An Awkward Confrontation

Sam woke with a fright, his phone was vibrating on his wooden drawers on the opposite side of his house, causing an annoying noise. He pushed himself out of bed and looked at the window as he walked to his phone "It's still dark?... Did my alarm malfunction or something?" he asked himself, it wouldn't be the first time it had happened. He noticed his cat Amber hanging close to him too, the same noise must have woken her up from her slumber and she wanted to stay close to the one thing that would keep her safe. He lifted the phone off the table and flipped it open, the alarm did not go off, he had received a news report, a rather major one at that, one of England's favorite landmarks was being tampered with, it was said that the stone blocks that were mysteriously placed there many many years ago have shifted into something completely different, Sam had never heard of such a thing happening and it was extremely important that he checked it out. He walked to his wardrobe and pulled out his super suit, he put it on as fast as he could and headed to the nearest main road.

After reaching an overpass standing above the M25 main road, Smoke checked his phone one more time to see the correct direction, after finding the correct direction, he dropped down and began leaping from car rooftop to car rooftop, speeding up his journey considerably, a journey that was meant to take 1 hour only took him 15 minutes. He stopped and caught his breath, the journey was quick but it was not a time to relax, one wrong move and Smoke would have been splattered all over the road, not a nice thing to think about. He pushed himself up a hill until he could see something in the distance, it was dark so he had to move closer for a better look and when he could see what was going on, he couldn't believe it.

The large stone blocks that once stood in a strange circle were now forming stepping stones, leading up to some kind of different dimension. Smoke could not see what was happening inside from the outside, it was simply a large circle of smoke spiraling around, faintly outlining whatever was happening inside. Although Smoke was curious, he was not brave enough to go through the portal, who knows what was on the other side and whether he would be able to get back to England or not, he stood a short distance away and waited to see what happens, perhaps some kind of alien race was preparing to come out of it, Smoke only hoped he would be able to stop them.

Smoke was surprised to see four people walk out of it though and they did not seem very threatening at all, sneaking closer to them he noticed that one of them was Salone, the American girl that he had met a short time ago, she was the reason that he had the cat he has today, and he also noticed that she had some friends with her. After assuming they were not hostile seconds later, Smoke moved forward and out of the shadows. "Hi Salone" he said with a smile, all four of the party members turned to look at him which made Smoke slightly awkward, he always felt awkward when being introduced to friends of a friend, judgmental eyes looking at you from the minute you say "Hey".

"Is there a reason why there is a giant portal here......." Smoke grew silent as the staircase that was made from the stones of Stonehenge lifted off the ground, flying over his head and then replacing themselves where they have been for many years originally and the portal completely disappeared from view. "I had a news report saying that something was going on with Stonehenge, but this is something else..."

Smoke was introduced to the whole gang, Salone, Jake, Penny and Artemis. They all seemed different in their own kind of way, some stranger than others and some more trusting than others. Sam and Salone managed to catch up, he was surprised that she still remembered him, it had been a short while since they last saw each other and she was clearly involved in other company, and no doubt whatever was going on in that portal was on her mind, but she still had some time to catch up with him and he appreciated it.

Of course they could not stand around and chat forever, it was getting slightly awkward with the rest of the group staring in the background, obviously they had somewhere to go and Sam let them go to the airport, he met them there soon after though as he went home and changed into street clothes to stay hidden in the crowds of the airport and not arouse suspicion. He continued to chat to Salone whilst they waited, she was the only one he really wanted to talk to because in his eyes, his friends had not really made much of an effort to learn more about him. He watched as all of them got onto the plane one after another until the one known as Jake was held back and was told he could not board, he watched as the rest of the group boarded the plane and he returned to Sam. "So...Sam is it? Do you have a second to help me?" he asked, he did not sound like he really wanted his help, but he had enough pride to ask for it.

"I don't see why not, any friend of Salone is a friend of mine" Sam replied, trying to build a bridge between the two, they clearly both meant something to Salone and Sam was hoping that this would help the two of them become better friends and not enemies. "What is it you need help with? Had some trouble boarding the plane?"

I was obviously having trouble boarding the plane or I wouldn’t be here now would I? This guy was a little too cheery for me. Not a bad thing though. He’s got vitality and stamina, I’m not going to condemn it either. Poor little mortal is short lived, let him use his energy to do whatever he needs to do before he needs to make his peace. Anyway, I’m standing pretty much naked with him in public. I’m not exactly happy with the current situation.
”Yeah. They over booked it. I need directions on how to get to the hotel. It’s this ‘five-star’ joint or wherever. I really don’t know the slight on where to go, or where I can get some clothing. I kinda need help.” I admitted. It was a little embarrassing constantly needing to use other people’s clothing. This guy may not be so bad…considering he was willing to at least hear the problem out.
The Hotel was literally a 5-star hotel. I was here for a weekend. It might not be bad, but I really needed to keep in touch with Salone, to figure out how she was doing! It was driving me crazy. I assumed Sam would be sticking around, since many people of the middle class couldn’t afford this kind of place. I made my way into the bathroom and perched up on the sink like a falcon, looking that the small tub. Eventually I decided it was far too small for all six feet of me to relax in and so I went out into the main area. I looked at my ‘clothing’ and remembered that this is practically a bathing suit. I went to walk out before a woman came in, wearing a formal attire and brought in a cart of food. I yelped and leapt back behind the bed. I’d let Sam handle this lady.
”This is for one Jacob Ryan? It is a complimentary meal from the UK airways, as a sorry for the inconvenience.” The woman said. I sniffed the air, not saying anything. The woman eventually left and I looked to Sam.
[color=royalblue]”You can have that bud. I don’t eat as often as humans do. I won’t NEED to eat for another three days at max. If you need me I’ll be at the pool…. And you’re more than welcome to take advantage of this…I mean...if you want. If you want to leave I won’t stop you. Airport is paying for this anyway.” [/clor] I said with a bit of a childish smile before wrapping a towel around my waist and heading down towards the ground floor to go swimming.

Jake asked Sam for his help and it was understandable, he was told to go somewhere in a city he has never been in before, of course he would need the help of a local, which reminded Sam of when Salone did the same thing. Out of kindness, Sam followed the directions with Jake closely following him, its easy to get lost in this city and Jake was lucky that Sam was still there and willing to help.

Sam walked into the hotel, it was the fanciest hotel he had ever seen and it was one of his personal favorites to watch from afar, the front logo was very bright and Sam just liked to stare at it some nights. After they were shown to their room, Jake began acting quite strange, he immediately walked to the bathroom and then left it shortly afterwards, "Weird" Sam thought, but he thought it might just be some kind of habit that Jake had, Sam was mesmerized though, he had not seen a bedroom as nice as this, the closest one to it was his old bedroom with his family. Jake backed away however when a member of the staff entered the room with some complimentary food that was given to them by the hotel, she left and Jake explained that Sam could have it if he wanted, "Wow, you don't need to eat for three days straight?! I've never seen anything like that before, your stomach must digest things extremely slowly, I can't go a couple of hours without having to find something else to eat." Not soon after, Jake had wrapped a towel around himself and left for the pool, "For the pool?" Sam thought, "Why would he go there? Its night time and the water is probably freezing cold" his curiosity was gone quickly as Jake explained that he could take advantage of the room, Jake left and Sam looked around, he walked to the curtains and felt them, extremely smooth and great at blocking the outside from him, the bed was the complete opposite of his original bed, this one was the best that he had ever seen, and the bathroom was white and spotless.

Sam teleported onto his bed in a comfortable position, "The Airport is paying huh?..." Sam looked over to the phone next to him and immediately rang for room service.

Thankfully there was an indoor pool. Nice place, kids running everywhere, even though it was getting up there in the hour of the day. I ended up slipping into the pool and just staying there. surrounded by water is where I was happiest. There was an obvious exception, but that's not important right now. Well, she's important all the time but in this moment I just need to gather my thoughts. I surfaced to see a little kid trying his hardest to swim, but he was struggling. I floated over to him and smiled.
   "Hey little guy. You're doing it wrong. Ya need to let the water carry you a little. Here, rotate your arms like this, and then turn your head as you're stroking." I instructed him, he was doing great at that. I chuckled a litle. "Great job, now kick your feet, like their propellers! YEAH Great job little guy!" I said with a cheer. THe kid was swimming much better now. I loved little kids. They were the purest humans, innocent and uncaring.
     "Thanks, this is awesome!" The little guy said with a cheeky grin. Mortal kids are adorable. Squishy as all get-out, and not nearly as cute as dragon kids. They were pretty cute though...in a plush doll kinda way.
      "Yeah, Water is the best." I casually stated. The kid just smiled and watched me, then cocked his head to the side as if he were confused.
      "You're not like us are you?" The little guy asked. I looked at him, mildly shocked that he managed to pick that up right away. I smiled and narrowed my eyes.
       "And what makes you think that?" I asked him. Of course he did that adorable little kid face where they don't know an answer to something, looking down off to the side, shrugging and contorting their face. I laughed, and he joined in a little. "Depends ohat you think makes you human... I feel like you do....I breathe like you do...I talk and dress like you do. I look like you...I love like you...so am I human?" I asked him. He smiled and bobbed his head
      "yeah I think." He offered up. I laughed and made the pool twist a little, and a small puppy made of water jumped on the little kid, making him laugh and gigle as the water tickled him. I floated away, and eventually went over to the hot tub, making the warm arters form a bubble around me as I sat in the water, completely submerged. Just me and my thoughts.

Sam had been in the hotel room for some time now, there were trays of empty plates scattered across the room and Sam was laid out on the bed, slightly tired from all of the food that he had consumed, who knows what kind of bill he had racked up for the airport, but that wasn't something that he needed to worry about. Sam flicked through the many channels available to him and found nothing that interested him, the threw the remote onto the bed and thought about what he could do, he stepped to the window and looked down, noticing that Jake was still in the hot tub, it was pretty dark and the poolside was empty, why was he still down there? Sam looked through some drawers and found a pair of trunks, it was chilly outside, but going out there with him is more exciting than sitting around indoors.

Sam headed downstairs and went outside, immediately regretting his decision of going outside in the cold, but he assumed that after getting into the hot tub, his body temperature would rise again. He walked past the corner and slipped into the hot tub, trying not to splash Jake in the process, no words were exchanged for a short while until Sam broke the silence "So how do you know Salone?" he asked, a question he wanted to know the answer to for some time.

"She taught me to walk. I siad plainly enough. I figure that might confuse him a bit I then decided that he was at least TRYING, so I owed it to Salone, if not him to try as well. She's the one that taught me about how you people do things. Cars, planes, trains and automobiles. She was the first person I met, and the only person who cared. It was when I first made contact with land again in....about...well last time I was here I gave Alexander the Great my hoard to fund his army...but Yeah..anyway she was the only one who seemed to give a damn... She taught me to walk and such. Her dog ate my amulet, she folowed me to a graveyard, we killed a creature older than Earth...good times." I concluded the story just in time to loath him even more. Not that he did anything wrong, but he had accidenlty made me curious about him.
"So what about you...how did you meet her?" I asked him.

"She... taught him to walk? So she's like his dad then? But that just doesn't make any sense whatsoever" he thought, some thing just didnt add up, it wasn't until he continued with his explanation when it made a little more sense. Apparently Salone had taught him everyone he knows about the world and yet he looked older than her, as if he crash landed on this planet and she was the one who found him or something. When he said he gave Alexander the Great money, Sam's then realised that he was just really, really old and did not age, ironic that he wished to be ageless back home and he was sitting with someone who was ageless.

"Riiiiight..." Sam said, still trying to process what he had just been told, "So you are like... Not a proper human then?... And I assume you know of Salone's powers too which means you must be able to do something special and you two clearly have a past together. As for me, I only met her a couple of months ago, I was going to approach her to chat and stuff and then I noticed she had exceptional speed, so I tried to follow her and in the end she found me, she was there because her sister was at a meeting or something and she had nothing to do, so I took her to a few places, one of my favourites in particular. Then the next day I saw her again and I had this bonfire set up, a tray full of cakes because it was obvious to me she had a sweetooth and there were some fireworks I had set up in the distance aswell, it was a really great time, and she is a really great girl... She wasn't too keen on my powers though, but I suppose that is understandable, it is hard to come to terms with..."

Sam noticed he had been blabbering for a short amount of time, "Sorry about that, kinda forgot I was talking for a second there, out of curiosity... How old actually are you?"

Little guy was finally putting two and two together. He knew I wasn’t a nut case, or at least I don’t think I am. Anyway, this kid made it obvious, since he brought up the fact that I was not a ‘proper’ human. He went on about this perfect evening he had with Salone, and the only thing I was hearing was ”I’m competition, I’m competition, Please eat me, I’m going to take the woman you love from you.” I let this ALL slide, knowing that the kid really had just as much a fair shot at Salone as I did. The bottom line is no matter how fair a shot, there was no way he could possible love her more.

”Yeah…sounds like you almost had her.” I said, almost as if it was a shame. [color=royalblue]”But As far as my age…Well I’m older than this mudball Earth. That should tell you something. As far as time, I have no concept. For Dragon’s what is the bat of an eye to us is enough time for human civilizations to rise and fall. So…what about you? What is your power exactly

Sam was learning a lot of new things about this guy, he looked young and yet he claimed to be older than Earth, he must have had one hell of a anti-aging cream. To the sounds of how Jake said that Sam almost had Salone, Sam sensed a small piece of shame, as if a part of him was also relieved that he did not get him for whatever unknown reason, it seemed to him that this Jake fellow had some feelings for her too, and it now made sense to him why this man... dragon thing continued to hang around her, he could have left and gone anywhere he wanted, but he decided to stay with her anyway, Sam did not want to bring it up in case it would have caused an awkward topic to discuss because of the story he had just relayed to him. Besides, Jake asked a new question, what where Sam's powers.

Sam looked around his surroundings in case anyone was watching, then back to Jake and then vanished in a cloud of black smog, appearing a few steps away outside of the tub with his arms out by his side "Pretty impressive huh? They don't call me Smoke for nothin'" he said, he then teleported back inside the tub, causing small ripples around him. It then dawned on Sam that he did not ask about what happened at Stonehenge, all of the blocks had been moved around to form steps that led to some kind of portal, whatever happened in there Sam did not know, but he was curious. "This might not be my place to ask, but back at Stonehenge... What the hell was going on there? I mean it was all shifted and there was a portal and you all walked out of there like it was kinda nothing... What happened in there?"

Sam began listening to the story that Jake was telling him, but it was tough as the long story lost his interest, but he caught the most of it. Suddenly Jake left the hot tub with trails over water following him through the air before returning back to the water. Jake made it known that he was itching for a fight and was interested in patrolling the streets of London, that was music to Sam's ears, Sam shot out of the hot tub and let the water drip off his body "Now you are speaking my language buddy, I know these streets like the back of my hand, and I patrol pretty much every night, we can go and see what we find if you want?" Sam extended a hand to be shaken, they weren't exactly agreeing to something, but Sam did it as a sign of trust and a temporary alliance, this guy claimed to be special and Sam was interested to see how special he was, and any friend of Salone was a friend of Sam's, so he was trying his best to get along with this guy, it must have been a while since he had a male friend when he has been hanging around with a group of females for so long.