forum •Apotheosis of Abnormality• [one/one]

Started July 27, 2022 by @Dayzed business

tune

Marcus tensed when he heard the door click shut, pausing again as he lifted his head to watch Jake approach. He eyed the bag he carried wearily.
"What kind of stuff…?" he started, blinking in the light of the lamp but silently thankful for the light. His eyes lit up as Jake explained, his gaze flickering for a moment to the bag in excitement. He did love sugar wafers… though he didn't appreciate Wynn giving away his secrets like that.
"Is this some sort of bribe to get me to do something?" Marcus asked wearily though he still slid over to take a curious peek into the bag. Once he confirmed it was indeed snacks and clothes he seemed to relax.
"I'll change later, maybe tomorrow morning." Marcus returned to assessing which burns he could reach and treat, more so to distract himself from the other presence in the room. He could feel Jake's eyes on him. It made him want to hide from everything.

Marcus froze at the offer letting it turn over in his mind for a moment before he stopped what he was doing and looked directly at Jake. A conflicted expression flashed across the witch's face as he studied the other.
After a long moment of silence, Marcus slid over and gestured for Jake to come closer.
"Fine. But if for any reason I don't like what you're doing you leave, got it? This is only because I can't see them all so don't get any ideas."

There was a soft click as the bathroom door swung open. Wynn ran his fingers through his hair as he exited, looking down at Rae and grinning.
"Sorry for the wait, it's hard to get clothes on over spines, there's a reason most of my shirts don't have any backs." he hummed, pausing for a moment as he studied the pen on her arms. He had caught the tail end of their conversation and felt somewhat amused by the idea of someone like Jen encouraging tattoos. It matched him.
"You know they have a lot of different ways to make semi-permanent tattoos? They last for a few weeks but eventually wash off. When Marcus was first trying out his magic in a combat setting he used to draw the runes he needed on his arms in sharpie and it always smudged too much to be useful so one day he got tired of it and found a few ways to pretty much dye his skin. Of course, those faded eventually too and he got tired of redoing them. Camilla eventually just tattooed them for him. Not the best idea for runes, really, if you fail at a circle or overuse spells it tends to backfire on those runes. Not really great if they're…." He trailed off, frowning. "I don't know why I'm telling you all of that, you probably know how it works."
Wynn shook his head, sighing gently before he gestured back towards the main room. "I'm done in here, now I need to win this competition you started earlier."

"It is a bribe," Jake said, amusement in his eyes at Marcus' hidden excitement. "Though, not a bad one, just so you'll let me look at you to make sure you've got every wound covered, infections and fevers are the worst," Jake said as he sat on the bed opposite from Marcus. He watched Marcus as he thought it over, whether he wanted Jake touching him or not. To be honest, Jake thought he would decline but was pleasantly surprised when he accepted.

When Marcus moved to the side a bit to let him sit beside him, Jake stood up and promptly went over to the other bed.
"Don't worry, I don't usually overstay my welcome." He said seriously, grabbing the cream from beside Marcus and taking his arm warmers off to reveal the previous scarred arms. He squeezed the tube so that the cream came out onto his hand which felt too bare. He didn't like it, but he also didn't like the thought of getting his warmers dirty.
"And I have plenty of ideas, though, I'm not one to do things without consent. Consent is everything" He said, at last, there being a hidden meaning behind his last words. There was a reason why Jake held consent in such high regard, he felt that everyone should, but unfortunately, some people really were assholes. Assholes he had no problem killing.

"I may seem pretty bad to you, especially Wynn, but I promise I don't overdo it. I'm not-" I'm not a monster. He thought even though he would say that he was to beat others to it.
He slowly lifted the shirt from Marcus' back and looked at all the bruises, some of them looked old and he frowned. Again. What exactly was he doing to get all of these? He thought but figured he shouldn't ask about it.
Jake gently applied the cream to the burned areas and softly massaged it into his skin. His touch was strangely tender, something that didn't match him at all. His hands were also slightly cold despite having something to warm them.
"But as I was saying, I'm not all bad…" He said softly, a hint of sadness in his voice. "There's a reason I don't hold sympathy for you guys, and that has to do with keeping my sanity intact" He explained. "Some of us don't willingly work for A.C.E just in case you were wondering" Jake hummed as he kept applying the cream to Marcus' skin.
Once every area was covered on his back, Jake put down his shirt.
"Anywhere else you would like me to help you with? It seems like you got all your wounds covered so that's good" He noted, a casual side smile on his face.

Rae smiled back at Wynn when he grinned at her.
"All good!" She chirped, pocketing her pen and getting up. "As you can see I entertain myself pretty well" She laughed softly. "Besides, it isn't as long as I thought it would be, Jake takes super long showers, you at least beat him" She side smiled.

Rae looked at Wynn curiously.
"Really? I didn't know about that! Do you think I could get some custom-made ones? I don't like anything permanent on my skin, I want to honor my father, he wouldn't have liked it very much if I had gotten tattoos on my skin, besides, I'm afraid of needles" She chuckled.
Rae nodded at Wynn.
"That's okay, I can listen to you explain it again, it's nice to re-learn things, I forget a lot so a reminder is nice," She said, walking down the hall with Wynn and into the kitchen area. "But that would be quite annoying to have to redo them, I do mine for fun, it takes my mind off the hurt," She said, a little too cheerfully for that sentence.
There was a devilish smile that replaced Rae's previous cheery mood when Wynn mentioned the competition.
"Just so you know I haven't eaten much today so I might beat you, don't be a sore loser when I win" She taunted playfully, though she had yet to see how much Wynn could wolf down.

Entering the living room, Jen was sitting on the couch, watching Alice in Wonderland, not exactly a joke anymore. He looked up to the two that approached.
"Food's on the table in the kitchen, you can go ahead and get started, I'm going to wait for Jake and Niveus to finish up what they're doing," Jen explained and gestured to the kitchen, telling them to help themselves.
Rae flashed a smile in Wynn's direction.
"Okay!" She walked over to the kitchen and looked at all the food laid out in front of them.
"You can choose whichever one you want, I think….these and these are ours" She picked out the ones that were in to-go boxes, there were others still in bags.
"I think those are ours too, but we can get them later," She said, handing a box to Wynn and getting one for herself, and opening it. She reached over to the bag and took out two forks, handing one to Wynn as well.

"You're lucky I'm easy to win over." He mused, staring at the bag for a moment longer. Marcus couldn't decide if he felt touched by the action or if he should be wary of the kindness. It felt more like pity to him… or maybe as if they were trying to make themselves feel better about handing them over to A.C.E.
"You're strangely accommodating for a group of hunters." The witch glanced curiously over at Jake as he took off his warmers. The scars were curious, but nothing he hadn't seen before. It wasn't unlikely to come across beings with heavy scarring in his line of 'work'. Marcus had quite a few himself both from others and self-inflicted.
Marcus narrowed his eyes at Jake, looking him up and down for a moment. "Asshole… keep your decency…" He muttered, turning his head away. Small alarm bells were going off in his head though he tried his best to shove the rising anxiety down. Maybe he should have asked if Wynn could have done this instead.

He tensed as Jake started on the wounds on his back, staring at the bed in front of him. The tenderness of it all put Marcus on edge more than anything else that had happened in the last few hours. He had expected these people to be just as unforgiving as the rest of the A.C.E. agency members and instead had found a group of teens no older than he and Wynn who gave them food and first aid.
It was too comfortable. Marcus didn't trust it at all.
"Doesn't matter if it's willing or not. Doesn't change things at all." Marcus grumbled, hugging his knees to his chest. "You can tell us all you want that you're not a bad person and it won't make a difference. Not a single Abnormality you hunt will believe you regardless if they are innocent or not. At the end of the day, you're the people who lead us to a slow and painful death, don't waste your breath trying to get us to sympathize with you. It's a waste of energy."
He turned to look at Jake once he had finished, shaking his head. "No, everything else will heal fine on its own." Marcus paused, awkwardly picking at the scabs on his arms. "Thank you…" He added, shrinking in on himself.
Marcus seemed to hesitate for a moment, his brow furrowing in frustration. "You knew, back in the cafe." He started, struggling with each word as if he didn't quite know what to say. "You didn't do anything about it. Why not then? It would have been much easier to catch us off guard at that moment rather than wait for Marx to do something."

"Really, now? That's a surprise." He replied lowly, glancing towards the room Marcus was in and narrowing his eyes. He had given Jake the benefit of the doubt in this situation, he hoped he wouldn't regret doing so later.

Wynn gave Rae a crooked smile, shrugging. "I don't know about custom ones, you'd have to look into it, I'm sure it exists somewhere. I don't get tattoos, doesn't exactly work when your skin is partially scaled. Besides, glamour spells let you look any way you want so why bother?" Wynn gave her a look at her next words, choosing to not reply more so out of the fear he'd say something dumb.
A wicked look replaced his smile, a rough, growling laugh leaving his chest. "You haven't had much interaction with Abnormalities, have you? Hate to tell you, but I have about four years of extra calories to make up for." He mused, following after her and rattling his spines excitedly.

Wynn glanced at the tv, tilting his head at the curious visuals. He hadn't ever seen Alice in Wonderland but he had heard plenty about it. Camilla loved the movie. She had once told him that she used to watch it after particularly rough transformations. He could see the appeal, it's strangeness felt familiar.

Wynn took the food offered to him thankfully, his eyes widening when Rae pointed out what else was theirs to eat. Talking about large amounts of food was one thing, seeing it all in front of him was another. He was still confident that he would eat it all but it admittedly had been a while since he had eaten this much. Maybe their time here wouldn't be the worst idea? If Wynn played his cards right, he might be able to escape these guys and convince Marx and the gang that he and Marcus were locked up in some secret human laboratory…
He just had to pull the right heartstrings.

Jake smiled at that line. Easy to win over. He wondered about that. He listened to Marcus' words and shrugged even though he couldn't see him.
"Would you rather us treat you like dirt?" Jake questioned. "Listen, I know it's hard to believe but not all of us are bad, I'm not talking about myself at all, more so Jen and Rae. You have them to thank for all the 'accommodations', Jen doesn't like treating people badly even though that's our line of work, we leave that up to A.C.E. We're only contracted, and we do as we're told. Your lives aren't the only ones on the line" Jake said casually, frowning again when he glanced at the markings again. He had avoided looking at Marcus and let his hands touch where they needed to go, feeling the roughness of some parts.
Jake's eyes softened at Marcus' rejection to his own words. He hadn't wanted to start off on the wrong foot, but things had just played out this way, there was no changing it.

"That is true, we do the most gruesome killings, we torture others and we show indifference" Jake paused. "Sounds like us," He said as he kept applying the cream. Jake wouldn't argue with Marcus, he was right, mostly because of him. Jake had a bad reputation on the streets, even among both families. Except for Jake's father.

Jake's father adored him and called him the pride of his family as Jake was subjected to pain over and over again. That would soon change though, as all things did.
Once Marcus turned around, Jake looked into his eyes for a brief second before looking away, acting like he wasn't into this as much as he was.
The question didn't catch him off guard though.
"I'm a sucker for pretty guys," Jake said, a small smile making its way onto his lips before it dropped and he turned to something more serious.
"There were others around," Jake said simply. "Sure, we could have waited for you guys to come out and ambush you when you were alone out of sight, Jen wanted to so badly, but" Jake seemed to stop. "But I couldn't," Jake said now looking down at his hands, examining his chipped black painted nails.
"You seemed to be enjoying yourself with your friend, who am I to take any of that away?" He looked up, a faint blush on his cheeks.
"And as confident as I am that I can take you in a fight, I didn't want to. I didn't know back then because you seemed pretty available, but you have a partner, yeah? And I'm sure you want to get back to him as soon as possible" Jake stood up. "Or well, Wynn said that he'd come and get you before anything happens." Jake rubbed his arms, feeling the cool air on his arms for more than he liked.
"Maybe that's for the best," He said walking to the door.
"Would you like to come to the living room? I'm sure the others would like to have you, besides, it's not like you can sleep right?" Jake said looking at Marcus before opening the door and waiting for him.
A lot of questions were swimming in Jake's head, but he decided to shut it off for tonight. He was tired. Balancing school, work, and playing A.C.E's puppet took a lot out of someone, and Jake honestly wanted to lay down and never wake up again. The exhaustion penetrated his very bones, he felt like he could drop dead at any moment, but it was not like he had the luxury of giving up. Not yet.

Rae looked at Wynn and smiled. Maybe there were other options she could choose from, she thought about this, she'd definitely look it up later. It was intriguing in its own way, there had to be something like that out there, out of all the things marketed, there had to be.
The excitement Wynn exhibited only served to make Rae even more excited. There was never really anyone who liked eating competitions, especially when she could beat them all, Andre had quite an appetite but he rarely participated in her games. Jen didn't like wasting food or overstuffing himself, and the others well…they weren't a fan, especially Aaron.
The thought of eating and excitement soon left her as quickly as it had come though. Easily, these people could have been her friends at school, very good friends, but the cards hadn't been dealt that way and it saddened her. Secretly, Rae wondered when their leader would come and get them, maybe they would get away. Every fiber of Rae's being begged whoever was looking down on them, would allow that to happen. A.C.E would be royally pissed, knowing they had these guys so close to their grasp only for them to slip away last second.
Even though Rae wanted that, she knew it was no use. They'd be sent out to capture them again until they succeeded or some of them died.
Rae grabbed some of the Mexican food that Jen had brought and looked over at the drinks.
"We usually have drinks in the fridge, but it seems we ran out so Jen bought some more, help yourself to anything we have available," She said, then motioned for Wynn to come to the living room and sit down when he was done grabbing what he wanted to drink. Rae patted the cushion beside her, seemingly happy to have Wynn with her. Jen was on the far right of the couch, drinking something as his eyes were on the tv, not minding Rae much. He looked over at Wynn though, watching his movement. Something had changed while Jen had been out. He had some time to think about it and while he hated the idea of hurting someone when they had already been wronged, he couldn't help it. He would deliver these two kids to A.C.E if it was the last thing he did. He just had to not think about it. He needed to stop talking, needed to stop asking stupid questions. That was the fastest way to death and he'd be damned if he let his family get killed over two strangers.

"I don't know… might make it feel less weird, I'm used to that at least," Marcus admitted truthfully, shrugging slightly. "I don't doubt your words, not everybody is willing to play the cards they are handed. I'm just telling you that in the end, that kindness won't matter. It never does." From his experience, nobody was kind just to be kind. There was always fine print to accepting a kindness. He had yet to figure out what Jen's fine print said.
Marcus stayed silent for the rest of the time Jake worked, trying hard not to flinch away from certain touches.

Marcus rolled his eyes, turning his face away from Jake to hide the red in his face. "You have strange taste." He huffed playfully, tugging on his shirt awkwardly. He stole a glance at Jake when he started to explain, watching as he seemed to retreat inward. For a moment, Marcus's expression softened. He opened his mouth to say something but froze at the next words.
He'd have to really tear into Wynn about keeping his mouth shut after all of this went down.
"Partner… yeah, sure. He'll probably only show up because his pride was bruised." Marcus made a face at that though the smallest bit of guilt picked at his heart strings. He had done this to himself, really. Even if it wasn't exactly a willing or established relationship he had committed to remaining in it. Marx claimed it was established, so he couldn't just throw that away.
"Maybe it is." Marcus stood, looking between the bed and the door with a frown. Jake's offer was tempting. He really wouldn't be sleeping much and the thought of having at least some kind of distraction for the night sounded better than sitting in a room alone with his existential dread.
"Alright, maybe just for a bit." He ran his fingers through his tangled hair, shuffling awkwardly over to the door.

Wynn took one look at the drinks and grew overwhelmed. "This should be fine, maybe water later but not at the moment." He followed after Rae with a slight skip in his step, unable to help the slight tremble of excitement in his spines.
He paused at the couch, glaring down at the soft cushion as if he were sizing it up. Jen's gaze didn't help his internal struggle, though he waved it off with a small smile of his own that seemed halfhearted. Eventually he took a seat, staring at the screen for a long moment before he tilted his head and opened up the food he held.
"Camilla likes this movie a lot. I haven't sat down to watch it though I can admit I've never fully understood her reasoning for picking this one as a favorite. Considering her situation, I guess I could see partially why. Something so strange and weird would feel so normal after such a violent and unnatural change in her life. It's just, why pick the movie your designated handler used to try and distract you with so he could murder you, you know? A strange thing to enjoy when it was the background music to you ripping his throat out in self defense." Wynn stated casually, humming along to the music of the movie as he situated himself more.

"Hmmm…" Jake hummed lightly at Marcus' words as if judging him slightly. Was he such a broken kid that he couldn't trust others to be kind for the sake of being kind? Such people existed, Jen was living proof of that, though he was still very much rough around the edges, even now. Something he carried since childhood. Jake never really learned about Jen's past and Jen never talked about it either. It felt violating that Jen knew his but not vice versa.
Jake arched an eyebrow at the comment about having strange taste. He smiled, rather mischievously.
"I'll have you know I have excellent taste." He paused. "Though it's not always that someone catches my eye, I'm not used to being attracted to someone this way," He said, eye wandering from Marcus to the bed he sat on. Andre's bed. He seemed to grow serious for a split moment.

"Anyways, it doesn't matter, you'll be on your way soon, and hopefully we won't see each other again" He smiled, now seemingly annoyed. Not at Marcus but at the feelings that overwhelmed his chest. He barely knew the guy, so it had to be the prettiness of his face that Jake found attractive. A little-known secret about Jake though, that everyone knew, was that he was attracted to those who seemed troubled. Never romantically, but felt that he needed to help others to atone for his sins.
Jake flirted, used people for money in one-night stands, and gave false words of love, but never fell into it. Even now he kept true to that, he felt it was a waste, but getting with someone was always a plus, especially when they were interesting to Jake. He loved stories and hearing about others' pasts as sad as they would be, but it gave him something to think about on nights when he couldn't sleep. He knew everyone's history in Apotheosis, as did the others about each member, everyone except their leader.
"Well that sounds pretty shitty" Jake commented and couldn't help but feel uncomfortable by Marcus' words, Jake had thought he'd be coming to get them both, but with the way Wynn said he'd fend for himself because only Marcus would be the one getting rescued, left a bad taste in his mouth. Marx was their leader, and while he didn't expect the guy to have morals or treat his members equally, he had at least hoped he held some sort of attachment to the others, maybe as fellow teammates seeing how they did everything together, but not everyone had a community that felt like family.

Jake looked over at Marcus when he stood up and reluctantly agreed. Jake waited for Marcus to exit the room before he went over to the bag that contained the sweets. He walked over and handed one of the sugar wafers to Marcus before he closed the door.
"Just in case you don't want to eat anything" He shrugged. "There's more than enough food for everyone if you change your mind though, there's also coffee if you're into that kind of thing" He smiled a little too happily at that as Jake had been the one to buy it, he was a huge coffee fan.

Rae nodded at Wynn's choice of water for later. Rae had seen the movie a thousand times at this point, so when Wynn began to speak again about the other members of his gang, Rae found herself listening more to him rather than paying attention to the movie.
"That does seem very strange" Rae agreed, though internally she panicked at knowing what kind of background his friends held. It seemed violent. And while violence was the norm for Apotheosis, each member took it differently, and Rae definitely was the oddball of the group. While others brushed it off as something not out of the ordinary, Rae couldn't shake it. She found herself stuck on the horrors that happened around her. Part of her wished she could lead a different life away from so much bloodshed, but that simply wasn't an option, especially when she was the leader of a biker gang. They all relied on her to keep them safe from the government. If she stepped away, they ran the risk of getting persecuted like Wynn's gang and that was something she would not allow to happen. They had helped her so much after the death of her father and she owed her life to them, she could at least do this much for them.
"I think it is a rather usual movie, but I grew up watching these sorts of things, a little bit different than your friend, but there's a sort of comfort in seeing things of the past, knowing what you've gone through and how much you've grown, for me it's a nostalgia factor" She shrugged as she began to eat her food.
"Though, your friend's past sounds very troubling…" She trailed off, not sure what else to say.

Marcus rolled his eyes at Jake, snickering softly. "Your tastes are awful even if I think they're interesting…" Marcus paused for dramatic effect, sizing Jake up for a momet. "Well, they're misplaced and that's enough to confuse me enough I want to know why." He admitted, nervously tracing the lines of one of his tattoos. It didn't feel the same now that he didn't have access to his own fire. It all made him feel… wrong.
"Yes, hopefully…" He muttered, shrinking away from Jake as his mood seemed to shift dramatically.

"It is, we deal with it." He muttered, shruggling lightly. Even if it was uncomfortable at best, it was still the way he had lived for the last couple of years.
Marx didn't need to look out for the entirety of the group, most of the time they were fine on their own. Marx made sure the majority of them stayed out of too much trouble and was willing to bail out those who found themselves in a tricky situation but only if it benefited his plans in the long run.
He wasn't a bad leader per se, just one who did things on his own timetables.
Even if Wynn found himself to be not worth much to Marx, Wynn was important to Marcus and that was enough. Marcus was sure they'd both end up 'rescued.'
Marcus was fine by it all. It wasn't like he had known much else.

He stared at Jake for a long moment when he offered the wafers to him. He gently took them from the other, thanking him quietly.
"What kind of coffee?"

Wynn shrugged, opening his food and grinning down at it. His mouth watered at the smell, excitement bubbling up in his chest all over again.
Gods he loved food.
"That makes sense… I kind of wonder if that's what it is for Camilla too." He hummed, shrugging again. "You get used to troubling pasts. A lot of us have them. Marcus burned his house down on accident and lost his mother to it, Vance killed the guy who had his family under strict contract, I ate a few people once I ran out of money for food, Camilla ate the man who cared for her after he tried to kill her. I don't actually know what Marx's deal is, I'm sure he's got plenty of issues too. Regardless, we've all got something wrong with us. Why do you think we're not too keen on going to A.C.E. for help?" He asked her plainly, looking over at her with an amused smile.

Jake gave Marcus a smile as if he was an old friend and not a prisoner doomed to die at the hands of A.C.E. It felt weird to be so carefree with someone who was considered dangerous, Marcus could strangle the living hell out of him and Jake knew he had to fight back, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to if that's how things went down.
"Misplaced? Want to know why?" Jake said casually, thinking about it for a moment. "Besides having a pretty face?" He questioned. "I think I have a thing for danger," He said as he made his way to the kitchen. Jake said it with a straight face, but part of him knew he was still suicidal about everything and he was just looking for a way out.
"You're basically the embodiment of it, or at least everyone seems to think so" Jake kept talking. "Jake be careful, Jake do your job, Jake stop messing around" He made his voice whiny so as to mimic the voices of others.
"It's always Jake this Jake that, but if you ask me, I'm not too fond of listening to others and the more something is forbidden, the more it makes me want it" Jake looked over at Marcus with an amusing glint in his eye, meaning him.

"Anyways, coffee." He moved on to the next topic. "Anything you want basically, I'm not a barista but I know a thing or two about coffee, I make all sorts at home" He paused at the word 'home'. Didn't feel like one but it was what it was.
"Let's see, here we can make…expresso, latte, cappuccino, mocha, black, irish" He looked over at Jen to make sure he hadn't heard the last one. Jen looked over at Jake, arching an eyebrow, wondering why he was looking at him.
"We're not supposed to have whiskey or any type of alcoholic drinks, but I might sneak some in from time to time." He shrugged. "We have a lot of options, just tell me what you want and I'll see if I can make it happen," Jake said as he went over to the coffee maker. He sure seemed chatty for someone who was constantly on guard. Thing was, Jake seriously had a thing for Marcus, and his over-chattiness was him trying to not fumble all over the place and make an absolute fool out of himself. He was nervous. Not something that happened often, but the combination of having someone he found attractive in the same room with him, not to mention how dangerous the situation was, was enough to make his anxiety spike.

Rae ate her food as Wynn explained briefly some of the gang member's pasts. She seemed to be pretty relaxed at the thought of someone eating another person even though they themselves were eating.
"You've eaten others before??" She questioned, more intrigued than anything else. She hesitated before she asked the following question.
"What did it taste like?"
Jen, having caught onto the conversation now felt a little queasy at the thought and looked over at Wynn and Rae curiously, as if he was also interested.
"Maybe you shouldn't ask questions like that Rae…" Jen said quietly, not sure if he wanted to know the answer to her question.
When Wynn said the last bit Rae nodded.
"I get it, you guys would not be treated fairly even though you only had to do what you needed to do for survival." It put things into perspective for Rae, A.C.E was not fond of abnormalities even though they were there for the regulation of nonhuman entities. You would think that they would be treated a bit better, but instead, some of them were shunned.
"I'm sorry though, I know it's not what you want to hear" Rae put down her fork as she spoke and stopped eating for a second. "I wish things weren't this way…" She looked at Jen, as if pleading for something, and Jen, knowing exactly what it was, looked away. Absolutely not.
Rae looked down at her food. She wished she could share these moments with more people, if only they got to know everyone before they killed them, then more would survive. Sure, at Apotheosis' cost, but that was someone's life they were taking away. Rae was against the idea of killing others and even though she knew she had to do it, she didn't want to. She protested a lot against the idea of killing off people, which was sometimes called for, as the program they worked for was a combination of A.C.E and N.E.X.U.S. Rae understood hunting down humans who did wrong, but even some of them had gray areas, and even though they did the vilest things, Rae couldn't help but have sympathy for the worst of the worst when their stories came to light. Some of them anyways, some were just lost causes.
"Anyways, I think you're great, you've had to go through a lot, more than I can say, and I wouldn't ever judge you for what you've had to do," She said as she stuffed her mouth with more food, as if angry that someone would look at Wynn and want to get rid of him for just surviving. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got at A.C.E and the more she wanted out.

Marcus gave Jake a questioning look, glancing down at himself for a moment before laughing quietly. Him? The embodiment of danger? Everyone did seem to think of him that way. Some part of him wondered had he been more attuned to a different frequency of magic would he have been considered less dangerous? Less violate? If he could control water instead of fire, or maybe manipulate the shadows to hide himself, would that make a difference?
It was nice food for thought albeit a bit of a sad one.
"Can't fault you for that… I do the same thing." He paused for a moment, looking Jake over. "Forbidden things are… tempting, I will admit that." He admitted sheepishly, moving to lean against a counter.

"Do you usually take your coffee Irish?" Marcus questioned, a glint of amusement in his eye as he watched Jen cast Jake a questioning glance. "As much as I love a good alcohol, Wynn would kill me. How about a mocha? Or a latte? Something warm and sweet sounds really nice at the moment. The more sugary the better."

Wynn snickered at Jen's reaction, leaning back more and pretending to think. The soft click of his spines gave away his amusement as he debated answering her anyways.
"Tough. Stress doesn't do good things to meat. Wouldn't recommend human, it's not the best."
A simple answer to the question, one broad enough it hopefully wouldn't make Jen sick to his stomach.
Wynn studied Rae's expression, a small pit of guilt eating at his mind. He had tried to sow seeds of doubt into the minds of these people purposefully just to spite them and yet seeing the conflict in Rae's expression left a bad taste in his mouth.
"Don't regret your actions now, don't feel bad for the likes of us. I may play up our sob stories but in the end, we are a danger to your kind, are we not?" He told her, snapping his teeth as if to prove his point.
Wynn fell quiet, however, as she gave him those last words to ruminate on. He stared down at his food, frowning deeply before lifting it to his mouth and nearly swallowing it whole.
"Your loss… we're all nutcases." He mused.

"Too tempting" Jake commented as he got the coffee maker ready.
At Marcus' question, he hesitated.
"No," He said, though it sounded like a lie. He looked over to Marcus and gave him a smile. "I prefer black coffee with a lot of creamer and sugar, but Irish is a perfect second," He said, watching as Marcus leaned against the counter.
"Alcohol is nice, we can't really have it because of the nature of our job, can't be off guard, we always have a target on our backs," He said, the thought throwing him back to reality and the situation they were in. He stayed quiet for a few seconds, acknowledging it.
"Can't tell you the number of times I've been jumped by others and beaten bloody" Jake said, though there was a smile on his face when he said it as if relishing those moments. Jen knew about this and insisted on traveling together but Jake didn't want Jen to be too concerned with him. It felt a little restrictive to be monitored all the time, not that he wasn't sure that the government wasn't already doing that.
He listened to Marcus' request.
"Will do," He said as he got to work. He smiled at the sugar part. Glad he wasn't the only one who loved a shit ton of sugar in his coffee, it was to be expected if they liked sweets.
"I know this is a little out of pocket, but what's it like?" Jake questioned. "You know, being part of a gang?" He hummed, wanting to get to know Marcus a little better and what his thoughts were on the whole thing. Jake did this with everyone. He struck up a friendly conversation with people who he wasn't supposed to. It made his job a lot harder, but Jake could take harder.
"You don't have to answer if you don't like, you guys are just interesting. It's been a while since anyone has done anything this big out in the open before, real stupid if you ask me, should have planned a little more, but is this what you like doing? Do you feel like you need to do it?" He questioned, wondering if there was something more to their motives other than wanting to tear A.C.E a new one.

"We would probably taste terrible then, especially Jen" Rae said, not hiding the huge smile that came onto her face when Jen looked horrified at the thought of being eaten. Why were they talking about this again?
"Listen, despite the fact that I hate where this conversation is going, I would like to think that I would taste…decent." He said, though unsure of himself. Rae seemed to lose it at that and let out a high-pitched sweet laugh, almost bordering on contagious. Jen smiled at that and shook his head.
"I've had enough of this conversation I'm going to the kitchen to get something to eat," He said as he got up and moved towards the other two who were in the kitchen.
"You really don't listen to the doctors do you?" Jen asked Jake who waved him away.
"It's not for me, it's for the strawberry fraisier," He said, refraining from saying Marcus' real name as that's the way he wanted it. Jake had a slight smile on his face every time he called Marcus by that name. It fit him a little too well.
Jen looked over at Marcus.
"Were you not able to get some rest? I know these circumstances are the last thing that'll let you rest and I apologize for that, but you should definitely get some after you're done here" To prepare you for what's next. He thought, moving to one of the bags and taking out a container with food in it.
"You should eat," Jen said to Jake who seemed to ignore it. "I mean it." Jen said, his words a little more firm this time.
"Yeah yeah, I will eventually," Jake said reluctantly and Jen shook his head.

Rae listened to Wynn, clenching the container that her food was in.

"I regret a lot of things and this is another one," Rae said as she stopped eating again. She looked over at Wynn a more serious expression on her face like she didn't like the fact that Wynn was trying to persuade her to not feel sorry for them. It was ingrained in her nature to be the sympathetic of the bunch. Unlike the others, Rae couldn't just do things to do things, even if she had a threat hanging over her head.
"You're not" Rae seemed to snap, though, at Wynn snapping his teeth, she couldn't keep a straight face. "Dangerous? Maybe, but so are we, Apotheosis would be hunted if we weren't who we are" Rae said, and saying those words out loud really yelled favoritism.
"If we hadn't been trained from a young age to be who we are, I'm sure at least one of us would have ended up joining one of you guys."
Little did Rae know that one of them had already joined the other side, playing with death as he balanced being in Apotheosis and being part of a gang. Andre was known to be gentle but there was something lethal about him when it came to obtaining the one thing that could make things better, if only for a short amount of time.
"Everyone's dangerous to a degree and I'm just really sad now that someone like you has had to go through this, don't take this the wrong way, but I really think that you can be doing so much better even though I know that you weren't really given options." Rae seemed to space off as she spoke, it seemed to really mess with her that good people were going down the wrong path. She wanted to help so badly that it physically pained her, her heart was crying out at the fact that she could do nothing to help this situation.
She hesitated.
"If…" She started. "If you were given a second chance, maybe A.C.E reconsiders, would you take it?" Her eyes looked sad and droopy now like the tiredness had caught up with her. There was one person in the whole group who could probably maybe persuade the government, A.C.E., to reconsider. And that person was Aaron. He had connections with the government directly as he was the kid of one of the top richest families. Rae was seriously considering asking him for a favor at this point, but knowing Aaron, who had basically everything, she wasn't sure if anything was good enough in exchange for a favor. Maybe a favor for a favor.

Jake's comments only further confused Marcus. He was trying to test the waters and push Jake's words a little more just to test them. He hadn't expected the attraction to actually be truth. He thought Jake was making fun of him like Marx's friends often did.
It made Marcus a little flustered and he knew that was wrong. Was he really so deprived of affection that he was willing to throw himself at anyone who showed even just a little more interest in him than Marx did? Gods he was pathetic…
Despite that, Marcus couldn't quite make himself want to drop the feelings.

"Black coffee with creamer and sugar…" Marcus repeated, tilting his head slightly. A fair choice in coffee.
"Alcohol is nice, on days I have someone standing by with a fire extinguisher. I attempt too many drunken arson attempts for my own good." He mused, sneaking a glance at Jake for a moment when the other fell into silence.
"Happens too often, doesn't it? Feels like you go looking for it after a bit." Marcus muttered, picking at the edge of the soft material of his shirt.
He cracked a small smile, watching Jake start on his drink. He looked around for a moment before he pulled himself up onto the counter to sit, sighing in relief when the pressure was taken off of his aching abdomen.
"Not as exciting as you'd think. And I'd hardly call us an actual 'gang'. We're more of a group of misfits who think we can take down an entire government armed and trained to deal with beings like us." Marcus admitted, letting himself spill his guts for once about what he really thought of the group.
"I don't mind telling you. There's a chance I'll never get to tell anyone." Marcus replied, waving away Jake's words.
"I agree with you. It was stupid. Marx is impulsive and arrogant and never thinks anything through if he's convinced he's good enough to do it. And then he has the gall to be upset and surprised when things fall through and go to shit. And Vance doesn't care enough to stop him, he's the only other person Marx will actually listen to because they're 'similiar beings of non-human origin'. Any of the others don't even register in Marx's head except for maybe Camilla because she's our medic and maybe Em, but I think he sees Em as something no longer capable of human thought, kind of like a pet dog… Wynn is recognized and I'm…" Marcus suddenly fell silent, his brows furrowing as he debated admitting things he could never take back. There was always the chance he would escape from here… did he want to risk letting Jake know the most vulnerable side of him? No. He'd take this to his grave.
"I also hold no power, despite being second to Marx." It wasn't a lie, so he didn't feel bad about saying it.
"It's not that I feel like I need to do it and I definetly don't fully like doing it, it's just that I made stupid choices and now I don't get the freedom to do anything else."

Wynn snickered as Jen grew more uncomfortable. He found it strangely funny even if a part of him nagged to stop antagonizing the man who had fed him.
"You might. I don't find human the best meal out there, I much prefer other things so you're safe. Just stay away from most bodies of water if you hear voices that are just a little too interesting or attractive and you'll be fine." Wynn teased, watching as Jen stood. He let out a small giggle and turned back to Rae.

Marcus looked up when Jen spoke, giving him a weary glance. His aprehension faded away, however, when Jake spoke up. Marcus grinned at the nickname, shaking his head at it. What a strange thing to call someone you had admitted to seeing as 'dangerous'.
"Ah… no. Too much anxiety. I don't think I will be getting any rest. It's not really possible," He replied, playing with the edge of his shirt once again as Jen's gaze fell on him.
He fell silent as Jen chastized Jake, reminded again of the fact that he did not belong here.

Wynn seemed to grow more distraught when Rae refused to go with his 'advice'. He didn't look over at her, instead finishing off his food and setting it down. He nodded gently at her words, ackowlding that he understood that her group was no different than his.
"Have you ever considered that loosing our sense of pity and empathy might be more benefitial in our situations?" He asked her, a new and intense seriousness to his tone. It wasn't said in a way meant to antagonize. The words were presented as merely facts, as if Wynn had gained some forbidden knowledge and had fallen into disarray over it.
"I know it's supposed to be what makes us humane, but both of us know that we aren't supposed to be humane. We are all dangerous to a degree, and it's not fair that our circumstances were piss-poor, but we're here now and we are being asked to do something that is supposed to be for the betterment of our respective people. If the past was unfair it no longer matters. We are being asked to do things that require us to be monsters."
He sighed deeply, letting her space off and letting himself wallow in the mood he had created for himself.
"I'm not sure anymore what we're supposed to be feeling or how we're supposed to be. It feels like at this point, I should just be the monster they see me as. Make's it easier to accept that A.C.E. is going to put me down like some rabid animal."

Rae's words made him freeze up. He hadn't ever really been asked that question, hadn't ever considered how he'd respond. It confused him the more he tried to think over it.
"I… I don't know. I don't know anything different. I don't want to go back to being under survelience at all times of my life because I'm not human but…" Wynn glanced back at Marcus, his brows furrowing. "I think it'd be good for both of us to get away from the gang."

"It's…normal," Jake said, referring to his coffee choice, making a small gesture with his hands as he prepared everything. He looked at Marcus from the corner of his eyes when he explained the alcohol and why it wasn't such a good idea.
"Sounds hot," Jake said, meaning it in every sense of the word, though he didn't elaborate. He measured the coffee as he finally had all the ingredients in front of him and hummed lightly and nodded at Marcus' next words.
"Right, I mean, it can be fun," Jake said casually. He loaded the coffee into the machine and started to put the water in, then turned it on. It wasn't a fancy coffee maker but Jake made do with what he had.

"Who knows, maybe you can. Maybe that's why they're so terrified of you guys" Jake commented, a smile appearing on his lips, though his back was turned to Marcus as they spoke. He listened as the other went on a tangent about everyone in his group, listing people off and what they meant for their leader. When it came to Marcus though he seemed to stop.
Jake turned on his heels rather dramatically and crossed his arms as he watched the other grow silent. Now that he was interested in knowing about.
When Marcus said he held no power in Marx's eyes Jake let out a small 'hm' as if not satisfied with that answer. He didn't believe it for one second. Marcus was the right-hand man of Marx, that had to count for something. He held power, even if the guy didn't realize it. After all, Wynn was so sure that Marx would come for them, for Marcus.
Jake walked over to Marcus, staring into his eyes, a little too close for comfort.
"Somehow, I don't believe you," Jake said, his eyes still and wondering if he could get anything else out of Marcus before A.C.E came to take them away.
Jake took a step back, knowing full well that Marcus could deck him if he taunted him too much.

"So what you're saying is, you wouldn't be doing this if it were for you?" Jake questioned, his posture relaxed, but his arms still crossed, not entirely trusting the other in front of him.
"That's something to go off of," Jake said, though not making any sense in what he was saying.

Jen seemed to pale at Wynn's warning, and Rae only seemed further amused. The guy had balls for saying something like that to their leader, but she respected it.
As Jen looked through the bags he nodded, not to anyone in particular, well, to Marcus, but not in his direction.
"I guess you'll be up with our night owl then," Jen said as he took out a container, then checked to make sure it was the right one. He'd take that one to Niveus as he was probably with Artemy in the other room. Artemy should probably eat too…Jen seemed distracted as he rummaged through the bags once again.
"It's not that I want to be a night owl, my work is just…done at night. It's when others are more willing to come to me" Jake defended himself, turning to the coffee machine when it indicated it was done.
"I need to earn money somehow" Jake rolled his eyes. "Especially if you want me to pull my weight around here" Jake took the container from the coffee machine and poured the liquid into a mug. The mug was black and had the words "BIG DICK ENERGY" written on them in white. It had been gifted to Jake and it had been his favorite ever since. If anyone used his mug he was definitely throwing hands. It was…special. In a way.
Jake added the cream and chocolate to the bottom with a spoon and then topped it with some cream foam so it looked somewhat fancy. He didn't know if Marcus wanted more sugar in his coffee so he took the sugar container with him over to Marcus and placed it beside him, then handed him the coffee mug, but paused right as he was about to give it to him.
He squinted. Was it too hot to be held? Marcus was a fire type, but would it be too hot? Jake turned without saying a word and grabbed a small rag, he wrapped the mug and it was only then that he took it over to Marcus and properly presented him with it.
"We don't need any more burns added to you, I think you've had enough," Jake said as he watched Marcus.

Rae was silent as Wynn spoke. Wondering if everything that had happened to him was enough to make him grow pessimistic about the world.
"Strangely…no." Rae said quietly. "I don't want to be another bad person in the world even if that's what I'm considered. I'll try my hardest to do what's right and use whatever I have in my power to help those that need it, even if it means using brute strength to give those people some hope, some help. Maybe we're not supposed to be gentle people, but we can still use the qualities we have for good. We don't always have to be monsters, we can change that" Rae said, a smile appearing on her face as she talked. She loved seeing the better in people, how humans and other beings were just little people living on this giant rock and trying to find a way to survive.
"I don't think we're monsters though" Rae's eyes softened as she turned to look at Wynn. "We can act like one sometimes, but there's still some good in all of us. Cheesy, I know, but we'll just have to find another way. If we don't get other options, then we make other options, with the same brute force we have" She gave Wynn a giant smile.
"I refuse to play into whatever role we've been giving, I'll fight till I drop, even if it gets me killed" Rae seemed determined about this fact.
At Wynn's mood drop, Rae's mood also seemed to drop, mirroring his emotions. Her heart felt heavy for the siren. Not just imagining what it would be like to be in his position, but also him, as a human being, deserving of love and being given a second chance.
"You can choose to be seen as a monster, but you and I both know you're not one," Rae said, setting her container aside when she was done. She turned her body towards Wynn and crossed her legs on the sofa, getting into a more comfortable position to speak to him.
Rae's face seem gentle and caring for Wynn, even though she had barely just met him. They didn't bring abnormalities around here, into their home often so when they got the chance to chat, Rae took it. Wynn was the very first to speak to her without trying to rip her throat out. Others were more reserved, felt resentment, and rightfully so. She couldn't force anyone to talk, but it really did help to get perspective on the other side.
"We'll just have to change that then," Rae said optimistically. It was a lot easier said than done, they'd really have to fight for abnormalities rights and change a few laws. That was not an easy thing and they probably wouldn't see it in their lifetime, but it was worth fighting for. So that others didn't feel like Wynn.
Rae seemed pretty taken by Wynn as she listened to him and they spoke. He wasn't like anyone else she had spoken to before, for someone with abilities. Someone nonhuman.

"It is, almost shockingly so. The big scary Abnormality hunter has a normal coffee order." Marcus mocked, a bite to his words he really hadn't meant for.
Marcus narrowed his eyes once more at Jake, unsure whether or not he should take that as concerning or flattering. He dismissed it, opting instead to watch as Jake made his drink.
"You have concerning tastes…"

He scoffed, lifting his head to stare at Jake. "Maybe. Maybe not. Don't understand why they're terrified of us." He muttered, frowning for a moment as he seriously considered the sentiment.
Maybe A.C.E. saw more potential in them.

Marcus hesitated for a small moment when Jake turned to face him, feeling suddenly very uncomfortable with the conversation.
He shrank away from Jake when the other got close, his eyes flickering across his face in suspicion. Too close…
"You should… I have limited use. Fire only goes so far." Marcus replied cooly though his voice wavered a bit.

"No, I don't care either way what happens." A lie. Marcus tried very very hard to tell himself that was what he believed. Sure he wouldn't have willingly joined people as extreme as Marx and his little group but he really did want to spit in the face of A.C.E. just a little.
And maybe in Jake's face at the moment.
He gave he other a questioning glance, huffing slightly.

Marcus eyed Jen suspiciously, tilting his head a little when he spoke. He glanced over at Jake, waiting for the other to respond before he put his own input in.
"Nighttime is nice. It's quiet, calm. And fire is prettier in the dark, you can see more of the sparks and feel the heat more. I wouldn't mind having more of my work at night."

Marcus seemed amused by the rag but took the mug anyways, relishing in the warmth that filled his hands. He was strangely cold without the constant flow of his magic through his fingers and arms so the drink was a warm welcome.
"You don't need to worry about that. It takes a lot of heat to burn me. A fun perk to having the literal essence of fire burning through your veins constantly. Unfortunately, it doesn't often protect me against actual flames, especially not those made by others like me that's why this…" he gestured to his torso and arms with a soft laugh. "… is the way that it is. I may also have potentially overused said fire… rune circles are a bitch when they backfire, fortunately, that includes anyone within my general vicinity so it makes for a wonderful backup plan." He mused, giving Jake a wicked grin.

"Interesting. You're very optimistic for your situation." Wynn commented, not meaning to be rude about it, purely observational.
He picked at the tough skin around his claws, eyes narrowing as she spoke. He seemed to be seriously considering her words, but something in his eyes spoke of hesitance to believe her.
Her heart was in a good place but it was unfortunately in one he couldn't quite understand or take part in.
"I am, though. Regardless if that word is taken in a hypothetical way or in a literal sense, I am not human. You are. You don't understand it, do you? They watch us more closely than they do you. It doesn't matter to them that we experience human emotion, they are searching for any reason to put us down as rabid animals. Any show of negative emotion, any anger or frustration, is automatically attributed to our 'natural beings' and reinforces their views of us regardless of how wrong those views are. I can know I'm not a monster, you could know it too, but unless the entirety of your kind suddenly switch their views, they will always see us as monsters." Wynn's tone was smooth, practiced even, as he spoke, looking at her dead in the eye as he tried to explain his predicament.

Wynn seemed bewildered by her optimism, his spines clacking as he shook his head in disbelief. A small smile made it's way to his face, however, and he laughed softly.
"Gods you're all so weird. Guess now I can't eat you after all, you're at least trying to understand us."

Jake flexed his jaw as a smile of this motherfucker came onto his face, no one was that bold to mock Jake, only the people he worked with, so having someone outside of that circle be so challenging with him made Jake smile, a genuine one, as if he couldn't believe it.
He simply stared at Marcus when he said he had concerning tastes, the smile still stuck to his face.
"You don't understand?" Jake repeated, genuinely surprised about that. "Have you seen what you can do? Not to mention that you get away with it every time- well, that was until now" Jake said, correcting himself.
The way Marcus' voice wavered, though he tried to play the tough guy made Jake's smile widen as if taunting him. It's like he got a kick out of seeing others scared.
"Alright, I believe you," He said, though those words were empty. His smile dropped gradually, though he did seem to be in a very good mood. He crossed his arms and leaned again the counter as he listened to Marcus speak.
"I'm with you there, people leave you alone at night, mostly anyways." Jake looked over at Jen as he grabbed what he was looking for and promptly left the kitchen without saying anything. Jake figured it was to give the other containers to Niveus and Artemy.

"Well, it seems that Wynn worries, a lot," Jake said tilting his head in Wynn and Rae's direction as to gesture to them.
At the subtle threat Marcus threw his way, Jake looked at him curiously.
"And you say I have concerning tastes" Jake smiled as Marcus drank his coffee. Jake didn't say anything as he did so because he knew he'd look like he wanted praise or approval that he had done a decent enough job. So he opted to look elsewhere as silence filled the air, he did, however, want to know if Marcus liked it, so he kept looking over to see if he could read him, but Jake had never been good at that.

Rae sucked in a deep breath as Wynn explained it all and sadness filled her eyes as if her optimism had been crushed. She knew that. She wasn't that stupid but having the words be said out loud made everything seem more like there was nothing to be done about the situation.
"I wish I could do more" Was all that Rae said at last, unsure of what more she could say to that. He was right after all and everybody knew it.
His laugh however brought her back from thinking about how there was nothing to do. At least for now. She smiled at him.
"Maybe, just a little" She mused. "Well I'm glad you changed your mind," Rae said proudly with the same smile still on her face.
"After this" Rae started. "Would you like to go to sleep? We can stay up if you don't think you can sleep tonight, but there are always beds waiting for you" Rae offered, knowing it was getting really late and they were almost done with their food.
"I would recommend it" Rae pushed the idea to Wynn, knowing A.C.E would most likely be here tomorrow.
"But then again, I don't know your sleep schedule- if you have one"

Marcus stared back at Jake, finding a small amount of satisfaction in pulling such a reaction out of Jake. It filled him with strange adrenaline he was worried he may grow dependent on.
"I don't understand it. You are just as capable of doing whatever you want with fire. How is what I do any different? I can touch it? I guess but it's really not all that impressive. Just useful. I will admit though, that I do take pride in the fact that it took you guy this long to capture me. Feels like I had a good run." He shrugged, grinning a little.
Marcus ignored Jake's next words. He knew Jake didn't believe him but he wasn't going to give the other something to use against him.
"Nobody is nice. Noone to bother you." He sighed deeply, watching Jen until he no longer could physically see him. Why he trusted Jake more than Jen was beyond even him. Jake was… comfortable. Not in the sense that he made Marcus feel safe, more so that his presence was familiar: threatening and intimidating. Marcus knew how to deal with people like that. He did not know how to deal with someone like Jen, who oozed protective goodness that made Marcus queazy.

"He does. He's the only friend I got." The witch muttered, looking over at Wynn and sighing gently. He was glad he had someone on his side. As much as he told Wynn to fuck off, the siren refused to leave.
Felt good to have him there.
"Hey, at least mine is fairly common." Marcus mused, bringing the mug to his lips. The moment the hot liquid met his tongue he melted. It had been too fucking long since he had had something this sweet and comforting.
"You should have gone into the cafe business, didn't know you could make such a good drink. It's not very 'big and scary hunter' of you. Don't tell me even you have a soft side?" Marcus poked, purely to see if he could get some kind of reaction from Jake over it.

"You're doing all you can. It's admirable, Rae." He reassured, giving her a small smile.
"Just a little? Hmm… seems more than that to me." He joked, nudging her gently with his elbow. "But yes, I have changed my mind. You're lucky." There was an amused lilt to his voice that tried to tell her he was purely joking.

"Well, seeing as how I'm a creature of the night… why not try to get some sort of rest? It's been a very long day and I'd rather sleep than sulk about what is going to happen to us tomorrow. One can only hope Marx has a plan. Or Vance, even if the guy finds us annoying I know he's not too fond of letting us suffer." Wynn mused, not sounding very convinced.
"I don't have a sleep schedule. We sleep when we can."

"In my book that's very impressive. It's also impressive that you got top priority on A.C.E's list. It's not just the fire, but everything combined. And you did have a good run, but I doubt it's over yet. You should be proud of yourself, not many are hard to catch for us" Jake agreed only because it was the truth, something he couldn't deny.
"It's nice to have friends," Jake said, though his words didn't seem all that genuine and instead seemed somewhat dismissive. In Jake's mind, friends were indeed good- they could be, but in this line of work those friends could easily be used against you. It was better to not get too attached, but at this point, it was too late for Jake. He had been with these guys for years and an attachment like that was hard to get rid of.

"Fuck off," Jake said, smiling, eyes looking to the side as Marcus talked. There was a sort of satisfaction on his face to know that Marcus liked it. He seemed content like he had won something.

"But no, sorry to disappoint but I don't have a soft side" Jake lied. "Glad you like it though, really boosts my ego" He teased, laughing softly and shaking his head slightly.

Jake's smile slowly faded a little, turning into something more sincere.
"I can be a 'big and scary hunter' when I need to. It's not my default, but it helps get me through the day- or whatever it is I need to do. You know, running away from your feelings and all that" Jake mused, though it wasn't much of a joke.
"Works really well in this job" Jake leaned off the counter and started to get the area he had used cleaned.

Rae gave Wynn a look, it was a smile paired with a knowing look.
"Thank you. I do try" She said though there was a hint of sadness in her voice. At the nudge though, Rae nudged back lightly, a small giggle leaving her.

Although the mention of Marx made Rae uneasy, something deep inside her really hoped he and the rest would come for Wynn and Marcus. Sure, that meant they would fight and people would get hurt, but Rae was on the fence about all of this. She didn't know what to do, what side to take. She wanted to be there for her family and the people who had given her a second chance but none of this felt right.

So she smiled, a tight-lipped smile.
"Well, if you're done eating, I can show you to one of the rooms? Unless you can fit more into that stomach of yours?" She asked. Rae had already finished her food and could still go for more, but she knew this was just a silly little competition of hers and in the bigger picture it was really just a pathetic attempt at getting her and Wynn's minds off what was to come next.

"I'm glad to have impressed you, you're definitely exactly what I was thinking of when I was trying to piss off an A.C.E. officer. I'll be sure to give the rest of them hell for you, then, they'll think twice about trying to control fire." He mused, giving Jake a wicked grin.
"It is…" Marcus agreed in a similar way, friends were nice until you were attached and they would willingly sacrifice half the world just for your sake. Wynn made sure Marcus didn't do anything too stupid and detrimental to his health and sometimes Marcus wished he could just drink himself into oblivion or maybe, perhaps, just a little bit, throw himself from the highest building he could find.

"Mm, you'll have to make me." Marcus snickered into the mug, rolling his eyes a little at the satisfaction on the other's face.
"Sure, sure. Of course I believe that. Someone with a soft side doesn't make a drink this nice without a little bit of love in it, isn't that always the secret ingredient~?" Marcus seemed a lot more comfortable now, all patched up and with a warm drink in his hand. He felt as if he could joke around like he could with the gang. There was about the same level of mistrust there.

"You know, you're really not convincing me that you don't have a soft side." The witch laughed a little, leaning back against the cupboards behind him. "But I know what you mean. Running from your emotions is easier. Does great when your job has a high risk of death." He watched as Jake cleaned up, taking in a shakey breath when he thought the other was no longer watching.
Truth be told, he hurt. All the joking and teasing and talking was just a way to distract himself from the burning that was settling into each scrape and burn.

"Good. Keep at it. Your group needs it." He added, nodding to himself.

He grinned at Rae, laughing a little. "I can always fit more in my stomach. But, I am also exhausted and as long as you don't mind shredded sheets I'd love to head off to sleep." Wynn laughed softly, his spines rattling in excitement. "These are sharp, give me the bad sheets. No need for blankets, I tend to ruin them." He explained, shrugging.

Wynn wasn't super concerned about everything. He knew Marx and Vance too much to worry over what was going to happen. If Marx was out and Marcus was unable, Vance would pick up the slack out of respect for their leader. Even if he was very obvious in his dislike of Marcus, Vance was very good at making sure the witch never left the gang leader's side.

There was a giant smile on Jake's face now.
"Mmm," He hummed as Marcus gave him a devilish grin. What a tempting thing he was. Jake seemed to watch Marcus carefully as he spoke, it was only when he heard the word 'love' mentioned that he came to.
Love. Him? Secret ingredient? Sure. Something like that.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Jake said, still, the light-heartedness in his tone. "You seem so sure that I have a soft side, and you got that all from a cup of coffee," He said as he put things back in their place and wiped down the counter. The small laugh that followed made Jake's heart beat a little faster, so he concentrated more on moving onto the dishes and washing them.
Right now, Jake didn't look like much of anything, he just looked like a guy taking care of chores, and with his back turned, his smile fell into something more serious. He watched as his hands worked the sponge on a glass cup. He wasn't upset by anything. It was just his expression when thinking about certain things.

"I'll finish up here, and once those two over there are done talking and go to bed, you can move to the couch. If you'd like I can put on a movie for you." Jake looked at the clock hung up on the kitchen wall. It was almost time for him to leave.
"Unless you want to sleep, and if you do, then by all means" Jake finished washing the few dishes in the sink and dried his hands off.
"I won't be around for much longer, so Jen will take over, or maybe Niveus. They'll keep watch over you guys." He faced Marcus again.
"A.C.E'll be here in the morning or afternoon, depending on how desperate they are to get here. Until then," Jake looked away. "all there is left is to wait."

"So what I heard was, give you very comfortable sheets, and a few blankets. Got it." Rae said as she got up and put her container on the couch where she sat. She motioned for Wynn to follow her as she went down the hallway and into a room.

"Don't worry about messing anything up, they're replaceable." She waved him off.
"Here, you'll stay here" She turned the lights on to reveal a very basic room. The sheets on the bed were of a solid color, and on the walls were paintings, mostly of landscapes. The room didn't have much in it but a simple desk in the corner with a few books on it and a closet. It was neat, with the bed made and everything. It looked like someone's room and not just a guest room, as there were small things here and there to indicate that someone had personalized it.
"I'll be out here, maybe in the kitchen if you need me for anything," Rae said softly.

"Hell yes I'm enjoying this. It's not every day I get to pick apart my enemy." Marcus mused, letting his eyes wander for a moment. "You can tell a lot about a person from how they make you something. It's like a key personality trait." He joked, not serious at all about his words. He mostly just enjoyed the light banter, for some reason getting Jake to enjoy his company had become Marcus's new slightly sadistic goal.
It definitely had nothing to do with making Jake smile as much as possible.
No way in hell would that be a reason.

Marcus turned his attention to the people on the couch, his expression dropping for a moment. A movie?
He never really could sit still long enough for those. Sitting for so long made him think and he did not like to think. It made his very marrow buzz with anxiety and he couldn't stand it.
His mood only dropped when he realized Jake wouldn't be sticking around. He had enjoyed the distraction in the form of banter and coffee.
"I won't sleep. I can already tell. You wouldn't happen to have anything more distracting, would you? Something I could busy my hands with?" What even was there to do in this situation that would be enough to make him less antsy?! He hardly had any hobbies. He doubted he could just casually ask them for the one thing that did help in these situations. It'd be fucking ridiculous of him to just ask these people for something so… docile? Soft?
"You wouldn't happen to have a violin would you? I'm definitely not soft and enjoy music and notes so pretty it makes your insides melt. I really am big and tough and strong, the fact that playing makes me genuinely feel emotions in a way I'm not sure I'm capable of doing otherwise does not make me soft." Yeah right. It would just give Jake and his group the satisfaction of having something to hold over his head.

Wynn took his time getting up off the couch, yawning as he stretched himself out. He trailed lazily after Rae, giving Marcus a wicked grin full of sharp teeth as he passed by the kitchen. Marcus only gave him a stern look and a very quick middle finger in response. Wynn laughed and returned the gesture, knowing by the slight glint in Marcus's eye that it was all play to try and distract both of them from nerves.
He wouldn't worry too much, though, his throat was starting to burn with the familiar feeling of magic nearby and his sensitive nose could pick up an acrid, doggy smell mixed with the tinge of hard liquor.
Camilla was hard to miss even at the distance she was keeping.
Wynn knew it would be much later in the night when they chose to appear. This was merely the first of many scouting jobs.

Wynn took a glance around the room, humming lightly at it. Basic was good. He walked to the bed, letting his spines rise to their full positions before fall tightly against his back. Usually, he had another shirt or tank he'd put over them to keep them slim and in place but he felt awkward about asking for something while technically in custody.
"Perfect. Thank you." He rumbled, turning to face her and give her a small smile. "Don't let Marcus bully you while you're out there. He's unapproachable until you get him to talk about what he likes."

"And here I thought I was the only one flirting," Jake said, tilting his head up slightly, eyes still on Marcus. There was a new expression that took him over, something along the lines of playfulness yet dangerous eagerness.

"Hmm" Jake made a soft sound. "I guess you have me all figured out then, so much for remaining mysterious" He joked, though that fact didn't seem to bother him at all.
Jake listened to Marcus as he spoke, smiling when he said something about there being something more distracting. He covered his mouth slightly and looked away, it seemed like he was smiling at something he was thinking about.

He cleared his throat and crossed his arms again.
"I do have something more distracting but as I said, I won't be sticking around for much longer" The stupid smile on his face didn't seem to go away, showing one side of his canine teeth.
"I jest" He said at last. "I take it you're not the movie type" Jake commented and seemed to think for a bit.

"We have a dart board," Jake said finally, then his eyes lit up suddenly as an idea came to mind, but he frowned like he was unsure.
"You're unpredictable. Dangerous. Even without your abilities. I'm not sure if I feel alright doing this, but…" Jake's eyes darted to behind Marcus as both Jen and Niveus came out of Jen's room, having put Artemy down.
"How do you feel about playing at the arcade?" He said, his expression more serious this time around. It really wasn't a good idea to have Marcus in a place more accessible for an attempted escape. Jake wanted to keep an iron grip on Marcus in the sense that he should be kept in lockdown- in their apartment. Still, if both Niveus and Jen were there to keep an eye on him, that should be more than enough, right? But then that would mean that Rae would be left with Wynn, alone. He didn't like that one bit.
Jake's eyes looked over at the clock once more. He had to leave now.
"If you want to we'll let you, just don't get any ideas. Two of us will still be there to keep an eye on you. But if that idea doesn't sound appealing, then you can stay here and play the darts. We don't really have anything else but puzzles and coloring books" Jake said as the other two approached.

Rae watched as Wynn went over to the bed.
"If you'd like to change out of those clothes, I could look around for something more comfortable" She offered, knowing that they had done the same for Marcus.
"I'm used to bullies," Rae said, a smile now on her face. "But thank you for the tip, I'll make sure to be cautious" She looked over at the door, hearing the door to one of the other rooms open along with shuffling feet as the others walked out.

Rae wasn't too thrilled about there being only three of them with these two here. She knew Jake would be leaving soon, as he always did. Wynn and her, of course, had a nice conversation, and he seemed nice enough, but that didn't change the fact that he could be playing her. Everyone in Apotheosis knew how dangerous these guys were and while Rae wanted to give Wynn the benefit of the doubt, there was a feeling in her gut that told her not to be too trusting right away. She had already started to develop a soft side for Wynn, but still, some part of her was still fighting against that.

He shrugged, pretending to pick at something on his pants with a soft grin. "Maybe you managed to convince me it's fun?" He glanced up to gauge how the other felt about it, only to be met with eagerness. It made Marcus's blood run cold, but for what reason he couldn't say. He vaguely felt as if he maybe shouldn't walk that road.
Feelings hadn't stopped him before, however.

"Of course I do. You fit the exact definition of 'edgy, mysterious, and tortured soul.' I myself am one of those." Marcus grinned wickedly, wondering if the other would allow him to joke about that. He figured if Jake was just as mentally unstable as he was then it wouldn't be an issue.
"How unfortunate. I guess I'll just have to mourn your loss." Marcus joked. He brought the mug away from his face so he could read the text on it a few times over while Jake spoke.
He scoffed a little at being called 'unpredictable' again. Was he really all that dangerous? He was just 'some kid' to them wasn't he? A.C.E. was more pathetic than he thought if they found a group of kids to be so scary.
Maybe he could use that to his advantage, however.
"If you're really willing to let an 'unpredictable, dangerous Abnormality' roam around a place of enjoyment probably full of kids, I'd fucking love to go to an arcade." He grinned at the other, his eyes flickering to the other two approaching.
Marcus tipped the rest of the contents of the mug down his throat, hopping off the counter and stretching as well as he could without flinching.
"I'm not stupid enough to try something while you three are around. Not even running would be enough to help me at this point, right? If these things really do track us then I'd just end up leading you right to our little hideout. Not very smart of me, don't you agree?" He gestured to the device around his wrist, sighing softly.

"No need. These will be far more comfortable than anything you guys have. Specially made for me y'know?" Wynn rumbled, gesturing at his clothes and laughing a little. If you could call taking a pair of kitchen scissors to thrifted shirts as 'specially made'.
"Good. Don't let them get the best of you." Wynn muttered, something lingering in his voice that was strangely warm.

Rae had valid reasons to worry. Wynn could tell her as much if she ever asked about it. He wouldn't outright tell her the threat looming over her little group's shoulders, that would put him at a disadvantage and in this situation that wasn't allowed if he wanted to get out before A.C.E. dropped by.
He and Marcus were lucky that A.C.E. was the same as any other corporate American government and took one to two business days to react to anything.

Wynn wandered around the room, eyeing everything he could before he reached around to snap the tip off of one of his spines. He ignored the flaring pain and the small droplets of blood that followed, instead focusing on the task at hand.
While he couldn't channel magic through himself with the bracelets, Wynn had other means to at least infuse other items with the magic that naturally flowed through his blood.
There was a reason Siren's blood was sought after as a potion ingredient.
He wouldn't be able to do much with it, but all he needed was a single rune with a faint magical signal. One that could alert Vance and Camillia to where they were.

Wynn brought the broken spine to the wood of the doorway, digging it into the soft wood and carving out a very rough symbol. It was wobbly but it was probably enough to work. Wynn reached around to grab the other end of the broken spine, collecting as many drops of blood as he could into his hands before he turned to smear it across the carving.
A dull glow was his first sign it had worked.

The gang had less than thirty seconds to catch it.

Jake scoffed and rolled his eyes at Marcus' 'edgy, mysterious, and tortured soul' comment. It was odd for someone to put it that way, 'tortured soul', even though he fit the bill. What Jake considered normal was far from it, so he had never thought about it like that. He had issues sure, but didn't everybody?

Jake let out a small breath at Marcus' grin. How adorable.

"Yeah, that checks out" Jake smiles a little, no smart remarks this time.

It wasn't that A.C.E was petrified of some teenagers running rampant- well, maybe a little. It had to do more with the fact that they knew not to underestimate a threat when they saw one, no matter how small it may be. Underestimating the enemy could bring about the start of a downfall, cause a slip-up, and those were not things they could afford.

"Don't worry, there won't be any kids there at this time, I doubt their parents let them go out this late into the night" Jake reassured. Had this been during daylight, there was no way in hell Jake would have proposed the idea. He knew better.
At Marcus' next words, Jake only stared at him, eyeing him suspiciously. He wasn't sure whether to buy it or not. There was a reason they were so high up on A.C.E's list, was he really going to ignore that fact?
But he was right. There were three of them, plus the tracker. Still, his gut told him not to do this. He didn't trust the situation, not one bit, and regretted putting it out there. Then again, there was a solution to everything.

"Right, so" Jake turned from Marcus to Jen and Niveus when they entered the kitchen. "Call Aaron and Casimir," Jake said.
"I'm leaving right now and I thought since this one here can't sleep, you two would take him to the arcade. Keep the two separate in case something does happen" Jake said casually. "And for safe measure, we'd bring the jackass here to keep an eye on Rae and Wynn"
Jen looked to Niveus, then Jake.
"Aaron is at his house, Jake. He's busy"

"Yeah, busy sleeping" Jake snapped. "Call him or I will" He threatened, giving Jen a sweet smile. Jen sighed and turned to go get his phone.
"Great. I'm gonna get going-" He paused when he turned to Marcus again and for a second, thought about ditching his work. Yeah. In his dreams. He looked away and walked out of the kitchen, not saying another word. Jake seemed desperate to get out of there as soon as possible. Why? No one knew, but it contradicted the way he felt.

Rae soon came into view and sat on the couch in the living room, staring at the screen that was still playing the movie from before, now in its ending scenes.
It took a few more minutes for Aaron and Casimir to arrive and it was only then that Jen and Niveus led Marcus out to the arcade. To their surprise, there was a little kid there, which only raised their guard around Marcus even more.

Marcus hummed lightly, pushing his hair out of his face. “One can only hope, right? No kids means it’s all just for me.”
The witch had to be honest, this really was more of a selfish thing. A chance to have fun away from the gang and away from even Wynn.
Not that he’d let any of them know this was a selfish act. They didn’t need to know he craved freedom so badly he would gladly let them take anything they wanted just to have a night away from it all.

Marcus pretended he wasn’t paying attention to their arguments, fluffing up the mess of curls atop his head while he waited for them to finish up.
When Jake turned back to him, Marcus gave him a playful wave and a near-leering grin.
“Have fun with your ‘job’.”

Marcus took a mental note of those filtering into the apartment and those leaving, a small frown tugging at the edges of his mouth.
A small tug of guilt pulled at his heart.
He was leaving Wynn with these people.
But the chance to have one opportunity to touch a peaceful moment was too tempting an offer to give up, even for someone as close as Wynn was.

Despite the company attached to him Marcus seemed relaxed, eyeing the kid with a sort of tiredness that reveled just how much he had wanted to have a near empty arcade.
He didn’t want that kind of noise. He wanted the sounds of the games to distract him. If he could help it, he’d stay at the far end of the place, eyeing his two bodyguards and scowling slightly.
“So, are you just going to watch me or are you two going to participate?” He asked with a wicked grin, wondering if these two were just as cold as they came across as. Well, Niveus at least. As much as Marcus tried to keep his bitterness towards the leader, Jen didn’t seem all that bad.

As the three walked in, Corin, the night worker, turned to look up at them from the magazine she had been focused on. She had sharp angular eyes giving her an 'I could not care less' look, black eyeliner smudged on the edges. Her hair was choppy and short like she had done it herself, pitch black with a dull look to it. She wore a black lace corset crop top, showing off most of her cleavage although most of her exposed skin was covered by a short leather jacket. Corin set down her magazine and walked out from behind the counter to greet Jen. The bottom half of her outfit was composed of black skinny jeans, though low-waisted to show off the g-string straps that hugged her hips. The chunky high heel boots she sported sounded heavy as she walked despite her slim appearance.
After eyeing the three, she focused on Marcus.
"Who's that?" She asked Jen who was leaning against the counter as Marcus looked around.
"Nobody, don't worry about it," Jen said as Marcus spoke to them. "He won't be around for much longer" Jen's eyes were still as he watched Marcus, his gaze going from him to the kid.
"Fine. You won't tell me, I'll find out myself" Corin began to walk towards Marcus but Jen caught her arm and gently dragged her back. Corin jerked her arm away and gave Jen a death glare.
"I would rather not have you involved" Jen looked over at her.

Niveus looked at the two as they spoke, Corin still having the intimidating air to her. Niveus had a hood to shade his face during the day and at night it was to keep warm, so his features weren't well known as a scarf also covered his nose and mouth.
Although Marcus invited them to play, Niveus did not move.
Jen leaned off the counter when he finished speaking to Corin and Corin went back to her station, flipping through her magazine, a semi-irritated look on her face.
"We're here to watch you, not to participate," Jen said, though his words weren't sharp or cold, more informative than anything else. Niveus pulled his hood back to reveal shiny white hair made into a low ponytail, some messy wisps framing his face. He pulled his scarf down as well and took a step forward. His face was flushed from the warmness of the layers he wore.
"I'm going to fall asleep at this rate if I don't do something" Niveus spoke, his voice soft and low as usual. He joined Marcus in one of the games that was meant for two.
Jen didn't say anything and allowed Niveus to play. Maybe they would take turns. Someone had to keep an eye on the door.

It was at least two hours later and Niveus was fiercely competing against Marcus, though, he didn't look like he was struggling, he was. The kid who had been in the corner was now standing beside Marcus watching him crush Niveus. He had chestnut brown eyes and gelled-down hair which had some parts undone. His clothes, which were a school uniform, seemed a little dirty and wrinkly. The kid appeared to be about ten years old and was captivated by the competition going on.
Jen's eyes at this point felt heavy as he kept watch. The kid had been watching them for a few minutes now and it didn't seem like there was going to be a problem.
The kid bounced slightly on his heels as Marcus kept the lead, he looked excited, and yet very tired as it was three in the morning now. He seemed like he wanted to join them, but didn't know how to approach the older 'adults'.

Marcus hadn’t seemed to notice Corin until she started to walk towards him. The movement had his immediate attention, his body language suddenly alert and ready, eyes narrowed as he looked her over suspiciously.
The look was given to Jen, next, when the other stopped her from approaching.

“You’re no fun.” He told Jen, huffing a little. “Learn to relax a little. I’m not going to stab you in the back. Yet.”
The moment Niveus agreed, Marcus seemed to drop whatever act he had taken up, grinning large and wide.
He acted like a kid the entire time they played, cackling every time he took the lead. Niveus put up a fair fight which made the whole thing a lot more enjoyable.
And he had to admit… the audience watching made him feel proud about his abilities, as childish as they were. The little guy seemed to be enjoying it and it made Marcus’s ego swell.
He nudged Niveus gently, in good spirits as he risked a glance over at the other. “Much more fun than standing guard like your friend, isn’t it?” He gestured over at Jen, flashing a wicked grin. “And we’ve managed to gain a viewer.”

Four hours.
Four long fucking hours.
Vance had been about ready to tell the others Marx had gone and kicked the bucket. Lucky for the gang leader Camilla just so happened to not be drunk off her ass that night and had managed to escape relatively unharmed once the building decided to crumble.
She did what she could for Marx, or so she said. Vance wasn’t sure he believed her fully. Some part of him knew she was hoping the bastard would keel over.
And so Camilla had led them to another witch. One that she claimed was better - as he wasn’t infected with Lycanthropy. Some fucker by the name of Oscar.
Vance didn’t like him either.
But whatever. Oscar gave the gang leader some sort of weird mixture that was far too thick to be a true liquid and then they sat. For four fucking hours.
The first thing out of Marx’s mouth was unsurprisingly a stream of curses. The second was him calling for Marcus.
Vance had been chosen to be the unfortunate soul to tell Marx the news.

And now here they were, standing awkwardly atop a building in the freezing night air while Camilla tried to get Marx to sit down for a bit.

“Well?! The fuck are they? You said you caught a signal, didn’t you?!” Marx barked at Vance, leaning back against a wall. His movements were sluggish, the affects of whatever poison had entered his systems still apparent.
Vance glared at the gang leader, tapping his foot impatiently before he pointed at the place in question. “There. Wynn is at least here.”
“I don’t smell Marcus, sir.” Camilla added, pulling a flask from within the depths of her jacket and taking a long sip from the mystery alcohol inside. It smelled strong. Vance would have to guess it was probably tequila.

“Then go find him, you can follow the smell, can’t you?” Marx growled. Camilla shrugged, taking another drink before she turned to leave. “And don’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t! I’m not you, fucker.” She replied with a grin, flipping Marx off as she disappeared down the fire escape.

Jen arched an eyebrow at Marcus. The contradiction of that sentence almost made him crack a smile. Almost. Except it wasn't that funny when your life was on the line.
Corin snorted at Marcus.
"You'll never get this one to let his guard down. He's a goody two shoes." She said, briefly looking up to see Jen's reaction and smiling when she was satisfied with what she saw.
Jen was giving her a glare, yet he looked slightly offended.

During their playthrough, Jen found himself smiling a couple of times, watching mostly Marcus, it was his job after all, but his kid-like nature was contagious as well. He loved watching others be themselves, and grow into who they were supposed to be. He loved seeing others happy, he would give anything to cure the world of its current sickness. What he would have given to just have the chance to be a kid once, just once. Yet, it was what it was and he wasn't bitter about it. Well. He was in a sense, but he tried not to think about the past, it always upset him.

Niveus seemed neutral the whole time, yet very concentrated as he went up against Marcus. When Marcus nudged him, his eyes also glanced over at the other, and that was a fatal mistake on his part.
"It is very fun.." He said meekly, pulling up his scarf to his mouth slightly. Niveus didn't know how to interact with others very well when it came to socializing, so he looked aloof most of the time. He could get along with Apotheosis, it was easier, but still, sometimes there was a disconnect that confused both him and the others.
Niveus kept his eyes on Marcus for a second longer than he had meant to and in that time, he heard the music of the game go off.
GAME OVER!!! It flashed in different colors. He frowned and stared at the game as if it were its fault he lost, though he didn't make a scene. He wasn't like Jake who would rub it in your face when you lost, telling you, you owed him a coffee or something absurd like that. Niveus was the type to silently accept defeat, and then try again when he practiced and perfected his craft.

Jen pinched the bridge of his nose when Niveus lost, disappointed. Corin gave a wide smile as she put her hand out for Jen to give her something.
Jen begrudgingly dug into his pocket and pulled his wallet out, taking out two twenty-dollar bills and handing them to her. After they had started watching, Corin had started talking to Jen again, having finished her magazine and they struck a bet. Jen was easy to get pulled into bets like these, not because he enjoyed them, but because he didn't like being told he was "no fun". He could be cool and hip…
If Jake or any of the others heard him say that they would give him a sure.. sort of look which he hated. Most of the time they compared him to the person who had raised him, calling him an "old man". He was 16!

The kid, having been addressed by Marcus gave him a sort of dorky smile, bordering on shy and yet happy he had gotten acknowledged.
"You should go home kid. It's almost six in the morning" Corin spoke, pocketing her winnings with a smug look. Corin looked around the other's age, but more of a maturity to her. She was 21.

The kid looked down, playing with the hems of his tailored shirt. He had hoped his father would have gone looking for him at least. He knew things hadn't been so good after the passing of his mother, but he hadn't expected him to give up on him so easily.
"Don't you have school tomorrow?" She said lazily as if annoyed to have to take care of the kid. Jen looked at the kid curiously. He had seen him around the arcade for the past few weeks now and wondered where his parents were.
"Kohen?" Corin said, in a warning tone, but being gentle with him surprisingly. Kohen's face flushed as he looked away, pretending not to hear her.
Corin sighed. Every time. She was getting sick of this. She walked from behind the counter and to the kid who mischievously hid behind Marcus, gabbing onto his clothes. He didn't want to go home, it was so lonely there.

Aaron glared down the hall from his post by the door. Cas was faintly talking with Rae about her injury and if the bandages had kept up with all the running they had done that night. But Rae was avoiding talking about the subject as she continued to blabber on about Wynn and how good of a friend he made. It was all to get Aaron's attention so he'd give her a chance to pitch the idea she had to him, but Aaron wasn't having it and actively ignored her.
"He has a whole future ahead of him if he was just given the chance!!!" She whined to Cas, but loud enough so Aaron would hear. "If you'd talk to him, you'd understand! Just one conversation." She said, looking at Aaron from the corner of her eyes to see his reaction. Aaron shifted uncomfortably with a dead look to him. Absolutely not.

"Seems the type to be too good for play." Marcus hummed in return, giving Corin a wicked grin and laughing a little at the expression Jen gave her in return.

Marcus cackled at the screen, punching the air in victory. He stepped back and dramatically threw his arms out, spinning a little. "I win!"
The witch was 100% the type to boast about his winnings. He did so in good sport, however, giving Niveus a gentle pat on the shoulder and grinning.
"Good game. You're better than I thought you'd be. No offense."

Marcus seemed to sober up, however, when he turned his attention to the kid. He listened in intently to Corin, watching Kohen closely with an expression that didn't betray what he was thinking.
Marcus could recognize the signs of neglect. He had gone through them firsthand, after all, among other abuse. It wasn't lost on him that such a young kid out so late was a little… strange. If the kid had any sort of proper parents they would have come for him hours ago. Unless Corin was his guardian or sibling or something of the likes. The way she spoke to him, however, made him fairly convinced that Corin wasn't involved.
He glanced up at Corin when Kohen hid behind him, a slow smile making its way onto his face. He turned to look at the kid, flashing a kind smile.
"Who's this? Is he with you?" He asked Corin, reaching back to ruffle Kohen's hair.

If Wynn had to of guessed what way Vance would have slipped the message that they were there, it would not have been by the literal knock right outside the too-high window.
He cursed as he slid out of the bed, tiptoeing over to the middle of the room so he could glare up at the tiny window. Vance's grimacing face met his gaze. Wynn snickered quietly at it, waving at him only to be met with a scowl.
Oh Wynn was definitely going to be making fun of Vance afterward. He must be standing on someone or something to be up so high and the thought was amusing to Wynn.

The siren gestured towards the door before throwing his fingers up to indicate how many people he assumed were left in the building. Vance nodded, dropping down and out of view. Wynn could almost smell the small burst of magic that came next, curiosity eating away at his mind as he took a few steps backwards.
He could faintly hear the sounds of something being scratched into the building's exterior and took one more step backwards. Just to be safe.
An intense heat filled the small space, the smell of burning wood, insulation, and metal filling the air. It made Wynn uncomfortable, the moisture in the air drying up too fast for his liking.
"Hurry up." He heard Marx growl, the words slightly muffed by the thinning wall between them.

Niveus gave Marcus a small smile when he patted him on the shoulder. He didn't say anything in return but kept thinking about how he could have done things better. Maybe not be so distracted. Niveus was down for one more game, wanting to win at least once until his attention was directed at the kid. Niveus gently slid his hood back on and properly adjusted his scarf, covering most of his face again. He watched silently as Marcus interacted with the kid. Didn't seem like someone who screamed danger.
Corin approached Kohen, but he simply shrank away. She narrowed her eyes.
"He comes here every day after school, sometimes he leaves early, sometimes he sleeps here," She said. "I don't exactly want to kick him out into the street so I let him stay here sometimes" Corin went over to Jen and shoved him at Marcus and Kohen.
"You get him. You're good with kids, right?" She asked, now leaning on the counter with her arms crossed, staring at the kid.
Jen nearly stumbled from the action. He gave Corin a slight glare but turned to Kohen. He watched how Marcus treated the kid, he felt sick at the thought of how little time was left for him.
"Uhm…" Jen started. He looked to Niveus for help, but his eyes were glued to the door in case anyone came in. "Are you hungry?" He asked kneeling to Kohen's level.
Kohen hung onto Marcus a little tighter but nodded.
"I can get something for you, would you like to come?" Kohen seemed hesitant at that, but slowly let go of Marcus. Seeing that, Jen stood up straight again.
"Alright. I'll take him, then find out where he needs to go. It's almost six am anyways, we should get going back to the apartment now" Jen announced and Niveus said nothing, waiting for Jen to take the lead and for Marcus and Kohen to follow.
Corin watched them go and after they were gone she went behind the desk and gathered her stuff. It was almost time for her to clock out.

Jake yawned as he stared down at the coffee cup in front of him. His eyes slightly drooped from how tired he was. He really couldn't keep doing this. He dropped his head onto the table and closed his eyes for a second and for a moment he felt okay. Sleep was Jake's favorite thing in the world, he would seek it out as much as he could without abandoning whatever it was he had to do that day.
"If you want to sober up quickly, which I recommend you do, drink some water for once in your life," Aaron said as he came into the kitchen, mainly to see if Jake would be ready to fight if they were attacked. A.C.E would be there any moment and if they found that they were not in top condition, there would be hell to pay.

Aaaaand there it went.
Jake lifted his head and gave Aaron a charming grin which was just a lazy half-smile. He had come in a few minutes ago, slightly tipsy from drinking with his customers. He found that if they were in a good mood, they were less likely to hurt him as much. He didn't like to get hurt when he was supposed to feel good, sex was the only thing he had left that made him feel better for a moment aside from sleeping.
"I actually want a smoke but I'm out. You wouldn't happen to have any on you?" He asked, knowing full well that Aaron didn't drink or smoke.
"Why don't you ask your boyfriend? Oh, right, he isn't here." Aaron threw back at him cooly. With that Jake rolled his eyes, he did not want to argue with Aaron right now. He had this massive headache coming on and he felt sore all over.
"Fuckin' shoot me" He muttered as he laid his head back on the table.

At that moment the front door opened and Aaron's eyes shot to the living room as he left. There was a faint conversation that happened when the rest came in. Jake massaged his neck, groaning softly as his fingers ran over the bite marks and bruises forming from the long night. He needed to take a shower, now, but he was stuck where he was, not having the energy to get up.

Marcus frowned a little, looking between Kohen and Corin. It wasn’t his place to say but… he didn’t think the kid would be sleeping here if things were okay at home.
Who was he to tell them that, though? If they didn’t see it then they were more ignorant than he thought.
Besides, what could he do? Tell the police?
No. There wasn’t much he could do.

Regardless, Marcus eyed Jen wearily when the other managed to convince the kid to go with them.
“Don’t be stupid about it.” Was all he said, folding his arms across his chest.
When it came to leave, Marcus gave Corin a weak smile and a nod, thanking her quietly as they passed by.

Dread set into his mind the moment they walked out into the cool air. It felt nice against his skin but it was heavy and thick. It was like he was slowly suffocating on smoke that only existed within his blood.
Marcus drew in a deep breath, counting to eight.
A familiar smell made him pause halfway through his grounding, holding his breath.
It was earthy, wet, and very unpleasant. Like a rotting animal that had been caught in the rain.
He released his breath, eyeing Niveus and Jen before risking a glance around.
Two glinting, yellow eyes met his own, hidden in the shadows of the alleyway to their left, too high up to be an animal but too animalistic to be human.
Marcus stared back, very gently shaking his head. There was a kid here.
Later…

In the end the hole only ended up just barely big enough to squeeze through.
Wynn didn’t appreciate it. His spines were going to be fucked for weeks if he attempted to climb through the tiny gap.
“Would you rather be stuck here for A.C.E. to study? You can’t afford to be prissy about this.” Marx snarled, reaching up to grab at the still-melting chunks of wall and pulling harshly at them. They gave away with a loud CRACK, making both Vance and Wynn cringe.
“Shut the fuck up, won’t you?!” Van shot back, baring his teeth angrily at the gang leader. “You’re very adamant on getting these guys back but gods are you fucking stupid.”
“Watch your mouth, Van, I’m the one above you.” Marx growled, but the chimera seemed too tired to do anything other than argue.

Wynn silently cursed both of them, flattening his spines as much as he could before he attempted to wiggle through the small opening out into freedom.

Jen looked up at Marcus when he spoke, he locked eyes with him and held it for a second longer than it was meant to- this was intentional. It wasn't a glare, but more of a warning to mind his own business. Jen had seen kids like these over and over again, hell, they had been these kids, but if there was something he knew was that it was either back to their parents or the foster system, and both were equally as turbulent for a child. Course, it has passed Jen's mind, turn them over to A.C.E, maybe they could find good homes for kids like this, but the last time that had happened, Apotheosis had been formed, and even Jen acknowledged that this was no way to live.
Still, Jen said nothing, stood up, and took the lead, gently guiding Kohen in front of him and out of the building.

Although very tired, Niveus caught Marcus shaking his head, just barely. He glanced over in that direction, but whatever had been in the shadows was gone before Niveus could even see who it had been. He dismissed it. Not because he didn't think it wasn't a threat. It was a threat. But right now, they had to get Marcus into their apartment safely, and if Niveus freaked out to Jen about there being an unwelcomed visitor, they might kick start the gang's plan before Apotheosis was even ready.

Jen lead Kohen into the living room as soon as they entered and sat him down. He looked to the kitchen to see Jake chugging a huge cup of coffee all at once. He cringed.
And without skipping a beat Jake got up, went to the fridge, cracked an energy drink open, and shotgunned it, drinking it in less than a few seconds. Jake tossed the can into the trash and wiped his mouth with his sleeves. He froze when he saw Jen staring at him.

Niveus stood by the door as he locked it. He shot Aaron a look as he went to talk to Jen, and he quickly caught onto what that look meant. Aaron looked at their leader who seemed completely oblivious to what was going on.
That was until he heard the loud CRACK-ing sound come from the room they had left Wynn in. Everyone seemed to freeze at that.

The sound of the clock ticked the seconds by as the room was dead silent.

"Cas," Aaron muttered under his breath as he stormed across the living room and down the hall to the room. Casimir followed suit, trailing after Aaron and unholstering his gun. Aaron counted to three before jerking open the door, only to catch the tail end of Wynn escaping through the window. Cas shot, not missing a beat, but his aim was a little off and even if he had aimed properly, it still wouldn't have hit considering that Wynn was basically already gone at that point.

Hearing the gunshot, Rae went into absolute panic mode.
"What are you doing?!" She screeched, before flinging herself off the sofa and running to where Aaron and Cas were. Aaron shot her a dirty look.
"What was that about, "just talking to him?" His eyes looked absolutely livid as he talked to Rae, mostly because they hadn't checked up on Wynn, not even once. All because Rae didn't want to "disturb" him from his sleep.
Rae's eyes darted all over the room as she stepped into it cautiously. Good, there was no blood. A small part of her celebrated the escaping, a relief flowing through her body, but now a new horror shook her to the core. Exactly what excuse were they going to give A.C.E? They had told them, they had two gang members on lockdown. There was no getting out of this. She could already hear the yelling.
Six. Six against two, what were you guys doing?! Taking a nap?!

Jake stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room to see what was going on. Jen hadn't moved from Kohen's side, acting sort of like a shield should anything come through either side of the living room. Niveus was already cocking his gun and unlocking the door to follow after Wynn, realizing what had happened.
"Stop," Jen said, his eyes darting around the floor for a second as he thought. They had two kids here now, a prisoner, and there were six of them. One of them had to make sure the kids wouldn't be in any danger should anything else happen and at least two of them should stand by Marcus. The other three- or two could technically go after Wynn and whoever had broken him out, but that would leave the four here vulnerable to any more attacks. Jen had no way of knowing how many of them were out there, so everything was up in the air with ifs and maybes. He hated this part. The part where nothing was certain and he had to make the right call, but that was the exact reason he had been put in this position. The higher-ups thought that greatly of him, and if he let them down…
He swallowed.

Before he said or did anything, he waited for a second longer to see if anything else happened. Surely they would come for Marcus next, and if they did, Jen would have to make decisions. Fast.