In the Safety of the Safe House

[Cameron Bell]

Over fences. Over lawns. Over sidewalks and roads. His footfalls fell heavy and new rubber soles squeaked on every level surface. He gasped at the cool night air and pushed himself harder, feeling it whip through his hair. Behind there were voices, tempered with aggression, and the sound of many other feet pounding the ground where he had ran seconds ago. Every corner he turned, he dared to look back and caught a glimpse of four, five, six shadows thrashing in the lamplight.

He came to another corner which turned onto a broad road flanked by rows of humble suburbia. In the moonlight he recognised one of the houses; it was the one he'd seen in a picture, the one he was looking for...

"Quick! Get in the car! He's gonna get away!"

The words sent his pulse into a frenzy. There was the dull clunk of car doors opening and each closed with its own successive thud. Sweat and blood trickled into his mouth, he tasted it on his tongue, sharp like copper. The car engine came to life with a low growl. When he arrived at the house, he trampled over its curiously charred lawn, and threw himself at the door. His fists knocked hard and fast, rattling it on its hinges.

[Freight Train]

Tiny Chelsea answered the furious rapping at the door, rubbing her eyes and licking the wierd feeling off her teeth. She'd fallen asleep in the floor watching late night cartoons and was nearest to the front door. She swung it open stared blearily at the man standing before her. He looked panicked and ragged, so without waiting for an explanation stood aside and jerked her thumb at the interior.

"Cmnengeddnsd," she grumbled, rubbing at the sleep muck in her left eye.

[Cameron Bell]

He scrambled inside so fast he tripped over the step and crashed onto the welcome mat. Outside he heard the screech of car tyres and turned frantically onto his back and kicked the door shut just as the dual beams of headlights swung into the street. He lied there, chest heaving, and listened. Light filled the pane of glass above the door, it slowly passed by along with the deep thrumming car engine.

"Mutant freaks!"

The loathing in the cry was unmistakeable and tires tore away into the distance. He closed his eyes and sighed, his head thumped on the floorboards and he allowed himself to relax.

[Spectre]

"Robust flavor.. Right. More like robusta beans, blech." She muttered to herself as she pulled down the plunger on the coffee dispenser. Late night minimart coffee...at least it was going to be strong from sitting there all day. With enough cream in it, she might be able to fool her own mind into believing it was a latte.

Paying for the twenty ounce cup of joe, and a pack of smokes for her friend outside, she left the artificial light of the service station and crossed to the pumps. Hearing the squeal of tires in the, not too distant, streets, she looked at her watch and smiled.

Right on time.

Leaning against the hood, she tossed the pack of Marlboro Reds to the girl pumping the gas and arched her back, stretching the muscles.

"Sounds like he is right on schedule, but then.. he usually is."

[Anna Fernandez]

The pounding at the door had awakened her, and Anna sat up quickly, throwing back the covers and putting her bare feet on the cold floor. Grabbing her threadbare robe, she wrapped it around her ankle length white cotton nightgown and made her way into the hallway. Most of the occupied rooms had their doors closed, but a quick listen revealed that the television was on downstairs.

Padding down the stairs, she heard a car roar down the quiet street, and she quickened her pace. "Chelsea..?" she called, "Is everything okay?" Rounding the corner she saw the young man pressed up against the door, a sleepy Chelsea looking at him and rubbing her eyes. The television cast a lurid and flickering light over the scene.

[Cameron Bell]

The stranger stirred at the sound of another voice, he saw a woman standing over him, and he climbed to his feet. Hunched double, he caught his breath in the corridor, then stood upright. Even by the flickering light of the television from the next room, the relief on his face was clear, and he nodded at the pair with a grateful smile.

[Veronica]

Veronica was in a bad mood, but she was told to keep my eye on them, so she did. She caught the pack and placed it inside the German Bundeswehr jacket that was several sizes too large. She wanted a cig right now, but it would freak everyone out. It simply wasn't worth the trouble.

The pump clicked and kicked. She shoved the spout back into the pump, replaced the gas cap, and closed the fuel door on the mid 90s Civic. At least it was manual.

"I'm grumpy. You drive." She instructed, and got into the passenger's seat of the car with a slam. V crossed her arms and stared out of the windscreen. Sylvia had her own set of keys.

[Freight Train]

"Isokmizfrnandz." She yawned, found her voice, and repeated herself more clearly. "Its ok, Miss Fernandez. Ol' boy just needs a place to crash. Some car drove by yelling curses." She started to walk and misjudged her step, leaning on the wall for the moment as she tried to force her body into wakefulness. "I dunno anything else tho."

[Spectre]

"As opposed to your normally sunny disposition, am I right?", smiling sweetly, as her appearance in their latest intrigue dictated, she got in the car.

Pulling out of the station onto the main road, she refrained from prodding her associate further. "Ok, one nondescript ordinary motel, with HBO and a pool, coming right up."

Leaving the immediate area, she guided them closer to the coast. Something with a beach view. She'd always enjoyed watching the waves at night.. Of course, right on the water was not exactly what they wanted either, too classy for their discreet presence in the area. She made a few passes of the boulevard lining the coast, then doubled back to a side street and a suitable economy motel, with a neon vacancy sign, blazing a welcome.

"I'll get us a room. Just give me a minute."

Entering, she walked up to the desk with a bright smile and a wallet full of credit cards. "Mrs. Sylvia Argentum, checking in..."

Minutes later, they were parked and using their keycard to enter the room. It was too cold, the first thing she did was shut the damn AC off. Stupid housekeeper had clearly set it to arctic blast!

"Ok, what to do first..", she flopped on her back on one of two queen-sized beds."

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna nodded, taking Chelsea by the shoulder. "Perhaps you had better get to bed. School in the morning." Everyone at the House went to school - she had a special arrangement with the nearest high school to allow the teens in her care to attend whenever they were in the area.

"What is your name, joven?" Anna looked at the newcomer, pulling her robe around her a bit closer. He looked harmless enough, but she found that she was a bit more on edge when new kids showed up these days. "Who was chasing you?"

[Cameron Bell]

He froze for a second and stared at the woman, looking rather sheepish. His parted lips closed and he lifted his index finger at her, eyesbrows raised and bright eyes wide, then fishing into the pockets of his jeans, he pulled out a notepad and a pen. In the pale light he scribbled a sequence of words, then offered her the notepad, it read:

Hi! Name's Cameron Bell. Don't know who they were. Seemed like a gang. =(

ps. can't talk.

The boy's hands were clasped, his thumbs fidgeted while she read the note, and when she looked up, he simply mouthed the word "Sorry".

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna looked at the notepaper, her forehead creasing a little. When she looked up, she was smiling once more. "Está bien, no te preocupes. Don't worry about it." She walked towards him, handing him the notepad back, and looked out through the peephole in the solid wood door. Apollos had said something about getting a metal door for more safety, but she couldn't afford it.

"It looks like they're gone for now," she said, folding her arms across her breasts. "Would you like something to eat, or drink?" Without waiting for an answer she started guiding him towards the kitchen. "Chelsea, you might as well join us." She smiled over her shoulder at the petite girl who was still yawning and rubbing her eyes.

[Cameron Bell]

He smiled at the sleepy little girl as he passed, which caused him to wince, and he wiped the blood from the cut on his lip. His eyes roamed over his surroundings curiously on the way into the kitchen. Moonlight drifted in from the garden window bathing the dinner table in a pale glow. Anna stood by the fridge. He scribbled her a quick response:

Sólo agua, por favor.

(That's about the limit of my Spanish!)

[Veronica]

"Yeah, watch whatever you want."

From underneath the army jacket, Veronica produced a pair of 9mm pistols. She pressed the release for the magazines. They bounced onto the bed. V racked the slide and caught the round in mid-air. She fed it back into the magazine. Then she did it again for the other pistol. They'd brought a suitcase each. Veronica opened hers: clothes-mostly grays and other dark colors, a pair of sneakers, a pair of flats (she refused to wear heels), three boxes of 9mm ammunition, and a cleaning kit. She pulled the cleaning kit out and paused. She reached into her jacket again, and pulled out the cigarettes. She tore the protective plastic off and put one to her lips. A zippo followed, and she puffed a few times.

Some people recently had encouraged her to quit, and she was down to six a day instead of the normal pack, but wasn't handling it well today. Sylvia, damn her, was exceptionally patient with this sort of crap. Veronica wanted, no, almost needed to hit or shoot something. She had a smoke instead, and started cleaning the nines.

[Spectre]

Rolling onto her stomach, she grabbed the remote off the nightstand and flipped on the television. When nothing of any interest to her appeared on the local news, she gave it up and began flipping channels. She stopped on a documentary about sharks. There was something about the graceful predators that she rather liked, but had yet to put her invisible finger on.

As Veronica went about smoking, and alternately cleaning her weapons, the thought struck Sylvia that the mercenary gun mistress treated her guns and ammunition the same way people with green thumbs treated their houseplants. She half expected to hear her start talking to them..

A Great white swam by on the screen, it's black, almost soulless eyes seemed fixed on something, ready to rip it to shreds, and that's when it hit her! She knew exactly what it was about them she liked. They reminded her of someone. She smirked and stuffed a pillow under her arms, content to watch a while longer.

[Veronica]

Veronica looked up, and briefly watched Sylvia watch the television. She didn't like television, because it was harder to see with her eyes than with her sense. Televisions were good distractions. She'd finished more than one contract thanks to television, so she called it about even with them. She watched the shark, though, her hands moving of their own accord, the motions of cleaning the pistols automatic from years of repetition.

She held her breath as the shark attacked a seal. The seal was slammed against the surface of the ocean like a dog killing a rat, a vicious cycle of back and forth, back and forth. Then, it let go... and ate the seal. Sylvia gripped the pillow intently.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Veronica asked. It was unusual. Veronica seldom spoke, except, recently, to complain that she had a headache from nicotine withdraw. She took a deep drag from the cancer stick, and let her eyes close. She was tired.

[Freight Train]

Chelsea had tottered herself halfway to the stairs when the invite came for late night foodings. She turned and followed, finally satisfied that she'd wiped out all the gunk from her eyes, and yanked open the fridge door before Anna could do it herself.

The fridge cast harsh yellow light into the room, and the little girl squinted as she looked around for something. She'd only eaten at mealtimes since her arrival at the house, and now she wasn't sure what food she was allowed to take. She looked up at Anna and stepped back.

[Spectre]

"No one in particular..", she smiled, answering the question with a reply that was inappropriate to what she was asked. What, not who. It only raised more questions and she knew it.

She peeked over at Veronica and grinned. That the merc' was inquiring at all was enough to draw Spectre out of her shell to reply. She actually liked Veronica, she was one of her favorite operatives to work with.

"A certain friend of ours with eyes like that..", she nodded toward the screen.

"You know it's come to my attention that it has been a while since we've heard from some of the others. We should do some discreet checking around, see who else is in this area right now."

[Anna Fernandez]

"Water it is," Anna smiled, opening up a cupboard and retrieving a clean glass. A Brita pitcher in the fridge provided cold, clean water.

Seeing Chelsea's hesitation, she said, "Help yourself, amiga, I think there are some cookies in the pantry if you want." Anna handed the young man the water, and motioned for him to have a seat at the small kitchen table. "Do you need a place to stay, Cameron?"

[Cameron Bell]

Before he sat, Cameron downed the water in three mighty gulps then sighed, his breath fogging the bottom the glass. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and took a seat opposite his host. Then the writing resumed.

Given the circumstances, I wouldn't mind a place to lie low tonight.

He hesitated to hand her the note, instead he gave her a bemused look and wrote a second message before handing it over.

Wait a minute, not that I am ungrateful for the offer but do you usually take in random people off the street?

[Veronica]

Veronica waived the cigarette hand around. "Sure." She put it back into her mouth, and resumed cleaning the pair of custom Berettas without looking at them. Veronica wasn't very good at discreet. She was too direct. In fact, it had been years since she'd set foot in LA, and, aside from the weather, didn't like it very much. Everyone here was desperate, or desperately weird.

"What would he be doing out here?" She asked Sylvia.

[Spectre]

She shrugged one shoulder. "I'm not one hundred percent sure. A little birdy might have mentioned he was out this way though. I'm sure our paths will cross before too long. It's not like we won't be working toward the same end."

Trading one coast for the other had not altered their path. Ensuring that their vastly superior kind did not find itself persecuted by the weaker species, and that they became united as the super power on the planet. That, was the agenda that drove Sylvia and her kind.

Some more so than others.

She glanced at Veronica, sometimes feeling very sorry for those who took an indifference to the situation. It demanded their all..

[Freight Train]

Before he sat, Cameron downed the water in three mighty gulps then sighed, his breath fogging the bottom the glass. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and took a seat opposite his host. Then the writing resumed.

Given the circumstances, I wouldn't mind a place to lie low tonight.

He hesitated to hand her the note, instead he gave her a bemused look and wrote a second message before handing it over.

Wait a minute, not that I am ungrateful for the offer but do you usually take in random people off the street? "Yeah, pretty much." Chelsea, ever nosy, had hopped up on a seat next to Cameron and was looking over his shoulder at everything he wrote. "That's how it worked for me." She'd retrieved the cookies and now offered the package to Cameron. "Cookie?"

[Anna Fernandez]

"This is a safe place," Anna said softly after she read the note, pushing the paper back towards him. "And you are welcome to stay the night." She quietly filled the glass again, setting the pitcher down on the table.

"There are a few rules to keep in mind. No drugs, no gang stuff, and no fighting your House mates." She let her hand linger on the side of the pitcher and the water frosted and then iced up. "And we can all back up the rules, so don't forget them."

[Cameron Bell]

He regarded Chelsea for a moment and then the cookies. He frowned, shook his head, and waved his hand all to decline the offer. And while Anna spoke of the house rules, he simply smiled pleasantly, nodding in understanding. Then he noticed the water start to frost.

There was a loud screech as his chair scraped across the floor, Cameron backed away violently, sending the chair crashing to the ground. His wide eyes were fixed on the frozen water, then on Anna, and then on the little girl. He retreated into the corner, not uttering a sound but the look of dawning realisation and fear was written all over his face.

[Anna Fernandez]

"Please, be calm," Anna said, removing her hand and putting her hands up, palms out in a soothing gesture. "You are in no danger here, Cameron." Her accent made his name seem exotic.

"But you may leave, if you like. We won't stop you."

[Cameron Bell]

Pressed against the wall, Cameron inched his way around the room, the colour sapped from his face. His gaze danced between the woman and the girl then flitted once to his notepad on the table, it was out of arm's reach. He swallowed and poked a trembling finger at Anna, he managed to mouth a single word: "Mutant?"

[Freight Train]

At first Chelsea thought he'd seen a bug or something, or that the noise of the chair had startled him. When she finally saw his face, and that word he was silently saying, her face twisted up in anger.

"Yes. MU-TANTS. Oh Dear God, the horror." Her voice was edging a little loud and was full of sarcasm as she hopped down, the little burst of momentum activating her powers enough to make a slight, but notable, impact as she landed. "We're trying to be nice to you! What's your problem!?"

[Anna Fernandez]

"Chelsea! Cálmate." The last thing she needed was a girl gathering enough momentum to make hole in the wall. Or the floor. Or, their guest.

"I only meant to show you that the people who were chasing you will not hurt you here." Anna raised an eyebrow, remaining seated at the table, but pushed the pad of paper closer to the edge nearer to Cameron.

[Cameron Bell]

The angry little girl intimidated him and he quickly retreated a few steps, raising both hands in the hope that she would keep her distance. The woman took control again and they made eye contact. She remained seated and nudged his notepad towards him. He eyed it eagerly, bobbing nervously from foot to foot, then after checking Chelsea was out of range, he snatched it up.

It trembled in his hand and once he was certain neither the woman or the girl were going to pounce on him, he lowered his eyes to the page. He penned his first concern, then scribbled it out realising it was foolish. He wrote again, then dropped the notepad on the table for them to see:

<strike>Is it contagious?</strike>

Never met a mutant before. You startled me. I meant no offense.

He remained an arm's distance from the table while they read, eyeing them with curiosity.

[Freight Train]

"IS IT--!?" With a growl and squinched eyes she she resisted the urge to throttle him, filling her mouth with cookies to keep herself from saying anything else. She couldn't stop glaring though, and never took her eyes off his for a second.

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna ignored Chelsea for the time being, choosing to address Cameron's note instead. "I am sorry for startling you." She filled Chelsea's glass with water again, and pulled the cookies away from her before she ate them all up. The girl was stuffing them into her mouth like she was the Cookie Monster.

"There is a lot of gang activity in this area... you are lucky to have stumbled into this house instead of some of the others."

[Cameron Bell]

He nodded in understanding and returned to his seat, not wishing to look too cautious of them. He wrote again.

You seem like nice people and all but what's the deal with this place? Are you a charity or something?

[Freight Train]

With no cookies and no real answer to the question (and no patience or calmness to boot), Chelsea headed for the stairs. "Good night Miss Fernandez." She paused at the door to scowl at Cameron one more time. "Good luck with that guy." Then she was gone, footfalls audible the whole way to her bed.

[Anna Fernandez]

"Good night, Chelsea." Anna thought the girl would be less grumpy if she would go to bed at a decent hour. Perhaps a curfew would have to be enforced.

"And yes, this is a halfway house for mutant teens, runaways... Anyone who needs a safe place." She smiled gently, "Even non-mutants, if they want."