Nexus flopped into a chair in the broadcast room, craning her neck back to get a view of who was coming. Aiglos was busy setting up, and Skylla was standing by to handle the plugging in. Medea was already comfortable in the chair next to hers, and Loki was just getting settled in his. Koi came out of the dining hall, followed by Trans, who had been hovering about all morning and generally irritating the crap out of Aiglos in his anticipation for a change in activity.
One by one Skylla plugged them all in, stopping by Nexus last. You're looking unusually perky," she commented, cocking her head to the side. "Not that I'm complaining. You've just been mopey lately. I'd been looking forward to seeing more of the little psycho who was bouncing off the walls when we left. I thought we'd lost our new mascot." She grinned down at the supine girl, who scrunched her nose and gave her the finger in response. Skylla snickered. "Ah, there it is. 'Night psycho. Have a good trip." With that the woman slid the plug in, and Nexus joined the crew inside the Matrix.
The first sensation the girl had was the smell of mothballs, and the musty smell of an old, neglected building underneath. Then she opened her eyes and raised her head at the sound of an old-fashioned telephone ringing on a desk. The entire crew stood in front of it. Medea gave the room a once-over to see if the were all there, then stepped forward to pick up the phone. "We're in."
She hung up and turned towards the group. Nexus, in the meantime, was examining herself. She wasn't all decked out in leather like the others- in fact, this was probably what she would wear on a day out were her budget slightly larger and more open to that sort of thing. Heavy combat boot came up to mid-calf, with think canvas pant tucked into the tops. She wore a dark green camisole, and a leather coat on top of that that came to just below her knees. However…
"Who the fuck would give ME a gun?" Nexus muttered at the discovery of her newly acquired accessory nestled in a holster at her side, under her left arm. Medea, who had been about to address the group, snapped her mouth shut at this interruption of the gathering of her wits for another trip out. Koi answered for her. "We never used to give newbies those just starting out- it was just the residual self-image. Now its required to arm everyone everytime we go out. I don't know why no one said anything. Seems kinda normal now. Sorry. You did the program for that anyhow, you should be okay."
Medea cleared her throat. "Alright, I'm only gonna go over this once, so listen up. Nexus this is standard procedure. Three go forward, two stay back. Trans, Koi, that'll be you. Anything goes wrong while we're gone, get the hell out. Everyone familiar with this place and the layout?" Everyone, including Nexus, who had had to study a blueprint of the old warehouse, nodded. "Good. You know what to do if Aiglos calls you for backup…alright then. Let's head out." Trans snapped a salute at Medea's crisp tone, then broke a small smirk, catching Nexus' eye. "Have fun out there."
Nexus made her way past into the apartment while Medea elected to wait jus inside the apartment. The living room was large and had a comfortable feel to it. It was also full of gifted children, each with unique abilities to manipulate objects. Manipulate the Matrix, she corrected. These were just kids who had found a few extra rules they could break.
Two girls were watching a television, and giant rabbits came in and out of focus. Curious, Nexus sat down next to them. The girls glanced over at her, and the picture lost focus, then sharpened again as they decided to ignore her. Nexus noted this, scrutinizing the girl who was closer. "How are you doing that?" The girl blushed, only partially from modesty. "I…it's not really there. It's all in your head. I'm not sure how else to say it," she said with a shrug, not taking her eyes back off the screen. Nexus looked back to the same place, her brow furrowing. "Huh." Maybe it was a matter of mental projection, like her clothes and…well maybe not the gun. She closed her eyes and concentrated on an image, something that was almost a memory. The girl giggled and she opened her eyes, grinning.
The screen now showed an image of the three of them from behind, in black and white, sitting in front of that very TV. Nexus was Eva in this image, still in a t-shirt and boxers. The young woman on the screen slyly raised her hand with index and middle fingers extended in the form of bunny ears behind the girl's head, and the girl giggled again and glanced behind her, ascertaining that the hand in question was not actually hovering mockingly behind her head. The woman who had let her in came back into the room, laughing gently at the scene. "That's some show, but you'll have to cut it short-for now. The Oracle will see you now."
Nexus almost skipped though the beads that hung in the kitchen doorway, but elected to gently push them aside instead. A little back lady with frizzy hair sat at the kitchen table, having a smoke, a plate full of cookies sitting just off to the left. The woman smiled gently at the slightly bewildered girl. "This what you expected sug?" Nexus shrugged one shoulder. Kinda…I guess. All I was really told for sure was to expect cookies."
The woman's- the Oracle's face cracked into a grin now. "Well, I guess that's fair. People aren't too trusting nowadays- never were, really, but that's especially true now. Can't blame 'em, really." The sharp eyes that had been wandering the kitchen focused back on Nexus, and she paused to take a puff before placing the cigarette on the edge of the ashtray. "You've been catching on fairly fast, judging by the way Nadia was carrying on out there," she said, referring to the little girl by the television. She picked her smoke up again, taking a drag. "It's useful, knowing how to do things like that. You don't see it too often. And It works for more than just the screen on a busted TV too." She gave a cunning smile, an old lady in on a juicy secret.
Nexus blinked at this. What did that mean? She raised an eyebrow, indicating her confusion. The Oracle waved this away. "Think it over, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it, but it does matter nonetheless. Anyways," just like that, the kind little old grandmother was back- "You should be getting' back. I imagine Medea's getting a little antsy in that hallway. Help yourself to a cookie on the way out."
More bewildered than when she came, she did as she was bid ad made her way to the front door, distractedly returning the young girl's wave. Medea looked up and smiled in sympathy at the girl's confusion. "I see she's messed with your mind a bit, as always. Aiglos just called- he caught your TV trick. I think you just made a fan."
Medea wearily hauled herself up from the bench and moved towards the door. "By the way, you gonna eat that?" A muntinous mutter came from behind her that sounded suspiciously like "Get your own damn cookie." Medea chuckled and headed into the hall, moving towards the elevator as Nexus followed her, taking a huge bite out of her cookie.
Ray walked down the street towards the parking lot after class. It had been a week since that spook at the police station had questioned him. It had been one of the weirdest experiences of His life, yet he could not put his finger on exactly what had bothered him about it.
They had questioned him for over an hour and a half on Eva's habits, any deviations from the norm of late…they had almost seemed to perk up at the description of his last visit, when she had gotten that weird IM, but it was next to impossible to say for sure. He had asked several time what she had done wrong…and then finally one of them seemed to scrutinize him closely, like a bug under a magnifying glass. When Ray had finally gotten uncomfortable enough with this to start squirming a bit in his seat, the agent had broken out of his trance and replied that she might have fallen in with a group involved with…highly criminal activities, possibly to the point of terrorism. He had left the station with a funny feeling in his gut, and his dreams that night had been the most terrifyingly vivid dreams he had had since he was seven.
He reached his car, an old heap not quite ready for the junkyard…but close, ever so close. He pulled out of the space, moving out toward where the lot ended and the street began, pondering terrorism and whispered stories.
He turned his head as a shiny dark green vintage car drove by, probably a GTO and a damn nice one at that. He was about to fall back into his state of semi-awareness when he saw a girl sitting in the backseat, with beige-tinted sunglasses and a shaggy head of wheat-coloured hair. He rocketed back to awareness, staring after the car. The he shifted gears, pulling out onto the street as he began to tail the car at a distance.