(That's totally fine :)
"Why even see them, you're not friends anymore." Taka complained,
"Oh put a sock in it." She rolled her eyes and headed to Omen's room. She opened the door and walked inside, "Scarlett," He spoke softly, "I need you to attack *** Middle school, lot's of kids from there transfer to school that train heroes, burn it to ashes." She nodded, "What's the big plan anyway, taking the city is going to be harder than you think."
"Don't doubt me," He laughed, "This time, I will step in,"
Xander sat down and promptly explained the situation with Scarlett, how he had most certainly seen her.
Isolde frowned as she listened.
"Xander, if it really was her, something is very wrong here. If not, you need to get help."
"I know that. I'm not stupid."
"I know you're not."
Isolde locked eyes with him.
The third roommate walked in the door, he wasn't all that strong so he wasn't a hero, "What are you guys talking about..?" He asked, setting his keys down. He had met Xander a while ago and became friends
Isolde crossed her arms, then pointed at her computer screen, an article about the airport attacks.
"Have you seen all this? Xander was there, and-"
She looked to Xander expectantly, leaving it to him whether to tell his other roommate about the encounter or not. He looked away and explained again. He must've sounded crazy.
"sooo.. your dead friend is the one that turned the airport into a fireball.." he gave Xander a weird look, "Isn't she like.. dead?"
"I… thought so," Xander replied uneasily, "But I never saw her body. To be fair, I never saw anyone's body with as long as I was out."
"That's true," Isolde agreed, "I saw most of them, but never Scarlett."
Xander frowned. "Yeah, I guess you would know better than anyone, huh? You were the first one able to do triage and treatment. And doubtless, you saw a lot of dead…"
Isolde shrugged. The situation had been horrific, but she was over it. After all, it had shaped her and her hero work greatly, and she did manage to save a lot of the wounded from bleeding to death.
He smiled and got up, "well this isn't my problem, I'm not a hero so go find your murderer friend," he smiled and got up, heading to his room
"He's not asking you to find her, you little bitch," Isolde snapped, "If you actually cared about our friend's wellbeing, the least you could do is pretend like you cared about the situation at hand."
Isolde was very much an open book when she disliked something. No need to lead them on hoping for friendship, right? The only reason she stayed here was because of the lower rent and her friendship with Xander. The other roommate got on her nerves horribly and it left her seething that Xander considered him a friend.
"I didn't know you guys before you were attacked, and I sure as hell am not being a part of a fireball maniac that blew up the airport! Those villains are trapping us in this city, if you didn't realize, were trapped." He stood on the stairs, yelling at her, "all my ability can do is repair inanimate objects, so no thank you!"
"Look, you don't need to be part of that," Xander agreed softly, "But what do you mean? The airport has been blown into oblivion, but the rails and roads are still intact, no?"
Isolde glanced at their roommate, now more confused than angry. "Yeah, what exactly did you mean by that?"
He sighed and pulled out his phone, he searched up crashes in the area and there were hundreds, "every. single. road. has a crash on in, there are crashes everywhere. It's so obvious that they're trapping us in the city." He was right, the amount of train and car crashes in the area was strange. "Unlike you, I don't rely on my power, I actually have brain cells."
"Welllll, well, excuse Xander for being at the hospital while everything went down," Isolde scolded, "And excuse me for trying to figure out where this guy disappeared to after the first incident at the airport."
Xander scowled.
"That's- that's quite enough. We'll figure it out, okay? Isolde, they didn't call you out to help?"
"Not yet," she said, "After all, the casualties at the airport incident… It was too late for them. And I don't like throwing myself into a fight unless it's last resort."
Isolde, unlike Xander, was functionally a healer over an attacker. Her powers controlled blood. By touching one drop, she could either keep it in someone's body or make it spill out. She could kill someone brutally under the right conditions, but she typically opted more for damage control.
"Your superiority complex is absolutely nauseating, dear. Dial it down like… ten notches," she continued.
"I said, that's enough, okay? You want to stay in here and hide, fine by me. But we're just trying to figure out why this is happening. Why Scarlett would come back after all these years. I don't want to pursue her yet. She would overpower me in a heartbeat."
"Go find your friend and clear up the roads, I'm thinking everyone of us is a hostage," He said calmly, "Just don't get me involved," He headed up to his room, laying on his bed. "If they take the city they're probably going to attack rising heroes.." He said, doing some research
"Why do I have to take you everywhere, can't you walk or something?" Taka complained, shoving her,
"Leave me alone," Scarlett rolled her eyes, waiting to be taken to the school.
She walked through the doors, a teacher stopped her and asked if she needed something, "Oh yes, just something real quick," Scarlett placed a hand on the teachers shoulder. She burst into flames, the flame roared and she didn't even get a chance to scream. Her eyes melted as her body warped. The students tried to fight back, but their abilities were to underdeveloped. The school, with everyone inside, burned.
As they sat there, Isolde still seething, a new breaking story came up.
"School- the middle school we went to! Just like the attack at the airport!"
"Scarlett…" Xander whispered.
"Let's go, I'll see if I can provide any first aid. You can try to talk to her again."
"She keeps disappearing! She won't even hold a conversation with me!" Xander protested, "But- but, I'll go anyway. I have to do something."
With that, the two heroes started towards the crime scene. Isolde opted to stay in the back, seeing if there was anything she could do to help with the mass casualties. There were bystanders who needed the first aid, but at first glance, it didn't look like anyone actually in the school survived.
"Isolde, I'll be going. Stay far away from the front lines."
Isolde gave a knowing nod.
"Go get her."
Scarlett stood in the flames, "woo! Good hustle," he pulled her hood over her head, hiding her face. She stepped on outside onto the track field, she remembered running laps with Will and Xander for goofing off, she chuckled thinking about it.
Xander stood in front of her again, much firmer this time. He tilted up his goggles.
"So, are you going to answer my questions this time? You keep disappearing before we have a chance to really talk."
Xander's teeth were bared.
"I don't want to have to fight you, but I think maybe I should put a stop to this. Before you kill anyone else."
In one hand, Xander formed a short, flickering blade of shadow.
"You have ten seconds to get talking before I start swinging. What will you do?"
"hmmm, what question did you have again? I don't remember," she smiled like nothing had ever happened, brushing hot coals off her clothes, "Why are you here anyway," she asked him, "I thought they would send a few different heroes." She laughed as she looked around
"Doubtless, I'm the only one who knew I could find you right here," Xander said, "Your… companions made it look like you'd escaped, but I knew better. The other heroes are taking care of the rest."
He brandished the blade at her.
"So what is it you were gonna tell me about Will? And there's more, of course, but one thing at a time, right?"
"willy willy willy.. stuck in a never ending dream for 5 years.. you know, fire and ice don't go well together. That's why I put him to sleep! I melted his core!" She gave a large, pleasure filled smile. "Our core is made up of our ability, and his ice was getting a little to cold for me, so I knocked him down a peg, I should best mention that I'm the one that can fix it. 5 long years training! Just to learn to take the heat out of things!" She yelled into the air, a hint of anger pulsed through her
"It's not just Will you hurt, you know," Xander sighed, "You'd have been better off killing him. It's been five years of all grief, no closure for us. And no hope of waking him up."
He shifted a bit.
"I can't help thinking you have… deeper motivations. But you haven't exactly been an open book. So riddle me this: what're you trying to achieve with these mass attacks?"
Scarlett frowned, "then let's go to the hospital, it's time for little Will to wake up," she had a grin on her face as she made her way off of the school grounds and to the near by hospital
Xander walked a bit behind Scarlett for some of the length of the track. He was very uneasy as he followed, almost as if he was cooperating with the enemy. But if it meant saving Will, maybe it would be worth it.
No, it wouldn't be worth all the lives lost. But at least none of them had really died to save him.
"You really don't intend to answer me, huh?" Xander asked.
The thought crossed his mind: maybe he should just lunge and kill her the second Will awoke from his coma. Yet, somehow he didn't think he could do it. Xander was much too soft. After all, they used to be friends. He even had once had a crush on the girl, back in middle school. Every time he saw her face, he was afraid to fight back. He was terrified of what the consequences might be.
They made their way to the hospital. She stood over Will's bed and she grabbed his hand, "I want to let you know that.." her eyes turned a little red, like she was about to cry, "he won't wake up right away.. it'll take some time." Her voice shook as she placed her hands over his stomach
Xander gritted his teeth. She was probably going to leave again. But maybe it was best she wasn't here when he awoke. Not when she was responsible for his condition.
"Are you sticking around for that?" He asked, "I still have a lot to ask you, but-"
Xander shook his head.
"We should probably stop seeing each other. We're supposed to be enemies."
"Ask me whatever you want," She said blankly. Her hands glowed as she pressed on Will's stomach. Color drained from his skin as she continued. His finger's twitched and his heart rate changed, it almost looked like his body was freezing
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