Terrance tried to shift and found he couldn't suddenly. The ramifications of such a powerful shield almost blew his mind. It would be a defense to everyone, an invaluable commodity...the end of the Unnatural threat? He shook his head. There must be a flaw, there was always a flaw with these new creations. For now he could only hope they'd find a way out of this.

"I don't need any abilities to kill a worm," he ground out and ran at Richard, throwing him to the ground with a growl.

Pepper turned on one of the soldiers who approached her, throwing a punch that would have normally cracked the man's skull. Without a sound, her fist passed through the soldier's head. A series of other attacks produced the same result. Latch's men are projections?

She looked over at the other small door, If you can't get out...get through? she thought and started as weaponry suddenly descended from the walls and began firing at random at the crowded Unnaturals. "Through the gate!" she yelled, unsure of what else they could do at the moment.

Eyebrows raising, Richard hadn't expected Terrance's next move. He had the wind knocked out of him as the man barreled him to the floor. Throwing up a hand to protect his face, he managed to catch Terrance in the jaw through his vain move of desperation. "You're animals," he rasped as he regained control of oxygen once more, throwing out a leg to hopefully knock Terrance off balance.

The clumsy move was ridiculous enough to catch Terrance completely by surprise. He fell onto Richard and proceeded to roll with the man, struggling to gain the upper hand on the struggling man. Feeling the sunlight on his head, Terrance knew they were out on the balcony now, but he couldn't stop. Hands finally taking a grip on Richard's neck, the shapeshifter squeezed, imagining how easy it would have been to kill the man should he have claws right now.

Choking to death was not how Richard imagined himself dying. He didn't want to die this way nor did he really want to die right now. He clawed at Terrance's face, hoping to strike something vital that would make the man release him. Nothing worked. He felt something in face pop and started to panic. Bringing his knee up sharply, he drove it into Terrance's ribs with all of his might. Finally, he gasped for air as Terrance's grip slackened.

He slammed an elbow into the other man's face with a grunt.

Terrance's vision blackened and he stumbled to his feet, reaching back to steady himself against the railing that he couldn't see. He could hear Ziya in his mind, telling him that he'd become old and stupid. She laughed and motioned for him to follow her, but he couldn't. The sounds of the weapons firing in the courtyard below him made the shapeshifter blink, trying to regain his sight as he looked for Richard. It was time to finish this. Ziya was waiting.

Richard had lost sight in his left eye as a result of Terrance's strangulation. He rolled to one side, body wracking with coughs. He wiped a hand over his forehead, dripping sweat. Grinding his teeth, Richard scuttled across the balcony. He wasn't finished with this beast. He would teach him who was the superior being. Richard barreled into Terrance, throwing his full weight at the man. Mere seconds was an eternity to think about the consequences of such an action.

Terrance saw Richard one nanosecond before he was flung backwards. The shapeshifter desperately clung to the stone railing, but felt himself falling backwards, unalterably linked with the man who was now falling as well. Without a thought he tried to shift, knowing his wings in bird form could carry him away. It was no use. The shield didn't seem to have a flaw yet.

The kitten-man who'd led the Unnaturals of Ditto Town for years hit the ground with a crack and lay unmoving amidst the large, decorative rose bush that grew beneath the balcony. He blinked once, looking through the petals that fell like a shower on his face, and then stilled.

Pepper saw Terrance fall and hurried over to him, ignoring the lasers and bullets that passed by her head. She leaned over the shapeshifter and saw the obvious- he was dying. Touching his cheek gently, she felt pain tear through her insides, ripping her apart with something far more dangerous than any weapons Latch had secured his new prison with- emotion.

"Terrance- Terrance?" she asked desperately, wondering why she was trying to bother him, why there was water leaking from her eyes.

"Pepper," Terrance rasped, eyes still closed, "Telescope Project...find out about the Telescope Proj-"

The zombie sat shaking with what she didn't know were sobs. He was gone, staring glassy-eyed and all around her were the shouts of Unnaturals. The sobs stopped and the emptiness in her abdomen was replaced with fire. Standing slowly, Pepper bounded towards the door on the far end and with all her effort kicked it in.

The door swung on its unharmed hinges- inviting the Unnaturals beyond, to what they knew couldn't be much worse than their current predicament.

Without a moments hesitation, Marcus followed after the zombie woman who was running towards another gate. "Raphael! Sofia! This way!" the Warlock yelled back at the rest of the "family" as he ran.

Marcus stood in slight amazement at the broken door and the raging mad zombie. A bullet passing just inches away from his ear brought the Warlock back to his senses. "Thanks, Ma'am." Marcus said in a gruff voice as he ducked through the open door.... and into who-knows-what.

Hana stumbled over herself and fell. Righting herself again, she looked at the culprit, a flowering bush. Growling under her breath, she bolted towards the door, feeling her grasp on control breaking. Without a sound the girl transformed into a fox, three tails waving behind her as she bounded through the gate after the others.

Curse couldn't even bring the rain...she wasn't sure when she'd realized there was such a connection between her and the clouds but somehow it felt like a part of her had been smothered. Desperately she looked at Caerwyn, tugging his hand as she took a step towards the door.

[PC post]

Raphael was following the zombie out even before Marcus shouted, the rest of the coven following.

Caerwyn pulled on Curse's hand as he followed the crowd out.

And the rest of this vampire's characters did the same.

[/PC post]

P.S."Brooklyn!"

The door closed behind the Unnaturals. Pepper froze- wondering why this had ever seemed like a good idea.

The Unnaturals stood at one wall of what looked like many miles of completely bare, gray land. Ahead there were long gray rectangular buildings and beyond them two larger buildings that were indistinguishable in color. It was like the color had drained out of the world. It was clear now that any of the flier's information or even Terrance's designs were a complete farce. Pepper didn't even try the door. Without a doubt she knew they were stuck.

--

Hours later Ziya stood staring at the concentration camp. She knew in Ditto Town Ms. Scope would be celebrating- she'd probably only just discovered that Richard Latch had been on their side from the very beginning. And in a penthouse in Monstropolis Mr. Song would be watching and waiting for the next move.

"He's not coming is he?" Coriander whispered to Cotton. The two stood with Maev, awkwardly waiting as their leader continued to stare forlornly into the distance.

"No- a cat has nine lives, but I figure Terrance has used up his already," the former bounty hunter answered. He frowned slightly at the thought. Terrance had not given him an easy time in his other life, but Cotton had never wished he'd actually die...especially since Ziya seemed to have such a hope to see him.

Turning, Ziya smiled sadly at the group. "He's dead," she stated, telling herself more than her small group of followers. "We can't stay here. The Unnaturals of Ditto Town will have to try and live on until there's an opportunity to help them. We have to continue to stay out of the spotlight. Edmond and TP both would like nothing better than to swat us like an annoying fly." Pulling her hood up, Ziya headed into the darkness of the woods.

Cotton didn't ask why Ziya couldn't wait for Terrance's body and revive him like she had chosen to do with each of them. Maybe she loved him too much. After all, an immortal life, that's something he wouldn't wish on anyone now.

"Come," Ziya called and they all followed, Maev smiling at Coriander when the friendly woman wrapped an arm around her waist. The secretary wasn't sure what was happening but she knew she was now safer than she'd ever been.

Adrienne had had an uneventful ride to the camp. She'd actually slept for most of the ride, as motorized vehicle rides tended to make her nauseous. Once they arrived in camp, she and Amy had waited patiently for the rest of their new friends to arrive on the other bus. Adrienne had only payed cursory attention to the flier she had been handed, but Amy had enthusiastically examined her flier, reading and rereading it. She babbled on about what she hoped her room would be like and whether the food would be good for awhile until she noticed Adrienne wasn't paying attention to her.

"You love him, don't you?" Amy asked, knowing the answer already. Empathy made asking probing questions so much less exciting.

"Maybe a little," Adrienne said, with a small, reluctant smile.

"Enough to stay human for him?"

"Obviously not," Adrienne said, the smile turning into a bitter smirk.

"Yeah, I get that the spells weren't completed, but you've told me before that once the process is started, it isn't reversible. So you should be an Elemental by now. Something is making you cling to your humanity, consciously or not," Amy said, stubbornly refusing to back down on her line of reasoning.

"So you're saying I've turned into quite possibly the most deadly thing on this continent because I'm secretly nursing a schoolyard crush? I can't move on to full Elemental because I subconsciously want to play tonsil hockey with Malachi that badly? Please drop the pop psychology thing, Amy, it isn't reassuring or helpful."

"Well, excuse me for trying to help you. Obviously whinging and wallowing in your grief and guilt is far preferable to trying to figure out your problem," Amy scathingly retorted and then changed the subject. "They're here, I can feel new minds getting closer.

"What? I can't even hear the bus. What kind of range do you have on that emotion-reading thing of yours?"

"A considerable one. And it isn't just emotion reading."

Malachi entered the yard towing Portia behind him. He looked around for some familiar faces and raised his free hand to wave at Adrienne and Amy.

"Well don't they look friendly," Amy commented, staring in distaste at Portia's and Malachi's clasped hands.

Adrienne just rolled her eyes and smirked at the couple," Malachi isn't the type to discourage flirting. If a sixty year old grandmother made a pass at him, he'd encourage her like she wasn't three-quarters of the way to the embalming table already."

Christopher was the next to emerge, launching himself into the air on his ridiculously soft and downy wings. He hovered about ten feet above the ground and stared down disdainfully at the teeming masses of Unnaturals, brooding over Night's newly emerging independence. In all the years he had known her, Night had always been meek and, quite frankly, spineless. Now after being around other Unnaturals for a few short days, she was showing signs of possibly shrugging that off.

"I need to get her away from these people," Christopher muttered to himself.

Psyche drifted through the crowd, making eye contact whenever she could. She giggled to herself at the rush of dreams that surged into her mind whenever she did so. The only Unnatural eyes she scrupulously avoided were those of the vampires. She had heard too many stories about the mental powers of vampires to risk eye contact or even light surface scans of their subconsciousnesses.

By now Malachi had reached Adrienne and Amy. He managed to remove his hand from Portia's grasp (no mean feat) and gave Adrienne a quick hug. Portia's nose crinkled up in distaste as she gazed at her current male target sharing a quick moment of affection with another woman and then caught a glimpse of Amy's irritated expression.

"Hey there, cutie. Why aren't you out looking for a nice little Unnatural boy to play house with?"

"Are you for freaking real, lady? Unless that was some kind of innuendo (which wouldn't surprise me), I haven't played house since I was four. I'm almost as tall as you for that matter."

"Oh, aren't you cute?" Portia said dismissively.

Night was one of the last to leave the bus and moved as slowly as she could. Already the boldness that had led to her slapping Psyche and snapping at Christopher had faded and once again she was meek little Night again. There was a sense of shame haunting her, shame that she wasn't confident and in-control of her life. As long as she could remember she'd let others guide her and protect her. Now that she thought about it, standing up to Psyche was one of the few times she had ever gone on the offensive like that. This deep introspective mood was shattered when she spotted Psyche moving through the crowd. The last shreds of confidence faded and she bolted for Malachi and the rest.

The little group of Unnaturals was still together when Richard burst out shouting and the soldiers began to move them about. Naturally they felt some unease at this development, but were lost in blissful ignorance of just how much trouble they were all in. Malachi was the first in the group to notice something was wrong when the shield switched on. He had been juggling fireballs to make Night laugh and as the shield went on, the fireballs disappeared without a trace. Amy yelped in alarm next as the familiar background emotions faded away. She shook her had, half thinking it was something wrong with her, something new and unexpected happening with her powers. Then Christopher fell from the sky. Whatever strange power allowed him to fly despite the utter absurdity of his wings actually supporting his weight had failed. His wings flapped desperately, but were not enough to keep Christopher aloft. Night helped him to his feet, but was almost knocked over as Christopher's wings flapped frantically in a vain attempt to get him aloft again.

"What is going on?" Portia wondered aloud and then caught sight of Pepper assaulting a hologram.

"Not to be Johnny Rain Cloud, but I think we need to get out of here now!" Amy snapped at the others.

Naturally this was the moment Adrienne chose to pass out.

"Christopher, stop flapping and get the girls out of that door!" Malachi snapped, crouching over Adrienne and feeling for a pulse.

Christopher would normally have objected to being ordered around by anyone, but was bright enough to see this was a bad time to argue. Especially when the bullets and laser blasts began flying around.

"Come on, run!" he growled, grabbing Amy and Night and shoving them in front of him toward the gate Pepper had opened.

"Can you carry her?" Portia asked, hopping nervously from one foot to another as bullets passed a little too close for comfort. She could hardly believe her teleportation powers were gone. The thought of this being permanent was somewhat more terrifying even than the fact that they had obviously been grossly deceived.

"Of course I can carry her," Malachi said, irked. "It's not like I have magic muscles or something."

The fire mage unceremoniously threw his ex-girlfriend over his shoulder and charged at the gate, hoping that his character shielding was strong enough to prevent him from being shot anywhere vital.

As a murderer long on the run from the law, Psyche was naturally quick to bolt toward what looked safety. She reached the gate and the other side of the wall in the first rush of Unnaturals, only having to shove two people to the ground to do so.

Christopher and his two charges had almost reached the gate when a laser beam sheared right through his right wing. The injured wing was sliced almost in half, the tear fortunately cauterized closed. Still the wing was destroyed beyond all healing. Christopher managed to shove the two girls through the gate before falling to the ground unconscious from the pain.

"We have to go back for him!" Night shouted and charged back into the yard.

"Well duh! I wasn't going to suggest leaving him to die," Amy shouted back and followed.

Together the two girls drug the winged man to safety. Or what had seemed like safety at the time. Portia was next through, followed by Malachi still carrying Adrienne.

"What's wrong with her?" Amy gasped, sinking to her knees besides Adrienne when Malachi gently laid her on the ground.

"Whatever shut down our powers shut down the magic part of her. Remember, she only partly human now. I think she may be dying," Malachi said. He didn't know what to do. He was no expert in the intricacies of Elemental spellwork and had never heard of person having their magic shutdown during the transformation. "I don't know what to do for her."