Fragility of the Mind

Alevon enters the portal as well

Yia, who had recovered from the portal breaking a few minutes ago, more like an hour, had returned to join Alevon and company (I thiiiiiiiink...) he watched as they began to step through a portal, unsure of where they were going and he followed them.

(I'm winging it right now, let me know if I'm wrong )

"I don't really know," Gabrielle replied to Ariel. She shook her head softly and rubbed her temples. "There's been a reason why I've been having trouble standing in the sunlight these last couple of days, and it's not innate. Somebody else is causing it."

Gabrielle had only found this out recently. It had taken the Alpha guard's intervention in the titan's distraction for her mind to click and put everything in place. Six years ago, when she had last stepped back on French soil, her uncle had boasted a certain bio-weapon which amplified "noise" caused by abilities' side effects still in production. Gabrielle's speculations were that she had been implanted with this new technology in America, her safe ground, of all places.

That was something she would rather keep to herself. The death of her was not something she was certain about, but with the way she was exhausted, it wasn't a long shot. "Right now, I will teleport back to France while you guys teleport to the UnHonorables base."

Gabrielle looked at her painfully fashionable wristwatch and nodded. "If in an hour I am not back there, I think it's best if you guys went on without me."

Ariel had a pained expression on her face as Gabrielle spoke. She swallowed hard as she took an even breath, letting it out slowly. Every part of her brain was screaming at her to not let her friend leave, but she couldn't do a thing. She refused.

She looked at Gabrielle for a few moments before pulling her into a fierce hug. Ariel didn't even want to think of the possibility of her not... "Just come back, ok? Please..."

Gabrielle returned the hug with equal fervor.

"Of course I will come back. My uncle may be..." Gabrielle stopped. How many people knew of her connections and what her uncle actually was? "He may be a dirty cop, but I'm his niece. And he's my godfather." While she had received threats of death from him, she knew that he would not dare touch her this time, for she was going to do exactly what he wanted her to do.

She closed her eyes. "He never would have harmed my parents; that was the work of the Masterminds. And the plane hijacking... yes, officially it was a terrorist attack, but those were Alpha Guards. And they were acting from their own volition." Gabrielle smiled; she was finally starting to piece together her entire life.

The umbrakinetic slipped away from the grip of her friend. She wanted to start crying again, but this time it was not desperation, but joy. She was finally going to end everything. It felt like the calm before the storm.

"See you later," she said. And she was gone.

Raine turned her attention to TK once she heard her speak. She raised one eyebrow, TK looked a little distressed. She didn't feel like it was her place to pry so she just sighed.

"Well, shit went down and WADE is AWOL. We have no idea where anyone is, because, well, I don't even know why." She gestured to the portal she created in front of her.

"Now we have to go to the Unhonorable base 'cause Samantha called Alevon and told him to get us all over there." She waited for TK to respond.

Ariel sighed, looking at the spot Gabrielle stood moments ago with a sad expression. Then she straightened and steeled herself, walking to Samantha.

"Yes, I'm ready," she replied.

Gabrielle had thrown herself straight into the lion's mouth. She had teleported to France, but more specifically in the Alpha Guard's Umbrakinesis division's headquarters. Even more specifically, right on top of Mr. Gauthier-Jean Goussand's desk.

She caused quite a mess, knocking down half his papers, his cup of coffee, and scaring the living hell out of her beloved uncle.

"Gabrielle!"

But she had none of it. Gabrielle's heart was pounding like mad, the adrenaline pumping in her veins and muscles like never before. She was seeing through a red screen, and was practically breathing smoke. Quite frankly, she felt exhausted. She was getting a little too overworked for this. A strong throw of her tote bag at him sent him flying towards the back of the room. She jumped right after him.

"You son of a bitch! I will end you!"

The last thing the young woman did was reach for his throat. The last thing she saw was her uncle's terrified expression. The last thing she heard was the door slamming the wall beside it in the small room, and the shouts of the unit standing guard outside his office. And then her vision faded to white.

(Ooh, plot turner! xD)

Emir yawned, waving at TK.

"Whut-chup, and what Raine said....And welcome to my other home my short-tempered bitch of a sister!" He exclaimed, putting his arm around a confused Nicole. "Where I became extremely emotional about my killing spree of political figures and was a complaining bitch."

"..Which explains your douchebagy-ness of a attitude!" Nicole interrupted, laughing.

"Precisely." Emir replied slyly, messing her hair with his large hand.

Alevon turns around as well, hearing TK. He watches as she and the others talk, and awaits their advancement through the portal.

(Since Gabs and her uncle are French-speakers I've translated what they say at the bottom, à-la-Maddy style.)

Gabrielle opened her eyes in the same office to find her hands cuffed. She gave an offended expression to the distressed man she recognized as her uncle almost immediately. That expression turned into an egregiously wide grin. What in the world were those people thinking? Didn't they know that she didn't need her hands to kill them? In fact, at that moment her hands were the least dangerous thing she had.

The juvenile observed her godfather's physical traits and was almost delighted to see that he had aged badly. He had a pitifully receding hairline of salt-and-pepper hair, a deeply wrinkled forehead and wide cheekbones that looked more laughable than respectable now that he was pushing sixty. The partial delight was broken by the immediate recognizability of her mother's nose and eyes. The same nose and eyes she had, herself.

Gabrielle liked to pretend the similarities ended there. Goussand senior sighed, as if he had anticipated the long period of observation, and leaned forward on the desk. Just as she was about to say something verbally abusive.

"Gabrielle, ma chouette, t'es la meilleure, mais je ne pense pas que la vengeance est ta priorité.¹" That had hit hard where it mattered, and Gabrielle closed her mouth. The moment she had found herself face to face with the wretched man, she had lost all sense of negotiation; and forgotten her initial agenda she had shared with Ariel and her own psyche.

"Et toi, tu dois mieux choisir qui tu cours après.²" Gabrielle's heartbeat went down to a steady, slow rhythm. She estimated the time of her syncope to have been two minutes at most. Staring even more closely, she saw the mark of her nails on his throat, still fresh and dripping. "J'ai une demande.³"

Gaultier-Jean Goussand smiled and waved for her to continue.

(1: Gabrielle, my dear, you are the best, but I don't think that revenge is your priority.
2. And you, you should better choose who you chase after.
3. I have a demand.)

"Hey hey hey, don't bash on Alevon, if he needs the help he'll get it from us, no doubt about it." Emir replied to TK, blocking Nicole's playful punch and shove his other hand onto her forehead as she tried to tackle him.

"Perhaps you would have a better time speaking in English?" Gaultier-Jean suggested, after seeing his niece struggle with the right words. Gabrielle got flustered at that; she hadn't had time throughout much of her life to practice her mother tongue. Her uncle's tone was heavy with an accent on the ultima of each word. Nevertheless, she accepted his proposition.

"I want you to take out whatever poison or biohazard you've put into me to counteract my abilities."

"So you have already found out about that?" her uncle asked, leaning over the desk with an interested expression.

"Yes. Take it out."

"But you see, euhhhhhh, there is a very simply reason why you have it in you? As you have no doubt noticed?" Her uncle raised an eyebrow, and continued immediately. "Think of it as the uberman sleeping pattern, but for abilities? I have discovered that you need far less rest in-between ability use to use it again at full-strength, and so that pattern would be very beneficial for the Alpha Guard and you."

"Which doesn't explain why you'd do something as brutal as deprive painless rest to those who need it. It's only normal when you're constantly using them--the abilities." Gabrielle was familiar with polyphasic sleep. She thought it was efficient. She might have to change her mind.

"Ahhh, you should see it as a training tool. Those who are accustomed to the pattern do not need it. It is simply there to discourage prolonged disuse."

"Anti-abstinence."

"And think of it this way, my darling, with the men--and women--who work for me, when they get dissatisfied with what you can reward them if they do what you ask, you should start punishing them when they don't."

Gabrielle raised an eyebrow. Her uncle was terribly genre-savvy.