A/N: I ACTUALLY updated! If it seems really jumbled together, I'm so so sorry, this is the product of an inconsistent 4 months work....heheheh.....but here you go???

Trigger warning: Vaguely descriptive sexual assault/catcalling and violence+racism

They landed in the ocean, too far away from human eyes to see the figures falling out of the void, but close enough that some people on the beach thought there was a storm nearby.

But like humans, they waved it off for something else, or Fourth of July fireworks, even though they were illegal in the state of California, and it was nowhere near the Fourth of July.

The group was also lucky, for police sirens had been sounding in their direction, and some more suspicious people figured a gun had gone off.

And they did not care about the potential of human lives being lost, for it wasn't them or anyone they knew, so it must be some criminals that deserved to pay for their crimes, since they weren't cooperating with the police.

No one investigated the strange crack of thunder, or fireworks, or gunshots, and though our group lucked out, the reasoning behind it was saddening.

Sophie came up spurting salt water out of her mouth, treading water like she had been taught in swim school, while the others, except for Linh, were shocked out of their minds.

"Sophie! I thought we were going to Havenfield or Foxfire, or anywhere else BUT THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN?!"

Quickly, Sophie stripped off a glove, grabbing Linh's hand, who gasped and automatically made a nice little water float for the rest of them, drying them off in the process.

Sophie was startled too.

Was that really Fitz she had heard?

Or was her heart just playing tricks on her mind?

"I'm sorry guys. I—I thought I heard something and I guess I accidentally followed it."

Tam scowled at Sophie, but the malicious intent wasn't as concentrated as it might have been before.

There was a shock, but also a need to do something about it in Sophie's eyes, and inwardly sighing, Tam knew that their trip wasn't over yet.

"What do you mean Sophie?"

"I—I...I thought, maybe, I heard Fitz transmitting to me."

Biana gasped at the news, but her face fell immediately.

"Sophie, are you sure? He's—We saw the Neverseen....you know."

Her voice trailed off, and Linh gathered Biana in her arms, and Dex placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Keefe struggled to sit up, the flotation water thing like a water bed, unsteady but firm.

"Sophie. Are you sure?"

She looked at Keefe, and the need to find his best friend looked back at her.

"I—I think so. I hope so."

She had tugged out three eyelashes at this point, and was reaching for a fourth when Tam grabbed her hand, holding it in place.

"Before everyone jumps into action, what's our plan? We have no idea where we are, or where Fitz is, and we're in the middle of the ocean. We need a plan. This might be a trap. You never know."

Sophie nodded sullenly.

Tam's voice softened as he addressed everyone around him.

"I miss Fitz as much as you guys. But we need to think this through. If we're gonna look for Fitz, we need a plan. How are we going to get out of the ocean without attracting attention to ourselves? Sophie, it's been over three years since you last came here. Things change in the human world all the time. We don't know any of that. How will we fit in? Our clothes make us stand out. How will we get human clothes? We can't speak the language. ALso, we have no way of contacting anyone from the Lost Cities. We need to cover the basics first."

Sophie nodded again, Tam's words making sense.

"Well, I can speak English, so I'll translate for all of us, but I have no idea of societal customs today. I guess I can send Biana to take a look around, Enhance her, and take Dex with us to hack into an ATM like last time."

Tam nodded, smiling just a smidge.

"And then what? We need a place to stay."

"I can rent us a motel. Basically, people have a giant home with lots of rooms that you pay to sleep in when you're traveling. And in a motel, they usually accept walk-ins and ask less questions."

Sophie bit her lip.

"You guys have to stay by the beach though. And no abilities."

Linh raised her hand.

"Can I come with you guys too? I don't think I can stay here much longer."

"Then I'm coming too."

Both Dex and Tam spoke at the same time, and the latter sent the former a look.

Sophie just sighed, thinking about the logistics of the plan.

"Biana, do you think you could hold your Vanish over all of us if I Enhance you?"

She thought for a moment, but ultimately shook her head.

"I'm too tired. At most I'll be able to take three other people."

"Okay. Dex, you're coming with me and Linh. We need money."

"Alright."

Sophie turned to Tam.

"You and Keefe can stay out of trouble, right? And just play in the water quietly, or lay out in the sand and wait for us to come back?"

Tam sighed, but knew that he would have to stay behind.

"Yeah. I guess. Just hurry back."

Sophie nodded.

"We will. Stay on the beach where we leave you. The sun is just above our heads, which means noon-ish. We'll be back in two hours."

Linh took the group to shore, and they all stumbled onto the sand, laughing as though they had just been playing in the deeper waters, and Sophie bade Tam and Keefe goodbye.

The boys staying behind quickly looked around, and seeing that the other boys their age didn't have on shirts, they took off their outermost garments.

Well, Keefe did.

Tam took off his cloak, but hesitated over his jerkin.

It was already ripped in some places, but he was a little self conscious about his body, and Keefe saw him pause.

"You don't have to take off your jerkin. Or I won't look. Just lay on the sand."

Tam bit his lip, looking down.

"Not everyone has a glorious body like mine."

Keefe ran his fingers through his matted hair, and Tam scowled.

"It's not that."

He turned away, stripping off his jerkin, and wrapping his cloak around him, but not before Keefe could see the edges of a scar running along his ribs.

The wound had looked deep, and below the scar was a new wound, bright red, and scabbing.

Tam hissed when the cool air met his wound, and tried to pick out bits of sand.

"Do you want some help with that?"

"No. It's your fault I got this AGAIN anyways."

Keefe inwardly flinched at Tam's harsh words, slicing in his heart.

"So it's like that again, huh."

Tam just sighed.

"I'm sorry, but it's hard to trust you."

Keefe didn't have to be touching him to feel the bitterness in his heart.

"I get it."

"No. I don't really think you do."

The conversation died there, but after Tam hissed again at his peeling wound, Keefe got up and tapped Tam's shoulder.

"Come on. There has to be some fresh water around here. I've seen people with already wet hair come to the beach."

"They could have already gone in the water."

"I guess so. But they must want to get sand off of their bodies. Let's go."

Grumbling, Tam stood up with Keefe, and they walked towards the top of the beach.

As they passed, some teenagers stopped and stared, and a couple of guys and girls started to talk behind their hands to their friends, pulling out their phones and taking photos.

Causally, two girls came giggling up to the boys, and asked if they could get their Instagram.

Tam started to panic, mostly because he didn't know what the HECK Instagram was, and in halting English, he spoke quietly.

"I'm sorry. I do not know what you are talking about. Bye."

One of the girls scoffed.

"Ugh. You're probably one of those gay Chinese boys that wears a bunch of makeup. You're not worth my time nor the air you breathe."

She walked away in a loud huff, and even though the boys didn't know what she said, the tone still hurt, and Tam pressed his lips together.

Quietly, he stepped away, walking faster, and the people who were talking about how attractive the boys were were now talking about how it was their fault Coronavirus was around, and how they should just shoot the rats they brought with them along with their owners.

Keefe glared at the tittering groups, burning to yell at them, and hurried after Tam.

They walked on in silence, the crunchy sand becoming more rocky as they walked.

Gingerly, Tam held his cloak tightly around him, wincing as the sharp rocks dug into his skin.

Keefe also watched where he stepped, stumbling a few times, as his head still spun if he moved too quickly.

Tam was looking around, and noticed a few people wearing a cloth covering their lower face, though some showed their nose.

"I wonder why they're wearing those cloth things on their face."

Keefe looked up, and finally noticed the scattered handful of people wearing them.

"Strange. Sophie didn't mention this."

Keefe smirked.

"I wonder how much they hate their face."

Tam just rolled his eyes, looking around for something like the things Sophie had described as showers.

By a short building with a metal crest on the top of a slope were some metal poles that people stood by, and water sprayed out of them.

"What's that?"

Tam pointed with his chin, and Keefe brightened.

"I think that's it!"

They walked up the slope, ignoring the passing stares.

Keefe and Tam waited off to the side until enough people had used the showers that the boys had one all to themselves.

Tam had watched the people before him use the metal poles, and it looked like if you pushed a button, water came out of the little spigot.

"Keefe, can you press it for me please?"

"Yeah, sure."

They washed off their toes first, as the sand wasn't as fine as they were used to, but Tam hesitated when his feet were clean.

"I don't want to show everyone here, but you won't make a big fuss, right? You'll look away?"

Tam looked at Keefe, eyes earnest, and Keefe was so honored by this moment of vulnerability that he nodded, and biting his lip, Tam slowly opened up his cloak.

He tried to clean up the angry wound and hold his cloak barely open, but unfortunately, he didn't have enough hands to clean his wound without hurting himself further.

Gritting his teeth, Tam forced himself to swallow his pride and ask Keefe for help.

"Keefe, could you please—"

Tam gritted his teeth.

These were not easy words to say.

But he didn't have to say it.

Keefe just looked up at Tam, bending down and with a piece of cloth he ripped from his cloak, Keefe gently dabbed at Tam's wound.

It hurt, but not as much as it did when he was trying to multitask.

"Thanks."

"It's the least I could do."

They went back to the shoreline, the sun a little lower in the sky and just laid down on the sand.

Sophie came back later with Dex, Biana, and Linh, looking rattled.

"Okay. So I figured out that we're at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. That's a city in North County San Diego, which is located in California, a state of the United States of America on the West Coast. Largest state by population. Also happens to be the city I lived in. Also, everyone is wearing masks. So if Fitz was here, it's going to be so much harder. I've gotten us all masks. You put it on your face, tucking the loops around your ears and have it cover both your nose and mouth."

Sophie handed them out to everyone, and Biana made a face.

"This fabric is so itchy. Remind me why we have to wear these again?"

"So we don't stand out and get in trouble. That would be super bad."

"And cover this gorgeous face?"

But everyone put on the masks.

Tam snatched the black one and Keefe took this awesome pink, green, and blue swirled mask.

Biana had asked for the most fashionable mask, so she got the lavender and silver one.

Linh received a patterned cloud mask, Dex got a plain gray mask, and Sophie picked up a black mask for herself also.

"I also got us some quick tourist t-shirts. Please put these on Tam and Keefe. They were the cheapest I could find. I want to save our money for other things. San Diego can be an expensive place."

Sophie tossed Tam and Keefe matching 'I love San Diego' shirts.

Tam looked incredulous, and Keefe just cackled with delight.

Eagerly, he put it on, and slowly, crying on the inside, Tam put his on also.

Biana and the others were all wearing similar shirts, but Tam looked the most miserable by far.

Grumbling, he tugged his bangs over his eyes, hunching his shoulders, and looking really emo about it.

Linh grinned with delight, and Biana smiled.

"Come on Tammy Boy! We're in the Forbidden Cities!"

Refusing to say anything about the shirt, Tam followed the group as Sophie led them to a motel a few miles into the city.

"Are we there yet?"

Keefe was whining, and Biana wasn't far behind.

It had been an hour, as Sophie kept on getting lost (it had been awhile since she was in the Forbidden Cities and almost got ran over by a car or bike 7 times.)

They were all tired, and exhausted from being on high alert at all times.

Sophie was carrying a shockingly large amount of money on her in gift cards and cash in a backpack, along with a newly purchased Samsung tablet.

Dex had managed to hack into the registry of a hotel through the website, and gotten them two adjoining rooms.

Now, they just had to get there.

"Yes. It's across the street."

Sophie pointed to Rodeway Inn, and everyone sighed with relief.

They hurried across the street, and though the staff gave them a slightly funny look, they got their rooms without much hassle, (Keefe charmed the hotel staff wordlessly, and Biana just existed.)

"I'm going to run over to the supermarket—"

"Supermarket?"

"Uh, it's like a place with food and stuff you can buy and I'll be back. You guys, don't touch anything. Just sit on the beds."

Gratefully, Tam and the others sat down on the beds, resting their tired and over-stimulated bodies.

Sophie went in and out, bringing with her a large amount of vegetarian ramen and microwave dinners for everyone to choose from, along with some fruits and vegetables and snacks, and utensils.

For herself, Sophie got a frozen CPK barbeque chicken pizza, practically drooling at the mere thought of it.

Everyone was a little bit more excited when Sophie came back (they were obedient and hadn't moved in case they broke something), and were excited to try human food.

They were hungry and it was food.

That's all that could be said about their reactions, although Dex seemed to really enjoy the ramen.

Sophie on the other hand, she ate like it was her first meal in eons.

Scarfing down her pizza, and then cleaning up the leftover ramen, eating all the Doritos, and gulping down the spicy Cheetos and washing it down with Caprisun.

It was bliss.

She was so happy, even after a long day, and everyone was happy for Sophie.

It was hard to stay optimistic, and even Linh had a hard time sometimes.

So it was good to see Sophie so happy with just food.

Sophie picked up all the trash, went to brush her teeth, and crashed out on one of the double beds in the girls' room.

She was spread like a sea star, so after tucking her in, Linh and Biana crawled into the second bed, and the boys went to their own room.

This arrangement was significantly more complicated, but Tam and Dex used their telekinesis to move the beds closer to each other, and they slept across the two beds.

It was awkward to some extent, but everyone basically passed out before things could get to a "I can't exist next to you" kind of awkward.

Sophie had purchased some cereal and milk the day before, so that's what the group ate for breakfast the next day.

It wasn't anything like a breakfast in the Lost Cities, but everyone seemed to understand that sometimes, you didn't really go somewhere for the food.

You went to find something.

And that's what they were here for.

So after breakfast, they set out again.

Sophie was desperately trying to recreate the shock and relief she felt when Fitz transmitted to her, but it simply wasn't working.

With all the calls she sent out, she got nothing back.

They spent the whole day looking for him, their feet aching for a rest, but their hearts pressing on.

The sun had gone down hours before when Sophie decided to call it a night.

Exhausted, the team went back to the motel, kicking their feet.

It had been so hard to trek all the streets, looking for a ghost when they had almost forgotten how to hope.

In her room, Sophie scrolled through Google and YouTube, trying to catch up on all that she had missed.

COVID-19 had been one of the biggest shocks, and she couldn't fathom the human world being shut down by a tiny virus.

She also couldn't believe the hate that came with the past years.

Googling "Biggest events from 2012-2021" didn't help at all.

8 years was a long time to be gone, and the results that popped up overwhelmed her.

New presidents, new trends, new pain.

Sophie had forgotten how chaotic and individually life-threatening it had been living here, and her heart ached for so many people.

She turned off the blue light, and closed her eyes.

How was she going to find Fitz in this mess?

Could she even help him if she did?

One last time, Sophie reached out with her aching mind, calling into the void, lifelessly searching through the voices in her head.

"Fitz...can you hear me? Where are you? I-I thought I heard you yesterday, but was I just missing you too much? Fitz?"

Over and over, a desperate voice called out, hoarsely screaming to no one.

"Sophie?"

A gentle voice called into the void, breaking Sophie from her exhausted callings.

It was Linh, stroking Sophie's flushed cheeks.

Bleary eyes gazed in kind but tired eyes.

"Dex was making a translator for us, but he needs your help. Can you Enhance him? It'll go much faster if you can help him input the Enlightened language into the translating app."

Sophie obliged, and as soon as Dex was done, she fell back into bed.

Everyone could see how exhausted Sophie was, and running on fumes.

"Sophie, Dex and Tam are going to go to the store for some more earbuds. Is there a place you can purchase them?"

Sophie struggled to get out of the sheets, and Linh's heart broke, seeing how visibly exhausted she was.

"Nevermind, we can figure it out. Sophie, you need to sleep. Even though all of us have been running around, you've been doing the most work, and...You need to heal."

Keefe entered from the other room, all the bruises and cuts and scrapes from his shared ordeal with Sophie and Tam showing very visibly on his face.

"Well, if Tam is going out, I'm going too. He can't speak English and I can."

Biana laughed, and sat Keefe down on the bed very firmly.

"Sorry, but you look like you just got out of a fight, and you would draw too much attention. Tam looks a lot better all things considered, all his injuries are covered by his clothes."

Keefe opened his mouth to protest, but Tam barely shook his head, and internally grumbling, he shut his mouth.

Dex raised his eyebrows, but decided against saying something.

They headed out, and the door slammed shut, a second too slow.

Biana had disappeared.

Linh contemplated chasing after her, but knowing she could take care of herself, she let her go.

In any case, if something went wrong, Biana was a Vanisher.

Duck into the corner and get out of a sticky situation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The conversation was stilted as Dex and Tam walked into a blackened lot with white lines painted on it, large, boxy cars dotting the ground, squeezed between the white lines.

Sophie called it a parking lot, saying that the cars were parked in a lot, and it was the main mode of transportation.

In order to draw less attention and get around easier, Sophie had sold a hairclip of Biana's, saying that it was a gift from her dad to her mom, but that they had gotten divorced and her mom needed the money.

It had been enough to purchase several bikes and helmets, supplies to last a week or so of searching, and some street clothes.

The duo locked up their bikes at a metal snake thing, Tam's light eyes wide in alertness and fear as a car passed by slowly.

He inched closer to Dex, who was looking around in fascination.

"I wonder if they sell human movies here."

He was looking up at the glowing blue letters, a yellow logo at the end of the words.

"We should leave quickly, I think we're drawing attention."

Dex looked into Tam's nervous eyes and nodded, although there was no one looking at the pair.

He gently tugged on Tam's solid black sweatshirt, and they went inside, making a face as a blast of unfamiliar smells hit them as soon as they walked through the doors.

Sophie had shown them how to pay with cash, and as they wandered the aisles, looking for earbuds, Dex picked up anything that caught his eye, and Tam added up the numbers in his head.

The numbers were low, and it wasn't until they reached the back of the store that he realized how big the store truly was.

I hope we don't get lost in here....It would be hard to help us.

Dex gasped, shocking him out of his thoughts.

"Tam! Look! Movies!"

Dex pulled him to the rack of plastic wrapped discs.

So many images and people and just things screamed at him, and it was hard to focus.

Dex crouched down to look at the shelves and shelves, grabbing a selection of DVDs.

He flipped through his choices, pleased with the titles, and snatched up a few of the neck earphones that were displayed near them.

Dex looked up, seeing Tam's stiff back and tight stance, and his excitement softened.

"Tam, it's okay. Nothing is going to happen to us. Sophie can easily figure out where we are, and if we really need to, we can get a cab. We'll be okay, alright?"

He smiled gently at the frightened boy, and slowly, Tam lowered his tense shoulders.

"Okay."

"Is there something you want to get?"

He hesitated.

"Can we go back to the food section? I think Sophie wouldn't mind if we brought back a few snacks."

He smirked, just a little bit.

"And Keefe would probably kill me if we came back without something for him to eat."

"Okay! I think we should get some backpacks then."

"How much will they cost?"

"I'm not sure, but Sophie gave us $120 to spend. I think we'll be fine. Let's get 2."

They picked out some snacks for everyone, Oreos, spicy Cheetos, the elf cookies that Keefe loved and a bunch of random stuff.

In the end, they paid for like 20 individual items, stuffing them in the backpacks.

Hopping on the bikes, Dex and Tam headed back to the hotel, Tam gripping the handles tightly.

As they passed through a slightly more rundown area, Dex could see a black and white car parked nearby a store with red letters spelling L-I-Q-U-O-R.

A boy with dark skin walked out of the store, looking around nervously, clutching something to his chest.

For whatever reason, this caught Dex's eye, and they stopped the bikes.

"Dex, what's wrong?"

The strawberry blond shook his head.

"I don't know, but I feel like stopping."

Tam glanced around the neighborhood, seeing the narrow shadows pulling back from the sunlight fearfully.

"Dex, I think we should leave. It's not safe here."

A haggard man pushing a shopping cart was traveling on the street opposite them, and as soon as he saw the car, it was like there was never anyone there.

Crows cawed nearby, once and then twice.

They fluttered away, but stayed within seeing distance.

Two men were nearby the white and blue car, leaning against the walled shadows when a taller person came out of the liquor store, following the boy.

They grabbed his arm, yanking the teen around, ripping a brown bag out of his hands.

The teen had tightly curled hair, and the person who grabbed him had black hair, shaved close to his scalp around the nape.

The two men lounging in the shadows propped themselves up and casually strolled towards the frightened boy and the angry man.

When he saw the men in blue clothes and sunglasses approaching him, he tried to get away, but one of the men grabbed his other arm, and the teen cried out in pain.

Slowly, Dex and Tam inched closer, not liking the scene.

Roughly, they patted him down, ripping apart the brown paper bag and leaving the meager contents scattered on the ground.

While patting the frightened teen down, one of the men subtly palmed a plastic bag with white powder inside of it from his pants pocket, and triumphantly pretended to pull it out of the teen's waistband.

The teen was very puzzled, but Dex had seen a human movie where this exact scene had happened, and grew very angry.

The character in the movie had ended up in jail for life and barely improved his lifestyle when he got out.

"Dex, what's happening?"

"I think that man is trying to frame the boy for drug possession, a serious crime in the Forbidden Cities. He's probably going to go to jail for life if he can't prove anything."

"What's jail?"

"It's like Exilium except for grown up people. People die in there, often."

Tam's face darkened.

"That's not okay. We should-"

His words were interrupted by a shout of pain.

Dex and Tam whipped their heads around to see the teen pushed to the ground, and heard the smack.

The other two men had just gone back inside the store, they could see the door swing closed.

Dropping the bikes to the ground, the two boys ran to help the human teen, rage pulsing through their veins.

Stretching out his shadow, Tam shadow spoke with Dex, instructing him to disable all electronics on them and when he provided a distraction, to assemble a booby trap that would buy them some time.

Then Dex passed a shadow and Tam was gone.

He ran straight to the man who had pushed the teen to the ground, barreling him over with the force of a levitating push.

The man recovered quickly, but Dex had already removed anything electronic or with an electric current going through it, a trick he had practiced many times with his siblings.

"Hey! That's-"

The enraged man got up quickly, his stocky figure reaching for his gun, but finding it not there.

Already, Dex had dismantled it, chucking all the metal pieces away.

It had fallen apart in his hands like sand.

"What'd you do to my gun?!"

Hands shaking, Dex waved a flashing pair of handcuffs in the man's face, taunting him.

Then he ran back the way he came, past the shadows.

As the man passed by a particularly dark and looming shadow, something sneaked around his ankles, dark and slimy, and plunged into his stomach.

The stocky man screamed in pain, his cries muffled by the shadows slipping down his gullet when he opened his mouth.

"Dang Tam, you didn't have to go so hard," Dex commented to the shadows when the man crashed to the ground, his pale skin even paler from the pain.

A bitter voice spoke from the shadows, "What he did was wrong, and he had no remorse about it. I read his shadows, this was not a good man."

Dex nodded.

"That's fair I guess. I'm gonna help the guy. Can you take care of the other one?"

"Alright."

Dex doubled back the way he came, kneeling down when he met the dark-skinned boy.

He looked about the same age as he did, if not a little older, and when he looked up, a strikingly familiar pair of eyes looked back at him.

"Fitz?" Dex stumbled through the only-thought of Enlightened name.

"Dex?"

They stared in shock at each other, equally relieved to see the other, but at the same time, confusion.

"What are you doing here and why do you look like that?"

"You came back for me, but how did you find me?"

Dex scratched the back of his head.

"It's a long story, but basically Sophie heard something and dropped us off here. We decided to stay for a few days to look for you, but I get why we couldn't find you. Have you been taking Ruckleberries or something?"

"I-"

Fitz stopped, seeing a door nearby them swing open and closed.

He grabbed Dex's hand.

"We have to go! Hurry!"

"I-WHY?"

In a mad dash, Dex could hardly stay from tripping on his feet as Fitz led them through a darkened alley.

"Why are we running?"

"I'll explain later!"

They skidded to a stop in front of a mess of stained cardboard boxes and scattered cans.

"What's this?"

Fitz's dark skin colored, and he ducked his head, an unfamiliar sight for Dex.

"I-I live here. People don't have birth funds here. And I don't know how to get a job here, so...."

Fitz suddenly sat on the ground, pulling his legs close to his chest, pushing away a small bundle of berries.

Dex gently lowered himself to the ground, pulling Fitz close to him.

"We'll bring you home, okay?"

"Okay."

"Why are you still eating Ruckleberries?"

"I can't find anything else to eat. I've been yelled at and I think the human weapons that they use to kill other people have been pointed at me when I try to dig through the dumpsters."

Dex peered closely at Fitz's body, and he noticed how gaunt he looked.

Fitz laughed hollowly.

"I don't know if I could even eat anything here."

"How are you still alive? And why do you even have Ruckleberries?"

"I don't know. And when I woke up here, there was a bundle of them with a note that said 'Enjoy the rest of your short life here.'"

"Fitz-"

Earnestly, he tried to catch Fitz's gaze, but a broken spirit looked back at him.

"It's going to be okay."

Dex stood up, and stepped defiantly over to the package of ravaged fruit.

He raised one foot over it, and looking directly into Fitz's eyes, he stomped down.

"You won't need these anymore. Come on, let's go."

Slowly, Fitz unfolded himself, hope flaring in his eyes and they began to walk the way they came.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Biana followed the boys closely, levitating herself above the ground to keep up with them.

"There they are. I wonder who is with them."

Going into a receding stairway, Biana made herself seen again, emerging from the stairway like she had just come from it.

Her shoe scuffed against a rusty, jagged shard of metal, and Biana gingerly picked it up, wrapping it in a piece of cloth.

"Someone could get hurt and trip on this."

She started to approach the boys, but stopped short when a loud, lewd sound came from a passing car.

"Hey sexy! How much does it cost to see some more skin?"

Biana gritted her teeth, and turned to look at the people yelling at her.

Two grown men were leaning against a black and white car, wearing an unflattering navy blue work suit with lots of straps and a functional but still unflattering black utility belt.

Sophie had taught Biana some English, and she was able to read out POLICE in big letters on the car.

Her eyes turned cold as they turned to each other, miming things that should be kept in a bedroom, not out on the street.

Their laughs could be heard from across the street, loud, making her skin crawl.

"Hey! Why don't you get your pretty little butt over here?"

Biana stared resolutely past them, not wanting to draw attention.

She caught a glimpse of Dex's sunset hair, and a wave of peace crossed over her.

Unfortunately, she had to walk past the catcalling men.

Steeling herself, Biana strode confidently across the street, and was just past them when she felt a hand grab her arm.

It was rough, and when she tried to pull away, the hand just tightened.

"Now, where are you going sexy?"

A low growl came from the man gripping her arm, and Biana looked up into lustful eyes.

"Nowhere with you. Now let go of me."

He chuckled, a terrifying sound.

"Not anymore. I'm arresting you for direct disobedience of a civil officer."

A slow smile spread across the face of the man's partner.

It was cruel, and Biana knew that if she went with them, if she escaped, she wouldn't return the same.

"No thank you."

"Resisting arrest I see. Well, that's-"

His words were cut off by a howl of pain when Biana ripped her nails into the hand clamping down upon her.

He gasped, pulling away, shaking his hand and his partner stepped in, grabbing Biana's jaw and pulling her close to his face.

She could smell an awful mix of coffee and something else she couldn't place, it was disgusting.

"Now, that was a bad move darling. You owe us a punishment now. Get in the car."

She glared into his blue eyes, wincing when he dug his thumb into her cheek savagely.

The man's other hand trailed disgustingly down her body, moving towards her inner legs.

"I think the only ones being punished around here are going to be you."

Stilted English spat from her mouth, and her hand whipped out, a blade she kept in her sleeve flashing in it.

It stabbed and sliced into the closest major artery she knew of, the one in the inside leg, the inner iliac artery, not really caring what else got slashed in the process.

However, the man who was touching her minded a lot, as he would be fortunate to keep his "manhood" intact even if he got it treated soon.

The blade wasn't a pleasantly curved blade.

It was the piece of metal from the stairway, and Biana sure hoped he had his shots, or an unpleasant case of tetanus would soon follow.

Or maybe she hoped he didn't have his shots.

It didn't matter anymore.

"My daughter was better behaved than you last night. Get in the-"

The man whose hand was torn up started towards her but his words were cut off by a tendril of black smoke and shadows tightening around his neck.

Relieved, Biana stepped backwards into Tam's chilling aura.

"So there's more of you."

Bitterness touched Tam's voice.

"More?"

"I took care of someone that was wearing something like that a few minutes ago."

"It's an ugly uniform."

Tam smirked at her, but when a roaring fire would have ignited before, she just felt a familiar comfort looking at his nevertheless attractive face.

Hmm. Do I not like Tam Song anymore?

But when the last name echoed in her head, a different smile popped in her head, much softer.

Well, maybe not this Song.

A/N: WOW IT HAS BEEN FOREVER SINCE I LAST UPDATED I'M SO SO SORRY

BUT HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO ME SO THIS IS MY GIFT TO YOU

(Dude. Junior year is AWFUL, I'm so so sorry to those of you who haven't experienced it yet, you are NOT going to have a good time if you're taking AP classes....and I'm a good student.)