The Wild Woods (open)

If there could be anything more opposite to Joshua, it might have been Marisol and Lamora Degreas (and I do not hesitate to say ‘it’ instead of ‘they’). The twins were often construed as home bodies, rarely leaving the MSAD compound for the simple fact that they hated interacting with anyone who was not Gabe, Jesse, and on some occasions the other operatives. The truth was quite the opposite. Given the opportunity to live in a tent under the stars…well the twins probably would have done it. Lala seemed to be the only one who vividly recalled playing outside, and Reese’s memories were dominated by confinement and claustrophobia. That was what had brought them out today. The commotion of Jesse becoming a full-fledged operative was too much for the gargoyle-esque pair. They needed peace. They needed quiet.

Reese needed a gun. But Gabe thought that wasn’t the best idea. Neither of the twins had a hunting liscence.

So instead, Lala had subtly suggested a walk. The sisters had moved through the city silently, occasionally looking towards one another to at least simulate conversation. They didn’t need to talk. Other people needed them to talk. It was weird for them to just know what the other was going to say, to know how the other felt, to know exactly where the other was at any time. It was weird. At least, it was weird to people. But as the small town faded behind them and the ominous woods opened up, they began to feel less weird. Even Reese cracked a smile at her sister as the longer-haired twin scuttled after a small bird near a tree trunk.

Lala froze though when a fuzzy voice floated to them, her face reading concern even as Reese reached to her belt. It was empty, the normal weight of a Berretta vacated in favor of not getting arrested. Reese snorted and shook her head at Lala. They could hear sharper than the average human. Whoever was speaking was too far off to bother them. Lala tugged at her dress as she stood, the forgotten bird fluttering away from the pair as she looked skeptically at her sister again.

Reese narrowed her eyes.

Lala liked people far more than Reese did, and her curiosity as to who exactly was in the woods was catching to the more violent sister. Sighing, the pair headed towards the noise, only to find its source kicking a pinecone in their general direction.

“Lost./Lost?” The sisters pronounced in tandem, Reese tilting her head inquisitively as she caught the pinecone under her boot. They weren’t sure why they bothered asking. Reese had no intention of actually helping anyone, despite her sister’s vague desire to do so. If whoever this man was didn’t want to get lost he shouldn’t have wandered into the wild. Reese and Lala weren’t the only predators about.

The twins blinked in tandem, Lala wringing her hands in idle anxiety as Reese crossed her arms and dominated the situation with her presence. The shorter haired twin regarded Josh harshly (as she did with everyone) and tilted her head, looking incredibly skeptical of the lawyer in front of her . “That doesn’t make sense./We lived far outside of town.” announced the twins at the same time. So shocked was Reese that Josh would just wander into the woods without even knowing what he was doing or where he was going that she couldn’t help but express her displeasure.

Fortunately (at least in Reese’s mind) her sister already knew her thoughts in regard to Josh’s question. Lala was always the social buffer. She looked less threatening. The result of their simultaneous thoughts? Exactly what Reese’s mind was always like. A mish-mash of two nearly identitical voices creating a continuous, cacophonous symphony of ideas. This was why they never left the compound. Other people were weirded out by their synchronized thinking, speaking…breathing.

The sisters looked at each other, wondering into each others’ eyes if Josh would be weirded out. Or worse: that he would know already what they were; that he would “understand.” The twins secretly hated other metas who claimed to understand their world. Knowing the fancy scientific name of the Degreas sisters in no way compared to living it. They weren’t a matched set. The wren’t an entity, a collective. No one (except perhaps Gabriel) understood that. No non-Gestalt meta, and certainly no human.

Reese snorted, suddenly awfully angry. “Vermont is still wild in spots. Be more careful.” She pronounced acridly, her sister nodding gravely behind her,. Lala’s curls bounced against her cheeks and shoulders as she did so, a serene wave when compared to Reese’s severity. Her large eyes regarded josh with more curiosity or awe (how dumb eas he to wander out if he didn’t know the woods?!) than Reese’s blatant distaste.

“Dark.” Lala piped, continuing to nod slowly. “Soon enough it will be.” Reese elaborated. Josh would need to get back before then or he could sincerely be injured. Perhaps from exposure…perhaps from the twins if they needed target practice.

Reese blinked. That…still didn’t make sense. Did people even understand how remarkably dangerous other people were? Granted, Vermont wasn’t exactly a crime center, but Reese and Lala were certainly the people to know exactly how bad it could be. Reese cursed not bringing her gun. A shot to the knee ought to teach him. Lala hung off her sister’s arm like a child, pouting slightly. She didn’t want to shoot Josh, but he certainly deserved a lesson in his own right.

The twins didn’t shift or twitch under the scrutinizing gaze of the lawyer, they simply returned it blankly. Naturally they had reason to have an aversion to some scrutinizing them, but Josh wasn’t exactly threatening. Lala tilted her head, chewing on the side of her thumb. Reese peered through the thicket of woods in the direction of Pilot Ridge, wondering how fast Josh could run.

“It’s the trees.” Reese explained, figuring Josh would understand that woods always got darker earlier because the trees blocked out the sun. Frankly, it was common sense. Reese huffed a bit, shaking her head much like a disgruntled horse will do.

Lala’s eyebrows shot up when Josh mentioned his occupation. “Attorney?” Reese repeated, Lala looking at him with marked skepticism. Lawyers could rarely be trusted. Few people could be trusted. Well, really no one but Gabe and usually Jesse could be trusted in the world of the twins. “What kind of attorney?” Reese asked, looping her thumbs in the waistband of her pants, causing her sister to shirk away a few inches. Lala finally left her sister’s side, circling around behind the older man and leading him forward with surprising gentleness.

Reese jabbed her thumb to her right, indicating the way to Pilot Ridge. With Josh between them, the sister’s began sauntering in the direction of the town…if only to be sure that Josh eventually found his way home. Even if it was in a zippered bag.

“We work for a terrorist organization.” Reese said bluntly. “making examples out of humans .” She finished. “and…” Lala said distantly, prompting Reese to finish their thought. “and those who sympathize with them.” Reese added coldly. It was not in the personality of the twins to lie, or bother to hide what was going on. It was probably why Gabe usually encouraged them to stay in the compound. They just couldn’t blend in, and they new it. They never bothered to hide or even to try. Which made for situations such as these.

Josh had yet to divulge weither or not he was human, but hopefully the warning was enough. The twins never launched an attack without warning unless otherwise instructed. “So…” Reese cut off Josh’s movements, standing in front of him menacingly. “Whose rights are you fighting for?”

Reese’s anger was apparent as usual. Lawyers…she didn’t like them. She didn’t really like anyone (with minute exceptions). But lawyers…Reese recalled vividly the civil rights attorneys in Brazil. The ones who had so easily turned a blind eye on the situation of the twins, despite crusading in with means to save them. A check here. A threat there. Then they were gone. They fancied themselves heroes, sitting behind their desks…the real heroes were the ones who took action!

Reese and Lala’s thoughts were interrupted when Lala winced visibly at their own memories. They took a deep breath, letting go of some of the stress. A breeze ruffled the leaves overhead. “Well?/Well?” the prompted in tandem.

“Hey, you’ve reached Josh’s voicemail. I’m not available right now, but leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks!”

Beep.

Cobalt sighed irritably and shut his phone with a snap. He glared at it, thinking. Something wasn’t right. He wasn’t sure how technically minded Josh was, but Josh was at the very least polite. And he wouldn’t blow off a lunch meeting without finding some way to contact him. He’d gotten ahold of Josh’s office, but they hadn’t seen him in a few hours. But he was only on a lunch break. Lunch breaks weren’t supposed to take a few hours. Lunch breaks took an hour. He wondered how much he may be overreacting and how much of his worry was validated. Maybe Josh just flaked. Maybe he left work early because he was sick. Maybe he had a prior engagement. Hell, maybe Josh just didn’t want to go to lunch with him after all. All of these were valid excuses and gave him no room to worry like this.

But still.

The fact of the matter was that Josh wasn’t here when he said he would be, he wasn’t answering his phone, and he was still fairly new to the area. All these triggered Cobalt’s “not good” feelings in the back of his head. He sighed, wondering what the hell he was gonna do. It’s not like he was very acquainted with the area either. He went jogging in the mornings, but in the same basic circle. He wouldn’t even know where to start looking for Josh if it came to that. He pushed his glasses up on his forehead to rub his eyes. Okay. Distantly, he almost wished that Leila had been feeling well enough to come with him so that she could tell him if he was overreacting. But at the same time, he didn’t really want her getting in the middle of this. Whatever this was.

He stared down at his cell phone. There was one more option. He dialed 411.

“Hello? Yeah, uh. Could you direct me to Hammel Institute’s school directory? Thanks.” He waited, tapping his finger on the table, trying to stave off anxiety. Then, finally, an answer. “Yes? Hi, could you connect me through to Dr. Sean… Uh…” He bit back a curse. Now, when it mattered, he couldn’t remember the damn name. “Neville! Sean Neville. Tell him…” He gestured awkwardly, “It’s about Josh.”

There was a moment of waiting before Sean picked up. Cobalt sighed, standing up and putting on his jacket. Wherever Josh was, he certainly wasn’t sitting here any more. Then, Sean picked up. “Sean. Hey, it’s Cobalt. Um. Josh flaked on a meeting with me, and he’s not picking up his phone. Is he with you? I’d just like to make sure he’s not lost or something.” He blinked. “He’s not with you? Well… do you know where he is? I mean…” He stopped, taking a breath, “Look, is this something I need to worry about? Do you think we should go looking for him? I don’t really know the area that well, but if you think this is something to worry about, I’m helping.” He kept his voice firm, making it clear that Josh was his friend too, and he was going to be involved in this.

He walked back to his office, thankful that Leila wasn’t there. He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a handgun. He stared at it, then put it in the back of his jeans and walked out the door.

Lala’s eyes widened at Josh’s back, and Reese’s eyebrows hit the sky. Human. “ não somos humanos/We are not.” They both answered vehemently, Lala’s voice a disgusting, hissing Portuguese. Humans were evil. Were weak. Were obsolete. Reese’s hands balled into tight fists.

“We are not equal. I am hunted. I am persecuted. I am used. I am caged/caged.” They said, Lala’s voice more like an echo, quickly advancing closer to Josh’s back. “you...you are...” Reese simply shook her head, her face twisted in disgust. “You are human.” She finally said, her growl just barely above a trembling whisper.

Josh should have followed his instincts.

“We don’t need you!/We don’t need you!” The twins shouted as they pounced. Lala’s foot swept into the back of Josh’s knees, knocking the lawyer to the ground as a sickening crack sounded from the impact of Reese’s fist and Josh’s jaw.

The last thing this world needed was another bleeding heart human. Josh was officially an example. This would have been so much easier with a gun…it was unregistered. But it was more cathartic to beat Josh. To make him feel the pain they’d felt. He deserved it…but he deserved it
slow. Reese’s punch was nothing greater than an average human’s. Josh needed to know first.

He needed to know:

“We are superior./ somos superiores.”

Something was going on. When he’d called the telepath, he’d expected Sean to tell him to stop overreacting and that Josh was fine. Instead, Sean’d been upset. It was a far more severe reaction than he’d anticipated. He walked out to the parking lot, intent on jumping in his car and going. When he turned the key in the ignition, however, the car just sputtered and died. Cobalt stared at the dashboard in utter disbelief. This could not be happening. Suddenly furious, he punched the wheel in frustration. He didn’t have time for this. He hauled himself out of the driver’s seat and stood in the parking lot, trying not to scream. Think, think. Use your brain, Weaver, where’s the best place to start? He knew where Josh’s office was, and he knew that the other man had probably only intended to be out for an hour. So where was a place that was close enough to walk or bike to with enough time to get back to the office in an hour?

A destination in mind, Cobalt started walking down the street. He wished he had the wherewithal to ask Sean for a ride and was bitterly irritated at his own stupidity. Still, Pilot Ridge was small, the chances of him and Sean running into each other were actually fairly high. He wanted to break out into a sprint, but the rational part of his brain, such as it was, knew that was a stupid idea. He was in good shape, but his knees would rebel before long, especially since he wasn’t just planning on taking a leisurely jog around the block. He was caught by surprise when what appeared to be a VW van pulled up in front of him. He tensed, not sure what to expect, but when he saw Sean, he relaxed, not really willing to question his good fortune.

“Sean,” Cobalt greeted, “I have an idea where Josh may be. He was only going to be away for a little while, he couldn’t really have gone too far away from his office.” He leveled a glare at the other man, “I know something else is going on. You’re far too worried about this for it to just be a friend who doesn’t know the area getting lost in a small town. Later, I want to know. Now,” He didn’t really like the theatrics, but he paused and pulled out his gun to show Sean, “I may not have the most powerful abilities, but Josh is my friend too, and I’m not going to let anything happen to him.” Without another word, he climbed into the passenger’s seat.

He knew that Sean could probably find Josh with his abilities, and that was probably exactly what he was doing, but that didn’t stop Cobalt from scanning out the window for signs of his missing friend. And when a sign did come, he almost missed it.

“Wait, wait!” Cobalt pointed out the window, “Isn’t that Josh’s bike?” He went out into the woods? By himself? What the hell was he thinking? The slow burning nervousness turned into full-blown fear. He glanced over at Sean, who looked as upset as he did. This was bad.

Pulling out his gun, Cobalt started walking with Sean down the path, slow and cautious at first. He knew the extent of his powers and how useless they were in a fight. He had one shot with his powers: a moment of 30 second blindness caused by him throwing shadows in someone’s eyes. But that was a long shot. Adrenaline pushed him into a jog, his knees complaining about the rough and uneven terrain.

We don’t need you! The shout rang out through the forest and like a shot, Cobalt launched into a sprint, Sean at his side. He rounded some trees to see two women and Josh.

They were beating him.

“HEY!” Cobalt yelled, aiming and firing his gun in one motion. The shot missed, but only barely, zooming past the ear of the shorter-haired woman. He didn’t intend to hit them, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be damned close. And that got their attention, both turning their dark eyes at Cobalt and Sean. He knew he’d catch hell from the other man later—he suspected that the other man didn’t like guns—but he figured that Sean was a hell of a lot more useful here anyway. He had to help somehow. The two women blinked at him, simultaneously. Their breaths came in tandem. Gestalt pair the academic part of his brain supplied. He’d worked with a pair back in Chicago. “Oh hell.” Cobalt muttered under his breath. If this standoff didn’t work, these two could very well kill them. But he looked over at Sean, who didn’t look like he was going anywhere, and down at Josh, who was sickeningly motionless, and pulled back the hammer again. “Back the hell off,” He growled, “Now.” He hoped that Sean had a better plan than he did.

[ooc: holy shit, that was long. Sry. >.<; The random bike sighting idea credited to Dryope <3]