Chapter Two: Home Sweet Home

The road, itself, wasn't to long to get to the base. But to Sam, it felt a lot longer. It was a ten mile stretch of road, through the outskirts of downtown LA, from the outlet mall to HQ. Even with the rain pelting her as she rode down the street, and the visibility in front of her almost zero, she could find her way there without a problem. She wouldn't have to worry about Grant and Mercy finding their way there, because they were just like her. This was a drive they made all the time.

Sam had her entire body devoted to navigating her way home, but her mind was thousands of miles away as she navigated through the walls of buildings to get home. She knew exactly what happened. But what she didn't know, what puzzled her mind to no end, was how... The shadow was dead, killed years ago, when Sam was still young. She was so sure that the beast that took the only thing she cared about in her life, was dead. If there was ever anything Sam could be more sure of, it was that. The image of its death was burned into Sam's eyes for an eternity. How on earth could she be so wrong? Was it possible? There was only one way to find out... but it would have to wait.

The rain was now starting to get heavier, and it was time for Sam to focus on getting home safely. Pushing the thoughts far from her mind, for now, she finally saw the familiar sign that meant she was home. Literally. Ontop of a very large building on the west side of L.A., there hung a gigantic billboard case with no sign in it. Mind you, the HQ wasn't exactly in the ghetto part of the city. There was just a "problem" with the billboard that made no one want to post in it. For some reason, when ever someone new posted in the billboard, it would suddenly be gone the next day... Strange.

The building the billboard stood on was actually the HQ itself. "Underground" was the word used for the Wicked Ones, but not for the HQ. It was, in fact, a run down ten story apartment complex. Well, not "run down". Just unowned. The owner company left years ago, and the Sam "bought" it from them. The building was in disarray, and was used as a stomping ground for a group of meth-heads. And it was easy to get rid of them.

Riding to the north side of the building, Sam found the opening to the underground garage. Putting her bike in front of the large metal gate lowered to prevent unwanted from coming in, she revved her engine four times, signaling to open the gate. Once the gate was slowly lifted open, she was greeted by a massive bald black man. Standing at least 6’7 in the doorway, the towering goliath moved forward into the rain to look down at Sam.

With a smile on his face he reached his hand out to Sam, which she took at shoot tightly in hers. To this, he spoke: “Nice to see you back in one piece, ma’am. What happened at the mall is all over the news.”

Pressing a button on the side of her helmet, Sam stared at the man with a worried look on her face. “What do they know, Doorjam?” She asked sitting upright in her bite seat in the rain.

“They think it was just some tweaker who flipped out on some gang members.” Doorjam said with a laugh, moving out of the way of Sam’s bike to let her in.

“Meth tweakers don’t put holes in solid stone by punching it.” She stated as she drove forward, Doorjam agreeing with her. Once inside she was greeted by a few armed men standing at the door, watching the opening of the HQ.

Twisting the key on the side of the bike to turn the engine off. Dismounting the bike, she took off her helmet to shake out her, mostly, dry blonde hair. Behind her, Doorjam closed the gate back down again.

“I got two more cars coming behind.” She stated to answer Doorjam’s question in his mind. “Mercy and Grant both have some recruits with them... and I have to admit the crop looks good.”

“What are we lookin’ at, ma’am?” Doorjam asked her,

“Well, we have some tech wizard, a hobo who can take a hit, and a mind controller.” She stated in response.

“Like, a physic?” Doorjam asked with a question on his face. “Well. At least you didn’t pick up any more strongmen to replace me.” He said with a laugh, walking towards Sam from behind, a smile on his face as he rubbed Sam’s shoulders, trying to releave the obvious tension she was under.

“You know you’re the only ‘strongman’ in my life, Doorjam.” She said with a flirty smile as she turned to him and teasingly kicked him away. “But today, I’m not in the mood.”

“Yes ma’am.” he stated with a smile as he let her grab her gear and walk into the HQ. From behind him, he could hear the honk of two car horns. Turning to open the door once again, Doorjam saw the familiar look of Grant's old white & black muscle car drenched in the rain.

“Alright kids! Engine off, and recruits out of the car. You know the drill!” Doorjam stated standing in front of the door. both fists clench gripped to stop any trouble that may come up. It wouldn't be the first time someone had tried to infiltrate the Wicked Ones, and it was Doorjam's job to weed them out...

Grant spaced off a bit as he drove down the rainy road. What a week. First, all his business back home, and now all this crap. Sure, dealing with 'freaks' was part of the daily grind, but the Others back there were a whole new caliber of freaky. He glanced over to Eureka in the passenger seat, still clutching her shoulder. Looking in the rearview mirror, he took another look at the new recruit he had previously described as a homeless. Adjusting the mirror so he could see out the back window, he noted the only car behind him was Mercy's, carrying the other recruits. Thank God, no police; that made things significantly easier.

"You gonna pull through there?" He asked Eureka. He knew that she would manage. Sure, she'd be sore for a while, but she'd pull through. He waited for a response before addressing the new recruit.

"So how 'bout the fray back there? You think you're ready for that?" He was wondering if the new guy was truly prepared for stuff like that on a regular basis. Sure, usually things went better than they did today, but there was no harm in scaring the newbies a bit. "By the way, I don't think I caught your name. I'm Grant." He chuckled a little. "But you, my friend, can call me Grant."

Soon enough, they approached the slightly decrepid apartment complex. Rolling up to the garage entrance, Grant honked twice to grab Doorjam's attention, who was turned the other way, likely talking with Sam. After getting the clear, Grant rolled into his section of the garage. To him, the space of a complex's garage was a blessing, considering he enjoyed collecting and fixing cars and bikes. It was his pastime; besides it meant there were always extra vehicles for the group (a lame excuse, but when he used often), and he could often sell them for extra cash. There were a few he refused to sell and often 'babied' by keeping under tarps and nearly never driving.

He quickly stopped and parked the old Buick, helping the passengers out.

As soon as the others left the scene, Leo thought it was time for him to take his leave too. Finishing the cup of coffee he ordered after he came to the food court, he took a completely different way than the others. Most of the time, whenever they went out, he would use a different route to avoid stares from people. Even though this time was a bit different from how things usually went in a recruiting day, he would still take that route. After all, nothing beats taking a walk back home while alone.

Today wasn't as rough as he thought it would be. Probably since because they managed to solve the problem of the Other Ones, but then again, if Sam weren't here, things would have probably turned out a whole lot worse. "Well, no use thinking about it now." Leo thought to himself. The path he always took walking back home was the secret back entrance that not much Wicked Ones used ever since it was built. The tunnel wasn't so safe as it seems because in this exact make-shift tunnel, a lot of accident and deaths happened apparently and since the power of Gifts was real, they even thought that ghosts lingered around this area. "Really, they're worrying too much."

However, there were still some of them who dared to live in this shady tunnel. These are the ones who decided that their powers were too dangerous and that they wouldn't be able to control it. Should any incident involving their powers happened back at the HQ, things wouldn't end up pretty. Sure, the others can handle it perfectly, but they still worry a bunch. Lately, ever since Leo started taking this route, they had became friends with this loner. Their powers all have the same in common, and that is emotion-controlled powers. Even if their powers were as frightening as they thought it would be, they were still a happy bunch.

"Oh hey! It's Leo!" One of the older man shouted among the group. All of them turned their heads and greeted Leo, who then nodded back in return. "So, how did the recruitment go? Any interesting fresh meats?" The old man voiced his opinion. Leo sighed as he leaned against the wall. "I'm not sure, actually. One of them were like Grant; a gigantic muscle head, but I'll have to see. Didn't really checked the young ones yet. What about you, Dan? Any news?" Dan, like Leo himself, controls the power of lightning. However, his powers differs by a mile. While Leo manipulates lightning, he cancels them out. It's a miracle to see the two being together as friends. One would think that they will hate each other's guts.

"Nah. Nothing really happened while the four of you were gone. Though the news about the mall spread like a wildfire! You should see the looks on those passerby! They looked as if they pissed their pants! Bwahahaha!" Dan laughed. His optimisms was something Leo envied. Even though Dan's power was nothing to be scared of, Dan joined this ragtag group of rampant power idiots as their leader because he wanted to take care of them. Similar to how Dan invited Leo when he was young, many of those with horrible pasts caused by their powers were saved by this optimistic old man.

Suddenly, Leo turned gloomy. He had remembered something a few days back. He stared at his cup of coffee given to him by one of the group as he asked, "So... I heard your son had gone ahead first, eh?" Dan's smile quickly died. They both stared at the floor, thinking about how they would keep up the conversation. Then, Dan sprung back to his usually cheery smile. "Don't worry. I'm sure he's okay over there with the old hag. She loves her own so much that she wanted to keep him to herself." Leo tilted his head back up. Dan's wife died not long ago too, and after his son's death, Leo thought he would be plunged into a state of despair. On Leo's face obviously showed a question mark, and Dan knew Leo wanted to know why.

"I still need to take care of these assholes. They need someone to lead them, and if I were to go into sad and stupid now, how would you think they would become? A bunch of sad motherfuckers who lost their sight on life again." This sense of responsibility that Dan has was something Leo again envied. "Well, I'll head back to HQ. Take care of those 'assholes', Dan. Don't forget your job as their leader." Leo gave his parting words before proceeding back to HQ. Dan nodded and went back to the group. "Heh. He was never the type of guy to be sad. Guess I worried for nothing, eh?" He asked no one in particular.

Not long later, he had reached the end. A metallic door, said to be built to be bulletproof, stood there. A man in uniform was sitting next to it and after saluting Leo, he opened the door. "Welcome back, Leo." Leo gave a slight nod before heading inside. Things weren't grand here, but still, it provided a slight nostalgic feeling of home inside the HQ. Even though the HQ was but a rundown apartment. [Now that I'm back here, I guess I should go take a small nap. I have nothing else to do.] He thought to himself, as he ignores the crowd and heads for his room.

Forget about this!

~Antony Tangent~

With helping Eureka into the car and hopping in himself, Antony did what he could to keep from leaking on the leather.

He kept an arm on the young girl as she sat there next to him, she had such beautiful red hair. But for the worst part he could barely contain the urge to sniff her like she was a meal and her bleeding wasn't making it any easier. It was then that he noticed she was still rather hurt, the wound localized on her shoulder was more of a gash then a slight flesh wound and seeing that she was doing her best to stay conscious through it told him that it was painful.

Looking up in the front seat he could see the man named Grant eying the road ahead, that was until he looked in the rear view mirror and noticed him. His chive at conversation wasn't bad, he was a lightly talkative man for the moment but he seemed as if he was just prodding at Antony for the moment. "Antony.." He answered calmly as he was putting his arm around Eureka, placing his palm on her wound. His grip was enough to keep it from flowing freely and if he had the opportunity he would help her fix the problem. But looking at the back of Grant's head he got the inclination that the man would not be so happy to see Antony doing anything to her. So he waited for a more opportune time...

It didn't take long till they arrived at the garage in a strangely derelict looking building, one that he had passed several times in the past. It was strange that he always liked this part of tow, maybe for the lack of police control or the fact that it was easy for some unwary meal to get lost.
As the car pulled in and they were told to get out, Antony got to his feet. He had been wondering what it would be like to meet with others like himself, even if he was a unique being it would be nice to find those that were not already going to try and kill him.

He stood there for a moment, with a wet drip coming from his right palm and it only took a moment before he started to absentmindedly lick at his hand. Only it was with this that he had several eyes already fixated on him from the start.

~Antony Tangent~

It was only after Eureka managed to speak up that Antony found out what he was doing, his tongue was running circles around his palm as he looked over towards the young woman. The slightly horrified look across her face was enough to tell him to stop as he knew that was the cause of her distress. However he gave one more toke pass with his tongue and set his hand down after.. "Apologies.. it seemed like such a sad waste for me not to.."

His eyes fluttered a bit as he smiled back, lightly rubbing his palms on together as he did.

The rain outside could still be heard as it was beginning to pour harder, but the lack of wing allowed for drumming of the water to pan out on the inside of the buildings.

"But then again you shouldn't be that taken back by just a little red should you?
He stood there swaying his hips back and forth like a seven year old waiting in line for the cafeteria, he did not really worry for the little girl. She was just being irrational and being a fact that she was wounded meant she wasn't really in her right mind with the loss of blood. But then again she just did see him treating her blood like a squirt of gogurt, that made sense about her reaction as well.

Grant moved around the side of the car, to Eureka and the new guy. Grant hadn't seen what Antony was doing to Eureka to worry her, but he didn't have to; he trusted her more than he trusted some guy he had just met. In truth, Grant was still a bit wary of the man, there was something just a bit off about him. Then again, he was still more than willing to give the guy a chance.

"Do we got a problem here?" He asked rhetorically, without raising his voice. Although, he did step a bit closer to Antony. Grant didn't intend on starting anything, although he was damn well ready to. In truth, it was more of an intimidation tactic. Eyeing him for a second, he turned away, walking towards the entrance on the other side of the garage. "C'mon guys, get your asses in gear." He said with a slight flick of his hand as he walked away. He knew Eureka wasn't too badly hurt, although moving with haste was probably the best plan. Popping a cigarette in his mouth, he flicked his lighter open and lit up, puffing a few times as he approached a heavy door, unlocking it with a key on his key ring.

He stepped to the side and held the door as he waited for the two others in his company to get inside. "Eureka, you know where to go. Antony, hang back with me. We'll wait for the other recruits to show up." Grant said as they got closer. "And just keep the freakin' bandanna!" He called out to Eureka as she headed inside. Grant didn't exactly want it back after it was used as a makeshift bandage for her shoulder. Speaking of blood, he was going to have to clean his car seats when he got the chance, which he wasn't exactly looking forward to. It wasn't that he was particularly squeamish, but it was just a chore; and not even one that he might have a little fun with, like tuning up an engine or something of the sort.

"Ey," Grant said to the group that approached, nodding his head upwards a bit in acknowledgement. He brushed off Eureka's comment without a response; he hadn't actually started smoking until he started his 'freelance' work. It calmed his nerves a little bit, so he typically smoked after a job. "Yeah, this looks like everyone," Grant mentioned, letting out a breath, "Unless we forgot someone, in which case they're boned." He followed up in a joking tone.

Leaning against the wall, he propped the door open with his foot, waving everybody in, before entering himself. He noticed the skinny kid looked like he was about to lose his lunch. "Nervous?" He asked with a smirk, patting the boy's shoulder. In his mind, Grant wondered whether or not this kid was ready for all this; sure he could work a computer without a problem, but was that enough? Grant just hoped Luke wouldn't end up getting himself hurt, and in the end, was hoping he would find his place.

Now that things were calming down, he started running through the events of the day in his head. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and the back of his head was starting to hurt where it hit the wall. He cursed himself for not getting close enough to the shadowy figure; after all, if he had gotten just close enough to touch her, then they'd be able to find her. Then again, getting knocked into a wall and going out for a minute wasn't exactly a factor in his control. And when he thought about it, getting Eureka and the others out of there was more important in the end.

~Antony Tangent~

Antony stands there, lightly swinging on the heels of his boots.
"Whats wrong?.." He ask as a few of the men standing guard look him over, his smile revealing a row or lightly edged and pointed teeth was not helping. The air was heavy with everyone waiting for something to happen and he decided to change his attention towards Grant as he stood in the doorway and waved him through. Antony smiled and looked at the guards again before giving them a wink before treading through.

He felt more at home the moment he was inside, the building itself was like the kind he had been living in for the past few years while in the city and it was easy for him to acclimate to this kind of surround. Walking several feet past the door he looked up at Sam as she waited for the others. "So.. this is your home?" He said with a slow pause.
But his notice was already back on Eureka who was standing only a small distance from her leader and he brought his eyes on her. "Ahh.. I see, that you.. clean up well." In the hectic space of his mind he meant it as a compliment but his mouth was not very equipped at portraying such a thing very well.