AN: Wow it's only been about three months now since my last update! I'm really roaring along aren't I? *head meet desk* Please R&R, or don't; really at this point I wouldn't be surprised at abandonment. Oh yeah, and because it was kinda necessary for a steady plot flow, the times of our two groups aren't in sync this chapter.

Rating: T

Chapter 21

Blau

TIME: 20:10 UTC+1
LOCATION: Munich, Germany

What does all of this mean? Why is it that when I look at Marxs… no wait. What? Something's wrong, but it's all so blurry.

"GIBSON!"

The young man turned around. His eyes slowly focused and sought out the source of the noise. His roommate was running towards him, ignoring the rain that was slowly picking up around them.

"Would you watch where you're going!"

"What?" Gibson muttered.

Marcel jabbed his finger in the direction opposite of where Gibson's facing. "You almost walked into the fucking street, that's what!"

Gibson glanced behind him, confirming that he had in fact been about to step off the curb into the heavy traffic. "Ah, sorry." He stated mutedly.

"Gibson are you alright?" asked Marcel. "I mean, do you want to go to the hospital or something? You've gotten worse since we left the bar."

"No I'm fine," Gibson shook his head dismissively. "It's probably just that the alcohol you forced me to metabolize is now starting to drin - I mean the alcohol you forced me to drink is now starting to metabolize."

"Well, if you say so, but we should head back," Marcel shielded his eyes as he looked upwards at the dark sky. "This rain looks like it's gonna get worse."

"No."

"What?" Marcel said flatly, having finally reached his mental breaking point.

Gibson was staring at the nearby bus stop; the tinted glass encased structure housed only two inhabitants. "I need to know. I don't know why, but I think I might be able to find the answers there."

"What answers? Where?"

A bus pulled into the station, the LED board on the top-front of the vehicle blinking 'Olympiapark'. Gibson smiled weakly and made his way forward.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Marcel moved to grab Gibson's arm, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Gibson began to climb the bus' steps.

"Oh for fuck's sake! Gibson!" Marcel ran towards the boarded the bus, hoping he wasn't going to regret this.

Where is that monkey? Sprx remarked to himself as he scanned the glistening street from the rooftops, hoping to spot his teammate.

"Remember, even without mastery of the Power Primate, you should be able to tell it is him at first glance Sprx."

Sprx rolled his eyes as looked over his shoulder at his silver companion, who was currently meditating, apparently trying to locate Gibson's 'aura' or something like that, Sprx had never given much mind to any of the spiritual junk Antauri constantly spewed.

"I heard you the first time Antauri," he snapped

The silver monkey opened his eyes. "I was just making sure, Sprx. You have been very consumed by Nova's...behavior."

"Well what am I supposed to do?" Sprx swung back around to watch the street, avoiding the other's judging gaze. "Pretend that everything's just sunshine and lollipops?"

"No, but I think that worrying so much will do more harm than good."

Sprx snorted. "Yeah? Well…" Sprx trailed off as his eyes locked onto a blonde man who was standing on the street corner as another man, same age, argued with him as both were soaked.

"You found Gibson?"

Sprx nodded without bothering to look back. "I think so at least."

Finally, it's almost all over.

It was then that the blonde decided to quickly walk away from the corner and board a bus.

"Oh, come on!" Sprx exclaimed to Antauri's confusion.

TIME: 14:50UTC+12
LOCATION: Wellington, New Zealand

"No."

"But - !"

"No."

"But I - !"

"No! We are not flying all the way out to Denver with some robot and a random Korean girl while leaving mom behind, and that's final." Jeff crossed his arms in an attempt to further emphasize the not-ness of the situation to his obstinate sister.

Ally of course, ignored her brother's arguments. "But this is Otto we're talking about!"

The brother and sister had retreated to the small, somewhat dingy, apartment that they owned down the street, partially to convince the other to pack/unpack, but mostly because Jeff didn't want his little sister near the potentially deadly robot. So far, neither had made much progress convincing the other sibling to stay/go.

"Ally, mum's getting out of the hospital in just two days. How do you think she'll end up if she comes home to find us missing?

"We could tell her," Ally suggested. "She'd understand."

Had Jeff been drinking, he would have done a spit-take. "Understand! Understand that Otto - the weird kid that worked for us for about four months - is an alien?" He waved his arms about dramatically. "Understand that we have to fly to America to rescue him from some other aliens? With a robot and Korean girl that dropped into our shop out of nowhere? Yes, you're right, mum will be totally understanding."

"Well when you say it like that-"

"Like what?" Jeff cut her off. "A sane person?"

An uncomfortable silence filled the room for several moments, during which Ally diverted her gaze downward, trying to escape that of her brother's.

Jeff realized he might have taken it a bit too far, the young man placed a hand on his sister's shoulder and sighed sadly. "Ally, you know we can't leave mom."

Ally didn't look up, and instead closed in on herself further.

"Look, Ally, we'd only get in their way! I mean Hyun Jae says she's loaded and has been training to be a police officer, and - well Jinmay's a freaking robot."

Ally didn't respond, instead opting after several seconds of worried silence to turn around and return to her room.

"Ally, wait!" Jeff exclaimed.

Ally, of course, did not wait, and slammed her door behind her.

Jeff sighed dejectedly and decided not to pursue the matter further, figuring that this was actually a fairly calm outcome, all things considered.

Hyun Jae huffed as she sat plopped down on the bus stop bench next to the bubblegum haired android.

"So they're not coming?" Jinmay asked.

"Nope." The other responded resolutely. "Good thing too, really."

"What? Why?" Jinmay was confused and slightly disturbed by the other girl's casual disregard. After all the more help the better right?

"Because I'm not that rich," Hyun Jae elaborated. "I mean if we really needed to, I could, but I'd rather not shuttle several people around the globe."

"I…guess I can't argue with that," Jinmay sighed.

Hyun Jae nodded then looked up. "Here comes the bus to the airport."

"Um… what exactly is an airport?" Jinmay asked

Hyun Jae froze for a moment, before facepalming in terror. "Okay I just now realized how much more complicated this is gonna get with you involved."

"Well, we can talk about it on the way right?" Jinmay pulled the girl by her arm into the bus.

Hyun Jae gave a very insincere and panicked smile. "Yeah, yeah, we can talk, sure." A small, slightly hysterical giggle slipped past her lips.

Jeff picked up the bowl of ice cream he had prepared and made his way towards his sister's door.

He knocked on the wooden doorframe. "Hey Ally, I've got a bowl of chocolate ice cream with the works!"

No response. He frowned.

"Look Ally, I know you're upset, but brooding in your room is only gonna make it worse."

Still nothing. "Ally, I'm coming in, okay?"

Jeff entered the room, scanning it for its owner.

"Ally I-" He froze.

The window was open.

As the bus containing Hyun Jae and Jinmay pulled away from the stop approximately three blocks from the apartment, a very faint noise could be heard. It was the sound of a name. 'Ally' was being shouted to kingdom come, but there was no one nearby to answer to the call.

Ally crouched further down in her seat, and as she tried to remain out of the field of view of the two she was trailing, she could only think: I am so fucked when I get home.