Utopia

Kira nodded slightly in acknowledgement, stepping into the kitchen and filling up a mug with hot chocolate from some whirring machine. She wasn't quite sure how it worked, but as long as the liquid didn't stop coming out of it, everything was okay. Machines didn't interest her that much.

She came back out a few minutes later, setting the mug down in front of Steppie, and readjusting her bun. Her long sleeves slipped down a bit, showing the scars on her arms, but she quickly returned them to their place once she had deemed her hair suitable.

"Nice scars," Steppie noted quietly, not trying to make a scene or anything, mostly interested in small talk at the moment. Wasn't every day you met someone with scars like that. Had to have been a real fighter back in the day, gotten into quite a few tussles. How odd it was for such a girl to be working in a small diner.

At that response Simon felt a little stupid. Of course Heidi wouldn't get out just like that; he should've known they wouldn't let her out for good behavior. The police wanted something.

"Uh, I have your knife." The black haired man replied.

---

"You may, but stop after taking three steps." Mary replied, both with close now.

Zackary took three steps forwards, folding his arms again. So, he was closer to the girl. Then, he had the feeling that a Flow had been used. Thuis one, familiar.
"Nathan...? But...it can't be..." Zackary muttered under his breath. "May I take more steps forwards?

Who's Nathan? Mary thought to herself, she had never heard that name before, though she did feel a little... heavier. Winter was coming on fast, possibly. Maybe that's why she felt a little weghed down by the atmosphere. She began to wish they were back at home watching a funny cartoon all on the couch, a cup of something warm in her hands.

"You may." She replied, not thinking about how close the two were now and trying to shake off the heavy feeling.

"May I, as well?" Percy asked, putting off an expression like nothing was wrong for Mary, but he had sensed Nathan as well. It looks like the man was up to something again, and if Percy had been on duty, he might have went to check it out, but right now he chose to keep with Mary and Zackary.

"Mm-hm, you may." Mary replied to Percy, she was still turned around so she didn't see the man's face. The girl wanted to go home, she didn't feel like playing the game anymore but she wouldn't tell the other two and make herself look childish.

Zackary took a few more steps forward, before glancing behind him. How much he wanted to go check out what was going on. However, it wasn't part of what he did. He wasn't any sort of hero.

"May I take another step forwards?"

Zackary was only a step away.

"You may." Mary replied.

After Luke had finished his conversation with Clue he has made his way back to his apartment building, in no real hurry to get the day started. Stubbing out his cigarette and binning it on the way into the mostly-empty complex, getting his post from the receptionist, who he had quite a good relationship with, and making small talk. She also took note of the report that more graffiti had appeared on the side of a government official's house earlier, part of an operation she was helping Luke with.

However this changed when he felt Nathan's Flow. Though it didn't make him freak out and he still kept calm, having had a long time to prepare himself for Nathan's return, he was still quite shocked by such a strong resurgence of his old team-mate's Flow. The receptionist interpreted the look on his face, bringing behind her counter and into a storage room.

Inside it was quite small, with a protective vest, a warm coat, and Luke's knives hidden in a compartment in the wall. He quickly got equipped, knowing that there would likely be heavy police presence where he planned to check out. His friend opened up a tile on the floor, revealing a hidden ladder leading underground. She wished him good luck as he left, silent except for a thank you, and began running towards the hospital.

-------

Russell cursed when he heard the alerts through his police radio about a possible terrorist attack at the local hospital, promptly switching lanes and accelerating towards his destination, putting his trip to the police station on hold for the moment, though he was sure that there would be someone to reprimand him when he got to the hospital.

Kira didn't seem to realize Steppie was talking to her at first, before looking down at her arms, realization dawning on her face. "Oh," she stated lamely, staring at her arms, as if just remembering the scars, before laughing and looking back at Steppie. "My son thinks they're funny, and draws on his arm trying to make his skin look like Mommy's," she laughed.

---

Heidi frowned slightly, scratching her head, before sighing. "Hang onto it for a little while longer, kiddo," she said, holding up her wrist to show him the tracking bracelet. "I'm not exactly out of the woods entirely," she tried to explain, before smiling. "But it's alright! Jail is so boring, you have no idea!" she laughed, trying to lighten the mood a bit as she walked further into the house.

"Aw, you have a son?" Steppie asked, "A hubbie to go with?" It was such a nice thing to see life going on after the horrible event that had caused all the madness in the first place. The fact that the tough girl might have a husband made her wonder if she was such a tough girl or possibly being abused...it's not like that sort of thing went away with some big apocalyptic disaster.

Kira flinched, before smiling weakly at Steppie. "No, not...not yet," she answered, a bit of the old stammering Kira coming back out, before she returned to her brave facade. "Not that I'd particularly like one, either, though," she commented, screwing up her face in disgust. "Men aren't particularly reliable last time I checked." That was true on her part. Pretty much any male that had ever been important to her had betrayed her in one way or another.

Simon nodded, though he still felt a little saddened. After putting the knife back in his room he left Heidi to get used to the house surroundings while he finished up with the cookies; hoping he would finish them before everyone else got home.

"Mary's with Percival and Zackary still at the park. I can call them to tell them you're here..." The black haired man called out to Heidi.

"I see, I see," Steppie nodded in reply, sipping her hot chocolate, "In a way, I guess I can see why you'd think so." She'd seen plenty of terrible men in her life and she could only imagine what had happened to this woman. Men were anything but subtle in recent times and she couldn't really blame them. However, women were not quick to forget the past nor realize the present, no matter how much it seemed better.

"No, I wanna surprise Red," Heidi grinned, sprawling out in the middle of the floor. What fun was anything without a little surprise? She wanted to see Mary's face when she surprised her. Plus, Percy wouldn't be expecting it either. He couldn't even sense her because she didn't have a Flow. This was too perfect.

---

Kira sighed, turning away from Steppie and continuing to hand out the orders from the kitchen. Now she was thinking back to Luke, and even Nathan, Miguel, and her father. That wasn't any good train of thought to pursue, especially at work, so she tried to push it to the back of her head.

Simon let out a small chuckle, guessing where Heidi's train of thought was going. "Suit yourself."

The young man turned to where Elena is. "Mind helping me put down the dough on the sheets?"

He had mixed in the chocolate chips she had gotten and now held two ice cream scoopers in his hands. "It's easier to flick them out with these."

Elena glanced at the ice cream scoopers, before taking one and scooping up a huge chunk of cookie dough. Giant cookies were good. Maybe she'd make a giant cookie, and write Elena on it in chocolate chips so no one else could eat it. Yup, that sounded like a good plan.

Nathan continued to walk slowly and purposefully down the hospital stairs. Anyone who ran towards him was zapped with the hopeless and depressive feeling that Darkness instilled in people. When coupled with the use of Empathy to increase the fear they felt caused many to fall to the ground in despair.

There hadn't been anymore disturbances from any guards so Nathan just presumed he'd have people waiting outside for him. By now it was pointless to alter his appearance so he continued without using Shape Shifting. Having made it to the lobby he began to walk towards the exit, letting the despair ebb off him like a tide.

Kira's frown deepened, and she shivered slightly. Nathan's Flow wasn't going away. If anything, it was getting stronger... She wanted to go after it, see what was going on, but she couldn't leave...she didn't want to lose her job, either. Looking over at Steppie, she lowered her voice a bit. "Do you feel that Flow?" she asked, making sure she wasn't crazy first.

Russell stood his ground, taking cover behind his car once he got to the hospital. There was already a few police cars around the place, five by Russell's count. There were nine cops other than him, and a few were beginning to sink below their cars in an attempt to hide from their oncoming opponent. He unholstered his gun and aimed it at the door, fully aware it probably wouldn't be very helpful.

------

Luke emerged from the underground, using very small bursts of his Flow to climb the building, coinciding them with Nathan's attacks so he remained undetected. He climbed to the roof, peering over hesitantly at the police force and not fancying their chances. He stood up, coat billowing in the wind as he prepared to see Nathan again.

Nathan's eyes told the full story, his flow sensing skills had always been above par and even though he wouldn't allow himself to smirk, he still couldn't help but let a smugness rise within him. He used his Instant Aptitude to turn on the X-Ray vision and then he smirked. Police Cars were dotted around outside the hospital.

And still no flow detection unit. Only Luke on the roof. His former team mate may have thought he was being sly but he was unable to remain undetected from Nathan. They were team mates, and Nathan could sense either his or Kira's flow from miles off.

His skin turned pale and a red glow briefly surrounded his hands. Three seconds later and a large stone Golem burst from the hospital doors and made a beeline for the police cars.

Allowing himself a brief second to survey the damage, Nathan strolled out behind it.

Steppie blinked, a spark of recognition from the Flow she hadn't encountered for years. Her heart starting to race, she shook her head, though her eyes said otherwise. "No...I feel a lot of flows, I don't know what you're talking about."

Kira's eyes narrowed slightly, and she glared at Steppie. "Tell me the truth," she said quietly, her voice almost threatening. "This is important." If Nathan really was around and she wasn't crazy...maybe she could pretend to be sick, and get out of work to find out what was going on. If he was crazy, then she'd need to take Jason and get him somewhere away from Utopia...

Steppie frowned, returning Kira's stare. "I think I'm just gonna go," she said, pulling out a wallet and laying a twenty on the table. "Keep the change." She reaaally didn't need this right now, and things were gonna get poopy real fast if she didn't get the hell out of there.

---

Across town, our favorite person of all time, Mr. Paul Jackson, was strolling along towards the hospital. Quite a commotion was being stirred up and he was curious to see what would pan out. It was quite a while since he last saw anyone he recognized, not counting Kira.