Chapter 2-
WARNING: References to drugs and adult themes may occur in this story. I forgot to mention that last chapter. ;)
Welcome back ladies and gents! Let's continue this story,
Shall we?
Flight 218 Wreckage
100 Miles from New York City
Sarah just wanted to get back to Lilly. Lilly was like her little sister. She'd raised her like a daughter. The 9 year old was still back in Massachusetts, and Sarah was determined to adopt her. But now what? Now they were on the run. She couldn't risk it. And what had Lilly heard? Had she heard about the plane crash?
With both hands, Sarah swept her brown hair back away from her face and pulled the elastic band from her wrist, wrapping her chocolate brown hair in a tight ponytail. She pulls up her hood as a drop of rain pecks her on the nose. Then another on her cheek. And another on the fabric of her hood.
Lycan sighed loudly and Sarah turned to see him glaring at the suitcase in his hand, which had the brand 'Thirteen Suitcases' scrawled on the front.
"You have got to be kidding me," he grumbled, dropping the suitcase and the candy that he had pulled from it.
Sarah smiled and set a hand on his shoulder. "Come on," she said encouragingly. "Get in the van, we'll find more candy when we get out of here."
"Sick," grinned Lycan. "Man, I'm so hungry." He turned to Wren, who smiled faintly.
"Agreed," she nodded. "I could go for a coffee." She ran a hand through her midnight black hair and gave a long sigh, stepping into the van.
They'd found the van after some scouting on Leo's part. He'd hotwired the thing and brought it back, letting Donovan swap out the plates. It worried Sarah that they seemed to have experience.
The van itself had 11 spaces for people (including the driver and passenger seats), 3 rows of three-seated bench seats and the two seats in the front, plus a bit of trunk space. Donovan had ripped out the back row to free up storage space, which was currently being quickly filled with suitcases, bags of food. This left 8 seats for people, and a bit of extra trunk space. Two of the six windows could open, along with the back doors and a sunroof. It was luxurious compared to the hatchback Sarah used to drive.
"This sucks ass. This miss my Ducati." Donovan cursed bitterly. Sirens could be heard distantly, nearing quickly, so he sped up the process of packing by snatching up all of the remaining suitcases that were still being looked through and dumping them in the back. "We can search on the way."
He held his hand up, pointing at the sky and drawing a circle. "Everybody in. Let's get moving."
Sarah, being the oldest as she had discovered, slipped into the passenger's seat. It had quickly been deduced that Donovan was the best driver, as he had competed in a dozen or so car races. Sure, they were illegal and for money, and as much as Sarah didn't trust the boy who had been in handcuffs on the plane and still not brought it up, she let him drive because then he was vulnerable.
And being the only one with hydrokinesis, it seemed that it was up to her to keep him in check. Well, her and Leo. Speaking of which…
"Can't I just run?" Leo whined, staring at the van like it was that one unwanted pair of socks you get every Christmas. "I can stay with you guys, I'll be fine…"
"No," Donovan shook his head. "No way. You're gonna get distracted by a bird or something and then what?" Sarah turned back to Leo to find him not listening, instead having found interest in something in the back. Donovan snapped his fingers harshly.
"What—Aw that's not fair," Leo pouted, reminding Sarah of Thumper as he tapped his foot at an impossible speed. "I can pay attention if I try."
"Great. Pay attention in the van," Sarah's eyebrows lifted and she gave him a teasing smile.
"Guys, the police are getting closer," Kriselle chimed. The poor girl wasn't comfortable touching things at first but Carrie had taken to helping ease her fears, touching grass and rocks as the others packed. Wren had helped her focus a bit more, and now her powers seemed to be at least a little more under control.
"She's right," nodded Lycan. Sarah forced the shock back down when she saw that his ears had pointed slightly and that his eyes were yellow, fangs slipping down from his teeth. "I can hear them. Five miles. Four."
"Here, let me help you," Scarlett urged to Leo, taking a step forward as he continued to tap his foot and fidget endlessly. She set her hands on his shoulders and closed her eyes, everyone watching curiously. Leo's eyebrows furrowed, as did Scarlett's, and Scarlett flinched before Leo's eyes rolled back and he nearly fell, instead getting caught by his brother.
"The hell did you do?!" Donovan demanded. "Leonel?!"
Sarah titled her head. So Donovan did care about his brother.
"I'm fine," Leonel persuaded, eyes blinking open. "What was that, exactly?" he looked up at Scarlett.
"I've been able to do it since I was 10," announced the 16 year olds. "I can drain people's energy. You…you have a lot." She admitted. "You're at a normal rate now, your ADD shouldn't be bad."
Leonel got back to his feet, no longer fidgeting as much, instead smiling at her. "I might need you to do that again if I can't find my meds. Thanks."
Scarlett nodded and Sarah ushered them all into the van. Donovan slipped on his cunning mantra and entered the driver's seat with a door slam.
Fia Woodruff, the fourteen year old with wings, was the first to enter the van. She slipped into the farthest back bench seat, sliding all the way over to the window seat. Kriselle followed, taking the middle seat, and Scarlett took the last seat.
In the bench in front of them, Lycan sat behind Donovan in the window seat. Wren took the middle seat, and Carrie took up the final seat. Leonel jumped in the back, Donovan commanding him to keep looking through luggage for ADD/ADHD meds, as someone had to have some. The boy did just that, closing both doors behind him.
With that, Donovan slammed on the gas.
~AVENGERS~
The Van
Carrie sat quietly, peering out the one-way windows of the van. They'd escaped fifteen minutes before the police had arrived, according to Lycan, and taken an alternate route, buying them an extra hour or so to find somewhere safe before the police found the tire tracks.
She looked up at a tap on her shoulder. Wren gazed down at her with easy brown eyes. She blinked back up curiously at the older girl.
"How are you?" the question blew Carrie away. No one had asked her that since the crash. She looked around the van nervously. She wasn't one for putting emotions on her sleeve; she loved doing things for people, just not flashing her own feelings everywhere.
Lycan was dozing, head resting against the window. Scarlett and Kriselle were making small talk, while Fia read a crumpled comic book she must have found in the luggage. Leo continued to dig around in the bag, zippers unzipping and re-zipping over and over again. Donovan focused on driving, having turned on rock music at a low volume, while Sarah searched through a couple carry-on backpacks in an attempt to help Leo out.
Carried turned back to Wren, who raised an eyebrow, awaiting an answer. "Not…great…" she admitted. "My…My sister and my parents were…" She bit her lip. "They might be back there."
Wren didn't say anything to that for a moment. "No…I'm sorry…" she finally said, frowning.
For some unusual reason, Carrie didn't cry. Maybe it was the shock or maybe she had accepted it already, because she didn't cry. Not one tear. Instead, she nodded reluctantly and turned back to the window. "Yea." She whispered. "I know."
"What were they like?" Wren asked. Carrie set her head on Wren's shoulder, sighing.
"They were…I dunno…they were…" An ache in her head made her tense. Millie, I miss her.
"Beautiful," Wren said suddenly in surprise. "Millie was adorable…"
Carrie sat up. "What?"
"I—I don't know, I saw this girl," Wren looked equally as startled. "M-Millie?"
"That's my sister," Carrie said quietly. "You saw her? When?"
"Just now," Wren frowned, raising one shoulder in a half-shrug. "Was it your powers? It certainly wasn't mine."
"Are you telling me that we have powers we don't know about?" chimed Scarlett from behind the two girls. "Bloody hell." She muttered. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure," Carrie admitted.
"Something happened when you touched me. I heard your voice. I saw your sister," Wren explained.
Lycan shifted, one eye fluttering open. "What's going on?"
"Carrie might new abilities," explained Sarah from the front seat.
"What?! That's awesome!" Lycan's eyebrows raised and he leaned forwards so he could see around Wren. "What are they?!"
"Some sort of mental communication, it seems. But only with contact," sighed Wren.
"Does that mean we could all do more?" Kriselle inquired, looking fearfully at her hands and lifting them from where they rested on the car seat, instead moving them to her lap.
"Yes," chirped Fia.
The group turned, Donovan peering into the mirror, to find Fia staring, lizard scales covering her face and hands and a lizard-like tail slowly growing longer until it came to a rest curled on the seats and Kriselle's lap.
There was a beat of silence.
Kriselle screamed loudly.
Scarlett immediately started shouting at Kriselle to calm down.
Leonel was thrown around in the back, cursing as he was buried in a pile of clothing and airplane food.
Sarah released a shout of surprise at the sudden burst of noise, dropping the backpack she was holding.
Donovan swerved the car, and growled angrily at Sarah and Kriselle for startling him.
Wren winced at the loud noise.
Lycan cheered, amazed by how cool Fia looked.
Carrie cringed at all the emotions, feeling achy and nauseous.
"Ah! Make it stop!"
"Calm down! Kris! Stop!"
"Donovan, what the hell?!"
"What is going on?!"
"Shut up!"
"Can we please stop?!"
"That is so cool!"
"Guys, stop!"
"Wow!"
"Donovan, you asshole!"
"What is happening?!"
"How do I stop it?!"
"Stop panicking!"
"SHUT UP!"
Accompanying the angry shout was fiery fists and the brakes being slammed on as they came to a screeching halt in the middle of the empty road. Leo flew into the back seats, emerging with a cut over his nose, and everyone else thanked their seatbelts silently.
Donovan quickly extinguished his fists. "What the hell was that?!" he demanded furiously. "We can't just freak the hell out anytime something happens!"
Carrie was dead silent, as were the rest, like they were being scolded by a parent and knew they did something wrong. Muttering of 'sorry' and 'my bad' danced around.
"Alright then." Donovan grumbled, accelerating once more and, after a beat of tense silence, turning up his rock music a little louder and rolling down the front two windows just a crack.
Carrie frowned.
"That was a lot of emotion, huh?" Wren inquired, turning to her.
"Yea," she nodded, still feeling achy. "That wasn't fun."
Carrie turned back to the window.
Would she ever be able to survive a battle if it came down to it?
~AVENGERS~
The Van
Scarlett glanced over to Fia as she closed her eyes to rest for the night. She'd gotten her abilities under control but what could they mean? So she was more than one animal? Wings and scales? She didn't understand.
The sun was setting now, but they were only about a dozen miles from the edge of New York City. Fia handed Lycan her comic book and he gave her a look of gratitude, beginning to read it at a leisurely pace. Donovan had leaned back in his seat, one hand on the wheel, his music long turned off. Sarah scanned the exterior of the car, watching every fifteen minutes when a car would pass by.
Kriselle had fallen asleep, along with Carrie. Wren seemed to be deep in thought, although her eyes were closed and she appeared to be meditating? Scarlett wasn't an expert. She didn't know. Another curse behind her, and Scarlett unbuckled her seatbelt, earning a narrowing of the eyes from Donovan. She got up on her knees, setting her elbows on the backrest of her seat and gazing back at Leonel.
The reaper—hm, Reaper, that's catchy—squinted in the dark van, waiting for her eyes to adjust. She was met by a dejected Leonel, back against one of the van walls and legs pulled up to his chest. His hands were shaking. Scarlett narrowed her eyes. Propping her hands on her seat, she carefully slid over her seat (careful, as not to bump Kriselle or Fia), and landed with a thud in the back. Don peered at her in the mirror. The van shook as it drove, so she didn't dare stand up, instead crawling over to Leo and sitting next to him.
"No luck?" she asked quietly.
He didn't seem to hear her, staring at the floor with dazed eyes, clenching his hands before wiping his palms on his pants.
"Leo?" she asked again, setting a hand on his shoulder.
His gaze snapped to her immediately. "What?" he inquired. His face was sweaty, some of his hair matted down and his hands didn't seem to stop shaking. Scarlett looked over to the discarded bags of food across the van, all crumpled and empty.
"Did you eat all of those?" she asked, not angrily but more so surprised.
Leo frowned, "Apparently." He nodded.
"He has to eat a lot," chimed Donovan from the front. "Increased metabolism."
"Oh," Scarlett turned back to Leo, who looked like he was going to be sick to his stomach. "Are you okay?" Once again, he didn't seem to hear her. She reached out again, now nervous, but was quickly stopped by Donovan.
"Are you?" Donovan's brows were furrowed and sounded genuinely concerned.
"Yea…m'fine," agreed Leo, avoiding Scarlett's gaze.
"You're not," she pressed her hand to his tiredly, taking his temperature. "You're burning up." She announced.
"Leo, the hell is wrong with you?" Donovan demanded.
"You calling me hot?" he inquired to Scarlett, resting his head on his knees and completely ignoring Donovan.
Scarlett dropped her voice to a whisper, "Hey, you need to tell me what's wrong. I won't tell him."
Leo opened his mouth to answer, wide eyes blinking at her in consideration. That was when a siren flicked on behind them.
"Shit," cursed Donovan in the front.
"Were you speeding?" Sarah demanded, turning sharply to Donovan.
"No! I'm not an idiot!" Donovan snapped back. "They must of tracked us down from before somehow."
"The tire tracks," remarked Carrie intelligently, awakened by the noise.
"Are we gonna run?" Fia asked, sounding frightened.
Kriselle put an arm over her shoulders comfortingly. "We have to." She nodded. "If they catch us we're definitely going to be arrested."
"You really think they'll think it's our fault? Just because we have powers?" Lycan frowned.
"Yea, with whatever's going on in New York, they need someone to blame for accidents," Wren nodded. "Which sounds better for the government? A plane that was left unprotected and crashed? Or a plane that was attacked by rebellious Supers?"
Lycan looked to his feet. "Definitely the second one."
"Exactly," Donovan sighed. "So buckle up."
~AVENGERS~
The Van
2 Miles From New York
Yea, okay, so maybe Donovan was concerned about his little brother, but he couldn't focus on that if he wanted to get them out of this.
In the rearview mirror the flame-wielder spotted three squad cars on their tails. The group had reached the city and the number of cars had increased in the past half an hour or so, so Donovan was careful to swerve in and out of traffic. He'd listened to the radio on the way up, and knew the current situation.
Aliens had invaded New York, aliens and some asshole called Loki. So to stop them, a team of superheroes from all around the world had come together to stop him. Donovan only heard of a couple. Iron Man. Captain America. Hawkeye. He wasn't familiar with the rest, and didn't keep up with the superhero news.
The attack was mainly just the center of New York City, and it definitely hadn't hit the outskirts, where Donovan drove the van currently. The outskirts were untouched, people continuing on like normal—well, scared, but normal. Donovan assumed that him driving like a madman through their city wasn't helping ease nerves, but he didn't care. He loved this. He loved driving like this. Swerving turns and constantly accelerating. The only thing that could make this better was if the van was replaced by a 1969 Ford Mustang, or even better, his Ducati Panigale R, which could reach 202 mph. Man, he missed his bike.
"So we're fugitives now?!" Fia shouted over screeching tires and sirens.
"Now?! Always have been!" Donovan retorted, earning an untrusting shocked stare from Sarah.
"I knew it!" she snapped loudly, holding on to the door and armrest for support. "You have so much explaining to do!"
"We'll have time later, beautiful!" he winked, focusing back on driving and ignoring her look of disgust.
"Can you please save your flirting for later and get us out of here?" Lycan asked politely, even going so far as to force a smile.
Donovan slammed the breaks when another squad car appeared, swerving left and slamming his horn when some lady nearly started crossing the street. Glancing at his mirrors, he gunned it once more and continued to dart and weave down the road.
"Where are we going?" Wren asked, one arm protectively holding Lycan to his seat.
"Don and I have a friend nearby," Leo explained, looking nauseous. Scarlett had one arm over his shoulders and the other holding tightly to the back of the seats, so that they weren't being thrown around with each turn.
"A friend?" Kriselle sounded skeptical. "Good friend or bad friend?"
Donovan barked a laugh, recalling a memory of said person pulling a bottle of wine from Donovan's hands. "He lives with us. Good. Very good. Way too good, if you ask me."
"Aren't we gonna lead the police right to them?"
"Nope," Donovan's tongue was sticking out with concentration as he glanced back at the squad cars once more. "Because at the next turn I'm gonna speed up and we're all gonna jump out. There's a hill, the van will roll for a while. They don't know what we look like. Our guy is only a few streets away."
"Are you serious?!" Fia demanded with a squeak.
"Dead," he nodded. "You got any better ideas?"
Silence.
"Then let's go."
Everyone tense, the car swerved, and they flew into action.
~AVENGERS~
The Streets of New York
It was raining.
Kriselle liked the rain.
Donovan apparently didn't, and he'd pulled up his hood and walked solemnly at the head of the group. The police had fallen for the trick, chasing the van as it barreled down the road at full speed, empty. Wren just prayed that no one had been in its path as it ran uncontrolled down the hill. They'd all drawn their hoods and done their best to look shocked as the police cars passed, like they were just bystanders that had seen it happen. Then they walked, and it rained.
It was night now, just barely, the streetlights recently flickering on.
Donovan and Sarah led the group, although Sarah seemed to take a deputy position, keeping Donovan in check. Behind them walked Carrie and Fia, who kept each other company and discussed Carrie's abilities quietly, Fia listening in awe. Wren chatted with Lycan about life before the crash. After them came Scarlett, Leo and Kriselle.
And if she was being honest, Kriselle was growing concerned.
"Leo, I'm not going to stop bothering you until you tell us what's wrong," Scarlett announced. From their few hours together, Kriselle had learned that the girl was intensely kind and caring, constantly worrying, while Kriselle herself was more on the curious side.
Leo, on the other hand, was stubborn as all heck and got bored easily. He'd been avoiding the subject the entire walk, and—yep, here we go again. "I stole your watch."
Kriselle paused, furrowing her brows. "What?" She looked down at her wrist and, sure enough, her wrist was bare. "What?" she repeated, staring at it.
He pulled the watch from his pocket. "I stole it. Sorry."
Clasping the watch again, Kriselle looked over to Scarlett, who looked equally confused.
"And Sarah's headphones," Sarah looked over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "Donovan's cigs. Fia's comic." He counted on his fingers. "I took 3 wallets on the plane, too. Oh, and two necklaces. You can have them back, I just…wanted them..." he tossed the headphones at Sarah, who caught them with ease, and then returned his gaze to his feet. He was still feeling sick, Kriselle could tell, but he'd returned to a relatively upbeat personality again. "They're probably dead anyways," he sighed.
"You're a kleptomaniac," Scarlett blurted suddenly. All eyes, even those who pretended not to listen, looked over.
"A what?" Kriselle and Leo asked in unison.
"Kleptomaniac. You steal things without meaning to," Scarlett explained. "My uncle was a kleptomaniac, but he could never get stuff without getting caught. You though," she chuckled, her Scottish ancestry showing with it. "Man, you have super speed, so it must be easy."
"I…I guess?" Leo looked to Kriselle, who shrugged. "I've been stealing crap for a while. It's just kinda what I do…"
Scarlett stopped smiling at that. "What you do? What do you do? You and your brother, I mean. Before this."
They came upon an old warehouse and Donovan turned, walking up to the door and letting them in with a key.
"Random stuff. Does it matter?" Leo shrugged, seemingly uncomfortable.
Under the lighting of the streetlight, Kriselle realized he was just as pale as in the van and still sweating. Donovan finally got the key in and opened the door, as Kriselle entered she felt her jaw drop.
The place was large and open, one of the most beautiful studio spaces she'd ever seen. It had obviously been a small warehouse that had been converted into a home and garage.
A three person red sofa and two gray chairs, a coffee table, and a fireplace made up the living room. A kitchen was connected to it, with a small television connected to the wall, a marble island, a fridge, etc. To her right, Kriselle could see a door that led to the garage, where she spotted two motorcycles and the hood of a car. To her right was two more doors, one to what she presumed was a bathroom and the other to a bedroom.
A staircase lead up to a loft, where a desk and windows could be seen, giving a view of the city street. Two more doors to bedrooms along with a foldout couch could also be found. The walls were beige and brown bricks with paintings and art hung here and there.
There was a stunned silence and everyone froze except for Donovan, who continued to walk, tossing his keys into a bowl on the counter and removing his soaked flannel and chucking it the sofa. He opened the fridge casually and pulled out a bottle of wine, pulling out the cork with his teeth.
"I did that one," Leo announced, pointing to an okay—well, actually it was gorgeous—watercolor of flowers. Immediately after the silence was broken, questions erupted.
"You live here?!"
"Yes," answered Donovan with a sigh as he pulled a glass.
"This is yours?!"
"Mhm," nodded Leo as he stripped of his red leather jacket, leaving him in just his yellow and black zebra print muscle shirt.
"This place is huge!" Kriselle exclaimed with wide eyes.
"Wait till you see the garage," chuckled Don.
"I thought you two were broke."
"I told you, we steal things," Leo sighed.
"This is insane!"
"Isn't it though?" Donovan smirked, very obviously enjoying himself.
"How do you pay for this?!"
"It's not technically legal," answered Leo. "The government thinks it's a Stark Industries Warehouse, 'cause a buddy of ours hacked their system."
"This is beautiful."
"Thanks, I know," grinned Donovan. He sipped his wine. "You all can crash here for—"
"Donovan? Leonel?"
All heads turned to a young boy standing in the door, a little older than Leo and a little younger than Don. He had dark blonde hair spiked up in the front, a healthy tan and dark hazel eyes. He wore a black muscle shirt with some band scrawled on it in red lettering, and bright turquoise skinny jeans with black Converse. He'd dropped the leash in his hand, which was connected to the collar of a massive German Shepard.
"Jack!" Donovan cheered as the German Shepard barreled towards him.
"Lane, hi," Leo scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
Kriselle looked back and forth between them. He'd obviously wanted to dry off their guests beforehand.
"So…um…" Leo winced. "How was your walk?"
Ta da. :) Let me know what you thought, I had a lot of fun with this chapter. I hope to update again tomorrow, so look forwards to that.
What's your theories? What do you think is wrong with Leo? I'll tell you one thing: ITS NOT BECAUSE OF SCARLETT.
Alright, I've got to get back to the Doctor Who I'm watching. ;)
Please drop a review!
Till next time!
-AG