Colin's posts

"No, no, I get it." Lindsay responded.

"No need for YOU to endanger yourself. As you said, death it... well, it's a thing for me. That I experience. A lot." he chuckled. "Gregory's starting to become numb to seeing me." he told her honestly.

He then cracked his knuckles, and grabbed the middle seam where the two sides of the door met, and started to pull. She saw the sweat bead up on his forehead, as his arm muscles bulged and strained, before they heard creaking and groaning... moments before he managed to pull the doors open. Enough for him to slip through, anyway.

And sure enough, they could IMMEDIATELY smell the strong, almost overpowering scent of cleaner. Industrial cleaner, with how strong it was.

"Oof. Stand back." Lindsay told Vicki.

"That is some SERIOUS business in there."

Lindsay made his way over towards her, and saw that she had, indeed, found the door. It looked to be made of solid thick steel, and it looked like it, as well as the inside, would be barred, mana-wise, to prevent anyone from just getting in.

"Well, let's clear these out of the way." he said.

And so they did. Some rocks were larger, others were smaller, but after a few minutes, they had cleared it all out, and saw the entirety of the steel door before them.

Lindsay examined it closely, noting a keypad that had been hidden by the rocks as well, before checking it. Any input caused the small display to turn red, with a 'NO ENTRY' message flashing on it.

"Well, it's definitely locked out for everyone." Lindsay commented. "Not even getting to any biometrics or anything." he went on.

"I suppose that's why I'M here, is it?" he asked. "Brute force this thing open?"

Evan just chuckled a little, as Lindsay raised an eyebrow. But before he could say anything, Vicki handed him her phone with the coordinates she'd been given displayed on the screen.

Lindsay looked at them, before nodding slightly.

"All right, let's get a move on." he said, handing her the phone back, as Evan took a few steps back.

With that, Vicki and Lindsay disappeared in a burst of red flames, appearing outside somewhere... where the air was, indeed, cold and thin. And there didn't seem to be a single person around.

"...you weren't kidding." Lindsay said, as the snow fell around them.

"...that would be amazing, yet sad." Evan responded.

"If helping you would accomplish such a thing, that'd be wonderful, but I wouldn't be doing it for just that. Or even that, at all." he told her. "And let's hope that you don't get to the point of needing such help, and are able to deal with it yourself, healthily and safely." he added, as Lindsay stepped up from the basement, having quickly gotten changed.

"All right, let's go." he said to Vicki.

"I'll assume you know where we're going and leave it to you." he said further, before looking at Evan.

"Hey, son." he greeted him.

"Hey, Dad." Evan replied.

"I, uh... I see." Evan responded.

"I'll try and remember to not use 'Aunt'." he told her.

"And... a month and a half crammed into an hour or so?" he then asked. "That's... pretty heavy." he said further.

"I mean, Dad can always help with that." he offered, before pausing.

"And I can try, as well." he then told her.

"Remember, I'm studying to follow in his footsteps."

Unbeknownst to her, someone had heard that. It was Evan, which... wasn't really surprising, as he DID have exceptional hearing. Came with the feline features he inherited from his mother.

"What is?" he asked, stepping into the room.

"Aunt Vicki, are you all right?" he asked her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked further.

"You really look like you've been through a rough patch in your life."

Instantly, Lindsay's expression changed.

"Damn it all." he cursed. "I WARNED them that that book was nothing more than just theory!" he said.

"All right, I'm in." he told her.

"Just... give me a minute." he said further.

"Let me rehydrate a little before I help you stop this madness."

Lindsay was silent for a moment... looking confused.

"Eh?" he muttered.

"Destroy research?" he asked her.

"Why?" he asked further.

"Seriously Vicki, tell me more information." he said.

"I need to at least know WHY you feel this is the right course of action."

Evan watched her go, confused, but didn't stop her. He figured it was important, so he just went back to what he was doing.

Meanwhile, Vicki had made her way downstairs, and saw the door to Lindsay's home gym was ajar, and when she stepped inside, she saw Lindsay sitting on one of the barbell benches, lifting a sizeable dumbbell with his right arm. And he was building up a sweat, too.

He looked over and saw Vicki was there, before raising a finger on his free hand.

"...one... second..." he told her, letting it fall heavily to the floor with a solid thud.

"...whew." he exhaled.

"Anyway... what's up, Vicki?" he asked her, wiping the sweat off his forehead with a nearby towel.

There was silence for a moment, before the door was answered by Evan.

"Oh! Aunt Vicki!" he said, opening the door a little more and stepping out of the way.

"Come in." he offered.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Want something to drink or something?" he offered.

Ash paused as he thought about it, pondering his brother and his personality.

"...hmmmm..." he mumbled.

"Perhaps." he said.

"He might need serious convincing, though." he told her. "You know how pacifist he is. Irritatingly so." he grumbled.

"Which is to say, you're going to need to perhaps be forceful with him." he then clarified.

"Not necessarily hurt him, but... well, maybe assert dominance-" he went on, before his cell chimed. He looked at it briefly, before his eyes widened.

"Excuse me a moment." he told then, before stepping outside the office door, closing it again behind him.

Thankfully, Ash HAD followed Vicki into the office, so Alice was, indeed, directing her question to him, as he shut the door behind himself. He then looked at Alice, before sighing heavily.

"Yes and no." he responded.

"I have NO idea what research she's talking about." he admitted. "I don't know any of the nitty-gritty details." he said further. "However, what I DO know is that, through technicalities, she's seen what the future holds." he told her.

"And the future is apparently very bleak." he went on.

"Alice, you know mana is a very fickle and unpredictable thing at times." he then said further.

"But I really think that Vicki's onto something, here. I think we need to take her word for this."

The growling caused Savra to perk up a little.

'Do you want help getting back into the vehicle?' they asked. 'Or going to sit at one of the picnic tables they have here?' they asked him further.

'Or want any help at all?' they then inquired.

They then looked over to see if Ryker was coming, only to find they couldn't see him.

They supposed there was someone else in there and Ryker needed to wait his turn.

Ash was silent, before just shaking his head to himself.

"Should have asked." he muttered.

"But I didn't." he said.

He then watched her go, before following her.

"Right." he said.

"Lead the way." he told her.

"You're the one that knows where we're going."