Day 2
Arida, Arenico
The Convent

Julietta barely heard what the nun said at the door, but she picked up from Romano's reaction that they had an emergency patient. She ran her hands through her thick, curly, tangled red hair in frustration. She always broke something right before they needed to do a medical procedure, didn't she? It was a fact of life.

She watched as a toilet paper roll bounced out of the closet, and winced at the doctor's subsequent reaction. He always yelled at Romano for no reason. "Dr. Wallaby, I stacked that toilet paper," she said anxiously. "Romano had nothing to do with it." She cast a sticky-sweet glance over her shoulder and batted her eyelashes self-consciously with a wistful sigh. Of course Romano wouldn't have stacked the toilet paper haphazardly. He's too perfect for that!

A broom was thrust in her hands, and she barely had time to mumble thank you before the doctor said something about latex hand coverings behind the macaroni salad. She sighed in frustration when Dr. Wallaby yelled at Romano. Again. "Dr. Wallaby, we have a patient," she called over her shoulder, opening the icebox. "Don't blame Romano," she muttered under her breath.

Her eyes searched the icebox for the macaroni salad, and finally she found it. She allowed herself a little smile as she took it out of the icebox. Her smile quickly disappeared, though, when her fingers turned into butter and the container fell from her hands. The moment seemed frozen in time as she lunged for the macaroni salad, but it fell with a splat on the floor, making a nice addition to the pieces of the broken bowl. "Oops..."

Day 2
Arida, Arenico
The Convent

If there were two things Fitzgerald Wallaby hated it was a mess and perfectly good macaroni salad being wasted. He smacked his wrinkled forehead, grabbing the box of gloves from Julietta. "Romano! Look at what happened because you're dawdling at the door and letting the cold air out!"

He quickly walked over to the door and smacked the young man in the back of the head. "Go help Jaime clean that mess up now."

He cradled the box of gloves in the crook of his arm and extended his hand to the woman at the door, "Dr. Wallaby at your service. Please bring the patient quickly. I will prepare the medical room."

Day 2, Early Morning, Palisade National Park, Camp Watzmilion

Volt felt ashamed when he saw the fear in Grace's eyes. Humans couldn't easily tell the difference in gender between dogs without close examination, it was a perfectly reasonable mistake. "I need to keep my anger under control, I almost gave away our secret," he thought. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have acted like that," he said to Candy while making a mental note to tell Jenny the same thing when they were alone.

"No harm done," said Jenny. "But I probably should give Volt some self-control exercises," she thought. "If he ever loses himself like he did with those wolves..." she didn't want to think about it.

"Well," she said as she tried to sort through the barrage of questions, "We never had a lot of electronics here to begin with, but the few things we have are conked out as well. And based on what we heard from the military, and by military I mean one soldier who came last night, that has happened at least all over the country."

She pondered whether to tell them about the radiation poisoning. On the one hand, it could be a real threat and they might need to know. On the other hand, if people mistook Volt's powers for radiation poisoning, they would take him away. She decided it would be best to take them to find that soldier. He would be able to answer their questions better than she could, and if he told them about the poisoning, so be it.

"I can take you to that soldier if you want, he's probably more aware of the situation then I am. If he's still here, he's probably at the office."

"Which," Volt noted in his head, "is on the way to the mess hall. We still haven't had breakfast yet."

Day 2: Arida: The Convent

Romano rolled his eyes and stepped into the kitchen.

"Don't pay attention to the Doctor, he means well," Romano sighed, grabbing a flat bladed shovel from just outside the kitchen door and hastily scraping up the macaroni goo and a good portion of the glass, expertly flipping the handle of the shovel so the mess landed perfectly in the trash. "You'll need to mop the rest up, but that'll take care of the majority. They're bringing in a little girl with bullet wounds. I'll be in surgery with the doctor."

~~

Xandria staggered along with Allee, not daring to dry even one of her sweaty palms lest the chair slip out of her grip. The moment they were inside she hastily set the chair down and glanced around. What now?

"Good afternoon, ladies!" Romano said, stepping into the room. "Is this our patient?"

Xandria nodded, out of breath. Romano pulled a pen out of his pocket and looked down at his clipboard.

"What is her blood type? Any allergies?"

"Um...I don't know."

"Does she have diabetes, hepatitis, Heart disease, tuberculosis, high blood pressure, venereal disease, seizures, asthma, or AIDS?"

"This isn't my kid. We found her in the street."

Romano looked up, his eyes wide, his pen frozen between one box and another on his intake sheet.

"What? Did you see this happen?"

"No."

"Did you hear it?"

"No."

"Oh good grief...she'll need a blood transfusion right away then." With that Romano stuck his pen back in his pocket and placed the forms on a table, then hefted the chair up and moved the little girl into the other room. "Gangway!"

Day 2
Arida, Arenico
The Convent

The doctor watched as they brought the patient. "Oh...such a wee little one. So sad..." He walked after Romano and washed his hands in the stainless steel sink that was in the connecting surgery room. The room was a large part of the small house and it was always kept in the best condition.

He scrubbed his hands until he was satisfied of their cleanliness, dried them and then put on some gloves. While Romano prepared the girl on the table, he brought out his tools. "Gunshot wounds?" He tsked. "I thought I heard them. I thought it was the TV..."

Day 2: Arida: The Convent

"He means well? I beg to differ--" Julietta stopped abruptly when Romano grabbed the shovel and scooped macaroni into the trashcan. Her eyes widened and she let out a little gasp. "Romano, you're so strong, and--and..." She stopped when she realized what she was saying and cleared her throat. "Anyway, thank you very much."

She reached for the mop, but paused when she heard that Romano was going to the surgery room. "I'm coming too," she said determinedly. After all, she would follow him to the ends of the earth. And she was Dr. Wallaby's assistant, so assisting him--and Romano--was exactly what she would do.

She nodded. "So little... so sad." She sighed and tore her eyes away from the patient. "Can I get you anything, Dr. Wallaby?"

Day 2: Arida: The Convent

Romano sent a glare in Julietta's direction, wishing she had stayed in the other room and, above that, hoping that the doctor didn't ask for something to EAT. He sighed and finished laying out the instruments, then began connecting an IV to the child. He grimaced and swallowed hard as he did a quick blood draw, refusing to allow the remnants of his lunch to make a reappearance.

"Here," he said, holding out two small vials to Julietta. "If he doesn't have anything for you to do, can you run these and find out what her blood type is? She's gonna need more blood, fast."

Day 2: Aridia
de Mon Castle

Christopher smiled as Candi suddenly turned into a shy schoolgirl, a side the bounty hunter had not yet seen of the heiress. So, she isn't completely as cold as she tries to be... "It's usually me getting bitten by cats, not Vange." Chris said with a chuckle as he watched Candi take a seat.

"Well, my life is a sad, sad story. I'm not sure if you would really want to hear it." Christopher said as he took a seat across from the girl, interlocking his fingers and resting his chin on his thumbs. When Candi made no obvious objection to him continuing, Chris started.

"I suppose I should start from the beginning... I never really knew my parents when I was growing up, spent most of my early years in a boarding school or scurrying about the city. The school was a rather dreary place where they believed more in beating the students than actually teaching us anything. I finally left when I was 13 and went to find my parents, whether they were still around or not didn't really matter. Turns out my parents had died several years prior and it was my uncle who had put in that abysmal cesspool of a school." Christopher paused as he repositioned himself in the chair. "Through various means over the next few years I discovered who my uncle was and that there was large price on his head. The old dog had ticked off more people than I could name."

"Anyway, I took one of the offers on my uncles life and carried it out. I let the old goon know who was killing him before I finished him off. Apparently I did the job well, for I started getting hired to do other "jobs" almost immediately. The pay was good and I got to travel, so I took the offers. I guess growing up in the school and the surrounding street life gave me a natural tough skin or something. The killing bothered me somewhat at the beginning, though I got used to it after awhile." Christopher paused again to take out a cigarette and his lighter. After taking a few puffs, he continued.

"As for the "wildfire" I have collected..." With that, Chris smiled slightly at the term to describe Evangeline. An apt description of his old pupil and flame. ".. I met her when she was just starting out. I was already a well regarded hitman and Evangeline was just beginning to try and make a name for herself. I took her under my wing as it were and trained her. Taught her most of what she knows now, though she would shoot me for telling you that." The tapping of his cigarette on the ashtray caused a slight pause in the narrative. "Over the years our working relationship became more... personally involved. Because of certain circumstances and business related troubles, we called it all off and went our separate ways. I still don't think she has forgiven me for leaving...." Christopher trailed off at this, thus ending his life narrative.

There was a few minutes of silence as Christopher sat looking into the fireplace and thinking about the (mostly) true story he had just weaved. With a sigh, the bounty hunter turned his attention back to Candi. "So, that is the Sad Tale of Christopher Howard. Not much of a life, but it is what it is." Chris pressed the remains of his cigarette into the ashtray then looked at Candi. "And what is your story? I'm sure you have one at least as interesting as mine." the bounty hunter added a charming half smile at the end for extra measure.

Day 2: Arida: de Mon Castle

Candi smiled a little dreamily at Chris, then blinked, again wondering where these WAVES of...weirdness were coming from.

"Sounds very...novelish. Cool," she said, tapping the excess ash from her cigarette and taking a long pull. "I don't have much of a story. Born here, born rich. Traveled a lot with my parents; we were never home. Wandered around discovering passageways when the adults were at their social parties and I was trying to avoid getting sent off to bed early. Gathered enough dirt on pretty much every family from those excursions that I can still get my own way all the time, even now that I'm grown up. My dad died when I was thirteen, croaked off from who-knows-what. My mother decided to play the desolate widow, and was so convinced she was going to die clinging to his crypt that she slept out there every night, and finally got her way when a bad storm blew in and she froze to death. And thus you have me, all alone, no siblings, the grand heiress of the de Mon fortunes and lands, in perfect control of myself, my surroundings, and my future, and I'm perfectly happy." She paused. "Actually, not quite. Once I get that black walking suit and the reversible Dalmatian Fur Coat, I'll be perfectly happy."

Day 2
Arida, Arenico
The Convent

After setting Nina down, Allee found herself in the front room of a small apartment. Random papers were littered everywhere, along with a half-finished Scrabble game. These people were living like there hadn't been a supernova at all. Ignorance was bliss, apparently.

She turned to Xandria with a sigh. "Do you think she'll come out of this okay?"

((Wow...how did I miss 5 pages ))

Burg
--Day 2--

Jack sat uncomfortably in the white leather seat of a town car, The Police Commissioner sat across from him looking incredibly calm, he opened a folder which he'd been cradling since they'd left the precinct.

"Do you know who this is?"

Jack looked upon the picture in the folder. It was a man who looked as though he was uncontrollably breathing ice.

Jack shook his head, "No sir...should I?"

The Commissioner pulled the folder back, "This is a man that was effected by the radiation of the supernova. We also believe there to be many more like him, with stranger and more dangerous abilities."

Jack leaned back in his seat and chuckled, "Come on, you expect me to believe these people have super-powers?"

The Commissioners look became more stern, "This is not a joke Officer Hollander. These "things" are dangerous and very much real."

Jack decided not to argue, "So what's this got to do with me?"

"The government has given us permission, to get these beasts off the streets using any means necessary. We want you to head up our first unit." The Commissioner said.

Jack was shocked at this, "Sir, these are real people! We can't just dispose of them like trash!"

"You have your orders, and you will report to base in Judicia in three days, where you will be fully briefed." The Commissioner said uncaring.

Jack pondered this for a moment, "...and if I refuse my orders?"

The Commissioner scoffed in disbelief, "You will be charged with treason!"

Jack scooted closer to the door of the car, "Then...I refuse."

Kicking open the door, Jack leaped out, hitting the concrete hard. But he had no time to think about the pain, He tore down the street at a dead run....he was now a criminal.

— Day 2, Early Morning —
Palisade National Park
Near Parksville, Erbaine

Previously…

"I can take you to that soldier if you want, he's probably more aware of the situation then I am. If he's still here, he's probably at the office."

Grace and Candy both seemed more relaxed after Jenny’s words. Dan and Angie looked at each other, considering her offer. “It makes sense that electronics all over the country would be affected,” he began. “And if the military’s involved it must be serious.”

He turned his attention back to Jenny. “I think I’d like to talk to that soldier. I’m an engineer at the Parksville power plant, so I might be able to help get things going again, or at least offer some ideas. In any case, he’s going to know more about what’s going on out there than we do."

(At this point, the Baxters remained blissfully unaware of “radiation poisoning” and superpowers).

“We’ll come with you,” Angie immediately added, taking Candy’s leash from her daughter’s hand. She was unwilling to split her family; besides, Jenny was roughly Grace’s age – and though she didn’t want to impose on their new acquaintance’s generosity just yet – perhaps the children could still play or otherwise pass the time while the adults caught up on the news. “Thanks for helping us.”

Day 2
Arida, Arenico
The Convent
The Surgery Room

Fitzwilliam Wallaby was not your top of the line surgeon, but he was good enough. Back in his day, he had been much better, but the years had slowed him and his brain down. He had forgotten a lot of medical procedures, but he still managed to heal his patients every time. Miracles, he called them.

He asked for this and then that and then this again. He couldn't make his mind up, which tool he would use. Finally, after a long decision debate with himself and making sure the girl was completely out, he set to work on removing the bullets. Two of them were deep, but the third was close to the surface. He steadied his shaking hands, not wanting to wound the girl more or injure her spine.

"You know," he said behind his mask, "the only patient I ever lost was my sister's guinea pig. But that was only because I ran it over two or three times with my bicycle before she told me to help it..." There was a pause where he grunted and finally held a bullet up. "Gotcha." He dropped it onto a metal tray and got to work on the other two bullets.

"You could say I did the world a favor by killing that thing. It was just annoying and it served no sensible purpose..." Dr. Wallaby grabbed another tool. "Oh, look at all this blood! Romano, she's going to need more blood. ASAP."

Day 2, Early Morning, Palisade National Park, Camp Watzmilion

"Your welcome, follow us," said Jenny as she and Volt turned around and headed up the path. The walk took less than a minute, and when they arrived Jenny knocked on the door. A few seconds later Miss Gray opened the door.

"Yes? How can I help you? And who are they?"

"They want to see the soldier and ask him a few questions, is he still here?"

"Yes."

"Then I better get going, I've finished taking out the trash and I need to go get breakfast."

"My dear, the mess hall will have closed by now. Tell you what, I've got some food that's about to go bad, how about you come help me finish it? I'll even give Volt a chicken leg that I've been saving."

"Thank you very much," Jenny said with a smile. They all stepped inside. Various desks dotted the room with a table and a stone cooler at the back. The soldier sat in a desk one over from the table. Miss Gray reached in the cooler and brought out the chicken leg, several stale biscuits, and an almost too ripe banana. She placed the leg on the floor and everything else on the table. Jenny sat down and immediately began to devour the food. Volt first removed the bone and pushed it over in Candy's direction, both as a peace offering and so she would be occupied so he could eat his meat in peace, and then devoured his food. He preferred vegetarian dog food to meat, as there was less guilt involved, but he'd long ago learned that there wasn't a lot he could do about it so he had to live with it.

Day 2: Aridia
de Mon Castle

"Your story isn't half bad either. Though a bit more common than mine." Christopher said with a smile as he watched the girl. "Heh, you are definitely an heiress, m'dear..." Chris said chuckling at Candi's last statement.

After a short pause, Christopher asked a question that had been nagging him for a while. "You mentioned leading the refugees that are here up North. May I enquire as to where in the North you were planning on going?"