Derek Bale's Story

New York City at was a dangerous place... or it used to be. Nowadays, the super hero group, known as the Alphas as kept the city quiet for almost 2-3 years now. They had earned enough funding and gained a lot of trust from the government, allowing them to create a base of operations. They had the latest technology and access to all security data bases. They are the top dogs. The base is hidden and under high security to make sure no one will enter the base except for those they trust. The base could fit almost 500 people, but it is left to 6 kids and some maid who come to clean after them since they can't clean after themselves. It hold bedrooms for every child and a kitchen big enough to fit all of them at once. There is a briefing room with a large screen to talk about their current objective and watch movies... It has surround sound ^.^ After these 3 long years, the government has thought about closing them down, but these teens have no worries. They know that something will come up soon.

It was a bright early morning at the the Alphas HQ. Everyone was asleep and was bound to wake up once the alarm went off. The day before had been the same as the day before that... and the day before that... and so forth and so on. No crime had been reported. All criminals were in jail. These kids had nothing to do. Until today. The alarm blared on, echoing throughout the base. It was time for breakfast, then morning training. As usual. An FBI agent would usual arrive at 9:30 to help them train. He was no expert at their powers, but he was a successful combat instructor. Derek opened his eyes, groaning. That sound of the blaring alarm drove him absolutely nuts! He couldn't take it... He jumped out of his bed and slipped on his clothes to go eat his breakfast.

Jason fiddled with his thumbs, nervously. He was still a little unsure about going against his sister... but... it was for her.... or so he thought... was he doing the right thing? Was he? Was he doing what was best for his sister? Jason wasn't sure... That girl... Ria... she said that the world would be better when they were done. And that other guy. Van? He was a little weird, but Jason trusted him. These people had all the power to do what was right for the world. The world would be a better place for everyone... Jason couldn't wait. But still... was going against his sister the right thing? He stood up from the couch and walked down the hall to the kitchen. Did his sister even know about his powers? Jason was trouble with all these thoughts, he didn't even notcie when he ran into Ria.

Jason's expression turned from one of worry to one of surprise and embarrassment. He bumped into Ria... She was so pretty to Jason, though Jason didn't have a lot of girl experience. He would never ask them out or anything. He had always been a bit to afraid. Jason stepped back nervously and looked away from Ria. If he stared at her any longer, the image would become imprinted in his head. "I was just... thinking about my sister. I'm just worried I'll hurt her." Jason said, telling the absolute truth. He knew there was no point in lying to her when she could read his mind. "I..." He couldn't finish... he didn't know what he was going to say. His thoughts were a little jumbled in his head at the moment...

---

Derek slipped on his pants, but got too lazy to put on a shirt. He was hungry and wanted to eat, so he left his room with only a pair of jeans on. He made his way into the kitchen, with a harsh look on his face. Mornings did not do him well, and everyone knew that here... or so he hoped. As he walked into the kitchen, he noticed coffee already made. A small smirk slipped onto his lips as he poured the warm drink into a mug. Ron was always an early riser. He grabbed his mug and headed off into the living room, where Ron would probably be watching the news. Derek slipped onto the couch next to Ron, and drank a bit of his coffee. "Morning."

Jasper rubbed the sleep out of her hazy blue eyes, hissing all of the curse words that she could think of at the confounded alarm. Practically rolling out of her bed, she had to grab onto her side table to keep her balance. She struggled to untangle her earphones and shove them into her ears. She blared her music as loud as she could in an effort to remove the echoing noise of the alarm.

While she was not completely awake, yet, she still managed to wash her face and get dress reasonably quickly. Her outfit consisted of a long tan sweater over black leggings. She forced her small feet into a pair of brown heeled boots that came up to just below her knees. Her hair, purple and hanging in her face, was quickly tamed with a brush and weaved into a braid. When she decided that she looked somewhat presentable, Jasper switched off her music and made her way down to the kitchen for breakfast.

Coffee was made, so she poured some for herself in the biggest mug that she could find and spread jam onto a piece of bread before going out to see who all was awake already. She was met by Ron and Derek sitting in the livingroom. She acknowledged their presence with a nod in their direction and made herself comfortable in a chair next to Ron.

"Anything interesting on?" She muttered before taking a chunk out of her toast.

"Look at this, who tries to steal a triple decker boat, I mean, do you really think you're gonna get away with that?" Ron said sipping on his coffee as he nodded to Derek when he sat sat down. "I swear last night I think I threw out my arm. All I did was toss a semi trailer, not that far either." He rolled his arm a little as he turned to Jasper, "Morning, what about you two? You OK?" He asked as he took a sip and tossed the remote to Jasper, figuring she'd want to switch the channel. "I'm going to talk to the guys about quieting the wake up alarm to, they can keep the emergency one but that's got to be a little quieter." Ron said with a smile, everything was good, he had a job he loved, he had friends that were his family, and nothing could go wrong. "Anyone know the schedule today? I kind of blanked out after last night, was a little tired. I'd appreciate a day off," He turned to Derek patting him on the shoulder as he stood up. "But the city does not seem to want to quit this crime thing!" He said with a smile as he went into the kitchen and got some things out, pulling out a glass bowl he smiled. When he was a kid he couldn't touch glass, he had came a long way since he'd joined the team. He mixed up some eggs in it and then turned on the stove, heating a pan. "Anyone else want eggs? Remember I can only make scrambled."

Jason tensed, feeling Ria's hands set on his shoulders. And as he felt her face move so it was next to his, his face reddened. He knew she did it on purpose, and yet... Jason was still not used to it. The touching and the close proximity was strange to him. Jason only hoped that Van hadn't noticed his slightly redder cheeks. But if he didn't then, then he would now. Jason turned red and hot as Ria graced him with a compliment, "He's wonderful ain't he." He stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep the other from noticing his hands shaking with nervousness. Then he thought about what Ria had just said... He wasn't all that wonderful.... was he?

---

Derek looked up to see Jasper walk into the room. He sighed hearing her question. He drank a bit more out of his mug and stared at the tv, not even bothering to ask Jasper if she wanted to sit with them on the couch. She would either just sit on Derek, or make him move. Derek flinched, feeling a hand on his shoulder, then gave Ron and subtle glare. Derek was not a fan of the touching... and Ron just seemed to be such a touchy person. As he asked them for eggs, he simply ignored and took the remote into his hand. He browsed through the channels, looking for something good.

"Come back to me, please?" Rain pleaded with her brother. "You don't have to do anything - just leave them and come back to me." He shook his head forcefully. "I'm sorry. This will help in the future, I promise. I can't leave them." Rain stared at him in desperation. She could not think why he would do this - but she knew that she could not put up with this. "Then I will leave you." She turned and walked away. The tears that she had held in for so long started rolling down her face.

The alarm sounded through the room. Rain jerked awake, tears still glistening on her cheeks. She realised that it had only been a dream. "Jason..." she murmured into her pillow. She lay there a minute longer, trying to hold on to the image of her brother before they separated. After a minute or so, she felt that there was no use trying to ignore the alarm any longer. She got up and changed quickly into a long-sleeved shirt and skirt. Then, pulling on her favourite jacket, she went downstairs.

Entering the kitchen, Rain saw Jasper, Ron and Derek."Good morning," she greeted them softly. Grabbing a cup of tea and some cereal, she pulled out a chair and sat down. "Sorry I'm a little late today."

Jasper listened to halfheartedly to what Ron was saying. "Hmpf, not really. I'm not good for much when it comes to fighting crime..." She trailed off, trying to control her anger with herself. It frustrated her to no end that she couldn't control her powers as well as the others. Her coffee sparked a bit and she sighed. "I just have a headache from stunning that fat guy; he just did not want to go down." She placed the mug on the floor at her feet and massaged her temples. Jasper caught the remote and looked at it crossly before facing the T.V. and trying to change the channel using her powers. She only managed to make the screen go fuzzy for a few seconds, so she gave up and used the remote to change it to some sort of comedy.

"I'm going to talk to the guys about quieting the wake up alarm too, they can keep the emergency one but that's got to be a little quieter."

Jasper sneered at this, "don't bother, I've tried to ask them multiple times but obviously that didn't work." She turned to Derek, but he seemed even less happy to be awake than she was, so she decided not to say anything and placed the remote onto the armrest next to him.

"Anyone know the schedule today? I kind of blanked out after last night, was a little tired. I'd appreciate a day off, but the city does not seem to want to quit this crime thing!"

She stood up and followed her friend into the kitchen, standing behind him as he got the stuff together to make eggs. "No, maybe when you ask the guys about the alarm you can ask them for an extra schedule, I bet they'd be more than happy to print you out another one." She said sarcastically, smirking a bit.

Jasper eyed the pan with the eggs, but shook her head and walked to the other side of the kitchen where there was a container of muffins someone had given them a few days ago. "No thanks, I think I'm just gonna have one of these." She picked one up and bit a large chunk out of it. She pulled herself up onto the counter next to the stove and sat on it, crossing her legs and watching Ron make himself eggs.

Rain walked in and Jasper nodded in acknowledgment to her, a mouthful of muffin keeping her from saying anything to the younger girl. She swallowed, "it's fine; however I'd love to know how you slept through that bloody alarm. Oh, by the way, Ron's offering ten dollars to anyone who's brave enough to eat some of his eggs." She sent a mischievous smirk to her best friend. She hopped off of the counter and stood behind Rain.

"So, what's up, Squirt? Your eyes are all puffy." Jasper asked, squeezing Rain's shoulder's comfortingly.

Ron shook his head with a smile as Jasper made fun of his cooking, she was always roasting him but he loved her for it. "I'll have you know that I've been getting better, I'm more than your guys muscle machine you know?" He said with a wink and smile at Rain as he sat on the other side of the table from them. He put a bite in his mouth and started chewing the rubbery egg. He nodded with a grimace as he spit it out on his plate and put the plate of eggs in the trash. "Maybe I need more practice." He said with a smirk toward Jasper as he sat back down in his seat. "Yea you OK? You sleep alright?" He said as he reached and picked a bite off Jasper's muffin and popped it in his mouth.

It was barely a secret that Ron had a thing for Rain, but Ron couldn't tell if she had any feelings for him. He usually had to have Jasper to tell him things because even though Ron could crack a vault with his index finger and thumb, he couldn't crack girls sometimes. He tried so hard to, he could usually help them when need be and swore he learned a little more every day but found out there was even more the next. He kept up his warming smile as he looked between Rain and Jasper. He tilted his had and looked over to Derek watching TV. He knew Derek was a bit of a loner and didn't like to hang out most of the time but Ron kept pushing him, hoping that he would warm up to them over the years. He had his good moments and that was plenty for Ron. "Hey man you sure you're not hungry?" He leaned asking Derek but didn't expect a answer.

He saw out of the corner of his eye Agent Berkman walking past the doorway to the living room and figured he go talk to him. "Hey I'll bee back later," He got up and walked to the other side of the table and put his hand next to Rain's on the table and leaned down next to her. "Hey, if you need to talk later, my doors always open, OK?" He said with a smile as he looked into her eyes. He stood up and nudged Jasper as he passed. "Your in charge kid, try not to bring upon the apocalypse." He said teasing her as he left.

Agent Berkman was like a care taker, the team voiced their request or complaints to him and he did what he could. "Hey Berk! Wait up!" Ron shouted after him as he chased him. "Ron it's agent Berkman, I've told you that for years." "Yea but you look more like a Berk. Hey I had a few things I wanted to run by you." "I'm sure you do Ron." Berkman said looking over his papers as he kept walking. "So first, the alarm man, for wake up can't we just get it turned down a little? It's more of a siren then a alarm." "I don't think I can Ron it's.." "Just a little man, come on please?" "I'll see what I can do, what else?" "Well, christmas is coming up, I was wondering if we could get christmas day off." Berkman stopped and turned to Ron. "Ron, you know we can't do that, you guys are our front force. What happens if something big happens, you get the night anyway." "Don't act like that's normal Berk, come on man, some of these kids haven't had a right christmas in years. Can't we get one day, one day, to relax and enjoy ourselves?" Berkman thought about it and sighed as he nodded a little. "I will try, I can't promise anything." "I really appreciate it man. Hey do you have a copy of today's schedule? Practice, Patrol, all of that jazz?" Berkman pulled a paper out and handed it to him as he turned and walked down the hall. "Thanks Berk!" He yelled after him as he turned back down the hall, reading the paper as he headed back to the group.

Erin Young

The sun shining through the wide windows must have not woken Erin up. It was strange, since even though she looked like non-morning person, she loved to wake up before anyone and have the entire base to herself even if it was only for a couple of minutes. Plus, she enjoyed cooking, and she liked beating Ron to it. She knew he liked to cook too.

The alarm echoed throughout Erin’s room, bouncing on the walls and giving her a headache. Groaning loudly, she extended her hand outside the covers and pointed to the source of the sound. “Shut up!” she yelled, and then using her powers, she lowered the sound of the alarm. Lazily, she stood up kicking her duvet to the floor and punched the button shutting the noise off. She smiled arrogantly and skipped to her bathroom. She took a quick shower, ran a comb through her crimson red hair, pulling it up into a messy pony-tail and dressed up in casual clothing; just worn out jeans, a gray sweatshirt and tennis shoes.

She slowly descended the stairs, taking her time and yawning loudly in the process. Hopping down the last steps, she finally arrived to the main floor, where the living room and kitchen where located. She walked through the living room doorway and spotted almost everyone there. “G’morning grasshoppers,” she called to them. Erin loved to make fun of the fact that she was the oldest of them all, but of course she acted like one of the youngest with her immature and arrogant personality.
Quickly crossing the distance between the living room and the other rooms, she arrived to her personal food temple: the kitchen. She made her way to the fridge and got out her beloved orange juice. “Ah! There you are!” she said when she found it. Grabbing a glass from the shelves, she poured the orange liquid into it and took a large gulp. She then made her way back into the living room and plopped down into an empty sofa and stared at the TV.

“Anything worth worrying about?” she asked in general.

The unnecessarily loud sound of the morning alarm pounded on Arthur's eardrums for a few moments. The boy was awake, laying on his back on the messy king-sized bed centered in the middle of the room, though his eyes were still closed. A lamp that stood on the nightstand beside his bed was lit with a dim light, just barely bright enough to make the room visible. Arthur continued laying still with the blankets over his head until the alarm finally silenced and the room went quiet again. A few minutes passed before he let out a long sigh and he forced himself to sit up. He let out a large yawn, keeping his eyes closed as he swung his legs over the side of his bed and stepped down onto the carpeted floor. With his eyes still closed, he walked over to the side wall where his closet was located and slid the door open. Finally he opened his eyes to pick what to get dressed into; a white, long-sleeved button-up shirt with a folded collar along with a pair of black jeans. Lastly he slipped on a loose black vest over his shirt and a pair of white socks.

At last he turned on the light, blinking a couple of times as his eyes adjusted before combing out his hair and splashing his face with some cold water. He left his room with the lights off and finally made his way downstairs just in time to watch Ron leave the kitchen. He glanced over where Derek sat with his quite self on the couch with Erin. He always ended up being the last one out of his room, since he usually took the longest time to get out of bed and get dressed. He then turned and entered the kitchen where Rain and Jasper were. "Ciao, guys!", he said with a friendly smile, "How's everyone's morning's coming? Also, is there some reason it smells like soggy burnt toast?", he asked as he made his way across the kitchen to pick up one of the muffins. He leaned against the counter and took a large bite. "I swear that alarm just keeps getting louder. Can't we all just get little personal alarms?" He mumbled through chewing before taking another bite.

Jasper nodded at Rain as she walked into the kitchen. "It's fine; however, I'd like to know how you slept through that bloody alarm. Oh, by the way, Ron's offering ten dollars to anyone who's brave enough to eat some of his eggs." Rain smiled a little at Jasper and shrugged. To be honest, she'd gotten used to the alarm by now; she didn't really mind it. But then again, that was Rain; she adapted pretty quickly without complaints. As for the eggs - well, Rain knew Ron's cooking well, and despite her feelings towards him, she didn't really want to try.

Deep down, Rain cared for Ron quite a lot. No, not really cared - she had stronger feelings that than for him. Never in a million years would she tell anyone, but it was hard, trying to keep him from knowing. She hadn't even told Jasper - that was how much she cared for him. And when Rain decided to keep things to herself, people had better start watching out - it definitely had to be big.

Jasper stood behind Rain and squeezed Rain's shoulder. "So, what's up, Squirt? Your eyes are all puffy." Rain ducked her head, eyes trained firmly on her cereal. "I... I dreamt about my brother again." She'd told the rest about her brother before. It wasn't a secret that she still missed him, but she probably never had a chance of him finding her. After all, she'd changed her name, and Daniels probably wasn't an uncommon last name anyway...

"It's okay. I'm fine - fine." Rain shook her head and resumed eating. She didn't feel like breaching this topic today with the rest.

"G'morning grasshoppers!" A welcome distraction came in the form of Erin. Rain liked Erin's bubbly personality, and was glad for her arrival; it meant that the others' attention would be taken off her for a little while. Rain waved at Erin cheerily.

"Ciao, guys!" Arthur followed a couple of minutes later. Rain smiled at him too. "I swear that alarm just keeps getting louder. Can't we all just get little personal alarms?" Rain shook her head at Arthur. "How long has it been - a couple of years? Shouldn't you have gotten used to it by now?" she asked.

Ron came back in the room and noticed that everyone was up. He looked at his little family for a minute, it was wonderful. So nice to know that there were people in this world that cared about him, and people he could care about. He smiled and shook his head as he came into the room. "Erin, Arthur, morning, hope you two slept well. Schedule is not that bad for the day. Practice for the week has been canceled on account of Ron falling through the wall....twice." He read off the paper and could feel the smirks of the team on him. "My shoes were new and I think the just had mopped..." He said making up a excuse as he rubbed the back of his head. "But, we've been doing this for quite a while, I think we can go one week without warm ups right? As for the patrol routes today, we have Arthur, me, and Jasper in the city and Rain, Erin, and Derek in Brooklyn. Remember call it in on the radio if you see something, blah blah blah, the same crap the past thousand and a half times. I asked Berk if we can get the morning alarms turned down but we know that probably won't happen. Good news is, Christmas Day, no training, no alarm, no work, we have that day off." He said with a smile, he knew that Berkman didn't say that out right but Ron was going to get his team a day, definitely christmas. He didn't care if he had to do patrol all day by himself, they were getting that holiday. "Besides that, let's pony up, get your gear ready and we'll meet here in a hour to leave. Stay safe as always and I'll make you a hot meal tonight." He said jokingly as he turned back to the hall. "Pizza's on me tonight. Now let's go!" He said happily, damn did he love his job.

Ron went into his room, making sure to leave his door open in case anyone needed to talk to him. He put his black jacket on with the wool collar over his white shirt. Putting on his skull cap and gloves, making sure he was ready and on top of his game. He tied up his boots tight and looked in the mirror making sure he looked alright. Ron sat on his bed flipping on the news again. They were talking about some movie shoot out on 6th and Washington so it was going to be crowded and jammed pack. He looked at his watch as this was prepping time. This was the only part of the day he really didn't like, He wasn't around anyone, he had to wait to go out with the others and be close to them. Now he didn't have to be around people 24/7 it was just that when he was a kid, his family wasn't around much. They were out working or had something to do and he spent many nights eating dinner by himself. He just wanted to be around his friends because he knew all to well what it was like to be alone.

"How long has it been - a couple of years? Shouldn't you have gotten used to it by now?"

Arthur stuffed the last bit of the muffin into his mouth. "That doesn't make it any quieter! You'd think after this long they'd shut it off. Of course, Erin probably just turns it down every morning..lucky." As he mumbled the last word Ron returned from wherever he'd disappeared to, Arthur hadn't been down early enough to see where, and began began with his normal routine of letting them know the days schedule. For the first few months that Arthur had joined, he'd always go over the schedule himself every morning, but eventually he just got used to Ron repeating it and he'd stopped reading it all together. He glanced over at Jasper for a moment as Ron read off the teams for today and a little smile pricked at his lips, but not enough to be noticed and he quickly moved his eyes back onto Ron as he continued. He'd worked with the purple-haired girl plenty of times before, but that never changed his excitement.

The girl probably already knew that Arthur had some feelings for her, saying as he attempted to confess his feelings only a couple of weeks after the girl joined Alpha, but she didn't waist any time turning him down. Back then, he didn't actually feel very strongly about her and really wasn't sure why he had been drawn to her, but over the past year or so he realized that he might actually have real feelings, which wasn't something that happened all too often for him. Even so, it wasn't entirely difficult to tell that she had her heart set on someone else.

"Good news is, Christmas Day, no training, no alarm, no work, we have that day off."

Arthur closed his eyes and his smile grew a little more. It had been a while since they'd all gotten a day off with no work, and it was going to be on a holiday as well. That sure gave him something to look forward to since the group hadn't had a real Christmas since they all got together.

"Besides that, let's pony up, get your gear ready and we'll meet here in a hour to leave. Stay safe as always and I'll make you a hot meal tonight."

"Maybe I should get hit by a car today..", he opened his eyes as he mumbled quickly, Ron's next sentence overlapping the end of his own.

"Pizza's on me tonight. Now let's go!"

(I'm going to assume we are in the wintery months ^^)
With that, Arthur returned upstairs and flipped on the light as he entered his bedroom. He removed the shirt and vest he'd put on earlier and changed into a dark, reddish-brown, V-neck sweater and put on a nice-looking, plain black jacket over top, leaving it unzipped as he loosely wrapped a pale red scarf around his neck. He also changed into a pair of black dress pants and slipped on his usual pair of casual dress shoes and brushed his teeth. Opening the mirror above his bathroom sink he pulled out a blank white bottle and popped open the lid, tipping it until two red , oval-shaped pills sat in the middle of his palm. He placed the bottle back in its original place and tossed the pills into his mouth, swallowing them without ease and then making his way back downstairs. He entered the living room and plopped down on his back across the longer couch with his feet propped up onto the armrest. Bringing up his left arm he let it rest over his eyes and the other hand rested on his stomach as he waited for the others.

Jasper snickered at Rain. "Uh Rain, I think you're the only one who's insane enough to 'get used' to that monstrosity. If I could, I swear I would make that thing explode. One day... I'm telling you." Arthur jumped in. "That doesn't make it any quieter! You'd think after this long they'd shut it off. Of course, Erin probably just turns it down every morning... lucky." Rain shrugged and polished off the rest of her cereal. Just then, Ron started briefing them about that day's patrols.

"Brooklyn? Sounds good to me," Rain replied. "But patrol routes are incredibly... uninteresting. Anywho, see you guys in a tick." She got up, dumped her bowl in the sink and bounded upstairs.

In her room, Rain pulled on her winter hat and boots. After changing her skirt for a pair of jeans, she flopped backwards onto her bed, thinking about her family here.

Christmas was here, and Rain had already decided what she wanted to get for everyone. She hoped that she would be able to go shopping for presents later, but for now she would concentrate on patrolling.

"Really? I thought it was nice, I guess you still need to help me buy my clothes."

Jasper smiled a bit and nodded. "I guess so." She walked over and sat down where her friend had indicated, crossing her legs and playing with her scarf with a bored look on her face. However, she did crack a smile when he mentioned the hat. "It's not that I like it, it's just really warm." She argued, crossing her arms stubbornly over her chest. Her smile fell when Ron asked about Rain.

"I'm worried about her." The purple haired girl admitted, a tired look crossing her face (weakness that she'd only show in front of Ron). "She had another dream about her brother and... I don't know what to do. You know I'm no good at comforting people..." She trailed off, looking into her lap, but suddenly shot her purple eyes up at her friend, "but that doesn't mean you need to say something, capiche? If you really want her to like you, then don't bring it up. The topic hurts her. You just need to be there for her. A shoulder to cry on, ya know? She'll come to you when she's ready." Jasper wasn't really one for romantic advice, heck, she was terrible on the subject. She wouldn't be able to tell someone liked her if they confessed to her face (which is precisely what's happened). She was smart, but not in that area. However, she knew Ron better than she knew herself, and she cared about Rain. If Rain was to have anybody, Jasper knew that Ron was the right choice.

"Just, gotta make sure my teams OK..."

Jasper snickered, "I know, Champ."

"So, what cha' getting me for Christmas?" He said laughing as he got up on his knees and bounced around on the bed and held onto her shoulders like a little kid. "Tell me, tell me, tell me, telllll meeeeee!!"

The sudden change of mood surprised her and she didn't realize that Ron was shaking her until she knocked her head against his when he grabbed her around the waist. He didn't seem to notice, but Jasper definitely did, and she winced, feeling a bruise come on already. "Actually I haven't even th-"

Too late, her childhood friend had already changed the topic and the mood once more to serious. "I love you Jas..."
She pried her arms out from Ron's grip and awkwardly hugged him back, not knowing what to say.

"Love you too, Champ." She muttered, face going purple from his iron grip, even though he was going easy on her this time.

"Love shock." Jasper appreciated the fact that he was trying to make her feel like she did it on purpose, but the topic still put her in a ruddy mood.

"You and I both know that's not it." She whispered bitterly, looking down at her hands. It took all of her concentration, but small sparks danced along her fingertips. "You don't know how jealous I am of you. You've got so much more control." She squeezed her hands shut, frustrated. The sparks died.

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"No." Jasper said tersely. She couldn't help it, the topic of her powers sent her in a sour mood. Ron was the only one that she knew she could snap at without hurting feelings.

"So, Arthur's in our group. Just give me the word and I'll leave you two alone." He said with a wink.

Jasper blushed without realizing it, and pushed Ron in retaliation to the embarrassing statement. "Yeah, about that... I'm beginning to wonder if it's really a coincidence that we've been in the same patrol group for the past week. Do you have anything you want to tell me?" She still wasn't smiling, but her change of tone was enough to let her friend know that she had forgiven him.

"He's a nice guy Jas, and you deserve someone for you. If not him just think about dating, but know that I will judge them SO HARD!"

"I appreciate the thought, Champ, but you and I both know that I'm not interested in dating." She cracked a tiny smile at his last comment, "I'll make sure to run my boyfriends by you dad. Gonna get the big guns out?" He stood, leaning down and kissing the top of her panda hat before walking out of the room.

She watched Ron leave, and sat there gathering her emotions before she walked out, clutching her still aching head, making an internal note to run by Rain before they left for patrol duty. As she walked by a mirror in the hallway she noticed a half-dollar sized black and blue mark forming. "Ow.." Jasper muttered, prodding it with her finger before covering it with her bangs. She'd make sure to zap Ron for that later.

Something nudged her leg, and she looked down to see her bright green lizard, Booze, chewing on her boots, a sign that he wanted up. She picked up the thing and allowed him to climb up to his perch on top of her head (between the two panda ears on her hat) before she began walking again. It wasn't uncommon for her to bring him with to patrols.

Jasper stepped into the living room to be immediately met by Derrick. "What's Ron screaming about?"

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "he wanted to know what I got him for Christmas."

"All I heard was him shouting 'so hard'. That did not sound right to me."

She smiled, "don't worry it's not what you think. He told me that I should think about dating Arthur. He was telling me that if I dated anyone else, he'd judge them real hard." She took a deep breath and looked back to Erin's room. "I'm really thankful that he wants me to be happy. I mean, I'm not nearly the person I was before everything happened with my dad and he know that, but... I'm not interested in romantic relationships. I've got my powers to worry about."

Jasper turned her attention to the clock and then back to Derek, "whatever, it doesn't really matter. Hey, I'm gonna go get a water bottle from the fridge, you want some?" She asked, turning and making her way to to kitchen.

Derek Bale

Derek sighed, hearing about Arthur... He was the pink-haired kid... right? Derek still had a little time remembering some people's names. Derek started off behind Jasper as she made her way into the kitchen. "No. I'm alright." He replied calmly. Jasper's statement still rung in his ears... "but... I'm not interested in romantic relationships". Derek was no therapist, but he wanted to speak his mind about the subject and what Derek wanted, Derek got. So he touched her shoulder and said seriously, "I'm not all all that wise and what not, but you only have one life. Don't let that one event in you life hold you back from having other events that might make you happy. I don't know all of the details between you and your father, but he's gone now. Don't let him hold you back."

He held his gaze on her for a moment more before letting her go and walking off into the kitchen. He grabbed Jasper a water bottle and placed it onto the counter then began to rummage through the cabinets for something a little more filling than what he had for breakfast.

Jasper jumped, her cheeks flushing as she felt Derek's hand on her shoulder, whether it was from anger or something else she wasn't sure. Ron told her once that he thought she had a crush on him, but she quickly shot it down, believing it was absurd. However, it wasn't far fetched, Jasper did feel a connection with Derek. They both had a lot in common personality wise, and if she needed someone calm to talk to at the house, she knew she could go to him for good advice and some well needed quiet.

"I'm not all all that wise and what not, but you only have one life. Don't let that one event in you life hold you back from having other events that might make you happy. I don't know all of the details between you and your father, but he's gone now. Don't let him hold you back."

"I'm not letting my dad hold me back," she said defensively, "he's dead, it's done. That's not why I don't want to get in a relationship. I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment. I know that I'm 21, I'm only young once, YOLO, and all that crap but... I don't understand why everyone is trying to push me into some sort of relationship." She looked into his eyes, then averted her own, her cheeks burning for some odd reason.

Jasper took the water bottle and turned to finish getting ready for patrol routes. She stopped, her back facing Derek and swallowed her frustration before muttering, "but thanks...maybe I'll try harder to be happy. Or something." She walked out to find Arthur and Ron.

As she was walking, she opened her water bottle and took a sip- only to zap herself in the face. "Ow! Godammit!" She hissed, quickly pulling the bottle away from her face. Anger and water didn't seem to go well together for her. She sighed and concentrated on controlling her electricity. Slowly, fearing that she wasn't doing it enough, she brought the bottle to her lips and took a hesitant sip. There was a small shock, but nothing too major. Still, she wasn't ready to try again, and she approached Ron and stuck it in his jacket pocket.

"Hey." She greeted as nonchalantly and she could while she was rubbing her lip. "How long until we have to go?"

He smiled when he asked why he was in the same group as Jas, "Honestly it was the rotation, I switch up a pattern every month. Arthur, Arthur my man. You going to quit after once?" He said with a little laugh as he sat up a bit. "That's a complicated woman right there, nothing will work without practice. I would say trust me but to be completely honest I have no idea what that woman will do, ever." He said finishing off his muffin. "But I do have a good feeling.' He said as he saw Jasper come into the room and leaned close to Arthur. "Keep at it man, don't give up on her, she's worth it." He smiled at her as she came in and slipped the water bottle in his pocket. He knew what that ment, she was getting emotional and was loosing a little control of her powers. She'd gotten shocked many times by drinks and she'd either throw them away after the first drink or hand them to Ron without a word. He opened it and took a drink as he looked at his phone. "Mm! Bought now actually, let's head out to the cars." He stood up hustling down to the hall, "Rain! Derek! We are heading out! Your car will be waiting out front, stay safe out there!" He said as he let Arthur then Jasper pass. He put his hand on Jasper's shoulders and walked with her to the door as he leaned down to were he could whisper. "Deep breaths Jas, deep breaths." He told her, trying to calm her down. It sucked that she couldn't just get extremely happy and he tried to comfort her as best as he could. He rubbed her shoulders and let go off her as they went out the door and into the car.

On patrol, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Ron jumped up from a alley and walked the roofs. Now that Ron had his powers he could do all kinds of things, jump higher, run faster, it was amazing. "Agent's status report." He said over the coms, asking if both teams saw anything. When Ron was on a mission or just patrol, he had tunnel vision. There was a objective and that is what mattered. He sent a text to Jas, asking her what he should get Alice for christmas, because, you know, you're a girl. Was his exact words, he may have been focused on the task at hand but if there was anything that could take him of path, it was Rain. He kept a eye out as he saw nothing but a peaceful day in the city.

Rain waved Ron's words away. "Don't worry about it. I'd rather you were safe with me tired." She smiled, just to show him she was fine with it.

Shaking her head in answer to Ron's question, Rain opened her mouth and was about to tell him she was fine when he pushed the piece of paper into her hand. Instead of speaking, Rain shut her mouth with a snap. Why should she tell him, he was fine, anyway? Shouldn't she have the right to voice her feelings?

After Ron left, Rain sat on her bed for a full five minutes, committing the radio channel to memory. She then carefully folded the paper and placed it inside her pillowcase.

Downstairs, she watched Jasper. She seemed fine to Rain, so Rain decided it would be safe to skip asking if she needed a once over. After waving goodbye to Jasper, Ron and Arthur, Rain turned to her own team. "All right, guys! Ready to go?"

Lauri's morning started out like any other, with a tall glass of orange juice with a piece of cinnamon toast and then a small cup of coffee just before leaving the house. She naturally took the longest to be ready to leave. Since she owned so many clothes, it was hard for her to pick which ones she wanted to wear. Finally she settled with her blue jacket, shorts, tights, and a pair of black boots that kept her feet warm. Satisfied with her outfit, she finally joined the others downstairs just before they left.

On patrol, she slightly trailed behind Derek and Rain, her hands tucked into her jacket pockets and not really focusing on what she was supposed to be doing. Hearing that they'd have Christmas day off really got her excited. One of her favorite things to do was shop, especially for others. Of course she'd end up getting them all some kind of clothing, but she found it most exciting to shop for Jasper and Rain, since she had a better feel on what to buy a girl. Just before she was about to suggest that they do some Christmas shopping, she heard Ron's voice speak into her earphone and she stopped walking.

"T....This is Agent R....I've had a casualty...killed by..m-my strength, I need a clean up crew at 237 frankforth...apartment 37."

Well, that sure wasn't expected.

"What happened, Ron?"

That time it was Arthur's voice telling Ron to head back. It wasn't unusual for the Italian to sound so perfectly calm despite the current situation. He just had a knack for seriousness.

"Ron, do you need me to go over?"

She looked forward where Rain was, the healer taking her turn to speak through the radio. The atmosphere was tense for a moment, and Lauri took this opportunity to throw herself in. She put a big smile on her face and stepped forward, throwing her right arm over Rains shoulder and her left over Dereks. "C'mon kiddies, lets go get some drinks! It's still early but, as the song goes, it's five O'clock somewhere, right?!" She said cheerfully before a sudden realization hit her and she turned her head to Rain. "That's right you're still just nineteen, huh? When are you going to turn twenty one?", She smirked before finishing her last sentence, "I wanna see what kind of drunk you are. I bet you're the cutesy/shy type, or maybe the flirty type?" She let out a small chuckle before lifting her arms from both of their shoulders and taking the lead and putting her hands back into her pockets. "Let's do some Christmas shopping!" She said, slightly turning her head to look back at them.

For now, she just wanted to get the subject away from Ron's accident. It had been a really long time since he'd last had one, so Lauri guessed the boy was taking this one pretty hard. Having a bunch of people crowd around and ask questions probably wouldn't be the best treatment. "Hurry it up!"

Derek looked off into space thinking about Ron... wow. It's been too long since something like this happened... "Ron, do you need me to go over?" He heard, but it didn't register in Derek's head. He had his thoughts focused on Ron. With all this focus, he was quite startled when Lauri wrapped her arm around him. The touching... the touching was always a problem.
"C'mon kiddies, lets go get some drinks! It's still early but, as the song goes, it's five O'clock somewhere, right?!" The girl paused. "That's right you're still just nineteen, huh? When are you going to turn twenty one? I wanna see what kind of drunk you are. I bet you're the cutesy/shy type, or maybe the flirty type?"
Derek pushed Lauri away. "I uh-"
"Hurry it up!" Lauri chimed. Derek looked at her with his ever serious expression and said, "I don't drink." Derek was just really sensitive to alcohol. One sip, and he'd be totally wasted.

---

Jason smiled hearing Ria's thought in his head. The fact that it was just in his head made him feel better. He turned his thoughts back to Van. He said they had to spy on the heroes.... could he do that? Of course. He had to. It was for a better world. He looked up at Van with a determined composure. "Just tell me when to go."

Jason felt like he needed to prove himself to Van. He got the feeling that his boss didn't think to highly of him. Jason needed to become his right hand man. This was a new start for him to be more than just Jason.

He had to admit, going on patrol alone was one of the most boring things Arthur had ever done, not to mention difficult. Doing this with the others made it much less important for him to pay attention to everything, but now he had to keep his eye on anything that might look suspicious and that caused a bit of a slight throb in his temples. He'd first finished his own patrol, then Jaspers, and was about half way through Ron's when he finally decided to stop and take a breather and close his eyes for a bit. There hadn't been any news from Ron or Jasper for a few hours now, and he was starting to get a little anxious. Though, he was mostly worried about what the higher-ups would think of Ron's accident once they found out. They were already being threatened to be shut down, but so far had done a wonderful job at keeping up with the demands, but with Ron's accident..it could really leave a bad impression.

"M-make it a...sensitive clean up."

He let out a sigh. Whoever Ron accidentally killed was an innocent person, which just made things worse. Alright, enough of that, he thought to himself, bringing up his hand and lightly smacking his cheek as he opened his eyes again. He put his hand back into his jacket pocket and turned around on the sidewalk, ready to continue patrolling when Jasper suddenly latched onto him and buried her face into his chest. That was one of the last things he was expecting to happen and he was quite surprised at first, but quickly became concerned for her when he felt something wet soak through his sweater. Jasper was actually crying?

"C-can we g-g-go shopping now?"

Arthur hesitated a moment, even more concerned now that he heard the shakiness in her voice. What happened to the stubborn, strong Jasper? The only reason he could think of for why she'd get like this was if Ron did something to upset her. Arthur knew the guy would be in a shocked state right now, but to take it out on Jasper. That idiot..

Finally he was able to give her an understanding smile and he lightly hugged her. "Definitely. You've got to help me pick out a present for Ron, after all." He said before bringing his hand up to his ear. "Hey, guys, Jasper and I are going to go Christmas shopping, you might as well too. I think we've done enough patrolling for the day."

-----

They didn't spend a lot of time shopping, let alone talking, but Arthur kept up his happy act the entire time despite that. He was still furious with Ron for causing Jasper to fall into such an emotional sate, and he'd get an ear full from him the next time he'd see the guy. For now though, he tried to keep the mood as light and positive as he could, every now and then trying to reassure Jasper that Ron would be alright after h got some alone time. In the end he managed to get a gift for Ron, with the help of Jasper of course, and one for Lauri as well, though he still needed to find something for Rain and Derek.

When they got home Arthur would've cooked something up, but since he'd used up a lot of space in his brain and a head ache was already bothering him an hour before, they just brought home Chinese and he quickly headed up to his room, telling Jasper that she should get some sleep in the process. Once he was alone, his happy act quickly dropped and he found himself feeling rather frustrated that Ron still hadn't been home yet and they weren't able to get a hold of him either. If his head wasn't throbbing so horribly he probably would've waited up for him, but instead he quickly changed into boxers and a t-shirt and it didn't take long at all for him to fall asleep, tucking away Ron and Lauri's gifts before he did so.

Rain jumped when Lauri suddenly slung her arms around Rain's shoulders. Still slightly dazed, she listened as Lauri babbled on and on about drinking. Finally, when Lauri mentioned Christmas shopping, Rain came back to her senses. "Well, I already bought everything, so I don't really need to shop..." she said quietly, wondering how Lauri could be so happy when a death had just occurred.

Still, she managed to keep her wits about her, following Lauri and Derek around the mall. Luckily, her shopping was already finished, so not much input was expected from her. Finally, the three of them returned home. Without another word, Rain trudged to her bedroom and was sprawled on her bed without even changing. She'd think of a way to comfort Ron later, but for now, it was time to let the day's events be lost in dream.

The morning came a little later than usual for some reason, as if the alarm never actually went off. When Lauri realized that she'd slept in an hour pass the time the alarm would've originally gone off, she was pretty surprised. Even though she did always use her power to turn it off the moment it came on, she'd never slept any later than a few minutes afterwards. This time she was never even woken up. She sat at the foot of her bed and spent about twenty minutes brushing through her hair before putting it back up into a piggy tail and tying a dark blue ribbon around it as she went over the events of the day before. She'd gone shopping with Derek and Rain and managed to buy Arhur, Ron, and Jasper each a gift along with buying herself a few new pieces of jewelry. She'd already wrapped up the gifts and slid them under her bed before she ate and went to sleep. As far as she knew Ron still hadn't come home yet, so she hoped he'd be back this morning.

As usual, she went downstairs in her PJ's, a small spaghetti-strapped, light blue top and equally small matching shorts with pink lining. Once she got downstairs, she entered the kitchen and stopped to wave to Rain as she opened the refrigerator. "Good morning!" She said with a smile as she peered into the fridge, only to have her smile instantly vanish. She wasn't exactly planning on drinking in the morning, but that didn't mean she didn't check to make sure her afternoon beverage wasn't there. The entire thing was gone! "W-who....grr" She straightened up, clutching the handle of the refrigerator tightly as she lightly slammed it. Arthur doesn't even like the smell of beer, Rain was under age, Derek doesn't drink, Lauri definitely didn't drink it all. The only two who could've possibly stolen it would be Jasper or Ron, and what better therapy was there after accidentally killing someone? She turned away from Rain without another word and was about to yell for Ron as she left the kitchen when she spotted him in the living room. She stopped abruptly when she figured out he was trying to wake up the sleeping Jasper and her eyes softened. Maybe she'd let things settle a little before killing him.

She turned around and decided to go the opposite direction. She was able to catch a glance of Arthur going downstairs so she followed him and found him eating his breakfast at one of the tables below. Putting on a pouting face, she walked up behind him and threw her arms around his neck, dropping to her knees behind the chair and practically hanging off of him as she pressed her cheek against the left side of his head. "Arrrthuurrrr....Ron stole my beeeeerrr..go buy me some, go buy me some, go buy me soommeee!" She begged playfully, though she was being a little serious as well. "Please, please...I'm too tired..go buy me some!" She continued, slightly shaking her arms.

Jason nodded in reply to Ria and Van's orders. He was a little nervous to just go into his sister's base.. but he was doing it all for her. He sat back and waited for Ria to leave before Jason would make his move on the place. He's seen a couple of videos of spies and such, so he'd use those skills to get in without arousing suspicion. He scanned the area closely, and looked for any weak spots or small area he could squeeze in. Every building had one, and Jason just had to find it.

---

Derek walked into the kitchen, only to see Jasper there. He looked up at her, and walked to see what she was doing. "I thought you'd be going christmas shopping with the others..." Derek said, watching Jasper as she worked. Derek stepped back and headed to the fridge to grab a nice cold soda. Christmas was no one of Derek's favorite holidays. Lost of lies to kids and such did not make Derek happy. That and he just never got presents for Chritsmas before. It never crossed his mind. He never had anyone that would give him any presents.