The Black Out

[Arthur Rawlings]

"Nice knowing you, Seth."

Really, had no one else seen Scream?

[Zach Long]

Zach slowly stood back up, having dove behind the nearest object when the screaming started. The lights around his fists extinguished, he walked over slowly, shivering a little.

"You can't go out there! That thing was huge, what if it sucks you dry of your blood and then comes in and gets the rest of us?!"

He shivered again, and nervously ran his hand around his ear, as if some phantom strand of hair had come out of place and he was pushing it back.

"I mean, really, there is no way that was an ordinary bat! If it WAS a bat, for that matter..."

[Epic Scale]

"I'm in."

I'm IN? he said to himself. Who the hell said that?

[Etienne Mbane]

Etienne shook his head, looking around as everyone started to freak out about the bat. From the sound it made, it couldn't be any bigger than the ones he was used to. He figured, though, since these White Man folk weren't used to the night being this dark, he should help them. After all, that's partly why he was here, right?

"I can go. Dere ain' likely be notin' out dere dat I ain' seed before."

He pickup up his bag, leaving his lamp and his books on the table. "Feel free to use my light until we get back. Try not to set de school on fire, dough. Sure, it would fix de darkness problem, but I don' tink it'd be good in de long run."

He took a couple of steps toward the outside door, then looked back. "You folk comin', or no?"

[Arthur Rawlings]

They were going to get themselves killed or abducted or whatever B-movie this was. There was even a black guy in the group, now. He was, it turned out, the only one to have sat through all three Scream movies. (There was a marathon on TV last Halloween, so it wasn't like he spent money on them.)

With a sigh, Arthur hopped out of his chair and joined the suicide squad, all the time knowing that he'd doomed himself with that sigh. The one who goes along to make sure the rest don't get themselves killed is always in a race with the black guy to die first. At least he wasn't also black; he might have died on the spot, as soon as the sigh passed his lips. At least he had a good chance of outrunning the rest of the guys. At least he...

Yeah, he was definitely doomed.

Rather than remind anyone of these facts, he said, "I can see in the dark," and indicated the drone hovering by his head. Should've brought my guns.

[Lily Shen]

With a sigh (or was it a shudder?), Lily tossed her sketchbook to the side and stood up, rubbing her forearms awkwardly. So long as this thing wasn't a robot or something, her powers should have some effect on it. Plus, this all felt like a "Who has the balls to go look for it?" contest..... and she'd be damned if she lost. The feminist in her would chew her out if she didn't volunteer to look for this thing.

"I'll tag along. Somebody has to keep you guys from getting eaten..."

Reaching back into her bag, Lily pulled out her patrol gloves and traded them in for her regular ones, slipping the longer and thicker gloves that left just her fingertips exposed up her arms. She also took back out her goggles, but simply set them on her forehead for the time being.

"I'm good to go whenever you guys are."

[Cadence Calloway]

Cadence hadn't really considered the fact that the bat monster thing might be running from something worse than it was...and the thought sent a shiver down her spine. It was too late to back out now though, as others volunteered to go check things out. There wasn't time to go upstairs and hunt for her costume, which wouldn't burn away if she had to set herself on fire. She just sincerely hoped things didn't get bad enough that she would have to do that to protect herself. There had been a time when she couldn't use any of her powers without doing that. After all the training and practice she'd had over the past year though, she'd learned to manipulate fire without having to actually be on fire.

Since one of the guys could see in the dark, but not the others, she set her hand on fire yet again to offer up some light.

"I'm...yeah...I'm ready when you are."

[Arthur Rawlings]

"Sure you wanna advertise yourself like that, Cadence? Not exactly sneaky. Anything in the dark'll be able to see you, but you won't see it. Might be better if you let your eyes adjust, even out the playing field."

He looked around at the suicide squad. Definitely doomed, one way or the other, eaten by a flock of bat-men or burnt to a crisp because a twig snapped too loud. "Too many more people going out to check and there won't be anyone left in here for dessert."

[Bronka Hajjar]

"Yeah okay, I'll stay here and watch all your snacks," said Bronka from her position curled up on the couch. "You guys can go out in a huge gang and scare away the little muskrat or whatever it is skittering around out there."

[Seth Molokhya]

He sighed with relief, so he wouldn't be the only one going after all,

"Alright guys. So, what do we know? It is outside, it is big, and it flew into the window. I suggested it was running only because what thing in it's right mind would intentionally fly into a window? I'm hoping it's still outside, otherwise I won't be much of a help until it gets back outside," he started to grumble, "This amulet needs to learn how to make sand."

It took him a minute to register, but he remembered right before he began to walk away; Lorne. Lorne knew this school better than anyone else, what better person to know what's coming than him? He turned around and looked at the group of kids shivering and cowering,

"Lorne! where is your furry behind? We need you for this!"