The Forgotten Zodiac

James, paranoid as he was that someone was taking away his 'angel' immediately grabbed onto Quinn, holding tight and refusing to let go. "C'mon, angel. We have to go off to hell." He pulled her down the road as best he could, determined that they had to go to the Institute, though he had completely forgotten the real reason why.

Michael shifted uncomfortably, glancing at Werr and then chosing to ignore those comments. "Quinn, you're upset and confused. You look like you've been dragged up a mountain, and you have no shoes. How far do you even think we're going to go?" He wasn't going to try to address the 'used to be a murderous serial killer' comment. It was to close to the truth to try to explain it to an overly emotional Quinn.

"Of course I'm upset and confused!" Quinn shrieked at him, in total hysterics at this point. "Get away from me! Go to hell by yourself, creep!" She pulled away from James, wrenching herself away from his grip and taking off into the woods. There had to be a body of water around here somewhere, the 'live at a bottom of the lake' thing was looking really nice right about now. Being a manipulator of water, she could easily draw oxygen from it, even when sleeping. Quinn didn't make it very far, though, as she wasn't watching where she was going, and landed with both feet right in a patch of nettles. Quinn screamed a bit, falling back as the plant dug its microscopic needles into the soles of her feet. Quinn gave up, deciding to just lay down and see if the creeps she was trying to get away from would let her just die here. Probably not.

James immediately tried to get after Quinn, but he barely made it to the side of the road before collapsing onto his knees, the world spinning around him. "A-angel-" He managed to get the word out before his head dropped to the side of the road, and he fell unconscious.

Michael immediately began moving after Quinn, hoping he could catch up to her before she got herself seriously hurt. "Quinn! Quinn, come back here!" He sighed and looked around, following the trail she left after her through the brush.

Werr stood over James, wondering what to do. He had an opportune moment, here...he could easily slit the throat of this boy and be done with it. But he really just seemed lost and confused...the kid probably had a concussion. What to do...after a few moments of hesitation, Werr followed Michael, figuring he'd need help finding Quinn.

Quinn crawled on her hands and knees behind a tree, desperate to remain hidden, tears welling up in her eyes as her injured feet throbbed and stung painfully.

Quinn had made enough noise that Michael could find her, so he walked around behind the tree to where he could see her but was not close enough to upset her. "Quinn, come on. We'll go back to Malya's, and once we're there I'll explain what James meant. You know very well that you can't trust him."

"How do I know I can trust you, then? You could very well try to kill me before we even get there!" Quinn sobbed, though she had cried as much as she could; she was dehydrated by now, and despite the fact that she just wanted to curl up and cry and die or something, she couldn't really cry anymore.

"Calm down, that's how. You--" Werr started, approaching from the other side so Quinn couldn't try to run. He stopped when he saw her feet, though. It didn't look like Quinn would be doing much running. "That looks like it hurts...we're not your enemies, Quinn. Why do you think I'm a spy or whatever?"

"J-James said you were...and ho-how else did he find me?" Quinn sniffed, hugging her throbbing chest.

"James...he was saying those things to turn us against each other. Just come back to Malya's house with us, Michael can explain himself, and you can get your feet seen to." Werr insisted.

Quinn was quiet for a long moment. "I don't think I can walk very well anymore..."

"I'll carry you to the bike," Werr smiled a tiny bit, grateful that she had calmed down.

Michael rolled his eyes. "If I were going to kill you and Werr was a spy, Quinny, I would have killed you already. Actually, if I was the serial killer you told me I was, I would chop you into little pieces and make you eat them as I cut upward." He didn't seem embarrassed, despite the fact that he had both made up a nickname for her and talked like he was a serial killer. "So I can't be, you see." He hoped that would be enough of an explanation for them. If James had lied about Werr, which he probably had, subterfuge wasn't James' strong point, Michael would be able to pass of what was said about him as another lie.

Quinn stared at Michael for a very long time before Werr stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck to make it easier for her to be carried, and found herself closing her eyes as the exhaustion of the crazy morning's events set in. "Let's just go back to the bike," Werr shook his head at Michael, somewhat disgusted by Michael's 'chop you into pieces' talk.

Michael followed behind Werr and Quinn, still not quite realizing how off-putting his comment had been. It just showed that James was close to the truth than he would have liked. He'd never done that, but there were points in time when he had considered it. That would probably bother them.

"Alright, Michael, you should ride behind me," Werr said as they marched through the woods. "Quinn can take the side-seater. I think she fell asleep anyways."

"Not yet..." Quinn mumbled. "What about James? W-won't he still be there?"

"I don't know. If he is, Michael can take care of it, I suppose." Werr said, feeling Quinn shudder in his grasp.

"Wh-what, you'll kill him?" Quinn opened her eyes, frowning wearily.

Michael shrugged. "I might. Or I'll just force him to stop bothering us." He left how exactly he would force James to leave them alone open, because he would probably kill James anyway. "You don't need to watch if you don't want to." Luckily for Quinn, James was gone when they got to the road. Even more luckily for them, the motorcycle was still there.

"Well, I guess there's no need for that after all." Werr said, gently putting Quinn in the side-seater and strapping her in, putting his helmet on her head. Werr climbed on, starting up the engine of the bike and motioning for Michael to get on. "We should probably go the other way..." Werr thought aloud, hearing sirens up ahead. Of course, James had caused quite the ruckus. Werr was surprised there weren't cops already here.

"But the other way is the Institute!" Quinn jerked upright. "We are not going the other way!"

Werr sighed through his nose, thinking. It was possible that they could just pull to the side and let the cops pass, then continue on; pretend to be innocent passerby.

Michael, being the careless dare-devil that he was (However that's possible. Because he doesn't care about being a dare-devil.) climbed onto the side-seater next to Quinn, holding himself between it and the motorcycle itself. "The police won't have time to deal with us, they're searching for JAMES and THAT vehicle. Just don't draw unnecessary attention to us."

Michael, being the careless dare-devil that he was (However that's possible. Because he doesn't care about being a dare-devil.) climbed onto the side-seater next to Quinn, holding himself between it and the motorcycle itself. "The police won't have time to deal with us, they're searching for JAMES and THAT vehicle. Just don't draw unnecessary attention to us."

"...Doing that causes unnecessary attention to be drawn to us, but...whatever." Werr started forward, going much slower than he had been going before. Mainly because he was actually minding the speed limit this time. Not too far along the road, the police cars did pass them, but none of them so much as slowed. Werr sped up again as soon as they were out of sight.

Michael held onto the side of the side seater and the seat of the motorcycle tightly, choosing to ignore Werr's disagreement with what he was doing. Werr was not his mother, and, had Werr been his mother, he still wouldn't have cared. "Shut up and drive, moron. I'm wore a helmet for you, that's all you're getting from me."

"Okay, but I'm not stopping if you fall off." Werr stated as he swerved onto the interstate.

((Were we gonna spawn Lotis, or wait until Malya was better for that part?))

((We were going to have Lotis kill Malya. Before she was better.))

Michael rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you're so worried." Despite that, he melted the bits of metal near him and shoved his hands, literally, in the seats, then jerked the heat out of the metal before it burned him. "Happy now?"

((Okay. I should bring Lotis in, then. Back to looking at Sylas and them, I'll bring him in on my next post.))

"Hey, hey, this isn't my bike! You better be able to fix that without leaving holes, or Vrach will drive a scalpel through your forehead!" Werr snapped at him. Quinn had finally fallen asleep, her head leaned back against the headrest of the side-seater.

Vrach had finally decided to eat something after he was certain that Malya would be fine. He ate quickly, and abandoned his meal halfway through as Malya stirred. She spoke in Russian first, then Polish, opening her eyes and looking at Vrach. Vrach responded shortly, moving over to her so he could double-check her vital signs.

"Um...is she okay?" Sylas asked.

"She'll be better resting." Vrach answered.

Michael shrugged. Fixing it hadn't occurred to him, but he could probably find a way. "Or Vrat could be incredibly honored that I deigned to touch his motorcycle and not care either way." He could probably get it back, but if not he would just mess the entire thing up so it would look normal. Vrach would probably notice anyway.