forum •Apotheosis of Abnormality• [one/one]

Started July 27, 2022 by @Dayzed forum

tune

“Be careful with your wording, you sometimes across like you’re accusing us. I don’t think you mean to at all, but be careful not to assume anything. You could end up hurting someone innocent.” Wynn spoke up suddenly, though his words were strangely kind and held no bite. He was giving her actual information and advice.
Marcus seemed frustrated with the words, however, gritting his teeth. A few of the runes visible on his body began to glow faintly, and if one looked close enough they’d see and smell the light trails of smoke rising from a few of them.
He said nothing, however, opting to focus on what felt more important in the moment.

Xio seemed rather saddened by Rae’s answer, reaching out to gently tug at Marcus’s jacket again. Once. Thrice. Once. Marcus glanced down at the action, a frown making its way onto his face. He gave his own tugs in return, answering the unspoken question shared between an unspoken and strange language. It had saved them many times before, if need be it would save them here again.
Regardless, Marcus was growing ever more annoyed with Rae, Jake, and Jen’s company. It was stressing everybody out, if Xio’s tugged message of “danger; nervous” was anything to go off of.

Rae’s screech made everybody jump including Xio, whose feathers puffed up defensively.
Marcus didn’t seem to like the idea of the three sticking around for longer than was necessary but Rae’s words held some truth.
They were going to need more, Marcus could tell they were. He sighed deeply.
“Fine. Only if Xio lets you close.”
The harpy stared at Rae for a long, long time after her question, gauging the danger level. She watched as Rae interacted with Jake, some of the tension leaving her body.
Xio herself tried to see the best in others, even if it meant harming herself in the process. She wanted to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and that included these people.
Xio nodded gently, taking the wire cutters from Marcus before offering them up to Rae. “You can get close. Maybe not the other two quite yet, I don’t trust them yet… He hasn’t put his gun away and the other hasn’t said anything.” Xio explained with a nervous trill. She eyed Jen anxiously, giving Jake only a small glance every now and then.
“That’s fine. Is it alright if one of us leaves to get more medical items?” Marcus asked Xiomara. She looked up at him with a huff.
“Yes. Just hurry back with the stuff. You go, too, you know what to get. Fish over here, while lovely company, needs more medical training.” Xio mused, giving Wynn a grin. He returned it by sticking his tongue out.
“That’s fine by me but I’m not leaving alone with him.” Marcus pointed at Jen. He wasn’t fully convinced the other wouldn’t stab him in the back if they walked out together.
That unfortunately left only one other person and Marcus wasn’t sure how to feel about it… he glanced at Jake, groaning quietly.
“Fuck, guess that means I have to take you, then?”

Rae craned her neck to see Wynn when he spoke up, looking past Jake. Her eyes softened.
"I'm sorry…" She said softly. Rae didn't know this, but the things that she had been taught as a child still firmly stuck to her speech even though she tried to say the right things. A.C.E. and Nexus were a huge part to blame for that. She had watched early on how others treated Abnormalities, they were taught to talk that way. Apotheosis as a whole, still had a lot of room to grow, but that would take some time- and maybe even mistakes they would come to regret.

Jen watched Marcus like a hawk, seeing how the runes on him lit up dimly. Jen had given them the benefit of the doubt once, treating them kindly, but A.C.E. was right. No matter how kindly you treated them, they always turned around to bite you back. Maybe it was better to separate personal feelings from the job they were actually supposed to do. It would only lead to heartbreak and even more devastating results.
Rae nodded at Marcus' words, her eyes landing on Xio now, wondering if she was okay with it. Rae's eyes lit up when Xio offered the wirecutters to her. She slowly made her way to Xio, taking the tools from her and dropping to her knees to start snapping away at the wires that were still viciously wrapped around her. By dropping to her knees and offering her gun, Rae was completely vulnerable right now, and if the others wanted, they could easily kill her right now, but for some reason, Rae had no fear of that. Maybe it was the level of trust in her friends or the brief moments she had shared with the others that made her believe they were safe, even if A.C.E. said they weren't.
Jake scoffed at Xio's words.
"What exactly do you want me to say? I'm only here to do my job, nothing else" Jake said, his eyes as cold as ever, despite having shown Rae kindness.

Jen was not amused by Marcus' words. If anything, this wasn't supposed to be happening. They should be arresting them. Something tugged at Jen from the inside. What was it? Guilt? It was something that told him something wasn't right, he wasn't being fair- but Jen refused to listen to the voice again.

Jake's eyes moved to Marcus when he was addressed. Something like amusement lit up in his eyes. He gave Marcus a giant grin, though Jake was oddly quiet this time around. It seemed like the fight had really taken it out of Apotheosis, but it was something more than that. Each individual going through their own troubles separate from their main job.
"Guess you're stuck with me, Strawberry Fraisier, now let's get a move on before your friend bleeds to death," Jake said casually before moving to walk away from Jen. Although seemed to have a lot of bloodlust at this moment, something held Jen back, like he couldn't quite bring himself to do anything.

Wynn shrugged at Rae’s apology. The amount of people he had to correct in his lifetime was tiring, it was just something he was used to doing by now. He was lucky that Rae was willing to listen. Not many were.

Xio chirped softly at Rae as she began to work, smoothing her feathers down to give the other as much room to work as possible.
The more wires that came off the more relaxed the harpy seemed to become. She picked at some of the more rough looking feathers, pulling the loose ones off of her and starting a small pile of broken and ruined feathers.
“Anything would be better than you creeping at the edges.” She muttered in return, looking Jake up and down with an unimpressed expression before she continued to preen.

Marcus frowned at the other’s grin, groaning internally at the amusement Jake seemed to be getting from this.
He took one glance back at Rae and Xio before he turned to Wynn. The siren simply nodded, gesturing for him to go.
They didn’t have much of a choice. If anything, it was probably lucky the others had bugged them else they probably would have ended up having to leave Xiomara alone for a few minutes to do grab more supplies, risking her freedom and life. Or Marcus would have run himself into magic fatigue again.
Strawberry Fraisier… Marcus rolled his eyes at the nickname. Though some part of him didn’t hate it.
“Alright, alright… do not let your friend do anything to Xio or Wynn. It’s an asshole move to attack someone currently being healed. And don’t do anything other than clean the wounds and stop the bleeding. I want to try to close up as many of them with magic as I can. If it looks like it can’t wait, then do what you can with what’s in the kit.” Marcus huffed at Rae before he turned to follow after Jake.
At the others side, Marcus shoved his hands in his pockets, glaring at the street in front of him. He really didn’t want to leave his friends with people so dedicated to taking their freedom but what other choice did he have? Refuse the help they obviously needed?
“There should be a market two streets down, it’s not a very good one but it’s better than nothing.” Marcus told Jake, taking the lead before he slipped into the alleyways between the buildings. “This way is faster than directly walking there.”

Rae watched in silence fascination at the way Xio preened her feathers. She snickered at Xio's words towards Jake, who only rolled his eyes and lifted his hand up to dismiss her words.

Rae nodded at Marcus' words, a small smile on her face as she was glad to be of assistance. Jen, however, was not having it. His face said it all. But Jen would not do anything, as much as desperation filled him to call up A.C.E. right now, he wouldn't. Marcus was right. It was an asshole move to attack someone while they were hurt. That much he understood, so he stepped away from Marcus when he passed him to join Jake.

Jen had a lot of compassion towards these people, and that much was evident, but he didn't have the luxury to do what he had done the last time anymore, or else it would be their heads on a silver platter. Jen knew it was wrong to go up against people who had been oppressed for so long- people who had been irreversibly hurt and put in less than desirable conditions, but Jen had people he needed to take care of. He couldn't just abandon them to do the right thing…..could he? He swallowed nervously at the thought. His anger dissipated a little when Marcus left.
For some reason, it was Marcus Jen who had a problem after seeing how confrontational he had been, even back at their apartment. Jen couldn't blame him for anything- they were just trying to survive but if they were willing to kill them all without a second thought, then there would be war.

As Jake walked he kept peering over at Marcus, before looking back down at the street himself.
"Alright, I'll follow then," Jake said as he trotted after Marcus. He seemed to have no sense of danger- like Marcus couldn't just be leading him into a trap. He knew it was a possibility, but Marcus wasn't half bad. Jake had confidence that Marcus would do anything for his comrades. Maybe. He didn't know the guy too well and could only speculate.
After a while of walking in silence, Jake spoke up.
"Your fire's amazing," Jake said simply. It was a compliment, yet seemed very unprompted. Jake had never considered playing with fire as a kid, he had been told to stay away from things like that because of his careless nature and he had listened. That was until now.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're very attractive when angry?" Jake hummed, a small smile making its way onto his lips, though he didn't turn to look at Marcus. He was alone with Marcus now, and he was going to take this opportunity to mess with him as much as he could. Though, Jake had only spoken the truth about his feelings up until now rather than the usual lies that spilled out of him.

Wynn was silent for much of the time Marcus was around but the moment the witch left he turned to look at Rae and offered a very toothy grin. As quickly as his disguise vanished, it reappeared and Wynn was once again human.
He had altered his human appearance slightly, sporting longer blond locks and his face seemed longer than the last time. Just enough of a difference that he could pretend to be someone else if need be.
He moved to Rae’s side, offering the kit to her right away. Wynn wasn’t as concerned about her, his apprehension was with Jen but the other hadn’t done anything yet and Wynn still remembered the kindness of offering food.
He was easily won over with a warm meal.
“I’m surprised they sent you guys out for this. This seems like a low level threat, does it not?” He asked curiously, pulling the last of the wire free from Xiomara and taking a step back when she stretched her wings out to their full, impressive size.

Xio was more than relieved to finally be able to move again. She chittered happily, stretching out sore muscles and studying the tips of her feathers carefully.
A good portion of her feathers had been pulled out or ruined and she was missing a partial talon but otherwise she didn’t think it would do any permanent damage.
“Bastard ruined my feathers.” She huffed, picking at the area around a particularly nasty looking puncture wound.

Marcus glanced curiously over at Jake when the other didn’t put up a fight about where he was taking them. He had no ulterior motives but it was still strange to have someone he was supposed to be fighting so willing to trust him.
The silence was welcomed as Marcus led them through a few twists and turns, his hands still buried in his pockets. Only a few of the runes across his arms were still active, but Marcus wasn’t about to let Jake know that they were purely to keep him warm as he had left his jacket back at the house when he stormed away.
Jake’s sudden compliment threw Marcus off. He stumbled over his own feet, catching himself quickly and trying to play it off.
“Thank you…?” He replied, giving Jake a strange look.
No one from A.C.E. had ever really described his fire as “amazing.” Usually it was something along the lines of “destructive, dangerous, horrible, and out of control.”
Marcus whipped his head around to stare at Jake in disbelief with the other’s next words, a light blush dusting his face and the tips of his ears pink.
“What, do you have an aggression kink or something?” Marcus huffed, running his fingers through his hair.
Jake confused the hell out of him. The other had seemed to continuously flirt with him or at least to treat him better than how Jake was rumored to be like.
This Jake who was so eager to tease him did not feel like the one who tortured his captors mercilessly. The drastic difference was putting Marcus only slightly on edge.

Rae gave Wynn a bright smile at his grin but soon went to work on Xio. Rae took the first aid offered to her to patch up the person in front of her, getting to work and concentrating really hard. Her hands worked smoothly and with care, she stuck her tongue out a little here and there as she focused, seeming like a little kid who was trying to fix something.
"Yes, but we also deal with smaller cases when there's nothing else to focus on. The higher-ups have got that stuff covered for now and we'll be called when they need us. Besides, they want to start out slowly since Jen got owned" Rae snickered, to which Jen turned his head, giving Rae a death glare. Rae didn't need to look at him to know what look he was giving her. She laughed nervously.
"We also were in the area, and it's a fast job so-" Rae shrugged as she finished with Xio.

When Xio spoke Rae looked up and gave her a small laugh. Rae absolutely loved the small sounds coming from Xio and the way she spoke. It was all very cute in her mind despite looking like she had just come out of a battlefield.
"I would help you with that wound, but Marcus said he wanted for us to wait, yeah? What do you think Wynn?" Rae asked him, tilting her head slightly to hear his opinion.

Jake noticed the lit runes and figured it was there as a precaution in case Jake tried anything. The thought made him smile.
As soon as Marcus nearly stumbled Jake let out a small sound that sounded like he was trying not to laugh. He placed his hand over his mouth to cover the giant smile on him now.
"Your welcome," Jake said casually, a small satisfied look on his face. At Marcus' question, he hummed, thinking about it seriously for a second.
"Maybe, it's a turn-on when someone looks at me like they're gonna kill me" He relentlessly teased Marcus.
As they walked Jake started to discretely get closer to Marcus, before it got to a point when he was dangerously close. Jake wanted to test boundaries, see what Marcus would let him get away with and what was crossing the line. Jake leaned over a little.
"Do you have anything else to do today?" Jake asked curiously, eyes on Marcus as he spoke. Jake was up to something, but he wouldn't say what until Marcus answered him. He straightened himself out after a second.
"You never called me, not even a hi or how are you doing? from you" Jake talked as if they knew each other already and were long-time friends, but it was part of his joke. They'd kill each other if ordered to do it and Jake liked to poke fun at that.

“I didn’t think they’d take it easy on you guys, they seem pretty strict.” Wynn commented, rolling the wire up and grimacing when he stuck his hand in the blood coating certain parts of it.
“Fast job huh? What do you even do in these situations?” Wynn felt sending such a specialty team for such little things was… extreme.

Xio glanced up at Rae when she spoke, making a strange clicking sound. “Can you help me clean it?” She asked gently, tilting her head at an almost inhuman way - like a strangely disconnected puppy. Or perhaps an owl.
“We probably should clean it. God knows which head Marx bit you with…” Wynn sighed, looking over the wound for a moment. “Otherwise, we leave it. Marcus wants to use his magic. The sooner these are closed the better. He’s no healer, though.” He mused, sighing gently.
“Lion.” Xio replied simply, looking up at Wynn. “Was the lion head. He didn’t try with the snake after I tried to claw out its eyes.” She hissed lightly at the thought, returning to preening the rest of her feathers with a newfound spite.

Marcus shot him a dirty look, reaching up to try and play off the blush of embarrassment. He glanced down at the ground, watching his feet for a moment.
“Fuck off…” Marcus huffed, Jake’s words sending the second wave of flush to his face.
“That’s not a turn-on that’s something you need help for.” The amusement in his voice and face made it obvious it was a joke, his own attempt to tease Jake.

Marcus kept glancing at the other the closer he got, obviously growing more uncomfortable with his personal space being invaded but oddly doing nothing about it. Instead he went strangely still other than his waking, watching Jake cautiously out of the corner of his eye.
“Depends, why do you ask?” Marcus questioned, growing suspicious of the others intentions. Whatever he had planned, Marcus wasn’t sure he should trust it.
He rolled his eyes at Jake’s next words, scoffing lightly. “From the coffee shop? You’re still waiting for that?” He asked in amusement. Truth be told, Marcus had completely forgotten he had been given Jake’s number. Everything that had happened afterwards had taken up the majority of his thoughts. And Marx’s constant berating and clinginess made it hard for Marcus to find a moment to himself for once.

"They're very strict, but we have Floren to thank for that. He managed to convince them to give us some time. Something about not being at our best and getting hurt again- probably even dead." Rae said softly. It slightly unsettled her to talk about her family's death, even hers.
"We try to smooth things over, if it's really bad, we'll take both the people caught in the fight into jail and go from there." Rae paused, looking over at Jen, then looking away when he didn't look her way.
"We're told to not take it easy on you guys so more often than not you guys get sent to A.C.E. anyways, even if it's not that serious…." She trailed off. "I know it's extreme, but they think they can't take any chances. With any of you." Rae had a sort of pained expression on her face as she kept working. It was shitty….but it was also their orders.

Rae watched Xio turn her head, a small smile playing on her face.
"Yes, of course, I can help," She said eagerly, grabbing the alcohol and swabs from the kit. It seemed like it would be enough for that area. Rae drenched the swabs in the alcohol and started to work.
Jen motioned something to Rae, he made a blowing motion against the back of his hand and Rae nodded.
Xio wasn't a kid, but both Jen and Rae knew that it hurt less when the air was blown on it, it helped it dry quicker too. After every stroke, Rae looked up at Xio to make sure she wasn't in any discomfort, when she did show signs of discomfort Rae blew on it lightly.
Jen shifted on his feet before leaving the group's side and walking out of the building. He had nothing to do there with them. They seemed to have it covered anyways, so Jen waited outside, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. He hoped Jake wouldn't be up to his usual idiocy.

Jake was absolutely up to his usual idiocy. He snickered at Marcus' words as he teased him.
"Well then maybe you can help me with that," He said, though, there was a subtle implication there.

He watched Marcus as he did nothing to move away from him. He smiled at that.

"I want to take you to a motel" Jake replied, his face growing serious, before a smile cracked it again. "Joking!" He said in a sing-song voice, though, it wasn't exactly a joke, it was on his list of things to do.
"I've been wanting to get another piercing but I don't want to go alone. Usually, Andre goes with me, but he's been having…" He trailed off as he remembered the look on Andre's face when he had been handed back to Apotheosis. He had been a mess. "Some problems." Jake finished. "Maybe we could even get you pierced" Jake mused. "I'd pay for it since you'd be coming with, if not, then…" Jake looked away from Marcus.
"We can do something else," Jake said quietly. He seemed to really want to take Marcus somewhere but didn't exactly know where he wanted to take him. Only that he wanted to get to know him more.

A light blush appeared on Jake's face at being called out.
"No." He said quickly, now looking at the buildings as they walked. "Just teasing," He said, though, the look on his face didn't say that.

Soon they reached the store Marcus had been talking about. Jake held the door for him and then walked in himself. He rolled his eyes at himself. Since when had he begun holding doors for others?
Jake looked around.
"Well, I guess get what you need then we'll head back, I'm sure this is urgent to you," Jake said as he walked away from Marcus and went to look at other stuff on his own.

Xio glared lightly at Rae as she answered Wynn, huffing and making that strange clicking noise once again. “I’m not going to A.C.E. I’d rather die.” She chirped.
A bitter taste rose in Wynn’s mouth at Rae’s words. He turned away, frowning. Of course he knew that A.C.E. didn’t care for them but it still left him angry.
“I see.” Was all he said in return. It was beyond him at this point how no one seemed to really notice how unethical it all was.
Perhaps they did but they didn’t care.

Xio’s feathers ruffled with the first blow. She trilled tilting her head more at the action. It did seem to help the pain, however, so she allowed it to happen even if it made her feathers fluff with the strange sensation, cold and yet comforting.

Wynn watched Jen leave closely, suspicion clouding his mind for a second. Jen had indeed been kind but his reaction this time around had Wynn feeling a little on edge. He debated following after the other, but held back.
“He better not call for backup.” Was all he said, huffing. Xio glanced at the way Jen had left, clicking softly before looking back to Rae.
“He’s stressed, is he not?” She asked, tilting her head.

Marcus couldn’t help the small laugh that fell from his lips. He coveted his mouth, rolling his eyes. “You wish.”

The witch faltered again at how forward Jake’s words were. He stared at the other for a long time, face flushing. Even when Jake revealed his joke and began to say what he really wanted Marcus just stared, his expression unreadable.
“I don’t understand you…” he said finally, sighing and looking away. As much as his brain screamed at him to say no and avoid everything that had to do with Jake, Marcus himself was strangely curious about the other. He didn’t like that he was nor did he want to admit it, but he couldn’t seem to shake it.
“But, I have thought about getting a piercing… it would also piss off Marx which is an added bonus at the moment. Asshole deserves it. That’s not a yes, by the way. I’ll think about it. You do still have the risk of murdering me.” Of course, going with Jake would also risk Marcus becoming a victim to Marcus wrath just as Xio did but at this point Marcus didn’t care much.
He had slowly began to grow tired of being pushed around. The fear and shame he felt about Marx was the last thing holding Marcus back. They weren’t as easy to overcome, especially when Marx was so good at weaponizing them against the witch.

A small tug of guilt pulled at his chest at Jake’s reaction. “I… may have lost your number… in all of the chaos that happened.” Marcus admitted softly.

“Alright. I’ll be quick. We are on a time crunch.” He replied before walking off to the isle he needed.
True to his words the little market wasn’t the best. There wasn’t much, but Marcus still managed to find a fairly decent first aid kit that included much of what they needed. He grabbed a few extra bandages just in case before he wandered into the snack section to grab something quick for the harpy - some sort of hard candy that was vanilla flavored from what the packaging stated.

Rae was used to the glares and dirty looks by now, they didn't faze her in this line of work. She knew they were the bad guys, there was no denying that fact. The only problem now was they didn't exactly have a choice. It was either work your jobs, do as you're told or either get locked up for life, or die. She liked her life very much, she didn't want to die or meet a worse fate but also didn't want to hurt others who didn't deserve it.
Rae had always dealt with the tough cases on the human side of things and she knew for a fact that some of those guys deserved what they had coming. The only part of her job where she actually felt like she did something right.

"Well, we're not taking you to A.C.E." Rae said plainly, and she hoped they wouldn't have to in the future either.
"I can just make up a bullshit lie as an excuse, no big deal," She said, her eyes staring down at her hands work. It was a big deal. A.C.E. didn't let anything slide. They didn't want their members lying to them now, would they? That meant they weren't taking things seriously and ignoring orders. A serious crime in their eyes.

Once Rae finished cleaning the site, she packed everything up and put the used items to the side. She'd take them with her and throw them away later.
"He's not gonna call back up, I'll kill him if he does, and so will Jake," Rae said, now getting up and dusting herself off from being on the floor. "But more than that, he's not like that" Rae glanced over at the door where Jen had left. She turned her attention back to Xio.
"A little" Rae lied, giving Xio a smile. "A.C.E. is not exactly….kind to us when we mess things up," She said cheerfully, trying not to bring too much light to their situation. "we may not be abnormalities like you guys, but then again, we might as well be something worse in their eyes." Rae left it at that, not wanting to get too into it. Even though abnormalities were treated unfairly, it sometimes felt like they shared some of that poor treatment, if not taken to the next level because of who they were.

Rae looked over at Wynn, a wide smile appearing on her face before she nearly jumped on him and hugged him tightly.
"But I'm so glad you guys are okay. Especially you- I thought they had hurt you back at the apartment" Rae said, pouting a little as she pulled away. Rae shifted nervously on her feet, looking down. Oh boy. She had done it again. Hugging others without permission.
"Sorry- that was a little much," She said, taking a small step back, a sheepish smile on her face.

"I do wish" Jake spoke back at him, not really hiding how he felt.
He gave Marcus a wide smile at his flushed face, knowing what he was doing. Jake loved the bewildered looks others gave him. It was fun to know that they couldn't clock him on what his intentions were. It was better that way anyways.
"You don't have to understand me," He said simply, though, said nothing more than that.
Jake listened to Marcus talk, a sort of darkness covering his eyes at the words he said. Jake could ask why Marcus was still with the guy, but things probably weren't that simple. They never were.
He suddenly smiled, trying to shove the thoughts away.
"Then dump him and go out with me" Jake mused. "Not a yes, got it-" He gasped dramatically at the last bit. "I would never!" He said indignantly, though, just looked away at the bold-faced lie. It was a half-truth, half-lie. At some point he would have to go for Marcus' throat, maybe not right now, but in the near future, something was bound to give.
Though, Jake wouldn't kill Marcus, not right now. If he had the choice to do so, he wouldn't ever kill him. Jake had never been this infatuated with someone before, it unsettled him greatly, but he couldn't help himself. Something about the witch made his heart ache.

Jake made a small sound at Marcus telling him about his lost number.
"Aha, don't worry about it, I wasn't expecting anything anyways, it's not like you would have called anyways," Jake said with a slight smile.

Inside the store, Jake looked around, nothing of interest catching his attention. Without Marcus' presence- or well, really, anyone's presence that he knew, he felt….hollow. His eyes tiredly scanned the labels on packages. He grabbed a few items off the shelves, pausing when he went to reach for bandage wraps. He swallowed harshly, setting them back onto the shelve. It was alright. Everything was alright, he had Jen and the others. Jake was not used to reaching out for help even though he felt comfortable with Apotheosis, but Andre had broken his promise and all of Jake's resolve crumbled. He had no reason to keep himself clean, especially when so many thoughts hurt his head.

After a while of pacing around and trying to decide, Jake decided to leave everything behind. Maybe he'd just drink his way out of this one.
Jake made his way up to the register after making a full lap of the store and waited for Marcus to show up with the items.

Xiomara chirped happily in response to Rae’s words, something like amusement crossing her face.
“Lying to A.C.E.? You’ll need more than a bullshit excuse.” She mused, twittering happily. “Just tell them there was nothing here. They can’t prove that. No cameras, no magic to trace. The most they’ll find was Marx’s trail, but you can tell them nothing was here, they are used to that.” She offered as a solution, it was the most feasible and one they couldn’t accuse Rae of lying about. If Rae didn’t act suspicious about it that was.

Wynn huffed lightly, shaking his head. “Good. You better be right about that.” He muttered, turning to watch Rae stand up.
Xio grumbled lightly, bringing her legs up to her chest and resting her head atop her knees.
“A.C.E. treats everyone badly. One of the leaders is not that bad of a man, Idris or whatever he’s named. But he does not do anything about what A.C.E. does to us.” She clicked a few times before closing her eyes and sighing deeply.
Now that the adrenaline was gone she was starting to hurt. A lot.
It made her tired.

Wynn was caught completely off guard by the hug. He let out a sound of alarm, ready to attack if that was what was happening but soon relaxed realizing it had only been a hug.
“You’re fine. I don’t mind it. As for being fine, I wasn’t hurt. If anything I “hurt” myself.” He mused, dropping his human facade again to turn and show her where he had snapped off his spine. It looked as if it had just healed over, rounded at the top. A few others had also been snapped off but they seemed to be much much older, already growing back to a point and almost just as long as the others.

Marcus huffed lightly, shoving his hands once again into his pockets. He didn’t reply, instead thinking on Jake. Marcus must really attract the worst kind of guys…
Well.
Jake wasn’t all that bad. Just a bit murderous and maybe a little unhinged but who wasn’t at this point. Jake was a step up from Marx, at least…
Oh no! Absolutely not! Marcus forced those thoughts right out of his head, rubbing at his face to try and wipe the blush settling into his cheeks away.
“I don’t believe you wouldn’t murder me… so I’ll have to pass.”

Marcus shrugged, offering a sly smile. “Maybe I would have gotten bored eventually and messaged you.” He replied, knowing fully that Jake’s words were probably true. It wasn’t smart to text someone who was literally tasked with arresting you.

Marcus sighed deeply as he looked over the place one last time before making his way to the front. He was surprised to see Jake there first, waiting for him.
“You could have gone ahead, you know?” He murmured, hauling his stuff to the cashier.

Rae gave Xio a weak smile. It wasn't the first time she had lied about something like this and it wouldn't be the last. Jake usually guided her on what to say, but Xio's idea was welcomed.

"Thank you, I think I might use that" She smiled, turning to Wynn when he spoke. "I am." She said confidently. She didn't know what was going on in Jen's mind, but it couldn't be anything good. Still, she had faith in their leader, that he'd do the right thing.

Seeing Xio hug herself and grow tired seemed to make Rae desperate.
"Maybe I should text Jake to hurry up with the stuff, have them run here" She muttered anxiously as she took her phone out to send a text. When it was sent and Wynn spoke again, she looked up to see him as he had been that night they took them into the apartment. Rae looked in awe at his spines.

"That has got to hurt," Rae said, eyeing the healed ones and tilting her head a little to see the extent of the damage. "Unless there are no nerves in that area? Though, I would imagine there is?" She kept questioning, unsure.

Jake gave Marcus a crooked smile.
"I won't hurt you, but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry," He said, not really minding that Marcus had turned down his offer. Maybe another time.
He nearly scoffed at Marcus' lie. Right. Sure he would have, but Jake said nothing else.

Jake had been staring tiredly into the distance when Marcus came up. He looked over at him as he approached the counter.
"And leave without you?" He purred, laughing a little. "Besides, I was going to buy something, I just didn't know what I wanted until now" He waved two lollipops in his hand, one a coffee flavor and the other a strawberry flavor.
"I also got a text from Rae. She said to rush a little, so maybe we shouldn't walk when we go back" He said a little more seriously.

Jake seemed to have mellowed down during the time he spent apart from Marcus. He seemed a little more calm and wasn't poking jokes at the other or teasing him. It was curious to see Jake in a neutral state- or what would be considered a neutral state. It wasn't. It was his mask slipping and the tiredness showing through. Some days, it was more difficult to keep up the act than others.

Although Jake had gotten shot, he hadn't gotten nearly as much time to rest as Jen did. His father hadn't allowed it, so it was work for him, slow at first, but quickly picked up when Aristide saw that Jake could handle it. It was still uncomfortable, even now, but Jake didn't complain about it, bitching about it wouldn't really do anything.

Xio nodded excitedly, chirping her approval of Rae’s agreement. It would be for the best for her to lie, and to make up one vague enough A.C.E. couldn’t look into it.
She rumbled - a sound that came from deep within her chest - as Rae sent a text to Jake, waving a clawed hand in the air with a small laugh.
“No need for them to hurry. I will live. Just tired… very tired…” she closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. Wynn nudged her shoulder harshly, nearly knocking her onto her side. She squawked angrily, hissing and clicking at him.
“No sleeping. We need Marcus to make sure you didn’t get a dose of Marx’s poison, wouldn’t want you dying on us.” He huffed. She stuck her tongue out at him but complied, busying herself with more preening and mumbling quietly to keep herself awake.

Wynn laughed at Rae’s reaction, amusement lighting up his expression.
“Not at all. I’m so used to it by now I hardly notice it. Unless it gets infected because that hurts like a bitch.” He made a face at that, shaking his head.
“There are nerves there, quite a few actually. They don’t go all the way to the ends, though, think of a cat’s claw. Or a cow’s horns- a cow that has a nerve that runs to about the middle of their horn that is…” Wynn explained, pulling a few of his collected broken spines from a pouch at his side. They weren’t modified like the blades he had at his hip, rather they looked exactly like the ones along his back albeit a much duller, more dry looking color.
He showed her the insides of them which were mostly solid up until the very base of them where a shallow pit started. There were small holes where blood vessels traveled but they were few and far between.

“If I can help it, I snap them right before the nerves so it doesn’t hurt, a tiny bit further if I need it to bleed. It’s kind of like cutting your fingernails, cut too far and it bleeds a lot more and hurts like hell for a few weeks.
It grows back like your fingernail would too. It’s a feature very few siren species have, by the way, I was just blessed with good heritage.” He mused, his spines clicking together.

Marcus didn’t believe Jake at all. Or at least, he did believe Jake wasn’t going to do anything now. Later was an entirely different story…

“Could have at least checked out.” Marcus muttered, eyeing the two lollipops with vague curiosity. He was only kinda wishing he had thought to grab something for himself as well. He wasn’t about to go back now, it was too urgent of a situation for them to take their sweet time.
“Alright then let’s hurry and check out.” Marcus replied, hurrying up to the counter and placing his items there. He gave the cashier a crooked smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

The entire time he watched Jake out of the corner of his eye, curiosity getting the better of him.
He wasn’t quite sure what to make of the other. Jake seemed… tired almost. Sure everything that had happened regarding Marcus and Wynn escaping was sure to have put a lot of weight on Apotheosis but Marcus wasn’t entirely convinced they would have pushed Jake so far.
Or maybe A.C.E. was full of assholes who sat back to watch and grew angry when their attack dogs collapsed from exhaustion.
Marcus wouldn’t put it past them… the bastards…
Perhaps he should just go with Jake to his little piercing adventure, might help the other to-
“Hello? Did you hear me? Your payment declined.” The voice of the cashier brought Marcus right out of his thoughts, a new type of dread filling his chest.
Fuck! Marx must have frozen his card, the bastard! It still wouldn’t make Marcus go back to him, though, Marcus always had cash on him as Marx tended to pull this trick multiple times. All he had to do was-
“Oh for fucks sake…” he muttered as he patted his pockets down for his wallet. Gone. He must have left it back at the house when he stormed out…
Marcus did manage to find a very crumpled ten in his pocket and a few loose bits of change but upon offering it he found the cashier looking at him in annoyance.
“Total’s twenty-three, love.” They tapped the screen showing the total, raising an eyebrow. Marcus flushed in embarrassment, rubbing at the back of his neck.
The runes tattooed into his skin had faded when they had entered the store, most likely to keep his identity secret, but now they smoked lightly - if one paid close enough attention that was.
He groaned, turning to look at Jake. “Don’t suppose you could spot me?”

Rae gasped when Wynn nudged Xio harshly.
"Don't be so mean!" She playfully hit him, but Rae had a worried look on her face as well. "I know you don't want her sleeping but…" She bit her bottom lip. "Maybe not so rough" She stared at Xio for a moment, a sad look on her face, but looked away, trying not to think about it too much.

When Wynn showed Rae the collected pieces, her eyes grew a little, tilting her head here and there to get a good look at them.

"Oh- there are like, little circles in them-" She noted. As Wynn explained further Rae cringed at the comparison of cutting your fingernail too short. An involuntary shiver ran up her back.
She nodded.
"When you left, we saw uhm, the thing you had left behind-" She said, talking more so about the blood Wynn had used to alert the other gang members. "The blood" She added, so it wasn't so vague.

Jake only smiled when Marcus told him to have checked out. He would have earlier if he hadn't been eyeing some other things. Then again, he was still trying to decide what to get or if he should add something else.
He watched Marcus put his stuff on the counter for the cashier. Jake's eyes trialed to the things he had brought, then to a different shelve close to the cashier which had been where he had gotten the lollipops from. He was still wondering if he should bring Rae something….

Well. They could always go get something else when this was over, maybe pass by a fast food chain or actually go in to eat….
Rae deserved it. So did Jen.
Jake watched as the cashier tried to talk to Marcus, but he seemed spaced out. Jake was about to nudge the guy when he seemed to snap out of it, searching his pants for something else- a wallet, Jake figured.

The interaction brought a small tired smile to his lips. It's not that he was enjoying this- but he was. In a way. When Marcus turned to him, a huge grin replaced his smile.
"Does that mean you'll go with me to the piercing shop?" Jake asked, almost as if giving an ultimatum. Go with me or I won't pay. It was a silent threat, but even Jake wasn't that cruel. He would pay either way, he just wanted to get something out of it. He hoped Marcus would say yes. Though, before Marcus could answer he put his two lollipops down.
"Just add this to the total," He said, digging into his back pocket and taking out a small black leather card holder. He slipped a fifty out and handed it to the cashier who took it.
Jake stood there waiting for the other to hand him back the sum. Once they did and bagged the items, Jake took it and thanked them, ushering Marcus out of the store.
Once out, he took the coffee-flavored lollipop out of the bag and handed the rest to him. This time around, there were no snide remarks that came from him. Not even a teasing "You're welcome". Jake just silently started to walk after handing everything to Marcus.

Wynn threw his hands up and gave Rae an apologetic smile. Xio didn’t seem to care much but she twittered away happily when Rae came to her defense, giving Wynn a smug grin.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to offend. She’s much stronger than me, and usually she can handle it.” Wynn explained. He and the harpy could be rough with each other as they both were usually fairly sturdy compared to humans. Usually being the key word. The two liked to argue over who was Marcus’s closest and longest friend. Xio usually won the longest part.

Wynn nodded at her words, grinning. “Those house the base and usually are a little pocket of blood and nerves. Hurts like hell to expose them but sometimes it’s needed.” He shrugged, as if it were no big deal. It kind of wasn’t to him anymore. He had faced much worse things.

Wynn seemed confused at first until she clarified, his face lighting up in recognition. “Oh! That! Yeaaah, sorry about that. I hope it wasn’t a pain to clean. I can’t actually cast magic like Marcus does. It’s not something I’m really capable of doing. I can, however, use other magical means as I myself am something magical. Runes are the easiest. But I needed something physically magical to activate the runes because of that strange device you put around my wrist so I improvised. With my own blood. It’s a highly sought after magical ingredient after all.” He explained eagerly, almost excited to tell her about something rather macabre.

Marcus was internally screaming at himself for such a fuck-up. It only got louder when Jake seemed to black mail him. He sighed deeply, rubbing his face before he turned to face Jake fully.
“Yes, fine. I will. I’ll go with you.” He said, defeated. At least it seemed a little bit fun. He wouldn’t mind it as much as he acted like he was.

The cashier sighed, taking the new items to ring them up. Marcus just stood awkwardly by, the red in his face growing the more he stewed over his own stupidity.
Outside, Marcus opened his mouth to apologize and was instead met with the bag being pushed his way. He took it silently, rubbing at the back of his neck.
“Thank you…” he said after a long while, laughing nervously. “I left in a hurry… didn’t want to stick around.”

Rae pouted angrily at Wynn, though it was very playful in nature.
"Save your rough-housing when she's healed properly" She huffed, it was the exact thing Jake would do, though Rae wouldn't tell that to Wynn, he might actually get angry. Rae snickered a little at that thought.

Rae's eyes lit up, a sort of curiosity as Wynn explained away and showed her, basically giving her a small crash course on how that part of him worked. She gave a long hum, as if finally understanding.

When Wynn apologized for the blood, Rae let out a small giggle. Who would have thought? That someone who they had captured and were going to hand over to A.C.E. would be apologizing to her for basically escaping. It felt all wrong in her head but mostly amused her greatly.
"It was a huge pain to clean" Rae teased. "I slaved over it for hours" She laughed a little at herself. "You're funny," Rae said finally. "Apologizing for doing such a thing. If you hadn't…" Rae trailed off, her mood taking a small dive. They wouldn't be talking right now.

She brightened back up at Wynn's chatter, not taking long for her to dismiss the idea. He had been clever to use his own blood and seemed very excited to inform her about it. A dorky smile crossed her face.
"I'm glad you guys got away" Rae looked down at her shoes, they were kind of chunky sneakers, the once white color now slightly yellowed from the use, some parts covered in dirt.
Rae really couldn't seem happier at this moment, knowing that Wynn had been alright.

That's exactly the answer Jake wanted to hear, an excitement overtook him, his eyes bouncing from one thing to another as he tried to focus his attention on other things that weren't Marcus.

Jake had been eyeing Marcus from the corner of his eyes and how embarrassed he looked. It was honestly quite adorable in his mind.

"No need to thank me, you're going to pay in full," Jake said, a sort of sadistic smile cracking his face. "You'll go with me to the tattoo shop, maybe you'll even let me choose where they pierce you?" He said, though Jake was all jokes, it did sound like a pretty fun idea to him. Jake was…..an asshole at times. More often than not actually. He had no excuses to be the way he was, though it wasn't often that he acted like this much of an idiot around another person- that was usually reserved for Jen and Rae.

Jake just couldn't seem to help himself around Marcus. The guy acted tough- and was tough, and he wondered how long before Marcus would put him in his place.
"Sounds like," Jake said, taking the wrapper of his lollipop off and sticking it in his mouth, shoving the wrapper into his pocket. "You should eat yours too" Was all he said before he started moving. Jake hadn't bought the strawberry one for himself. It had been with the intention of giving it to Marcus the moment he had seen it.

It didn't take long for them to come back as they basically rushed.
Jen turned to them as soon as he had seen the two figures approaching, watching Jake carefully and seeing the lollipop stick in his mouth. He gave an exhausted sigh. Really?

“Alright alright alright! I’m sorry.” He laughed gently, holding his hands up again and grinning at her.

Wynn rolled his eyes at her words, looking back at Xio for a moment. “I’m sure you did slave away at it, all three tiny little drops of it.” He teased. “I have to apologize, it was rather rude of me to just leave my blood everywhere.” He mused, though her next words made his smile falter for a moment.
“I’m glad too… but I’m still not sure what we do is much better.” Wynn was smiling again, but his eyes held some kind of strange exhaustion.
“I think I’d rather die out here than in an A.C.E. laboratory though, there’s no good food in a laboratory.”

Marcus grimaced at the implications of letting Jake pick his piercing, he didn’t trust Jake not to be insufferable about it. He turned his face away, huffing indignantly.
“Absolutely not. I don’t trust you enough to pick something that isn’t going to embarrass me.” He growled.
Besides, if Marx ever found out Marcus had let Jake of all people pick something out, Marcus would for sure end up in a ditch somewhere.

“Eat mine? What are you talking about?” Marcus gave Jake a puzzled look before opening the bag and staring at the other lollipop. He pulled it out, frowning slightly at the chosen flavor.
Marcus did indeed love strawberry-flavored things, he couldn’t deny that, but for some reason Jake’s persistence with assigning him strawberry related things had him slightly… confused. He wasn’t a stranger to random gifts and teasing, Marx used to do it all the time, but for some reason it was off-putting to receive it from someone else.
But not necessarily bad…
He kind of liked it…

No. No. Again. Absolutely not.
Marcus wasn’t allowed to fall for Jake’s antics. The other was only messing with him. He had to keep that in mind.

As they approached Jen, Marcus tensed up, readying himself for a fight if need be. He held up the bag, giving Jen a small glare. “Better not have tried anything.” He huffed,

Rae grumbled at him when he mentioned it being only "three tiny drops", but couldn't keep a straight face as she looked away trying not to smile. She seemed to squeal at Wynn's next words, letting out a small laugh.
"Yeah, you should be careful next time, think about the janitors" She smiled at him, her eyes bright at being able to joke around like this with Wynn.
Her eyes softened a little when he spoke about their own situation.
"Maybe, but…." She rubbed her arms a little, something she did when she was a bit uncomfortable. "No side is right here. If things could be solved peacefully I would love that but it takes a lot more to move people in those positions who think strongly about others."

Although Wynn seemed to try and lighten the mood at the end, Rae's mouth turned into a small sad frown. She considered Wynn a friend, even if the other didn't think so or they weren't at that point yet.
"Yeah…" She said softly now, her eyes looking down.

Marcus would be smart not to let Jake pick, because he already had a few ideas that would hurt like hell if pierced in those places.
Jake snickered at Marcus' words.
"But they would look so good on you~" Jake sang, watching Marcus pull out the other lollipop, he smiled at his confusion.

One thing Jake and Marcus had in common was their love for strawberries, it was Jake's favorite fruit, and gifting someone something strawberry related was his way of saying 'Hey, I like you a lot so I'm sharing my favorite snacks with you' or in this case, giving Marcus his nickname and the one lollipop. But he wasn't about to say what he actually meant unless pressured about it.

Jake may have been messing with Marcus a little, but he also thought he was very attractive and wanted to experience what kind of expressions he could make in bed. Not only that, but this was the first time he found himself curious about another person that went deeper than the need to hook up with them. He knew Marcus was a troubled individual, kind of like him, and he wanted to know his story. What had gotten him to this point? It couldn't be something light that you could brush off. It must have weighed a lot- so much so that he had crumbled under the pressure.

As the two came close Jen undid his arms from the crossed position they had been in, he was also tense but didn't seem to pull his gun out anymore. He simply stared at Marcus, seeming almost like a glare, but not quite.
"I couldn't." Was all he said before he turned to go in and join Rae alongside the others. Jake gave Marcus a soft smile as if reassuring him that things would be okay before he also followed after Jen.

“Oh yes, the janitors. Not the biohazard clean up team.” He joked back, grinning wickedly. He too enjoyed being able to play around with Rae. It felt much better than being at each others throats.
“I know. We’ve tried.” Wynn admitted quietly, their spines rattling for a moment before they silenced the action and once again put up their human disguise.

He gently nudged Rae, giving her a small smile. “Don’t worry too much about us, we’ve made it this far, right? Besides, we have a mission, we’re not going to die so easily.”

“I can only imagine the places you’d want a piercing on me and none of them are very pleasant.” Marcus huffed in return.
He unwrapped the lollipop anyways, popping it into his mouth and humming happily at the taste.
Damn Jake and his damn candy. It made Marcus feel too safe.

Marcus glared in return to Jen, though he seemed a lot more relaxed with the response. Good. Jen seemed to be keeping his cool.
It was strange Marcus even had to worry about that in the first place. Jen had seemed so calm and kind the first time they met.
He gave Jake a look when the other smiled, shaking it off to head inside immediately.

"Well…more like the scientists…" Rae said softly, though Wynn was right, the biohazard clean-up crew were the ones in charge of that. Though, by the time they had gotten there, most of it had been scrapped clean to be taken back to the lab. They really seemed to prize anything they could get their hands on.

She arched an eyebrow at Wynn but still smiled at him playfully.
"You have, I suppose- though, very close calls" She nudged him back, the small sunshine within her returning bit by bit. "You better not," She said, giving him a look.

Rae's attention was soon taken from Wynn and placed on the three approaching figures.
Jen was back, along with the other two. Jake and Marcus had…lollipops in their mouths. That was the first thing that stuck out to her. She gave them a curious look, Jake's wicked smile telling her everything she needed to know.
Jen still had his arms crossed, he was not letting his guard down even though he genuinely seemed to care for these people.

"Well, we're back, got the stuff you guys needed" Jake glanced at Marcus. "If you need a hand just ask, though, I'm sure you're more comfortable with Rae," He said now looking at Rae who gave Jake the biggest smile she could muster. Jake rolled his eyes at her and moved to the side to let Marcus go to Xio's side. By the looks of it, Rae had gotten some parts cleaned up but Xio did not look well at all.
Sure, these guys were Abnormalities and could take a beating, but how exactly different was that from a human being? Maybe they were stronger in a sense, some would argue stronger like that of an animal, but they weren't animals, and even if that argument could be made, animals still had emotions and a mind of their own. To Jake, it was silly to look down on someone simply because they were stronger, but then again, humanity had always been afraid of things they didn't understand or could easily overpower them. He supposed he could empathize, but at the same time, it made no sense to him at all.

“They do love our samples, the creepy fucks…” Wynn murmured under his breath, scowling slightly. The scientists were the worst part of it all. It was hard to get bodies to bury when the A.C.E. scientists decided they had found a brand new “specimen” to work on. Seeing as how they weren’t allowed to touch the law abiding Abnormalities, they took those who “had it coming” or “deserved it”. It felt bad to Wynn.

“Very close indeed.” He joked, idly running his fingers across his side as if reminiscing on some past near-fatal wound.
“We’re hard to kill… mostly. Kinda hard when you can heal with magic.”

Wynn’s gaze followed Rae’s, eyes narrowing when he registered the fact that Marcus seemed to be enjoying a small treat with Jake of all people. He still didn’t trust the gray-eyed bastard as far as he could throw him.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Marcus huffed at Wynn the moment he was close enough, flashing the siren a small grin and lifting the bag up. “We have the stuff here, we got it all.” He promised.
When Jake spoke Marcus glanced at him and shrugged. “I should be fine, but if I do need help I doubt Xio will let you close.” He sighed softly, immediately moving to Xio, who lifted her head weakly and gave Jake a dirty look as if to prove Marcus’s words.
She looked very rough, her frame trembling slightly from the effort of staying upright and her face far too pale to be healthy. Her feathers drooped in an exhaustion Marcus knew all too well. Anemia was a constant thorn in his side but anemia caused by wounds was even more of a hellscape to navigate.
She lifted her head to look at Marcus, struggling to keep it there as she watched him drop to his knees in front of her and take the arm most damaged. This wasn’t anything new to her, she had been healed plenty of times, but it still made her shiver a little when Marcus began to mumble under his breath and trace along a few runes placed above his wrist. They lit up immediately, the dull, purple glow seeming to trickle like water from the runes. He moved to hold his hand over Xio’s wounds, letting the light drip into them, never once pausing in his strange mumbling.
The torn flesh immediately began to knit back together, muscle and skin regrowing and reconnecting with terrifying speed. Based on the expression on Xio’s face, it didn’t feel very good. She cursed in a strange language, chirping and trilling between the words. The talons on her feet clenched into strange fists around the fabric of her skirt.
Once Marcus had finished healing the wound it looked like it was weeks old, the scar tissue around it slightly pink and shiny. Marcus fell silent, looking over the wound with a considerable more amount of exhaustion in his expression. Whatever Marcus had done it seemed to have taken a lot out of him. Wynn eyed him carefully.
Xio stared at the new scar for a long time, running her fingers over it.
“Your frequencies are still hot…” she griped, looking up at Marcus with a slight huff. “Your magic burns even when healing.”
“Yeah well, it’s better than bleeding out…” Marcus grumbled in return, shaking his hands out before he moved to the next large gash and began his strange spell once more. Xio chittered in displeasure, turning her face away.
“Hey, one of you come and wrap some of these once I’m done… I won’t be able to do full heals but I can get them mostly healed.” He told the group around him once he had finished once again, gesturing someone over and offering the first aid kit.
Xio purred softly, already starting to look better though the color hadn’t returned to her face and she still struggled to keep her head up. “They itch…”

Jake gave a sort of smug grin to Xio who was shooting him a dirty look. He shrugged in return as well.
"Was worth a shot" He said, as if he had ulterior motives. He didn't, but he loved for it to seem that way. People usually got Jake all wrong, so he helped them speed up the process. I mean, why wait when there were possible enemies to be made?

Jake stood a bit away from the scene but saw the skin basically sew itself to close the wound. It was funny that the first thought in his mind, when he saw Marcus' healing abilities, was 'wow this guy could really kill me if he wanted to' instead of marveling at the wonder that was being able to heal someone else immediately instead of waiting for the body to do its thing.

Rae had also dropped down next to Xio again, trying to soothe her while Marcus healed her, though, it did not seem to be working by the looks of things. When Marcus was done, Rae stared at the healed wound in awe, like she had never seen such a thing done up close.
"Wow.." Rae breathed, only snapping out of it when Marcus went to a different wound to heal, ordering someone to help wrap the wounds when he was done. Rae was about to move when Jen did so first, handing over his gun to Jake who took it, then grabbed one of the gauzes from the bag. He joined Rae and Marcus, holding his hands up to show he wasn't going to try anything, just the roll of gauze in his hand.
Rae watched him curiously as he began tending to Xio, his movements slow and precise- predictable in a way as to not alarm anyone. It didn't matter anymore anyways, at this point, he was an accomplice in helping these two idiots. If questioned, he'd have to lie to spare himself and his friends from further pain. Apotheosis had done it plenty of times before. They had gotten caught in a lie once or twice and suffered the consequences, but that only meant they had to get better at that.

Xio huffed at Jake’s words and gave him the cold shoulder for as long as she could, directing her attention to the others around her.

She grinned when Rae got close, revealing more pointed teeth than seemed natural. The harpy tried her best to focus on Rae, chattering about something in an unknown language without fully meaning to and looking a little confused when no one replied to her questions.
Xio eventually stopped chittering when she seemed to realize she wasn’t speaking in a way they could understand, watching her flesh knit back together instead. Once that had finished she looked up to thank Marcus, relaxing a little as he ordered for someone to start wrapping the other wounds.

While Xio watched Jen’s hands carefully, Marcus was more focused on the fact that he had handed his gun off to Jen. That was more than enough of an action for Marcus to finally seem to relax a little around Jen, his eyes shifting from his face to the way he carefully bandaged Xiomara.
Some part of him was still unconvinced that Jen was safe, alarm bells ringing in his head everytime the other offered some kindness. Though Marcus supposed that could be his own issues surrounding trust and “kindness.” Kindness with Marx meant that the gang leader was expecting something in return and that something was usually detrimental to Marcus in some way. Most everyone in his life was the same way, they always wanted something in return for a nice deed. Marcus couldn’t wrap his head around the thought that perhaps Jen was the type of person to be kind just to be kind.

Marcus shook himself out of his head, returning to his magic. He had to focus on not overdoing it, he was still technically recovering from everything that had happened before.
He paused for a moment to rub at the runes on his upper arms, grimacing slightly. If one looked close enough they would find fresh bruises alongside worse burns peeking out from under the edges of his sleeves.
Once finished, Marcus looked about three times worse, suddenly exhausted and drained. He sunk to the ground behind Xio, rubbing at his face. Wynn joined his side, crouching down and huffing.
“I told you not to overdo it, bitch. You’re already on the edge of another fatigue, please let your stuff recharge fully before you go and fuck it up permanently… you’ll end up with bad frequencies like Cillian did and I’d rather not clean your blood off the ceiling.” He chastised, baring his teeth in an animal-like display of disdain.
“I’m fine, Wynn. It’s not that bad. I didn’t push it too far.” Marcus replied, too exhausted to really fight the other on this. Wynn seemed to recognize this as he backed off, sitting next to Marcus instead and watching Xio for a moment.
Xiomara seemed ecstatic to finally be healed. She stretched her arms out fully, feathers fluffing up happily when she found there to be a considerably less amount of pain. She jumped forwards to wrap Jen and Rae up into a tight hug, chirping between words of thanks.
“Not too much, Xio, these guys still want to kill us. They kidnapped Marcus and I a bit ago.” Wynn mused, snickering when Xio immediately released the two and jumped back like she had been stung.
“You got kidnapped?” She asked, turning to look at Marcus for a moment with disdain. “And you’ve still been doing stuff for Marx instead of resting!?” She puffed her feathers out when Marcus rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Wynn should chew you out more. You overwork yourself, you’re clearly straining your magic-“
“I used it to heal you which I think is plenty good of a reason to strain it a little. Marx has poison, don’t you remember? Besides, I just need a small moment to recharge. I’ll be fine in five minutes.” Marcus replied bitterly, closing his eyes for a moment.
“Just another reason for you to leave his sorry ass. I can excuse one accidental poisoning of your boyfriend but several? That’s attempted murder at that point.” Xio huffed. Wynn made a small sound of amusement, earning him a dirty look from Marcus.
“Whaaat? She has a point, Marcus. He’s a - what did you call him before storming out? A “narcissistic prick with a god-complex?” Something like that?”
“I don’t appreciate the fact that the first thing you do after feeling better is berate me about my taste in me and I especially don’t appreciate my closest friend siding with my other closest friend on the matter.” Marcus huffed in return, pretending that the mostly-gone lollipop in his mouth was suddenly the most interesting thing there. “And dissecting my personal flaws and relationship issues in front of the anti-abnormality group? That’s just cold.” Marcus glanced at Jake, however, his gaze lingering for far too long as he seriously considered leaving one red flag for another.
He didn’t entertain the idea for long, he was almost certain he just enjoyed the way Jake looked. Nothing more. Definitely not anything else.

Rae gave Xio a small confused smile at her chattering. She didn't understand what she was saying and could only do her best to provide support while she was healed.

Every one of Jen's actions said something. He always thought things through carefully and it was rare for him to make a mistake- or well, at least in his eyes and A.C.E's eyes. It's what they had always told him, but he made sure everything he did was calculated. From planning how to infiltrate a building and capture someone to making sure everyone around him was comfortable and taken care for.

He glanced over at Marcus, watching him as he bandaged Xiomara, though he only looked at Marcus for a second before he went back to focusing on the wounds.

When he was finished, Jen started to clean up the area, only to be jumped by Xiomara, capturing both him and Rae into a hug. Jen's eyes widened a little in that split second before Xio jumped back, eyeing them again with the same cautious look. Jen just sat there on his knees, his hands now one on each leg in balled fists, they dug into his skin breaking it and causing him pain. He bit his bottom lip like he was trying not to let his feelings get the best of him.
Jen had never begged and cried so much in his life prior to that day when they had brought him into the meeting. They had wanted to discuss how they would proceed with Apotheosis and Jen as their leader had to be present. A lot of words were spoken that day, some he could not bear to tell Apotheosis, so he simplified it when explaining how the meeting had gone. Maybe even sugar-coated it a little.
As Wynn and the other two bickered with each other, Jen got up and went over to Jake, holding his hand out for his gun. Jake gave it to him with a hesitant look. Jen stared at the three as they talked, only looking away when Marcus mentioned them.
"Well, our work here is done, it's time to go," He said, not bothering to give the other small group any more attention as he walked through the building toward the exit, putting his gun back in its holster in the process.

Jake's eyes went from Jen to Marcus as he noticed the guy now looking at him. A small smile broke on his face as Marcus stared at him for a second too long.
"Actually, I'll catch up with you later" Jake called out to Jen, not moving from his spot. Jen didn't stop to lecture him or anything this time, simply waving him off as he left the building.
Rae gave Jake a curious look.
"You're supposed to be healing, not going off causing trouble" Rae huffed, knowing Jake was probably up to no good again.
"I won't be causing trouble, simply accompanying it," Jake said, glancing over at Marcus before his gaze landed on Rae again. Rae squinted her eyes at him.
"Well, whatever, it's not like I'm your babysitter or anything" She turned to Xio and Wynn, flashing them a bright smile. "If you guys need anything more I wouldn't mind getting it, if not thennn…." She trailed off. "I guess I'll see you guys later- or well, hopefully not too soon again, preferably never again" She gave a sheepish smile, knowing that meeting them again would only mean trouble and it was better to stay away from each other.

Marcus and Wynn both turned to watch Jen as he left, casting each other nervous looks. It was Wynn who broke the strange silence between them, calling after Jen.
“Hey! Thanks!” He didn’t specify what the thanks was for, but the words were genuine. Marcus stared at Wynn, slightly surprised by the genuininity of his words.
He didn’t comment on it however, falling silent while the other group seemed to be readying to leave.
Well, at least 2 of the 3 seemed to be readying to leave.
He ignored the slight sinking in his chest and instead glanced at Rae when she addressed Xio and Wynn, shoving his hands in his pockets with a slight sigh.

“I think we’re okay now. Thank you, too. You’re… not all bad.” Wynn replied, rubbing at the back of his neck sheepishly. Rae was exactly the type he’d be friends with if the circumstances had been better. “Wish we could meet up again, on better terms.”
Xio chirped loudly, suddenly waving her arms in the air. “Wait wait!” She stated, pointing at the ground in front of Rae’s feet as if to tell her not to move. She turned and ran into one of the other rooms of the buildings, disappearing into a very large hole in the ground. After a moment she popped back up out of the hole, gliding out of it as she hummed some soft tune.
In her talons was a canvas bag and a phone, which she quickly transferred to her hands after landing.
Xio offered the bag to Rae, grinning brightly. Inside was a mix of baked goods and treats, wrapped carefully to keep their freshness. Two, long feathers sat at the top of the bag to avoid being crushed. They had been tied together with a thin yarn, the ends decorated with small beads that shimmered in the light. The feathers themselves looked a lot like the ones on Xio’s wings.
“Here! For your help! Food was made by my father. And the feathers make for good magic, they’re mine.” She explained, smiling. “I’m more…” she glanced at Wynn and Marcus, tilting her head before she lowered her voice to avoid offending the other two. “… legal than those two. I live out here on my own but my father owns a home and works a normal human job. I’m registered. If that makes things better would it be okay for me to ask to repay you with coffee? I know a place that won’t mind… this.” She gestured to herself, looking a little saddened that she had to specify. “I have a more human form, too, just difficult to cast the spell.”

Marcus finally stood, watching Xio and Rae interact before he turned to Wynn.
“So… I may have made a decision… you’re welcome to head back without me, I’ll probably be a bit. Besides, I want to give Marx enough time to cool down.” He glanced at Jake, wincing slightly when Wynn scowled at the action.
“What the hell did you do? Please, for the love of god, tell me you didn’t agree to something with him.” Wynn hissed, pointing at Jake with a deeper scowl.
“I- uh… well…” Marcus flinched when Wynn growled, smacking the upside of Marcus’s head gently.
“Oh fuck off! Really!?”
“Listen, I ended up forgetting my wallet at the base so he paid for everything… in return he wants to take me to… well… go get a piercing? Just me. No one else.” Marcus explained slowly, cringing as Wynn hissed and turned away from him for a moment.
“You’re a fucking idiot… Fine! Fine! But you better keep your phone on. If I call you answer and if you don’t I will come for you, got it?” Wynn stated firmly, glancing at Jake. “I don’t trust him and neither should you,”