Unity, survival and generally not getting killed.

(Turn skip)

"My auntie kicked me out when she discovered that I was a meta." She replied as if it was a simple matter, rather than something which had been serious. Her voice however, held a deep bitter venom as if though she seemed okay, the wounds from the event were deep. "I've seen terrible things, people who've given into the darkness inside of them... Survival is an endless struggle and this struggle is not over."

Valerie did not want to go back to the camp, her gut told her that her friends would no longer be there. They had a plan for where to go if they were to get separated. "I do not think my friends will be there... If they are still my friends." Valerie admitted reluctantly, however it might be worth checking out, just in the off chance her comrades were actually still present there.
If not, she had a good idea as to where they might be. Valerie doubted that she could ever settle into a new home, with or without her friends, by now she'd long since grown used to her day to day survival on the streets.

"Even if they aren't, we'll find them eventually." He thinks back to the people he has worked alongside of in the past and remembers how tight-nit some of those groups were in spite of the fact that they weren't family, survival, protecting the person next to you and a long time of saving one another's ass was what drove them. He simply puts his hand on her small shoulder as comfortingly as he can, "And I don't think something like being a meta is going to make them stop being your friends, you've toughed out some pretty serious shit together, that makes a bond that runs deeper than blood and tougher than the strongest steel. I have seen many such bonds in the past and those bonds are sometimes stronger than the ones we have with family." He then removes his hand and simply gestures into the crowd and when they get within conversational range of Xiao or Shauna, he calls out to them "Have either of you seen Valerie's friends since you got back?"

Xiao moved to greet the pair at the entrance of the camp. "Yeah, they're here. Nobody left because my friends told everyone the Meta scare was just that- a scare. Now, are you joining us or not?"

Valerie frowned, finding it quite odd that her friends hadn't fallen back. She tried not to feel too suspicious of them, yet she couldn't help it, being a Meta gave her reason to doubt everyone who wasn't Meta. This rule of course applied to other Metas just as readily. She pushed her feelings aside hoping that nothing would go wrong, if something did kick off... Well there was an escape plan. The various heroes had already experienced Valerie's blinding power, the harsh light similar to that of a flash bang.

Best way to escape from someone is to blind them. "Might as well go in and join them... Regroup with my friends and then head back." She avoided saying home for Valerie didn't have one of those, just a place that where she slept.

Noticing the frown on Valerie's face, "Everything will be fine." Cromwell tried to be as assuring as possible, "And if it turns bad I'm here to help, like I said, not going to leave you on your own, that'd be pretty shitty of me if I went back on my word." Waving again to the dragon girl, "How'd the fight with the robots go? Any of it salvageable?"

Shauna patted Valerie on the shoulder, glad to see she came around. She encouraged her further. "Hey... take all the time you need to talk with your friends, alright? We want to give people opportunities to help themselves. We work with Wong Enterprises, a tech firm with an office in New York. They're always hiring." She then returned to the doctors attending the mission, like nothing ontoward happened.

"Hey Val! Where ya been?"

"Come on there's so much food, and we can take home some!"

"We're finishing the cake with or without you!" Her friends would invite her to join them. True friends after all, don't judge.

Xiao turned to Khellendros  when he asked about the robots. " Oh,Shauna used her... ah... power... to melt everything. She was very thorough." Xiao took something from her pack. One of the destroyed robot's heads. "But ah, I kept a souvenir. You can have it, I guess."

Dragon Girl offered the robot head to Khellendros. It ate a dragon girl punch, but it was mostly its outer casing crushed. It's vital chip inside its head was still intact... and with it, the self-repair protocol that might have made an army of these robots nightmarishly difficult to kill.



(I guess we can end the thread here before it gets dragging. You can still put closing posts. good job all.)

Looking at the robotic head that was presented to him, Cromwell quickly looked it over and pulled the chip out. Looking to the dragon girl, he realized that she must have been intending to keep it as a trophy, "You keep the head, I'll take the chip, that way we both get what we wanted out of this."

Turning to Valerie "You go on and talk things out with your friends, I'll be around if you need anything. Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Pulling out the cell phone from earlier. "Take this, if you and your friends ever need anything, call the number on speed dial 1. It's my personal line for someone named Malys," it sounded as if he was saying malice, "She'll redirect you to my comm-channel when you give her your name. And keep the coat, if it helps any of your small band keep warmer then it'll have done more good than if I had kept it, Canadian winters are much colder than this by far." With that, he walks over and grabs some cake and moves to the side where he can keep an eye on everything until all is said and done.