Tokyo

Phil's eyes widened in a mixture of shock and fear as the man grabbed him by the collar, growling. Please don't kill me he thought over and over again as he felt something moving around his head. It rustled his hair like a gentle breeze would, only there was no wind.
"Fine, but I'm watching you." he said, letting go. Phil nearly collapsed to the ground in relief. "Sorry about the bike." he concluded, sounding almost apologetic.
"Don't worry about it" he replied "I know it's helping a good cause. Plus we'd never of met if you hadn't taken it. You can keep it, if you like."
He cautiously followed the man into the house. He was excited at the possibility of meeting Alice, but also apprehensive about how both the other Diclonii might react to his presence. Look on the bright side, at least they let you in. Even if they do kill you you might get a chance to thank Alice first. Yes the same people hunting them were after him, but he was ecstatic he'd ever been able to meet a Diclonius in the first place, let alone the one that had made such a thing possible.

For what seemed like hours Ryu knocked at the door and tried to coax Brittany out of her humble little home which was isolated and just pass the beach. When nothing stirred within he sat down to call his friend back.
"So did you get anything yet?... Really?... hmm... a government secret? You're puling my leg right?..."

Brittany's emotions had callmed down to the usual bland she was used to the moment she was out of range of the others. By the time she got to the house she had compleatly forgotten how the anger had felt, but she still recalled that she had been angry. It bewildered her as she sat on the floor infront of the front door. Since her last time at the lab most of the feelings had been drained out of her. The agony had just made her numb and her vector dead. Right? When Ryu came pounding on the door she had ignored him till he stopped knocking. As she listened to what he was saying she realized what exactly he was doing.
"Hang up. Now."

Ryu half jumped as the door opened behind him and Brittany made her clear command. He complied just the same. "So, something big really is going on isn't it?"
She frowned at him. She didn't see this side of him at work ever and to be honest it was unnerving. "Yes, and with my luck you've probably caused more trouble. That friend of yours, what's his job?"
"Police"
Her frown deepend "Then someone at the lab will probably already know. What did you have him look up?"
"Just the licence plate of the guy's bike."
Part of her knew she shouldn't get involved, that she didn't want involved. The memory of her anger though made her curious. No, it couldn't mean anything. She tried to reassure herself. "There will only be trouble." If she got involved, if her vector became active again, they'd want her back again. She didn't need or want that either.
Ryu watched her think things over but knew even before she would what her choice was. "Can you find them?"
Brittany sighed, "Which way did they leave? We'll need to find them before the lab sends someone to question your friend."

Nero walked Alice to the bathroom, and began drawing the hot water. "Here, when this is done, just do this." she muttered, and demonstrated. She smiled at Alice, and left her to the bath.

Turning and walking back out, Nero decided to change before going to the front room to meet the other Diclonious. She changed into a pair of jeans, ripped at both knees, and a tank top shirt. She came out, pulling a brush through her hair. "Hey, sorry, I just wanted to.... " she stopped, a ponytail holder in her mouth, and glared coldly at the human in her house. "You let him into my HOME?" she said, her voice dangerously low.

Almost immediately, her vectors reacted to her anger, moving towards Phil. She stopped them, two "hands" at the sides of his head, and two at his hips. The rest floated between them. Her eyes were flashing darkly. She was frozen, standing, her brush in her hair, paused mid-stroke, and a black ponytail holder hanging from her lips.

Hesitating only a moment, Ezekiel stepped beside the human, which would
have been a pointless maneuver if not
For his vectors, which he used to create a small field between it and Nero's vectors. 
"W... wait," he stuttered, looking Nero in the eye. "Im sorry to have infringed on your hospitality, but.. " Noticing how stone cold she looked, he felt embarassed by his lack of explanation. "Theyre after him as well as us, but he's a human. He could be of use?" The last part, meant to be a statement, ended more of a question. 

Phil flinched as he was confronted by a female Diclonius. Apparently it was her house, and she wasn't too happy about him beng there. He could sense things moving around him, things he couldn't see. He didn't think he'd ever felt so uneasy as the reality that they could kill him with a thought returned to him once more. His life was in their hands now, and there wouldn't be much point in him speaking, this was clearly something that the Diclonii needed to work out between them. So instead he kept his mouth shut and sank slowly to his knees, head bowed. He looked like somebody waiting for the guillotine to come crashing down on them. He just hoped that they realised how much they might need his help, because he highly doubted that they would just let him walk away if they didn't...

"This is bigger than just us, you know. SHE'S here now. How do we know he's not a government agent?" Nero spat, taking the ponytail holder out of her mouth. Her long, pale pink hair almost reached the floor. "If he took her, he would destroy all of us." She stepped forward, and her vectors wrapped around the human. "Get out of my way." she said to the other Diclonius.

"I could kill you with a single touch, human..." she growled, stepping up to stand right in front of Phil. However, his pathetic position struck a chord of pity inside her. "Don't move." Slowly, she sunk one vector into Phil's head, and felt his feelngs of fear, heard his internal fight. She pulled her vector back out slowly, and stepped back. "He turns out harmful," she spat, turnng to Eze. "and it's YOUR head above my fireplace."

Ezekiel's face remained motionless as she threatened him with his life. Inside, however, he felt an immense wave of relief; female Diclonii, by means of adapting, were quite capable of wiping out others since the erase of the majorit of males.
"Yes," he replied, wondering why on Earth he was risking his life for a human. Turning to him, he gave a scowl. It read, you had better be worth it. "Is Alice alright?" he asked, turning back to the enflamed Nero.

"This is bigger than just us, you know. SHE'S here now. How do we know he's not a government agent?" spat the female Diclonius. Phil drew the line at that, and finally spoke up.
"You want to know I'm not a government agent? Wait till we find some, I guarantee I'll be running just as fast as the rest of you! Oh sure, the facility's bad for you Diclonii, but I'm HUMAN! I wouldn't last a day." he stated, his fear beginning to evaporate in the face of anger.
"I could kill you with a single touch, human..." she continued
"A fact I'm aware of already, thankyou very much."
"Don't move."
He complied, and again he sensed something move around his head. Then, all of a sudden, it was like something was inside of him, in his mind.
"W-what are you doing?" he asked, some of the fear returning. Slowly the feeling receded, but he felt...violated. Like his thoughts weren't so private any more.
"He turns out harmful," she spat, turnng to the male "and it's YOUR head above my fireplace."
In response the Diclonius turned to scowl at him. Apparently he didn't appreciate the heightened tension either.
"Is Alice alright?" the man asked
"Yes, that's a damned good question, how is she?" he asked, jumping to his feet. That inspired spark was visible in his eyes once more. They hadn't killed him yet, and that meant he might even get to speak with her. All in good time, he thought, I'm sure you'll get your chance to meet her soon.

"It shouldn't matter to YOU, human." Nero spat, then turned, finishing her hair and walking into one of the rooms. There was a small table, low to the ground, and six pillows sat around it. She moved to grab a few bowls, all traditional Japanese, of rice. She set the three bowls down on the table. "Eat..." she murmured, a little more calm.

Nero glannced towards the bathroom, wondering how Alice was. She then moved to her fridge, off in the corner. "I have soms sushi already made. I'm sure your both starving." She reached in and took out a plate of sushi and rice balls.

"It shouldn't matter to YOU, human." the female Diclonius had spat.
"Why shouldn't it? Because I'm human I'm not allowed to care about the survival of another species? Look, I know you don't have a lot of reasons to trust me, but not all humans are the same. It's called free will, and it's what empowers both me and you to make our own decisions. Either of you wouldn't have met or spoken to a Diclonius called Dasha, would you? Contrary to what I'm sure you both think of me I hope she's ok..." he said, ending on a somewhat melancholy note. He had helped get her on a plane two days ago, before the bloke stole his bike. He hadn't heard from her since.
Phil sat down as he was asked, though he wasn't really hungry. He ate some of the food given to him if only to be polite, and made sure to thank the woman for it. "I'm Phil by the way, what should I call you? I don't mind if you both prefer using aliases, can't be too careful and all that stuff." he asked. It was certainly going to be strange if they wouldn't even do him that curtesy. Then again, he was sitting around a table with members of another race, it was going to be strange anyway. Never mind that they all had some serious paranoia. It wasn't that he blamed them for it, he'd be the same had he gone through what they had, but from his point of view it was a really big obstacle. All he wanted to do was help, but he couldn't do that if they wouldn't let him. Sometimes he felt like he had to force feed them that obvious fact before they finally grasped the concept. Nevertheless he persevered, because he knew that his cause was just. Some day the two races would be able to live in harmony. If it didn't happen on its own then he was going to make it happen.

(Sorry I wasn't on in awhile, I was out of town)

Alice finished her bath and got dress, in a white and pink dress. She walked down to see everyone fussing about something, but she didn't really know what about "What is everyone fussing about?" She asked looking around the room with a curiosity in in her pale pink eyes, She still didn't really remember that much about everything, but she felt slightly safe with these people, she seem to like to be around, the girl named Nero. Alice looked at the girl a smiled at her and started to walk over to her and hug her "Thank you"

Nero was caught off guard by the affection from the other girl, but hugged her back. "Your welcome." she mumbled softly, stepping back, and motioned with one hand towards the table. She flashed the human boy a cold look, and chose not to answer. "We have rice, sushi, and, if you need anything else, I don't mind cooking." she said softly to Alice, then moved back to the fridge. She opened it and took out a small bottle of some kind of liquid, and opened it, taking a drink.

She moved to the small counter that she had, and pushed herself up, sitting on it. Her legs dangled slightly. She watched Phil closely, her eyes catious. If he made one wrong move, he'd be dead before he could apologize. She didn't trust him, and wasn't particularly fond of him. He was in her house, eating her food, and giving her attitude. It only made her despise his race even more than she did already.

She took a small piece of sushi off the plate still on the counter, and slowly ate it, watching Alice closely, as a mother may watch a child. "Are you feeling better now that you're in some dry clothes?" she asked, smiling.

Ezekiel sat and looked at the food Nero had sat out on the table before them. It had been a while since he'd eaten real food, something other than what they gave him at the facility to keep him alive. He took a nibble, then, after a moment of
contemplation, chowed down on the rice as if he'd never eaten.
As ge was about to tell the human his name (after all , they paid attention only to numbers in the lab), Alice entered. He stopped quickly and followed her across the room with his eyes. therewas so much he wanted to say; to thank her for freeing them all, to tell her how she was a legend now. Instead, he kept eating, watching her between bites.

Phil simply sat there, eyes wide, mouth open. He couldn't believe it. It really was Alice. She was actually here, alive and well. He had thought that when the time came he would know what he wanted to say to her, to thank her for all she did. Instead he found himself speechless. After some moments in complete silence he managed to whisper to himself "It's really her...I can't believe it's really her..."

Alice ate the food with a small smile on her face, she was happy about actually getting to eat what she never got to eat ever "Thank you Nero" Alice said with a small bow of her head "This is Delicious" She finished moving her bangs from her eyes and looking at the other two boys, she felt like there was a slight negative energy coming from Nero, about the human boy, and it seem kind of tiring to her slightly, but she ignored it

Nero smiled at Alice. She didn't like having the human in her house. She looked over at Eze and Phil. She sighed slightly. "I have enough rooms, everybody can stay here, at least for the night. As for food... I'll have to go shopping later." Nero leaned back on the counter. "There's a list over there. Feel free to write whatever you want to eat."

Nero glanced at Phil. She really didn't trust the human boy, but she looked at him as sor of Eze's pet. That was the only way she could stand having him so close to Alice. She stood back up, off the counter. She couldn't stay still, she was too wired up.

"Yes," Ezekiel agreed, his first time speaking since the incident with the human. "Thank you, Nero." He looked up at her, after conveying his deep gratitude with a bow of the head. The heightened tension between Nero and Phil (mostly on Nero's part) was almost too much to bear, so he did not speak aloud. However, looking at her, he hoped his thoughts would get across to her.
She had obviously gotten out a relatively long while ago; she had a nice home, a nice life built for herself. And now they were all tearing and uprooting it. Staying in her home while the facility's best were out after them was so very hurtful to her, and he suddenly felt terrible for being part of it. She'd gotten away from all of that. He knew, though, that she would not have merely left Alice alone on the shore. Finished with his food, he took the dish to the sink and washed it.

"It's fine." Phil said, getting over the shock of seeing Alice. He still didn't quite believe it, but pressed on nevertheless. "I'll go shopping in the morning, take the list with me. Hell, I'll even pay for it. My way of saying thank you for letting me stay here...and not killing me yet. Plus, I'm guessing you guys don't really want to risk exposing yourselves too much?"
He no longer cared that they weren't giving away their names, it didn't really matter. He was sure they would just call him 'human' anyway, so why bother with the formalities. Havng finished eating some time ago, he set the bowl on the side rather than washing it up as the man had done. "I'll have the rest for breakfast." he said, not wanting to waste any more of the woman's food.

"I've lived here for a while. The people know me by sight." she muttered, but nodded. "Fine, I'll give you the list." She moved, taking the half washed dish away from Eze. Her eyes met his, and the tension seemed to leak away from her. She nodded once to Alice, and turned to finish washing the plate. She sighed, putting the now-clean plate down. "Alice, you can choose whichever room you would like." she murmured, her back still turned. She had to accept that the human was staying in her house. "You should probably get some rest."

At that, she turned back around to face the two boys. "I'm going to put these two to work." she said, still speaking to Alice. She put her hands on her hips, and sighed. "And it's.... Nero." she mumbled. "My name is Nero."

Ezekiel crossed his arms, still glancing at Alice (THE Alice) every once in a while. Being put to work, he reasoned, sounded a whole hell of a lot better than staying here and mulling over his own thoughts. Besides, any way he could thank Nero was something he'd gladly do. As Nero finally introduced herself to the boy at the table, Ezekiel looked over to her. Nearly smiling, he hoped she felt better. Then he looked at Phil and Alice, having to think very hard not to blurt out 'Number 23.'
"E... Ezekiel." He nodded in something of a bow of the head.

Alice giggled softly as she got up and put the dishes away "Thank you Nero" Alice said bowing politely and she walked over to the two boys "My name is Alice but I was also known as Number 1" Alice finished holding out her hand to Ezekiel, She seemed to be very nervous about speaking to people but she still did it fr some reason. Slice looked around the room and moved some hair from her face, I guess the negative energy is gone right now....that is good She thought to herself

"Hello Nero, Ezekiel" he said to each of them in turn and after a few struggling moments managed to say "and hello to you too, Alice." His voice held that element of disbelief still, as though he expected to suddenly wake up and find that it was all a dream.
But that wasn't his main emotion anymore. Neither was fear. Instead, he was filled with guilt. As far as he'd been able to discover all the Diclonii had been in that facility, so he had assumed that Nero had only been back here a couple of days. It had never occurred to him that she might have been here the whole time, carefully working her way into the community, managing not to get caught. And now he was tearing that apart. He resolved that he would spend the night outside after all, he didn't want to intrude any further.
"Don't worry about a room for me, it'll be more comfortable for the three of you if I sleep outside. Just don't forget to give me the list before I go, and I'll come knock in the morning once I've bought the stuff. Now what needs doing?" Phil said. Doing some work for Nero would hopefully ease his guilt, and he was pretty sure the Diclonii would sleep easier knowing he wasn't around. Walking over to the counter, he fished around in his pockets for a few minutes before pulling out his mobile. He prised the back off and removed the sim, placing it on the opposite end to the rest of the phone. "In case you're still suspicious I can now no longer contact anyone without one of you seeing me do it." he concluded.

Alice looked at the man for a minute before the thunder filled the sky. Alice jumped slightly before running under the table and covering her ear. Thunder and lightening was the only thing that really scared her, and she hated it most of all, it made her think about her family, always fighting about her the sound of everything breaking sounded like thunder to her, and then the sound of gun shots from her father killing her mother and then himself. Alice started crying slightly forgetting where she was for a minute and the thunder kept sounding off, Her vectors wrapped around her shivering body tightly as she continued to cry.

Ryu ran even after it started to pour. Thunder and lightning flashed and sounded and he was furrious with himself. He couldn't protect her. She had just figured out where the others had gone, she said she was programmed to be able to track her kind whatever that meant, when these men came from nowhere. Brittany must have known though. Moments before she had shoved him in the direction she had said they were and told him to run. That she'd buy them time, but he had to go or else everyone would be pretty much doomed.So he ran with all his might even while he wanted to go back to help her. Before he was out of sight though he saw these men approach Brittany.

He continued to beat himself up and practically ran face first into the door he was suppost to be knocking on. Not feeling the pain he pounded on the door.

As the thunder continued she lost herself, she could feel her body turn col. Her tears stopped falling as she crawled out from under the table and took off out the door to the beach she was found at "Assholes" She said as she finally got there, her vectors protecting her from the rain that was falling down around her, unknowing that people was around the beach looking for her.

"We've found, Alice" A man said in a walkie-talkie, being as quiet as he could be Good the person on the other end said now be careful her vectors can reach 8 meters, if she can't reach you she will throw projectiles at you it finished leaving the men on their own to bring the girl back to the lab. When they looked around, they no longer saw, Alice.
"You looking for me" A female voice said behind them, the girl had a deadly voice, causing the men not wanting to turn around, but they did, and right there was Alice, her pale pink eye, now looked more like blood, and she was close enough to kill them with her vectors. Alice smiled seeing them shake in fear. She placed her the vectors she had in their brain, and started to hum a small tune to herself, it was a lullaby her mother sang to her "You move, you die" She said with a small smirk on her face.