Northern Lights

[Nine1122]

Mathis Mathews

Mathis didn't say anything or move for a long time. Longer than anyone would be comfortable with. His skin was pale and cold but then again it was always cold. His right arm was wrapped in bandages that were wet with both water and blood in equal measure. The bandages were deflated a little which implied that Mathis's initial ice arm had begun to melt. His suit jacket was strewn across the floor and Mr. Black has tried to clean up the area of the wound as best he could but the sleeve was in tatters and hanging down to the floor. When Lexi inevitably arrived at the border of Dominion territory she would find it unguarded. Whatever Mr. Black had done had worked out for them but she'd have no way of knowing how it was going for him. Mathis wouldn't wake until they were a few miles outside of Dominion territory and when he did he didn't really say anything. He just groaned and his eyes slowly fluttered open. His arm was beyond the point of hurting. He couldn't feel it anymore. He couldn't feel where flesh turned to ice. It was all numb past his elbow and above that was just sore. "Did we get him?"

Date: February 3, 2013 | Alias: Frost | Quirk: Right Arm from the Elbow Down is Made of Ice

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Deadly_Tiger

 

[Deadly_Tiger]

"As a girl I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books.Someone who fought for what was right and protect people who couldn't protect themselves."

Lexi Darksilver

Halo

After a few minutes of driving, Lexi flicked on the radio in the ambulance and scanned the stations until she fell on a news station. Then she adjusted the volume to be low, yet audible. From there the drive was rather uneventful. Luckily her black jacket made it nearly impossible to tell it was currently blood-soaked to those driving other vehicles or walking down the street and might glance at her driving the ambulance. Despite herself, she found herself frequently glancing in the review mirror to look at Mathis. With him laying in the stretcher in the back all she could really see was the top of his head, and part of his aura, but his aura at least told him he was relatively stable. As long as nothing changed, she didn't need to worry.

Exhausted, she followed the number 80 highway into Sacramento. It felt a bit surreal being back in the city. It seemed like another lifetime and another person had lived here. The strange mayoral race Jayson had held. Shockwave and the Dominion showing up and slaughtering anyone who had gotten in their way. But Lexi hadn't known about any of that until after the fact, because she had been having a crisis of her own. The horrors her parents had committed, the ultimate fate of her brother, and facing Marcus, one of her parent's experiments. It all seemed so small now compared to the greater war that was happening, but back then it had shattered her. Or at least she tried to tell herself it was trivial but knowing her family's true legacy had left its mark on her. The only person who knew why Lexi couldn't kill another person was in the back of the ambulance. Well, provided he hasn't shared that information with the Dominion. It was the deep seeded fear that she might not feel anything at taking a life, like her mother, or worse, enjoyed it like her father and brother. Logically she knew it was totally irrational, yet every time the moment came, she couldn't cross the threshold.

The city had largely been rebuilt since it's destruction. It might seem like a waste of the Dominion's resources while they were locked into a bloody war with Providence, but this was how they recruited. By promising Deviants a golden empire, and a life of luxury and ease off of the backs of humans. It had been Mathis who had gotten Lexi out of the city last time they were here. This time it was Lexi getting Mathis out.

As they got nearer to the edge of the city an uncomfortable feeling, like a heavyweight, settled deep in her stomach. She knew there was a Dominion checkpoint up ahead. If things went wrong, Lexi didn't have the strength left to get herself away, never mind an injured and unconscious Mathis. Several vehicles with lights flashing went speeding down the highway in the opposite direction. If she had looked up she would have seen some Deviants flying over ahead as well. After about thirty more seconds a news announcer spoke excitedly reported breaking news. Several explosions downtown in an apparent terrorist attack. It had to Black...right? Another minute went by as she drove. People were to evacuate the area, checkpoints were closed, go home and wait for further instructions... vehicles both in front and behind the ambulance started doing U-turns at the announcement that the border was closed. Still, she continued forward.

Finally, she slowed down to a crawl. The place appeared completely abandoned, but the gate was lowered across the road. She pulled to a stop in front of the gate and cautiously stepped out. She tried to door to the little shack and it was blessedly unlocked. They must have been in too much of a hurry to reach downtown. It seemed her luck was holding out as the when she stepped inside the computer was still logged in. Some poor sod was totally getting fired when a review of the security footage would show Lexi passing through the gate, but it was only a passing thought as she entered in the fake identity Mathis had given her into the computer. Soon the gate opened up, and Lexi was back in the ambulance and driving again.

It wasn't long after that Mathis groaned. It had been a little longer than Black had said, but honestly, that was probably for the best. The more he slept the less pain he would be in. so far on the radio, they had made no mention of her, Mathis of Black. Lexi didn't say anything until Mathis spoke, but he did his question made her heart sink a little. How would he react to finding out Concussion had gotten away again? The first time it hadn't been well. "No." She answered softly. "You shanked him pretty good, but he will recover....how much do you remember?"

✬Feb 3 2013✬

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nine1122

 

[Nine1122]

Mathis Mathews

Mathis used his leg weight to throw them over the side of the stretcher. It looked odd for a moment but he sat up after so it didn't matter. He looked down at the wrapped arm he couldn't feel and then he looked over at Lexi. He was exhausted. That much was clear but he was trying to put on a front. He was trying to act like he was okay because he didn't want Lexi to worry. Mathis had a lot going on in his head. His brain had been rewired again and he had to pick through the pieces but before he had had any time to do that, his arm was blown off. That was a change that was hard enough to cope with. When Lexi told him they had failed Mathis expected to be devastated but he wasn't. They'd survived and they would get another shot. He took Concussion's arm and Concussion took his. There was a sort of balance to that which Mathis found calming. Yet the price he had to pay was an endless number of questions. Who was he now? He hadn't been himself in a long while and even now he wasn't who he had once been. He was what they literally made him. Was he a balanced Mathis? One who found comfort in equal suffering? No. He'd been emotionless, then he'd been violent... now he found himself somewhere in between. He felt angry but it wasn't an anger he felt he needed to act on. There were no extremes... but maybe that was the medication. Mathis's uncertainty became clear when the temperature in the ambulance took a sharp drop. A control issue Mathis hadn't had in a long time... not since he was taken. Finally Mathis said "Then I'm sorry I wasted your time." and began to unwrap his arm. He started up at the elbow and only unwrapped enough so he could see the damage. Once he saw the milky white bone beneath the ice he grimaced and re-wrapped it. "Where are we?"

Date: February 3, 2013 | Alias: Frost | Quirk: Right Arm from the Elbow Down is Made of Ice

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Deadly_Tiger

 

[Deadly_Tiger]

"As a girl I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books.Someone who fought for what was right and protect people who couldn't protect themselves."

Lexi Darksilver

Halo

Admittedly Lexi was watching Mathis in the rearview mirror a lot more than would be considered safe. Fortunately, due to the closed border, the road was currently abandoned, so there was no one for her to hit for the time being. She didn't say anything in between glances at the road in front of her. Merely watched with apprehension. Red bloomed in his aura, yet it swirled with blue and grey. There was a sharp intake of breath as the temperature in the ambulance plummeted. Something she immediately regretted as it was accompanied by sharp pain from her injuries. Guilt. Relief. Guilt because of her relief. Arguably control of his powers was the one good thing the Dominion did for Mathis and it seemed her and Black had taken that away. She was at a loss for words when he apologized for wasting her time, all while stoically unwrapping his arm. Her time was the last thing on her mind. "Don't apologize." It came out a little sharper than she meant it to, but then after everything that had happened, his mind, his arm, she couldn't bear to have him apologize to her. "We just passed through the checkpoint at Sacramento." She answered in a more normal tone. A long ways to go yet. " Mr. Black gave me some pills for the pain. They should help you fall back asleep."

✬Feb 3 2013✬

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nine1122

 

[Nine1122]

Mathis Mathews

Mathis didn't know what to say and so he didn't say anything. He felt they'd failed but commenting further on it wouldn't undo their failure. His arm was killing him and so he took the medications that had been offered. The pills didn't seem to have any immediate effect and as the minutes dragged on he wished the pills had been instant. Eventually though Mathis would fall back asleep. Until then silence was hardly helping the pain. "Mr. Black tell you how he was going to get out?" Mathis asked without adjusting to look at Lexi. It probably didn't matter but it was part of Mathis's processing. If he knew Black had an escape plan he wouldn't feel obligated to try and help. Not that he could really do anything to help right now. They were more or less safe and for now that would have to be enough.

Date: February 3, 2013 | Alias: Frost | Quirk: Right Arm from the Elbow Down is Made of Ice

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Deadly_Tiger

 

[Deadly_Tiger]

"As a girl I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books.Someone who fought for what was right and protect people who couldn't protect themselves."

Lexi Darksilver

Halo

At first, the cold had felt sort of good, especially on the burn on her back. By the time Mathis had asked about Mr. Black the chill had started to sink in and she could feel goosebumps rising on her flesh. She could have tried to push the cold away, and the pain, though she wasn't sure if her exhausted mind would be capable. For reasons unknown even to Lexi, she felt it was important to retain her emotions and everything else with it in this moment. "He didn't." There was a pause of a few heartbeats before Lexi decided to elaborate further. "I would have preferred it if the three of us had remained together, but you learn fairly quickly when working with Mr. Black it is better to go with his plan rather than argue with him. There are advantages to seeing how future events will play out." Admittedly, her reasons were a lot more selfish than Mathis's for wanting to remain together. They were both injured, in pain and beyond exhausted. If they ran into trouble between here and Providence they would be virtually helpless. "There wasn't really time to discuss what he would do. All he told me was he had to leave right away if he was going to make it out. Unless I am mistaken he recently blew up a few of buildings in Sacremento to clear the border for us." There was another pause, this one longer as Lexi seemed to mull something over in her mind. There had been a time when she would have shared the thought with him without question. Then they had turned enemies and Mathis had become hateful and violent. His mind had been scrambled again, but for Lexi, the adjustments between the different versions of Mathis weren't so easy. "I do not doubt Mr. Black will make it back, but I do wonder why he went so far out of his way to help us." She finally said it out loud, in part because she had never been very good at withholding things or lying to Mathis. Even The Dominion version of him had been able to tell when she had been withholding something from him. Butterflies settled in her midsection as she waited apprehensively for his answer.

✬Feb 3 2013✬

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nine1122

 

[Nine1122]

Mathis Mathews
"He's an odd one." Mathis commented as he re-wrapped his arm in the bandages. As he wrapped he felt some slight discomfort that he hadn't noticed before because his arm drew all of his attention. Now that he was living with the pain of his arm he began to notice other things and the slight discomfort was one. It was a restricting discomfort caused by his jacket so he tried to take it off but failed. He couldn't maneuver his arms out of it without immense pain ripping through him again so eventually he abandoned that effort and just laid down. He wondered if they were really worth the damage Mr. Black was causing to hide their escape. Were they really worth risking his own death? Mr. Black could have been invaluable yet he chose to help them. why? What did he know that they did not? What had he seen? The discomfort returned but this time Mathis could identify a source. Something tugging at the fabric of his suit jacket's inner pocket. With his flesh hand, Mathis reached in and shuffled around. He felt something folded, a piece of paper, and he pulled it out of the pocket. There was a date written on the back but that wasn't what concerned Mathis after he unfolded and look upon the content of the paper. His eyes widened slightly and he looked over at Lexi in the driver seat then back down at the paper. "Lexi, I don't remember this. When did it happen?" Mathis' mind had been scrambled so many times it wasn't too far of a stretch to think this was something someone had just forgotten to give back. Yet on the piece of paper there was an image printed neither of them would remember. An image of two of them dancing in a ballroom. The date on the back implied it was taken before Sacramento had fallen.

Date: February 3, 2013 | Alias: Frost | Quirk: Right Arm from the Elbow Down is Made of Ice

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Deadly_Tiger

 

[Deadly_Tiger]

"As a girl I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books.Someone who fought for what was right and protect people who couldn't protect themselves."

Lexi Darksilver

Halo

Lexi let silence fill the ambulance, save for the voices from the radio speaking softly in the background, leaving Mathis to think over the same questions that had been bothering her. At the time they had needed his help, and there really had been an appropriate time to question Mr. Black anyway, but she did plan to find out his reasoning. It was her hope that the drugs would kick in soon and Mathis would fall back asleep, where he would be free from pain for a while at least. Until he woke again. It turned out to be a vain hope as he shifted restlessly on the stretcher. She assumed it was mostly due to his arm, for which she could only imagine the agony he was in. A lesser man would be screaming still, and part of her wondered how he could act so calmly. Lexi was just considering bring up the cold in the ambulance Mathis spoke up, asking her a rather peculiar question. She glanced at the paper he held out to her from behind, though she didn't take it right away. There was a momentary debate on if it would be worse to hold the steering wheel with her damaged arm or reach for the paper. Eventually, she gripped the wheel with her left arm deciding that reaching forward would be better than attempting to reach across with a bullet lodged in her shoulder. Her shoulder gave searing hot protest to the movement anyway, causing her to clench her teeth as she traded hands and grabbed the paper with her right. Silence followed. Lexi's flicked between the road and the picture several times; More traffic had joined them by now. Finally, after several moments she asked, "Where did you get this?"

✬Feb 3 2013✬

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nine1122

 

[Nine1122]

Mathis Mathews
"It was in my pocket when I woke up." Mathis explained as he shifted slightly so he was comfortably laying on the stretcher now. He didn't need the picture back so he didn't reach for it. It was in his memory now... not that that had been very reliable in the past. Mathis had some theories about the origin of the photo but he knew which one was the most likely. "Mr. Black probably slipped in in my pocket when he brought me here. " Mathis explained. It didn't help shed any light on when the photo had been taken or where they were in the photo but it did give them one thing, a lead.

Date: February 3, 2013 | Alias: Frost | Quirk: Right Arm from the Elbow Down is Made of Ice

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Deadly_Tiger

 

[Deadly_Tiger]

"As a girl I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books.Someone who fought for what was right and protect people who couldn't protect themselves."

Lexi Darksilver

Halo

Lexi carefully placed the picture on the passenger seat beside her, much to the relief of her shoulder as her good arm took over the wheel once more. She didn't answer Mathis right away. Mostly because she was searching the corners of her memory, though she already knew it was in vain. Something like that she would remember vividly. It had always been an unspoken desire of hers to go to such an event with Mathis, but Providence and the Dominion always got in the way. There were always more important things to be done and no time. "Mathis. I have no recollection of this either."

✬Feb 3 2013✬

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nine1122

 

[Nine1122]

Mathis Mathews
"Well... that's interesting." Mathis mumbled to himself while he looked at the photo. It was good to have a distraction but even the photo wasn't really enough to cover up the pain from his arm. Mathis laid silently on the stretcher for the rest of the drive. For a hour that silence was due to him thinking and for the rest of the time it was because he was asleep. Sleep was the easiest method of dealing with the pain until Providence could do real work on his arm. The rest of the drive would be annoyingly peaceful. Eventually they reached a Providence outpost and Mathis was brought to the medical center. They did what they could using mundane medicine because their healers had all been deployed to the front lines. They removed the decayed and rotting flesh and cleaned the bones as best they could one Mathis' ice layer around it finally melted. He was under the knife for ten hours while they tried to figure out what to do about his arm. They bounced the idea of removing it off Mathis and he got angry. Then they thought about waiting to do a full regeneration but got news that their healers had been killed. In the end the bone was left and Mathis formed another arm out of ice around it. Then all the doctors cleared out and Mathis was left on his own in his hospital room. His jacket and tie were resting on a chair nearby and his right sleeve had been completely removed so that doctors could work. He'd wrapped the entire injury in ace bandage to hide it's rather gothic metal look and then laid on the bed. He was going to be kept for a day so they could observe his condition and see if anything changed. His hospital room was cold. Just like the ambulance. One had to wonder if it really was an accident or if Mathis was intentionally cooling the air around himself to preserve his ice arm.

Date: February 4, 2013 | Alias: Frost | Quirk: Right Arm from the Elbow Down is Made of Ice

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Deadly_Tiger

 

[Deadly_Tiger]

"As a girl I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books.Someone who fought for what was right and protect people who couldn't protect themselves."

Lexi Darksilver

Halo

Lexi didn't make more than a few steps from the ambulance before collapsing. She had been awake for more than thirty-six hours by the time they arrived at the outpost and had been drained before starting the drive. When they arrived and she knew they were safe, the last of her will ran out. She didn't know how long she was out for, or what woke her exactly, but when she next opened her eyes, Lexi found herself in a makeshift hospital-like room. An IV drip of unknown liquid extended from its place on the pole to a needle in the back of her hand, and someone had removed her bloodied shirt and replaced it with a Providence one that was a size too large for her. I quick inspection found someone had stitched her up, and presumably removed the bullet in her shoulder. It was this that caused her to frown slightly. A healer should have Healed the wound. The same to the burn on her back from Lightbringer.

Lexi sat up on the bed. A quick glance at the label on the IV bag revealed it to be a concoction of saline and various nutrients that were fairly standard to treat exhaustion. She pulled it out of her hand and stood. Lexi was on a mission now. If they had been unable to heal her, what had become of Mathis? She knew what had woken her up now and needed no one to tell her Mathis was in the next room. If things had been different she might have just walked in. As it was, she knocked on the door and waited for him to answer before entering.

✬Feb 4 2013✬

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nine1122

 

[Nine1122]

Mathis Mathews

"Come in." Mathis responded from his bed. He could have gotten up and opened the door for her but he was so heavily medicated that he didn't want to do a great deal of moving around at the moment. He was comfortable laying on his back in bed.He'd mostly just been resting since his injury which seemed a little out of character. The Mathis she'd come to know would have been on his feet looking for another way to strike out at the Dominion. The Mathis she had known would have at least answered the door for her to put on appearances. This Mathis... he was different. He was tired. He hadn't even gone on his phone. Anything he learned he learned from the TV in the room that was set to the news. It was surprisingly informative. Mr. Black's distraction was being cleaned up now and the Dominion was hiding any proof that anything had ever happened there. It was a shame but nothing that Mathis hadn't expected. Unfortunately he'd also been hoping that Concussion would be dead.

Date: February 4, 2013 | Alias: Frost | Quirk: Right Arm from the Elbow Down is Made of Ice

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Deadly_Tiger

 

[Deadly_Tiger]

"As a girl I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books.Someone who fought for what was right and protect people who couldn't protect themselves."

Lexi Darksilver

Halo

Lexi gently pushed the door open at the sound of Mathis's voice. A wave of cool air hit her, a bit like walking into a meat cooler. She didn't have the energy to spare when she had been driving the ambulance, but now she activated her powers to create the aura armour she normally worse on the battlefield. It would provide her with protection from the cold. She was careful to keep her expression natural, but it did cause her concern. Was it the metalling with his memories, or the injury to his arm or something else she hadn't considered. Her eyes glanced towards his right arm and felt a small amount of relief that it hadn't been amputated. Relief was quickly replaced with uncertainty. If it had been successfully grown back, why was it covered with bandages? "I see they let you keep your shirt at least." She began in a half-hearted attempt at comedic relief as if the loss of clothing was somehow important after everything that had happened to Mathis. "How are you feeling?"

✬Feb 4 2013✬

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nine1122

 

[Nine1122]

Mathis Mathews

Mathis didn't laugh or even chuckle at what Lexi said about his shirt but he was never really one to chuckle anyways and his present situation was no laughing matter. "I'm alright." Mathis replied calmly. Then he went on to get a few basic things into the air so Lexi wouldn't prod him with the questions. "No, they didn't fix my arm. It's ice beneath the bandages. Their healers were dead. I'm trying to preserve it until they can get new healers." It seemed logical to Mathis at the time but he had been in so much pain and under so much medication for the last few hours that he was probably not the best judge right now. All the same the arm was staying. "How long until we can get back to our branch?" He was asking how long it would take them to get back to the Providence base they came from. The last pseudo-home they had.

Date: February 4, 2013 | Alias: Frost | Quirk: Right Arm from the Elbow Down is Made of Ice

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Deadly_Tiger