The Forgotten Zodiac

Now that they were  in the city, Timothy stood up and walked alongside Sylas, one hand on his fur.

Once Syl had cleaned the wound well enough to see that it was just a scratch, he moved back, content that Subject wasn't going to fall over dead. "Well then..." He took a deep breath, then nodded. "Fine. If that's what needs to be done, fine. I'll come with you. For a small time, only, of course. I have school to attend."

((Let's skip to the broadcast? And Timothy should get lost, then get found by Lotis but not James.))

((Yes. And yes.))

Sylas was quite happy at this, head held high. "Let's see, TV station..." Quinn looked around thoughtfully. Werr moved ahead, intending to lead the way. If the others would let him.

"Well okay then." Subject nodded, putting his sunglasses and hood on once again, hiding his tail. "Now we just wait. If they're smart, they'll do the same thing I did. Steal some equipment, send a live broadcast."

Syl crossed his arms and glared at Sub. "From what I saw it was hardly 'stealing'. It was more like knocking out everyone in the station and /then/ stealing it." Just then the TV buzzed and Michael's voice came across loud and clear. "Hey, amplifier person? We need you to meet us. We'll be staked out at every domed building on your way home from your old school. Whoever sees you first will make contact." He looked around, then nearly knocked over the camera. "Look, I have to go, meet us there, okay?" The show then went black as Michael turned and moved for the door.

"Wrong, I saw them broadcasting live outside. I only knocked out two people." Subject explained before the TV gave out Michael's broadcast. He turned it off directly after the show went black again. "Brilliant! They must be talking about City Hall, but that doesn't matter. Come on, the TV station is just around the corner." He grinned and took Syl by the hand, pulling him towards the aforementioned TV station. With any luck, he'd be able to catch them before they went anywhere. If it came down to it, he could just go to City Hall...but agents would be moving towards domed buildings in the city, so it was honestly safer if he could just catch them leaving the station.

Syl shook of Subject's hand and ran after him, picking up his bags as he went. "You still caused harm to other human beings. It's not like you just took something and interupted the show, you knocked two people out."

"I had to," Subject sighed. "They wouldn't have let me get very far into my message if I hadn't. You'll understand in due time, I suppose. It's literally survival of the fittest for us escapees." He hurried to the TV station, hardly waiting up for Syl. He turned onto the right street, looking around. Hopefully they hadn't left yet...had they?

Michael and the others were just leaving the building, glancing around for agents and the person they were looking for.

Sylvester saw Michael and let out a shout, realizing it was his cousin. "Hey! Michael!" He hurried across the street and ran up to the group. "Michael? It's me, Syl."

Quinn, Werr and Sylas all immediately tensed, glaring at the newcomer. Sylas, however, recoiled somewhat. "Yuck, something smells bad..." He shook his head, looking up at Subject.

"Oh, you!" Quinn blinked, somewhat surprised to see Subject so early. "You're the kid from the broadcast! We're here to help you. What's your name?"

"Subject," He answered with a small smile. Now, these people looked more like escapees. A bit dirty, tired, one of them looked injured...he could still use some proof, but that would be taken care of soon enough, he hoped.

Syl blinked, looking down at himself critically, trying to find out what it was that smelled bad and who had said that. "Wait, what?" He sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything..."

Micheal grinned, in a rather confused, I-have-no-idea-what's-happening-why-is-he-here sort of way. "Syl? What're you doing with him?" He gestured at Subject. "You aren't Gifted. At all. Oh, and by the way, this is Quinn, Werr, and Sylas."

Timothy had dropped and hidden behind Sylas at Syl and Subject's arrival, and was now stopped in an ally, breathing heavily and looking around nervously, expecting Subject to jump out and bite off his face.

"You know him, Michael?" Quinn blinked. "Not gifted? Why is he with Subject, then?"

"He overheard me coughing, and then cleaned up my head when I hit it on a dumpster." Subject explained simply. "Now then, we should get down to business. There's a simple way for all of us to prove that we are who we say. All of you, do something with your powers. It'll be much bigger than you intend it to be, if I'm in contact with you while you're doing it."

Lotis had been watching curiously/angrily from the same alleyway that Timothy had just run into. He coudn't attack, those lot greatly outnumbered him, and now they would overpower him, if this amplifier thing was real. And look at that, this Timothy one had walked straight in front of him. Lotis was hidden in shadows, so of course the boy hadn't seen him. He waited until Timothy looked away, then grabbed the child by the mouth and upper arm. "Hello there," He hissed into Timothy's ear, grinning widely.

((Also, with Lotis this close, he should be able to get into Timothy's head, which would be good. For us, I mean. It'd be awful for Timothy.))

Upon hearing Lotis' voice and feeling him grab his mouth and arm, Timothy collapsed, intending to fold into a ball until Sylas came to find him. "N-No... Go aw-w-way!" He whimpered feebly.

"He's my cousin. I have no idea why he's here, he shouldn't be, actually." Michael stepped backward, looking at Quinn and Werr. "One of you should do it. The only thing I've ever been good at is spread out or very concentrated heat. Combining the two could boil everyone around here, which wouldn't be good."

Syl simply stood there, hands behind his back as he could tell it wasn't exactly time for him to starting drilling Michael on the truth, the true truth, of course, about what was going on inside the labs.

((Okay. :T))

Lotis held him up, not wanting to risk making anymore noise. 'No, I won't go away,' He said, reaching into Timothy's mind. 'You're going to do something, whether you want to or not. You're going to use the amplifier's own powers against him. Take his hand, and then use your power to destroy him. Stab him through the heart.' Lotis smirked. A wonderful idea. When Timothy did that, things would be quite chaotic, giving him a chance to attack. He would wipe all of them out.

"Alright," Werr nodded, stepping forward and shakily reached out his hand, setting it on Subject's shoulder. He hit his heel against the ground; a rock larger than his torso burst out of the ground, hovering in mid-air. Werr looked impressed. He had only intended to move a pebble.

"Well, there you have it." Subject grinned.

Timothy shook his head. "I-I don't kn-n-now any amplif-f-fier. Please don't h-hurt me! I won't r-r-run aw-way if you d-don't h-hurt m-m-me." Inside his head, his thoughts were screaming for Sylas so loudly, it was nearly impossible for Lotis not to hear it.

Michael looked at Werr, completely surprised. "It works! That's... Well, I'll confess that's not what I expected, but okay."

'The child that looks like a demon! You're scared of him anyways, that's why you ran here...right?' Lotis said over Timothy's thought-screams, ignoring the annoying cries. 'If he scares you so much, be rid of him. I won't hurt you if you obey me. Not that you have a choice...' Being this close, Lotis thought that perhaps he could test out his theory; if he could speak to Timothy through his mind, perhaps the boy could be controlled if Lotis reached far enough within.

"I understand," Subject shrugged. "It's not very believable, but the evidence speaks for itself."

"Well then...looks like we found ourselves a not-so-secret weapon." Werr smiled a bit. "It's safe to assume that this thing won't work if you're dead, so I guess that means you'll be staying with us. Er...not that I have any say in it," He glanced at Michael before looking at Quinn as she spoke.

"Werr is right, though! We have a total advantage, now." Quinn smiled. "Nice to meet you, Subject."

"Likewise," Subject replied happily.

((He could be. That would be awesome. Timothy should attack Sylas. That would be great.))

Timothy slowly uncurled and looked up at Lotis. "You-you want me to m-m-make the sc-cary guy go aw-way?" He paused, considering the notion. "Won't S-S-Sylas be m-mad? I can't make S-Sylas mad..."

Michael shook his head. "I agree that he should come with us, but if they know we have him, it's not an advantage. That and we lose all control over our powers, it's not like he gives us /more/ power, it's like he over-powers everything we do. The other thing to worry about is the possibility that there's some sort of tracking device implanted in him somewhere, which would be less then helpful."

((I knew you'd like it. xDD))

Lotis thought for a moment. 'Make Sylas go away too, then. In fact, use the demon boy to make Sylas go away first.' He said, smirking. 'Then he won't be mad at you. He can't be mad if he's gone.' Lotis buried his idea further in, deciding to add some incentive. 'I'll leave you alone for good if you make those two go away. I won't ever bother you again if you do it right.'

"Oh..." Quinn blinked.

"I don't know of any tracking devices, but you're quite right. Perceptive, aren't you?" Subject just kept on smiling. "But, if there was a tracking device on me, I think I would have been caught by now. I've been on the run for three days, in actuality. But there are too many agents in the city now, it's too dangerous here...but you are right about the over-powering thing."

"He'd be useful in a pinch," Werr pointed out quietly, deciding to keep his other opinion to himself. He hadn't felt any energy loss with that rock. At all. Perhaps a life extention wasn't just a theory.

((That's because you have psychic powers.))

Timothy uncurled further, rocking back and forth on his heels. "For-forever?" He stared up at Lotis hesitantly, waiting for the catch. "You w-wouldn't go into my h-h-head?" The few sections of his mind resisting were quickly melting away under the idea that Lotis might leave him alone.

"I'm just saying it's risky. I'm not saying I think it's a bad idea." He stared off into space for a second, then looked at Werr. "If you used his amplifying powers, could you sense the metal in his body? If there is any, that is."

((Yes.))

'Use the demon child to kill Sylas, then kill the demon child himself. Then yes, I will forever leave you be. Your head would be yours, I would stay out of it.' Lotis pushed harder, as if he needed to. 'I swear it.'

Werr blinked for a moment, then nodded, reaching out with both of his hands and putting them on Subject's shoulders. He sat still, smiling away as Werr closed his eyes, scanning the area first to make sure he was doing it right. There were plenty of pipes underground, that was to be expected. A can, for some reason, and what looked like a bike handle. Disregarding the two, Werr turned his attention to Subject; the kid was wearing a watch, he had a silver cap on a moral tooth...there were traces of metal in his horns and tail for some reason, but those were too small to be any sort of tracking device. Literally microscopic. Werr was amazed at how easily he had picked that up.

"He's clean," Werr dropped his hands with a small groan of pain, looking at Michael again. "There's nothing in there to suggest that he has a tracking device. Not even something as stupid as a wire. I checked his shoes even, if that helps. He has an aluminum gum wrapper stuck there."

"I do?" Subject lifted his shoe, then pulled off the sticky wrapper. "Well, I was behind a trash can."

Michael blinked, amazed that Werr had sensed all of that, then nodded. "Well, I guess we should get moving, staying in one place isn't a good idea." Michael looked around, counting heads before they headed off again. "Hey, Sylas? Where's Timothy?"

At this point, Timothy's mind completely broke and he stood up, turning around and heading back toward Sylas and the others. Within a few minutes, he came out behind the group, running up to Sylas and wrapping his arms around him. "I was l-l-lost." He whimpered.

Lotis grinned, watching eagerly from the shadows. Timothy wouldn't need to have his head invaded, because Lotis was going to kill him after the boy carried out his new tasks. Of course.

"Huh?" Sylas blinked, licking Timothy with his dog-tongue when the boy returned. "Do not run off again, then. Stay with me, okay? Are you hurt somewhere?"

Quinn sighed. They really needed to keep a better eye on each other...she hadn't even noticed Timothy missing until Michael pointed it out.

"I suppose we can save the introductions for later," Subject smiled wider. "We really should get moving, though."