As soon as Darius's door opened, every expectation Austin had about the rendezvous was confirmed. With a surprising speed and ferocity, the Protector's father figure descended upon the stranger. Darius locked the soggy interloper beneath his choke-hold, her breaths ragged and wild beneath him. Austin almost felt bad for her, flinching at Darius as he began to shout questions at her struggling face. Besides him, Hang--for the first time in the few days he'd known her--looked caught off guard.
No, not off guard. Scared.
Of course, Hang had every right to be, and Austin didn't dare say anything to the contrary. Truthfully, he didn't want to have to watch the interrogation--couldn't watch it--so instead he averted his gaze and prayed she'd answer the questions quickly. Nervously, he began to knead the fabric inside his sweatshirt pockets between his fingers, but despite not wanting to be involved, Percy's curious use of his abilities drew Austin's gaze. Something about the fearlessness with which he sauntered over to his dad placated Austin's tic, and the boy become suddenly enraptured by whatever it was Percy could do. It was over in a moment: Darius seemed to back off immediately at the child's signal despite there being no obvious expression of his abilities. Austin's brow furrowed as he began to wonder at the nature of Percy's powers.
Did he read her mind or something? Austin unconsciously took two steps in the opposite direction of where Percy stood.
Great, more creepy children metas is just what this bunker needs.
The intruder's powers were terrifying in their own right, but at least with her it was painfully obvious what was happening. Still, despite her ferocity in the mall, and her battle-sense in the commons, she looked more nervous than anything: standing back to the wall, her face matted with sprinkler-soaked hair, she was a far-cry from the monster they had engaged minutes before. Now she looked just like an ordinary, scared girl.
Now there is a familiar look. Austin smirked softly, but the smile quickly faded from his features.
A very familiar look.
Something had been bugging him about the stranger since she'd arrived, but the smoke and action had drawn his attentions elsewhere. Now, trapped mere feet from her, and free of all obfuscation, the reality began to dawn on him. This girl wasn't a stranger. At least, not to him.
Impossible.
"My name is Alexis.. I just escaped the SPME, alright? I'm not with them. And I know things you need to know."
He tried not to stare--to divert his gaze--but he couldn't help it. Purposefully, he rotated in place, subtly shifting on his feet until most of his back was turned in Alexis's direction. On the outside, he settled into his prototypical, unassuming stance: in a moment, he was the same, disengaged Austin who remained quiet because he
was quiet. Inside the pockets of his hoodie, he once again plucked furiously at the seams. His panicked mind was working on overdrive to find some excuse, any excuse, to leave. Unfortunately, the predicament was lose-lose: Austin couldn't stay, but even if Darius didn't want him there, running out the door wasn't exactly subtle.
Alexis was almost as fiery as he remembered: it took all of five seconds for her to begin taking jabs at Darius, the man who's forearm had been inches shy of crushing her windpipe moments ago. She was brazen--too brazen--given her position, which meant she was either stupid, or had something a whole lot worse than Darius to be afraid of. Austin reluctantly bet on the latter.
He was not disappointed.
A mind control bomb? Aerated solutions? Fuck.
For a second, his mind drifted to the others who'd embroiled themselves in an SPME rescue mission, but just as soon as it did, he banished the thought. Austin scowled in the direction of his sneakers, and a hollow complacency settled over him. He had tried to stop them, and they had made the choice to go anyway. It was their own fault if anyone failed to make it back. Austin doubted Darius would be so callous as to deploy them from the bunker now, and Austin was relieved by that thought. Hang, evidently, was not.
"Where did you come from? And where are they planning on using this... thought-control bomb? How do you know? You were in San Antonio at the mall when we were kidnapped, and we've been here four days. If you're a runaway, you didn't come from too far.
Where are they?"
Austin's head whipped in Hang's direction, his eyes wide. Was she planning on
finding them? The thought was maddening, and (against his better judgement) Austin began to laugh. Everything was falling apart: first Alexis had arrived on their doorstep, and even with the nightmare-fuel she'd provided--no,
because of it--Hang looked poised to go running into their grasp.
"It doesn't
matter. If they have a chemical weapon that only affects metas, we are screwed. We shouldn't be looking for them," Exasperated, Austin turned back towards Darius and Alexis. The thought occurred to him that their resources might've been better spent fleeing the country, but, knowing the SPME, they would be running all their lives. Even if she was wrong, it didn't matter what Alexis said about the SPME; Austin would've agreed with her anyway.
It was going to be a gamble, but one worth taking. After all, it was only a matter of time before Alexis remembered him too, which meant he risked everything if he failed to get in front of her.
"Besides," Austin cleared his throat, trying his best to brace himself for whatever reaction Darius would have, "Funny thing is, I, uh, actually
know Alexis. D-Didn't recognize her 'til now, but any information she has about the SPME..." He trailed off, his eyes settling on the damp interloper. "We can trust it."
@CloudyBlueDay @Doctor Jax