Prologue: Origins

[Damien]

Damien ducked back into the bathroom quickly his breathing panicked. What was going one... that women... the one who chased after the girl with wet hair... was his mother! He knew something was going on, he wasn't sure how but he knew. What was up with his mother... she would never do something like that! Now that he thought about it... where was his Dad and four year old little sister? He had to find out more, and help that girl... but what if he was caught? What if he didn't do anything? Who both paths end up the same... end up like how his mother was acting? The teen held his chest trying to calm down. Emotions messed with your judgement.. there must be a way to help her... He noticed Reece from before standing in the bathroom also.

"Don't make a sound," he mouthed and held his ear to the bathroom door trying to hear more.

[Breekan1]

Reece stood against the wall, scanning the room, unsure of what to do. He could have sworn he heard adult voices and what sounded like that goddamned Kasey girl just outside. She had been to the pool? What did that mean? Was she the one crying? Highschool power politics had accustomed the young AllStar for a certain level of groupthink authoritarian bull****- but something about the sheer mindlessness of all these drones was tinkering with his guts.

He looked at Damien, and held up a hand in reassurance. He slipped with careful stealthiness under one of the stalls and grabbed a paper towel role. He brought it out and began to wrap his face, concealing it.

[Seryna]

GM

Raven and Brit flowed out to the main scene of the Reception Hall in their search of Sandra and didn't find Sandra.  They did see the woman they'd met earlier, Mary, holding the arm of a crying girl.

A young man with an suspicious expression watched as Kasey began to walk towards Autumn and Brit.

"You say you've been already?" He said in a voice loud enough for those straining to hear to comprehend. "Then what's your name?"

[Damien]

"What does he mean, what is her name?"Damien asked under his breath. He turned back to Reece to see toilet paper wrapped around his head... he looked ridiculous... but that really didn't matter right now. He walked over to Reece, careful not to make a sound, and whispered in his ear,"You got a plan?"

[Brad the Brit]

Brit saw Kasey walking towards them. His hand where shoved in his pockets as he eyed the crying girl. He subconsciously checked her for injuries, before realising he was doing that weird First Aid thing again. He stopped and asked Kasey.
"Whats going on" he asked. "Anything i can help with?"

[Breekan1]

Reece handed Damien the rest of the toilet paper, and whispered into his ear. "Not really. I can run fast- maybe I can distract them." He places his ear back against the door, waiting for any sign that everything's about to go downhill.

[FuBar]

Alice:

My whisper had been too loud! I'd been noticed! I quickly scanned the bathroom - Nobody else was in here, the window was frosted like almost all bathroom windows are, and I didn't detect any CCTV or yeerk surveilance system in operation. Good. I pushed the door closed and flicked my hologram to show a lady who bore no resemblance to my usual appearance, so I could not be identified as me when/if a controller came in.

When I heard out in the corridor a male voice, laced with suspicion, ask Kasey her name, I knew he meant her Yeerk name. And Kasey wouldn't have an appropriate answer for him.

Kasey's decision to pretend she'd already been to the pool was pretty quick-thinking of her, but I'd known her a while now and knew it was a bluff.

Unlike Kasey, I knew what a Yeerk name sounded like. I decided to try to help her...

I checked bluetooth-frequencies, looking for her cell. She usually accidentally left her Bluetooth switched on, and we'd paired our phones some time ago, so we didn't need security codes to send ringtones to each other etc.

There was a Yeerk dampening field preventing cellphone-calls etc, but my Pemalite tech could overcome that well enough for my purposes. I hacked into her phone via Bluetooth and set a calender-alarm with the following message to her:

"He's asking for a Yeerk designation, not a human name. Try "Illim 907". It should at least buy you some more time to get away. This note will self-erase, in case they try to read it. If they ask, tell them it's a reminder alarm for something. SMS and Calls don't work within this building."

I set the alarm for one-minute's time and set the cell's clock seconds to 50 so she'd hear it in 10 seconds time. As per the message, it would delete itself.

[Seryna]

GM

"Whose that with you?"  The young man began to walk towards Kasey, Brit and Autumn. "All of you, turn and tell me your names. This is no time to forget common protocol- and respect for your superiors."

As Alice sends the text message, her phone beeps and informs her of an error- it seems that it can't get a signal.  As she fiddles with it, perhaps walking around- she sees that she still can't get a signal. Did her text message get through?  Wait- hadn't she hacked the system? As she hurriedly attempted to gain access again, she discovered with alarm that she couldn't get around the dampening field now.  It was almost as though she was being rebuffed...

At the same time, Kasey's phone gives its signal that it has receives a text message.  If she checks it, she has a bare glimpse of Alice's text, just enough time to read it before it vanishes and is replaced by the 'no signal' error.
If any one checks their phones, they get the same no signal outcome, despite their various services.

[Brad the Brit]

"What the hell are you talking about". Brit's brow knotted in confusion as the young man started shouting at their small group. His hands slid from the comfortable position in their pockets and hung at his sides. His left foot slipped backwards a few centimeters. Always be prepared, the familiar advice whispered in the back of his mind.

[Damien]

"Looking like an idiot is better than being caught,"Damien whispered back referring to the toilet paper. Damien copied Reece with the toilet paper keeping his ears, mouth and eyes uncovered. "I feel stupid..."he muttered  to himself walking up behind Reece. "I'll try to help in anyway I can..."Damien's attitude seemed to have changed, instead of being the quiet, awkward boy he was before he was actually talking without stumbling over his words, and he seemed, to be calculating possible courses of action.

[Kit Cloudkicker]

Still attempting to walk away, Kasey hesitates for a moment too long before responding in a shaky voice "Insulin nine-hundred-seven?" She then stumbles, falling to the ground only feet away from the controller group.

[Raven]

Her mind was screaming at her to stay silent, eyes moved over to Kasey as she spoke before Kasey had stumbled and fallen to the ground Quickly, Autumn moved up, standing mere feet away. Questions entered her mind, but she would keep quiet, she wasn't going to let Kasey go with these freaks. There really was no other word for them. "Come on, get up." Autumn said softly, hoping Kasey wouldn't snap at her. Despite their earlier attitude to each other, Autumn wasn't going to let Kasey go, her instinct to fight welled up inside her.

[Seryna]

GM

As the Chee, Alice, hastily acted to save Kasey, Autumn and Brit from certain infestation, the two Controllers appeared conflicted at Kasey's reply.
"Insulin?" Damien's mother repeated. "That's the drug to treat diabetes in the human hosts. Somethings not right."

"Indeed." The young man declared darkly. "Get this one," He indicated the crying girl in Mary's grasp. " - to the Pool. You three-"
His gaze swung to Kasey, Autumn and Brit.

"Come with me."

"No!" The crying girl shrieked, her wet auburn hair whipping about as she struggled with Mary, scratching the older woman's arms. "No! I won't let it in my head!"

Despite her vigorous attempts at escape, the woman began dragging her down the corridor that the three had been in earlier.

"RUN!"  She screams to Kasey, Autumn and Brit.

The man's head whips about towards the auburn haired girl at her screams.

You look about quickly- but you already know that the front door is locked and the windows by the reception area won't open.  That leaves only the bathrooms and their two windows.

[Kit Cloudkicker]

Without thinking, Kasey scrambles to her feet and grabs at Autumn and Brit, her fingers barely grazing their clothes as she bolts into the bathroom. She stumbles shrieks, but manages to stay on her feet when she sees the now unrecognizable Reece and Damien in the bathroom. She launches herself up onto a sink, and tears at the window latches, then throws the window open. She scrambles over the window and hits the ground below, hard. She panics, unsure of where to go, before bolting towards the woods.

[Brad the Brit]

Brits head did a whirlwind. the two conflicting messages in his mind battled against eachover. commonsense and his flight impulse told him to follow the girls advice and to run to the nearest available exit.

But something else, something strong and annoying told him to fight. Could he really stand by and let a girl be dragged off? Within a second he had made a decision that he would probably regret for the rest of his life.

He roared in anger and ran down the corridor passing Kasey as she ran to the bathroom. A meter before the surprised man he braked and squealed to a halt. His fist didn't stop and impacted on the guys jaw. A punch his boxing coach would have been proud of back in England. The man fell to the ground, even if he wasn't knocked out he wouldn't be getting up for a while. A punch like that to the jaw would have shaken the brain in his skull. All motor skills would be confused for at least a minute... at least technically.

He stepped over the young man on the floor and looked straight into Marys eyes, as the girl still struggled in her grasp."Let. The. Girl. Go" He warned.