#hoperamirez

With everything that had been going on, it had taken Erick a bit to finally get to where he could recover his motorcycle from where he’d parked it when he was looking for Manny.  Of course now that he was without his powers, he couldn’t operate his bike at all.  There was no need to worry about someone stealing his motorcycle when he could fuse the starter together when he wasn’t riding it.  Now that he didn’t have his powers he could start his bike without using tools to swap out his starter.

Growling under his breath, Erick hoisted his backpack higher up on his shoulders as he wiped an arm across his forehead.  Between the weight of his bike and the weight of the parts in his bag, he was putting in a full day’s work just trying to get the bike to the shop.  It didn’t help that he still wasn’t up to full strength after his extended capture and subsequent injection.  Not that he would admit it to anyone.  Other people might have taken the extra time off to recover but that wasn’t how Erick operated.  He would push himself to the point he dropped without a hint of complaint to anyone.  Only those who knew him best would be able to see the weariness in his eyes.  It was something of a tell that he wasn’t himself that he was completely oblivious to his surroundings.

It had been almost exactly 48 hours since Kelli had gone missing. And from what Finn knew, the longer a person was missing, the more likely they’d turn up...well. He didn’t want to think about it. He knew that Kelli was strong and a fighter, but someone had the skill to overpower her enough for a kidnapping. He’d been thinking about it a lot in the back of his mind, too. It couldn’t have been a Meta, could it? Assuming Kelli’s disappearance was related to the other two cases, he had a vague suspicion perhaps some humans were behind this. Could it be that Pansaw might have...? No, he didn’t want to go there. He kind of liked living without being in a civil war. 

Perched on the edge of his living room couch, his thoughts were interrupted by ping. The teleporter jumped for his phone and read the message from Hope in seconds, eyes going wide. He arrived inside the base less than a moment later, seamlessly walking up behind Hope. Finn’s jaw set tight, subtle hints of worry painted over his features while he tried to remain calm and confident that everything would be fine. 

“What did you find?” he asked, jumping straight to business. Their friend was missing; surely Hope would forgive his demanding tone. 

“A tram has malfunctioned? How does that happen?” Kelli couldn’t help but ask as she weaved through traffic on her motorcycle towards to spot Hope indicated for her. And more importantly how am I supposed to stop it? She was far from an imposing force and she couldn’t exactly share a train into submission like some of the scum she came across at night. Still, Hope was the smartest person she knew and she trusted her. Plus they couldn’t just leave people stuck on a speeding train.

Having ditched her cycle when she hit the end of the road Kelli propelled herself up onto one of the few elevated tracks in the city just as the train in question roared past. “Fuck me!” She gasped, nearly getting knocked back from the mere force of wind it created. Not wanting to waste any more time or miss the train Kelli jumped and with the help of her boots and powers managed to grab the back of the last car.

“Alright, I’m on. What now?” she asked through the coms before making her way inside where civilians were rightfully freaking out. “Don’t worry everyone we’ve got this under control,” she promised while using her voice changer to help disguise herself.

There was absolutely no way Finn and the other heroes were sitting by while Pansaw was under attack by some juiced up Nephilim. Especially Finn, considering he had a bone to pick with those fuckers for destroying his home. Everyone had gotten suited and geared up, collected their emergency Meta Steroid (save for Hope who was working her magic to keep them all safe and alive behind her computers), and spread out across town to the points with most damage. 

Finn had come out a little later than his friends, needing to make sure his dogs were safely inside the Hero lounge with food and water, and wouldn’t disturb Hope. He perched now on a high rooftop in Wayland Hills, surveying the damages and sirens of emergency vehicles blaring in the darkened town. He’d faced some absolute shit before, but nothing as bad as this. With a deep breath, the vigilante injected himself with the Meta Steroid, figuring he’d definitely be needing it. Not too long after, he could physically feel the effects like pure lightning running through his veins. He activated his com system linked to the other Hero Squad members, speaking into it. 

“A’ight, bitches,” he greeted them, clapping his hands together. “Who needs some help kicking ass? Tell me where the freaks at.”

Honestly, Seth had to wonder how he got himself in these situations. Or why he let himself get in these situations. He really needed to get better at saying “no” to people he knew...

He sat in the passenger seat of Hope’s car after they both got off work at C.A.R.M.A with absolutely no idea where they were going. She had told him she was taking him to a “surprise” and to “trust her,” but that only concerned the male agent. The last time he had been told to trust someone about a surprise location, he ended up in C.A.R.M.A. He let out a sigh, turning to face the other agent now with a half unamused stare. 

“Okay, I give up. Can you please just tell me where we’re going?” 

There were some days were Erick wished that things could go back to the way they were years ago.  Not that he enjoyed hiding and fighting for his life against a bunch of people that thought he needed to be collared and tracked like an animal, if not outright killed.  What he missed were the days of purely physical exhaustion, where he spent the day training himself and others to be better than they were.  That was infinitely preferable to the headache and mental exhaustion he had after spending an entire day in class.  Maybe it was his age, but half the time he could care less what his fellow students were bitching about.

Regardless of why, that self same mental exhaustion had him seeking out a quiet place to have a drink or two and this close to the campus, he knew exactly where to go.  Nodding to the bartender, he slipped some cash onto the bar and accepted his drink, glad he didn’t have to bandy words with the older man if he didn’t want to.  As he sat nursing his whiskey on the rocks, a small smile turned up the corner of his lips as he remembered the first time he’d ever come here and the woman who’d shown it to him.  Letting out a heavy sigh, he set the glass down and rubbed his temples, trying to will away the headache when that very same woman came walking through the doors.  “Think of the devil and she appears,” he remarked, nodding his head to Hope with that small smile still lingering on his lips.  “Hello gorgeous.  Long time no see.”

TEXT: Hope!?!?!?!

TEXT: You need to get here NOW

TEXT: I never learned how to fuckin drive! 

The last thing Kelli wanted to do today was work. She would have much rather been on the other side of the bar pounding down shots as if to see just how much higher her tolerance was in this new strange body. Unfortunately Hope had basically dragged her to Knight Life to serve the many others trying to drown the struggles of the opposite gender away in booze. 

“God dammit!” Kelli hissed as she smacked her head full force against yet another obstacle she had been able to clear with her much smaller feminine frame the day before. “Hope can I get some ice please?” she asked her roommate as she looked over her shoulder at the unfamiliar person working the bar with her. “I don’t know why you made us come together we’ve probably broken half our glasses and I’m pretty sure I’m going to give myself a concussion if I have to get another bottle from the basement.”

@hoperamirez