Chapter 8 - The Escape.
We finally get to Northern California, and my FP is fully restored, but I see a cop car on the highway, tailgating us. I quickly grip my fist, and the car gets crushed like a tin can with Force Crush.
A helicopter comes in, and I hear bullets raining around us. I divert them with Force Levitation, and redirect one of them right into the pilot's head, and I hear the copter crash behind us. Kara's whimpering, curled up next to Hazel, and I quickly pull us into an airport, which is probably going up in my Top 5 Stupidest Decisions list. Yeah, let's go into a place with the TSA, as a group of wanted fugitives with a nationwide manhunt out for me.
We quickly grab our luggage, and sneak into the terminal with some well-used Affect Minds, evolving it into Dominate Mind.
Power Evolved!
Affect Mind - Dominate Mind: With your expertise in the mental arts, in methods both scientific and supernatural, you found a way to practically force the target into believing anything you say when using this power, though too far-flung things may be disregarded still.
No FP Cost.
We quickly board the plane, and I pull a sleep mask over my face, in hopes I can learn to see through the Force a little, and in hopes that people might not notice me with my eyes obscured.
I reach out with my senses, hearing the mute noise of people shuffling around the plane, putting carryon luggage in the compartments above them, and seatbelts being put on, and wrap the Force around everything I could, and suddenly, I could see the dim outlines of everything, most of the outlines gray, while Kara's outline was a pale blue, signifying her Light Side alignment, and an almost pink red around Hazel, signifying she's aligned more with the Dark.
I started wondering why that was to myself, then I realized something I'd forgotten. My influence over someone usually dictates their alignment. If it's high, it reflects mine. If it's low, it's the opposite of mine. Kara, however, was naturally pretty Light as a person, while Hazel was more Gray, and thus more susceptible to my influence over her.
I see a dark red outline coming down towards us, and I notice the gun in his back pocket, as well as handcuffs in his other. I simply wave my hand slightly, and he's tugged out an emergency door by his shirt, since his shirt weighed very little, and I don't want to risk an encounter with authorities while on a plane.
Nobody seemed to really notice, surprisingly, until I saw Kara smiling a bit, and I saw all the civilians' outlines blur out a bit, convincing them with Affect Mind that they saw nothing. I take her hand, and whisper to her, "Proud of you. Making good progress already." She smiles, and a grin appears on my face briefly.
"My FP's increased to 120, reflecting my Wisdom now." She whispered back. "Good!" I reply quietly. The plane rumbles as it starts up, and I tune out the usual take-off preamble as we take off. Seeing no other notable outlines, I doze off, getting the rest I really needed.
When I woke up, we were touching down in Canada, and I quickly got us out of the airport, since we only really had carryon bags. I caught a bus for us to Vancouver, and found a good enough hotel through a local library's computers. We arrived at the hotel, and I realized we didn't actually have money. We didn't really pay for the flight, either, but a hotel requires upkeep. I couldn't just Dominate Mind out of this.
Then I realized I probably could, if I did it right. I used Force Lightning on myself, barely any power in it, but enough to make me look like I was roughed up a bit. "Hey, ma'am? Me and my friends need a place to stay for a few nights. We just got kicked out of my apartment, and we don't have the money to afford a hotel room, and can barely afford to eat. Could you spare us the trouble, and let us bunk here for a few days while we get resituated? You can put us to work here, as long as we can stay and eat here for a few days." I say, pouring Dominate Mind's power into the hotel clerk.
"Oh, I'm so sorry you got kicked out! Sure, I can book you three rooms. Separate rooms or the same one?" She asks. "Thank you so much, ma'am. Just one moment so we can discuss what we want for rooms." I say appreciatively.
I turn to my companions, and we quickly confer about it, before Hazel turns to the clerk and says "One room, please, with two beds." The clerk nods, types on her computer, clicks something, and hands us a key with the room number on it. "Here you three go! Have a great stay!" She says to us. We quickly find our room, and settle in.
"Are you sure we won't be found here?" Hazel asks. "They didn't get our names, first of all, and I don't think they'd expect us to hide so close to the States. They'd probably guess we snuck aboard a plane to Russia or Australia, rather than to Canada. I think we're safe here. We just need to train, get jobs, and lay low. Personally, I have a project I'd like to work on when we get an apartment, regarding this little thing." I say, pulling my purple crystal from my inventory to show them.
"Is that a lightsaber crystal?" Hazel gasps. I nod, smirking at their expressions. "Where'd you get it?" Kara asks, curiosity lacing her voice, and, whether she knew it or not, Affect Mind activating as well. "The mental intrusion is unnecessary, Kara. Practice is good, but preferably not on any of us, yeah? Anyways, I got from a quest, also known in this system as a Journal Entry." I explain to them.
Kara blushes. "Sorry. I didn't mean to do that." She apologizes quietly. I smile gently at her. "It's fine. I get that you can't always control it. I've learned emotions can just activate some powers, and I really need to work on keeping them in check. You might try to keep your own in check the best you can, as well." I reasoned.
"Anyways, we know what we need to do. We can probably try to get jobs as janitors or something here for the time being. I can make us an arena, too. I saw a pretty large forest on the way here, and I'm sure that with a little work, we can make a clearing for us to train. I definitely want to work on making my lightsaber first, though, and I have an idea of how to handle it, if it's anything like the game." I reiterate.
The two of them nod, and I clap my hands, rub them together, and grin. "Let's get cracking, then." I finished.
