Consider winning a race. It's always the same people.
It probably depends on the kind of race, you suppose. And who's participating, of course. Whether you're participating, or even betting on anything. And several other factors, including behind-the-scenes processes and all sorts of other things that could happen.
Alex would slowly walk towards his mother. If she tried to say anything, he would cut her off. "mom, i'm sorry. But I did what I had to do, and now I will face what will come of it. And I just don't know what to do, even if you are angry at me."
Your mom says nothing, and merely takes you to the car, urging you to sit in the back seat along with her. As you begin to drive off, then the verbal assault begins - you attempt to cut her off, but she has none of it, since as your mother and a respected city politician she has learned very effective methods of taking charge in a conversation - methods that you, as a shy and cynical outcast at your most sociable, could never hope to learn. She narrates to you the dozens of ways you've failed as her son in the narrower sense and as a human being in the more general one, though a bit of her impressive oratory is lost on you in the hour-long drive as you just shut your eyes and try not to listen too hard, blissfully so, in fact.
At about the last quarter of the trip, your mother seems to calm down a little, her perfected wrathful tranquility subsiding, giving way to a simple, emotionless coldness, the sort that you occasionally feel as well, but that feels exceedingly cruel when aimed at you for some reason. As you glance at her eyes, a few childhood memories run through your mind. Happier times in many ways. The thought that the mother you remember from back then is even vaguely this very same person makes you feel a little nauseous.
Your mother explains that, from now on, you may no longer use your name. You have been disowned. Favors will be called in, documents arranged, records corrected, and you will have your name changed. It took a lot of clout on your parents' part to arrange your immediate release, considering what you were mixed up in. They've been very generous with second chances so far, no matter how much you seemed to want to wind up as street trash. But this is where they draw the line. She's spoken with your father, and he agrees with this course of action. And now you seem to have gotten powers as well, which is the last nail in your coffin, she's afraid. So that's that. From here on in, you will be a Raman no more, and you will be expected to stay as far away from your mother, father or any other relatives as possible, otherwise they will personally do everything in their power to arrange that you be sent to the Birdcage, no questions asked.
She asks of you, is that understood?
"My dad's name is Simon, he works as at Doogle's doughnuts and pati... patisseries."
"We'll... try to get him over here, miss."
After a little more back-and-forth, mostly minor stuff, the man leaves, and a whole lot of time passes. Checking the clock outside the cell in the PRT offices reveals that it's been four hours by the time a visitor comes over.
It's your dad, haggard and emotionally crushed to a degree you have not seen before in your life.
Selina sits there in the darkness for a second, shaking in fear and panic. Had she been left to die? Tortured, cloned, and now left to die in some basement or cellar!? She cried for a while, sitting in her misery before remembering the other her now in here...
"C-c-can you... t-t-talk...?" Selina wasn't really in the best shape to be talking anymore, throat constantly raw from the screaming.
As your eyes slowly begin to adapt to the dark, you can make out the vague shape of the other you at the other end of the basement, and notice her turn her head toward you as you speak, although she doesn't speak. She does begin to pull at the cable ties, though, making slight pained sounds as she fails to move away. It seems she's been tied to the pipe in a very uncomfortable position, although this doesn't seem to stop her from falling asleep a few minutes after you stop trying to reach her with your words.
Hours pass, and you inadvertently pass out as well. You dream of a girl you liked back in school. It's a pleasant dream, though it is interrupted more rudely than usual when Konicek steps inside the room and switches on the light. Startled and very drowsy, you stir on the table, at first not realizing quite where you are or why you're restrained, and feeling a great deal of sudden fear, giving way to the now-typical form of abject terror when you realize Konicek's here and that there is no way what's about to happen next is going to be good news. Noticing your ill-fated, drowsy attempts to get free, Konicek shushes you, pointing at the still-sleeping other you, and takes out a pair of shining scissors, the sight of which fills you with grim anticipation. He's going to stab you in the eye with it, isn't he? It'd fit.
Much to your surprise, however, the man simply trims the other you's hair a bit, during which she almost doesn't move at all. And after a quick round of that, Konicek slips a bag over her head, to which the other you reacts with a bit of flailing panic, at which point he injects her with that knock-out solution, and a few moments afterward she becomes very still and relaxed, the sight of which you find altogether disturbing. Konicek throws her over his shoulder and turns to you.
"Well, time to give your parents a refund, huh?" he says genially, then exits the room, locking the door behind him and turning off the lights once more.
"Don't worry, mom. I'm sure Nick will be alright." Jake tried to reassure his mother, glancing in the direction they had taken Nick. He had to be okay, right? I mean, what was the point of saving his family if his brother wasn't going to make it anyway? God damn it, if he lost his brother he would make that Dissent bitch pay, her and her friends. And he would do all he could to make sure it was slow and painful for them.
The next twelve or so hours are a mix of intense boredom and terrible tension - the combination that results from utter powerlessness. A few doctors periodically check on your mother, both her eyes and her general state of well-being, and she seems like she'll be okay, although her eyesight is probably permanently impaired from the damage sustained. The hydrogen fluoride in the air, the doctors explain, is very harmful to one's eyes. And in a continuation of this, you eventually get news of Nick's fate - he's alive, fortunately. Fluid was accumulating in his lungs rapidly, but the problem's been solved now.
Sadly, they could not save his eyes, and the doctors suspect that he'll remain blind permanently as a result of this experience. But he's stable, and they reassure you and your mother that otherwise he'll be perfectly fine if kept on a proper diet and made to take his medication regularly.
Getting out of bed steven has a quick shower then makes himself some breakfast and grabs his health insurance information before getting into his car and driving to the dentists office for the appointment he made yesterday.
Walking up to the receptionist Steven introduces himself and states that hes there for an appointment to get some new teeth made.
As it always happens with dentist appointments, you have to wait a bit, listening to the siren song of the drill as the poor schmuck before you gets his overdue tooth repair done. And when that's done and a worn-out, tubby man steps out of the dentist's office, you move inside and commence with the dentistry.
Considering your general state of finances and the quantity of missing teeth, the dentist decides that signing you up for a brand spanking new set of dentures would be optimal, and asks if you're okay with this.