Fuck a duck. This is a chapter, presumably.

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"Do you actually know what we're looking for?" Lori kicked a rock into the road, watching it skitter across the pavement, as she followed behind her brother.

"No." He admitted, glancing back at her before casting his uncertain gaze across the area around them. "All we have to go on, are rumors and news reports. I'm not sure about anything really, and the police either won't say anything, or they don't know any more than I do."

Lori hadn't seen him talk to any of the police, a couple of whom were looking over the results of the latest party to go out of control. Though she supposed that wasn't surprising; he probably used a simulation. "I thought you weren't interested in the drug thing?"

"I wasn't." His eyes going glassy before she could respond. She waited. "But…" He started again suddenly, apparently having started speaking again the literal instant he came out of the simulation. "I'm starting to get the feeling that this is a bigger problem than we thought."

"Why?" She knew why, of course. Drugs were drugs, but unless you were taking bath salts, people didn't generally become violent on them. Not unless they were a violent person to begin with. This wasn't bath salts though, this was something different. Something was making a lot of people freak out, and she didn't want her brother anywhere near that. If only she could convince him that everything was fine. "It's just kids partying, isn't it? Why's that such a huge deal?"

"You know it's more than that." She couldn't help but wince at the flat tone of his voice. She wasn't fooling him. "Why don't you check out the house." He nodded towards the thoroughly trashed building. The windows were all broken, and the side wall had a hole in it. "I'll see if I can talk to anybody who was there when it happened."

Watching her brother wander off, Lori turned her attention back to the wrecked house. With a sigh, she let her power unfold into the area around her and she started towards the lawn, ignoring the few police officers still around, who unsurprisingly ignored her in turn. She hoped the door wasn't locked. While it would be easy to just rip it off its hinges, she didn't think she could keep people from noticing her if she did that… Wait, actually she hoped it was literally locked tight. She could use the excuse about not drawing attention to herself, and she wouldn't have to help Lincoln with…

Sighing in disappointment, as the knob turned easily in her hand, she stepped across the threshold. Her eyes swept the room as she thought, keeping an eye out for anything obvious, but not actually looking that hard. It wasn't that…

She was proud of Lincoln. He'd grown into a fantastic person, with an iron strong moral code… Was it too much that… As much as she was glad that Lincoln was the person to develop superpowers, instead of anyone else, she… She didn't… Why did anyone have to develop powers at all?

She hadn't even known it was possible before they did, so it was clearly an incredibly rare thing, right?

Wandering into the back of the house, Lori circled a shredded couch.

Was it too much to ask that her brother be safe? Yes, of course it was. Lincoln had powers now, and he wasn't going to ignore the suffering of others now that he had the ability to do something about it, and that made her… A warmth swelled in her chest at the thought, over top a pit of ice that opened in her gut… It was an odd sensation, but she was literally used to it by now. A shiver went down her spine.

Lincoln was smart, strong, and compassionate; three things that went into… She didn't wish he wasn't the way he was; she loved everything about him and wouldn't change any of it. She just wished that they didn't have powers. Sure there would be nobody to help the people in the city with all their recent issues, but her brother wouldn't be in danger.

Did that make her a bad person? Maybe… But she was willing to live with that.

You ever wonder how bugs can just get into your house? I found a huge spider on my kitchen floor.

Lincoln brushed his hand across his equipment pouches; fiddling with the zipper, scratching his nails across the course fabric, feeling the ballbearing through the thick material. He forced his hand away, and into his pockets. People weren't nearly as perceptive as fiction wanted you to believe, but he didn't want anybody to notice and start paying extra attention to them.

Stopping at the corner of the sidewalk, he spared a look in every direction, spinning off a few simulations as well… Nothing, so he continued forward, Lori trailing behind. In stories, people were getting robbed left, right, and center. It felt weird that the city would be so peaceful… It was a good thing, because it meant that people weren't getting hurt, but… He shook his head, tossing the thought away.

They'd have to go back soon… If was frustrating. His power let him gather a lot of information, in a very short period of time, but he only had so much. Their sisters had been paying a lot more attention to them recently. They wouldn't tell him why, which… did not decrease his worries. Honestly, they could be watching him and Lori for any number of insane reasons, but it was probably better to be on the safe side. So they could only stay out for a couple hours, before they'd have to go back…

The fact that they'd been searching for a little over a week, by this point, didn't help his frustration any. Though maybe he was frustrated for other reasons, and this was just the most recent thing… If he was being honest… He felt sort of helpless.

Turning down a side street, his feet carried him forward as he had an idea. Homes became less frequent, even as lights and sounds pierced the night. The gathering crowds meant that they were more likely to be noticed if they did anything, but… He felt a bit dumb actually…

People were only freaking out at parties, which meant that… Well, he'd been just searching the streets, because that had worked before, but it occurred to him that instead of searching for the source outright, he should be attempting to trace his way back to it.

Giddy though he was, to finally have a possible lead, it couldn't overwhelm his irritation.

"Hey, Lincoln?' He turned at his sister's voice. "It's getting close to eleven. Don't you think we should head back now?"

Shit… He sighed, having lost track of time. They might finally be getting somewhere too. They'd have to come back the next night.

"Sure." Exhaling forcefully, he nodded as he turned back around to find the nearest bus station, but then he stopped.

"Lincoln?" Lori eyed her frozen brother.

"I thought I heard something…" The night wasn't silent, what with all the people everywhere. There were sounds of talking, cars, and businesses filling the air. What he heard could easily be any of those things, but it wasn't…

He tilted his head up to try to catch the fleeting whisper… What was that? A wavering note that murmured across the edge of his awareness. He closed his eyes to concentrate, standing in the pitch black behind his lids

"Wait…" A pensive note entered her tone, as the sound grew louder and more distinct

Many different sources combined together, clashing and resonating in equal amounts, as it grew to eclipse the sounds around them and Lincoln abruptly realized what it was.

Screaming.

My friend moved into a new place recently. He seemed pretty excited. I never got that. Isn't a house just a shelter from the elements? That's all it's ever been to me.

Justin stomped the floor with his feet, trails of sweat running down his face, tasting salty and stinging his eyes. Whirling in place, he found his dance partner as their hips ground together. Lights flashed; the colored beams racing across the room and back again, like a search light, and Justin's breath burned in his throat as his protesting muscles ignited.

It hurt, but what was fun without a little pain? He needed this, and he was planning on going until he couldn't move anymore, and couldn't remember why he needed this. The cocktail of chemicals running through his system gave him a head start on that already, and he let the flow drag him away from reality.

He stomped, and jumped. Whirling and whipping around like a man possessed. He was dizzy. The world was spinning. He hit the ground… Ow…

"Oh shit, Justin. You okay?" Will helped him to his feet, and he braced himself against his boyfriends sturdy frame. "Are the drugs hitting you too hard?"

"No…" He blinked rapidly, getting his feet under himself again. "I think I've just been dancing for too long. My muscles are on fire." Though he appreciated his boyfriends concern. Will was so sweet. Though speaking of that, he wondered if taking another dose of amphetamines would help…. Probably not; He wasn't out of energy, just too tired to move.

"Maybe we should go sit at the bar until you recover." Weaving through the gyrating masses, they found themselves an empty spot at the counter and ordered some drinks.

Justin pressed his face down against the surface, letting the chilled countertop sooth his flaming skin. Sweat pooled and made the bar top slightly tacky, and he took a deep breath. Groaning as his beer was placed on the surface in front of him, his lifted himself up despite his protesting muscles and pulled it closer so he could slurp the foam at the top without having to pick up the glass.

"You okay, man?" Will's broad hand came down on his back, stroking up and down his spine in just the way Justin liked.

"Yeah…" He panted. "Thanks for taking me out tonight." He felt like he was forgetting something.

"Hey." Will cast him a charming smile, the kind that always made his heart melt. "I wouldn't be a very good boyfriend if I couldn't tell when you needed a break."

"True." He nodded, before his face melted into a playful smirk. "I guess that makes you a bad boyfriend."

"What?" Will drew back, gasping in pretend shock. "I'm a bad boyfriend, even after this?"

"What about when I failed that philosophy test four months ago? Where were you then?" Putting his elbow up on the bar, he tilted his head and rested it on the knuckles of his fist.

"We weren't even dating four months ago." Will protested.

"Hmm… Not good enough. You should have dropped everything and found me." His cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling too much, as Will met him with a look of baffled humor. "Still, I'd say this makes up for it, and fifty percent isn't so bad; it's only a failing grade." He took in a deep breath… Huh… The air was sweet…

"I better get to studying than." Will played along.

"You'd better." Justin agreed, nodding his head as he turned around on his stool to face the dance floor. The lights and sounds were starting to become uncomfortably intense. He'd thought they were on their highest setting before, but apparently they could go up to eleven… Though he wasn't sure why anyone would want to do that. "It may be too late for you to get a perfect score, but the semester isn't over, and if you work hard you can still earn an A."

"Sounds like I've got my work cut out for me." His boyfriend sipped from his glass.

Leaning backwards over the counter, his spine cracked satisfyingly as he brought his beer to his lips again and tipped his head back to take a long draw… Uh… the lights stung his eyes, as the music pounded a painful beat on his eardrums. Maybe they should retreat to a darker corner. For now, he'd just look somewhere else.

His eyes were drawn to the ceiling, as with a number of skylights it was one of the darkest places in the building. His eyes scanned across, looking at the stars, which were really bright that night… Wait… He did a double take, and focused back on the skylight his sight just passed.

What? There was a shadow, or something… And the skylight was open, and he was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be. Especially considering that none of the other skylights were. Honestly, the fact that he'd spotted it at all was a little surprising. He didn't have night vision, or particularly good eyesight, but… The stars were just so bright that night. They were almost like light bulbs in the sky. The shadow clashed against it pretty obviously. Then the shadow moved, shifting and changing until it became the silhouette of a person… Was there a guy up there?…

Gah! The beat of the music pounded through his skull and he winced, bringing his palm to the side of his head to sooth the throbbing. The sweetness in the air intensified, becoming sickly, almost putrid.

"Hey," He met his boyfriends eyes with his own. Will's face was twisted with discomfort. "Uhh… I might be having a bad reaction to something. You want to-"

A scream pierced through the air, and Justin whipped around to see… Nobody was dancing anymore… The unnatural stillness in sharp contrast to the still blaring music, and the frantically sweeping lights. He couldn't see everyone, but those closest to him looked sick, or panicked. A clearing was open in the crowd, where everyone was looking on as two guys just beat the ever loving shit out of each other. A girl off to the side was still screaming… And something was wrong… Everything was too bright, too loud, his skin felt sensitive, and the colors warped together…

A man charged through the crowd, a chair raised over his head, and Justin thought, for a sickening second, that he was going to join the fight, but he charged past them. The music getting quieter, though no less painful, as he brought the chair down on one of the speakers and the front exploded in a shower of sparks.

Everyone stilled, then burst into motion as people began following the first guys lead, but Justin couldn't see it… After a few seconds, all the people blurred together, becoming a churning mass. The music cut out. Glass showered down from the lights. It didn't help. The churning beast roared, a cacophony of discordant sounds that split his brain and drowned out thought.

He looked away, his gorge rising in his throat as he hoped it didn't notice him, but it didn't matter… There was a monster right beside him, curled in on itself as though getting ready to pounce, and Justin jerked backwards out of his chair. Even crueler, it was wearing familiar clothes, but Justin wouldn't be fooled by something without a face.

Justin wasn't a brave guy. If it came down to it, he'd prefer to run, but he couldn't let this monster get away with stealing his boyfriends skin. His grip tightened on the glass, he just remembered he still had in his hand. Then he moved without thought, his feet carrying him within reach of the faceless thing, just as the glass met its target and shattered in his hand.

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Chapter notes:

In case you were wondering, Justin wasn't gay for any specific reason. I decided he had a significant other, and flipped a coin to determine their sex.

Incidentally I did not look up the street names for any of the drugs... Maybe I should have, but... Eh... We'll just assume Justin is verbose.