how you are doing.” Liam stopped poking but he was on high alert. ”Your cousin is doing well I hope? I am honestly sorry about that incident. My intention has never been to hurt anyone close to you. Speaking of though, Thomas is recovering nicely I hope?” Liam’s expression darkened considerably. ”You keep your filthy hands away from him.” The man waved his hands in a defensive manner. ”I have no intention of messing with him. He is important to you, so he is important to me.” Liam’s expression didn’t change, almost as if he didn’t believe him.
”What do you want with me? If you are here about that offer, you can tell your employers the same thing I told you before.” The man laughed again. ”Not at all! In fact, I almost just let you pass without saying anything. They have nothing to do with this. This conversation is more… personal in nature. I honestly do not give a s**t what those incompetent fools are after. Though I do not think they are entirely wrong. You could do so much good if you put your ideas out into the world and not just under your family’s thumb. Liam paused at that. The emotional charge in that sentence alone gave Liam more information than any conversation the two happened to have before this. Whoever this telepath was… they did not like his family.
”So why do you work for them? You’ve seen the destruction they have caused so far, what ties you to them so closely that you’d still work for them even after you’ve already admitted you don’t care?” Noah snarled, though luckily he was able to keep the man he was controlling neutral. Of course he should have expected this. It was dangerous to even start this conversation. The more information Liam had, the easier it would be for them to track him and his sister down. He couldn’t have that. And yet…
”For the same reason you do what you do… You can’t escape the expectations of family, no matter how far you go.” Another shocking discovery for Liam. This person, whoever they were, was being completely honest with him. Maybe he could take advantage… ”That doesn’t sound the same at all. I am under no obligation to do anything for my family. I make things and it gets tested and used by our family but that is not what is expected of me. I do it because I want to. Logic dictates that if you are unhappy, then you could leave at any time. You are obviously a strong Telepath, the Tower could use someone like yo..”
”YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND” With a swipe of his hand, the connection was broken. The man stood there in front of Liam and blinked. ”W-What happened?” He looked down at his wrist and cursed, hurring past Liam without a second thought. Liam didn’t move for a minute, despite the crowd around him growing agitated with his stillness. No matter how hard he tried though, the man’s mind held no trace of the inhabitant who had just been speaking before. Gone again… just like a ghost in the wind.
Noah exhaled harshly and sank down to hug his knees for a moment. Of course Liam would never understand. He wasn’t even sure he wanted the boy to understand. So much for a fun shopping trip today. He exhaled angrily but decided moping wasn’t going to change anything. He just wanted to get his shopping done and go back home. He pushed himself off the ground to a standing position and quickly left the alleyway before anyone actually became suspicious of the teen. He’d be too angry at this point to accurately wipe anyone’s mind.
He had to balance the groceries carefully in his hand as he opened the door to the apartment. ”How was your trip?” Noah could hear the whimsy in her voice. Oh yea, she was very aware of how his trip went. He grunted angrily in reply. ”That bad huh? Her laugh was like wind chimes and on the worst of days had a way of lifting Noah’s spirit. He dropped the bags down on the table without care, he would come back to put them away later, and poked his head around the corner into the bedroom where she was. She hadn’t gotten out of bed, which was typical of her, but she was sitting up at least. That s**t eating grin though… that he could have done without.
”How dare you torment your older brother like this!” Dramatic as ********, he pressed the back of his hand to his forehead and “tripped”, falling onto the bed in a very unceremonious fashion, causing the girl to burst out laughing again. ”I would never do such a thing to my dearest brother!” Noah slid off the bed and turned over so he was sitting on the floor next to it instead, back pressed against the bed. ”Why didn’t you warn me though.” His voice was soft and there was no hint of joking left. Ceily sighed slightly and reached over to pat the top of his head. ”I would never do anything to jeopardize this mission Noah, you know this. But…” She wavered and drew her hand back into her lap. Noah turned to look at her, chin resting on the top of the bed. ”But what?” ”You seemed to enjoy talking with him. I didn’t want to stop that from happening. You sir have been a mopey bear lately and I thought it would do you some good. Besides, he made sense.”
Noah stood quickly. Of course she knew the contents of what they talked about but it was still jarring to hear her say it. ”It’s just… Why couldn’t you..” Faster than she could blink, Noah was in front of her, hand covering her mouth to keep her from continuing her train of thought. ”Ceceil, remember it is not safe. Mother has eyes and ears everywhere. Even here.” He let go, embarrassed. ”I’m sorry Ceily… We’ll do what we came here to do and go home. Then we won’t have to worry about it any more. I promise.”
”I know. I trust you Noah.” She held her arms out and he flopped down on the bed next to her and laid his head in her lap. It would all be over soon. They had been distracted long enough trying to live a life. It was time to finally put all their plans into action so they could go home.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2020 2:46 pm
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Salem looked over as the guy pulled out another photo and smirked handing it to James. ”Funny its you, see, here’s you, a younger you as you went by Jimmy then, with a younger Christopher in grade school. And who do we have here? The same woman, almost the same age. How is it two entities now have time travel and we’re unaware?” Salem took a step back as while not so much tuned into emotions as his cousin Liam, Lexi, his sister or his mother he somewhat in later years got a very good sense in change and could tell that this pushed a very HARD button with James. He was glad when he heard a group of vehicles pull up and men surrounded them, looking much them same and took over the situation much to the a*****e’s dismay. [darkred]”This questioning is over, unless you’d like to find a new job tomorrow AGENT.” The man paused and turned to who was a obvious superior and looked pissed regardless.
”Tobias Mizuki nearly demolished a building and gets away with it as usual.” ”And we were warned by HIS AUNT and cleared it, there were no causualtied or injuries, the only damage was to the building.” ”WHY?” ”Because he’s unstable around this time of year, anniversary of something specific to him and I’m guessing someo...” The a*****e pulled out another picture, this time of Him with Melina. ”You talked to her yesterday, explain that.” ”I asked her to leave or I’d get security and she did just that the meeting was brief if you have a recording of it you know.” ”Any telepath can have me…” ”Not with me, My cousin Liam, or my Grandfather, they’d have a hell of a migraine for days trying to get through even ONE of our mental blocks, oh and its also against the law now without authority to do so, which she DOES NOT.” His grandfather actually just barely put that little bit in place this week to help protect telpaths from attacks such as this.
”You’re done, as General James has likely told you, this is above your pay grade. Your commanding officer did NOT get clearance to start this investigation to ask the family and oh. ITS AGAINST THE RULES WITHOUT STRICT PERMISSION ANYWAY.” ”Why?” ”Because some of your tactics to ask in the past are kidnapping… and my great grandparents didn’t take kindly to that and people kept ending up dead, so it’s a ******** RULE now that you have to have near Presidential Permission to question us regarding anything legal.” Salem was doing the talking for now and mentally telling James to calm down which he was since he didn’t have to deal with this. ”Questioning a General too on something that I recall being told about that he’d likely not want to be asked about, makes you a major a*****e. C’mon James lets go.” More along the lines of when it was brought up the quickest strong memory read of it Salem got from James made him want to punch the guy too for even mentioning it again.
”You weren’t ever told about that.” James said after a bit when they decided to leave the now gathering that was making a scene. ”Strong emotions like you had when that memory was brought back up made it bleed out, you know that, sorry for the intrusion. If it makes you feel better I had to hold back from punching him too.” Salem pulled out his phone and sent a text to the Professor letting her know that things were ok but he would be able to finish the prepared presentation he was going to give that he had worked along with her that day. ”How’d you know to be here anyway, thought you’d be with Gramps?” ”As I said at some point we knew your Uncle would go to Genesis cause he ended up there the same time as your Grandfather. That’s why he demolished that place, it broke him, a entity took Toby as he saved your Grandfather from going insane after having well…two minds inside him essentially but it took a toll on him. The entity saved him but they’re on a different plane all together now.” Salem winced recalling a bit of that, ”Why we don’t kill our other selves and absorb them… ******** time travel.” ”Also why your family monitors any disturbances and controls the use of time travel with a very strict hand.”
Salem paused for a moment, ”And they sent you why?” ”Cause Toni and your Grandmother are going to calm your Grandfather down and your Father was busy with Zayne.” Salem stopped and turned to James, ”And I need to be calmed down why?” He could take a guess, Melina had mentally thrown a jab at him, he didn’t that crazy b***h would try it. ”She has Tisha, or so we believe, that’s likely what set Toby off, do you know why.” Salem clenched his fists to calm down and James put a hand on his shoulder using some type of their weird ability he shared with Zayne to help. He took a deep breath and rolled the ring around his finger once before pulling out his phone and playing a little video of a ultrasound and looked forward as James looked at it. ”She showed me that before I left for class today, that was the last I saw her, four hours ago, so all this took time in that short of matter?” James slightly already knew hence why Zayne was keeping Kaleb distracted as well with work, ”Yes, please do…” ”They were going to use that against me to get me to do their work like they did with Gramps, James how the ******** DID THEY KNOW? OUR DATABASES SHOULD BE ******** SECURE.”
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 2:57 am
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 8:09 pm
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A sleek black/blue electric SUV convoy had pulled up of course a few had noticed but once they noticed Salem, Saline and James in uniform they put the information together in their heads. ”Did you have to bring the whole god damn crew?” James sighed and opened the door, theirs wasn’t the average SUV being seats facing each other instead of normal 2 back rows. ”You think I had a choice in the matter? It would’ve been just the one other.” ”Aurelia insisted likely.” James pointed at Saline as they got in. Salem sighed and noted a few people filming the little exit scene. ”More like mother told her to.” Saline jabbed him and he glared at her. ”Patrick, you’re equipped to take me out if needed right?” the driver slightly looked back and James sighed and nodded the driver nodded in confirmation. ”New toys. I’m sure Gramps’ detail has them too in case he loses control, which is why he has the blockers always on so his telepathy is dampened.”
Saline randomly hugged him and Salem paused for a minute. ”Stop focusing on that.” ”If I turn my mind elsewhere I…AUGH…” She hugged him even tighter. ”You telepaths are supposed to have good memory but you forgot we have trackers in this family, hers is still on.” ”When the hell…” ”Dad did, she asked the moment she found out she was pregnant.” Salem paused for a bit. ”Stop… not that… tight, I can’t breath got damn it.” Saline smirked and let go. ”How the hell did you all keep that from me?” Saline barely looked over at James who was looking casually out the window and Salem was tempted to kick the man. ”New ability we weren’t aware about?” ”No, family member that has it.” Saline frowned and jabbed him again, ”You pay too close attention.” Salem smirked and looked at her, ”As your twin, I know your tells, and to be fair, that was a quick glance, I wouldn’t have noticed it if I wasn’t looking in your direction.” ”Jerk.” ”Zain?” He was watching as James turned quickly at him, ”Thought so. He can do things others can’t without explanation and when asked his mind closes out completely so either he’s a really strong telepath beyond us, or he’s had damn good training.”
>
During the event Topher was in a meeting with policy makers and a few tech leads. One of the tech companies kept trying to push for a device they would make to be able to read levels of any psychic abilities. They argued that putting normals into tests with people would cause lasting PTSD issues and stated even his test as one case for the matter, though he only knew of one person that had issues with that, all the rest of his previous coworkers handled that rather well. He could tell something had happened as Tonya showed up just after his phone buzzed which it wasn’t supposed except certain cases. She was allowed to come in with a few glances but no verbal protests of the others. They knew if she came in something else was going on and she was there for a damn good reason. She was one of the few that could tap into him mentally without breaking the device he used and gave him a update on what happened with Salem and what the teams at the tower found out. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. One of the heads of that little group was in the room and paused at that moment to look at his phone.
The trip from where the Twin’s school was is short the way the vehicle drove, and Salem demanded to talk with his Grandfather once he started digging into information on his own. It wasn’t without the help of a team but Salem himself that got the information that showed the Head meeting with. James tried to stop it at least once but the death glare he got from Salem made him cut his words short and he just nodded to the driver who made his way to the meeting house. Salem had got one of the onboard screens to show something and James glanced over at it and realized why he was pissed, yeah, heads were likely to roll, if they didn’t get there first or Tonya. He sent a quick text to Tonya knowing she was already likely in the building to calm Topher down before he tried to kill anyone. The image was one of Melina with the boss off the goons that were questioning Salem earlier so that wasn’t going to be good.
Topher was rubbing the bridge of his nose as the current scientist blabbed on about how the machine would work when the door opened to James and the machine started to beep. This stopped the man from continuing and he glanced over at the interruption then did a doubletake. Not many knew that James had any psychic abilities. He than heard Saline talking with his poor receptionist as Salem walked right by her into the doorway behind James which made the machine start to beep obnoxiously loud in various tones. ”The ******** is that?” ”This can’t be right, there was ever only one level S Telepath and the rest… are all level out, that’s…impossible.” Salem was about to say some more but at a glance from Topher at that last statement he shut up. Seems that Topher was going to have to have a few words with the boy besides learning to not BARGE IN ON HIS MEETINGS. Topher sighed and took his communication device off which also held the device that dampened his own abilities and the machine freaked out then a puff of smoke came from the small device after a while once Topher stood. ”I believe this meeting is over. Though Kent, your team needs to stay. Seems we need to have a little conversation.” The techs were freaking out over the broken machine and Saline and his receptionist came in and grabbed it then them and ushered the unnecessaries out of the room.
Salem tossed a hard copy print of the photo onto the table towards Kent and sat down well on the other side of the room after Tonya grabbed him before he could sit next to Topher. Topher took one glance at the photo then looked to the man. ”You were looking into the whereabouts of Toby, by questioning Salem? I’d like to know why you were talking with Melina to begin with. Or…” He held up a hand to shut Salem up. ”How you hacked or got inside information to know his wife was pregnant. And why you had the BALLS to try to blackmail him into doing your own dirty work. If I recall right, the last time someone tried that, it worked out for a bit, but didn’t end well right? Anyone recall why or who that was?” He sat down as the rest sat back down and avoided his stare. ”Toby has only been missing since this morning. The matter of anything relating to his whereabouts should’ve been directed at me or Tonya.” ”She was seen talking with Salem.” ”I don’t give a damn. Toby does his own s**t and Salem has been busy finishing two doctorates besides the one he is continuing with music. He’d likely not have the god damn time to fret about every thing his Uncle does at the moment, for one Toby has been stable for the past year… at least, till today.”
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2021 8:37 am
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Liam ~30
There was a contest once about who was the scariest person in the Tower. Obviously most people would probably peg Topher or Toby… Or even Salem as the scariest, mostly due to their tendency to have a large temper and their completely stupid over powered abilities due to their own stupdidity. Chris was also up there in Terrifying-ness followed closely with Jenny and Lexa. Aurelia was mentioned despite being a Normal and no one wanted to even think about Zane or James in this list… Tonya was also ranked pretty high and Jack of course was undervalued just as expected. Nate would have to be kind of low on the list but it was also noted that he had to deal with Topher the most which in and of itself meant he had to be on the list at least. And Liam had to be top 5 because of his stoic nature and ability to pressure people with a glance.
But the truth that came to be known during this time was that the Scariest person in the Tower had to be Thomas. An underdog even by the standards of Normals. His entire persona was just happiness and sunshine. And with a stutter!! No way this man could be intimidating or scary. He was too kind for that and everyone knew it.
As it happens though, it's the kind, happy people that end up with the most terrifying looks on their faces when you threaten something they love. And in this case it was Liam. Of course it was. Thomas would never need to stick up for his husband at any time, the man could take care of himself just fine. But it was a special circumstance.
Liam didn’t get sick. Once when he was real little and maybe a small sniffle one particularly bad spring but for the most part he was healthy without any issues. But he was also a workaholic and would not stop what he was doing when he got his head wrapped in a project. Which may have led to a few exhaustion forced rest days in the past couple of years.
This was different. It started with a “work from home day” (Its mostly meaningless to work from home when home is pretty much connected to work at all times) Liam was in his home office space in the spare bedroom and Thomas was out on the couch reading a book and enjoying his day off. Until what did his ears hear but the sound of a light cough. A few light coughs. Light only in the kind of cough people do when they are trying not to cough.
With a small sigh, Thomas closed his book and set it down on the table next to the couch. He had suspected something was up when Liam made coffee this morning instead of tea, something he only did when he knew he had a very long day ahead of him or he was reaching his exhaustion breaking point.
Thomas stood and quietly walked over to the door, peeking his head in slowly. Liam had paused in his work, one hand propped up his head and eyes closed in concentration. ”Liam?” For a moment it seemed as if he hadn’t heard him but Thomas heard a soft sigh before Liam actually coughed a heavy cough this time. ”I know what you are going to say…” Thomas ‘hmm’ed softly and crossed the room to touch his forehead. As expected it was hot to the touch and his face was slightly flushed. ”Off to b-bed with you… T-This can wait. I’ll bring you some s-soup in a little bit, okay?” Liam huffed and turned his chair so he was facing Thomas straight on before burying his face in Thomas’s stomach. When he spoke next his voice was muffled. ”I promise I’m okay… Please just let me finish this…”
It was cute how pouty Liam got when he didn’t get his way. However this time Thomas would not budge. He patted Liam’s head softly and bent down to grab his hand, pulling him out of the chair gently. Liam was bigger than Thomas so it wouldn’t have been easy if Liam really didn’t want to get up but the man was smart enough to know how stubborn his significant other was and he really, really just wanted to sleep.
He made sure Liam was settled in bed after giving him some medicine, tucking him in and letting him get his rest. He closed the door softly behind him and with a determined look on his face, he made his way to the office. Sitting down in the chair, he looked over what Liam was working on, making sure to save his place. Thomas could not actually do his work, for multiple reasons, and he wasn’t going to try. But he could make sure no one bothered him while he rested.
He sent a quick message to the team. Hey all, Liam is resting today. Please do not bother him! ~Thomas Thomas knew it wouldn’t do much good, the team relied on Liam too much sometimes. He sighed softly before opening Liam’s emails for a quick glance. While he was not a coder, he did work with the Tech division of the Tower still so he could at least help out a little where he could.
As expected, within five minutes Liam’s phone began to ring. With a smile in his voice he answered the phone. “H-hello Seth, L-liam is un-a-available right n-now…”
“Thomas this isn’t funny! It’s an emergency!” Thomas knew better. An ‘emergency’ to him was something small with just enough pressure so he didn’t want to make a decision. Thomas knew better.
“I’m s-s-sorry but Liam is c-currently asleep and I w-will not be waking him up anytime s-soon. I’m s-s-sure you can figure it out wi-without him for o-one day.” And with that he hung up. It was better to be brutal with him rather than give him the space to try and talk his way in. Though Thomas knew that it would not be too long until he came up with another way to bother them.
The man called back immediately and Thomas sent it to voicemail, muting the phone so it wouldn’t disturb him while he tried to answer these emails. Surprisingly he got through a good many of them without issue. Once again showing how much they relied on Liam for tiny things and asking the same question over and over. Though Liam never complained about it, Thomas couldn’t understand how he was so lenient with them… He hated to waste time and yet it seemed like all these emails were just that!
He frowned and leaned back in the chair. Even though he had been able to answer these emails it had still taken about an hour to get through them all. Picking up Liam’s phone, Seth had called another three times, only leaving one voice mail that was pleading with him to get Liam on the phone. Nice try…
He stood and stretched before making his way out of the room and towards the kitchen. He set Liam’s phone on the counter to keep an eye on it while he started some soup. As he was getting the ingredients ready, his own phone began to ring.
“Is Liam Okay??? Seth said that he wasn’t answering his phone and that something might be wrong. Do you know where he is???” Thomas exhaled softly. “Hello L-lexa. Your b-brother is fine, just a bit overw-worked. He’s r-resting today. I told S-seth this already.”
“Oh.” From the phone it was hard to tell if she was relieved or disappointed. “Well then I’ll just have to remind Seth that he’s the second in charge and he’s gonna have to deal without today. Thanks Thomas.”
Thomas chuckled “No p-problem Lex. Tell Marcus we s-said hi.” “Will do.. Get some black mail photos for me will ya?” “No w-way!!! B-bye!” Before she could protest he hung up the phone with a laugh. Still he found it annoying that Seth had went behind him like that to Lexa of all people. Of course she was mostly in charge of the Tower and its operations by now but this was an entirely different issue!!! He frowned slightly and contemplated going down to the lab himself to see exactly what the issue was so the man would shut up about it.
That would have to wait however as he heard the distinct sound of the bedroom door opening and soft footsteps padding down the hall. He didn’t turn around, focusing on stirring the soup and adding in the ingredients with a soft smile. Soon enough, arms wrapped around his waist and a head laid on his shoulder. Liam’s cheek felt hot still even through his clothes which was concerning.
“L-liam.. you are supposed to be s-sleeping.” He couldn’t keep the smile out of his voice. Liam didn’t show affection like this very often so he couldn’t help but feel a little giddy about it. Thomas felt Liam’s grip around his waist tighten as he ‘mmmmmmmn’ed softly. Thomas couldn’t help but chuckle. “And w-why not?” Liam groaned and nuzzled his face in Thomas’s neck. “Mine.”
He reached up and gave Liam’s head a little pat. “Y-yes. Now go lay down on t-the couch. Once I set this to s-simmer I’ll be over there and we can watch s-something relaxing together, okay?” Liam was reluctant to let go but he gave in quickly when he had to cough, trying his best not to cough towards the food. He padded his way over to the couch and pulled out one of the blankets from the drawer next to him, cuddling up in it on the corner of the couch with his feet tucked up underneath him. He didn’t even turn on the tv, only stared intently at Thomas’s back as he worked.
Soon enough Thomas joined Liam on the couch. He sat on the other side and Liam basically flopped down to lay his head into Thomas’s lap. “Alright, alright.” Thomas spoke with a light laugh, letting Liam settle to a comfortable position and turning on the tv. Liam stared at it without focus, not really watching it but not really wanting to sleep either. Thomas had his eyes on Liam’s phone. Both for the timing of the soup and just in case there was an actual emergency.
He started to gently pat Liam’s head without thinking about it much, mostly thinking about whether or not he could reach his book to keep reading again when Liam made a little groan and pushed himself closer to Thomas. “L-liam?” Liam loosened his grip slightly. “Door…” He muttered it so softly, Thomas almost missed what he said but just as it registered in his head there was a loud banging on the door.
Thomas sighed before detangling himself from Liam with only a small protest from the man so he could go see who it was. He had a guess, especially given that the banging on the door happened more frantically as he approached. “H-hold on a mi-minute…” He checked through the peephole just to be safe and sure enough it was Seth standing awkwardly just outside the door. Thomas’s eyes narrowed. Really pushing boundaries here… “G-Go away!” He half shouted through the door instead of opening it, hoping the man would just leave on his own without Thomas having to interfere much more. Instead the man pushed himself closer to the door.
“Please Thomas! I just need Five minutes of his time!” Thomas took a long deep breath, hating that it was going to have to come to this but also knowing that Liam was in no shape to deal with this a*****e right now. With one quick motion he opened the door and stepped through it, preventing the man from coming inside. “S-seth. Liam is as-s-sleep right now. If you w-w-wake him I swear to All that is Holy that y-y-you will never set foot in the T-Tower again. Are we c-c-clear???”
Seth had to take several steps back once Thomas came out the door but now he looked like he was about to turn around and run a full retreat. “B-but Thomas!”
“No Buts! Y-you are Second in command for a r-r-reason correct? But it looks to me li-like you aren’t c-capable of doing the j-job. I will have t-to put in recommendations for s-s-somone else to take your place.” A calm smile settled on his lips as he spoke, spooking the older man more. “Find your f-f*cking Backbone or find the d-door. Your choice.” Done with this man and his bullshit, Thomas reentered the apartment and closed the door softly behind him, leaving Seth to be stuned at what the ******** he just witnessed for himself. Before scampering off because there was still an emergency to deal with down with the others.
Thomas crossed the room to the kitchen to check the soup and pull it off the stove. Liam hadn’t moved from his position on the couch so Thomas wasn’t sure if he was asleep or not until he heard a soft “Thank you…” from that direction.
The rest of the day Seth and everyone else from the IT department left them alone. And in the long term Seth learned that when Thomas said Liam was unavailable, he meant it.
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