#then i ran to the mall police to report it and they took me seriously this time and we walked outside then i woke up 😂

[713-4th-ward-g]

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[unfortunate-stranger-losers]

Right-Side Up AU, Part Three: It’s the End of the World {AO3} {tumblr} {Part One} {Part Two}

Chapter Nineteen → The Hospital

“I mean, you have to admit, from a technical standpoint,” Dustin said, “It’s an engineering marvel.” 

“How?” Steve asked, glancing over at him. “There’s no fire exits, no stairs-” 

“It all looks the same, too.” Will sighed. 

They’d been wandering the tunnels for hours. Dustin glanced over at Will, a bit concerned; he hadn’t said anything about feeling Mike’s presence- or anyone else’s, for that matter- since the elevator. He hoped nothing happened, and Mike could track them soon. 

“I don’t think this tunnel was designed for walking.” Robin said, glancing around. “Perfect for transporting cargo, sure. You drop the crates in the elevator, deliver the package, nobody’s the wiser.” 

“You think they built this whole mall just so they could transport that green poison?” Steve asked. 

“I very seriously doubt it’s something as boring as poison.” Dustin said. “It’s gotta be much more valuable.” 

“Like Promethium?” Robin asked. 

Will shrugged. “Maybe.” 

“What the hell is promethium?” Steve glared over at them. 

“It’s what Victor Stone’s dad used to make Cyborg’s bionic and cybernetic components.” Robin said. 

“Oh, thank God, it’s a comic thing.” Steve sighed. “I thought it was some other lab shit you hadn’t told me.” 

“I think we got most of it down.” Dustin said. “Will, anything you can think of?” 

Will shrugged. “Robin, do you believe us yet?” 

“I think I’m still processing.” Robin admitted. 

“But what I’m saying is,” Dustin said, “The green stuff is probably being used to make something, or power something.” 

“You think it’s a weapon?” Will asked. 

“Maybe.” 

“So we’re walking towards a nuclear weapon.” Steve nodded. “That’d be great.” 

“But if they’re building something, why here?” Robin asked. “I mean, it’s Hawkins. We’re a rest stop on the way to DisneyWorld at best.” 

Will flinched, stopping dead in his tracks. “Dustin?” 

“What?” Dustin’s eyes widened. “Is something wrong?” 

Will shivered a little. “You… you know how we thought that this all…” he gestured through the tunnel, “Might have something to do with us?” 

“With the Lab and our powers, yeah.” Dustin nodded. 

“What if… what if we were on the right track, but still… wrong?” 

“You’re losing us, buddy.” Steve said. 

Will opened his mouth, then shuddered again and shut his eyes. Dustin quickly ran over, putting his hands on his friend’s shoulders. “Will? Breathe. Breathe, okay? We’re okay.” 

“Maybe not for long.” Will shivered, before reaching up and grabbing one of Dustin’s hands. “Dustin… what if it’s the Gate?” 

Dustin froze. “Wh- no. No, Mike closed that.” 

“Maybe they want him to reopen it.” Will started shaking harder. “What if they’re after him? And I told him to come get us! I’m so stupid! Dustin, what-” 

“Calm down. Calm down. Just breathe. Everything’s gonna be okay. Alright. We’re gonna solve this. We’ll fix it. Look at me. Look at me.” 

Will finally met Dustin’s eyes, and after a moment, he took a deep breath. “One, two, three…” he began counting, under his breath. 

“Four, five, six.” Dustin nodded, speaking with him for a moment. 

“What are they doing?” Robin hesitantly asked Steve, eyes wide. 

“Seven, eight, nine…”

“It’s a calming-down thing.” Steve explained quickly, before making a shushing motion. 

“Ten, eleven…” 

“Me.” Will said. 

“You.” Dustin nodded, smiling. 

Will paused, then smiled, too. “Seven, Kali, Lucas, you-” 

“Me!” 

“Mike, me.” 

“Mike, you!” 

Will giggled, and Dustin slowly moved his hands off of his shoulders, though he kept one locked with Will’s, letting their interlocking fingers swing at their sides. 

“And, hey,” Dustin breathed, “If it’s the Gate, we’ll take care of it. It won’t happen again.” 

“Not again.” Will nodded. 

The two of them then turned to the older teenagers. Steve looked Will over quickly to make sure his panic had ceased, before shooting them a thumbs-up. Robin, meanwhile, was staring hard at them. 

“So… you’re serious about this shit.” she said. “The superpowers, the Lab, the other dimension-” 

“Yep.” Dustin nodded. 

“Oh my God.” Robin ran a hand through her hair. “Holy shit. And Mike and Lucas-” 

“They’re our brothers, yeah.” Will nodded. 

Dustin’s heart skipped a beat, and without thinking he said, “Well, I mean, it’s not- we’re not, like, really brothers, just-” 

Will turned to him, a spark of fear in his eyes. “What do you mean?” 

“Well, it’s just-” 

“We’re not really brothers?” 

“I mean- we’re not, like, siblings, you know? We’re not related, and- and it’s not even like El and Max-” 

“Do you not like me?” 

“No! I mean, yes, I mean- of course I like you-” 

“Then why aren’t we brothers?” 

“Steve,” Robin said, “Please control your kids, we need to find an escape route before we starve to death.” 

“Okay, boys,” Steve said, holding up his hands to get their attention, “We do not have time for drama when the world’s gonna end, okay? Just get along and talk your issues out later.” 

“We don’t have issues!” Dustin tried. “I just-” 

Robin held up a hand to silence them, and then they all heard a faint mumble from her bag. She slid it off and opened it, pulling out the walkie-talkie they’d used to talk to Holly earlier; she held up the receiver, and then they heard it. 

“That’s the message.” Will said. “Russian. There it is.” 

“Wherever that broadcast is coming from-” Dustin began. 

“It’s close.” Robin nodded. “Meaning whatever’s going on-” 

“It’s close.” 

“Well, and, also, we can reach the signal that goes to the surface and contact a rescue team.” 

“And then we can stop Mike from coming.” Will said. 

Robin nodded. “Come on, let’s go.” 

Joyce pulled into the hospital, turning the car off as she parked. “Everyone alive?”

“More alive than we would be if Nancy was driving.” Mike said, smiling a little. 

The group walked in, then, with Hopper in the lead, glancing back to make sure everyone stayed together and didn’t wander off, as several of them were apt to do. Max kept grabbing onto El’s arm, who kept looking up at her Dad to make sure he was alright. Joyce shepherded Mike and Lucas in front of her, and as she put a hand on their shoulders, she noticed that Lucas was tensing up, and Mike was starting to shake.

They entered the cold, white hospital, and Joyce realized what was probably worrying them. She whispered, “Hey, are you two gonna be okay?” 

Lucas nodded, grabbing Mike’s hand. “It’s different enough.” 

“Yeah. Different enough.” Mike muttered, running his free hand through his hair. 

They walked up past the front desk, where the receptionist was on the phone; they thought this might be lucky, until she stood up and said, “Now, wait a moment, who are you?” 

They froze, glancing at each other. Hopper moved forwards and said, “Listen-” 

“No, don’t.” Joyce whispered to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. She guessed that playing the police card right now wouldn’t do them any favors, considering how ticked off this woman looked and how Hopper’d probably been reported by now. 

“Hi.” she said, smiling a bit awkwardly. “Um, we’re- we’re here to visit my Aunt. Doris Driscoll? We- we heard she was sick.” the woman looked over her shoulder suspiciously, and Joyce said, “Um, this is my… my family.” 

The woman looked to Lucas, who waved and said helpfully, “I’m adopted.” 

“Well, I’m sorry, miss, but the hospital rules are two visitors at a time.” 

“Uh, if we could just-” 

“Two at a time.” 

Joyce inhaled sharply, but they didn’t have time to argue. She spun on her heel and said, “Okay, who wants to visit Aunt Doris first?” 

“Feel like it should be Dad.” El said, rocking slightly on her feet. “Since he’s, you know…” she waited until the secretary went back to her phone, and then whispered, “The police officer detective guy. He’ll know where to look.” 

“I don’t want to split up again.” Joyce sighed. “Maybe you can sneak after us?” 

“Doubt that’ll work.” Max sighed, crossing her arms. “Look, we’ll stay down here in the waiting area. You run up, set her loose, we’ll follow you out. Meet you in the car if need be.” 

Joyce sighed, turning to Hopper. He shrugged and said, “If you kids’ll be okay.” 

“We’ll be fine, Dad. We can take care of ourselves.” El smiled, before lightly punching his shoulder. “Let’s find the Mind Flayer, eh?” 

El and Lucas stood by the vending machine, as El showed him how to work it. “You put the quarter in,” she said, “And you press- D3, that’ll get us the KitKat. And then it just- son of a bitch!” 

The machine had whirled a little, and then gotten stuck. El kicked it, groaning. “Come on, you piece of shit!” 

“You said it dropped the food out for you.” 

“It does.” El sighed. “Sometimes it gets stuck. Help me hit it, might rattle it enough.” 

Lucas pushed it a little, and El continued kicking. Their assault on the vending machine only went on for a little while, though, as after a second, there was a slight vibration which made them step back, and then several bars and bags of candy burst forward, dropping from the door and towards the slot. 

They glanced at each other, and then over towards the magazine table, where Mike and Max were sitting. Mike was looking over, and quickly wiped his nose. 

Lucas shot him a thumbs-up and then went to grab the candy. El stiffened slightly, then said, “Thanks?” 

Mike nodded. 

El knelt by the candy, and as they collected it, Lucas said, “Max likes the chocolate, can you hand me that?” 

“Yeah, though she’s really into skittles.” 

“Yeah, I know, but she likes chocolate too, and I wanna give her something.” 

“Lucas, we’re waiting for my Dad and Will’s mom to release a possessed crazy lady,” El said, “Now’s not the time for gifts.” 

“But- do you think she’s still mad at me? I think she was mad about me telling Mike about Billy.” 

“She’s gotten over it by now, we’ve more important things to deal with.” 

“Are you sure? I don’t want her mad at me.” 

El sighed, then glanced to Max, who was boredly tossing a magazine back on the table. “You like her, right?” 

“I like all of you.” 

“Lucas, be serious.” El sat cross-legged on the floor, dumping her candy stash on her lap, looking over at him. “You know she’s got a crush on you. And you’ve got a crush on her.” 

“Crush?” 

“I know for a fact you know what that word means. Stop playing obtuse. Just ask her out. I mean, maybe not while we’re watching the world end, but like- just let her know.” 

Lucas bit his lip. 

“Come on. You guys like each other. Just… talk it out.” 

“It’s not… like that.” 

“Lucas-” 

“It’s just…” Lucas sighed, then sat across from El, holding out his shirt to dump his candy into. “It’s not like you and Mike.” 

“What’s that mean?” 

“I mean- we’ve only known each other a few months. You… you and Mike met and trusted each other and called for three-hundred fifty three days and always hang out and…” Lucas sighed. “I don’t understand things she says and things happening around me and I can’t- I sometimes think I’ll never understand and she… she deserves someone- and… and Mike and I both tend to protect. He thinks he has to protect everyone but I’m the shield, I’m the one who always kept us safe. And… and I don’t know if I can keep her safe. I want her to be safe so bad but she’s…” 

“Wild?” El guessed. “Untameable? Impulsive?” 

“I don’t know the word.” Lucas said. “I… I guess the word is Max. She’s… she’s free and strong but- but when things scare her, I don’t know how to help.” 

“You can figure it out.” El reached out, grabbing his hand. “Lucas, we’re fourteen. We can and will fuck up. Say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing- but we’ve got time. This isn’t the Lab. You can figure things out without getting hurt.” She flinched slightly. “I mean, yeah, monster from another dimension possessing her shit stepbrother, but… when that’s not happening, you can work it out. Hell, you can fucking ask her what she needs. You like spending time with her, right?” 

“Yeah.” 

“And being with her makes you happy?” 

“Really happy.” 

“Well, guess what?” El said. “She’s happy to be with you. So, go over there, give her the candy. I think this stressful-ass situation basically has granted you an olive branch.” 

“A… what?” 

“Just go, loverboy.” El giggled. “And do yourself a favor, do not follow Steve’s girl advice.” 

“Um, okay?” Lucas slowly stood, his arms still full of candy. “What about-” 

“I’ll talk to Mike, so it won’t be awkward or anything.” El said. “You go.” 

As she stood, and Lucas started walking over, El glanced over to Mike and sighed. She felt the candy in her hands, and wondered if maybe he’d given her an olive branch, too. She walked over, and said, “Hey, Mike, come here a sec, let’s sort through this?” 

Mike nodded, and they moved to the side-chairs, dumping the bags and bars out. She glanced over her shoulder, to see Lucas sitting beside Max, and then turned back to Mike, taking a deep breath. “Mike?” 

“Hmm?” 

“Look, I… I do trust you, okay? I believe in you-” 

“Is this about my powers?” 

“I just want to say- I’m just worried.” El said. She sighed, and looked over to him. “I really… really don’t want you getting hurt. Because you’re the bravest, kindest, sweetest, most wonderful person I know, and if anything happens to you I-” she shut her eyes. “Look-” 

“El,” Mike said, and he slowly sat down on a chair, staring at nothing. “El, I… I think you’re the coolest person in the world. And I have to protect you- and Lucas, and Max, and Dustin and Will and- and everyone. I have this… I can do these things, I should be able to use them to- and now the Shadow is doing this because I didn’t do a good enough job closing the Gate-” 

“This is not your fault, Michael Wheeler.” El said. She slid onto the seat next to him, grabbing his hand. “Look at me. Not the Gate, not the Monster, nothing. Who made you open the Gate?” 

Mike sighed. “Papa. And the Bad Men.” 

“And who’s the one eating people?” 

“Demogorgon.” 

“It’s not you. It was never you.” El sighed. “If I had that power, and they’d kidnapped me, the same thing would happen.” 

Mike’s eyes hardened, and he squeezed her palm. “If they took you, I’d rip the lab apart brick by brick.” 

El smiled, and then said, “And if someone takes you away, I’ll do the same, powers or no powers.” 

He smiled, and then looked over at Max and Lucas. “El? Are they okay?” 

“Hey.” Lucas said. 

“Hey.” Max said. 

They sat beside each other as Mike and El left, and then Lucas handed out a fistful of candy. “Do you want some?” 

“Uh, sure.” Max glanced over at him, holding out her hand. 

He put some Skittles packs onto her open palm, and said, “El said you have an olive branch.” 

“What?” 

“I don’t know.” Lucas bit his lip. “I was hoping you knew?” 

Max thought a moment, and then laughed a little. “El, oh my God.” 

“What is it?” 

“An olive branch is a symbol of peace after anger.” Max said, swiveling around in the chair to face him, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder. “And I’m not mad.” 

“You were before.” 

“Well, a lot has happened. Put things in perspective.” Max sighed. “I just… didn’t want to believe Billy could be-” she shut her eyes. “Did I tell you that he’s been my stepbrother since I was… maybe around six?” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah. He’s… basically my brother.” Max sighed. “Even if he only acts like it sometimes.” 

“He hurt you.” 

“People hurt each other.” Max whispered. “And… and people hurt him.” 

“People hurt me.” Lucas said. “And you. And we’re not hurting anyone else.” 

Max sighed. “I guess. I just… it used to be easier.” 

“Easier?” 

“Hating him. Just pure hate. Not thinking about… his feelings. Especially when he’s a sexist, racist piece of-” Max cut herself off. “I just… maybe it’s the two years he was gone. Maybe it numbed me. Or maybe I got older and realized things were happening to him, too. And… and seeing him get exorcized- or attempted, it- I know how it feels, to have that thing inside you. Rotting, spreading… making you do things… and then you’re burning…” 

She shivered and then put her head in her hands. Lucas grabbed her arms in a gesture of comfort, and she laid her head on his shoulder. “Are you okay?” 

“No.” she admitted. “No, I’m not okay. I- I want to hate him.” 

“Max…” 

Lucas glanced back, to see that Mike and El were looking over at them. Mike started standing up, about to come over. He sighed, and said, “Max, we’re all here for you.” 

“I know…” 

Mike and El started over, and Max must have heard them, cause she pulled away a little, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. She glanced over, and El said, “Is everything okay? We can go back if-” 

“No, I…” Max swiveled a bit, so she could face them all. “I wanna talk to Mike and Lucas about…” she sighed. “This is gonna sound really bad.” 

“Say whatever you need.” Lucas said carefully. 

Max looked down at her lap, and then said, “Do you ever miss Brenner?” 

El stiffened, and Lucas flinched. Mike clenched his fists, about to answer a resounding no, but before he could, Lucas asked, “Why?” 

Max hugged herself. “Because… I know he was a dick. He was the worst, he kidnapped and tortured you and- but… but he was your Dad, for a long time.” 

“He was never our Dad.” Mike said. “Dads take care of you.” 

“But you thought he did.” Max turned to him, and he noticed her eyes had gone a bit red. “He raised you. And… do you ever… do you ever think of good things about him and then- and then feel bad because he sucked?” 

Lucas bit his lip, and then said, “When I was younger, he used to do nursery rhymes with me. And he brought me books when the other scientists told him it wouldn’t do anything, it would just make me… restless. He taught me how to read.” he smiled a little, and then frowned a lot. “I forgot about that. But… you’re right. It’s… complicated.” 

Mike wasn’t meeting any of their eyes, but then he whispered, “We had a clapping game. And he gave me… these headphones, for when the alarms went off and I was in my room. And the noise got too loud.” He shook his head. “But that doesn’t make up for anything. And he’s gone, so-” 

“But…” Max shivered. “Is it bad if you miss him?” 

El squeezed Mike’s hand, and then said, “Max, what’re you getting at?” 

“I… it’s hard. To remember that… the same guy who broke my skateboard and pulled my hair… he also taught me basketball, and told me when Neil was getting drunk so I could go to El’s. And he also… he took me swimming and tried to show me how to surf while we were in California and I’d cheer him on, but then he also tried to keep me from having friends, and wanted me to be miserable.” She started rocking back-and-forth in her seat, the words rushing out. “He called me so many things, and- and I’d yell back, and then he’d- he’d throw me into the wall, and say it was my fault for disrespecting- and then I’d see the same thing happen to him, when he talked back to Neil. I hid his cigarettes for him and he convinced Mom that going to the Arcade wasn’t bad for me. And then he’d lock me out of the house and forget to pick me up and get blackout drunk and I’d have to climb in a window or sleep on the porch. We’d patch each other up, and then I’d have to listen to him and Neil talk horribly at the dinner table about- about anyone different from them. And I knew they meant it and it was awful, I wanted to throw up, I still do.” 

Lucas squeezed her arm as she kept going. “And I know he hurt me but… but sometimes he’d stand between me and Neil, or make excuses for why I was late, and I’d feel so confused because he’d hit me and scream at me and make me feel like garbage, and I know he’s not a good person at all… but then he’d still be nice sometimes. And… and I just don’t know what’s worse.” 

“Max…” 

“What’s worse? To…” Max finally burst into tears. “To cry over a monster, or not to mourn your big brother?” 

Lucas moved out of his chair, and jumped onto Max’s so that he could pull her into a tight hug. El and Mike moved forwards, too, all hugging her close as she tried to calm herself down. 

“It’s okay.” Lucas said. 

“We get it.” El muttered. 

When they pulled away, Mike grabbed Max’s hands, and waited until she looked at him, and then he said, “It’s okay to be sad.” 

“But-” 

“And…” Mike swallowed, and then said, “Sometimes I… I miss people and things I shouldn’t. But I still miss them.” 

Lucas nodded, as Max let out a small smile. “So, we’re all fucked up?” 

“All fucked up.” Mike nodded. 

They smiled, but just as they did, El heard a distant, muffled sound of a door slamming. 

She whipped around, and felt a dread start to rise in her. 

“Guys?” 

The elevator dinged, and as the door opened, Joyce said, “How exactly are we going to do this?” 

“Well,” Hopper said, looking down the halls for the right door, “I was thinking we open the door, and tell her to take us to the fucking shadow bitch or I shoot her in the fucking head.” 

“Hop.” 

“I mean, hopefully she’ll be up for it.” 

“You can’t just… waltz in there and expect her to be able to escape without a plan!” 

“I have a plan. Let her escape.” 

Joyce glanced nervously at a flashing light above them. “Why do I still hang out with you?” 

“Because we have no choice.” Hopper found the door, and threw it open, slight panic and impatience clouding emboldening him. “Rise and shine, Driscoll! We’ve got a- oh shit.” 

Joyce followed him in and quickly saw what there was to oh shit about. Driscoll’s bed was empty, the covers in disarray, and there was an overturned pot of flowers on the bedside table. 

“Where is she?” Joyce said. 

“I don’t know.” 

“Is this the right room?” 

Hopper moved to a file on the table, flipping it open. “Either it is or her medical history’s been dropped in some other patient’s room. I don’t see her getting released on here.” 

“Did she-” Joyce began. 

Then they heard a chilling voice behind them. “She’s gone home.” 

The two whipped around, to see Tom Holloway standing in the hall, cocking his head slightly to watch them. He raised a hand, dripping with thick, red blood, and then he smiled, “Nice of you to bring us our prize.” 

He grabbed the door and swung it shut. Hopper instantly shouted and ran for it, only to find it was stuck- something had been jammed against it. 

“Hopper, what did that mean?” Joyce said, even as she knew what that meant. “What did that mean?” 

“It means we need to get the hell out of here!” Hopper stepped back, and now the fear was showing. “We need to break down this door, now! Now!” 

El stood, creeping a bit towards the noise. Mike quickly followed her, and Max and Lucas at his heels, grabbing each other’s hands. El peered around a corner, and thought she saw a flash of a leg as someone disappeared behind a door swinging shut- the stairwell. Were those the pants that Joyce had been wearing? 

“Ms Byers?” she called. 

No response.

“Should we go after her?” Max asked carefully, still wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “Maybe they need help.” 

“We shouldn’t be sitting here anyway.” Mike muttered, bouncing his leg. “We should be helping.” 

“We don’t want to get separated, and they told us to wait here.” Lucas said. 

El took a deep breath, and then said, “Party vote. All in favor of following someone who might be Ms Byers up the stairs?” 

Max and Mike raised their hands. Lucas sighed and then raised his. 

“Unanimous then.” El said. She gestured, and they moved to the stairwell. Max held open the door for them, and they went up, listening for the sound of footsteps above them- while they were too far behind to see who they were following, a mistake they should have noted, they could hear her traveling, and eventually they heard a door swing open and shut. El judged the distance and then took them to the door that the woman had likely disappeared into. 

Once they got in the hall, though, Max froze, standing stock-still, and then she doubled over. 

“Max!” El ran over, grabbing her sister’s shoulders, while Lucas let out a startled yell and put an arm around her, trying to help her up. “Max, what-” 

“He’s here.” Max said, her voice raspy as more tears sprang to her eyes. “He’s here.” 

“Well,” said a bright voice, “What are you kids doing here?” 

They turned, and saw Heather Holloway watching them, a smirk at the corner of her mouth and suspicious red stains up her arms. 

She looked straight to Mike and said, “Hello, Eleven.”

[blacksheep28]

Walmart

Orange turned to Shannon and gave her finger guns. “here we are.” He gestured to the Walmart.

Shannon stopped immediately and pulled into a parking spot regardless. "Orange... This is not the mall. I trusted you to direct us, dude," she sighed, faking hurt.

Orange snorted. “they do sell clothes here right?” “YOU SHOULD LET ME NAVIGATE,” Blue advised.

"I mean-- They do, I've gotten comfy and cheap pants here, but it's really up to you guys where you wanna shop," she shrugged. "And since you and Blue haven't even been in to a Walmart before... I don't think you're ready for its horrors."

“THE MAGNIFICENT SANS CAN TAKE ON ANYTHING!” Blue declared loudly.

Shannon stared back at him for a long, silent minute before letting out a sigh and unstrapping her seat belt. "Don't say I didn't warn you, guys."

Blue cheered in triumph, while Orange slouched deeper into his seat.  He did not see this going well.  Bill just chuckled, while Papyrus hopped out.  "COME ON P-ORANGE!" "you can go without me," Orange said. "WE'RE GETTING YOU CLOTHES! WE CAN'T DO THAT WITHOUT YOU!"

"You directed us here, buddy, you made your bed, now lie in it," she smiled, stepping out of the car and readjusting her clothes. "Let's go, Dreamsicle." Shannon immediately went for Bill's hand again, already too familiar with how he liked to wander and get lost.

Bill chuckled, accepting the hand holding good naturedly.  Orange groaned, and slumped out of his seat.  Somehow.  For a skeleton he was very flexible.  Blue bounced with excitement.  "ONWARDS! TO NEW DISCOVERIES!"

Papyrus strolled along with the group, occasionally waving at the humans they passed who stared at the skeletons.  He was very popular with humans on the surface.

In Ikea, they had far less chances of bad encounters. In a Wal Mart? Shannon reflexively walked a little closer to the skeletons, just in case. At least she was familiar with the store this time, and led the boys right back to men’s clothing. “Alright. Blue, Orange, roam free. Except don’t, maybe stick to this area. Easy to get lost.”

Some of the people stared, others walked away.  One actually hurried their kids off away from the skeletons.  Blue began to walk through the clothing section efficiently, picking out different pants and shirts and examining them.  Orange just stood there and watched lazily.  "PA-ORANGE! DO YOU WANT ME TO PICK YOUR CLOTHES TOO?" Blue offered.  

"that'd be great bro," Orange replied. "THIS WOULD LOOK GREAT ON YOU," Papyrus offered, holding up a crop top with BAE written on it.

Shannon kept her hold on Bill, watching with an ever anxious eye and following along at a decent pace. She pointed out a few shirts she thought would flatter Blue, both his frame and coloring. “Oh, that’s perfect,” she grinned. “You gotta try that one on, Orange.”

Orange chuckled good naturedly and accepted the top.  "alright."  The section slowly cleared of humans, save for one or two that were bold enough to stick around and were giving Shannon funny looks.  Orange finally put in some effort, digging through the hoodies.  He pulled out a rather comfortable looking orange one with a bone on it saying I Found This Humerous. "YOU ARE NOT GETTING THAT!" Blue said, appalled. "you don't find it rib tickling?" Orange asked.  Papyrus rolled his eyes.  Bill chuckled.  "tibia honest," Bill threw in, "it tickled my funny bone."

She giggled softly, both excited and amused to see the shirt on him. Shannon tried to ignore the looks, recognizing that they were there, and then promptly attempting to shove down the anxiety they instilled. "You know," she started, holding back more laughter, "He at least put some backbone into finding it, I'll give him that." "NYEH!" Papyrus screeched in agony.  "I THOUGHT YOU WERE ABOVE THAT FRIEND!"  Why would she betray him like that?  Bill cracked up laughing, Orange standing with a little pleased grin on his face.  Blue looked deeply disappointed.  "WE ARE TRYING TO SHOP HERE, NOT RUIN THINGS WITH PUNS," Blue pointed out.

A darker red appeared on her cheeks, but Shannon still smiled. "Hey, I'm not perfect," she shot back in her defense. "And what's ruined, Blue? All the stuff still seems to be perfectly intact, unless your magic eyes can see something I don't."

Blue opened his mouth, and was forced to stop as he realized she was right.  So he huffed and went back to looking through the clothes instead.  Orange idly picked at a few items himself until both were loaded with a full wardrobe. "ALRIGHT, WHERE'S THE TAILOR?" Blue asked cheerfully. "don't have one," Bill answered. Blue blanked.  "WHAT?"

"Tailor?" she echoed, tilting her head slightly. Did they really tailor their clothes before? "I mean-- I'm sure you could find one to take clothes in, but it'd probably be expensive. Humans just... Make clothes and hope for the best. If you have a non standard body type, good luck!" Shannon half smiled with a shrug. "That's why we try things on. But be glad that you're guys, your clothes usually use standard measurements, at least."

"HUMANS ARE VERY STRANGE," Papyrus said.  "THEY SIMPLY BUY CLOTHES WITHOUT HAVING THEM FITTED!  AS IF ONE SIZE WOULD FIT EVERYONE!"  He looked sideways at Shannon.  "THEY ARE VERY SIMILAR TO EACH OTHER AT FIRST GLANCE..."

"don't worry bout it," Bill assured Blue and Orange.  "i can help take in anything if it's necessary." "i could help with that too, i suppose," Orange mumbled. "SHANNON, DO YOU NEED HELP WITH YOUR CLOTHES TOO?" Papyrus asked gently.

Shannon tried not to choke, feeling herself flush despite the innocence of the offer. "That's-- Uh, thanks Paps, but that takes a lot of time and effort." And very personal measurements being taken. "I'll be alright. But frankly I am hurt you think I need the help," she sniffed, trying to tease and move on from that thought.

"OH NO HUMAN!" Papyrus rushed over to pat Shannon and assure her.  "YOU HAVE GOOD TASTE! YOU ARE QUITE FASHIONABLE! I SIMPLY OFFERED AS HUMANS SEEM TO LACK IN PROVIDING SUCH TO YOU."

"I-- Thanks, Paps," she murmured, reddening further and trying to hide under his hand. "Why don't we, uh, why don't we go try these clothes on, boys?" Shannon suggested with a gesture towards the changing rooms.

"ALRIGHT," Papyrus agreed.  Blue lead the way, and the WalMart employee blanched at seeing such a large group of skeletons approach him.  "The skeleton wars have started!" he shrieked.  He stumbled in his haste to run. "SKELETON WARS?" Blue asked in confusion.  Bill and Orange smiled flatly in the direction the employee had fled.

Shannon's lips pursed for a split second before she smiled at Blue, patting his shoulder gently. "Humans are dumb," she sighed. "Let me go find someone else, we need a key to open the doors. Bill, Paps, can you keep an eye on things for a second?"

"sure thing," Bill said softly.  Papyrus nodded his head.  "YOUR GUARD IS ON THE JOB!"  He saluted and went to stand on a chair, peering around the store.

She ran off to find a manager-- Both to get the keys for their use and to report the employee that had run off, with a too sweet smile.

"Yes?" the manager asked politely, fixing Shannon with a customer service smile.

"Your changing rooms guy ran off because my friends are monsters," she said evenly. "So A. we need a key to try on clothes, B. I wanna file a formal complaint."

The manager sighed.  "Very well ma'am."  He dug around for a moment before pulling out a complaint form.  "Please fill this out then."

She blinked at the form and pulled a pen from her purse, quickly scribbling out the information and handing it back. "Thank you. Now, would someone help us in fitting rooms, please?"

He stuffed the filled out form back into his desk and picked up the phone.  "Janet.  I need someone down at the changing rooms.  Yeah, I know.  I know.  He left.  Monsters.  No, I get that.  K."  He looked up at her.  "Someone will meet you down there.

Shannon gave another thanks, although she bristled at his tone. At least he helped at all. Papyrus went on alert as a human similar to the one who had run away approached.  "HELLO! ARE YOU HERE TO HELP US?"  The employee shivered slightly.  The skeleton was so tall and loud.  "Uh, yeah."

She hauled her ass back to the fitting rooms and smiled at her skeletal group. "Blue, Orange, you ready?"

"YESSIREE!" Blue cheered.  Orange bobbed his head.  The nervous employee unlocked two of the doors for the skeletons to go into and they began to mix and match the outfits.  Bill dozed off leaning on Papyrus as they waited. "THESE CLOTHES ARE STRANGE," Blue commented. "YOU GET USED TO IT," Papyrus assured him.  "AND DON'T FORGET WE WILL BE FIXING IT AT HOME." "There's something wrong with the clothes?" the employee muttered in confusion.

Shannon relaxed a bit when the employee didn't just run away on sight, throwing her a gentle smile. "If you really hate how something fits, you don't have to get it," she explained to Blue and Orange. "Usually my advice would be if you don't love it, don't get it, but that's kinda moot if Bill and Orange are gonna take stuff in, anyway."

"ALRIGHT! DONE!"  Blue came out wearing a black shirt with the planets on it and a pair of tan capris that hugged tight to his hip bones and loose around his leg bones.  Orange stepped out looking almost exactly the same as when he went in, except with the new hoodie on.

"You look cute, Blue," she smiled in approval, letting her eyes roam over him and take in the entire outfit. "I like that cut of pants on you, too." Shannon slid her gaze over to Orange and just threw out finger guns, grinning. "Hot."

Orange finger gunned back.  Blue posed.  "MWEHEHEH! SUCCESS!"

It took every ounce of self control for her to not just drop everything she was doing and fawn over the little skeleton. "Oh my god," she breathed, holding herself back. "You are seriously too cute."

Blue colored slightly before pushing it back.  "I AM A ROYAL GUARD IN TRAINING," he reminded her.  Orange just smirked.  He agreed his bro was cute.

"Yeah, so? Puppies in police academy are still cute too," she smiled, watching his face turn colors. "You're a cute little puppy, Blue!"

Blue scrubbed at his face.  "LET'S-LET'S GO."  He was a little offended that it seemed Shannon wasn't taking him seriously, but he did enjoy the compliments.  How should he react?  Papyrus cheerfully helped with the clothes, Bill slipping and falling over as his support moved away, still sleeping.

Shannon jumped to help Bill up back to his feet, fretting over him slightly. "You okay there?" she asked softly, letting the skeleton lean on her.

Bill blinked awake.  "heh. looks like i fell for you."

She almost fell down herself, just barely catching the two of them. "I-- Ha, good one," Shannon mumbled as red spread all the way to her ears. "Okay boys, are we all set?"

All the skeletons looked at Shannon, admiring how pretty she looked with her face flushed.  Blue definitely appreciated that the tables were turned on her.  Maybe he should flirt with her to keep her off balance.  He certainly would like seeing more reactions like that. "SEEMS SO," Papyrus remarked. "i'm good," Orange agreed.  Blue nodded eagerly.

"Great, then let's uh, let's go." She was eager to move away from Bill's stupid joke and her reaction to it. "Come on, science guy." Shannon led them back towards checkout, but not without slowing down and whispering to Blue and Orange. "Check the sight out on your left," her eyes slid in that direction. There was a girl wearing a bikini top and sweatpants, mismatched flip flop and Ugg boot, buying several bottles of alcohol.

The group checked it out.  "DOES SHE NEED HELP?" Blue wondered.

Papyrus split off from the group and headed towards the lady.  "HELLO HUMAN!"

The girl looked up at Papyrus and sucked what few teeth she had in her mouth. “The fuck do you want, monster weirdo?” she snapped at him. Shannon immediately stepped forwards to put Papyrus out of harm’s way, hoping to just slip back to their own checkout lane. "DO YOU REQUIRE ASSISTANCE?" he asked gallantly.  Bill smiled watching his brother, but there was something in his stance that was a little more stiff than normal.

“Not from your kind I don’t,” she huffed, flipping Papyrus the bird. “Get the fuck away from me before I call the cops!” Shannon grabbed Papyrus’ hand, trying to tug firmly at him. “Let’s just go, Paps, there’s nothing you can do to help human garbage,” she insisted, pulling decidedly away from the encounter. “Dirty monster fucker!”

Papyrus hesitated, but let Shannon pull him away.  "WILL SHE BE ALRIGHT?" he asked Shannon. Bill hung back, watching the human until Papyrus was far enough away he knew she wouldn't be able to do anything before following. "SHE WAS NOT VERY NICE," Blue stated reluctantly.

“Doesn’t matter. She’s not worth a second thought,” she said firmly, her brows furrowed. “That’s...putting it mildly Blue, but yeah.”

"OF COURSE SHE'S WORTH IT," Papyrus protested.  "SHE'S A PERSON." Bill slipped up beside Papyrus and leaned on his brother.  "don't worry too much over it.  i'm sure the humans know how to help her better than we do."

Shannon's lips pursed. It was sweet that Papyrus was so optimistic and wanted to see the good in people, but... Still, who was she to crush his spirit? "Like I said, don't worry about it, Paps."

They paid for the clothes, a little quieter than when they'd first gotten in.  "hey, why don't you take shotgun on the way back?" Bill suggested to Papyrus. "REALLY?" Papyrus asked. Blue wanted to protest, but closed his mouth.  Sitting up front would probably just lead to him getting flustered.  He wanted a chance to impress Shannon, not make himself look more cute and flustered.

"Yeah, why not? It's not a real, proper trip until my guard sits up front with me," Shannon smiled, pulling out her keys. "Speaking of this trip, did we need to extend it anywhere else?"

"WE'RE GOOD!" Blue assured her.  Papyrus beamed widely at Shannon.  "I WILL MAKE THE GREATEST OF NAVIGATORS!"

She laughed softly and opened up the car, sliding in. "I'm sure you will, Paps. Then we'll take you boys home, and I'll help you start with piecing the beds together. Sound good?"

"THAT SOUNDS GREAT!" Papyrus exclaimed. "you sure you don't have anywhere you need to be? like picking up meds?" Orange asked.

"Don't worry about me," she waved a hand, "I missed a dose, no big deal. It's not like it'll clear out of my system that quickly, just gotta make sure I take it tomorrow. Sweet of you, though."

"yeah, but keeping up with my brother isn't easy," Bill said gently.  "and there's twice as many of us now." "might get sucked into another sleepover," Orange teased. "THAT WOULD BE NICE," Blue agreed happily.  Papyrus nodded his head.  "YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!"

Shannon was tempted to stare in her rearview for a minute, startled by their kindness and the way they were so eager to be in her presence. That was... New. "Uh-- I mean, like I said, I don't really have a life and I don't have work tomorrow, so I could in all theory? I'd have to stop by my place for a couple of things, though."

"exactly our point," Bill laughed.

"So... I guess we'll make a stop at my place?" Shannon felt a little nervous about that. Her place could be a little cleaner, but a depression streak had hit lately. "I'll make it fast."

"THAT SOUNDS GREAT!" Papyrus cheered.

She plugged her own phone into the AUX cord and hummed her response, letting her shuffle function pick a song. It just so happened to choose 'Obsessed', by Mariah Carey. "I know my way back to my place, Paps, so don't worry about directions just yet."

The group listened to the song curiously as they drove down.  "interesting pick," Bill said.

"I'LL JUST GUIDE US ALL HOME," Papyrus said cheerfully.

"Shuffle is a very unforgiving mistress," she grinned shyly at Bill. "But it is a good song. And you go right ahead, big guy, do as you please."

Bill chuckled.

[cbraxs]

Warped [Time Warp Trio Fanfiction] - Chapter 5

“A falafel a day is a falafel a day” is the fifth—no sixth— dumbest thing Izzy ever said aloud. She hadn’t meant to ask Joe the code phrase so soon, especially with Sam and Fred around; she’d wanted to ask him if she could use The Book to find her father. If it had the history of other people’s lives, then it must be able to tell her where her dad was and maybe even why he left.

But before she could ask, Izzy remembered her dad’s instructions to not go looking for him. She was torn. She wanted to know he was okay but didn’t want to disobey him.

Joe, Sam, Fred, and Izzy took a bus to Joralemon and found the bright green and gold dome-shaped falafel stand easily. Phil’s Fantastic Falafel sat next to a small, empty park away from the street. A few round tables sat around the stand, the large green parasols closed since there was no need to hide from the sun on such a chilly day.

A familiar looking Asian girl with long black hair in a high ponytail stood in front ordering from the smiling man. Izzy made a good first impression by bumping into her, too busy talking to the boys about a superhero movie to stop in time.

“I’m sor—”

The girl whipped her head at Izzy and sneered at her.

All the color drain out of Izzy. “—reeeeeeee?”

The girl cocked her head and said in a raspy voice, “Excuse me?”

“I-I said I was sorry.”

Another second of leering before the girl made a sound of disgust and turned away, grabbed her order, and tipped the cashier. When she spun back around, the annoyed look still in her eyes, Izzy leapt back, bumping into Joe behind her.

“What was that about?” the girl asked.

“I’m giving you your space.”

“That ’sposed to be sarcasm or something?”

“I can’t sarcasm on purpose.”

The girl raised an eyebrow and stared down at Izzy like she was trying to figure her out.

Izzy gulped. “Every time I’ve been sarcastic it’s been on accident or when I’m mad, I can’t control it, I swear.”

The girl shook her head. “Tch. Space cadet.”

Fred stepped forward so he was indirectly between them and fixed the girl a hard look. “Hey, lay off her.”

The girl paid no attention to Fred. She strolled past them, shouldering Izzy as she headed down the sidewalk and eating her falafel.

“I swear I saw her eat the foil,” Sam muttered when she was far enough.

Izzy ran a hand over her hair. “Why do I anger the people I mildly inconvenience?”

“It could’ve been worse,” Joe said. “With what I heard about her.”

“You know her?”

“Everyone does,” Fred said. “Rin goes to our school. That chick breaks femurs for kicks. Like, she literally kicks them to break them.”

Izzy blanched. “What?!”

“That was just a rumor. All she did was…” Sam winced as if he were remembering something horribly unpleasant, “snapped a kid’s collarbone.”

“Why did she do that?”

Joe shrugged. “Why would you snap someone’s collarbone?”

“I wouldn’t snap anyone’s collar bone!”

Izzy stared in the direction Rin went, her dark hair disappearing into the crowd, and a wave of anxiety wash over her. Going to a new school was hard enough (even if she didn’t leave any friends behind or even teachers she liked), she didn’t want to deal with someone already hating her for something so small.

Fred affectionately shook her shoulder. “Don’t worry. Just bust out that kung fu magic like you did earlier and you’ll handle her no problem.”

She didn’t know whether to tell him it was actually tae kwon do, not kung fu, or she’d prefer not to fight people if she could help it.

Joe patted her on the shoulder. “Ignore her—and them,” he tossed a glance at Fred and Sam, “I’m sure she won’t even bother you again. C’mon. Let’s order.”

The guy manning the stand—who must’ve been Phil—smiled as the three put in their order. When it was her turn to order, Izzy asked for the, “Paladino Supreme, please?”

“Paladino Supreme? ” Sam asked, squinting at the menu. “I don’t see that anywhere.”

“It’s on the secret menu,” Izzy said. “A lot of food stands have a version of it if you ask.”

Thankfully, Sam nodded, seemingly accepting Izzy’s lie. She felt a little guilty but knew she couldn’t tell him the truth.

Phil didn’t even flinch at her made up order. “Of course, darling.” He magically prepared their orders pretty quickly and handed them their food. The boys grabbed a table as Izzy stayed behind to pay.

She fished out her wallet. “How much do I owe you?”

“It’s on the house, darling.”

Too stunned to argue, Izzy thanked him and stuffed a wad of cash into the tip jar.

He smiled, blue eyes twinkling. “Thank you, Isadora.” He had a faint accent she couldn’t place. “You’re as sweet as I remember—from what Anthony’s told me, I mean.”

She glanced at the boys to make sure they couldn’t hear her before leaning towards the man. “You know my dad? How? Can you tell me where he is? I know I’m not supposed to look for him, but I need to know if he’s okay.”

He looked away, scratching his cheek. “I’m not authorized to—”

“Please?”

Phil looked back at her, his shoulders sagging. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering quietly, “Dammit, Em,” then said, louder, “look, Isadora. Your father is fine. He’s capable, smart, and knows what he’s doing.”

“But what is he doing?”

“He’s doing his best to keep you safe. And when he’s done, he’ll come home and explain everything. I promise.”

Izzy huffed and resisted the urge to stomp her foot like frustrated little kid. Why did she always have to be left in the dark? Why couldn’t her father ever tell her what was going on? She wasn’t fragile, she was fifteen, but ever since the death of her mother, he’s been twice as protective.

Not that she could blame him. Izzy understood where he was coming from and knew he only wanted her to be safe. She got that, but she wished she didn’t have to put up with secrets all her life.

She slinked back, her eyes cast on her shoes. “Fine.”

Phil chirped, “Now that you’ve moved into a new place and found the magician named Joe, I can report to your father that you’re safe.”

“So you do know where he is?”

“Yes… and no. It’s complicated. I can’t tell you anything beyond that. It’s classified.”

Izzy frowned. “Who are you, exactly?”

“Also classified.”

Izzy huffed. “Alright. If you see him, can you tell him I love him and… and come home safely. We need to talk.”

Phil smiled, but his eyes were so sad it shocked Izzy. “Of course, Isadora.”

She thanked him again and returned to the three talking and enjoying their food at the table.

Joe was the first to notice her expression. He looked at her, concern. “Everything okay?”

“Was he giving you trouble?” Sam asked.

Izzy shook her head and forced a smile. “Everything’s fine.”

Fred and Joe nodded and went back to eating their food (or inhaling, in Fred’s case). She could’ve sworn Sam curiously narrowed his eyes at her, but the look disappeared as soon as she noticed it.

For the next couple hours, the four of them hung out. They talked about games and movies and goofed around. When it was time for them to all go home, they all exchanged numbers.

She hadn’t exchanged numbers with other kids in years. She looked at the three new numbers in her phone in between her parent’s, Auntie Em’s, and the nonemergency police number. With the additional numbers, she could actually scroll through her contacts.

She couldn’t believe she made new friends on her first day to a new school. Izzy tried to contain her happiness; she didn’t want to get strange looks by giggling like a dummy on the bus.

Again.

The bus ride served to calm Izzy and give her time to think. Despite her father’s orders to find a particular boy she’s never met before, take Bess and Houdini, (her pet rabbits, not the people she met earlier), move to a new apartment, and go to a new school, her father disappearing for short periods of time was nothing new. She dealt with it before and this would be no different.

She’d hoped.

Her dad would be back in a week, two weeks, tops. He’d be fine, and when he got back home, she’d introduce him to her new friends.

~*~

Over the past three weeks, Izzy in the group was quickly becoming the new normal. She accompanied the three of them to their trips to the mall, study sessions, and biweekly visits to Ray’s pizza. Thankfully since they met, there’ve been no accidental warps, and Izzy was slowly becoming more and more comfortable around them. In fact, Joe even asked her to help him with his performance for the talent show since they got along well. It also didn’t hurt that she would make a way lovelier assistant than Fred.

Despite their growing friendship, Izzy was absent during their—completely on purpose and mostly controlled—trips to the future. Most recently Joe, Fred, and Sam took a trip to 2111 for Jodie’s Sweet Sixteen. Unfortunately, Izzy couldn’t make it since she had tae kwon do class, but on a positive note, this gave them extra time to figure out how to introduce a friend to their great-granddaughters from the future.

The first Saturday of Izzy teaching Joe magic, they hung out at the vacant basketball court a block from his house. He sat crisscross across from her with a basketball on his lap while she drew circles over and over again with a piece of chalk.

“I’m sorry.”

Joe frowned. “What’s up?”

A twist of her earrings. “I should’ve mentioned this sooner, but only some people have natural magical abilities. I’ve heard there’s a test for it but I don’t know how to perform it.”

“Huh.” That was news to him. Admittedly, Joe didn’t know much about real magic. The only person he could ask, his uncle Joe, was frequently away and insisted on never getting a phone.

“Have you ever used magic before, or have had an outburst of some kind?”

He told her about the first time he ever slowed down the time of an object using his mind.

Izzy dropped her chalk and stared at him like he admitted to walking on water. “You’ve done that? Seriously?”

“Yeah. Is that good?”

“It’s incredible! Centralized time manipulation? Controlling time is one of the hardest things you can do. I was pretty sure it was impossible before we warped.”

Joe rubbed the back of his head kind of flattered. “Well, besides the first time, I’ve never done it on purpose, any of the times it happened.”

There’ve been a couple times over the years Joe, Sam, and Fred were in a jam and Joe—somehow— was able to slow the time around objects: bullets flying at them, the three of them falling out a window, a cranky old woman throwing rotten fruit at them. Most of the time, he’s done it completely by mistake.

Izzy’s jaw dropped. “You’ve done it more than once?”

“Yeah.”

“Pfft. Way to humble brag. You sure you even need me?”

“Yes! I mean there’s still things I have no clue about. Like do spells have to be spoken in pig Latin? Why not Spanish or Hebrew or, y’know, actual Latin?”

Izzy picked up the piece of chalk and frowned at it. “I… don’t know, just how it works. Even for nonmagical people, they can use pig Latin to make magical items work. Like wands or other items.”

“Or The Book.” Joe remembered Sam and Fred telling him about the time they and Samantha warped to Russia. She used The Book to bring objects from the past into the present, but she never demonstrated any magical capabilities outside of that.

Izzy nodded. “For magical people, speaking in pig Latin helps us concentrate and focus our energy for what we want to do. Think of words like, uh, training wheels. A skilled wizard or witch really doesn’t need it –although, in some instances, it can help conserve energy—but for a newbie or someone learning how to use magic for the first time it’s an excellent crutch.”

“The first time I did magic,” Joe said. “I didn’t use any pig Latin, though. I was speaking English.”

Izzy shrugged. “It must’ve been a coincidence. You spoke in English but you were doing the spell regardless.”

She snapped the piece of chalk in half in one hand. “Soon, it’ll be like second nature to you and you’ll do it without thinking. I used to levitate pencils in class when I was bored without thinking about it. I even, um…”

Izzy cast her eyes away from his, an embarrassed glow around her. Joe quirked a brow.

“You even what?”

“I used to steal snacks and soda from vending items when no one was looking.”

Joe laughed. “You? Stealing?” He couldn’t imagine it. She seemed too innocent to even jaywalk or download music without buying it first.

She blushed. “Just promise me you won’t abuse your power like I did.”

“No promises.”

Izzy fixed him with a look, but Joe could tell she was trying not to smile. He couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Anyway,” she said, “before you begin to practice magic, there’s a bunch of reading and meditation you’re supposed to do... But that’s dull and boring, which is why we’re going to nix it. I believe you learn best by doing. So, I’ll have you start by moving the basketball.”

“Okay, and how do I do that?”

Her face screwed up in thought. “Hmm...”

She exhaled, the tension in her face fading away. Silently, she raised her hand and the basketball hovered in the air, surrounded by a transparent green aura. She spoke, her voice more controlled than he ever heard before, “I think of my arm extending beyond myself, changing shape, and surrounding the ball. I get this tiggly-wiggly tug in my gut—”

“Tiggly-wiggly?”

“Yes, hush. I can basically call on this feeling whenever I want; I channel it into exerting my will over things.”

She blinked and looked at him quizzically. “Am I making any sense?”

“I think so,” Joe said. “Let me try.”

Izzy lowered the basketball and the glowing stopped. Joe lifted his hand at the ball and stared at it, focusing on calling forth the “tiggly-wiggly” feeling for a moment then a minute. Sweat dripped down his temple. He concentrated, and concentrated…

“Do you remember the feeling?”

Joe jumped. Izzy covered her mouth to cough, but Joe knew she was laughing.

“Sorry. I was going to say when I first starting practicing, it was pretty… let’s say sporadic. My dad told me to close my eyes and focus on the sensation instead of the object and work outwards from there. That might help.”

Joe said okay and tried to do that.

He closed his eyes and tried to recall how it felt. He thought about the time his friends and his sister warped to ancient China. He remembered when Wang shot an arrow at Anna, how terrified he was when he thought he was about to lose her, his only option when he could get to her in time—

Joe gasped. “I felt it! I felt the tiggly-wiggly! …and I’m really glad no one was around to hear me say that.”

Izzy clapped her hand. “Do it again! You’re so close.”

Joe thought about the feeling again, and slowly, he was able to conjure it again. It traveled from his gut, up his arms, and to his hands. He opened his eyes and channeled it into making the ball…

“Iseray.”

A green aura surrounded the ball as it shakily rose into the air. He raised his arm and the ball hovered higher into the air above him.

Izzy cheered. “You did it!”

She hugged him, catching Joe off guard. He lost his concentration and dropped the ball… right on top of Izzy’s head.

“Ack!”

“Sorry!”

“I-it’s okay.” She beamed at him. “You did great.”

Over the next week, Joe spent some of his free time practicing levitating objects about the size of the basketball. Eventually, he could do it almost effortlessly and didn’t even need to speak any magic words.

Fred, Sam, and the girls were impressed at first, much to Joe’s amusement. For years now, they’ve been dismissive of his abilities as a magician and now he could do real magic. Their shocked reaction felt like a personal victory until he ruined it by showboating every chance he got and ruined the novelty of his new trick quickly. Next time, we wouldn’t wear out the freshness of the next new spell he’d learn.

Still, who could blame him, really?

The next Saturday afternoon, the four of them hung out at Ray’s Pizza. They crowded around the pinball table, watching Izzy beautifully fail at playing pinball. She frantically jabbed the buttons on the side hard enough to dent the machine over and over, but somehow the balls kept falling through.

Besides Joe, Fred leaned on the pinball machine and pounded the top of the glass as he laughed, rattling Sam’s plate and Joe’s cup. “How are you so bad at this?”

Izzy’s eyes squinted in focus and frustration. “I’ve never pinballed before. Am I doing something wrong?”

Across from Joe, Sam dabbed some grease off a piece of pepperoni pizza with a napkin and smirked. “Yeah, you actually have to hit the ball.”

Izzy’s brow furrowed. “Wait. I have to hit the ball?”

Joe laughed and cracked his knuckles. “Move aside, Iz. I’ll show you how it’s done.”

“Please,” Fred said, “you’re almost as bad as she is.”

“Wanna bet?”

“Sure. I like my odds.”

Joe was about to retort with the stakes of their bet when Sam interrupted, “Hey, isn’t that Anna?”

“Your sister?” Izzy perked up and looked over to where Sam was pointing. “When did she get here?”

Joe glanced at Anna out of the corner of his eye. She sat alone at a table on the far end of the room. Her back was turned to them, but Joe recognized her spiky hair and pastel sweater.

Fred placed his chin in his hands. “Didn’t your mom say she was at a birthday party or something? What’s she doing here?”

“You think she got kicked out again?” Sam asked.

Izzy frowned, concerned. “We should invite her over to hang out with us.”

Joe sipped from his soda. “Nah, I’m sure she’s fine. Ignore her and she won’t bother us.”

“Are you sure?” she insisted. “I wouldn’t want her to be— oh, cute! You didn’t tell me she has a boyfriend.”

“She doesn’t.”

Izzy pointed behind him. “Then who’s that guy?”

Joe turned. A boy with dark spiky hair, a ripped shirt from that rock band Anna liked, and baggy black jeans with enough chains to tie Anna to a railroad track walked to the table carrying two plates of pizza. He slid into the seat next to Anna and kissed her on the cheek.

Joe practically did a spit take in Sam’s direction.  

Sam jumped back. “Ah! Disgusting!”

Joe put his fingers to his lips. “Shh!”

“Hey, don’t shush me—”

“Shh!”

Sam looked incredulously at Fred. “He did it again.”

Joe glared at the two across the room. “Since when did she have a boyfriend? ”

“Your sister has a boyfriend. Big deal,” Fred said. “So, are we gonna do this thing or—”

Joe was already halfway down the restaurant, sneaking up on Anna and the mystery guy, occasionally hiding underneath tables and behind the Grecian columns when it looked like they were going to glance in his direction. He crouched behind the both the two shared and motioned for the three of them to join them.

Sam groaned. “Are we really going follow him?”

Evidently, yes. The three of the followed Joe to where he was hiding—not even bothering to sneak— and squatted next to him.

“You know,” Fred whispered, “stalking your sister was exactly how I wanted to spend my Saturday.”

“Isn’t this a breach of Anna’s privacy?” Sam asked.

“Please! All the times she’s breached my privacy?”

Anna was always spying on him or had her nose in his business.

“I’m not sure about this Joe,” Izzy said.

“I just want to check this guy out—”

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” a voice said above them, “but you know we can hear you, right?”

The four of them looked in the direction of the voice. The mystery guy and Anna looked down on them; him with a confused expression, her with a look of fear and annoyance.

Izzy waved. “Hello.”

Anna sneered at them. “What are you doing?”

“We’re being awful ninjas,” Fred said.

Joe stood and crossed his arms. “What do you think you’re up to?”

“Minding our own business.” Anna took a sip of her soda. “Maybe you should take a cue.”

Joe ignored Fred laughing next to him, and said, “You’re gonna be in so much trouble when we get home.”

“What’s with the angry dad routine?” Sam whispered to Fred and Izzy.

Joe rolled his eyes and was ready to refute Sam’s claim, when Anna said, “Can’t you leave us alone and give us since privacy?”

“I’m surprised you even know what that word means.”

Izzy put her hand on Joe’s arm. “C’mon. Let’s leave them alone.”

“Yeah, Joe,” Fred chimed in. “We still got pinball to play.”

The boy’s face lit up. “Oh, you’re the Joe I hear so much about.”

Anna blushed and nudged him. “Matty…”

Joe’s eye twitched. Matty?

Matty held out his hand to Joe and smiled. “Matthew Garcia. Nice to meet you. Anna’s told me a lot about…”

Joe glowered at him.

Sweat dripped down Matthew’s temple. “Uhhh…”

Izzy jumped in and shook his hand. “Hi Matthew, I’m Izzy. Ignore Joe, he’s cranky.”

“Hey!” Joe protested.

“Hi, Izzy. Why is your boyfriend so upset?”

She kept smiling but there was a blank look on her face like Mathew asked her a question in Spanish. “My wha…?”

Joe stepped forward. “She’s not my girlfriend and we’re going home. Come on, Anna.”

“You can’t just make me go home!” Anna said.

~*~

As soon as they were home, Joe busted Anna to their parents.

Izzy sat with Fred and Sam in Joe’s room while the two played some fantasy RPG video game they were engrossed in. As she watched them play, she couldn’t help but eavesdrop, picking up parts of Joe and Anna’s shouting match from the kitchen downstairs.

“This is so unfair,” Anna whined. “My life is none of your beeswax!

“You’re way too young to date, Anna,” Joe said.

“You’re not the boss of me! Besides, he was on a date, too.”

“Again, Izzy’s not my girlfriend! And even if she was out wouldn’t change anything.”

Izzy spun her earrings. “So, is this awkward, right? Am I’m reading this situation correctly?”

Fred didn’t peel his eyes from the screen. “Pretty much.”

Izzy felt somewhat responsible for this situation. If she hadn’t pointed out Matthew at the restaurant, then Joe wouldn’t have ruined their date. She didn’t get what he was so upset about. Granted, she would probably be protective of her younger sibling if she had one, but Matthew seemed nice enough, sweet even.

“I feel bad.”

“Don’t. They fight all the time. Wish they didn’t fight in the kitchen, though.”

Sam sighed. “Why don’t you carry snacks with you wherever you go?”

“Uh, because I eat them?”

“We should help them out,” Izzy said. “Siblings shouldn’t fight.”

Fred snorted. “Spoken like an only child.”

“How do you plan to do that anyway?” Sam asked.

Izzy wasn’t sure. She never had to be a moderator between two parties. She looked at the door, wishing there was something she could do to fix this situation.

~*~

“I bet you’re just mad I’m dating before you are!”

Joe’s ears burned at Anna’s accusation. “That’s ridiculous! I—”

“Kids. That’s enough.”

The sound of their father’s powerful voice was enough to get the two to stop arguing. They both simultaneously straighten and turned to face their parent.

The four of them were sitting around the kitchen table at their parent’s request. They sat across from them, with Anna scooted away from him.

“Joe,” his mother said. “We understand you’re worried about Anna, and your father and I can’t be happier that you’re concerned for her safety—”

Anna blew out an exasperated breath.

“—but we can handle her.”

“Yeah, Joe!”

“Don’t think you’re off the hook, young lady,” Dad said. “You’re still in trouble for not telling us about your boyfriend.”

Anna sulked in her chair. “Oh.”

Joe stopped himself from smirking if only because he knew if he did, he’d get that look from his mom.

“Your mother and I need to discuss whether we should let you continue seeing this Matthew boy or not—”

“What? But Dad, I—”

“And you’re grounded for a week for not telling us,” Mom finished.

Anna’s mouth hung open like she was in shocked, but nodded, sulking further into her seat.

At that, their parents kicked them out of the kitchen so they could talk. Once they were far enough away in the living room that their conversation was muffled, Anna spun on him, glowering at him so fiercely he stopped dead in his tracks.

“I know you’re jealous of me. It’s sad.”

“Tch. Get real. What’s to be jealous of? Your stuffed animal collection or your knowledge of celebrity birthdays?”

“It’s true! I get a boyfriend before you get a girlfriend. I get better grades than you do. I’m better at using The Book than you are—”

“Whoa! First of all, no you’re not—”

“I am! And I know you hate me for it. You hate me for everything.”

Joe froze, stunned silent.

She hugged herself and murmured, “The one time you pay attention to me and you go and ruin everything.”

“Anna, I don’t—”

“Stay out of my business and leave me alone, okay?”

Joe watched as she stormed up the stairs to her room, too stunned to move.

Anna thought he hated her?

Sure, he was being kind of tough on her, but only because he was worried about her. Didn’t Anna see that? It had to be more to it.

He thought about what she said about The Book. Admittedly, she was better at using it. Whenever she took it (without asking, of course. She never asked.) she’d would rarely, if ever, have trouble warping and she never lost it. It was his Book, but of course, she had to be better at using it than he was.

Joe kept The Book away from her whenever he could and would only begrudgingly bring her along with them on their warps if they were seeing the girls. Joe would be lying if he said he wasn’t jealous, but he never considered how it would affect how he treated her.

It wasn’t just The Book, now that he was thinking about it. He ignored her a lot and would exclude her from activities when Sam and Fred were over. Joe acted like he never wanted her to be around.

Of course Anna thought he hated her.

Joe rubbed his hands over his face and fell against the living room wall. He slid to the floor and when he looked back up, there was Izzy, standing frozen like a statue mid-step in a spot previously behind him and staring at him like a deer caught in headlights.

His face heated. “Were you—”

“I swear, I was coming back from the bathroom and I saw you two arguing and I froze and I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I’m sorry!”

Her words ran together so fast, in another situation it would’ve been funny, but Joe just groaned and covered his face again, too embarrassed to look at her.

“Joe,” Izzy said softly, the wood creaking underneath her feet as she crept closer and knelt in front of him. “I’m sorry. Are you… are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Joe flattened out imaginary wrinkles in his jeans, avoiding eye contact with her. “I’m perfectly fine.”

“I see. This is your fine face, not your pouty face?”

“So what if it is?”

Izzy flinched and stared at the ground. He felt like a bigger jerk for snapping at her; yelling at Izzy was sort of like yelling at a bunny.

“Sorry, I’m sorry.” Joe sighed. “This whole thing with Anna is kind of upsetting.”

“Why?”

“She’s only thirteen and she’s dating some... well, you saw him!”

“He seemed nice,” she said. “You can’t judge someone completely by their looks.”

Joe rubbed the back of his neck. “I know, I know.”

“Maybe you should go talk to her.”

“Yeah, right. You saw how it went last time.”

“I mean with a nicer approach. Don’t go for the ‘Angry Dad’ approach.”

“Ha ha.”

Izzy nudged him. “I’m serious. If you handle this now, you’ll feel a lot better. I can even go with you if you want, for emotional support.”

She smiled reassuringly at Joe as he considered it. Despite everything, he did want to make amends. Izzy was a girl after all. Maybe she’d be a good mediator between the two.

“Alright.”

Joe trudged up the stair with Izzy in tow and stopped in front of Anna’s door. He reached to knock on the ajar door and hesitated. He looked to Izzy who gave him an encouraging smile. He knocked softly on the pink door. “Hey, Anna?”

No response. He knocked again, harder this time.

The door slowly swung open, revealing the room and Anna, who was sitting on her bed, flipping through pages of The Book.

Joe marched in, forgetting all about Izzy and his plans to apologize. “What are you doing?!”

Anna jumped and looked at them, staring at Joe like a toddler who was caught stealing cookies. “Oh, fart.”

“How did you steal The Book. Fred and Sam were in the room.”

“Oh, please. You know how they get when they play—hey!”

Joe grabbed The Book and tried to yank it out of her hands. “You have no right to be in my business!”

Anna pulled back on it. “You’re such a hypocrite! Besides, I’m trying to prove a point!”

They jerked The Book back and forth like a game of tug-o-war, trying to pull it out of the other’s hands.

Izzy unfroze herself from underneath the threshold and darted over to them. “Don’t fight, you two! We can—”

With a final tug, Joe wrenched The Book out of Anna’s hands and whacked Izzy in the face. Immediately, green mist pooled out of The Book entangling all three of them.

Anna’s scowl was visible past the fog. “Great! Look what you—”

And midsentence, the three of them were tossed through time.

~*~

The three of them landed on a speckled linoleum floor with a thud and an oof. Joe sat up and took a quick look around to make no one was trying to kill them in that instant. They were in a hallway across from bathrooms and a snack machine on one end. Classical music played overhead. There was a soft din of conversation from the other end of the hall turned off to the left leading to somewhere.

Where the heck where they? Did Anna mean to warp them to some random hallway?

He scowled at Anna as she stood. “Congrats, Anna. You sure proved you're better with The Book than me.”

She brushed some dust off her pants then put her hands on her hips. “How is this my fault? You were yanking The Book out of my hands!”

“Because it’s my Book!”

“Ugh…”

They both turned to see Izzy cupping her eye where Joe hit her, a pained look on her face.

“Izzy!” Joe cried. He completely forgot all about her, even after he hit her in the face. Joe helped her to the bench against the wall, ignoring Anna rolling her eyes. She mumbled something about going to the bathroom and left before Joe could say anything.

Joe turned back to Izzy. “I’m sorry I hit you.”

“It’s okay.” She forced an unconvincing smile. “You didn’t do it on purpose, and besides it doesn’t hurt that bad.”

It looked like it hurt that bad. There was a small bruise forming around her eye and she was squinting a bit.

“We should probably find you some ice or something.”

“Is there ice here?”

“I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.” Joe sighed and grumbled, “We wouldn’t even be here if you didn’t insist I say sorry.”

Izzy’s shoulders droop and she looked at the floor. “You’re right and I’m sorry, but I wanted to help. I hated to see you two fight.”

Joe softened begrudgingly. While he was still kind of upset at her, he also appreciated her efforts and the fact she cared enough to try. Before he could tell her so, Anna was back. She handed Izzy a wrapped ice cream sandwich.

“I got it for your eye,” she explained. “And a snack for later.”

Izzy looked at her, surprised but clearly grateful. “Thank you, Anna.”

Anna flashed her a grin. “Don’t mention it. Now, let’s find The Book and get out of here.”

“Where is here, anyway?” Joe asked.

Izzy shrugged. “One way to find out.”

The three of them walked to the end of the hallway until they came across a set of elevators, both with a down button. They agreed to go down it, starting at the bottom and working their way up if need be.

Anna nonchalantly glanced at Izzy as she punched the button. “So, Izzy, do you have any annoying siblings you wished would stay out of your business?”

Joe scoffed. “Really?”

“I’m an only child,” Izzy said.

“Must be nice.” Anna shot him a look.

“I don’t know. It’d be nice to have some company when my dad’s away instead of just me and my rabbits.”

“What about your mom?”

“She’s dead.”

Izzy’s eyes were distant and a little watery. Joe already knew, of course, but he still never knew how to respond when it was brought up. Izzy would probably deny it, but it made him feel like a crummy friend.

“How’d she die?” Anna asked.

“Seriously?” Joe hissed.

“What? I was just asking.” She turned to Izzy. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“It’s okay.”

She clenched her trembling free hand. “She… she died in a car accident when I was eleven.”

The elevator dinged and they went in awkward silence. Joe hit the button for the first floor, unable to think of what to say other than a lame, “I’m sorry.”

Izzy nodded absently like she didn’t really hear him. “Afterwards I was upset, I was devastated, but I remember my dad being a complete wreck when it happened. He disappeared the first time for two months.”

Joe frowned. “He just left you by yourself?”

“No, there was a lady taking care of me. I called her Aunty Em but she wasn’t really my aunt. I don’t know who she was. My dad was an orphan and my mom’s parents disowned her for practicing magic, so I don’t know them.”

Anna winced. “Harsh.”

“Who was aunty Em?” Joe asked.

“I don’t know. A friend of his, I guess, but I haven’t seen her before or since. And when I ask him, he dodges the subject.”

Anna held up a hand. “Wait, you said that was the first time he disappeared? It happened again after that?”

Izzy tensed like the question caught her off guard. She spun her earrings around and stared at the ground as if searching for something to say.

“…no,” she said slowly, then with forced assurance, “no, he hasn’t done it since.”

There was something she was hiding, but before either Joe or Anna could answer, the elevator dinged and opened. Izzy was the first one out.

Joe glanced at Anna and caught the look on her face. She noticed something was off, too, but wasn’t saying anything.

The two of them followed her out of the elevator and took in their surroundings.

Joe didn’t know where they warped to, but he wasn’t expecting to be looking at a huge glass wall at the end of a large room that overlooked parks and vaguely recognizable buildings. A spiral staircase in the center of the building led up to a third story floor. To the furthest left corner of the room was a gift shop, but everywhere else was art.

An abundance of paintings and sculptures of all various sizes, shapes, and colors surrounded them in every direction. It was almost overwhelming. Small clusters of people—a group of elderly people being led by a tour guide, a horde of middle schoolers in familiar maroon and gold uniforms gathered around the entrance, a few couples both with and without small children—gathered on every level to appreciate the art on display.

“Huh,” was Joe’s reaction. “We’re at some art museum. At least we’re in a place where no one will want to kill us.”

Izzy grinned and bounced around like a kid in the candy store. “I know this place! My parents took me here for my eleventh birthday. They had this beautiful sculpture made out of all these semiprecious stones and I—”

“Oh no…” Anna whined and pulled them by the arm under the staircase.

“What’s wrong?” Joe asked.

“It’s me.”

Joe was half tempted to say something slick, but the desire was squashed by the worried look on Anna’s face. She peeked behind the staircase at whatever they were hiding from and swore.

Joe and Izzy gave each other a confused glance and looked to see what she was so nervous about.

Izzy gasped. “Is that—”

“It’s you!” Joe whipped his head back at Anna.

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Among the crowd of middle schoolers, there was Anna, looking over the crowd of her peers as if searching for someone.

Anna moaned. “Why this day?”

“What’s wrong with this day?” Joe asked. “Did something happen?”

Her face went red. Anna crossed her arms and glowered at him, seemingly for no reason. “Let’s just not cross my path, okay?”

Joe wanted to ask her what her problem was, but he didn’t want to add that on top of their previous argument. He sighed. “Alright. It’s better if we don’t risk running into you.”

Her shoulders slouched, and she seemed to relax. “Right. So what’s the plan?”

“We should split up. We’ll find The Book a lot faster that way.”

Anna snorted. “Split up? It’s not Scooby Doo. I say we stick together.”

Joe clenched his jaw. “Why ask me the plan if you’re gonna come up with your own plan?”

“Why come up with a lame plan?”

Izzy stepped between the two of them, raising her hand not holding the ice cream bar up in surrender. “Why don’t we try it both ways?”

The two of them stopped glaring at each other and looked at her. She gulped and smiled weakly.

“We can start looking for The Book split up, then if we can’t find anything in twenty minutes, we’ll look together? Or, um…”

This was obviously a worse plan, and Joe could tell she knew that, too, just by looking at her, but Anna huffed and said, “Fine,” before heading towards the gift shop and keeping her face away from her past self.

And with that, the three of them went their separate ways in search for The Book.

[bangtangerine-boys-blog]

(Part 1) Fated to Love Just You: BTS Mafia!au

Genre: Angst/Fluff

Warnings: Mild cursing, mentions of blood

Word count: 1859

Ah hello~ This is my first piece of writing! Please tell me if you like it or have any questions or anything at all! I will probably upload the next chapter based on how this first one does. And of course there will be more appearances from all the characters. Thank you for reading!

Part 1  Part 2   Part 3

"Why are you guys so quick?!" Jaebum exclaimed out of breath as he ran to catch up.

"Hurry the fuck up. It's as if you want to be caught." Jackson scowled.

"Ah come now~ it's his first heist! You were even slower your first time Jack," BamBam sang as he ran far ahead of the rest of us.

"I told you not to call me that!" Jackson yelled.

"Ah ah ah, did I just hear someone raise their voice at me?" Bambam said keeping the same tone as before.

Jackson muttered an apology fearful of what your leader would do.

You chuckled at your team's dialogue. Yet another successful heist. Not a surprise though, your gang was one of the most notorious among the underground mafias. Although it was new, it quickly became well known for its quick missions with hardly any trace of their presence. Well, that may be a lie. You felt pride in your work and always decided to leave a little present to those you've affected: a gray cherry blossom on the smallest piece of paper.

Your squadron entered the G.C.B headquarters and split ways naturally: Jackson to training, BamBam to report to the captain and you about to head to the showers when you spotted Jaebum.

"Good job on your first mission Jae," you congratulated your new member.  

"Ah thanks! It was all thanks to your training of course." Jaebum replied ecstatically.

You ruffled his hair taking pride in your work.

"Fuck! Why are we always so late!" Yoongi scowled.

"We wouldn't have been if Hoseok finished playing with that chick earlier" Jimin replied.

"Ahh sorry sorry~ I just love seeing that look of shock on their face when they're about to die. So priceless." Hoseok smiled.

"Dude you've got some weird habits. That coming from the guy who has a knife collection." Taehyung said pointing at himself.

Yoongi picked up the only remains of the jewelry store. The gray blossom.

"Of course. I can't stand these new guys and their flower squad. They're stealing all our objectives." Yoongi said showing the paper to his members.

"Hey I mean we've been number 1 since we started. It was bound to end one day." Said Jimin trying to pick up the mood. Everyone knew when the leader was in a bad mood that meant hell for the rest of the team.

"I don't get it. Why don't we just end them?" Taehyung asked.

"Are you fucking stupid? You know the rules about interfering with other gangs." Yoongi said seriously.

"Actually," Hoseok interrupted. "I'll have to agree with Tae on this one. Of course maybe not destroy all of them, but perhaps one important person?"

"Even if we wanted to, it's not like we can get any information on them. They're very low profile." Jimin said getting bored.

"Ah Jiminah do you even know me? Leave it to me" Hoseok said excitedly.

"Absolutely not. I'm not trying to do all that paperwork if you get caught. Now let's leave before the cops get here." Yoongi sighed heading towards the exit.

Hoseok chuckled following his leader already weaving a plan in his head.

"You police are good for nothing!" The shop owner yelled as the cars started to park in front of the empty building. "So sorry sir but we're trying our best right now to find who's behind all this." Jin did attempting to calm him down. Namjoon walked around looking for any signs of suspects ignoring the owners insults.

"Hey! It's that logo from the robbed bank from before." Jungkook said showing the crumpled piece of paper to Namjoon and Jin. They sighed in annoyance. Of course they've seen the symbol before but found absolutely nothing on what it meant.

"Namjoon I put your squad in charge of this flower case for a reason." The police chief said upon the three men entering the station. "I know sir, we're trying our best." Namjoon replied without making eye contact. "Well obviously not hard enough." The chief muttered returning to his office. Jungkook looked at his distressed leader with pity. 'I don't want Namjoon to get fired because of this case... I'm going to look into this myself" Jungkook declared to himself.

You jumped straight into bed after your shower. Of course you were used to going on missions and the hard work that comes with it but the fatigue after is something you weren’t sure you could ever rid yourself of. You were about to go to sleep when your eyes landed on a box in the corner of your room. It was full of stuff you snuck in from your previous heists. You look through the box selecting a pink iPhone to look through. It’s not like your gang was against you having cellular devices, but you wanted to look at a normal person’s phone for once. You press the home screen button and watched the phone flash to life. “Wow, look at all these notifications...must be nice.” you thought as you manage to hack into it easily. Having hacked into far more intricate systems, this was child's play. All texts were from friends or family.

“Where are you?! Pick up my calls!”  -Mom

“Honey please. If we ever did something to anger you...we’re sorry. Please dear come back.”-Father

“Girl where are you? Didn’t you say you were going to the bank real quick and coming back?”- Alice

“Baby where’d you go… I took time off work to spend time with you and your friends? Where are you?”- Josh<3

You scoffed at the amount of concern they had towards one girl. She wasn’t even dead, you let her go because she practically was on her knees begging for life. You opened her Instagram and scrolled through finding pictures with her friends at clubs, her family at restaurants, her boyfriend at… everywhere. How nice it must be to live a lavish average life. You compared your life to hers listing the pros and cons. Of course you loved working in the Gray Cherry Blossom gang. Everyone likes to think of gangsters as rough and tough and sure they can be… but only to outsiders. You can 100% say that those in your mafia were closer to you than your family. And yet you found yourself craving mundane things. Wanting to shop at a mall with your best friend. To be able to spend bonding time with your family and even maybe even have a fiance.

You groan in annoyance. It’s useless even thinking about stuff like that. You continue to scroll through the instagram when your eyes land on a certain post. “A masquerade ball?” You said out loud. It was as if the instagram gods heard your problems and offered you a mere solution. You thought about it; going out to a public function for enjoyment. You knew how risky it was, how much trouble you could get into and yet you assured yourself (or at least pretended to) that you would be extra careful to avoid it. You saved the post containing the information for the time and place.

Hoseok was getting ready to go out when Jimin walked into the room.

“Are you seriously going out to that stupid party?” He said rolling his eyes.

“Yah it’s the only time I can socialize with people and not creeps like you guys.” Hoseok retorted buttoning up his shirt.

“You’re one to talk” Jimin scoffed. Hoseok shot a glare in Jimin’s direction and watched as he backed away slowly. These type of parties were a common thing among gang members; a way to meet people they weren’t out to kill for just one night without having their identity jeopardized. Hoseok checked his reflection out in the mirror one last time before heading out. Plastering on a fake, cheerful smile, he was out the door.

You arrived at the location faced with a huge line. You loudly sighed in frustration running your hands through your hair as you thought about all the scoldings you’d get from BamBam if you came back late to headquarters.

“Agreed,” a voice behind you said. You turn around to be faced with a man wearing a emerald embedded mask. You panic for a quick second but then remember your identity is also hidden.

“Ahh sorry I just hate waiting in these long lines.” You replied trying to keep your cool. Although his mask was covering his eyes you could tell he was quite the looker from his smile and hair.

“Understandable. I feel the same about waiting.” The stranger agreed.

You guys talked for what seemed a minutes when it was your turn to head in.

“Invitation?” The security guard said in a monotone voice. You tilted your head in confusion.

“Ah! Here” You fumbled to take the girl’s confiscated phone out to show the saved post.

The stranger’s eyes immediately went to the phone. “I’ve seen that phone before...?” He thought to himself.

“Yoongi check this out. Isn’t this the address from the place we were supposed to rob?” Taehyung said handing Yoongi a newspaper. It was an advertisement from one of the escaped victims from the bank.

“How stupid to advertise wanting her phone back. Like those stupid flower child thugs would give it back.” Yoongi muttered before returning to his laptop. Taehyung shrugged it off and left the newspaper on the table.

“What a hideous shade of pink too. I can’t reason why she would want it back.” He said taking one last look before walking away. Hoseok picked up the newspaper and laughed.

“Civilians just keep getting more and more clueless.” He laughed to himself before throwing away the papers.

“This isn’t the invitation ma'am.” The guard says getting more and more irritated as time passed. You stood shocked. Maybe you didn’t completely think this through.

“She’s my plus one actually.” the stranger said jumping in. The security guard couldn’t care less letting you both in.

“Ahh thank you! I can’t believe I left my invitation at home haha.” You tried to play off cool.

“Oh it’s not problem really. It’s a pleasure to make acquaintance with you.” he reached for your hand to place a tender kiss on it. You weren’t used to such affection and pulled your hand back instinctively.

“Haha yea same to you. So what exactly do people do at these type of things?” You changed the topic.

“Ah well--” He was interrupted by a vibration on his leg. He checked his phone to find a text from Taehyung.

Taehyung: “Hoseok where are you~~ I’m bored );”

Hoseok smiled replying instantly: “Just made a quick friend. I have a feeling she might not want to be my friend in a bit though. Ttyl.”

“Ahh are you busy?” You interrupted the handsome stranger since you were starting to feel awkward just standing around.

“Oh sorry where were we? Ah yes, so at these type of things…” Hoseok continued while flashing you a smile.

[newestbalance]

Taxi plows into Moscow crowd including soccer fans, injuring seven

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A taxi drove into a crowd of pedestrians near Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday, injuring seven people including two Mexicans in the city for the soccer World Cup which Russia is hosting, officials and eyewitnesses said.

The incident took place as residents and visiting soccer fans thronged the center of Moscow on a balmy summer evening, a short distance from the Kremlin.

Moscow’s traffic management authority said the taxi driver had a driver’s license issued in Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim ex-Soviet republic. The driver, in custody, told police he had not driven into the crowd on purpose, according to a footage published on the Moscow police website.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a post on Twitter: “There was an unpleasant incident with a taxi. The driver lost control of the vehicle.”

The city’s police said they had opened a criminal investigation into a suspected violation of the traffic code.

The police said seven people were injured in the incident. Moscow city’s healthcare department said earlier that eight had been hurt and taken to hospital, of whom seven were in a satisfactory condition, while one woman was seriously hurt.

The Mexican embassy in Moscow said two Mexican women had been lightly injured. Also among those hurt were a Ukrainian, two Russians and two citizens of Azerbaijan, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted a source in the emergency services as saying.

Video of the incident posted on social media showed the yellow Hyundai taxi pull sharply out of a line of stationary traffic, accelerate and mount the narrow pavement, which was packed with pedestrians.

The taxi drove for about 10 meters along the pavement, bowling over pedestrians and carrying some on the bonnet of the car. It came to a halt after hitting a traffic sign.

As bystanders tried to pull open the driver’s side door, the driver, dressed in black trousers and black T-shirt, jumped out and sprinted away. More bystanders chased him and could be seen trying to tackle him as the footage ended.

MEXICO SOCCER MATCH

A witness told Reuters that some of the people hit were wearing Mexican team colors. Mexico take on Germany on Sunday in their first World Cup match at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium, and thousands of Mexican fans are in the Russian capital.

A second witness told Reuters about the driver of the taxi: “He was pulled out of the vehicle, he ran off but bystanders apprehended him. He was shouting: ‘It wasn’t me’.”

Another witness, Viktoria Geraimovich, said she called emergency services on her mobile phone. She said the driver “ran into a group of Mexicans. There were shouts, moans. He was only stopped because he hit a traffic sign.”

“Someone gave him a punch in the face. He stayed in the car, people came up to him, said what are you doing, punched him in the face, he opened the door and tried to run away.”

“It’s scary that it was in the center (of Moscow) and I was right opposite,” she said.

Moscow’s traffic management authority said the driver was not drunk and Interfax news agency cited a source saying there was no alcohol in his blood.

A damaged taxi, which ran into a crowd of people, is evacuated in central Moscow, Russia June 16, 2018. REUTERS/Jack Stubbs

The driver said he wanted to brake but accidentally hit the accelerator instead, according to a video published by police.

“I regret very much… I wanted to go home afterwards, to have a sleep,” he said.

The driver said he had been working for 20 hours by the time the incident happened. Asked why he ran away, he said he was afraid he would be killed after bypassers beat him.

A court will hold a sentencing hearing on Monday, TASS reported.

Authorities have vowed a safe soccer World Cup, which Russia is hosting for the first time ever. It is taking place in 11 cities until July 15.

In central Moscow, authorities have installed heavy concrete blocks across the entrances to pedestrian areas following a spate of incidents in European cities in which vehicles were used to mow down people.

The U.S. State Department on Friday updated its travel advice on Russia, saying terrorist groups were plotting attacks.

“Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities,” the travel advice stated.

DRIVER’S LICENSE

The Moscow traffic authority posted on Twitter a copy of what it said was the taxi driver’s license. It gave his name as Chingiz Anarbek Uulu and said he was born on April 22, 1990.

It gave his birthplace as the town of Kochkor-Ata in Kyrgyzstan, near the border with Uzbekistan.

An account on Russian social media platform Odnoklassniki for someone with the same name and date of birth was last updated two years ago.

The last video he posted on his page depicted chapter 82 of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, which discussed judgment day. There was nothing on the page to suggest any links to, or sympathies with, Islamist militant groups.

People walking around in central Moscow on Saturday evening said they were aware of the taxi incident, but it did not put them off spending time in the city. The streets were packed with people listening to street musicians perform, or sitting at pavement cafes.

“We’re not scared but disappointed,” said Youseff Fraige, 27, from Monterrey, Mexico.

Slideshow (5 Images)

“We didn’t expect something like this to happen in a place like this. It could happen anywhere in the world, but that it happens here in Moscow, in the middle of the World Cup, it’s shocking for us.”

Reporting by Christian Lowe, Maria Kiselyova, Jack Stubbs, Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Tom Balmforth; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Stephen Powell, Catherine Evans and David Gregorio

The post Taxi plows into Moscow crowd including soccer fans, injuring seven appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2JJ5wXy via Everyday News

[cleopatrarps]

Taxi plows into Moscow crowd including soccer fans, injuring seven

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A taxi drove into a crowd of pedestrians near Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday, injuring seven people including two Mexicans in the city for the soccer World Cup which Russia is hosting, officials and eyewitnesses said.

The incident took place as residents and visiting soccer fans thronged the center of Moscow on a balmy summer evening, a short distance from the Kremlin.

Moscow’s traffic management authority said the taxi driver had a driver’s license issued in Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim ex-Soviet republic. The driver, in custody, told police he had not driven into the crowd on purpose, according to a footage published on the Moscow police website.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a post on Twitter: “There was an unpleasant incident with a taxi. The driver lost control of the vehicle.”

The city’s police said they had opened a criminal investigation into a suspected violation of the traffic code.

The police said seven people were injured in the incident. Moscow city’s healthcare department said earlier that eight had been hurt and taken to hospital, of whom seven were in a satisfactory condition, while one woman was seriously hurt.

The Mexican embassy in Moscow said two Mexican women had been lightly injured. Also among those hurt were a Ukrainian, two Russians and two citizens of Azerbaijan, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted a source in the emergency services as saying.

Video of the incident posted on social media showed the yellow Hyundai taxi pull sharply out of a line of stationary traffic, accelerate and mount the narrow pavement, which was packed with pedestrians.

The taxi drove for about 10 meters along the pavement, bowling over pedestrians and carrying some on the bonnet of the car. It came to a halt after hitting a traffic sign.

As bystanders tried to pull open the driver’s side door, the driver, dressed in black trousers and black T-shirt, jumped out and sprinted away. More bystanders chased him and could be seen trying to tackle him as the footage ended.

MEXICO SOCCER MATCH

A witness told Reuters that some of the people hit were wearing Mexican team colors. Mexico take on Germany on Sunday in their first World Cup match at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium, and thousands of Mexican fans are in the Russian capital.

A second witness told Reuters about the driver of the taxi: “He was pulled out of the vehicle, he ran off but bystanders apprehended him. He was shouting: ‘It wasn’t me’.”

Another witness, Viktoria Geraimovich, said she called emergency services on her mobile phone. She said the driver “ran into a group of Mexicans. There were shouts, moans. He was only stopped because he hit a traffic sign.”

“Someone gave him a punch in the face. He stayed in the car, people came up to him, said what are you doing, punched him in the face, he opened the door and tried to run away.”

“It’s scary that it was in the center (of Moscow) and I was right opposite,” she said.

Moscow’s traffic management authority said the driver was not drunk and Interfax news agency cited a source saying there was no alcohol in his blood.

A damaged taxi, which ran into a crowd of people, is evacuated in central Moscow, Russia June 16, 2018. REUTERS/Jack Stubbs

The driver said he wanted to brake but accidentally hit the accelerator instead, according to a video published by police.

“I regret very much… I wanted to go home afterwards, to have a sleep,” he said.

The driver said he had been working for 20 hours by the time the incident happened. Asked why he ran away, he said he was afraid he would be killed after bypassers beat him.

A court will hold a sentencing hearing on Monday, TASS reported.

Authorities have vowed a safe soccer World Cup, which Russia is hosting for the first time ever. It is taking place in 11 cities until July 15.

In central Moscow, authorities have installed heavy concrete blocks across the entrances to pedestrian areas following a spate of incidents in European cities in which vehicles were used to mow down people.

The U.S. State Department on Friday updated its travel advice on Russia, saying terrorist groups were plotting attacks.

“Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities,” the travel advice stated.

DRIVER’S LICENSE

The Moscow traffic authority posted on Twitter a copy of what it said was the taxi driver’s license. It gave his name as Chingiz Anarbek Uulu and said he was born on April 22, 1990.

It gave his birthplace as the town of Kochkor-Ata in Kyrgyzstan, near the border with Uzbekistan.

An account on Russian social media platform Odnoklassniki for someone with the same name and date of birth was last updated two years ago.

The last video he posted on his page depicted chapter 82 of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, which discussed judgment day. There was nothing on the page to suggest any links to, or sympathies with, Islamist militant groups.

People walking around in central Moscow on Saturday evening said they were aware of the taxi incident, but it did not put them off spending time in the city. The streets were packed with people listening to street musicians perform, or sitting at pavement cafes.

“We’re not scared but disappointed,” said Youseff Fraige, 27, from Monterrey, Mexico.

Slideshow (5 Images)

“We didn’t expect something like this to happen in a place like this. It could happen anywhere in the world, but that it happens here in Moscow, in the middle of the World Cup, it’s shocking for us.”

Reporting by Christian Lowe, Maria Kiselyova, Jack Stubbs, Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Tom Balmforth; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Stephen Powell, Catherine Evans and David Gregorio

The post Taxi plows into Moscow crowd including soccer fans, injuring seven appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2JJ5wXy via News of World

[dani-qrt]

Taxi plows into Moscow crowd including soccer fans, injuring seven

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A taxi drove into a crowd of pedestrians near Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday, injuring seven people including two Mexicans in the city for the soccer World Cup which Russia is hosting, officials and eyewitnesses said.

The incident took place as residents and visiting soccer fans thronged the center of Moscow on a balmy summer evening, a short distance from the Kremlin.

Moscow’s traffic management authority said the taxi driver had a driver’s license issued in Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim ex-Soviet republic. The driver, in custody, told police he had not driven into the crowd on purpose, according to a footage published on the Moscow police website.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a post on Twitter: “There was an unpleasant incident with a taxi. The driver lost control of the vehicle.”

The city’s police said they had opened a criminal investigation into a suspected violation of the traffic code.

The police said seven people were injured in the incident. Moscow city’s healthcare department said earlier that eight had been hurt and taken to hospital, of whom seven were in a satisfactory condition, while one woman was seriously hurt.

The Mexican embassy in Moscow said two Mexican women had been lightly injured. Also among those hurt were a Ukrainian, two Russians and two citizens of Azerbaijan, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted a source in the emergency services as saying.

Video of the incident posted on social media showed the yellow Hyundai taxi pull sharply out of a line of stationary traffic, accelerate and mount the narrow pavement, which was packed with pedestrians.

The taxi drove for about 10 meters along the pavement, bowling over pedestrians and carrying some on the bonnet of the car. It came to a halt after hitting a traffic sign.

As bystanders tried to pull open the driver’s side door, the driver, dressed in black trousers and black T-shirt, jumped out and sprinted away. More bystanders chased him and could be seen trying to tackle him as the footage ended.

MEXICO SOCCER MATCH

A witness told Reuters that some of the people hit were wearing Mexican team colors. Mexico take on Germany on Sunday in their first World Cup match at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium, and thousands of Mexican fans are in the Russian capital.

A second witness told Reuters about the driver of the taxi: “He was pulled out of the vehicle, he ran off but bystanders apprehended him. He was shouting: ‘It wasn’t me’.”

Another witness, Viktoria Geraimovich, said she called emergency services on her mobile phone. She said the driver “ran into a group of Mexicans. There were shouts, moans. He was only stopped because he hit a traffic sign.”

“Someone gave him a punch in the face. He stayed in the car, people came up to him, said what are you doing, punched him in the face, he opened the door and tried to run away.”

“It’s scary that it was in the center (of Moscow) and I was right opposite,” she said.

Moscow’s traffic management authority said the driver was not drunk and Interfax news agency cited a source saying there was no alcohol in his blood.

A damaged taxi, which ran into a crowd of people, is evacuated in central Moscow, Russia June 16, 2018. REUTERS/Jack Stubbs

The driver said he wanted to brake but accidentally hit the accelerator instead, according to a video published by police.

“I regret very much… I wanted to go home afterwards, to have a sleep,” he said.

The driver said he had been working for 20 hours by the time the incident happened. Asked why he ran away, he said he was afraid he would be killed after bypassers beat him.

A court will hold a sentencing hearing on Monday, TASS reported.

Authorities have vowed a safe soccer World Cup, which Russia is hosting for the first time ever. It is taking place in 11 cities until July 15.

In central Moscow, authorities have installed heavy concrete blocks across the entrances to pedestrian areas following a spate of incidents in European cities in which vehicles were used to mow down people.

The U.S. State Department on Friday updated its travel advice on Russia, saying terrorist groups were plotting attacks.

“Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities,” the travel advice stated.

DRIVER’S LICENSE

The Moscow traffic authority posted on Twitter a copy of what it said was the taxi driver’s license. It gave his name as Chingiz Anarbek Uulu and said he was born on April 22, 1990.

It gave his birthplace as the town of Kochkor-Ata in Kyrgyzstan, near the border with Uzbekistan.

An account on Russian social media platform Odnoklassniki for someone with the same name and date of birth was last updated two years ago.

The last video he posted on his page depicted chapter 82 of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, which discussed judgment day. There was nothing on the page to suggest any links to, or sympathies with, Islamist militant groups.

People walking around in central Moscow on Saturday evening said they were aware of the taxi incident, but it did not put them off spending time in the city. The streets were packed with people listening to street musicians perform, or sitting at pavement cafes.

“We’re not scared but disappointed,” said Youseff Fraige, 27, from Monterrey, Mexico.

Slideshow (5 Images)

“We didn’t expect something like this to happen in a place like this. It could happen anywhere in the world, but that it happens here in Moscow, in the middle of the World Cup, it’s shocking for us.”

Reporting by Christian Lowe, Maria Kiselyova, Jack Stubbs, Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Tom Balmforth; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Stephen Powell, Catherine Evans and David Gregorio

The post Taxi plows into Moscow crowd including soccer fans, injuring seven appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2JJ5wXy via Online News

[party-hard-or-die]

Taxi plows into Moscow crowd including soccer fans, injuring seven

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A taxi drove into a crowd of pedestrians near Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday, injuring seven people including two Mexicans in the city for the soccer World Cup which Russia is hosting, officials and eyewitnesses said.

The incident took place as residents and visiting soccer fans thronged the center of Moscow on a balmy summer evening, a short distance from the Kremlin.

Moscow’s traffic management authority said the taxi driver had a driver’s license issued in Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim ex-Soviet republic. The driver, in custody, told police he had not driven into the crowd on purpose, according to a footage published on the Moscow police website.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a post on Twitter: “There was an unpleasant incident with a taxi. The driver lost control of the vehicle.”

The city’s police said they had opened a criminal investigation into a suspected violation of the traffic code.

The police said seven people were injured in the incident. Moscow city’s healthcare department said earlier that eight had been hurt and taken to hospital, of whom seven were in a satisfactory condition, while one woman was seriously hurt.

The Mexican embassy in Moscow said two Mexican women had been lightly injured. Also among those hurt were a Ukrainian, two Russians and two citizens of Azerbaijan, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted a source in the emergency services as saying.

Video of the incident posted on social media showed the yellow Hyundai taxi pull sharply out of a line of stationary traffic, accelerate and mount the narrow pavement, which was packed with pedestrians.

The taxi drove for about 10 meters along the pavement, bowling over pedestrians and carrying some on the bonnet of the car. It came to a halt after hitting a traffic sign.

As bystanders tried to pull open the driver’s side door, the driver, dressed in black trousers and black T-shirt, jumped out and sprinted away. More bystanders chased him and could be seen trying to tackle him as the footage ended.

MEXICO SOCCER MATCH

A witness told Reuters that some of the people hit were wearing Mexican team colors. Mexico take on Germany on Sunday in their first World Cup match at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium, and thousands of Mexican fans are in the Russian capital.

A second witness told Reuters about the driver of the taxi: “He was pulled out of the vehicle, he ran off but bystanders apprehended him. He was shouting: ‘It wasn’t me’.”

Another witness, Viktoria Geraimovich, said she called emergency services on her mobile phone. She said the driver “ran into a group of Mexicans. There were shouts, moans. He was only stopped because he hit a traffic sign.”

“Someone gave him a punch in the face. He stayed in the car, people came up to him, said what are you doing, punched him in the face, he opened the door and tried to run away.”

“It’s scary that it was in the center (of Moscow) and I was right opposite,” she said.

Moscow’s traffic management authority said the driver was not drunk and Interfax news agency cited a source saying there was no alcohol in his blood.

A damaged taxi, which ran into a crowd of people, is evacuated in central Moscow, Russia June 16, 2018. REUTERS/Jack Stubbs

The driver said he wanted to brake but accidentally hit the accelerator instead, according to a video published by police.

“I regret very much… I wanted to go home afterwards, to have a sleep,” he said.

The driver said he had been working for 20 hours by the time the incident happened. Asked why he ran away, he said he was afraid he would be killed after bypassers beat him.

A court will hold a sentencing hearing on Monday, TASS reported.

Authorities have vowed a safe soccer World Cup, which Russia is hosting for the first time ever. It is taking place in 11 cities until July 15.

In central Moscow, authorities have installed heavy concrete blocks across the entrances to pedestrian areas following a spate of incidents in European cities in which vehicles were used to mow down people.

The U.S. State Department on Friday updated its travel advice on Russia, saying terrorist groups were plotting attacks.

“Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities,” the travel advice stated.

DRIVER’S LICENSE

The Moscow traffic authority posted on Twitter a copy of what it said was the taxi driver’s license. It gave his name as Chingiz Anarbek Uulu and said he was born on April 22, 1990.

It gave his birthplace as the town of Kochkor-Ata in Kyrgyzstan, near the border with Uzbekistan.

An account on Russian social media platform Odnoklassniki for someone with the same name and date of birth was last updated two years ago.

The last video he posted on his page depicted chapter 82 of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, which discussed judgment day. There was nothing on the page to suggest any links to, or sympathies with, Islamist militant groups.

People walking around in central Moscow on Saturday evening said they were aware of the taxi incident, but it did not put them off spending time in the city. The streets were packed with people listening to street musicians perform, or sitting at pavement cafes.

“We’re not scared but disappointed,” said Youseff Fraige, 27, from Monterrey, Mexico.

Slideshow (5 Images)

“We didn’t expect something like this to happen in a place like this. It could happen anywhere in the world, but that it happens here in Moscow, in the middle of the World Cup, it’s shocking for us.”

Reporting by Christian Lowe, Maria Kiselyova, Jack Stubbs, Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Tom Balmforth; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Stephen Powell, Catherine Evans and David Gregorio

The post Taxi plows into Moscow crowd including soccer fans, injuring seven appeared first on World The News.

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[unfortunate-stranger-losers]

Right-Side Up AU, Part Three: It’s the End of the World {AO3} {tumblr} {Part One} {Part Two}

Chapter Five → Return to the Void

“Sorry we’re late!” Joyce said, running in and hanging her coat on the rack. “We had to talk to Ms Driscoll, and-” 

She looked around, surprised to see only four children sitting on the floor. As Hopper walked in after her, Max said, “Everyone else is late, too, you’re fine.” 

“Oh.” Joyce said. “Wh-where’s Will? And-” 

“Will and Dustin are at the mall with Steve.” El explained, her and Mike still braiding bracelets together. “Nancy and Jonathan are somewhere, I don’t know.” 

“Probably making out.” Max said. She was staring very hard at the floor. “I was gonna walk home myself but I walked Lucas home first and El thought-” 

“That you walking home alone has had a precedent for turning out bad.” El said. She glanced cautiously at Max, who still stared at the floor. Lucas was giving her the occasional worried look, too. 

“Well, um…” Joyce tried hard not to look anxious. “I… I suppose that’s alright. It’s just-” 

“Weird we’re not attached to each other?” El said. 

“I didn’t say-” 

“I think,” Hopper said, giving El a careful glance, “We should go home. Joyce, you catch Nancy and Jonathan up on what we found.” 

Joyce nodded. “I-” 

“I need to sleep.” Max stood up quickly, still not looking at anyone. She walked right past Hopper, and out the door. 

El bit her lip. “Dad, is this… the whole PTSD thing you mentioned?” 

He took a sharp breath. “Maybe? Or it could just be teen angst. You all get it.” 

“Can we help?” 

Hopper gave her a sad look. “We’ll… have to see. Come on.” 

El hesitantly gave Mike a kiss on the cheek, and then stood up and followed her father out the door. 

When she left, Lucas looked up at Joyce and said, “Can… can Mike and I hang out for a bit? Until Steve comes back.” 

“Of course.” she said, a kind smile on her face. “Of course, I… I’ll jot down my thoughts for Nancy and Jonathan when they get back. You two have fun, okay?” 

Lucas nodded, and held out his hand for Mike. Mike took it, one hand still holding the half-done bracelet, and the two of them headed to the room they’d managed to make for Mike. 

Once Lucas closed the door, he said, “Mike, can you still go into the Void?” 

Mike placed his bracelet beside several others on his desk, and he said, “Yeah. Why? Cause El told me not to spy on her or Max because that’s ‘invasive’ and ‘creepy.’” 

“I need you to spy on Max’s stepbrother.” 

Mike blinked. “Why the hell-” 

Lucas sat on the bed and said, “He was at the pool. Me and Max passed him. He was being really mean to her.” 

Mike’s eyes widened, and he sat beside his friend. “That is scary.” he agreed. “But why do I need to-” 

“I accidentally threw some light at him.” Lucas said. 

“Lucas!” Mike jumped. “You can’t do that, we-” 

“I know, I know, but he acted really weird. He backed up-” 

“Yeah, people do that when light shows up in their face.” 

“But it was… not like that.” Lucas sighed. “It’s hard to explain. Why can’t we have better words?” 

“Because our life used to suck.” Mike said. 

“I just… can you look at Billy? See what he’s doing?” 

Mike paused. “I think so. I… can try?” 

“Do you need a picture? I don’t have one.” 

“I think I saw a picture. When El was showing me her photo album, there was some guy behind Max at the park. Does he have ginger hair and kind-of a beard?” 

“Yeah!” 

“Okay. Okay, if I focus… can you be quiet?” 

Lucas nodded, scooting back. “Good luck.” 

Mike smiled at him, then reached into his pillowcase, where he kept an emergency strip of fabric. He pulled it out, tied it around his eyes, and focused. 

Nancy rushed in, saying, “Sorry! Sorry, we’re late, we got caught up with-” 

“That’s alright.” Joyce said, looking up from the table, where she was writing something onto a notepad. She smiled at Jonathan and said, “We, um, have some stuff to go over.” 

“So do we.” Nancy immediately walked over to the fridge, glancing down. “Will’s drawings fell again, huh?” 

“What? Oh.” Joyce looked over, noticing the papers on the floor. “Yes, I- shit, I can-” 

“Watch.” Nancy knelt by the floor, picking up the magnet that had held a paper. She placed it on the fridge, and let go. 

It fell to the floor. 

Joyce narrowed her eyes, watching as Nancy tried it again, and the magnet fell again. 

“The magnets are failing.” Jonathan said, sitting across from her. “So we went to Mr Clarke, and he explained that we have a… an issue.” He straightened up, as Nancy came to sit by them, and said, “See, the magnets would be affected by an unstable electromagnetic field. The Gate, when it was open, created one of those, which is why the compasses pointed towards it.” 

“We didn’t have problems with magnets while the Gate was open.” Joyce said. 

“Which, thankfully, probably means the Gate hasn’t re-opened.” Nancy said. “Unfortunately, there is definitely something going on- and if it’s affecting these magnets, it could be stronger.” 

“There’s gotta be some huge machine.” Jonathan said. “Mr Clarke showed us an AC Device that can simulate the magnetic activity, but he said if- theoretically- this was starting to happen in town, there’d have to be a larger machine causing it. If it reached all across town, it would have to be… hugely powerful.” 

“Like, ‘billions of dollars to run, explosively dangerous’ powerful.” Nancy said, looking excited. 

Joyce’s eyes widened, and she suddenly really wished she had a cigarette. “Do you think it’s something at the Lab?” 

“I don’t know.” Nancy’s face fell a little. “We were planning on telling our bosses and getting this in the paper, but… well, they didn’t believe us about the rats, likely they’ll yell ‘female hysteria’ at me for screaming about magnets.” 

“And if I tell them, more likely than not they’ll tell me to go back to the darkroom and find some way to blame Nancy.” Jonathan squirmed slightly. 

Joyce took a deep breath. “Um. Speaking of the rats-” 

“Did you visit Ms Driscoll?” 

“Yes, me and Hopper stopped by. She was very excited that ‘those nice reporters’ thought to call the police.” 

“And?” Nancy asked. 

Joyce bit her lip. “You said you saw the crazy rat in the cage, right?” 

“Yeah, I got pictures.” Jonathan said, a sinking feeling in his chest. 

Joyce sighed. “Well. It… exploded.” 

The teenagers fell deathly silent. 

“It… what?” Nancy said. 

“We found its remains. Ms Driscoll was…” Joyce took a breath. “A bit unnerved.” 

“I should assume so.” Jonathan said. “What happened to it?” 

“We don’t know.”

Nancy took a deep breath, and then said, “We’re checking out the Lab tomorrow.” 

“Um, we have work.” Jonathan said. 

“We’ll go after work, or play hooky. I’ll say I have girl problems again, you can meet me there.” Nancy said. 

“Nancy-” 

“I’m not letting them mess with Mike’s life again.” Nancy said, very certainly. “Or anyone else’s.” She turned to Joyce. “Is the Chief here?” 

Joyce shook her head. “Max and El had to go home.” 

“Tomorrow, if he stops by your work, can you ask him to check up with Ms Driscoll? Just to make sure she’s alright, see if any rats came back.” Nancy’s eyes were focused, a plan whirring in her brain. “We’ll check out the Lab. Meet you back here in the afternoon to compare notes, to pick up the kids-” 

Almost as if on cue, the door opened, and Dustin and Will ran in. “Mom!” Will cheered, running and giving her a hug. 

Joyce beamed upon seeing her youngest son, and she hugged him back, saying, “Hey! Hey, how was the mall?” 

“It was great! Steve gives us free ice cream, but we’re not supposed to tell anyone!” Will said. 

Dustin smiled at them. “Where are the others?” 

“Um,” Joyce said, “El and Max had to go home early, and Lucas is in Mike’s room.” 

“Okay, cause we better go. We’re gonna be late home and then Steve’ll wake up late and be late to work and we’ll get yelled at.” Dustin said seriously. 

Nancy forced a smile. “Better make sure that doesn’t happen.” 

Dustin ran off, and after a minute, so did Will. 

Jonathan paused. “Should we tell them-” 

“Once we have evidence. No sense worrying them if this is just a coincidence.” Joyce said. 

“A rat blew up and magnets are going nuts and you think it’s a coincidence?” 

“We’ll figure it out, Nancy.” Jonathan assured her. “We always do.” 

Nancy sighed, and then said, “Sooner or later we’re gonna find something out too late.” 

It had gotten easier to slip into the Void in the last few months. Truthfully, Mike didn’t even need the blindfold, but it did cut down preparation time by a few minutes. He’d also gotten a bit more used to it. The coldness, the stillness, the blackness. Even the faint feel of water under his feet. 

“I’m in.” he said, then he thought very hard. “Finding Billy.” 

“Be careful.” he heard Lucas say, very distantly. 

“He can’t hurt me.” Mike shrugged. 

He walked a bit in the darkness, focusing very hard on the blurry, hazy memory he had of the photo. Would that be enough to find Max’s stepbrother? 

He thought he heard a noise behind him, and turned to see the image of a car. “There’s a car.” he said aloud, walking towards it, cocking his head. He didn’t see anybody in it. There was a California license plate, and… oh. Shit. There was a giant-ass crack in the window. 

Mike walked around the edge of the car, peering in the windows and doing his best not to touch it; he didn’t want it to vanish, like most things did when he saw them in the Void. He looked up, and realized the trunk was open. That was… strange. 

Carefully, he stepped closer to the trunk, a bit of a chill spreading through him. “Lucas?” he called. “Lucas, there’s… he’s not here, the car’s empty.” There didn’t seem to be anything in the trunk, it was as dark as the rest of the Void… 

Lucas said something, but Mike jumped and turned; there was a figure, crouching several feet away. He could see light red hair- Billy? Hopefully? 

“Hold on.” Mike walked over. What was he doing? He thought he heard another sound, and at first he assumed it was Lucas, but… no. This sounded higher. More muffled. Like a struggling woman. 

Billy said something- it might’ve been “Don’t be afraid,” but Mike wasn’t sure. 

“He’s… on the floor?” Mike said, walking up. “Talking to someone. Who’s not talking back.” 

He kept moving across the wet floor of the Void, starting to feel cold. 

“Max?” Lucas asked, scared. 

“I don’t… think…” Mike moved more, trying to get a better view. He was closer to Billy now, and he could definitely hear fear in the other, muffled voice. Like muffled screams. He knew that sound well; when one of the boys in the Lab got too loud, they’d have a gag stuck in their mouths. It was not pleasant. Clearly someone was gagged. Was Billy trying to help them? Or… 

Before he could move around the figure, Billy slowly stood up. Mike retreated a few steps, confused. The teenager before him was standing very still, almost like a statue. Once again, he tilted his head, trying to look around and see who was on the ground… 

Billy whipped around, staring, dark eyes boring into him. Mike gasped, frozen in place, as Max’s stepbrother kept staring. He couldn’t see him. He was in the Void, he couldn’t see… 

He turned more, now directly facing Mike. And then, slowly, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

Mike screamed, and the next thing he knew, he was ripping his blindfold off, gasping for breath and holding back horrified tears. 

“What? What happened?” Lucas leapt forwards, grabbing his hands. “Mike? Are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?” 

“He saw me.” Mike gasped. 

“What?” 

“He saw me.” Mike shut his eyes. “He saw me and he disappeared. Like… like he didn’t want me to see what he was…” He took a deep breath. “I’m going to hide in the closet.” 

“No, no.” Lucas moved his hands to Mike’s shoulders, holding him down. “You’re not hiding in the closet again, you can’t keep doing that, you’re just reminding yourself of Solitary and making it worse.” 

“I need to calm down.” 

“Then breathe. Like Nancy taught you how to do.” Lucas said. “Breathe. In and out.”

“How could he see me?” 

“I don’t know. I don’t know, but…” Lucas considered. “We’ll find out. Tomorrow, we’ll go out. Find him. You can track him?” 

“In the Void.” Mike shivered. “He… he saw…” 

“Then we’ll start with Max’s old house and go from there.” Lucas said. “Okay? We’ll find out what was going on.” 

“Someone needed help. It- it didn’t sound like Max-” 

“We’ll figure it out. Okay? Breathe.” 

Mike shut his eyes, and breathed in and out. In and out. 

They heard a door open, and Lucas said, “That’ll be my ride. Will you be okay?” 

Mike nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I… oh, shit.” 

“What?” 

Mike looked over at him, startled. “What are we going to tell El?”

[dani-qrt]

Taxi plows into Moscow crowd including soccer fans, injuring eight

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A taxi drove into a crowd of pedestrians near Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday, injuring eight people including two Mexicans in the city for the soccer World Cup which Russia is hosting, officials and eyewitnesses said.

A damaged taxi, which ran into a crowd of people, is evacuated in central Moscow, Russia June 16, 2018. REUTERS/Jack Stubbs

The incident took place as residents and visiting soccer fans thronged the center of Moscow on a balmy summer evening, a short distance from the Kremlin.

Moscow’s traffic management authority said the taxi driver had a driver’s license issued in Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim ex-Soviet republic. It cited the driver, who was in police custody, as saying he had not driven into the crowd on purpose.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a post on Twitter: “There was an unpleasant incident with a taxi. The driver lost control of the vehicle.”

The city’s police said they had opened a criminal investigation into a suspected violation of the traffic code.

Eight people were hurt and had been taken to hospital, Moscow city’s healthcare department said in a statement. It said seven were in a satisfactory condition, while one woman was seriously hurt.

The Mexican embassy in Moscow said two Mexican women had been lightly injured. Also among those hurt were a Ukrainian and two Russian citizens, Russia’s TASS news agency quoted a source in the emergency services as saying.

Video of the incident posted on social media showed the yellow Hyundai taxi pull sharply out of a line of stationery traffic, accelerate and mount the narrow pavement, which was packed with pedestrians.

The vehicle drove for about 10 meters along the pavement, bowling over pedestrians, with some of them being carried along on the bonnet of the car.

The taxi came to a halt after hitting a traffic sign. As bystanders tried to pull open the driver’s side door, the driver, dressed in black trousers and black T-shirt, jumped out and sprinted away.

More bystanders chased after him and could be seen trying to tackle him to the ground as the footage ended.

MEXICO SOCCER MATCH

A witness told Reuters that some of the people hit were wearing Mexican team colors. Mexico take on Germany on Sunday in their first World Cup match at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium, and thousands of Mexican fans are in the Russian capital.

A second witness at the scene told Reuters about the driver of the taxi: “He was pulled out of the vehicle, he ran off but bystanders apprehended him. He was shouting: ‘It wasn’t me’.”

A damaged taxi, which ran into a crowd of people, is evacuated in central Moscow, Russia June 16, 2018. REUTERS/Jack Stubbs

Another witness, Viktoria Geraimovich, said she called the emergency services on her mobile phone.

Describing the actions of the driver, she said: “He ran into a group of Mexicans. There were shouts, moans. He was only stopped because he hit a traffic sign.”

“Someone gave him a punch in the face. He stayed in the car, people came up to him, said what are you doing, punched him in the face, he opened the door and tried to run away.”

“It’s scary that it was in the center (of Moscow) and I was right opposite,” she said.

Moscow’s traffic management authority said the driver was not drunk and Interfax news agency cited a source saying there was no alcohol in his blood.

The same source told Interfax the driver had said he fell asleep at the wheel and accidentally pressed the accelerator pedal.

Russian authorities have vowed to host a safe soccer World Cup, which Russia is hosting for the first time ever. It is taking place in 11 cities until July 15.

In central Moscow, authorities have installed heavy concrete blocks across the entrances to pedestrianized areas following a spate of incidents in European cities in which vehicles were used to mow down people.

Slideshow (4 Images)

The U.S. State Department on Friday updated its travel advice on Russia, saying terrorist groups were plotting attacks.

“Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities,” the travel advice stated.

DRIVER’S LICENSE

The Moscow traffic authority posted on Twitter a copy of what it said was the taxi driver’s license. It gave his name as Chingiz Anarbek Uulu and said he was born on April 22, 1990.

It gave his birth-place as the town of Kochkor-Ata in Kyrgyzstan, near the border with Uzbekistan.

An account on Russian social media platform Odnoklassniki for someone with the same name and date of birth was last updated two years ago.

The last video he posted on his page depicted chapter 82 of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, which discussed judgment day. There was nothing on the page to suggest any links to, or sympathies with, Islamist militant groups.

People walking around in central Moscow on Saturday evening said they were aware of the taxi incident, but it did not put them off spending time in the city. The streets were packed with people listening to street musicians perform, or sitting at pavement cafes.

“We’re not scared but disappointed,” said Youseff Fraige, 27, from Monterrey, Mexico.

“We didn’t expect something like this to happen in a place like this. It could happen anywhere in the world, but that it happens here in Moscow, in the middle of the World Cup, it’s shocking for us.”

Reporting by Christian Lowe, Maria Kiselyova, Jack Stubbs, Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Tom Balmforth; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Stephen Powell

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