like a WRECKING BALL (Open - Hammel staff, locals and PUSE)

[Axelle Flint]

She was late, for the first day of school no less. She had hit her snooze button and gone back to sleep only to wake up with her father pounding on her door and telling her that she was going to be late. To that end she had panicked, thrown on the first clean clothes she could find, grabbed her (thankfully) already full back pack and sprinted down the stairs. She skidded to a stop to kiss her father and grandfather goodbye before snagging her breakfast to go and jumping on her bike. She had five minutes and if she pedaled hard enough maybe she could make it to the school in time to only be two minutes late. She started a furious pace, whizzing down the street easily due to the low volume of morning traffic in her area. She had to slow down a bit once she got into a more populated area, but it was still rather obvious that she was on a mission and everyone needed to get out of her way.

It was a gorgeous day, the kind that made all the students wish that summer had been just a little bit longer. As Axelle tore down the street, zigging and zagging her way around obstacles she increased her speed ever so slightly on her pedals. She’d have time to admire the view once she finally made it to school.

But that day, she wouldn’t make it to school.

As she was zipping down the street one driver was not paying attention to the road, and if Axelle had been going slower, if she hadn’t been late, if she hadn’t been focused on avoiding things she had yet to reach, the next events would not have happened. As Axelle rounded a corner of a short cut and sped out of a smaller alleyway that lead to one of the busiest streets in the downtown area right next to the town statue (the one that was the horse and rider); she screamed as she was suddenly and violently assaulted by a car. She stuck her foot out in the attempt to stop it but the speed of the car, combined with the speed of her bike sent her literally flying.

Everything was a blur as she felt herself leave the sweet grasp of gravity and then squawked as she crashed through something hard and apparently fragile. She felt a burst of pain along her side and back as she finally landed and slid a few feet, her shirt and pants taking damage. She was still trying to come to terms with whatever had happened and the screaming when a shadow coming towards her made her raise her arms defensively and tense in preparation for impact. She felt stone break around her, bounce off and smack her in her left eye as well as land against the rest of her. She laid there in shock for a moment, easily brushing off what ended up being large pieces of rubble like they were pebbles and kicking free of whatever was pinning her legs (which later turned out to be part of the horse and rider she had so brilliantly demolished).

Axelle was trying to catch her breath, crying because she was scared and had no idea what had happened, aware that there was yelling and that god everything hurt. Her side and back especially and her left leg and arm felt burned and her head was throbbing where the rock had hit her eye. It was difficult due to the pain in her left side as she finally pushed herself up and realized that the car that had nearly hit her had sent her into the town statue…that she had crashed through and destroyed with the pieces lying all around her with others having bounced around and caused damage of their own when she had hit it initially. She could hear sirens and see people talking rapidly into their phones. She started crying even harder as she became very afraid. This wasn’t something that could be linked to summer heat. She had destroyed something very large in broad daylight. People were going to come and lock her up and she’d never see her friends or father again. She started panicking so badly she began to cough because she couldn’t breathe. What was going to happen to her?!

[Sophie Tillman]

For Sophie, the circumstances of this morning were rare but welcome. There had been enough time between yesterday's shift and this morning's to enjoy a few chapters of her book and a full night's sleep. Even the weather seemed to be on her side - sure, soon she'd be indoors and away from the sun and balmy temperature, but right now she had the windows of her little blue sedan to soak it all in.

Which made it all the easier to hear the almighty crash that came when, a few cars ahead, something sailed into the town statue and utterly demolished it.

Immediately Sophie pulled her sedan off to the side of the road, just enough to be out of traffic but not bothering to park it neatly. On the sidewalk, a pair of women with strollers stood gaping at the wreckage.

"Did y'all see what happened?" Sophie demanded of them. One woman simply stammered but the other managed to say, "It looked like someone on a bike but I don't know what could do something like that-"

Sophie pointed at the woman who was able to speak, ordered, "Call 911," and took off towards what had been the statue. Even if a random non-meta witness couldn't tell right away what had the ability to take out a statue in its path, Sophie had lived and studied with enough metas, treated enough metas to have her suspicions. But until she knew what kind she was dealing with, she wanted to be sure help was coming.

There came more rumbles from the debris as Sohpie ran to it, and she saw a shock of red hair as chunks of stone fell away from kicking feet. A girl emerged, pushing herself up. Sophie picked her way past pieces of rock and knelt beside her - she was in one piece, they could skip the CPR and neck stabilizing, but the kid was panicking and Sophie would need her to calm down before she could answer questions.

"Sweetheart, can you look at me for a second?" Sophie asked, keeping her voice low and soothing. With one hand on the girl's shoulder, she used the other to gently turn her face towards her - the more she saw of Sophie, the less she saw of the chaos surrounding them. "Ah need you to do me a favor, okay, hon?" Sophie removed her hand from the girl's shoulder and held up her fingers where she could see them. "Here's what we're gonna do, hon, we're gonna take a big deep breath and then we're gonna breathe it out while ah count. We're gonna breathe and you're gonna be just fine, okay?"

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle was still suffering from her shock when she was joined by a woman she didn’t recognize who was trying to get her to calm down. She flinched away a little from the unknown woman but did her best to follow the advice she’d been given. She needed to calm down because she was seriously going to puke and pass out if she didn't. She couldn't stop crying or shaking though, she just couldn't. Axelle did her best to follow directions, but as soon as she got enough air into her lungs she just started to babble and cry. "I'm sorry! It was an accident, there was a car - and I didn't mean to," she tried to take a deep breath, succeeded and then breathed out again on a ratcheting sob. "I want my daddy, please I'm so sorry, it was an accident, I want my daddy," she repeated.

Oh god they were going to take her away and she'd never see him again and what if she had hurt the person in the car, oh my god what if there had been a child in the car? She couldn't bring herself to look. Even if she were fine she might have injured someone, how could she live with herself? She managed to take enough breaths to calm herself down into a whimpering crying rather than full on hysterical sobbing. Though most of it was panic she was still in pain from the accident and while she knew that nothing was broken, she didn’t know what the extent of her bruising was and her head was throbbing painfully. “I want my daddy,” she hiccupped.

[Sophie Tillman]

Sophie wasn't surprised when the redhead flinched away, but she did continue to attempt steering the girl's focus away from the rubble.

"Ssh, ssh, ah know, sweetheart, ah saw what happened, it wasn't your fault," Sophie told her, the southern lilt in her voice becoming more pronounced under the stress of the situation. Technically she hadn't gotten a clear view of the entire incident, but she'd seen enough to know the girl hadn't intentionally propelled herself into the statue. And even if she hadn't seen that much, that didn't matter right now. "Don't you worry about the statue, hon, it's just some dumb ol' rock, they'll replace it in no tahm."

Behind her, rapidly pounding footsteps announced the arrival of two others - civilians, it looked like, when Sophie turned around. A man and woman, maybe mid-twenties.

"What happened? Can we help?" the woman asked, panting, when they skidded to a stop. Sophie held out a hand.

"One a' y'all got a cellphone?" she asked. Immediately the man procured one from his pocket and thrust it into Sophie's hand. Next she pointed in the direction from whence the girl had come flying. "Go check on the driver. If they ain't movin' don't move 'em yourself, wait for the EMTs an' flag 'em down when they get here."

Sophie turned back to the girl as the two bystanders sped off in the direction she'd sent them.

"Okay hon, ah need you to breathe with me, remember?" she said, eyes trained in the redhead's. "Come on, in-two-three-four, out-two-three-four-five-six, right, perfect. Now, do you remember your daddy's phone number? Ah'm gonna call him for you, we're gonna get him down here, okay?"

[Thomas Geiston]

It was early morning, far to early to be up. His boss/friend/whatever he was turning into, had kept him out late last night. Okay, so they had spent most of the evening playing video games in the back room of The Hidden Dungeon, but still. So, now he was just getting to lunch. Geist had sadly not even made it to dinner from the night before. Well, not sadly, he had enjoyed every minute he got to spend with Bastian, though he was too shy to admit it.

These were the thoughts that were running through his head as he set on the park bench that morning. It seemed like your average day in Pilot Ridge to him. Kids were rushing to school, people were heading to work, typical town happenings. Suddenly, the peaceful morning was attacked by loud noises. So loud, they scared poor Geist into being totally see through, still in his clothes thank goodness. Jumping up, he spun around looking for the sources. Turning just in time to girl fly through the statue. For a brief moment he didn't know what to think or do. For a moment, he just sort of stood there, watching. Then, without thinking much, he rushed to the car to check on the driver, who seemed totally fine, just a little shaken up.

So, he turned his attention back to the girl. She was freaking out a bit, understandably. He tried to calm as he walked toward her and the woman next to her. "Is she alright, do...should I call an ambulance or anything?" Geist voiced cracked a little from nerves as he spoke. "How can I help?"

[Joe Honnick]

Joe was innocently having his coffee and watching the world spin outside, contemplating his place in this large world when everything happened. Would PUSE really do all the Joe wished it would? Would it finally lead people to understand that meta humans were dangerous? That they needed to be kept in check. There was nothing more powerful than a meta human and a meta human was more than likely to use their power to get what they wanted. Recklessly go about life not concerned about those around them. A meta human might be able to cause a fire or fight a fire but what about that poor unpowered human caught in the crossfire. No one ever thought about them.

It was this thought that was running through his head when he watched the scene unfold outside. It was a strange helpless feeling as he watched through the window. It almost felt like he was watching a movie. A bike across the street streaked out and the car’s driver distracted by something didn’t see the biker and then it all happened before Joe was even able to comprehend what had happened. He was mid sip and it took a second or two before he put it down and joined the rest of the patrons at the coffee shop in flowing toward the street. Joe was a large man and he shoved his way through to get onto the street. Joe looked around and saw with a great deal of shock that the biker was standing. A meta human, no one would be able to survive that otherwise.

His lips stretched into an upset line. Just like a meta human, taking risks and putting everyone else’s lives in danger. If she didn’t know she would survive why else would the biker be racing like a manwoman through dense morning traffic. Joe made his first action to go to the driver, seeing as most people were concerned with the meta human girl. The young man was frantically pleading with himself. It took Joe a great deal of effort and talking to get the man to turn off the car and get out to sit on the curb. A little shaken up was an understatement, the young man was in a state of shock and wouldn’t stop his persistent pleading that this hadn’t happened. He kept saying he hadn’t seen her.

“Easy, lad,” Joe said, “I know, she’s okay, see, alright? Take a breath for me, lad, right.” He nodded and Joe heard the sirens in the back ground and he decided it was best to stay there with the boy until the police arrived, quickly followed by an ambulance hopefully. He left the boy in the care of the officers and went to see what happened with the girl. The statue was broken beyond repair and the girl seemed panicked. She was a great deal younger than he expected, a student at that school presumably. His anger boiled internally and he attempted to bite it down but it sounded harsh when he spoke. “Ambulance is on the way,” he said when the boy asked. He hung back and scanned the area. Fools! All of them! If there had been someone standing by the statue, they would be dead! Joe’s teeth clenched in anger. Of all of the careless things!

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle took several deep breaths and managed to stutter out her father's cellphone number as she sat there still trying to piece together what had happened. What she didn't understand was where the car had come from in the first place. It was rather obvious that the driver had been speeding and she hadn't been paying attention but she was certain she would have at least heard it coming up on her. She shuddered and clutched at her side and winced because now moving was starting to hurt. She felt like she was going to puke her breakfast back up and desperately tried to calm down. The last thing she needed was to throw up on top of everything else.

She gulped air the way the nurse was instructing her too, slowly, with counting. The sirens were coming closer, was it the police? Were they going to come and take her away? What if her father didn't get here in time? She didn't want to go to jail!! Despite the breathing and the attempts to calm down the last thought scared her so badly that it wasn't any surprise that she lurched to the side and puked a little anyway, her stomach in so many painful knots it was impossible to tell where they could even begin being unraveled. It clenched but there was nothing else for her body to reject, she ended up gagging for a moment, gasping for air and crying again.