A virtual high-five to ereader12 and raenbc for answering a question correctly! And a second round to Mia Teresa Davenport, Labgirl2001, Rodrigo, ceeceerocks2000, AlienGhostWizard14, LRW, Lady Cougar-Trombone, Hithere, and doomforzombies for getting both! Yep, we did see Bree use her invisibility abilities, which was fantastic - and we got a glimpse of Marcus possibly coming back in the future. Can't wait to see where that goes. :)

It's been a while, so let's go straight to the entry!

Episode Tag to: One of Us

Chronicle #060

"Quicksilver"

09/12/15

11:02 PM

Here's a question to think about: To your family and to your friends, who are you? Of course, to the people that matter, you are someone important, but besides that, what are you to them? Are you the caring person who loves everybody so much that you forget to love yourself? Are you the outspoken 'jerk' everyone's cautious of but is secretly only verbal about your feelings because you're scared of getting hurt again? Are you the natural born leader of the pack who gets things under control often but at times feels so lost and feels as if nobody will help you that you feel trapped? Are you someone who usually couldn't care less about others but, when it comes down to it, would stand up for those people who love you in a heartbeat?

If the role you play in others' lives had a label, what would it be? The brains? The leader? The heart? The risk-taker?

What are you to them?

The only way, really, of finding out is by letting them tell you, whether directly through their words or indirectly through their actions.

This week had been a very interesting week. I know. I probably said that about my week a hundred times already, but this one was really interesting. By 'interesting' I mean weird and terrifying and confusing and frustrating. For one, we have a new addition to the Academy, and that person happens to be someone I've had nightmares about since last summer. I know S-1's a different person now. She's proven herself to be good and all, and she seems to really want to prove to everybody that she's not the same old deranged super soldier that Krane made her to be. She's even trying to make big strides with her new life.

From what I've heard, she's actually in the process of picking a new name. She's deciding between Sarah and Taylor.

Still, I can't help but be cautious. Too many teenage nemeses have tried the 'I'm a friend' approach in the past that I'm just constantly on alert. It doesn't help either that whenever I see her, I still remember the times she's tried to kill me.

If she's really good now, though, I'm sure I can get past the negative association. Hey, I'm good friends with Douglas now, aren't I? Maybe one day, if she really has become good, I'll be good friends with her, too.

Another thing that happened this week and which has got to be one of the freakiest things that I've ever experienced is that at one point, besides me and Douglas, everybody in the island was dead. I don't mean they're-just-very-deeply-asleep dead, I mean they-had-a-virus-in-their-system-that-almost-offed-them-for-real dead. It was terrifying. To see your classmates, your close friends, your best friend, your siblings, and your girlfriend just drop semi-dead in front of you while having no idea what to do was traumatizing to say the least. What made it worse was that they just sprung it on me. There I was, spending some time back in Mission Creek because my aunt was in town and wanted to see me, and the next thing I know, bam – everyone's lives were on a timer.

To be fair, though, what I felt was nothing compared to how others felt about it. You could tell how happy they were to be alive by the way they popped the balloons that Adam stored in the training area. No balloons survived that afternoon.

How they took that virus incident was also evident through their reactions after that day. Some have pretty good coping mechanisms that they were not affected much, if at all, by it. Adam, Bree, and Chase are so used to situations like that that they weren't too shaken by it. I mean, sure, they're still working on getting the shock out of their systems, but it's not terribly difficult. Adam just laughs it off, Bree just binge watches series on Netflix it off, and Chase just, well, lesson plans it off.

Even Miller has his own way of getting over it. Lately, he's been more talkative than usual. His siblings are highly annoyed, but they recognize that that's just his way of trying to confront the problem head on so they just bear with it.

There are some, though, whose paces in coping are slower, but they're getting there.

Unfortunately, there are also a few who has been affected negatively, and one of them is my best friend.

See, here's the thing about Era. No question, she's a tough chick. She's chill, but if the situation calls for it she doesn't hold back. At the same time, she's also a very kind person. She loves her siblings, loves her friends, and she cares about others. She has such a big heart. When things like this happen, it really affects her. At first, I just thought that she's quiet and withdrawn because that's her way of dealing with it, kind of like how Miles is, but apparently I was wrong.

I found out what was really going on a few nights ago when, in the middle of my sleep, I felt someone shake me awake. The first thing I saw in front of me when I woke up was a shadow. I would've screamed if she hadn't spoken. "Shh, Leo. It's just me."

"Miles?" I said as I squinted through the darkness. Sitting up, I asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I just need you to come with me for a moment."

"Why?"

"Something came up."

I glanced back at Adam, Bree, and Chase, all of whom were deeply asleep, when I heard the urgency in Miles' voice. "Should we wake them up?" I asked.

"No," she said, standing up. "This is just between the five of us."

It worried me how adamant she was to keep whatever it was under wraps so I had to come and see. Standing up, I said, "Okay."

She placed her hand on my shoulder and soon, we vanished out of the quarters.

When everything came back together, I saw that we were standing at a dark hallway, the sound of low voices and sobbing coming in from the adjacent room. I was about to go in, ready to see what it was that made Era cry, when Miles stopped me. "She didn't want me to get you," she said. "She doesn't want anybody to see her like this, but she needs her closest friends to be here for her."

"What happened?" I asked.

"The same thing that's been happening for days: she had a nightmare."

"A nightmare?"

"It started after that virus. This is the fourth time it happened."

"Fourth time?" I asked, surprised. "Why haven't you guys told anyone?"

"It's not our choice to tell," Miles said. "She doesn't want anyone to know, but this time I had to bring you in because she woke up screaming and shaking."

"What?"

Miles nodded. "You should go talk to her," she said.

Taking her suggestion, I walked into what looked like a sitting room. As Miles and I came in, Rocket, who was beside Era, and Storm, who was watching the two of them from where she sat, looked up. Era was bent over, sobbing onto her knees while her arms hid her face. Taking the empty spot on the other side of her, I said, "Era?"

Era looked up, eyes red and face wet with tears. Her brows wrinkled. "Miles, I told you – I don't want you getting anyone else involved," she said, her voice congested.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Nothing," Era said, turning away.

"You know, we may not have known each other for very long, but we've been around each other enough that I can clearly tell that that 'nothing' means 'something,'" I said. "I'm your best friend, Era. You've said that yourself. I get to at least have one attempt at helping you with your problems."

There was silence for a while. Then, Era said calmly, "It's nothing. It was just a nightmare."

"What is it about?" I asked. When she didn't answer, I looked at her siblings.

"She's never told us," Rocket said worriedly.

"I see all of you dead. Every time. Even you, Leo," Era said, looking at me as tears pooled in her eyes. "It's always so real."

"It's just a dream," Miles said comfortingly.

"No, you don't understand," Era insisted. "It's always very real. It's not – it's not like the usual dreams where everything is fuzzy and blurred. In these ones, I can see everything clearly, smell everything, feel everything like they're really there. And then…" Her features wrinkled as the tears came. "And then I see everyone dead. In my dream, I wake up to everyone in their capsules not breathing. I'm always stuck in that for a long time not knowing what to do. I only ever get out when someone wakes me."

Era turned toward me. "Please don't tell your family about this," she said. "I don't want them to think that I'm not mission ready. This will pass, believe me."

I looked at her as I processed something that she said. When I figured out what was off, I told her, "We have to tell them, Era."

"No. No, please—"

"No, listen. There's a chance that these nightmares are glitches. Do they feel like simulations to you when you're in them?"

She frowned then sniffled. "Yeah."

Rocket looked at me when he understood. "Her system may not have reacted well when the Doomsday virus was installed. That's why she's having these very vivid dreams," he said. "It could just be a glitch."

I nodded.

Era thought it over for a moment. "But, what if it's not?" she asked. "What if your family finds out about these and they think I'm not mentally and emotionally ready to go on missions? I've finally been promoted to Expert a few weeks ago, and I'm not too far away from my first mission. What if they say I can't go?"

None of us were able to answer her because there did exist a possibility that Big D won't allow her to go. If the nightmares weren't brought about by the glitch, and if it kept occurring, she may just be taken off the roster permanently and end up doing the same thing I was doing for the team years ago. She may just be stuck on desk duty.

Miles, who had come to a similar conclusion, huffed. "It's been months, and he's still ruining our lives," she said.

"Yeah," Storm agreed. She stood up. "Victor Krane wins the Father of the Year award again."

Miles, Rocket, and I watched as she walked off outside to the balcony. "I got it, man," I told Rocket as he made a move to get up. Then, I followed Storm outside.

I just realized how peaceful the sea was at night when I stepped out there. It was so quiet – if you don't count the waves coming in and softly crashing against the boundaries of the island, of course. The moon was shining brightly, and it just made everything prettier. It was calming out there with all of that, and I saw why Storm decided to head towards it.

I approached Storm cautiously, watching her face closely as she leaned against the railings and looked out into the ocean. "Hey. Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine," she said curtly.

I hesitated for a moment before asking, "Do…you…want to talk about it?"

"Do me a favor, Leo. Stop trying to cheer me up."

I was a little taken aback, but I was kind of expecting it. At least she didn't tell me to leave. Knowing I had a fifty-fifty chance with a joke, I said, "Oh. I didn't even know it was possible to cheer you up. I thought that was just a myth."

She only kept her eyes ahead. I was starting to think that my attempt flopped when I saw a tiny smirk pull at her lips.

I smiled. "Look, Storm, all I really wanted to do was check up on you," I said. I frowned a bit when a question came to mind. "Did you just find out about Era and the nightmares tonight, too?"

With that, the smirk disappeared. "No."

"You've known?"

"Yeah." She looked at me directly in the eyes. "I wake up to her screaming and crying every night," she said, and through her eyes I could see pure anger even if her face was mostly blank of any expressions. I knew that because she blamed Krane for what had been happening to her sister.

"I'm sorry," I told her.

Storm said nothing. "I don't miss him," she said later, breaking the silence that was near to settling.

"Miss who?"

"Krane. I don't miss him. I don't even think about him," she said. "Many of my siblings still see him as our father, but I don't. He's a waste, and I refuse to accept that we came from a man like that. They always wish for him to have turned out differently, but wishing him to be good will not change who he is. I know him. What he just did? With that virus? That is him." She shook her head. "I'm fine with not having a father if having a father means having him."

"Is that why you don't want to talk about it?" I asked, knowing that the things she had said came from her being hurt. "Because this has a lot to do with him?"

The resentment on her face lifted little by little until it was gone. "It's my job not to be affected by anything," she said factually. "That's the role I play in my family. I can't let anything knock me off balance."

"What do you mean?"

"Miles has always been like a mother to us. She's always making sure that she's strong for our brothers and sisters, but there are times when she can't take it all on. She's just nineteen. Being a mother is not what she's supposed to be doing at this age, but she's doing it anyways," Storm said. "It helps her a lot when she has one less person to worry about. Someone has to be that one who doesn't react. I'm not saying that my other siblings are weak because they're not. They're some of the strongest people I'm sure there is. But they cannot not have heart, and someone needs to be that. Someone has to be distant and detached. Someone needs to be unbreakable."

"And you've taken that on." I sighed, beginning to understand then why Storm is the way she is. "Storm. You know you don't have to—"

"That's what we both are to our families, Leo," Storm said, looking at me. "I know you may not think it, but you and I do the same things – are the same type of people – to them. Behind all the jokes, I know that somehow, in some way, you try not to be affected by anything anymore. You used to be, a long time ago, but you have realized, haven't you, that that is not your role. You also know that you're different from them. You've known a long time ago that you're the outsider, that you're the one who's always looking in. That will never change. You can never be the brains, because that's Chase's place. You'll never be the heart, because that's your mother and Adam. You'll never be the tactician because that's Bree, or the leader because that's your dad. You're not even the redeemable, because that's always going to be your step-uncle.

"You're different, and you've known that," she told me. "But it doesn't hurt much anymore, does it? Because over the years, to a degree, you've learned how to become heartless."

A part of me wanted to contest her claims, but I know I only felt that way because after all this time I finally heard the truth I've been trying to deny.

"Other people think that we're more concerned about ourselves because of what we are, but it's not true," Storm continued. "We love our families more than they will ever notice. We're both willing to die for them, which is actually the advantage of being numb. We do what's best for them, no matter the risk. We often choose what's reckless, thoughtless, and even the most unconventional, and that just makes us…"

"Destructive."

"The wildcards," Storm corrected with a small smile. "We're the ones who would do the things they wouldn't. We're the ticking time bombs that everyone looks at as, as you said, destructive. They see us as the ones who ruin everything, and they're right – for the most part. But we're also the ones who would get our hands dirty for them just so they don't have to do it."

Unable to say anything, I just turned my attention to the ocean.

Storm nodded towards the door. "You should go in. Era will start blaming herself thinking she's upset us if we stay out here longer."

"What about you?"

"She'd be okay with me being out here a while. She knows too much drama annoys me. But you? She'll start worrying about you."

"Oh. Okay." I turned to go. Before I could make my way inside, though, I stopped. "Storm? Just so you know, I understand. I want you to know that I'm with you."

Storm frowned lightly.

"You're hurt and upset and angry. I know what that's like to want to break down and to have to wait until no one can see you. I just want you to know that I understand that, and that that doesn't make you weak."

Storm smirked. She nodded. "I'll keep it in mind," she said.

I gave her a small smile before heading back in.

True to what Storm said, Era had moved past from being freaked out about the nightmares to being very worried about us. I assured her that everything was fine and that Storm and I just had a quick chat. She asked if Storm was okay, and I said that she would be; she just needed some space.

Though not being very satisfied with that, Era took it, and we were able to move on to other topics. I made a few jokes about far worse dreams she could have had, and after a while she started smiling and even laughing again. Even Rocket and Miles were amused. Then, we discussed in detail about letting Big D and Douglas test her for the possible glitch on her chip. She really didn't want to do it, so I compromised and said that I could conduct the test without my family's knowledge. In exchange of that, I made her promise that if the nightmares were something unrelated to the chip, she had to come clean to Big D because more than likely he'll look into other options just so she doesn't have to be left behind.

Era still didn't like that, but Miles and Rocket were able to get her to agree. We set up a schedule to meet up again for the test. After that, we all agreed it was time for us to turn in.

As I lied down on the couch that night, waiting for sleep to come back, I thought about what Storm said. Maybe that's why even if we have different personalities, we're still good friends. Basically, she and I are the same.

She was right about me. I am what the other members of my family can't be. I'm the damaging and the unpredictable – and there's nothing I can do to change that.

Signed,

Leo Francis Dooley

09/13/15

2:48 AM

The Chase Chronicles

What did Chase and Douglas do in an attempt to bring back S-1's memory? Answers and reviews are welcome!

Okay, we're trying to play catch-up before the one hour event next week. Let's see if we can get this this time...