While the cats away, the mice run like hell

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

As Calibusk uses Corrine’s summoning circle to jump to Alaska, Caleb reaps the benefits of Travis’ assistance. Free of the spell inhibiting him from siphoning off magic, he draws in as much magic as he can hold onto without concentrating too much, and phases his limbs through his restraints. Immediately he turns to the image revealing the battle between Calibusk and the Outsiders, only to discover that it’s disappearing.

“Dammit,” he mutters as he turns to the new arrivals. We can’t stay here. Assuming Calibusk survives his assault … best not to think about the other implications of that scenario as yet … Assuming Calibusk survives his assault, he’ll return here for us.

On one hand he truly doesn’t have the time for this, but on the other, abandoning two random strangers stranded in Hell is completely out of the question. Caleb runs over to the new arrivals, and begins to hurriedly jostle them. “Wake up!” he says. “We don’t have time to waste, so wake up!”

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The younger boy is quicker to rouse, tilting his head around in a circular motion until he's steady. It's a motion his buddies would probably all laugh at. Where are his buddies? Weren't they going to watch the girls at tennis practice? He looks up at Caleb. "Hey, man. You know where we are?"

The woman next to him stirs. She looks a little lost and crawls her way over to the wall. She's got a deep gash across her right calf, and she seems to be trying to rip a chunk out of her UMass hoodie through sniffles.

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

We don’t have time for this, he thinks. “Now, uh … please don’t panic,” he begins before, more confidently, “Do not panic, but we’re, uh … we’re in hell. Literally.”

He looks back at the teenage woman, and takes note that she’s tending to her own wounds like that. Perhaps she has some formal training. It’s a skill no note. “I’m Dr. Caleb Zukov, and I’m with the Outsiders. Right now, I need you both to come with me. A rescue is on it’s way, and I’ll keep us safe until it arrives.”

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"No shit, Feinstein, didn't you see that thing that nabbed us?" the girl spits off, although it's unclear whether she's talking to Caleb or the boy who's now mumbling to himself. She keeps working at her sweater but the crying's becoming more apparent. "If I don't get this patched up, I'm gonna trail blood all behind us."

The boy keeps mumbling a little, but he's starting to get to his feet. "I was just hanging out with my friends. I don't understand. If someone's coming for us shouldn't we just stay here? What if--" He looks over at the girl. "I think cops or somethin' would tell us to stay here. I heard that. Someone'll find us, right? People in the desert get found."

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

“Very true,” he explains to the boy as he moves over to the girl, and places his hands near her wound. “But sometimes the things that find you aren’t the things you want to find you.”

The gash running the length of her calf begins to close, and in a few seconds there isn’t even a scar. “The demon who abducted you will return for us here. We need to be elsewhere when that happens.”

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The girl's startled, but she gets to her feet, walking one-legged in a circle to test the now-healed limb. All good. Now she's got a torn sweater, great. She shoves the scraps into her pocket and seems content to follow, now. "Mara." She doesn't stop to shake Caleb's hand or even thank him, but she does stop in her steps to turn and look at the boy.

"I thought people only went to Hell if they were damned." He's looking towards the door and out into the horizon. "It could just be, like, New Mexico or somethin', right?"

Mara sighs. "Don't be stupid. You want that thing to come back and eat you? What're you gonna do, find a stick and poke it to death?"

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And where exactly is 'here'? Mara wonders idly. How in the hell-- no pun intended-- was he going to find him in this? Walk around until he trips over the body? This stupid kid's going to get them both killed. They should ditch him. And her leg might be healed but there's, what do they call them? Phantom pains? Maybe she's imagining it. I want to go home.

Out in the swirl of sands, a sketchy outcropping can be seen. A flashy red through the curtains of earth is the flickering jacket of James. He's frantically shuffling his way up the rock on his belly, his tattered (and bitten?) sneakers are kicking at several teethy little beasts screaming in high-pitched whistles. They look pretty convinced that he's edible.

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

Screw.

Caleb throws himself on top of the boy as his muscles tense in anticipation of what he fears will be dozens of tiny teeth sinking into his flesh. The feel of so much moving leathery flesh is instantly creepy, but he ignores it, and just as quickly as he can command the magic too, teleports them both back to Mara.

The leathery skin disappears, and Caleb rolls off of the boy, and allows himself to exhale. His muscles relax as the thought of what just nearly happened catches up with him.

BITE!

Caleb jerks away, narrowly missing a bite from another of the little things. He shakes the firs tone off of his arm as he gets back to his feet, and gets a good look at the nasty little things.

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The creatures are a clouded shade of blue, little glints of white as their jaws grab around for something to chomp. They're scaly little creatures about four inches tall, with no apparent feet, but taloned claws on their strong arms. The fact that they and their potential meal have been teleported doesn't seem to phase them.

One of them lets out a high-pitched screech, and two more climb from the sands, already just as focused on 'lunch' as their brethren.

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

Caleb’s fingers bend back as he presses them into the ground just above his head. In one sudden motion he kips up, his balance only slightly upset by the intense winds. He holds out a hand, and all three of the small things are immediately airborne, and thrown at the horizon. Or, at least where the horizon would be were the sandstorm not obstructing the view.

Caleb turns, and kneels next to James. “You’re too young to be dead, but if you do that again, death is the most probable outcome. Do not wander off again.” His voice is stern, but he restrains himself from yelling.

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"I-I thought I saw an armadillo." James shrugs, feeling stupid now. He'd actually never even seen an armadillo, but he guessed what he saw in the sandstorms was an armadillo. And armadillos burrow into the earth, which means they're not in Hell, and anyway maybe they could use it to find an underground cavern or something.

The little creatures were a slap in the face. He looks a little shellshocked but a lot more complacent.

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

They travel through the sandstorm for a while. It feels like hours, but none of them really try to keep track of time. The sandstorm dies down as the sun begins to set, though that wouldn’t be the only mercy fortune would bring with the twilight.

The terrain becomes rockier the higher up in elevation they go, though luckily before they climb so high that the air is a problem, Caleb spots an opening in the side of a cliff as the pass by.

“Mara,” he says with a nod.

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"Hunh?" Mara's been fussing sporadically with trying to tuck James's clothing in as much as possible. The kid's clothes are way too baggy and the wind is tattering at him at this elevation. It's not bad but the higher they go the more problematic it becomes. She secures the side of his jacket and looks at the space Caleb is.

She measures it with her eyes, sighs to herself and meets his stare. "I think James should go in first. He's the smallest, he'll be able to tell us if we can get through. We might get stuck."

James's eyes flick back and forth. "Nuh-uh! Screw you, you go first! Sumthin's gonna bite my arm off!"

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

"We are not sending James in first." It doesn't sound negotiable.

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James crosses his arms and gives her the dirtiest face. "Yeah! We're not sending me in first!" And he let that creepy, crazy girl put her arm around him-- yeugh!

Mara sighs again. Great. Now they're both giving her the stupid look. "I'm not being petty. If we're too big we'll get stuck and then what?"

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

“I’m capable of teleportation.”

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Mara looks at him, solemn and awkward for a few long moments. Then she just laughs. "You need to go to Disneyland or something, Doc."

More laughing, but not at him. She wants to laugh with him; her laugh wants him to laugh with her. "I went on a call with my cousin one time. This guy hit a tree doing 85, went right through his windshield in pieces. I hear one of the other guys on the side of the vehicle asking for a hand. My cousins says 'I'm looking!'" She chuckles a little. "Okay, sorry, your's is creepier."

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

He’s hesitant at first, but he does begin to laugh with her. It feels good. After the day he’s had, he could use a good laugh.

“Well, I have seen more weird things in my day. More experiences to draw upon, you see. It wasn’t a fair contest.”

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Mara shrugs. "Ever seen what a two year old looks like who was in the front seat without a seatbelt? People inflict nasty visuals on one another, we all see weird things eventually."

She's quiet for a minute. "So do you know the Flash?"

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

The stride she’s taking this in impresses Caleb greatly. He’s the one who’s always picking fights with the supernatural, and here she is, a civilian stranded in Hell, and she’s holding up better than he is.

He visibly relaxes some. “No, I’m sorry to say. Most ‘proper’ heroes prefer to be without my company, and I’m more than happy to respect their wishes on the matter.”

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"So you are the creepy guy." She smirks. "It's not so bad. You said people were coming for you, right? Other creepy people no one wants around, too, I guess?"

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Small-talk, but... there's little wheels turning in Mara's head and then something clicks. She gets another look at his face, a better one. "Oh my God, you're that guy! That was so freaky when I read that. Did she really get up and just start walking around?"

The look in her eyes says it's entirely possible she's a conspiracy theorist... at least as far as this is concerned. "They missed something in the papers, didn't they? STAR and all those other whack-jobs with scalpels and too much time... What'd they really do to her?"

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

He smiles and snickers, thoroughly amused by her excitement.

“STAR Labs, the DEO, the government -” then, sarcastically, “- the extra-terrestrial surgeons the Air Force is in contact with… Contrary to what the tabloids would have you believe, none of them touched her.”

“You’re correct, though – the papers did miss something.” He takes a bite of his beef jerky.

“I’ve never been so happy to eat Beef Jerky in my entire life.”

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

Mara's a little insulted and it shows. She never put much conscious thought into Area 51. There's been all sorts of weird things in the world for as long as she's been in it, maybe longer. Watching the news is sometimes like another episode of X-Files without Mulder's cute butt, why shouldn't corporations and government agencies be corrupt sometimes? "Well it's not as far fetched as an alien that saves babies from burning buildings in blue and red tights," she says a little sourly.

She frowns a little lopsidedly. "Guess that's a secret of the trade, huh? Me being a civillian and all." She shrugs. "Glad your sister isn't a veggie anymore, though, whatever it was."

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He sighs privately, and runs his hand through his hair, before making a point of looking her right in the eye in an effort to convey sincerity. “I wasn’t trying to be evasive, I … No, I was, it’s just…”

He sighs again. “It’s rather complicated.” And if the look on his face is any indication, it's also painful.

“You see, she and I are, uh … are cambians. Demon-human hybrids. When we were younger, I-I … I wasn’t always so well versed in arcane theory. There was an accident, and it, uh … it cost her twelve years of her life.”

He lowers his green eyes to the floor. "It's just a painful memory, is all. She, uh ... she was like a sister, daughter, and only true friend rolled up into one cheery little package, and I cost her twelve years. She's been holding me at arms lenght ever since. Can't really blame her, I suppose."

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For a few long moments, Mara is very pale. She looks out into the blackness. She can feel that the desert before them is starting to warm already, even though there are only two or three streaks of orange cutting the sky. No real day or night-time here, it seems like, just oppressive light and heat, or chilling darkness and cold.

She looks at Caleb, just staring. She's not afraid, it's... whoa. Staring out into that darkness, she says the first thing she can think of. "So you're a... hybrid?"