In the Aftermath (closed to Talons)

Katie woke up slowly, everything was dark and her vision was in a blur. Where the hell am I..? she thought to herself, And how did I get here?

She tried to get up but felt something extremely heavy on top of her. She tried pushing at it but it wouldn't budge, even with her decent level of strength. She looked around and saw a small hole that she could see through, and looked around to see her surroundings. There were collapsed buildings and wrecked city streets everywhere, and there was the constant sound of sirens in the distance. Is this New York? Or what's left of it, there's barely anything left! She tried to see if she could use the hole as leverage to get the pile of debris off of her, but it was no use.

"Hey! Is anyone out there?" she called out, hoping someone would hear her. After a short while she thought she saw a figure off in the distance. "Hey, you!" she yelled, sticking her hand out through the hole and waving in their direction, "Couldja help me out here for a second, buddy?"

New York City, he was back after a run in with a certain Albino Vader Wanabee with claws like Catwoman and a Laser Katana. She was a very tough assassin but it was nothing Darren Cross, the Swordsmaster couldn't handle and he was able to get out of Las Angeles with out dying. So, probably not the best assassin in the world then because he was still alive but he hadn't died yet so her work had been cut out for her. This was all going through the mind of the youngest member of the Talons as he raced across the demolished streets at around a hundred miles an hour. He was jumping over trash cans, flipping off broken homes, and doing whatever it was he pleased. Why one may ask, the answer was simple, because he was going back to base.

He was going to get a place to sleep and maybe even get to train with Phoenix and Sean some more, possibly get AI to upgrade his weapons, or even get some cookies from Tyuki. Now that was certainly the most important thing, he wasn't sure how but her cookies always tasted the best, even if she did burn them now and again. He grinned picking up speed as the thought crossed his mind only to hear someone call out for help. Stopping in his tracks he looked down towards where the noise came from and sprinted off and looked for the source of the noise. Which of course was when he caught sight of the arm reaching out from underneath a big pile of rubble. So someone was stuck, again, this had to be the fourth or fifth person he had do drag out. "Hold on gimmie a second!"He called down as he started to remove the pieces of the rock.

It wasn't too long before he had gotten it down to just the last big piece, grabbing it with both hands he picked it up and threw it off over into another direction. Clapping his hands together and getting the dust off he looked down holding his hand out to whomever was there. This whomever just happened do be a girl around his age with some very orange hair. Orange of course just happened to be his favorite color, and he had to comment on it. "Oh my god! You have orange hair I love your orange hair, my favorite color is Orange!"He called out to her then realized after he helped her out of the hole he should introduce himself. "Oh yea, by the way I'm Swordsmaster, official Talon's member. And you are?"

Hearing the response as the person came closer, Katie sighed in relief. She was starting to get bored being stuck down here and she was not planning on sticking around here all day. She had things to do, like figuring out what the hell happened to New York while she was apparently unconscious.

Once all of the pieces were removed, she went to stand, taking the hand offered to help her up. At this point she finally got a good look at who her rescuer was: a young guy, probably around the same age as her. As she got up she heard his comments about her hair, and couldn't help but smile. "Heh, thanks! I've always loved the color too."

Bending over to pat and brush the dust off of her clothes, she listened to this guy introduce himself and then straightened back out when it was her turn. "I'm Blink! Genius girl and speedster extraordinaire!" she said with a grin. "So you're a Talon, eh? I've never met any of you guys before. Must be pretty cool." She'd heard of the Talons before; heroes of New York that protect the citizens from danger. It sounded nice, to be a part of an awesome group like that. At least a lot less lame than the way she wandered around the city, waiting to find some crime for her to stop.

"So what happened here?" she asked, holding her arms out to refer to their surroundings. Seeing how he was a Talon, she thought he'd be the person to know.

"Blink aye? Nice name, it's nice to meet you, hope your not too stuffy after being cramped underneath that rock. You know unless if course you weren't under there very long or if you were I hope your okay now. Which you seem to be as your standing up and seem to be perfectly fine." Darren said rambling off once again, because she was a girl his age and she was attractive. Yea, that was the big high and mighty Talon's member's one real weakness; girls. He couldn't talk to them if his life depended on it, why one may ask, well because his one and only girlfriend died and he couldn't do anything to stop it. Well there was that and the fact that his immaturity didn't always give him much opportunity to talk to girls without cracking some sort of joke.

But, that wasn't important what was important was that Blink asked what happened here. Here being a broad term but her hand gestures made it so much more simpler to understand. She meant what happened here as in New York, which he thought was common knowledge. Sighing a bit he spoke up, "Well, Doctor Necrodium happened. That much I believe is common knowledge, after that Holocaust and the Reverse Dimension happened. I myself wasn't in New York for either of the events... But if you really wana know I can take you to someone who can explain it better than I can." Sure, brining a total stranger to Talon Base probably wouldn't be one of the brighter things he has done but neither was jumping off the top of the base and no one complained when he did that now did they? A grin spread across his face as that thought and another crossed his mind. "We can run there and if your as fast as you say you are we'll get there in no time."

Katie smiled as the guy rambled on for a little while, seeming a bit flustered. He seemed like a pretty charismatic guy, maybe he just was shy like this around girls. She always thought it was cute when guys acted that way, but now wasn't the time for any of that kind of stuff. "Nice to meet you too!" she said after he'd finished, "Yeah, I'm alright. Some minor cuts and bruises, but nothing too serious." she finished with a smile.

Afterwards he began explaining what had happened here lately. She was surprised to hear about all of these events that she didn't remember, all of which happened in her own home town. Why didn't she remember any of it at all? Was she really unconscious the whole time? Was her memory messed up from head trauma, or some other means? Whatever the real cause, she wanted to find out some more detailed information, and this guy seemed to know someone who could tell her. "That'd be awesome, lead the way." she said, getting ready to head off. Before leaving, however, she heard his final comment and smirked. "Alrighty then, but try not to fall behind or anything 'cuz I don't know where I'm going." she teased a little, pulling her goggles down over her eyes.

No serious injuries except for some obvious head trauma in some way shape or form. If she didn't remember the New York Assault when he, who had still been in Australia at the time remembered it, must have had something messed up in their brain. But, at least she was able to understand that something had happened and wanted to find out just went on. Which of course Darren was more than wiling to to tell her, but he himself didn't know all the details and he'd need to bring her to someone who knew those details. That someone, or something, was an Alternate Intelligence appropriately named A.I. And also the third in command of the Talons. He was their robot from the future and one badass robot at that.

"Oh don't worry I think I'll be fine in the speed department." He said with a grin on his face to her last comment. Sure, he wasn't the fastest man in the world but at sixteen years old being able to move one hundred miles an hour was exceptional. Waving his hand in a sort of salute he took off at full speed jumping over cracks, running across benches, and past derbies that were all around them. He was a parkor god and wanted to show off to his attractive newly found lady. That and it was fun as hell too which just added to the excitement really. It wasn't long before he was running up the dock to the Giant Teardrop building that was to be Talons HQ, opening the door he waved Blink in and yelled out. "Heeeeey I'm home! AI I brought someone that needs to talk to you!"He called with a boyish grin on his face smelling the air, someone had made cookies and boy was he starving.

Katie couldn't stop the grin on her face as she ran along with her new acquaintance. She couldn't quite go as fast as she normally could on her own, but being able to run at such high speeds with another person made up for it. It still had the feeling of freedom that running always gave her, but it also felt less lonely. He seemed to be wanting to show off a bit, doing some cool tricks as they went, and Katie chuckled to herself as she was able to do them all just as well. The two of them ran together, doing parkour tricks the whole way and having a blast while at it.

In no time they arrived at a large building, and she stood in awe for a few seconds at the architecture of it. Wow, this place is amazing... she thought to herself, and then was waved inside. It was just as cool looking on the inside as the outside, and something smelled delicious. Not a minute after they were inside something jumped out from around the corner and screamed, wearing a dark coat and a mask, wings outstretched. "Eeep!" she yelped out and jumped back, ready in a fighting position. But then the new person stopped and laughed, bowing and removing her coat. Behind it revealed a girl, whom she assumed was another member of the team. The girl laughed nervously and apologized, clearly feeling awkward about what she had just done. "Heh, don't worry about it." Katie said with a chuckle, "Good one!"

After mentioning that she made cookies, which explained the smell, the girl noticed her small injuries and approached her, holding her arms out. "Uh..sure?" she replied, holding her arm out to show her the cuts and bruising. "I'm Blink, by the way." she said with a smile. "And you are?"

When the person in the coat like thing and the wings jumped out of the corner screeching Darren flailed a little then blinked noticing the mask and huffed. “Totally not cool Tyuuuu….Cookies!?” He said all past scaring forgotten, and momentarily he even forgot that he had brought a guest to the base and should have probably introduced them, but come on Tyuki made cookies how was he supposed to remember anything when food was involved? “Soooo, where are the cookies exactly?” He asked sniffing the air and starting to move off twoards the direction the smell was coming from and then of course Tyuki moved forward to heal the girl and he remembered she was there and why he was there in the first place. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was a killer but it also kept him alive sometimes.

“Oh yea, uhh Tyuki, this is Blink, Blink this is Tyuki she’s a member of the Talons also. Tyuki you know if A.I. is here? I found her under some pieces of the street and she doesn’t seem to remember exactly what happened while she was out. I told her about Doc Necro of course, but I didn’t really think I was the best one to say as I was in Australia still then, and I was off exploring during the Reverse Dimension thingy apparently.” He said with a sheepish smile on his face, okay so he missed the Talons biggest mission like ever sense being formed but it wasn’t his fault his dog taggs just happened to not work at that time and they also just so happened to have been lost in the middle of the United States at said point and time. Darren wasn’t the best person in the world when it came to concentrating or being responsible…and boy did it show.

Tyuki was totally engrossed over the girl's wounds that she zoned out from Darren the moment Blink gave her permission to heal her. Tyuki's hands started to glow, then the healing aura washed over her whole body, and something magical happened.. The healing aura enveloped Tyuki's form, soft glittery light caressing her from head to toe. A halo formed around of her crown, her hair becoming stark white. Her eyes as well. Her, previously, excited grin had fallen to a very serious expression while she kept her hands focused over the major wounds on Blink's form. The aura then enveloped Blink completely and coated the girl from head to toe as well. The feeling Blink would get would be pure happiness, and joy. Something that was simply divine. It was as if Heaven had stepped into the room and took over, not to mention the smell of fresh cookies.

Once Tyuki was sure she could not feel any more pain from Blink's wounds, she slowly let the aura fade. While Tyuki was using her healing powers, she could see all of the wounds, but feel the pain. Only mildly, of course, or else that would be fatal to even herself. She allowed the aura to fade and then that same, bright, goofy smile stole her face and she laughed. "I'm Tyuki, and yes I made cookies, Darren!-- oh wait! THE COOKIES!" she snapped and dashed from them and wrenched open the oven and yanked out the tray, her hands bare. She had acquired super human durability during the reverse dimension arc, so of course she could handle it. She got the most mild of burns ever, but she would be all right.

Sighing she slumped. "I'll eat the burnt ones..." she said, poking the two cookies out of the dozen that had been ruined. She then flicked off the oven and shoved the dirty dishes into the sink and sauntered over to the other two as if nothing had happened. Also, her wings had vanished. She then adjusted her tags and pressed a button. "Yoo! Gabe! Got a guest! I suggest you come up; I made cookies.. I know you can't exactly eat them, but whatever. Come up here!" she said, tapping her foot, somewhat roughly, on the floor. Her strength was overwhelming, and it showed when she almost knocked a vase over from the vibrations tickling across the floor. She then tapped her finger to her lips and then she placed a hand on her hip. "Well, if that's all, I need to head up to mine n Andrew's room. I think I left a load of laundry in the washer. Plus, I wanna play Mario Kart! It was nice meeting you!" she said to Blink, and then brushed by Darren, ruffling his hair. She waved, snatched two cookies, and skipped to the elevator where she swiped her tags and was granted access.

Exit Tyuki; hope that was a nice cameo. ;3

Katie watched in awe as the glowing aura enveloped Tyuki's body, changing her hair and eyes white. She almost looked like a different person now, even her attitude seemed to change. Then the aura began to cover her body as well and she felt an intense soothing happiness wash over her, as her wounds began to close right before her very eyes. "Whoa.." She'd never seen anything like this before. She knew that super powers did exist, but seeing how she never really saw too many people who had them before everything was a new surprise to her.

After a few seconds the aura began to fade, and Tyuki changed back to her normal appearance. Not a second after introducing herself, she was running back to the kitchen to save the cookies, and Katie found herself chuckling because of it. This girl is interesting, she went from bright and cheerful to totally serious and back again all within a minute. Not that Katie really cared, she liked it when people had interesting things about them, it made life less boring.

After she came back, she called someone named Gabe and told him to come up. Katie assumed that this person was the same one that Swordsmaster was bringing her to, because Tyuki mentioned that there was someone here to see him. After saying bye to Tyuki, who then went off to go about her daily business, Katie waited for this new person to come around, wondering what kind of a person this Gabe would turn out to be.