Oddly enough, Erik found himself in a tree. One minute he had been walking towards the aftermath of an explosion and the next he was sitting in a tree with a cat staring suriously at him. "Hello Kitty..." He whispered and reached a hand out to pet it. The cat was rather willing to feel the warm touch of his gloved fingers. He scratched the cat behind it's ears and it purred loudly, it eyes closed. The cat almost looked like it was smiling. Erik smiled down at the cat and rubbed his hand across its back and tail, the cat purred louder.
"Let's get you home Kitty." He said and gently picked up the large tabby cat. "Wow you a heavy little guy huh...?" He said off-handedly and dropped off the branch, landed in a crouch, letting his leg muscles absorb the impact, the kitty held tightly next to his chest was still purring.
Despite the fading light as the sun set, painting red and orange hues onto the sky, Erik could make out a farmhouse not too far away. He figured this would be the cat's home and started towards it. A gentle prod from the cat's head signaled it's desire to be petted some more. Erik obliged and rubbed the cat's head as he walked.
It wasn't long before the house was no more than 50 feet away from him. Erik stopped in his tracks when he heard the sound of gunfire. A harsh flurry of words spoken in a foriegn language soon followed and despite being unable to understand the words, Erik knew they weren't friendly. He gently put the cat down despite it's protests and snuck around to the front of the house. A curious jeep was parked out front, one Erik knew wasn't used in the city or anywhere else that he knew of. As he approached the steps he saw a little drops of red coagulating and driping off the top step. A little boy, no more than 12 lay on the porch, a gun by his side and a pool of blood underneath his head. His cold lifeless eyes stared at Erik.
Erik felt his stomach tighten and his hands becoming steel fists. He moved silently up the steps, careful to step over the boy's body. He crept to the front door and peaked inside.
His ears picked up the faint yelling in the foreign language, his eyes took in the still room just inside the room. Whatever was going on must be happening in the back. He carefully moved inside the room. It was sparse furnished, which didn't surprise Erik, with only a couple of wooden chairs and a couch. Just beyond the couch was a dinning room with a wooden table, and a kitchen. Everything had a newer look to it, but it all felt old to Erik for some reason, like the entire house had been cut out of an old photgraph or something. There were only two doors leading out from the main dinning/living room area. The first one he came to led off to the right and was blocked by a man in uniform. Fortunately for Erik the man's back was turned, and he faced into the room and away from Erik.
From what little Erik could see, There was a small family huddled together in the corner and only one guard keeping watch on them. He was speaking something...and as he spoke the words became clearer and clearer until at last it sound as if the man was speaking in English. He was accusing the family of being with the rebellion, the father denied it, but the man didn't take his word for it.
Erik slipped behind him, cupping his hand over the guards mouth, trying to give him the option to go quietly. The guard didn't seem to be reasonable and struggled against Erik's hold, almost breaking free when he tried to elbow Erik in the gut.It would have worked, if Erik's skin hand't been turned to metal. A cold steel hand slammed into the guard's jaw and Erik heard a cracking sound as the guard slumped to the floor.
Erik looked at the family, who were surprised to see him, and to see the guard on the floor. Erik motioned for them to be quiet and checked the guard. His uniform seemed fimilar, and it took a moment for Erik to remember seeing a similar uniform in a textbook on the Second World War. He was taken aback by the possibility of somehow winding up in the 1940's as much as one might have expected. Waking up in a lab with no memories and strange powers sort of made most surprises less...surprising.
"So...The Nazi's eh...?" He muttered softly. "Wasn't exactly in my to-do-list today..." The Family was still looking at him with curious eyes, most likely deciding weither to be happy or terrifyed at what just happened. "Don't worry, i'm a friend..." Erik whispered with a smile. "You stay here, i'll go finish up in the back." He left the room and within a second was at the other doorway. He could hear two voices and the ruffling sounds. If he had to guess, they were probably turning the place upside down looking for whatever.
"Did you hear about the new inmatates at the camp...?" "Yeah, couple of them were real lookers." "Maybe the Captain will reward us for finding this rebel hideout." "I have my eye on the one with pink hair, I hear she was real fiesty...They had to do something extra special with her." "You mean the freak with weird abilities? Uh huh I wouldn't touch that for nothing." "You're loss, i'm sure the captain could arrange something for us..." "Wishful thinking i'm sure..."
At this point Erik had heard enough. The thin cable shot out of his coat sleeve and snaked around the nearest Nazi's neck, pulling him through the door and slamming him into the far wall. As the cabled retracted into his sleeve he lunged at the remaining guard, implanting his boot into the man's face. Fortunately for them they were unconcious already because Erik wasn't in the mood to play nice at the moment. A pink haired girl with abilities could only have been one person, assuming the others on the team had been sent back into the past as well.
He stripped one of the guards and put on his uniform, stuffing his clothes into a pack he found in the Jeep. He tore out of the driveway leaving the Family to deal with the Nazis, which he imagined wouldn't be pretty.
In less than ten minutes of driving, something he oddly could do quite well, Erik found himself outside the Camp having been giving directions by the grateful farmers. He informed the officers that he had urgent updates for the warden. Whoever's uniform he'd snagged seemed to have high enough clearance to enter and Erik was glad he'd picked the right soldier. He parked the Jeep, threw the pack on his back, and made his way through the facility.
It was bleak and reaked of death. The little houses that held the prisoners looked so small in their neat little rows. Barbed-wire fencing ran around the entire complex with spotlights and guards, though this place wasn't as heavily guarded as he might have expected. He wondered why for a moment, but nothing made sense to him. People should never do this to other people, it was wrong. Erik didn't plan on staying in the god-forsaken place any longer than necessary. It took him a few hours of blending in to find her. Cell was unmistakable, even dressed in prisioner's rags. He saw her emerging from one of the bunk houses and look out at the fading sun, the last glimpse of it sinking beneath the horizon.
He decided to make his move, walking up behind her and pulling her back into the bunk house, which was virtually empty. She started to protest, but he put a finger to her lips to quiet her. Seeing it was a friend she was quiet, maybe even happy to see him. He touch the implant in the back of her neck and carefully removed it, shifting it into a small flower. He stuck the stem behind her ear then said rather evenly, "Now lets get outta here shall we?" He took her by the hand and they bolted out of the bunk house and towards the fence. Reaching the fence, Erik shifted the steel into water, the fence falling away, creating an opening large enough for them to escape through. Alarms began blaring and they had no time to lose.
They raced on, Erik never seeing the land mine in their path...
But in a flash they were both on the ground back in the hall of the Tower.
The Funeral
Erik hadn't known Moonglow, but he stood respectfully as the ceremonies proceeded. He looked around at his fellow teammates, accutely aware of the pain in each of their faces. Erik could see the boy still staring at him, the lifeless face he'd seen in the past. Erik was all too familar with Death, the enemy of everyone. In a way Erik was more familiar with death then most people. His memories had died long ago, leaving behind a fragmented person, unanswered questions, and a blurr of emotion he didn't know what to do with. So on some level, he could empathize with every one hear, but he wouldn't say it. Somehow he felt that would only make their pain seem...greater? It was an confusing sentiment, one he didn't completely understand.
Erik left the Funeral early, slipping out the back and ended up wondering the city streets for a couple of hours, lost in thoughts that never seemed to end. He heard Cell's voice over the comm about something urgent. He turned to head back, readying his cables.
"Just hand it over, and no one needs gettin' shot..." The male voice drifted to Erik's ears from down an alley way. He sighed, then walked slowly down the alley. It seemed heroes don't get bereavement days either...
Erik waited in the kitchen for his popcorn to finish popping. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter letting the seconds tick slowly by. He could have easy made the popcorn himself, but that just seemed so...normal. Strange to say that cooking something in the microwave would ever count as something abnormal. This was just one of the thoughts flowing through Erik's mind as he waited, the little clock on the microwave announcing to his eyes that it still had two minutes to go. He opened the fridge and peered inside, wondering what would go good with popcorn, as far as beverage was concerned. Milk, chocolate milk, non fat milk, soy milk...apparently they didn't have enough milk. He settled on a root beer, popping open the aluminum can top with a pleasing SNAP sound. He took a swig of the dark carbonated beverage. It wasn't his favorite kind, but Erik had long since given up desiring anything past the necessities. It was a strange feeling to be surrounded by a ton of food, drink and even deserts, yet still only making himself some popcorn. At least the popcorn was fresh...better than what was on the streets...
The popcorn had all but stopped popping and Erik removed the bag from the microwave, stopping the countdown with only a handful of seconds left. He looked around the empty Kitchen for a moment, then set his pop on the counter and quietly munched on the popcorn.
Alone.
As he always had...
((Hey VTs :P just thought i'd throw up some RP too while I was here lol. Nothing as fancy as WK and NS, but at least its something :) ))
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