Forum Thread

Xavier watched them go quietly, not moving from his hiding spot. He was concerned for the small, blue-haired girl, but there was nothing he could do. As always, he was on the side while others took charge. It was stupid, but it frustrated him how he couldn't seem to find anywhere to help. Trying to take his mind off of things, he made a mental note to stop by later and see how Ryan and the girl were doing. If anything, he could do that. Xavier didn't want to use his ability since it drained him too much, so he kept to walking. After a while, he found himself back at the place he had left this morning-the kitchen. Obviously, Ryan was in no condition to be fixing doors, so he carefully stepped through the wreckage to see if Alex was still there. Maybe there was a way that he could help, he just had to start looking.

---

*Ripley bent down and readied her tools. She took out a silver clamp and placed it in the wound to widen the hole slightly, causing the inkling to cry out in pain. From this moment on, Ripley had to work fast. She took out another clamp and put into the wound until she finally grabbed the bullet and took it out with the clamp.* Done *Ripley threw the bloody tools and bullet down onto a tray and stepped back.*

---

After mostly everyone left the scene, he noticed the air had returned to its normal state, drastically different from the thick and agitated air that was present during their arrival. Well, he had no use being here any longer. Before he made his exit to his room, he wanted to do something first. He waited a bit to make sure no one needed him, and to see if Flay would do anything as well. His curiosity got the best of him, making him wonder what put her in this condition. Not only that, she needed attention. He walked over to her, still a bit wary of her glare, and gave a very small gesture. “Hey, can you come with me?” He tried to sound as welcoming as possible, but it seemingly failed. Her cold and uncomfortable aura still remained.

“Why...” a small growl left Flay’s mouth as she stared at Taiko’s shoes, refusing to look up at him again. She didn’t want any help, she knew it wouldn’t work. Either way, it was better than standing here alone. Still... She didn’t like this guy. After a small exhale, she lifted her head slightly. “Fine...” She reluctantly began to take painful steps in an attempt to follow him. Every time she stumbled even the smallest bit, Taiko looked back at her in concern. And every time, she responded with a glare and an urge to say “I’m fine”.

---

꧁𓊈𒆜🅷🆈🅳🅴𒆜𓊉꧂


Pushing open the door to the roof, Hyde breathed out the fresh air and knelt down beside the plants he had painstakingly cultivated. Running a hand over the fertile soil, Hyde smiled and gently let the ground aerate. If anything, the plants weren't afraid of him and wouldn't shun his touch. How pathetic, resorting to mere vegetation for companionship, but if Hyde was being honest plants had always been by his side even before the whole mutation thing. Plants at least reacted positively to his presence and had little reservations about him. How could they when they didn't know the bloodlust pouring out from his very being, only registering his kind touches. Sighing, Hyde stood up to meander towards the small shed where he kept the stock of seeds. Maybe he could make some headway on germination experiments or something, he thought to himself as his head spun somewhat, stomach protesting. Slipping in with a soft creak of the unoiled hinges, Hyde cracked open the windows and let the sun in before he sat himself down to start working.

---

When Ripley finished wrapped the leg Coraline changed into her squid form and just stayed there. Faith and Ripley looked at each other a bit confused but Faith just gently stroked the Inkling's head, eventually coaxing a small "Mee-kyu" from Coraline that was directed at the both of them. Faith giving Ripley a small nod of thanks, scooped up the cyan inkling and headed back to their rooms.

---

As they walked, Taiko was a bit unsettled by the silence. The only thing he heard were their footsteps, which wasn’t enough for him. He thought of asking his guest something, or at least start a small conversation, but deciding not to. If she wanted, she would’ve started it herself. A small sigh that he accidentally let slip gave a small echo in the corridor, but it was barely audible. Once they had reached their destination, a spare room near Taiko’s, he opened the door. “Step inside please.” He felt uncomfortable saying it while he held the door open, but he couldn’t act like a careless person. Surprisingly, she didn’t refuse, but instead hesitated. She slowly stumbled into the room, then almost immediately collapsed onto the bed. She didn’t even try to sit upright when she noticed Taiko following her in. “Wish I could let you rest, but I’ve gotta ask you something...” he said quietly, pulling up a chair closer to the bed. “And you expect me to answer...” the sound coming from her was muffled in the sheets and pillows, making it hard to decipher what she had said. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked.” He simply replied, a bit displeased. After a minute or two, he started up the talking again. “First off, what happened to your group before you came here?” She sighed and closed her eyes, knowing that he would ask more questions made her annoyed. “First off? You said you were only gonna ask 1...” “Sorry... I initially wanted to only ask one...” Flay let out a muffled groan before continuing. “Money and Benton ruining lives, a girl named Maddy fought to save us and died doing so, and that’s about it... Wasn't there for the most part but that doesn’t matter.” Her eyelids opened and closed slowly, only opening halfway before closing again. She was tired but not like she could shoo Taiko away.

“I see... So what happened to you? Did you get injured or something?” As soon as Flay winced at those words, he instantly regretted it. Well, if she didn’t speak, at least he knew it was more than that. “You don’t-“ “It’s fine...” Flay shot back, or at least that’s what it sounded like. “As I said, it doesn’t matter...” she grabbed the loosest end of a bandage wrapped around her arm and lifted it, revealing the strange markings she still had. “You can’t do anything about it, so don’t worry...” she laid her arms back down, the closing of her eyes getting longer and longer. “What else...” Taiko stared sadly at the wounds on the resting girl, still wondering what could’ve happened. It didn’t look like anything natural, so maybe it was her unfortunate power? He decided to at least do something for her to compensate for his actions. “I’ll be right back.” He got up and walked over to his room, wondering if he should leave her be.

After he had retrieved a roll of bandages from his room, he returned to Flay’s and knelt down beside her bed. He began to unwrap all the old ones and throwing them away. “What are you-“ “These need to be replaced every day or two, even if it’s for something like this. Just hold on...” he quietly spoke, beginning to wrap the new ones in place of the old. “Why do you know this much... You’re not a healer, right?” She mumbled, watching as he did his work. He paused what he was doing and let out a sigh. “I kind of have to.” He rolled up his loose jacket sleeve to reveal numerous scars. “So you’re-“ “No, it’s not like that...” he raised his voice a bit, hoping she would stop and focus on something else. The two sat in silence as Taiko finished his work, slowly standing up and walking out of the room. “Get some rest...”

(I guess you can time skip now)

---

A few weeks went by and as the group settled into the Colorado base, they slowly found their own desires and dreams. Seven-year-old Hope often found solace in learning more about gardening with Hyde. Coraline and Eve were adopted by Faith and Salvadore

Faith and Lucy alongside Noel and Ripley were made leaders in case something happened. At the moment the four were discussing their game plan to defend the base from Benton and his men, as well as the MT that Benton was probably making.

Noel frowned at all the blueprints. "It sucks that we're left in the dark about Benton, our last lead had been found out a year back and we found him in pieces. We sent out a scouting party, but we haven't heard back from them yet."

"If only Maddy were still here, she would've been lots of help." Faith sighed sadly. "She knew more about Benton than me."

"I hate to sound like I don't care about Maddy, but we're on our own." Noel stated, she looked to Ripley. "Did we ever figure out why Benton wanted Eve and Coraline so badly?"

---

꧁𓊈𒆜🅷🆈🅳🅴𒆜𓊉꧂


It was odd, having someone up on the rooftop with him on a semi-constant basis. Most people just came and went as they pleased, never really paying Hyde any mind. He didn't mind, having made peace with his status as an outsider. Hope however seemed adamant on sticking with Hyde. She was small and cute, pretty and just weak enough that Hyde could give her even a single flax seed and she would fall ill. In short, Hope was everything Hyde wasn't. It was stupid of him to be envious of a 7 year old but Hyde was baffled at how a young child could feel at ease with him when grown adults shied away from his presence. Granted the little squirt made it more bearable, his boiling lust for adrenaline and battle simmering down to a low bubble, but it still didn't change the fact that Hyde could probably eat the kid whole and she wouldn't even defend herself. Running callused tips over the soft saplings, Hyde began his morning routine of showering the young buds with a light sprinkle of water.

---

Hyde was sometimes intrigued by the way the seven-year-old could easily make the plants grow without even trying, despite it being her ability to have an influence on nature. While Hyde was taking care of the younger saplings, Hope was close by tending to some other plants, gently making them grow with her powers of nature. She would often watch Hyde and then try to copy him in tending to the roof's garden, which now was turned into a greenhouse to support a garden year-round.

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*Lucy shook her head* Unfortunately we dont. But whatever it was that made him want them so bad must be discovered. *Ripley looked up and saw Ripley looked at her, but once their eyes met, they quickly looked away from one another. Ripley then spoke* So far, my morning flights have shown very little success. However I did find a base on my most recent one. *Upon saying this, Ripley felt the atmosphere of the room change. Lucy was half standing from her chair and Faith had visibly leaned in closer. Ripley continued with a sigh* Unfortunately, upon further l've determined that's where Coraline and the Eve came from but it looked to be abandoned. *Lucy stood up in anger and paced around* He was right under our *Lucy kicked her chair* god damn noses the entire time!

---

Faith put a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "Let's just take a moment to calm down." Lucy could easily see the visibly panicked expression on Faith's face despite trying to calm Lucy down. "We just need to take this one step at a time."

Noel looked to Ripley with a firm expression. "How far was it from here?"

---

*Ripley sighed and looked at Noel* 6 clicks from where me and Faith's group first rendezvous. *Noel leaned back and covered her face* Look, Noel, I did my best looking for it. You know my vision isn't that great when I'm that high up. And besides, if you saw what I could see, you would know how obscure and hidden that place was

*Lucy shook Faith off of her* No Faith! While we were waiting in this base, sitting on our asses, Benton was out there doing god knows what! For all we know he was fixing the MT and is sending it right to us and our best counter to it is 6 feet under, 58 miles away from us!

---

Taiko spent the past few weeks checking in on Flay, who seemed to have not moved from her bed. Wasn’t she hungry? Even after bringing the leftover meals to her room, she still didn’t budge. He had tried talking to her about various things, such as what she did during this whole manhunt and about the others. She didn’t answer a single question and just shooed him off before dozing back to sleep. From what he concluded with the very little info he knew, she had joined Faith, the main target of the now deceased Money, and ran away with her. One other thing that he had a theory of, was that she couldn’t die. Maybe... no, that was such a horrid idea... Why in the world would he think of that? Was he that desperate to end his own pain that he would have someone else take it for him? He continued to stare at the sky above him as he sat on the edge of the roof, letting his legs dangle and sway. He had gone up here less and less, and he started waking up much later as well. He hasn’t eaten in 3 days, he was starving, but he didn’t exactly have the option. After the run-in with Hyde, he had grown overly paranoid, and he couldn’t risk having Flay know either. But why was he so secretive about it? Why didn’t he just tell anyone? Telling Flay wouldn’t do anything, and he doubted that everyone else would have a big problem with it, as they too had absurd powers... But still... He’d rather them find out accidentally. He decided that he should get up, stretch, and head back to his room. His back was starting to hurt...

---

Noel nodded and gave her a small comforting hug. "I know Ripley, I'm not upset or anything. At least we have a rough guess, which is better than nothing at all. I'll let the group know to stay alert then I'll have to go consult Electra's expertises." Noel grabbed the walkie on the table. "Sargent Tri, come in."

As Noel attempted to get ahold of Tri whoever he or she was Faith was still trying to console Lucy and clearly failing. "I'm just as scared as you Lucy, but if we go and fight without a plan we all die, and Benton wins again! We can't let that happen again, we've lost too many times against Benton and lost so much. Especially Maddy." Faith felt her undealt with emotions and trama starting to bubble up again, she willed it down. "We know how dangerous MT is but we need to stay calm. We all know MT can only target one person and will continue to go after that one person until they're dead."

Noel cursed and slammed the walkie down. "*bleep* it!" The others looked at her. "I can't get ahold of Sargent Tri."

"Which means?"

"It means they're in a place with god awful reception or something happened." Noel shook her head. "Do we know or have a hunch as to who MT will go after?"

"Either me or you possibly." Faith admitted slowly after a pause, all the heads in the room snapped to Faith. "Me because I've been a pain in Money and Benton's side and you because your DNA is the only thing that can stop Benton's virus for good."

---

*Ripley watched as Lucy stormed out of the room and ran after her* Lucy! Lucy wait! *Lucy stomped down the hallway, trembling and stumbling with rage and sadness. Ripley caught up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders before hugging her* I'm sorry Lucy. It's my fault.

*Lucy's voice quivered when she spoke. She took deep breaths between every word* I.. just.. miss.. her.. so.. much Ripley! She.. saved.. me! She.. gave.. me.. a.. family!

*Ripley nodded her head and rested it in Lucy's head* I know, I know.

---

꧁𓊈𒆜🅷🆈🅳🅴𒆜𓊉꧂


"Be gentle with that strain, kid." Hyde grunted, eyes flickering up to monitor Hope. "That one's been modified to have more leaves that are thinner and wider. Chef's been experimenting with using leaves as parcels and that's the first one I've been testing out. The leaves gotta stay pretty thin and should be watered at the roots." Explaining his little experiment, Hyde straightened out from the crouch he had taken in his quest to water the crops before reaching over to awkwardly ruffle at the young girl's head. "Nice job though I guess." He finally mumbled before putting the watering can away. Picking up a small and shallow basket, Hyde moved to the more wild section of the garden, foraging for some of the growing plants within the naturally growing planters. Stinging Nettle as well as Dandelion Heads were plucked from the ground, Fern Heads and Wild Garlic adding to the pile. With the current harvest, most of the larger crops would still be growing so most of the food that was grown was wild foods that could be foraged and small vegetables. The Arugula and Snow Peas too were ready to be harvested but he left that for Hope, much safer and required less effort to dig out from the ground than the Carrots and Lettuce which might pose some difficulties to pull out of the ground by a child.

---

Raelyn could here the screams and arguments very clearly. She sighed, she was sick of hearing about this Benton and MT thing. No one had explained anything. She was left to find them out alone. The bubbling anger and frustration exploded, and shadows split it all directions, enveloping a part of the base in complete darkness, and effectively knocking her unconscious.

---

Hope nodded at Hyde's words to be careful with the produce as she carefully picked the Arugula and Snow Peas and put them in her basket.

Noel and Faith talked a bit more before they headed their separate ways, Noel to talk to Electra about defense options of the building and Faith to find Lucy. Unfortunately, she couldn't find either her or Ripley who had been with her. Feeling very overwhelmed, Faith leaned against one of the walls and slowly slid down it to a crouch as the tears slipped from her face.

As Ripley and Lucy tried to console one another, they heard Coraline's voice along with Skyla's, and they were getting closer. The two girls watched the cyan Inkling and the sky blue Octoing duke out a fake fight with their splat weapons before finally Sklya collapsing to the ground seemingly defeated, as she was covered in her sister's Cyan ink.

Coraline pumped a fist in the air, along with one of her splat dualies. "Hastu wee!" (Booyah!)

Skyla got back up and suddenly pulled out her roller. "Veemo!" (Booyah!) Seeing the large weapon Coraline suddenly inked the walls and ceiling, using that to climb up and hide. Skyla just watched her sister hide on the ceiling. "Wahmey."

---

*Far from the Colorado base, Benton sat in a dimly lit room looking through a one way glass. One person's hands were tied to the roof as 2 more were brutally beating. After a few minutes, Benton pressed down a button and spoke* That's good for now gentlemen, I'll take it from here. *The men ceased their beating and made their way out of the room. Benton slowly walked into the room with a chair, locking the door behind him and placing the chair in front of the man, whose mouth had blood and saliva dripping from it. Upon closer observation, Benton could see the metal blocks that held his hands open. As the person began coughing, Benton leaned forward.* I know you know where the squid and the girl are, Ryan. *Ryan lifted his head upon hearing his name. Benton stood up and walked up to Ryan. They looked one another in the eyes and Benton dug his thumb into an open wound Ryan had on his side, causing Ryan to groan in pain* We can end it all Ryan. All the beatings can stop right now. Just tell me everything I want to know, and your pain *Benton removed his thumb* Will go away. *After a few silent seconds, Ryan looked up at Benton and spat in his face. Benton whipped it off and Ryan hissed 3 words at Benton* Go... To... Hell... *Benton sighed and slowly walked backwards. He unlocked the door and opened it, addressing the guards outside* Dispose of him. *Benton walked out of the room and heard Ryan's screams of pain and agony. To this, Benton smiled*

---

Coraline eventually dropped down from the ceiling and nearly landed on Skyla, only for the later to give a good swat to the former, causing a KO. Coraline dropped into her cyan ink dazed. "Hewisquiw!" She raised a hand up giving her sister a thumbs up. "Nyu-wee."

Skyla grinned then looked at Ripley and Lucy. "Can we help you with something?"

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