Fool 1.04
Saturday, December 25th 2010
Time: Noon?
Weather: Static

"Well... waiting around won't get me anywhere, I guess I should look around."

If this was a sign of things to come, I was sure that this day was just going to get stranger.

Before I even moved away from the house, I checked to make sure that I still had my phone on me. It was the only line of communication that I had on me, and if possible a method for me to call quite literally for help. Dialing 911 quickly with rapid taps, I was only slightly surprised that there was no dial tone. If this was indeed a cape's work, they were probably jamming whatever allowed for a phone to send outgoing calls. Hopefully, if I could find a sort of deadzone for whatever was causing this I'd get a signal back, it was wishful thinking but it was at least better than the alternative.

My thoughts strayed back to that odd package that had come right before all of this had happened, a wave of self-deprecation welled up inside me over the fact that I hadn't thought to even check it. I hadn't thought about it much at all, my first thought had been that it was probably a Christmas gift for Dad from someone he knew, however it could've been the cause for the situation that I found myself in now. It seemed stupid of me almost, I resolved to make sure to check the box when I got back, I might've had a lapse in judgement but I could make sure that it didn't happen again at least.

"Just think positive..." I mumbled to myself as I walked down the street in the digital Brockton Bay.

As I walked I kept a lookout for anything of note, there was always a chance that maybe their was something that could give me some sort of hint towards getting out of this place. I wasn't sure if their was anyone else in here with me or even why exactly this had happened. Was it some sort of cape's villainous scheme or maybe just some sort of freak accident that was being fixed as I thought about the situation now? Regardless, I was stuck here until I figure out some way to get out of whatever this place was or someone on the outside figured out a way to get me out of here.

"Grrr..." A low growl startled me from my thoughts.

I whipped my head around to where I heard the sound, looking back and forth to find the source of it. A feeling of panic sat in my stomach as I quickly started to move down the street faster, my eyes darting back and forth as the feeling of being watched sat firmly in my head. I didn't see anything, but that didn't make the panic I felt any less real, and since I didn't know if whoever had created this place had also put in some sort of defence system or whatever, I felt very unsafe right now. Turning my quick walk into a slightly quicker jog, I continued forward, looking around for any sign of an exit.

"-ah watch out." A soft voice rang out, right before I crashed into something.

I stumbled, however possibly as a result of my nerves being on edge already, I managed to react fast enough and right my footing before falling over completely. A small groan came from the ground, that was more than likely a person, more specifically the person I had just accidentally ran into.

"What did I just bump into?" I muttered more to myself than anything as I looked down towards the source of the slight groans.

It was a small... creature. It wasn't exactly an animal, but it looked almost like some sort of small rodent. However, two things stood out about the creature on the ground. One, it's skin was some sort digital black and blue texture and, Two, it had a mask covering its entire face. Also it was almost the size of a small kid, I noted to myself as I stepped back a bit, ready to run if this was some sort of trap.

"Are you okay?" I asked with some hesitation after a brief pause, I hadn't meant to run into the rodent but I also wasn't sure what the heck it was really.

"Yes! Don't worry, I'm fine! Sorry, I was in your way, I didn't mean to be. I have to go, I'll go away now." The rodent spoke hurriedly, its form shaking in what seemed to be a mixture of worry and panic. Its head swiveled back and forth, as if it was afraid that something was after it. That was what came to my mind anyways, it wasn't a comforting thought.

"Wait! Before you go, could you tell me where this is?"

"No! No time, no time! Have to go, they're coming!" Before I could ask who the they it was talking about were, it scurried off into the darkness of an alley-way.

Having gained more questions than answers I decided that it would be best for me to start moving to, if that thing was scared of something, I was sure that sticking around where I was now wasn't the best of ideas.

Taking off again in a quick jog, I was thankful that I wasn't too out of shape. While I certainly wasn't an athlete, despite the lack of muscle I wasn't particularly unhealthy. Maybe after all this, I'd start actually exercising like I had kept telling myself that I was going to do. If life was going to shit on me like this randomly, it would probably be for the best to be in some sort of shape after all.

No, gotta stay positive. Taking a deep breath, I took in the sights of the digital city as I jogged, noting any differences I could see. There weren't many.

I saw more of the small rodent like creatures, all of them seemed to move away from me almost as soon as the noticed that I had my sights on them though. Other than them, their appeared to be no other life in this strange world whatsoever. The sky was a static image of cloudiness, making the entire city seem even more dreary than usual. It was a little unnerving, especially as the feeling that someone was watching me never left. A flicker of red from above made me twitch, something was coming.

I noted with some trepidation that the feeling of being watched that had been my unwanted constant companion for quite a while now seemed to intensify, even though I was completely sure that nothing was behind me. Deciding to err on the side of caution, I ducked into the nearest alley-way. Almost as soon as I did, it felt as if the eyes on me seemed to lessen. I started to move further into the alley-way, but stopped as my ears picked up a noise from where I had just been. Turning my head, I froze as I saw what the sound was.

The red hair and the green eyes were the first things that I noted, even as I instinctively huddled myself inward trying to make myself less noticeable in the darkness of the alley-way. She wore what seemed to be just a normal pair of jeans and a dark blouse, the two pieces of clothing each looking roughed up a bit oddly, however the most important thing was the look in her eyes. Her eyes were cold, and now that I looked at them a bit closer they also were tinted yellow, almost as if she was looking down on everything around her. However, even more worrying was the fact that I could somehow sense that being spotted by her would be more than just bad. I wasn't willing to take the risk on whether or not the feeling was right and stopped myself from walking towards her, despite her being the first human I'd seen.

The person standing there was definitely Emma Barnes, or at least a copy of her a more logical and not panicking part of my brain noted.

She seemed to be looking for something, I noted, though she seemed almost... disinterested. As her gaze started to turn my way, I ducked behind a dumpster that I was immediately thankful, regardless of the smell. Hiding my entire body behind the dumpster, I tried to keep as still as possible, in the hopes that Emma or the Emma clone or whoever that was hadn't seen me.

Time seemed to still as I sat crouched behind the dumpster, trying not to make any sort of sudden move.

It felt like several minutes passed before finally the soft shuffling of feet moving further away down the street made me ease up a little bit, however I decided to wait just a tad bit longer. I was in here by myself, with a fake or not-so-fake Emma, and I didn't have many means to protect myself. The pepper spray that I had gotten, seemed just a bit heavier in my coat pocket at the reminder that it and my possibly my phone were the only two things that could be the decisive factor between me making it out of here alive or not so alive.

After another minute or two passed, I decided that it was probably safe to peek my head out finally.

I let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Emma not being there, and decided that I should quickly move before she decided to come back. Getting up as silently as possible, I took a look down further into the alley and was relieved to note that it led out to another street. I could creep out towards that other side and hope that the weird Emma hadn't decided that she would check the other street or go back out the way I came. I was nervous of the outcome either way, but decided ultimately that it was probably a little bit safer to go back out a different way. At the very least, it would give me a little bit of time to duck back into the alley if need be.

Creeping through the alley-way I noted the lack of smell, while I was thankful for it, it was also another sign that this place wasn't quite right. More and more, I was wishing that I had just decided to have a lazy day and not do anything, I could've just stayed in my house fiddling with my phone, but no. I just had to go out and try to be more sociable. Yes, I was very bitter about this entire situation if you couldn't tell all things considered.

As I made my way the exit of the alley, I made sure to peek out first. I didn't want to be surprised by anything, so doing a bit of preemptive checking of what I may be getting myself into was the least that I could do.

Looking left I saw a few more of the rodent things scurrying off down the street and into other alleys, but little else. Looking right, I was a bit more startled by what I saw.

It started off a bit normal with the average if drab street, but as it went further the pavement cracked as vines seemed to sprout up and out here and there as the area behind it seemed to turn into what I could only describe as some sort of jungle. It certainly wasn't that large, at least from my point of view as I could sort of see the street on the other side of it, but the more important thing was how hadn't I seen this? It was certainly distinctive enough, and was maybe a city block in length, so how? How did I not at least some sort of trace of this place before I had gotten here?

Before I could question more about where this weird jungle popped up from, I noticed her, Emma. She walked out from the street over, and stopped for a moment staring at the jungle. Her eyes turned my way before I could move and I froze. As her eyes met mine, we stared at each other for a long moment, the moment being broken as a smirk worked its way over her face as she flicked her eyes towards the jungle and stepped forward, disappearing into the foliage after a few seconds.

I swallowed hard as I got the message that she was trying to send. I was pretty sure that she wanted me to go in too.

I was sure that this was a bad idea, that it was probably some sort of trick or something. But, there wasn't anything else here and this could quite possibly be my out... I took a step back as my heart seemed to beat faster. I was scared, I could just go and run back to my house, and just wait there until someone on the outside got me out. That and continue looking for another way out were probably my better and only alternatives.

However, I felt like I had to do this, something within me telling me that I couldn't back down. I gripped the scarf around my neck a bit tighter and stepped forward.

All the while, if had looked behind me I would've noted that the shadows of the alleys behind me seemed to stir.