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[Nicholas1024]

We need to talk to Joy again, I think. Just what did she do with the thousand soul's body when she disappeared with it? I feel like there has to be some link between that and what happened to us.

It also might be good to just call our parents, tell them everything that has happened. Who knows, they might have some long-witheld tale from our childhood that will answer the "Why me?" question.

On another note, we need to start training our power at some point, for self defense if nothing else.

[Fallatus]

Yes, Like what?
We could try to contact "Jack" again. We could try to learn more or train our powers. Maybe call our family? Eat? Learn to use "the voice"?
One thing is for certain. We want to help anxiety. Or at least visit her again.

We need to talk to Joy again, I think. Just what did she do with the thousand soul's body when she disappeared with it? I feel like there has to be some link between that and what happened to us.

It also might be good to just call our parents, tell them everything that has happened. Who knows, they might have some long-witheld tale from our childhood that will answer the "Why me?" question.

On another note, we need to start training our power at some point, for self defense if nothing else.

Yes, we should probably do that. +1

[Doomblade187]

See what we can do as to training our powers- get an empty room or something like that, experiment, eat food occasionally, try to contact Jack should you sleep. You have questions to answer.

[Silleh Boy]

You had plans, you just needed to take a step back away from how deeply unbalanced you felt to see them. You'd see what you could do for Anxiety as you felt that if nothing else, she deserved another chance to live a life beyond this imprisonment, a chance to be rehabilitated and brought into this century.
You needed to call your parents, speak with them to ground yourself, to see if they had any hidden secrets about your past that bore relevance. You doubted it, but you weren't going to rule the possibility of it out at this point given all that had happened.
Joy was another person you needed to speak with, to see what had happened after she was dredged up with the body of the thousand soul - to get answers there that would give you more of the picture.
Beyond this, you needed to find some middle ground between exerting yourself and flexing your powers and concealing them, so you could safely train them without drawing too much attention - where you attacked at this point, you were uncertain if you would be more of a threat to the individuals attacking you or yourself.

Possibly yourself.

"I'll see what I can do for you," you uttered once more in an effort to reassure the woman behind you as you gave her a soft smile.
"Before... Before you go... I..." she started, fumbling her words as she looked down almost if ashamed.
"What is it?" you asked as you turned towards her, maintaining a friendly posture as you watched her become bashful.
"Could I... Could I have a hug?"
"A... Hug?" you echoed, somewhat taken aback by this request. It was somewhat out of the blue.
"A hug. I don't know... How long I have been here, or if you'll be back, I just... Want this as it's something... Something... Something nice."

Oh, that expression on her face broke your heart, it was one of someone who had long since lost hope and seemed only now to have dared to dream once more - someone who had been broken by their long imprisonment.
Someone who you felt if nothing else, you should do what little you could for.
This was part of that little you could attempt to do for her, wasn't it?
Of course it was.

A few steps was all it took for you to cross the wooden floor that stretched between the pair of you, to bring you close to the kneeling woman who hung her head now as if she had requested something unthinkable of you.
"It's easier if you stand," came your words in soft tones as you watched the woman slowly but steadily rise to her feet - her head still hung as you reached beneath her chin with one finger to lift her head up, to have her gaze meet your own. "Better," you stated reassuringly as you moved to wrap your arms about her, carefully finding a way to hold her that didn't press your arms up against her haphazardly folded wings.
"Thank you," she whispered as she pressed close, her form feeling lighter against you than it should have - Avian bones were a possible mutation, you reasoned. "I think I like you more like this," she added after a moments silence.
"Why's that?" you asked, allowing genuine curiosity to colour your words.
"You're pretty."
"I'm pretty average," you laughed softly.
"I think you're pretty," she huffed as she leaned back to look at you.
"I don't swing that way-" you started only it was her turn to laugh this time.
"If you mean what I think you do, you never swung either way. You were always weird. Thank you for this, though. I feel better for it."
"I'll see if I can talk some sense into people, see about getting them to relent on keeping you imprisoned here in such a cruel manner," you stated as you slipped back and away from the other woman, a gesture that had her let out a plaintive whine as she reluctantly relinquished her grasp upon you.
You could hear her sighing as you made your way towards the door leading from the chamber at the top of the tower and back towards the stairwell, as you swung the door open to find the waiting men on the other side giving you the strangest of looks.

"What?" you challenged as you stepped through the door. You presumed the looks were because they could hear you through the door. "It's rude you listen in on a personal conversation," you added as you stepped through the midst of the group and started making your way down the stairs ahead of them.
You needed air, you needed chocolate, you needed a cigarette.
No, you didn't need the last one, that was a habit you had no desire to start at this time.
"I trust that you recorded that, so I don't have to repeat the entire thing to your boss?" you called back as you listened to a single set of footsteps falling behind you. That must have been Tom.
"It was recorded. I'm sure he'll have plenty of questions regardless."
"I might answer them, though I don't see what he could possibly get by asking me further questions when that was all new to me."
"Your attitude's changed again. Mood swings?" there was a pause. "Manic depression?"
"You know how to make a girl swoon, you smooth talker, you."
"I'll put a recommendation in for the medical team to do a pyschological examination, then."
"Pretty sure you can't make me do that," you responded as you swung the door at the bottom of the stairs open. "Besides, you're the one who has had a complete turn of attitude akin to a moodswing. Either you have a problem with me, or you're giving me shit suddenly for no good reason. How do I even know you're the same person I left outside at this point?"
"If I didn't know better, I'd have sworn that you were simply getting friendly with the prisoner and telling her exactly what she wanted to hear. As it is, you're trying to cirvcumvent-"
"Seriously?" you interrupted as you turned back to look at the man. "Compassionately wishing to see if I can improve someone elses lot is an attempt to circumvent authority or some such thing?" you laughed, mirthlessly.
"She's in there for treason," came Tom's response as he frowned at you, the expression visible over the rim of his sunglasses.
"She has been in there for treason for over a hundred years, I'm the first person she has spoken with since going in there. I saw a frightened woman who had lost everything she ever knew, then forgotten it. If you want to give me shit for consorting with the enemy or whatever your issue is, then-"
"Then what?"
"Then," you paused as you turned towards Tom. "I'll walk back to the damn agency as I don't want to be in a vehicle with someone  giving me shit every time I open my mouth. What's gotten into you?"
"You showed your true colours in there-"
"Let me guess, I'm everything you and your agency hates?"
"No, you-"
"Oh, so it's not about my compassion towards a woman who responded soley because she thought I was someone else, so it's not because I made promises to see if her suffering could be eased because she was straight with me where nobody else had been?"
"No, it's-"
"You don't even know what it is, you're probably just having a knee jerk reaction to the fact I feel wrong to you somehow. Welcome to my fucking world, last week I was a perfectly normal girl, now I'm some fucking monster, but you're used to dealing with people who aren't normal. What's the real issue here, Tom?"

"She confirmed that you're a worst case scenario," Tom breathed as you felt him staring at you from behind his sunglasses.
"Care to elaborate on that?" you asked as you folded your arms.
"Need to know," he responded, as he mimicked your stance.
"Of course, I don't need to know how much your agency wants to shoot me for some check list I'm not privvy to."
"That isn't what-"
"Of course it's what you're saying, worst case scenario means you have a plan for dealing with me tucked away in a secret file some place."
"We don't-"
"Sure you don't. What's the issue, that I've been confirmed by her to be some patchwork fucking god?"
"I can't say."
"Of course you can't, you can't because you can't give me a straight answer. What is it, that something like Jack the fucking Ripper came up as a possible reason for my existance?"
"Again, I can't say."
"I'm done with you, I'm going to go for a walk."
"I can't allow that."
"I suppose that means you're going to stop me somehow, then?"
"If I must."
"Four guys up there, I'll scream."
"They won't stop me subduing you and taking you back in."
"Then I'll run, simple as that."
"I can run faster than you in full battle gear."

A step was taken backwards as you watched the man advance a step upon you in an attempt to intimidate you, to menace you into believing that whatever course of action you took would be met with failure.
No, you wouldn't believe this, perhaps he was physically in better shape than you were, perhaps he was capable of subduing you if he got his hands on you, but he had to get his hands on you first, and you, well...
You believed that it was better to try and fail, to make it clear that you were defiant, than it was to meekly surrender.
He was a soldier, he lacked the ability to charm you as Millicent could and furthermore he was an asshole who clearly didn't care to sugar coat things and get you to co-operate favourably.
You ticked all the boxes that he feared, you ticked all the boxes that his agency feared.

You had no plans to fail.

As you took another few steps backwards, matched by him as he kept pace with you, you commanded  your body to your very will. You would find a way of channeling that power you had, to make it work for you for once without causing you to fling yourself into a book case or something of the like.
You didn't care if this went against how you had been warned, at this point you simply had to get away from this man, to get someplace safe, to wait for his boss to try and smooth it all over while you called the question of your safety with the agency into the spotlight.
At this point, it felt as if the agency themselves could potentially be one of those enemies that you had to worry about if one of them was going to so openly attempt to intimidate you after calling you a worst case scenario.
A hand lunged for you, a hand that you twisted away from as you kicked backwards off of one of the nearby walls, twisting and turning as you broke into a full - though admittedly pathetic sprint.
Fight or flight, and again you chose flight.
It was at this point that you willed your body to yield to you, begging it almost to respond to the energies you had yet to figure a means of controlling as you willed them to channel through you.
Almost immediately the burn of those energies started to spread through your legs and chest, threatening to steal your breath from you as you started to stave off the familiar and immediate onset of fatigue that accompanied them.

You didn't care, they would bow to you.

Those energies would bow to you until you were spooked enough to collapse and deal with the consequences of pushing them upon yourself without consideration.
But not without thought, no, you willed them to suffuse your being, to empower you as you told the world about you that the puny muscles in your legs were better than that - you were an olympic level athlete, you were running for your life, you wouldn't stop until you had to.
You needed more lung capacity, you needed to carry more oxygen in your blood, you needed to be the very peak of human fitness.
And so you were.
Reality could scream all it wanted as you perverted natural order, but here you were the best nature could offer for the brief time you needed to be.
You'd crossed a hundred meters in ten seconds.

It wasn't enough though.
Two hundred meters in eighteen seconds.
Three hundred in twenty five.
Four hundred in thirty.

You could feel the intense pressure in your chest from this level of exertion telling you that you'd not just hit a wall you shouldn't have approached, but you'd far surpassed it and that when you stopped you were going to pay for it heavily.
But you didn't care, you were racing from the grounds of the Tower of London and back into the city at a speed you knew had to be impossible for a human.
You could feel the empowered impact of your feet against the tarmac as you took to the road and ran alongside the traffic causing microfractures in the structure of the road.
You could feel all eyes upon you from the pavements and the surrounding cars as you ignored all safety and ran through the traffic lights you encountered.
The pain in your chest blossomed as it became a molten heat, threatening to consume you from within, yet you didn't stop.
You couldn't stop - you were surrendering to panic, milking the effects of adrenaline for all they were worth as you pushed your body beyond any reasonable limit.

Following instinct you rounded a corner, ignoring the manner in what your vision was starting to fade at the edges as oxygen deprivation started to kick in - you were pushing yourself beyond your physical ability to compensate, but you just needed to push a little longer.
Who needed air, anyway?
Oh, right, you did.
A spray of dislodged tarmac followed the impact of your rapid deceleration, the small impact crater absorbing the energy as you broke into a sprint down the new road, as you wheezed for breath now.
You couldn't figure how to trick your body into accepting the little oxygen it got as sufficient, but you didn't care - you knew exactly where you were, exactly where you were about to be in several seconds time.
A chain link fence greeted you as you ploughed headlong into the compound you had instinctively aimed to reach - followed by your entire body colliding with a metallic obstacle, sending the already faded world tumbling about you as you rolled over the bonnet of a parked car.

Reality reasserted its hold with brutal relish as the damage the impact had done to you, as well as the damage your run had done to your body kicked in.
All you could feel was a dull warmth spreading through you as you lay there, a moment taken to try and catch your breath - your laboured breathing coming in gasps as you struggled in vain to move. Your body was unresponsive, yet you were... Alive?
You were bleeding, however.
You could see red pooling beneath the side of your face from what you presumed to be your nose bleeding.

Right on cue, the front of the building you'd ran toward's front doors burst open as armed police poured from the station to see, well, you, laying there all contorted.
You couldn't tell why they looked so horrified, you couldn't feel a thing after all!
Well, apart from that spreading sensation of warmth that had thankfully replaced all other sensation.
"We need a medic out here!" came a distant sounding voice as several armed officers ran over to your side.
"You're going to be okay, just don't panic and... Don't move," came another voice as an officer carrying first aid supplies ran out of the buildings front.
"Don't panic, you've been in an accident, but I'm here to help you," came the voice of the officer with the medical supplies. "Can you talk?" they asked as they reached for your wrist, recoiling away they made an effort to find your pulse.
"I... I'm really tired... I'm going to sleep this... Off," you mumbled in response as you blinked a few times.
"No, I need you to stay awake, keep talking to me. What's your name?"
"I'm Alyssa, but I'm really... Really tired," you mumbled as you inwardly grumbled to yourself. Why wouldn't they let you sleep off how tired you were and then talk with Joy, like you'd come here for?
"Alyssa, you're badly hurt. You need to stay with me while we get an ambulance-"

Your eyes refused to co-operate with the mans wishes, however as they drooped down and closed, while the officer tried to rouse you with timid motions and blood all over his hands.
Must've put his hands down where your nose had been bleeding.
The look of horror on his face would have been funny if you weren't so tired, and well, if you didn't think it made him look like a total drama queen.
You just wanted to sleep off this exertion and hide from Tom and the Agency here, what was so hard to understand about that?
Well, apart from you not having told them that yet, oops.

The heat that suffused your form built into a raging crescendo focused in your chest, one that had you uncomfortably roll over to clutch at yourself as you felt discomfort centered around your heart - and a fair sense of exaustion.
There were shocked screams too, from the officers that didn't want you to sleep because-

Oh.
They...

There was a scorch pattern focused about you on the pavement and several of the officers were dancing back away from you as they tried to pat out flames.
"Um, sorry if I did that," you offered lamely as you struggled to your feet. "I ran here to come talk with Joy and... Get away from some agents who're trouble, and... Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You..." came the voice of the officer who had been handling with the medical supplies. "You were just laying there a second ago dying, you were like a sack of meat full of broken glass, your bones had been broken that badly, how are you... How are you alive, how are you fine now?" came his words as you saw awe and terror dance in his eyes.
"I wasn't hurt that bad. Can I talk to officer Joy now?" you paused as you looked down at your attire.
That was... That was a lot of blood.
Just how badly had you been hurt?
"Oh. I want to call my family too. Maybe eat, too, I'm kinda hungry..." you mumbled as you shook your head slowly, as if trying to clear away a mental fog that had you feeling dizzy.
"Ah, it's the lovely Miss Smith again, you can all stand down," came the voice of a familiar balding man in a suit stood at the entrance.
You were sure he was Edgar or something from what you briefly saw of him prior.
"Can I speak with Joy?" you asked, as you turned your attention towards the man. You felt so light headed right now.
"Director, I don't think it's wise to-" came a voice from behind you.
"Stand down, men and inform officer Joy that she's to question Miss Smith here."
"I want to question her, actually," you responded petulantly as you staggered towards the front entrance.
"I'm sure you can do so at the same time," the man responded as he stepped back inside.

Perfect! You could ask Joy about what she had done with the body- no, that sounded wrong. You'd ask her about what had happened to the body of the thousand soul after she'd been recovered.
Then you could ask her other questions like... What did you want to ask after that, actually?
Well, regardless, after that was handled, you'd call your parents, then handle things like... What did you want to handle after that for that matter?

[Fallatus]

"I talked to anxiety and she said that i had the "colors" of the thousand soul. I am a patchwork of the thousand soul. Most of the old parts brought back together into something new.
I don't think you like me , Heck, I wouldn't like me, But i need help and right now i am not sure who to trust."
"I may not be your old friend, But i am what remains of him."

Other than that, Try to talk or discuss about this "jack" and the possible hand he may have in your creation.

[Nicholas1024]

"Joy. I talked with Anxiety. She thought I was him reborn, saying that my colors were his... but put back together wrong, not as "smooth". You're also enlightened, and you knew the thousand soul, so I need to ask... do you see the same things? Do you have any idea what it means or who would know?"

Other topics to go over include asking if the thousand soul ever had mood swings (aka: Does this come with immortal territory, or is it something we need to be concerned about?), checking if she knows anything about Jack, and of course, asking what she did with the thousand soul's body after his death. Regarding her questions for us, cooperate fully and answer whatever she asks to the best of our ability.

Finally, if she starts condemning Anxiety, tell her the following.

"So that's it then? One mistake and she can rot in a cell for the rest of eternity? It's not like she enslaved and trapped hundreds of your kind in bronze war machines... oh wait. Yes, she did a terrible thing, but don't you think she's suffered enough? Don't you think she'd leap at the chance to make things right, to you, to me, to everyone? Don't you think that after all this time, the least you could do is give her that chance?

...

She needs help, Joy. And I want to give it to her."

[Fallatus]

"Joy. I talked with Anxiety. She thought I was him reborn, saying that my colors were his... but put back together wrong, not as "smooth". You're also enlightened, and you knew the thousand soul, so I need to ask... do you see the same things? Do you have any idea what it means or who would know?"

Other topics to go over include asking if the thousand soul ever had mood swings (aka: Does this come with immortal territory, or is it something we need to be concerned about?), checking if she knows anything about Jack, and of course, asking what she did with the thousand soul's body after his death. Regarding her questions for us, cooperate fully and answer whatever she asks to the best of our ability.

Finally, if she starts condemning Anxiety, tell her the following.

"So that's it then? One mistake and she can rot in a cell for the rest of eternity? It's not like she enslaved and trapped hundreds of your kind in bronze war machines... oh wait. Yes, she did a terrible thing, but don't you think she's suffered enough? Don't you think she'd leap at the chance to make things right, to you, to me, to everyone? Don't you think that after all this time, the least you could do is give her that chance?

...

She needs help, Joy. And I want to give it to her."

Oh much better! Yes. +1

[endlessblaze]

"Joy. I talked with Anxiety. She thought I was him reborn, saying that my colors were his... but put back together wrong, not as "smooth". You're also enlightened, and you knew the thousand soul, so I need to ask... do you see the same things? Do you have any idea what it means or who would know?"

Other topics to go over include asking if the thousand soul ever had mood swings (aka: Does this come with immortal territory, or is it something we need to be concerned about?), checking if she knows anything about Jack, and of course, asking what she did with the thousand soul's body after his death. Regarding her questions for us, cooperate fully and answer whatever she asks to the best of our ability.

Finally, if she starts condemning Anxiety, tell her the following.

"So that's it then? One mistake and she can rot in a cell for the rest of eternity? It's not like she enslaved and trapped hundreds of your kind in bronze war machines... oh wait. Yes, she did a terrible thing, but don't you think she's suffered enough? Don't you think she'd leap at the chance to make things right, to you, to me, to everyone? Don't you think that after all this time, the least you could do is give her that chance?

...

She needs help, Joy. And I want to give it to her."

Oh much better! Yes. +1

this. and I would also like to point out that anxiety did not even know that he was to weak to reincarnate again.

[Silleh Boy]

Dazed as you were, the world about you seemed ever so slightly off kilter as you stumbled along after the balding man - while he had gone out of sight, while he wasn't particularly leading you anywhere, you knew that you could at least get inside the waiting area and ask for someone to take you to meet Joy.
This was something that you were going to have to get used to it seemed, that no matter how you used your powers, that regardless of if something went wrong you'd be off balance afterwards. The sheer punishment that it put your body under, the stress of whatever spark you felt blossoming within you was exausting to deal with and you, you weren't ready for it.
Yet.
You would be one day, you were sure of that, but that day was neither here nor soon.

You stumbled left and right as you tripped over your feet on the way to the front entrance, the hands of the armed police that had only moments prior had the order to stand down catching you as they ensured you didn't fall. All you could do was offer apologetic smiles and half mumbled thanks as you permitted them to assist you back to your feet.
Even now the punishment of pushing your body as you had was but a fading memory as the memory of the roads rushing by as you'd sprinted down the roads, though the sensation of the wind against your face had been dulled when you'd done this.
Was it because you'd already hit a point where your senses where too overwhelmed to register it due to the burning sensation you had felt inside, or was it because you'd managed to diminish it subconsciously with the very same power you were using?
You couldn't tell at this point, or but you were frankly amazed with yourself.
You'd been running as fast as a car, so fast that Tom hadn't been able to stop you from turning and leaving when he'd gone all creepy on you.

You supposed you couldn't blame him for being offput by what you'd revealed in your talk with anxiety, private a talk as that was, but you still didn't appreciate how he had turned on you in the manner he had.
Public Relations, he had failed that obviously.
Not that you were exactly the public, come to think of it.
But still, the thought stood.

With the dull ache in your chest and legs joining the mental fog that clouded your thoughts, you slumped down in one of the chairs in the waiting room - uncaring of how you could feel the cold and clammy material of the skirt, blouse and overcoat pressing against your back and legs.
You didn't care if it was wet with blood, you didn't care if it was your blood.
Here, you had a chance to rest for just a moment before the inevitable meeting with the angry woman who'd be thrilled to see you.
Absolutely thrilled, you'd been given the feeling last time you'd met with her that she had no desire to ever see you again.
Not that you could blame her, it seemed to be a running theme by this point that people didn't want to know about you beyond what you could provide for them. The agency had gotten weird with you, the Queen's agency seemed to only want you for your power, Millicent was out of comission at this time and Anxiety was half crazed.
You couldn't help but feel for her though, she was as much a victim in this situation as anyone else who had been affected by the entire mess you were unwravelling.

Some moments passed in silence - silence punctuated by the horrified expressions of people coming and going as they saw you sat there with somewhat upscale clothing soaked in blood and a thousand yard stare. They must have assumed you were a witness to a horrific murder, that someone had quite literally exploded over you and that you had such a blank expression at this time as you were in shock.
Not because you were fatigued.
Not as fatigued as the prior times, mind, that meant that you were making progress on that front at least.
Hooray, progress.

"Alyssa-" came the familiar voice of officer Joy as she stepped into the waiting area. She was angry, yet the anger gave way to shock the moment she set eyes upon you.
"Hi," you did you best to smile brightly, figuring that it'd reassure her, though you could feel the muscles in your face protest that they simply couldn't hold such a smile at this moment, causing it to unevenly falter and fade.
"Are you hurt?" came her words as she paced towards you, tucking her grey streaked hair back behind her shoulders as she did so.
"Just dizzy and... I wish I had a change of clothes," you mubled as you pushed yourself to your feet.
"What the hell happened to you?" she asked ith clear concern in her voice. Maybe she didn't hate you as much as you'd assumed.
"I hit a car," you mumbled sheepishly as you rubbed at the back of your arm with one hand.
"You were hit by a car!?" she hissed, trying to keep her voice low as she looked at you wide eyed. "Why the fuck did they tell me I have to speak with you as soon as possible instead of sending you to hospital?"
"I hit the car, couldn't see it, I was blacking out," you corrected her. This did wonders for her already evident concern.
"How badly hurt are you?"
"I'm fine, just dizzy, I was laying funny after though, I think I broke my back. I got better though. Can we talk?" you winced as you watched the disbelief on her face grow all then more plain. "It's important, I spoke with Anxiety and then... Then the bodyguard the agency sent with me got threatening with me and..."
"Oh... Oh fuck no. I don't want to do this now," came her words as her expression hardened. "I don't care what she said," came Joy's words as she turned to walk away from you. You weren't letting go of this that easily, you had to talk with her - you had to make it clear that you had found out something that put you at risk.
"Damnit, Joy, she thinks I'm him, she thinks that I am him reborn and-"
"I told you, I don't want to talk about this," Joy hissed as she walked through doors leading deeper into the station.
"This is important, everyone thinks I'm similar enough to him to come after me, I'm sure you know how many enemies that give me for being played a shitty hand by some cosmic joker."

Joy froze for a moment as she brought her hands up to her head, a soft, though somewhat inhuman sounding whine escaping her before she stood up straight, turned to face you and thumbed along the corridor behind her.

"Right. Me, you, my office, you have until I kick you through a window to convince me that listening to you wasn't a mistake."
"What is your problem with me?"
"You offend my senses."
"Why does everyone want to hurt me today?" you continued as you felt tears well up in your eyes, this wasn't the time to get emotional, yet here you were - too tired to keep a grip on yourself. "All I want is for things to make sense, to know I'm safe. I have powers I can't control, people that's immediate reaction to me is to want to hurt me, people that think i'm a threat to be pre-emptively dealt with. I bet even the Queen's making plans to dispose of me after meeting me today."
"Wait... You met..." Joy looked conflicted as she took a step away from you. "I'm sorry, please stop crying, we can talk about..."
"I dreamed before of having the power to make a difference to people, to be able to improve things and now I have it," you continued between sobs as you slumped back against the wall. "Now I have it, and I just want to wake up from this nightmare. When am I going to wake up?"
"Alyssa, please... Lets go to my office to talk, I'm sorry I threatened you," Joy sighed as she moved to place an arm about your shoulders.

You weren't entirely certain where she'd taken you as you spent much of the time walking through the corridors towards her office with your head hung in shame.
Another emotional outburst, your frustration bubbling over and causing you to respond in such a manner - what was it with you these days?
As the door to her office was closed behind you, you finally looked up.
It was dimly illuminated, sparse, with no decoration or pictures family - only of her and what you presumed to be people she worked with.
With the blinds down over the windows looking outside the room was dimly illuminated by the baleful glow of an overhead light tube that seemed to be battling to heat up so that it could bathe you with incadescence.

"You wanted to talk, so lets talk," came Joy's words as she settled behind her desk, her hands clasped before her. "I'll try and keep my temper in check, but please forgive any outbursts. I'm one of the Enlightened, specifically, I'm a Jötunn. This means that part of me is a monster. The rest of me is a sleepy river dwelling giant that occasionally smashes things," she half smiled as she attempted to lighten the mood.
"She... She told me I have his colours, do you see them, too?"
"I don't really see things in the same way as her, my senses are different. She's a vulture based strain, there's a lot of difference between the various types of taint we bear. The older the member of the Enlightened is, the more developed that corruption becomes typically. Your senses change, your way of thinking changes. The thoughts you used to have become increasingly alien to you."
"Is everyone with that kind of taint Enlightened?"
"No, it's more a group of like minded individuals these days than a classification like it used to be. There's people out there that will be lumped in with us, though they're not registered with us, simply because the root of what changed them and empowered them is the same."
"The taint?"
"Yes, but this isn't what you wanted to talk about. I told you, you can talk, you don't have to meander about it."
"Okay..." you breathed as you slumped back against the hard chair you'd been seated in. "She saw his colours in me, thought I was him reborn, told me that it looked like I'd been patched back together wrong, not as smooth as before. I don't know what that means exactly, and I guess you probably don't either, but, you knew him," you paused once again as you rubbed at your face. "I feel familiar enough to him to you to remind you of him, but you ultimately think I'm not him."
"You're not, but, could you elaborate on what she saw?"
"I think by colours, she was implying... A soul?" you paused as you shrugged. "She saw a soul patched back together wrong, not smooth would mean... She could see where all the pieces had been stitched back together and... That'd mean that I'm possibly pieced together from him, with a few replacement pieces and... It's..."
"That's rather morbid."
"Yeah... I don't think I want to think about that any further, really."
"It'd explain why you're so familiar, you're like some... Frankenstein's monster."
You cringed at the mention of that word, the implication once more there that you were a monster - a reminder that people were afraid of you, that they possibly wanted to destroy you pre-emptively.
"Oh... Sorry. I mean you'd be an equivilent to that literary figure, not that you're a monster," Joy added as she saw the discomfort written plainly on your features.

"Are... Are mood swings common amongst immortals?" you asked, attempting to change the subject for a moment while you gathered yourself.
"I couldn't say, I only met a handful of true immortals that I'm aware of. You seem prone to them, is this a new development?"
"Yeah..."
"Eurochkoles was somewhat prone to them too, occasional moments of mania where he was driven, followed by periods of exaustion where he just seemed to shut down. I never thought of it much at the time, but many, many years later it struck me how unstable he was. If I was to make a guess at why, I'd say that it was because of the fluctuating nature of his power. I know it affects me like that too at times, even though mine's different to yours."
"What about... Jack?"
"I don't know," came Joy's words as she tensed up. "Jack's dangerous, and you smell of his work."
"That's why I offend your senses?"
"Yeah... The king of scarecrows, harvester of souls. Mostly vanished after Eurochkoles died, from what I've heard. I bet he just occupied himself with something new, other than harassing Eurochkoles."
"Anxiety says he called Eurochkoles 'boss', you say I smell of his work, I saw what I think was him in a dream and he called me 'boss' too. do you think he's behind me being this way?"
"I... That's a... That's a horrifying thought," this was all Joy said on the subject, though you could see the clear look of discomfort on her face as she looked you over carefully. If this was a dead end you were going to need a change of subject to get things moving again.

At least now you'd highlighted more of what you needed to about what you were.

"What happened to his body, if I may ask?" you started as you drew your arms about yourself. "After you were recovered with him, what happened to him?"
"Queen Victoria arranged for him to be laid to rest, there was a minor fuss about how the remains of a hero from the war were recovered and being laid to rest with honour. She even went as far as getting a bronze statue of him erected at the memorial for the war. Visited it a few times, doesn't feel right. He was a bastard sometimes, he had moments where he thought he was the greatest person in the world, but he would never have agreed to a statue like that, not when nobody'd remember him anyway."
"So, he's buried there?"
"Right beneath that damn statue."

There was a long moments silence before you spoke again, one in what you could see Joy deflated from the vicious beast that sought to intimidate you to prevent you from learning what you wished, to a woman who seemed small, a woman who didn't enjoy facing the reality of the world she was now a part of.
"Alyssa," she started as she brought herself to look you in the eyes once more. "You said you're in danger, you said you were hit by a car-"
"I hit one of your cars, I was running and I was blacking out so I couldn't see where I was going."
"...Just how fast where you running?"
"Uh, maybe... twenty five-thirty meters a second?"
"Uh... One second," Joy grumbled as she reached for a small tablet computer sat on one corner of her desk. A few moments were taken tapping at the screen before she looked up at you with disbelief written over her face. "Are you sure you were moving that fast?"
"Yeah, fairly certain, why?"
"You were moving somewhere between fifty five and seventy miles per hour. I can't believe-"
"Does this window face the front?"
"Yeah, why?"

You clambered to your feet as you reached for the blinds over the window, pausing to fiddle with the tassel that opened them. As the angle of the slats that composed the blinds shiftyed, permitting you sight through, you gestured down into the parking lot where one of the segments of the chain fence had been torn away, where the bonnet of one of the police cars had been smashed inwards, where a pool of blood lay on a scorched set of ground a fair distance behind the car.
This was all it took to have her expression to go from disbelief to shock as she pointed down at the damage that had been caused.
"You did that?"
"Yeah, they said my bones were shattered by it,"
"How the fuck did you recover from that so fast?"
"I don't know, I don't know anything about my powers beyond that they seem to come from the same source as-"
"Okay, okay. Jesus, Alyssa, even I can't recover from my bones being shattered that quickly."
"I... Wait, you've had your bones shattered before?"
"Yeah, it's not fun, takes longer for me to repair broken bones than it does cuts. Why's the ground blackened?"
"I don't know," you responded. "I passed out briefly, then came too with people patting out fires."
"Uh..."
"Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me, either."
"Yeah, moving on... You spoke with Anxiety, she told you things, then... What happened next?"
"I left the room she's held in after promising her I'd try and get her some help-"
"Why would you do that?"
"She has been imprisoned for over a century, I was showing compassion."
"She murdered Eurochkoles, she went completely off the deep end and killed him in the middle of the war while saying that she had to, that she couldn't help it. He'd known from the start that she could do so, he'd given her a chance to change, he'd told her she didn't have to do that and she still went and did so."
"I saw someone who regretted and wished they could have changed what they did, someone who has been left damaged by their long imprisonment-"
"Good, then she knows that she has reason to be there."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me, she killed the one person that ever accepted either of us without judging us for being tainted monsters."
"She makes one mistake, a mistake that she may not have even had a full choice in and she deserves to spend the rest of her existance going insane in the most drawn out and inhumane way?" you snapped in response. "Yes, it's terrible that she took a life, much, much worse than the time hundreds, maybe even thousands of your kind were tortured and used to make brass war machines," you continued as you raised your voice. You suffered, she's suffering, have you ever fully recovered from the damage that such an experience did to you?"
"...No."
"Do you think she's ever going to recover from this, if she's released?"
"I..."
"Joy, she needs help, she needs a chance. She needs compassion, that nobody else has been willing to give her as there's the stigma of her actions attached to her even now. How much longer do you think she'll last before she's driven completely insane by her isolation?"
"I... I'm sorry, I can't..."
"Do you care for her at all, Joy?"
"I..."
"I saw the shell of a person who craved a chance to simply touch someone, she wanted to escape with me and protect me from everyone, she's no longer grounded in reality, Joy."

The other woman moved unsteadily back towards her desk, slumping down in her chair as her head came to rest in her hands.
She was conflicted and you felt for her, you were dealing with two people here who had been wronged in one way or another.
You simply hoped that Joy would be able to see this too, that she would understand that Anxiety needed compassion - that as you were planning to help her as you could, that you would do your best to ensure that if nothing else, she would be treated like a person once again.
You made your way towards Joy's side as you placed a hand on her shoulder, sighing as you did so.
"I'm sorry Joy, I didn't want to upset you but... She's a wreck, she needs-"
"No, you're... You're right," Joy interrupted as she slumped forward against her desk. "A lot of what happened back then was... Was just wrong, but she doesn't deserve to be subjected to an eternity of slowly losing herself for what she did."

Before you could gather your thoughts, while you were still waiting for the moment to pass so you could bring the subject of how Tom had acted towards you up, the door to Joy's office opened.
"Wonderful, Miss Smith, you've reduced officer Joy to tears again. You have quite the knack at upsetting her, it seems. Regardless, we have had a call from the agency inquiring over why you're here," came the voice of that familiar balding man.
"Fuck off Ego," Joy grumbled as she lifted her head to look the man in the eyes. Ego, that was it. Why had you thought he was Edgar?
"Off is long dead, Joy, it'll be better for you when you can accept that. Now, as I was saying, you were reported missing by your assigned bodyguard after he left to make a report upon the findings of your meeting with a prisoner in the Tower of London. After returning to find you had vanished, they tracked you to here and have sent him to pick you up. If you'll follow me to the front desk, I'll ensure that they can sign papers accepting responsibility for you and that you can be passed off to them with minimal fuss."

You stared in disbelief at the man for a moment as he waited for you to comply, the implications of this were troubling as well as confusing.
What did you make of this?
What were you going to do about it, for that matter?

[Nicholas1024]

"Reported missing? Did he happen to also report the parts where he accused me of trying to 'circumvent authority' for showing compassion, wanted to force me into a psychological examination, and threatened to 'forcibly subdue' and kidnap me because I didn't want to get into his car? He wouldn't even answer any questions beyond claiming I'm a worst-case scenario, whatever that means. For crying out loud, the reason I collapsed bleeding at your front door was because I was trying to get away from him!

I will not cooperate with him, and I do not want him or his agency responsible for me."

Next, formally request, "Officer Joy, would it be possible for me to arrange a meeting with Pride?"

After the fireworks die down, turn to Joy and say, "Sorry for all the trouble I've put you through, the past few days have been rough. Is there anything you want to ask me or that I can do to make up for it?"

TLDR: Outline why we're not going with Tom, request a meeting with Pride through Joy, apologize to her after the fact for the trouble we've put her through, and ask her if there's anything we can do as thanks.

Also, I support the idea of calling Ego Edgar, as if we can't remember his name.

[endlessblaze]

"Reported missing? Did he happen to also report the parts where he accused me of trying to 'circumvent authority' for showing compassion, wanted to force me into a psychological examination, and threatened to 'forcibly subdue' and kidnap me because I didn't want to get into his car? He wouldn't even answer any questions beyond claiming I'm a worst-case scenario, whatever that means. For crying out loud, the reason I collapsed bleeding at your front door was because I was trying to get away from him!

I will not cooperate with him, and I do not want him or his agency responsible for me."

Next, formally request, "Officer Joy, would it be possible for me to arrange a meeting with Pride?"

After the fireworks die down, turn to Joy and say, "Sorry for all the trouble I've put you through, the past few days have been rough. Is there anything you want to ask me or that I can do to make up for it?"

TLDR: Outline why we're not going with Tom, request a meeting with Pride through Joy, apologize to her after the fact for the trouble we've put her through, and ask her if there's anything we can do as thanks.

Also, I support the idea of calling Ego Edgar, as if we can't remember his name.

all of the ones

[Fallatus]

"Reported missing? Did he happen to also report the parts where he accused me of trying to 'circumvent authority' for showing compassion, wanted to force me into a psychological examination, and threatened to 'forcibly subdue' and kidnap me because I didn't want to get into his car? He wouldn't even answer any questions beyond claiming I'm a worst-case scenario, whatever that means. For crying out loud, the reason I collapsed bleeding at your front door was because I was trying to get away from him!

I will not cooperate with him, and I do not want him or his agency responsible for me."

Next, formally request, "Officer Joy, would it be possible for me to arrange a meeting with Pride?"

After the fireworks die down, turn to Joy and say, "Sorry for all the trouble I've put you through, the past few days have been rough. Is there anything you want to ask me or that I can do to make up for it?"

TLDR: Outline why we're not going with Tom, request a meeting with Pride through Joy, apologize to her after the fact for the trouble we've put her through, and ask her if there's anything we can do as thanks.

Also, I support the idea of calling Ego Edgar, as if we can't remember his name.

+1

And if they still doesn't do... If they still want to force you away back into their hands... Channel your voice.
Anxiety told us that the thousand soul could use his "voice" and the queen mentioned that any apology from him would be accepted without a second thought, Likely for the same reason.
Channel your energy, Through your memory, Through your connection and then through your voice. And use it to say a single word:

No.

[Peradon]

"Reported missing? Did he happen to also report the parts where he accused me of trying to 'circumvent authority' for showing compassion, wanted to force me into a psychological examination, and threatened to 'forcibly subdue' and kidnap me because I didn't want to get into his car? He wouldn't even answer any questions beyond claiming I'm a worst-case scenario, whatever that means. For crying out loud, the reason I collapsed bleeding at your front door was because I was trying to get away from him!

I will not cooperate with him, and I do not want him or his agency responsible for me."

Next, formally request, "Officer Joy, would it be possible for me to arrange a meeting with Pride?"

After the fireworks die down, turn to Joy and say, "Sorry for all the trouble I've put you through, the past few days have been rough. Is there anything you want to ask me or that I can do to make up for it?"

TLDR: Outline why we're not going with Tom, request a meeting with Pride through Joy, apologize to her after the fact for the trouble we've put her through, and ask her if there's anything we can do as thanks.

Also, I support the idea of calling Ego Edgar, as if we can't remember his name.

+1

And if they still doesn't do... If they still want to force you away back into their hands... Channel your voice.
Anxiety told us that the thousand soul could use his "voice" and the queen mentioned that any apology from him would be accepted without a second thought, Likely for the same reason.
Channel your energy, Through your memory, Through your connection and then through your voice. And use it to say a single word:

No.

Better yet, just say: "This is not the girl you are looking for"

[Fallatus]

Better yet, just say: "This is not the girl you are looking for"

That might be better to say if we are trying to escape or hide.

[endlessblaze]

"Reported missing? Did he happen to also report the parts where he accused me of trying to 'circumvent authority' for showing compassion, wanted to force me into a psychological examination, and threatened to 'forcibly subdue' and kidnap me because I didn't want to get into his car? He wouldn't even answer any questions beyond claiming I'm a worst-case scenario, whatever that means. For crying out loud, the reason I collapsed bleeding at your front door was because I was trying to get away from him!

I will not cooperate with him, and I do not want him or his agency responsible for me."

Next, formally request, "Officer Joy, would it be possible for me to arrange a meeting with Pride?"

After the fireworks die down, turn to Joy and say, "Sorry for all the trouble I've put you through, the past few days have been rough. Is there anything you want to ask me or that I can do to make up for it?"

TLDR: Outline why we're not going with Tom, request a meeting with Pride through Joy, apologize to her after the fact for the trouble we've put her through, and ask her if there's anything we can do as thanks.

Also, I support the idea of calling Ego Edgar, as if we can't remember his name.

+1

And if they still doesn't do... If they still want to force you away back into their hands... Channel your voice.
Anxiety told us that the thousand soul could use his "voice" and the queen mentioned that any apology from him would be accepted without a second thought, Likely for the same reason.
Channel your energy, Through your memory, Through your connection and then through your voice. And use it to say a single word:

No.

+1