By the time Miranda flipped on the emergency lights and looked around the room she saw Francis was now on the floor, using his hands as a shield or barrier as her daughter sat on top of him with her pale fists clasped around his throat. She didn't seem to be attempting to strangle him, but she did shake him violently, clearly angered at what had happened.
"You bloody idiot!" She yelped, only releasing him when the older man pulled and held her back from him as best he could.
Miranda rubbed her head and quickly went to Casey and assisted to hold her daughter back from the young man until she calmed herself down enough and muttered a quick apology. With a soft sigh, the young mother released her hold on her daughter and went to help Francis up from the floor. Once done, Miranda then went to the door and opened the door hatch that led out of the lab and into the hallway.
"Its fine Casey, it was just an accident... Though, just to be on the safe side, children under eight-teen. Out." Her mother said, sternly pointing out of the room with a look of stress on her face.
"But Mo-." Casey started to speak, but stopped when her mom shot her a look that made her think twice about arguing. "Fine..."
Casey balled up her fists, taking in a deep breath, and then proceeded to stomp out of the room. Francis followed after her slowly, seemingly a bit afraid that she would try to strangle him again. Still, he doubted that her mother would let him back into the lab after what happened, even if it would save him from Casey's wrath. So now the two teens found themselves walking down the hall way of the Grey household, standing quite a few feet apart with a quickly growing tension between the two.
"Look... Um." Francis started carefully, attempting to start a conversation but was cut off by Casey clamping a hand over his mouth.
"Look kid, if I don't know your name, then you don't know mine, and if you don't know mine, don't talk to me." She said finally in a matter-of-fact way, slowly taking her hand away. "And I'd like it to stay that way."
And with that, she flipped her long hair over her shoulder in a mean girls type of way and quickly turned on her heels and walked away from him at a very fast pace. The greyman looked surprised at first, but then smirked suddenly, folding his arms over his chest and calling after her.
"Casandra Lee Beeman."
"What?" Casey stopped dead in her tracks and made a fist out of reflex.
"That is your name right?" The corners of Francis' lips twitched up higher as he watched the girl react.
Casey turned around suddenly and was bright red in the face out of both shock and embarrassment. Fumbling with her words a bit, she raked her brain for a come back but found that she had none, so she simply said whatever came to her mind in that moment.
"N-NO! Its Casey Grey! Plain and simple." She replied, turning even brighter red.
"Thats not what your file says." He replied, shrugging his shoulders simply now. "It also says that you have a short temper."
"What file?" Casey asked as her face returned to its natural pale color. "The heck are you talking about?"
"If you don't know my name, you don't talk to me." The greyman mocked, walking away from the baffled female.
"Hey! That doesn't count!" She shouted down the hall to him. "Francis!"
Francis threw his head back suddenly, eyeing the girl over the rims of his goggles for a minute and laughed, having out smarted yet another person his age and taking joy in it. After all, with what happened at the Saturdays, it was nice for him to finally be back in his A-game. With that, he turned back and went further down the hall, listening carefully for Casandra's footsteps to follow him.
"You're such a jerk!" Casey gasped out suddenly, running after him and stopping when she got close enough to him. "You know that, right?"
The two stood with tensions growing over them again as the fun of their banter soon began to wear off. Casey took a deep breath and was about to speak when she stopped suddenly. At that moment the lights began to flicker again and they slowly dimmed. A loud POP, almost identical to the one they heard in the lab earlier, was heard, as shattered glass from the over head lights flew through the air and scraped both the teens faces. In shock, the two stood in silence and looked for each other's faces in the dark, but the silence was quickly broken by deep red lights flashing from all around and a loud siren blared shortly after this.
Threat Detected."A computerized voice shouted over and over again, growing louder and louder each time.
"Uh, Casandra... What exactly does that mean?" Francis asked, feeling for her hand as all of the doors began to open themselves up and then close and lock themselves up tightly like something out of a horror movie.
"I-I have no idea." Casey answered, her eyes widening as she looked around her house as if the walls were unfamiliar to her.
"Eliminate Threat." The computer said several times over now, the lights suddenly going a solid red and staying like that.
"Oh, I know what that means now." Casey said, nodding her head slowly as her pupils went as tiny as beads.
"And that would be?" Francis asked, looking around slowly and then stopping at her.
"We better run." Casey answered, her voice in a whisper as her body tensed up.
They both nodded in a silent understanding, simply turning in the same direction and taking off down the hall, back towards Miranda's lab.