Stephanie hasn't had any breakfast in the morning. Not even a bowl of cereal either. She woke up grumpy in her bed, annoyed that she didn't get any breakfast because the food that she gathered earlier have gone down to a few selective things. She decided to go out for food instead of using up all the leftover food that she had collected for the weekend. Stephanie put on the clothing that she wore all the time and grabbed her blue, white, cerulean, peacock, and sky cameo sweater off the door hook of her door in her abandoned apartment and opened her door to her abandoned flat that she is living inside now, and noticed the same lady, the owner of the hotel that she is staying in for the next night.
"Hi," she replied, gently waving to her, changing her mood from annoyance to slight happiness.
She glanced up from her newspaper and noticed Stephanie standing in front of her counter after she had placed on her sweater.
"Hello, what can I do for you?" she asked, placing her newspaper down on the counter.
"Oh, nothin', just a little grumpy because I don't have anythin' to eat today," she replied, explaining her issue.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." the lady gently replied. "But I do know where the nearest café is."
Stephanie glanced back at her with hope in her eyes.
"Really?" she asked.
"Yeah, the nearest one is almost close to the building that we both are inside, and it is an old café that was destroyed 2 years ago, but, eventually, Moose, the owner of the coffee shop, built it back up after they won in a soccer game," she explained.
Stephanie smiled gently and said, "Thank you for the directions. I'll come back sooner or later after I eat."
The lady nodded her head and picked the newspaper back up, and Stephanie left the hotel, heading straight towards the café where the lady said it could be at. When she reached there, she noticed the whole thing was rebuilt, like what she said, and most of all, there weren't many people inside, like other cafés. Therefore, she entered the place and noticed unfamiliar faces. But, eventually, shrugged it off, assuring herself that she is familiar with other people like herself. At that time, she detected the sounds of metal being clinked together, so, she glanced over at the noises and noticed a tall young man, in front of a foosball table, at the side, turning some red handled knobs of the table, moving a small white metal marble sized ball around on the inside, doing amazing stunts inside. The young man, with light skin color, golden eyes that shined like gold, and short brown hair, is wearing a white polo shirt, a vest decorated with triangles, in the colors of brown, red, light orange, and light gray, with brown hems at the ends. He is also wearing dark brown pants, that nearly reaches down to the ends of his ankles, socks that almost matches his vest and brown loafers. He looked taller than the rest because other people are about 5 or 4, but he looked like he is towering at 6.
She observed him play for a moment, before stopping after making a goal and cracked his knuckles. She slowly walked over to him, keeping a cautious eye out for any incoming waiters that are entering around the corner, carrying food for patiently waiting people. When she got up close to him, he didn't catch sight of her coming towards him, so, when he was done, he saw her right in front of him, he jolted slightly in startlement, before sighing in relief, noticing it was merely her.
"Please don't do that next time. You might scare someone to death," he warned.
"I'm really sorry 'bout that. I was just comin' here to see whatcha doin'," she explained, glancing at the table that he was fidgeting with.
It is a foosball table like she always sees whenever she's at the arcade game stores, but this one is handcrafted than machine created from factories. Like she saw earlier when she first entered the café, this one has red knobs in different places along the side, and some that don't have handles. She noticed that inside was mini figurines that looked almost like people, and she felt interested.
"Hey, excuse me for my rudeness of scarin' ya, but my name is Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen." she introduced, holding out her right hand for a handshake, (the camouflage is on to cover her metal skin.) and he gently smiled and took the handshake.
"My name is Jake, Jake González." he introduced back.
"'Jake', that is an interesting name." Stephanie complemented, releasing their handshake.
Jake glanced away sheepish as his cheeks were tinted with a light rosy color, and Stephanie gentle chuckled at his reaction.
"Anyways, I like your foosball table. Who made it for you?" she asked, gazing at the miniature characters inside.
He glanced at what she was gazing at and noticed the figures too.
"Oh, I did actually," he answered.
"You did?" She questioned.
He nodded his head yes.
"That is amazing! I never knew you were talented with your hands. And no wonder where that metal smell was comin' off from!" she remarked.
"'Metal smell?'" he repeated in a question.
"Oh, by the smell of metal that I smelled, I can tell you handle metal because the odour is comin' from your hands since you were 10 years old, so, you created them when you were 5 years old, and by the metal red flakes that are on the ground, you must really like to play foosball for a long time," she explained.
Jake glanced at his hands in confusion and Stephanie sheepishly chuckled.
"And the reason why I can tell is that the way I can look at it too," she remarked.
"Okay, what else do you have?" he asked, glancing back up from his hands.
"Well, some people consider this rude of me explainin' this to everyone, so, sorry if I did that randomly right in front of you." she apologized. "And P.S. you are already married."
He blinked once in confused, and reached up to his neck and felt the ring that was on a chain around his neck.
"Don't ask me that question, I just know," she replied, with her right hand up slightly.
He nodded his head once more and the door opened again, and an adolescent woman entered the building with a child with her. The young woman with light skin color, dark, short violet hair and light turquoise eye color is wearing a light purple polo shirt with a collar with rolled sleeves up at the elbows, a yellow top, with various colors patterns decorated all over, at the stomach area, blue jeans, that are furled at the bottom, and white and red sneakers. Her jewelry is a necklace, with a piece of jade attached to it, a gold ring around her ring finger on her right hand, along with a crimson bracelet around her right wrist.
The child right next to them, with fair skin color, short brown hair, and jade green eyes, is wearing an orange sweater with red on the sleeves, where the elbows are, and on the hood, blue jeans and white with blue sneakers.
Jake noticed the two and warmly smiled.
"Laura, Matty. Over here!" he called, waving to the two of them.
They both noticed him over by the foosball table and came over, as Matty; the son of the two, hugged his thin legs, as his wife hugged his body, and he returned the hug. Stephanie lightly smiled at the warmth that she feels between the two and felt warmed by the feeling. Although she yearned for the warmth forever to happen, desiring it more than she ever cherished it, but, knowing that would divide them apart, she accepted the fact that they are merely family.
"Jake?" Laura's voice asked, pulling Stephanie out of her thinking place. "Who is she?"
Stephanie sighed and stood perfectly still and smiled.
"My name is Stephanie Nova Rose Allen. I just came here for somethin' to eat. Sorry if I was talkin' to your husband." she apologized.
"No, that's okay, Steph. We were just coming over to have breakfast too." Laura replied.
Stephanie gently smiled again, until her super hearing heard something in the distance and felt curious about the noises. She turned her head towards the noises and Jake noticed her gaze.
"Is there a problem?" he asked.
She didn't answer his question and continued to gaze at the area until she turned back to Jake.
"Have you heard of someone by the name 'Ace'?" she asked.
Jake blinked in confusion, before remembering the name.
"Yeah, he was a bully of mine two years ago!" he exclaimed before he felt confused about her question. "How do you know that?"
"I can hear loud voices about some machines heading this way and the owner of the machine is 'Ace.'" she answered.
"'Machines?'" Jake questioned. "How many are coming here?"
She turned back to the noises and now, they sounded closer to the area.
"About, 3 or 4 of 'em," she answered.
"3 or 4 isn't that bad," Jake replied, shrugging his shoulder slightly until he looked worried. "... Right?"
"Nope, they sound enormous. Like, halfway over an elephant's size," she answered. "And really close."
The noises approached closer and closer towards the area where they are and Jake looked worried and nervous at the same time, wondering what was that commotion is coming from. When they came closer than before, they suddenly stopped and the door of the café opened, revealing another man, except more different.
The man has lightly tanned skin color, light brown eye color, and short jet black hair that sticks out from the back, with a goatee in a shape of a coffin is wearing a black and red sleeveless jumpsuit, with a black belt around the waist, black loose pants with silver knee pads and black combat boots, with silver metal at the front, and he looked angry.
"Oh, no," Jake whispered, taking a step back.
"What is wrong with that guy? Too many muscles?" Stephanie asked, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"No, that is Ace," he answered.
Stephanie was quiet for a moment, before starting to chuckle, as she walked up to him, before stopping.
"What? Mr. "I'm-A-Egomaniac" is Ace?" she asked, jabbing a thumb at him, as he looked confused at first. "What is he doing, show off his muscles to make everyone bow?"
Jake and Laura sniggered, trying not to laugh, while everyone else in the café was not trying to laugh too. That only just made him angrier than before.
"You will pay for that." he snarled.
"I'm sorry. I can't." Stephanie replied, pretending to reach into her pockets her voice filled with sarcasm, asking for a fight against him. "I don't have any money to pay for what I did. And plus, on the bright side, I'm a free bird to fly."
Everyone stopped sniggering and stared at her, with worriment, as Ace frowned, before pretending to laugh, backing up from her.
"I'm now laughing." he faked, until jabbing a medical instrument into Stephanie's neck, paralyzing her, after injecting the strange serum into her body from the syringe that was inside. "Are you?"
"Steph!" Laura called in shock, running over to help her from the bully, when he dropped her to the ground along with the syringe, before grabbing her wrist, with an evil smile on his face.
"Let me show you something that I have back at my mansion," he replied, turning back around to the entrance, and opened the café's door, exiting the place, while other people were watching in horror, while Jake trailed after him, trying to save Laura from Ace, as he was dragging her behind his back, leading her away. Stephanie tried getting up to her feet to help Jake to save her, until Matty came over and helped her up, carrying her over to the foosball table that Jake created years ago, as she helped a little, setting her to the side.
"Everything's going to be alright, Steph," Matty replied as Stephanie was drifting into unconsciousness. "I'll find Mom and Dad and find the antidote to save you from that other serum. You wait here until-!" he was suddenly stopped when one of something else than Ace appeared from behind Matty's back, that is covered in silver metal, snatched him up from the ground in front of Stephanie, walking away from her as he squirmed from its strong grip, as she lifted her right arm up as if she was trying to rescue him from the strange being, but, she couldn't because of her condition that she is in.
"Let me go! Steph! Steph…!" he called out to her, until she fully slipped into unconsciousness, drifting into darkness, as the ground underneath her shook.