Something More Important (Semi Open)

[Locke F. Herald]

OOC: If you want to join, PM me. I'll find a place for ya, but let me know.

IC: Locke didn't imagine he would have been coming back here, but once he remembered what was still here, well he had been rather insistent on going. He'd debated on who to tell, since he had been hundreds of miles away, and had decided on Morgan. Being able to drive with a reflexive memory wasn't too hard, after all. They'd arrived at the Academy, and were met with more then a few stares. Of course, because they were both assumed to be kidnapped. Locke imagined it wouldn't be long before an Agent decided to come up to them and start interrogating them.

"Thanks for coming." He said, it did feel good to have at least one ally in this now unfamiliar building. "We shouldn't be long."

[morg]

Truthfully, Morgan wasn't all that comfortable with returning to the Academy so soon. Kennedy had explained all that had happened to her, and the Academy's response left her feeling decidedly... expendable. Still, she had a gut feeling that Locke would need her help to do whatever it is he'd decided to do.

Finding a car had been a bit trickier. Fortunately, they were lounging with a rock star now, and it seemed that all Rae had to do was call someone to have a car magically appear. A really nice car.

"No problem," offered Morgan. Her hands were shoved into her pockets, and her eyes kept darting about the corridors nervously. Someone was bound to accost them at some point, after all, though neither had done anything truly wrong...

"Right, no time at all," Morgan blew out her lips, "what exactly are we here for again?"

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke had dodged the question of why they were here for a while, but this time it didn't look like Morgan would be easily pushed aside. He glanced around a bit before gifting her with a half answer.

"I...left something really important in my room. More important then anything else I own, and I have to get it back before the weekend." He said plainly. "So I had to come as soon as I could...I just didn't really want to be here alone. Thanks for tagging along, but don't you have things you left behind? Or maybe people?" He looked to Morgan for a moment.

"Jon is probably worried sick about you, maybe you should go visit him?" Locke wasn't sure why he brought that up now, of all times, but he had. And he thought of what it was he returned here to get. Two things, though one of them wasn't as important, just something he'd get while he was here. Everything else could easily be replaced. Hell, most of the books he could rewrite if he had the materials and the time.

He turned a corner towards Edegngrowth dorms while waiting for Morgan's answer. How would she handle that one?

[morg]

"More important than anything?" repeated Morgan. she was mildly surprised, and couldn't help but wonder what Locke was referring to. Probably an ancient tome of forgotten lore, or maybe an experiment. Either or would make sense. An experiment would have to be taken care of, and could be ruined by the weekend after all.

But why did he have to bring up Jon?

"What, you want to get rid of me?" she demanded. She snorted, shaking her head. "I doubt Jon thinks I'm dead. And I'm not sure it's a great idea to be getting him involved in all this."

Like Kiri had for Locke.

Why had the innocent little faerie girl gone after her boyfriend, while the young man wouldn't go for his girlfriend? That just...

irritated Morgan.

"'sides, I'm here to help you. Wouldn't want to get side-tracked, after all."

[Locke F. Herald]

"Yes, more then anything..." Locke echoed. "So important I hid it away, in case something happened." He continued down the halls, observing her reaction to Jon's name being dropped. So she didn't want to get him involved? But he sensed a bit of venom in her voice...was she blaming him? What for?

Well, he'd just let that drop. "Yeah, side tracks would be bad, we don't want to draw a lot of attention to ourselves."

It was then that Locke reached what he knew to be the Edengrowth dorms. He looked up at the door with a smile.

"Good, a fairly uneventful trip in. Now I just have to grab my stuff and get out." Locke mumbled opening the door. He looked to Morgan.

"I hope it stays this calm the whole way." he added, turning his head to the empty common room. This was almost too easy.

[morg]

Why wouldn't it be easy though? They were just a couple of students roaming the halls. Holly had some of Morgan's clothes stashed at her house, so only Locke looked scruffy. Someone would have to recognize them, and the only people who would do that were friends or Agents. Even Agents might not immediately remember the kids who'd already been written off.

"Want me to head in with you?" asked Morgan. Everyone who'd seen the murder had been jumpy and slightly clingy. At least, that was how Morgan saw it. It was hard to want to be alone when you kept picturing killings and needles.

"And it should be calm, shouldn't it? I mean, at best they'd want us to stay here," Morgan pointed out. "After all, we didn't tell the Academy to shove it. They owe us for abandoning us when we got kidnapped."

Now that Morgan thought about it, that meant her family could probably sue the Academy or something. Of course, the school probably had super-powered lawyers or something equally unpleasant. And what was stopping them from simply sending some creepy assassin to kill the kids and clean up the mess?

[Locke F. Herald]

"Please." Locke said glancing up and down the halls. He walked into the boys wing, again looking down the hall.

"Nobodies around, so it shouldn't be a big deal if you want to come." At her comment about the academy abandoning them he thought. "You know your right, that doesn't make any sense. The backlash from letting the students just 'go' would have been catastrophic. Why didn't they 'react'?" He said. Now that he thought about it, it bothered him. Something just wasn't right, something below the surface of what happened. He pondered for a moment before snapping himself out of it and moving to the door with his name on it, pushing it open.

The room was, as many would expect, pristine and ordered. Books on the shelf alphabetized and organized perfectly, the room itself seemed as if it was about to be the sight of some sterile operation. Books and papers and even test tubes in their ordered place, but Locke ignored them all, going to a small patch of the carpeted floor, pulling up a small square of the carpet to reveal a small hole in the floor boards. A moment later he pulled out a small lump wrapped in brown paper, holding it as if it were made of glass. He then went to pocket it when he noticed something else.

Going to his closet he pulled a hanger from it and grinned, he hadn't had a chance to try it out. On the hanger was an outfit very much not fitting the young boy's style. Black sweater, white gloves, and a set of black casual slacks. There was also a tan jacket as part of the outfit. It would have been a great outfit, but it didn't look like something the young Edengrowth would be caught dead wearing.

"All right." He said. "Wait just a moment, I'm getting out of these dirty and raggedy clothes." He said, walking into a small side room. If Morgan felt the desire she could look around the room.

[morg]

Fortunately, Morgan was used to the Edengrowth dorms. Even if someone did see her, they wouldn't think overmuch about her being there... unless they remembered the whole disappearing incident. Regardless, she knew her way around the dorms just as well as Locke did (perfect memory, remember?).

"Kennedy and the others said that they claimed they were sending Agents or something to tag along," offered Morgan, shrugging. "I just figure they were figuring us as lost causes, which is kinda stupid, really. I mean, no offense to you guys, but there was no way Kennedy was going to just let me go... and I've got the name."

They did have a house named for Morgan's family, after all.

"Anyway, you'd think four of us getting kidnapped would be enough to set them on red alert or something," agreed Morgan.

She paused at the door, letting Locke in. She did spare a quick look inside, knowing that now she'd never forget how it was set up. It didn't surprise her that Locke organized everything, though she found it pointless. If you never forgot where something was, why bother organizing? Morgan had actually become less organized lately...

"Right, change, and no," Morgan chuckled, "I don't want to watch."

[Locke F. Herald]

The name...what was in a name? Was it really that important?

Locke thought as he pulled off his lab coat, letting his tail sway freely. He realized something as he looked at the outfit. There was no way to cover his tail... He had second thoughts about wearing it, but it would look quite silly to come out without wearing it now. And besides, Morgan had seen his tail in her brother's house, after all, he didn't wear the lab coat all the time and most clothing couldn't hide it. He decided he didn't care what the people here thought, and started getting changed.

---------
A few moments later Locke pulled the left glove on his hand, glancing at the crescent moon design on the back of his hand. It was a nice look, his father certainly still remembered how to tailor. He patted himself down and smiled as he felt the wires of silver running through the material. He made a fist with his glove hand and smiled. As he did though, his smile turned to a look of confusion. There was something stiff in his glove? He ran his finger over the line in the glove and his smile broadened. His father had even sewn it into the gloves, how did he know what Locke planned to do with it?

Locke made sure to place the small lump he had come for in his pocket and opened the door.

"Right, all ready to go. You sure you don't want to grab anything before we head on our way out?" Locke asked, nonchalantly. In truth, he was waiting on pins and needles for her to make a comment on the new outfit. He hoped he didn't look too foolish.

Mom had always said his father had a good fashion sense.

[morg]

Lots of things bothered Morgan. Recently it was the lack of attention she was getting. Her "boyfriend" had been ignoring her lately, and hadn't even gone with the rescue party. Kiri had went to rescue her boyfriend, but Jon would rather Morgan suffer. Then the school had tried to cover it all up. And no one seemed to care that Morgan was alright. Locke got Kiri snuggles; Garion got tons of attention; hell, even that Matt kid got sympathy. But the only one who even seemed to care in the slightest had been Holly, and that was kind of like getting candy from a parade tosser.

She leaned against the wall, closing her eyes and generally ignoring most of the sounds she heard. One or two even recognized her, and she thought she heard mumbling, but ignored it. Really, she was about ready to ignore everything.

Then Locke came out, and Morgan turned. "No, I don't need to..."

She paused, looking over the outfit, eyebrows raised, "Nice outfit, I didn't know you had it in you. anyway," she turned, "we should get out of here. The longer we're here the more likely we get caught, right?"

[Locke F. Herald]

"I...uh...don't really have it in me...my dad has the fashion sense." Locke mumbled, adjusting the collar on his sweater. He looked about the common room and seemed rather embarrassed.

"Maybe...we should go...yeah. I'd rather not have to explain where I've been to the agents." He remarked, turning towards the common room. He got all the way to the door out into the hallway, and even three steps down the hall when a voice pierced his ears.

"Well well, the runt comes back. They let you go after they plucked your whiskers?"

Locke tensed and turned about, finding the stupid oaf. The same one he'd encountered when he met Casey.

"Oh great, just what I needed. Another idiot with more muscles then mind." He snarled at the boy, who flexed his enhanced muscles.

Did he really want to start a fight here?

[morg]

"Dad?" repeated Morgan. She elected to let it drop, for now. After all, she suspected that a handful of students had noticed her and ran off to alert Agents. Was only a matter of time until someone cracked down on the two of them, and Morgan didn't want to be there to be cracked upon.

She hurried after Locke when he took off, easily catching up. Morgan even managed to gain a few paces on him, which put her behind when Locke turned to address his harasser.

"Oh come on!" protested Morgan. She threw her hands into the air, giving muscle-head an exasperated look. "Do you really want to do this right now? He's gonna zap you; I'm gonna kick your a** all over the place; and you're going to be the laughing stock of the school. So just let us go, alright?"

If they stopped to fight the guy, they were bound to get caught by Agents...

[Locke F. Herald]

The boy seemed taken aback by her comment, but regained his arrogance quickly enough.

"This the latest girl who took pity on you? What's the matter, the little butterfly finally dump you? Or did the agents catch her? I told ya she deserved a real man." The boy said thumping his chest.

Locke looked to Morgan and nodded.

"You're right, let's go. No time to waste here." He was clearly trying to not pay attention to the bully. But as he went to walk down a side path the voice caught his ear again.

"Heh, guess she was a stupid little girl for picking a runt over a man. There's a reason we rule!"

Locke stopped in his tracks and half turned. Insult him all you want, that just rolls off...but...when he heard him speak about her like that, something snapped. And now he didn't see a boy with large muscles, now he saw a large neck-less man with huge muscles grabbing her by her hair.

"...Sorry...Morgan. But I've been waiting to teach this punk a lesson for a while. And now, I finally can."

He glared over at the opponent, who just laughed. "You think your some fairy tale knight, that you're gonna win? Hmph, I'll beat you so bad you'll wish you were still wherever the hell you went."

Ok, he wasn't the sharpest one, but he certainly knew how to make Locke angry. And Locke glanced around the hallway, seeing a few people from the common room climb out into the hallway to start circling the pair.

And old fashioned high school brawl, Locke always thought he was above this.

[morg]

"Oh for the love of..." Morgan blew out her lips, turning slowly. The big guy and Locke were going to fight. Seriously? Now? Here? Had Locke lost his mind? It was a give in that big and brawny probably didn't have much in the way of brains, but Locke? Locke was supposed to be the smart kid, the very model of an Edengrowth.

"Locke," Morgan began, her voice taking on an edge that would make Holly proud, "you can't fight him here..."

The big guy undoubtedly would find this quite humorous, and figure Morgan was trying to save face or some such nonsense.

"I know you want to kick his a**, and he deserves it," and there would go the big guy's bravado, "but we gotta keep moving. If we waste time with this idiot..."

Morgan looked to Locke, and figured that whatever she said would fall on deaf ears. The catboy was going to fight, was going to kick the big guy's a**, and that was that. Nothing Morgan could say to prevent it, and she'd never hear the end if she did something.

"Shock him good, shortie," muttered Morgan, "then we gotta move..."

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke was aware of Morgan talking, but his mind was already working into overdrive.

...won't work, which means I need to...yes...that should work quite nicely. But to break that I need.... And he smiled.

"Oh don't worry Morgan. It won't take me longer then 2 minutes to wipe the floor with this guy." His perfect memory ensured that he could certainly talk trash with the best of them, aster all, they were just words. He turned to the boy and grinned. "What's the matter? Scared of me?"

The bigger boy scoffed, and made a run at Locke to a series of cries from the crowd. By his own house, most people in the crowd were on his side. Everyone had to deal with a bully now and again.

He pulled back his fist and swung it at the shorter boy, and the lights dimmed as Locke held out his hands with a cushion of crackling lightning there. The boy hadn't punched full force, after all beating up a student was one thing, breaking them was another. Needless to say, he was surprised when his punch was stopped by this barrier and pulled back. Locke turned himself so he was back up against a wall and smiled.

"Let me explain, so you aren't stupid and a loser by tonight. You used a contact force, I used a field force, electrostatic to be precise. And by laws of physics, field forces are greater in magnitude then a corresponding contact force." Locke said, as if teaching a lesson.

"Which means, quite simply, you can't touch me." Locke said with a grin.

The bully growled and pulled back his fist again. "You wanna BET!" he shouted, putting up a full force punch. Locke's body reacted immediately, ducking out of the way. The punch was so strong it cracked through the wall, and Locke scooped something up as he scurried away from the bigger gifted, placing himself in the center of the hallway. He grinned widely.

"Thanks." He said simply, opening his palm. Inside his hand was a small piece of copper electrical wiring. The end of it still live.

"The walls around here are so damn insulated. I appreciate the help." Locke said with a grin.